Marie-Hélène Gaudreau

Mr. Speaker, Claims · 70 wordsa riot broke out on Friday, October 16, 2026, at La Macaza Institution, in my riding, caused by understaffing.⁹ Frontline officers found themselves in the middle of what could have been a very dangerous situation. I want all my colleagues who were not aware of this situation to know that it was very alarming. Without the expertise of the officers on the ground, the situation could have ended very differently. Procedure · 14 wordsThe connection I want to make here is obvious. Let me be very clear.Procedure Claims · 11 wordsThe inmate population at La Macaza has changed in recent years. Aside · 18 wordsWe are not talking about a junior kindergarten here. We are not talking about a day care centre.Aside Claims · 10 wordsWe are talking about a prison, the La Macaza institution. Reasoning · 10 wordsThis is a direct result of the federal government’s policies. Claims · 106 wordsAs everyone knows, the government chose to cut $132 million from Correctional Service Canada.⁵Unearned certainty These $132 million in cuts come on top of budget cuts being made across the public service. Now we are learning that under Bill C-40, the Crown corporation the government wants to establish would have a friend of the Prime Minister, Doug Guzman, ²as its CEO. Is anyone surprised? Mr. Guzman, a former Goldman Sachs executive and banker like the Prime Minister, is expected to get a salary in the neighbourhood of $700,000 a year.⁶ That is a little higher than what an MP or even a minister earns. I am outraged. Procedure · 41 wordsWhile staff on the ground work day in, day out to ensure public safety at the prisons in La Macaza, Joliette, Cowansville and Port-Cartier, they are seeing how budget cuts have a direct impact on their work. We are being asked, ProcedurePositioning · 20 wordsas parliamentarians, to vote to give a $700,000 salary to a friend of the Prime Minister. This is no joke.Positioning Procedure · 8 wordsThat is the reality and it is insulting.ProcedureUnearned certainty Claims · 43 wordsI will explain why. It is because we also learned that Mr. Guzman allegedly threatened to leave the Defence Investment Agency, and that it was as a result of this blackmail that the government decided to make the agency into a Crown corporation. Procedure · 14 wordsAgency officials testified to this at the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.¹Procedure Claims · 38 wordsI want to explain to Quebeckers and Canadians what this change really means. The creation of a Crown corporation means establishing a company that is independent from government with a board of directors and a chief executive officer.³ Procedure · 9 wordsThe Crown corporation will not be accountable to Parliament.⁴Procedure Claims · 57 wordsI want to emphasize that: It will not be accountable to Parliament. The government will not be responsible for its day-to-day operations. As everyone knows, Canada already has plenty of Crown corporations, including the CBC, the Business Development Bank of Canada, Destination Canada and Canada Post.Unearned certainty What do those Crown corporations have in common? They provide services. Reasoning · 43 wordsThey have mandates aimed at serving the public or businesses. However, the management of military and defence procurement is not a social, cultural or economic development mandate. There is no rational argument to justify the creation of a Crown corporation in this case. Claims · 93 wordsThe only reason I can see is that the government wants to do as it did with Bill C-5 this spring or, worse, Bill C-39. The government and the Prime Minister want free rein to ram this through and control the whole process without any parliamentary oversight. Now that is power. What the Prime Minister wants is to evade legislative oversight and turn Parliament into a rubber stamp.Motive imputed It is easy. No one says a word, and his plans go off without a hitch. His actions go unnoticed. There is no accountability, period. Anecdote · 8 wordsMembers of Parliament are being denied three roles.Anecdote Claims · 38 wordsI have been here for seven years and I must say I have never seen anything like this. The first is the role of intermediary between citizens and the public administration. The second is the role of legislator. Positioning · 11 wordsThe third is the role of overseeing and monitoring government actions.Positioning The question · 5 wordsOtherwise, what is the point? Positioning · 28 wordsHow will lawmakers—and I am talking about all of us, not just the opposition—be able to hold the government accountable if the government keeps undermining transparency and accountability?Positioning Claims · 23 wordsIt is troubling. With Bill C-40, just as with Bill C-39, we are witnessing undemocratic manoeuvres to ram through measures without parliamentary scrutiny. Procedure · 50 wordsThey want to rush this through, quietly and without anyone noticing, as I have already mentioned. What would be my role on the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates if I no longer had the right to scrutinize these matters, if I no longer had the right to know?Procedure Claims · 58 wordsWhat do we have to offer to all the people who elected us? I represent the riding of Laurentides—Labelle. I represent a geographical area, but above all I represent people. My riding is home to 92,897 people.⁷ When I rise in the House, I am speaking on their behalf. I am speaking in the interests of my constituents. Reasoning · 7 wordsI am speaking with them in mind. Positioning · 34 wordsWhen the Prime Minister and the government seek to limit parliamentary power, what they are really doing is limiting the power of the people. I think that is clear.Unearned certainty This authoritarian streak worries me, PositioningThe ask · 42 wordsand I am not the only one. I do not want the government to hide behind a board of directors it has appointed in order to justify potentially dubious purchases, or to pat itself on the back when a purchase proves beneficial. Claims · 44 wordsI do not want the Government of Canada—which, incidentally, is the only one amongst our allies to have established a system of this sort—to be able to evade the close scrutiny of members of Parliament.⁸ We deserve a government that treats Parliament with respect. The ask · 5 wordsThat is what people want. Positioning · 24 wordsI want Parliament to be able to work diligently, with respect for the public and with the sound management of public finances in mind.Positioning Claims · 54 wordsI am concerned. Efficiency must not come at all costs, Hidden agencyyet that is what we are being told. We are being told that the government wants to do this in order to be efficient. We have just seen that we could have been efficient by taking care of our culture and investing in it. Positioning · 17 wordsHowever, a one-sided decision was made.Hidden agency In closing, I agree that the process can certainly be improved.Positioning Anecdote · 23 wordsHowever, we must ensure that the intentions are noble and in the common interest, not in the interest of the Prime Minister’s friends.Anecdote Promise · 21 wordsI have seen this movie before, and I hope that things will be different this time because the situation is serious. Claims · 5 wordsLet us treat it seriously.