Official Languages Committee on March 27th, 2014

[Marc S. Tremblay]

Obviously.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I know about divided families. I come from a family of 11 children, of whom I am the 11^th. In 1972, not one of us was still in New Brunswick apart from my mother and father. I can guarantee you there were a lot of tears. That is what happens when families are divided. I know, we experienced it and we are still experiencing it. I have nephews and nieces that I do not even know. That is the problem.

Today, people are mobile and can travel. From the human standpoint, I would like families to be able to at least stay together. People who go and work in the west work 14-day schedules then go home for 7 days or else work for 20 days and go back home for 10. My schedule is four days on and three days off. I can tell you that it is nice to go home. Acadie is beautiful and I do not want to lose it.

However, I do not want to spend all my time talking about that. I just want to send a message. If people decide to stay in your province, they will do so voluntarily. We should hope they are not forced to do so.

Coming back to the business at hand, we are conducting a study and we need your recommendations. I would like to hear from all of you briefly. What recommendations reflecting your needs would you like to see in the report?

I am not trying to criticize the Conservatives, but there have been budget cuts. And yet you say that every dollar you spend generates three. That should wake people up.

You spend $1 and get $3 back in the economy.

With your support, what should the government do to stimulate economic development in the official language minority communities?

On that matter, Mr. Buck,

I want to thank you for the statement you made. You said we could work together.

The official languages are an asset. Some countries have as many as six official languages and they do not fight over the matter. We have only two in Canada. There are two founding peoples, along with aboriginal people, and it seems that every day we look for ways to fight among ourselves rather than to be creative, to work together and to respect our cultures. All that is an asset.

On that point, I want to thank you for your comment, Mr. Buck.

Now I would like to hear you tell me what you would like to see in the report.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Therrien, do you have any comments?

[Robert Therrien]

I can begin.

I made some recommendations in my presentation. I suggested that the provinces join forces in a way. A great deal of funding comes from the federal government, but not as much support comes from the provinces. For example, Saskatchewan is much more open today than it was in the past. However, that has not resulted in funding for development assistance, not to mention that the value-added of bilingualism is not used either.

Furthermore, when the provinces receive cash transfers, we must ensure that francophone communities are involved in the process, that they are part of it and that follow-up is done to support development of the communities. Transfers have been made in education and other fields.

Some economic initiatives have previously been introduced jointly by the federal and provincial governments, and it was very difficult to obtain funding. The money was allocated to anglophones. When we submitted projects based on the needs of our communities, they did not meet funding criteria.

So that is an area where the federal government could support us.

[Marc S. Tremblay]

It is hard to identify one recommendation or point in particular. Based on discussions with and surveys of entrepreneurs, if there was only one recommendation to make, I believe it would be that a loan fund should be established. That fund could help entrepreneurs in our province buy businesses, bolster their working capital or start up a new business.

According to survey results, funding is often one of the priorities of our francophone entrepreneurs. This loan fund could be established with the support of institutions or departments such as Western Economic Diversification or the Business Development Bank. Perhaps they could facilitate services to the francophone community in partnership with us.

BDC is already in Alberta and everywhere else in the country. It has several offices. We are close to it and it is involved in our activities. However, I am not sure it can offer service in French or accept business plans or financing applications in French, as I mentioned.

[John Buck]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Godin, and the kind words.

You've really teed it up for us in terms of an opportunity here to share something with you. I think there are some easy practical ones which we wouldn't want to make the key recommendation. For example, I think the enabling fund is a very clear one, very straightforward and very easy to make as a recommendation. Input from all stakeholders is very key as one of the areas. The research element as well is very key.

A more challenging one and a more fundamental one, and I think the one which members of the committee should consider, is that the Government of Canada must recognize the considerable and undervalued potential of Canada's official language minority communities as engines for economic growth and job creation.

I'll come back to the statement I made earlier that investments in economic and human resource development within Canada's OLMCs should not be recognized as merely a matter of legislative obligation.

This is an important point, but rather to the contrary, it's important to recognize it as a contribution to Canada's long-term prosperity.

It's a big recommendation, but I think as politicians and policy-makers, you're in a position to make a statement that should influence and cascade everywhere else through the government.

[Jean Léger]

I definitely want to add to what Mr. Buck said.

Federal government investments are currently achieving great results. We emphasized their economic impact in our communities: $100 million, 4,000 jobs and 20,000 businesses supported. I think we have to preserve that funding for networks, people who work with our communities and our private sector.

In addition, we have to ensure that federal government support for the communities increases, that is to say that it does not just come from three departments, but rather from the federal government as a whole.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Are there any other questions or comments?

Mr. Gourde, you have the floor.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

I want to thank all the witnesses who have appeared this morning. It was really very interesting and relevant.

You were very well prepared. If there is any information that you want to add, you can send it to us in writing. This study is very important to us. The more witnesses we hear from, the more we seem to increase the scope of the study. It is going really well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thanks to everyone.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

We will adjourn the meeting.