An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I thank our good friend, the Minister for Official Languages. I hope she will be as co-operative, so that the action plan for official languages ​​supports this asymmetry that is recognized in the law on the use of French in federally regulated private businesses.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I hope that Bill C-13 marks the beginning of a change in the Official Languages Act and in federal language policy, arguably the main driver of anglicization in Quebec, which is home to 90% of Canada's francophones. Quebec is also called the heart of the francophonie in North America.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his work on the Standing Committee on Official Languages and his support for a number of proposals. I would like to hear his opinion. We know that the House of Commons recognized Quebec as a nation with one official and common language, French.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking my colleague for supporting several of the Bloc Québécois's proposed amendments to Bill C-13. We know that the Government of Quebec made some demands, and we tried to get as many of them adopted as possible. Things were going well at the start, but later there was some manoeuvring on the part of some Liberals, who even voted against the bill yesterday.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, let me set the record straight: The Bloc Québécois is not saying that this is a good bill. The Bloc is going to support it because we feel that it will move things somewhat forward for now, but there are still a lot of unsatisfactory aspects. The Government of Quebec asked to be in control of language planning within its territory.

Old Age Security Act  Mr. Speaker, we have often raised that point, which our colleague does a great job of defending. The government often responds that pensions are like that all over the world. However, I have some information here about the net pension replacement rate. According to estimates of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, the average net pension replacement rate was 50.7% of pre-retirement income in Canada in 2018, while the average for OECD member countries was 57.6%.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, just to expand on what my colleague was saying earlier, we hear a lot of members talking nonsense. We heard the member for Winnipeg North say that there are more francophones than ever in Manitoba. I have the numbers right here. In 1971, there were 60,500 Manitobans or 6.1%, whose mother tongue was French.

Court Challenges Program Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to know what my colleague thinks. The court challenges program was established in 1978 to counter the Charter of the French Language, which was democratically passed in Quebec. Then, the 1982 Constitution further reinforced that. It was also established to counter the Charter of the French Language, which should have fallen under Quebec's jurisdiction.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, Bill C‑13 acknowledges that French is under threat in Quebec. However, the Liberals introduced an action plan yesterday that gives Quebec $140 million per year to promote English. That is $700 million over five years for English in Quebec and nothing, or a few crumbs, for French.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, that is some logic. The Quebec government official said, “I have not yet seen in the plan any measures that are consistent with the declaration of [the] Prime Minister...namely that French in Quebec is threatened”. In other words, there is nothing in there for French in Quebec, but there is $700 million for English.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I was rather surprised because, throughout the clause-by-clause study, my colleague voted against the proposal to consult Quebec on the matter of positive measures. She voted against the proposal to let Quebec be in charge of its language planning. She voted against allowing the Charter of the French Language to take precedence in cases where there is a conflict between it and the Official Languages Act.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, I think there are some good things in there for francophones outside Quebec. Will this reverse the decline of French? Unfortunately, I doubt it. It was announced that most of the investments and improvements would be for immersion schools, while schools by and for francophones outside of Quebec lack funding.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, as I just said, we will vote in favour of Bill C-13 because it does make some progress, particularly with regard to federally regulated businesses. It does not meet the demands or Quebec or our demands because, like the Government of Quebec, we are calling for Bill 101 to apply to federally regulated businesses.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, we certainly support having an increase in francophone immigration. We have seen, for example, that more than 80% of student visa applications from francophone Africa are being rejected. I believe that is a real problem. We have spoken out about this many times, and our efforts seem to have paid off.

An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada's Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, the atmosphere in Quebec is electric these days. There is a movement, a collective awareness as the decline of French is picking up pace. There is every indication that is the case. Whether it is a question of which language is spoken at home, a person's mother tongue, the first official language spoken or the language of work, there is a rapid decline of French, especially in Montreal.