Published at 1:16 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
(Ottawa) “At every caucus we have to remind MPs that they have to be patient in the face of the maneuvers of the Conservatives, who just want to throw a handful of gravel down the aisle so that it doesn't work,” he admits.
Small stones like presenting the same motion in all parliamentary committees to block work, or big stones like tabling more than 20,000 amendments to a single bill a week before the end of parliamentary work.
Bloc members are “angry” about these maneuvers, but not so much that they are loudly telling conservatives to go fuck themselves, as we heard in the National Assembly. The weekly caucus meetings serve to “bring such things to the public,” emphasizes the bloc leader.
“We have to ventilate there, that’s what it’s made for,” he said. So I don't think the MPs will lose their temper. »
Take your equivalent “gas”
As announced in September, the Bloc Québécois sought to be “the adult in the room” in a tense climate. The Speaker of the House of Commons has repeatedly reminded Liberals and Conservatives to avoid unparliamentary comments.
However, the Independence Party found itself in the crosshairs of Pierre Poilievre and his team, who accused the bloc of forming a coalition with Justin Trudeau's Liberals and supporting “a second carbon tax.”
“It is expensive to vote for the bloc,” said Conservative MP Dominique Vien in the last question time before the holidays. This phrase was repeated repeatedly throughout the fall.
PHOTO ÉTIENNE RANGER, THE LAW
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet
There is no real second carbon tax. Instead, the conservatives point to the impact of the Clean Fuels Regulations on drivers' wallets. This directive, which came into effect in July, requires refineries to gradually reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their fuel by 15% by 2030. The parliamentary budget officer predicts that 17 cents per liter of petrol will be added by then.
“We would like to remind you once again, since in our parliamentarism lies are legal tender and there is no federal carbon pricing in Quebec,” insists the bloc leader.
“There is the carbon exchange, which I founded ten years ago [en tant que ministre québécois de l’Environnement] Then there are emissions regulations, introduced just a few years ago by the Quebec government and already in place before the Liberals' 2030 year. »
“To the extent that Quebec's meets the standard set by the federal government, Quebec's will come into force,” he specifies.
Whatever is blocking
The Bloc Québécois has fought several battles that it has not yet won. The Trudeau government has refused to change the deadline for repaying interest-free loans made to SMEs through the Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) during the pandemic.
He failed to obtain an increase in the old-age pension (OAS) from the age of 65. It currently only applies to people aged 75 and over. MP Andréanne Larouche's bill on this issue has passed the second reading thanks to the support of the Conservatives and New Democrats.
And the details of the anti-strike law, which the Bloc Québécois has been demanding since the party's founding, were negotiated by the Liberals as part of their agreement with the New Democratic Party.
“It's not just about the bills that are passed, but also about how we change the bills,” he replies. The signing of Martin Champoux in C-11 is huge. We had a great influence on the broadcasting law. »
If it's good, we're for it. If it's not good we're against it, but generally it's somewhere in between and generally we try to improve the suggestions.
Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois
He takes out a Post-it note from his wallet, which he has been carrying with him since 2019. There are three words on it: conscience, program and interests. The three criteria on which the Bloc Québécois Caucus bases its decision-making.
Their vision is to defend “Quebec's interests and independence” while support for the sovereign option remains stagnant despite the popularity of the Parti Québécois. A photo of him with Catalan separatist Carles Puigdemont hangs prominently on the wall of his office.
Yves-François Blanchet sees his role as “preventing federal elected officials from undoing what the elected representatives of the National Assembly are doing under the influence of Ontario or the western Canadian provinces.”