Official Languages Committee on Dec. 1st, 2011

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

That's fine. You're using up my time, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You raised the issue, so I have the floor.

What is not permissible is for a member of the committee to indicate whether or not a motion was defeated in an in camera portion of a meeting. That is not permissible.

What is acceptable, and consistent with in camera rules, is for the chair to say that the committee has not taken a decision to table a report in the House. That's clear, otherwise I would have been obligated to—

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Yes, but that's not what you said. You said it had been decided not to do that. So we'll check the transcript.

Ms. Pilon, congratulations, you are your usual self.

[Ghislaine Pilon]

Thank you.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

There used to be federal-provincial agreements. Are there any now for early childhood?

[Ghislaine Pilon]

To my knowledge, there is no federal-provincial agreement on early childhood. In any case, it's a provincial jurisdiction. The government has decided to grant families $100 a month per child.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Is that enough to meet needs?

[Ghislaine Pilon]

I don't know whether any of you have young children, but $100 isn't even enough to buy diapers for one week.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

We've received presentations here from people from Yukon. There is a child care facility in Yukon that works very well but that can't meet the demand. We heard the same thing from representatives from Saskatchewan.

As a national organization, do you have a quantitative idea of the overall needs in the country in the area of early childhood for francophone minority communities?

[Ghislaine Pilon]

To date, no. We are doing an environmental scan; it isn't complete. I'm going to ask the executive director to talk about it, with your permission, because it's a very technical matter. However, we have something underway to quantify needs.

[Adèle David, Director, Commission nationale des parents francophones]

We have a site forecast projection which enables us to check the waiting list figures, the number of integrated service models—that's broader than child care service—that are emerging in the schools right now. There is a movement toward integrating early childhood into the school environment, for administrative and other reasons. However, our real goal in the francophone minority community is to create a francophone space and to intervene as early as possible so that our children are ready to learn.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Perhaps we'll prepare a report on that one day. I hope so. So it would be good for us to have an actual assessment of early childhood needs. Personally, I believe that's where it starts. If young people have access to a good education, that will reduce the problem of adult illiteracy and facilitate access to universities. It will also revitalize our communities, and the rights holders will be served. So it's very important to have that. When do you think you'll have that.

[Adèle David]

In March 2012.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I don't think we'll have completed our report.

[Adèle David]

We'll come back.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

You will provide us with that information?

[Ghislaine Pilon]

Yes. We'll come back and talk to you about it, if you wish.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I would like that, but we don't decide much these days. That depends on my colleagues.

[Adèle David]

We can provide you with the figures that date back to 2010 right now.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Excellent.

Do I have any time left, Mr. Chairman?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No, your time is up.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Ms. Bateman, you have the floor.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you for your presentations.

I have a few questions for you because I'm new to this committee. Unless I'm mistaken, your source of funding increased with the Roadmap. Is that true? You have primary funding, funding from the Roadmap, but this project is a major additional project, isn't it?

[Ghislaine Pilon]

We received an amount for early childhood under the Roadmap which is expiring.