The hills notebook | The Press

From Quebec to Ottawa, find out what caught the attention of our parliamentary correspondents this week.

Quote of the week

Number of the week

10 %

This is the percentage of customs duties that Donald Trump would like to impose on American imports. Enough to shake the economic community in Canada which is worried about the possible impact of this protectionist measure here.

Youth centers: low confidence in the government

Bad news for the Legault government: 62% of Quebecers have little or no confidence in its ability to correct the problems affecting the youth center network. This is what a SOM survey commissioned by The Press following revelations concerning educators at a youth center who had sexual contact with adolescents under their supervision. Quebecers are also very divided regarding the reaction of the Legault government to this affair. In all, 37% believe that he reacted very badly or badly while the same proportion considers that he reacted well or very well – 26% do not know or prefer not to answer. Should the Minister responsible for Social Services resign? No, says half of Quebecers (50%). But 31% believe he should be shown the door; 19% do not know or prefer not to answer.

Methodology: The study was carried out online from 1^is as of November 5, 2024 among a sample of 1,089 Quebec adults registered with the SOM panel of Internet users. The results were weighted to reflect the main sociodemographic characteristics of Quebec adults. The maximum margin of error is +/-3.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Nice try/Nice try

Le piège linguistique était tout sauf subtil, et le député conservateur Larry Brock l’a évité sans peine. C’est la ministre Mélanie Joly qui a tenté de piéger l’élu ontarien qui s’est retrouvé dans l’embarras après avoir critiqué le ministre Jean-Yves Duclos pour avoir répondu à sa question dans la langue de Molière. « Donc je vais juste répondre à votre question, Larry… Oui, c’est bien que vous mettiez votre oreillette […] “, she said during an exchange before a committee studying the purchase of the official residence of the consul general in New York. The trap was all the bigger because the minister had just answered all of New Democrat Rachel Blaney’s questions in English, only to return to them after Mr. Brock’s intervention, when it was her colleague’s turn Michael Barrett. To this one, who questioned her about the monthly rent of $1,800 from Consul General Tom Clark, she replied this (in English): “How much is Pierre Poilievre paying at the moment to stay in his house financed by the ‘State ? » The maneuver did not escape the conservatives. “Did you get your clip?” “, we joked to the minister. The same evening, around 7:15 p.m., during a debate in the House (i.e., during election night in the United States), Larry Brock presented a brief apology to Jean-Yves Duclos.

No congratulations from Jagmeet Singh

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh threw out the traditional message of congratulations to the winner of the election in the United States, Donald Trump. Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre respected the usual conventions in this regard. During Wednesday’s question period, he invited the Prime Minister to denounce some of Donald Trump’s policies. “Mr. President, Canadians fear the repercussions of Donald Trump’s plans. They are particularly concerned that his plans to impose widespread tariffs will hurt jobs in Canada. In this eventuality, everything will cost more. Will the Prime Minister clearly state today that Donald Trump’s plans are unacceptable? », asked the leader of the NDP. Justin Trudeau didn’t take the bait. “As we have done before, we will once again work constructively with the American administration,” he limited himself to saying.

No need to do housework

The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, was all smiles on Wednesday even though he had to spend hours reading secret documents written by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on foreign interference and perfidious activities allegedly carried out by Canadian parliamentarians for the benefit of foreign states such as China, India or Russia. Mr. Blanchet, who recently obtained the necessary security clearance to have access to these documents, cannot reveal the juicy details contained in these documents. But he did not hesitate to point out that no Bloc Québécois MP was targeted by the explosive allegations. Incidentally, Mr. Blanchet affirmed that the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, would have every interest in obtaining his security clearance also in order to be able to read the secret documents. Should we decode polite advice from the Bloc leader? Pierre Poilievre, let us remember, refuses to obtain this famous security clearance on the grounds that it would prevent him from asking difficult questions to the Trudeau government on foreign interference.

Kariane Bourassa welcomes her first child

CAQ MP Kariane Bourassa gave birth this week to her first child, little Madden. If you’ve been thinking about ex-Raiders coach and former sportscaster John Madden, you’ve seen it right. Indeed, football is a true religion in Kariane Bourassa’s clan. Her husband played at the university level and is still involved in sports with his two oldest children. The video game Madden NFL is also particularly popular in the cottage of the member for Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré. In context, “Madden” quickly appeared in the list of names for the baby, the new mother revealed to us. Kariane Bourassa used in vitro fertilization to start her family. She has increased the number of interviews and publications on social networks to break the taboos on assisted procreation.

Tough week for Christian Dubé

It’s been a difficult week for Christian Dubé. The minister first sowed confusion about the place of private health care. After asserting “that we are very close to being able to gradually wean ourselves from the private network”, the Minister of Health backpedaled and admitted to having made a mistake regarding the use of the word “weaning”. The private sector will remain complementary to the public, he corrected. Mr. Dubé was also forced to concede on Thursday, while taking stock of his Health Plan, that he would not achieve his target of reducing the number of surgical procedures waiting for more than a year to 2,500. as of December 31. The minister even declared that he did not expect “it would be so difficult” to restore the health network. Access to the first line remains a priority, even if, again, he recognized several pitfalls. He made a new commitment: all Quebecers who do not have access to a family doctor or a family medicine group will be taken care of by the summer of 2026, just before the elections. A promise greeted with a certain skepticism in the context.

Towards a framework law for organ donation?

In a transpartisan exercise, deputies Catherine Blouin (CAQ), André Fortin (PLQ), Vincent Marissal (QS) and Joël Arseneau (PQ) held a press conference this week in parliament to present the fruit of the commission’s work aimed at to facilitate organ donation in Quebec. In their report, the members recommend that the government create a framework law on organ donation to regulate and improve practices throughout the network. Despite the consensus, Minister Sonia Bélanger, who is leading the file, has not committed to moving forward. However, at the start of the commission’s work, M^me Bélanger had made a commitment to table a bill before the end of this mandate. “That was my intention at the start, but I still have to look at all the elements because before constituting a law, you have to see the content, you have to have enough elements,” she explained Thursday, raising a national policy as a possible option.

On the contrary !

CAQ MP Sébastien Schneeberger did not digest the report of the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly, which revealed that the team of his colleague Chauveau MP used the “Coalist” platform. Designed for electoral purposes, it allows citizens to be placed in the categories “Sympathizer”, “Opponent” and “Not marked”. No way, Mr. Schneeberger retorted, of not helping a constituent who does not vote on the right side, and even, “on the contrary”! “If, let’s say, I suspect that it’s a person who doesn’t vote for me, at worst I’ll help them more because I don’t want them to say that I don’t want to help them,” a- he retorted.

Greens shun Baku

She has attended 14 United Nations climate conferences, but she will not go to 15 this year: the leader of the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May, is giving up on COP29 which opens next week in Baku , in Azerbaijan. “As a major oil-producing country, its credentials as a host are questionable – as were those of the United Arab Emirates and Poland in the past,” the lawmaker said. But it is first and foremost “the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians” which makes this choice of the host country “truly scandalous”, added Mr.^me May. “We know that Canada must be present to negotiate, but I will not be part of our delegation,” she said. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, will lead the Canadian delegation to the Azerbaijani capital.