Canadian Heritage Committee on Dec. 5th, 2023

[Peter Menzies]

No, that's not what I said.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'm sorry. The time is up, Mr. Noormohamed.

I'm going now to the next round. I think we have time for one more round.

I'm going to start with the sharing of the five-minute round by the Conservatives, with Mr. Godin and Rachael Thomas.

Who shall begin?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My question is for the Unifor representatives, who have not been able to say much because we haven't asked them a lot of questions.

Ms. Kotsis, in your opening address, you said that you were concerned about the loss of media jobs. that's certainly important, but, as I am sensitive to the status of francophones, can you tell me how many of Unifor's 315,000 members are francophone?

[Julie Kotsis]

Again, I would have to defer to Marc, because he is our researcher at Unifor.

[Marc Hollin]

I actually don't have the exact number of our total francophone membership. It's a significant portion, representing workers in—

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Hollin. Francophones, then, represent a significant proportion of your members.

Ms. Kotsis, you said in your opening address that the tech giants were taking jobs away from Canadian media workers. It's your role as a union to protect Canadian workers and their jobs. It's important.

Since I am more attuned to the status of francophone Canadian workers, I'd like to ask you another question about them.

The government signed an agreement with Northvolt and Stellantis, but we can't get any information about it. Since you are perhaps closer to the current government, you might be able to tell us more.

Could you tell us whether these agreements include measures to protect francophones in plants located in Quebec?

[Marc Hollin]

Through you, Madam Chair, I actually don't know the answer to that. I can certainly commit to investigating and reporting back to the member on that question.

That's not something I was prepared to speak to today, to be honest, as part of our preparation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Could you send that information to us, please, on both questions? The number of francophone workers—

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

I have a point of order, Chair.

I don't know if we need to hear, on this committee, about that issue. It's a totally separate issue, and I don't think it's relevant.

I would not ask him for that information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

It was a question asked by a member. He could just send it in writing to the chair, and I will pass it on to the member.

It is relevant to what Unifor was speaking to. I'm sorry.

Go ahead, Monsieur Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Can I have my speaking time back?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Your time has been paused. We do that automatically.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Kotsis or Mr. Hollin, I don't know whether you've had access to this agreement, but wouldn't it be better for the government to disclose what's in the contracts, in the interests of Canadian workers and francophone Quebec workers, given that there is a decline in the use of French in Quebec and action needs to be taken now?

[Marc Hollin]

I think the protection and support of the French language and French culture has always been a priority for Unifor as a national entity and for our comrades in Unifor-Québec.

Again, it's not something that I have prepared to speak to today in terms of protections for francophone speakers through those specific contracts.

I can commit to putting you in touch with the folks within our own organization who can, I think, speak more intelligently on that subject. I would hate to misinform the committee or misspeak on any of those important questions.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you Mr. Hollin.

Madam Chair, what I'm doing is making a connection between the tech giants and the foreign companies that want to set up shop here and which, unfortunately, take jobs away from Quebec and Canadian workers.

That's why I think it's important to have access to the contracts. I asked the Unifor people whether it might be more logical to have access to the contracts to see whether the French language is being protected in Canada and Quebec.

I'd like to ask Mr. Hollin the same question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think Mr. Hollin says he does not have that information on him. He can send it to the committee later on.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Madam Chair, I wasn't asking Mr. Hollin to send on a document, I just want his opinion.

Could Mr. Hollin perhaps agree or give us his opinion on the fact that Unifor, and all Canadians, should have access to these agreements with these external companies to protect francophone workers and Canadians? We need to take the required measures to stop the decline of French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Hollin, what is your opinion, please?

[Marc Hollin]

Through you, Madam Chair, again, I wouldn't want to misspeak on that subject. Of course, protecting and promoting the French language and French culture have always been a main focus, both as a national union and for our comrades in Quebec at Unifor Quebec.

To be honest, I'm not well informed on that specific subject. I am the media sector researcher for Unifor, and I'm prepared to speak specifically on issues related to the Online Streaming Act and other related topics.

I think that these are obviously valid and important questions. I don't want to sound like a broken record, and I apologize, but I would commit to the member to carry on that conversation at another time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. We're 14 seconds over time now, Monsieur Godin.

I shall go to Michael Coteau for the Liberals.

Go ahead, Mr. Coteau.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I appreciate it, Madam Chair.

This is for Mr. Trudel.

One of the recommendations—I believe it was in reference to the time to act—talked about international co-operation to anticipate trends, but there was also a reference point, I believe, to maintaining culture.

How do you find the balance between working internationally through building trend lines and at the same time maintain an independent Canadian perspective? Do you have any thoughts on that? Maybe I misheard you, but that's what I thought the reference point was.

[Pierre Trudel]

That's exactly what I said. Borders in the world today are much more porous than they used to be. As a result, protecting Canadian values requires us to be much more attentive than we used to be about what is happening elsewhere. It's important to pay attention to methods being used and regulations being implemented by other democratic countries which, like us in Canada, want to ensure that their media can continue to be viable. They want to make sure that the resources their citizens contribute, directly or indirectly, to news is reinvested into news about life as it is lived in Canada.

There are no contradictions here. I believe that everything needs to be done as part of a whole, because from now on, what we have is a global system in which all of this is happening at once. We need to look at what steps other countries are taking to achieve the same objectives as us, namely protecting the dignity of our citizens.

It's important to be able to work with other countries, because we are dealing with multinationals that operate around the world. We can't pretend in our…

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Can I jump in? I don't know how much time I have left, but I have a follow-up question. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

[Inaudible—Editor] 12 seconds.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Okay.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the answer.