Government Operations Committee on Nov. 21st, 2024

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

You're referring to the 2016 regulations, correct?

[Carsten Quell]

From 2019.

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

Yes. Indeed, work started in 2016 and the regulations were passed in 2019.

[Carsten Quell]

That's correct.

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

In that case, you're referring to the old regulations. The new regulations will be implemented in 2026.

[Carsten Quell]

There are a number of regulations. We're talking here about regulations under part IV of the Official Languages Act, on communications with the public and the provision of services.

The regulations currently being drafted fall under part VII, on the vitality of minority-language communities, administrative monetary penalties that can be imposed by the commissioner and the use of French in—

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

Mr. Quell, I'm going to stop you right there. Don't talk about monetary penalties because the government hasn't even introduced its order yet. Don't tell me about something that is hypothetical. Who knows when it's coming.

[Carsten Quell]

That wasn't what I was trying to do. I just meant that a number of regulations are in the process of being developed. Here, we are talking about regulations passed in 2019 that won't be amended or reviewed until 2029.

Canada Post takes the census data and looks at its network of post offices in Montreal. Under the regulations, the number of offices the Crown corporation has must be equal to the proportion of census respondents likely to want—

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

I'm going to stop you there, because I have a question about that.

You must have realized that, in Quebec, specifically in the Montreal area, the number of anglophones has increased since the last census. The data from the 2021 census show that French is in decline.

Can you determine that, since there are more anglophones in Montreal, there must be fewer francophones?

[Carsten Quell]

I'm going to try to clarify the purpose of this calculation method.

People in mainly francophone minority communities came forward because they wanted to make sure—

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

Yes, but let's stay focused on Quebec.

[Carsten Quell]

What is different now is that, under the calculation method, anyone who, according to the census, regularly speaks a minority official language at home should be considered to want access to services in that minority language.

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

Mr. Quell, sorry for interrupting, but I have a limited amount of time.

Does the new calculation method promote French in Quebec?

[Carsten Quell]

The new calculation method brings—

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

Given your experience, is the answer yes or no?

[Carsten Quell]

I can't comment on what does or does not promote French. It's a very broad issue.

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

You understand the situation that's been observed in Quebec. A census was taken in 2011 and then in 2021. If the Canada Post Corporation did its homework, it would have noticed the decline in French in Quebec between the 2011 and 2021 censuses.

[Carsten Quell]

What Canada Post is doing is applying the regulations in consultation—

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

You're talking about regulations that now set out a new calculation method.

[Carsten Quell]

Exactly.

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

I will ask the question again, then. Does the calculation method promote French in Quebec?

We are talking about Canada Post, but the issue is deeper than that. It is important to recognize that French is declining across Canada, including in the only province where the common language is French.

Has the government taken the necessary steps to protect the two official languages? This is not about pitting English and French against each other, but it's important to understand that French is the vulnerable language in Quebec. Are the measures in place—is what Canada Post is doing—helping to protect French in Quebec?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm afraid there's no time for a response, but perhaps you can respond in the next round or the next intervention.

Mr. Kusmierczyk, go ahead, please, for six minutes.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much to Mr. Quell for his testimony here today.

I want to ask you if you'd be able to explain for us the main reasons behind Canada Post's decision to convert 24 post offices from unilingual to bilingual services. How does this align with the modernized Official Languages Act?

[Carsten Quell]

Mr. Chair, the alignment with the Official Languages Act can be explained quite simply. The regulations were made in 2019, and that was before the new Official Languages Act was adopted in 2023.

What Canada Post is doing, like any other federal institution subject to the regulation, is applying the regulations. The objective of the regulations, when they were adopted, was to increase the offer of service in both official languages across the country. We estimate that currently we will move from 34% bilingual offices across the country to about 40% with the application of the regulations.

The desire was specifically strong among francophone minority communities who wished to see that, for example, in the area around a Service Canada centre, when there was a school in that area, the school would be considered a factor in the vitality of the community. This would then trigger the Service Canada office, for example, to have to offer services in both official languages.

As I said in my opening remarks, any federal office will always offer its services first in the language of the majority of the province or territory. The action on the part of the government seeks to increase and enhance the offer of services and allow more Canadians to use services either in English or in French. The fact is that a bilingual office is not an office that is less English or less French because of its bilingual designation.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you for that.

You mentioned moving from 34% to 40% in terms of the percentage of bilingual federal points of service. My understanding is that this will result in the creation of about 700 new bilingual offices across Canada and that it's going to actually provide bilingual services for 145,000 more Canadians—again, just from Service Canada offices—so that, again, Canadians can access services in their official language of choice.

Do those numbers jive with what you know?