Official Languages Committee on Nov. 21st, 2006

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Do you have more difficulty finding bilingual anglophones than bilingual francophones?

[Duncan Dee]

Without wanting to criticize the educational system in the different provinces, I must say that it is much easier to find bilingual candidates in Quebec and New Brunswick, even if there happens to be a significant number of francophones living in Winnipeg, for example. Perhaps this is a matter of the quality of education, I don't know, but we have a much easier time finding bilingual candidates in Quebec and New Brunswick.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We will now ask Mr. Godin to put a question.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First and foremost, I wish to raise a point of order which I would not want to be part of my allotted time.

I would like to know why we have called representatives from Air Canada before the committee. According to the rules, priority is given to consideration of proposed legislation. We are in the process of studying a bill. I have trouble believing that the bill, pardon the expression, has simply slipped through our fingers. We have called these people here as part of the study of the minister's report. But we were in the process of studying a bill, and we were going to call people in to comment on the bill so that it can then be sent back to the House of Commons. I find it unfortunate that people from Air Canada were not informed of this.

Looking at the agenda, I see that the notice of meeting does not make any mention of the bill. We've asked them questions pertaining to the bill, yet they were not asked to appear for that purpose.Therefore, I can understand that they are not prepared to discuss the bill.

I would like for us to backtrack; which why I am raising a point of order. I would like to know why we have called people from Air Canada to talk about consideration of the report, in addition to talking about the bill. It makes no sense to call on people from Air Canada to study a report and to not invite them to consider a bill that concerns them directly. I believe that we failed in our duties and I want us to check on what has occurred.

That being said, I would like to ask my questions.

Mr. Dee, at the outset of your remarks, you said that signage had been changed in a small number of aircraft. I can tell you that changes have really occurred. Perhaps this has been turned into an obsession, but on several aircraft, signs have been entirely removed in order to solve the problem of bilingualism. I think if you were to check, you would see that in many planes, the stickers located on the pull-down tray, indicating the location of life jackets and other things, have been completely removed. They perhaps may not have been removed on all planes, but many have. So the problem has been resolved that way. From a security standpoint, I don't think this was the objective, but I have been in planes where stickers had disappeared, and are not to be found anywhere else.

Therefore, you should be the ones thanking us, when we talk about such good things.

[Duncan Dee]

Yes, thank you.

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

Don't mention it, Mr. Dee.

As for Aeroplan, it is a bilingual program. But for the love of God, when I am on the phone with Aeroplan, and press 1 to receive services in English, I get an answer immediately. When I press 2 to receive services in French, I have to wait a long time. That is a problem.

[Duncan Dee]

Sometimes, it is the opposite. We have received complaints from clients who say that when they press 2, they are served much more quickly as opposed to when they press 1. And that is not—

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

Therefore, there's a problem.

[Duncan Dee]

No, it's not only—

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

You receive complaints, very well. Therefore, I'm going to complain on behalf of all anglophones.

[Duncan Dee]

It's not only—

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

We are, sir, at the Standing Committee on Official Languages, so I'm going to complain on behalf of all anglophones.

[Duncan Dee]

It's not only for the 1 and the 2, but sometimes for the 2 and the 1. In fact, if you phone from a francophone region, the first choice is French.

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

I can tell you that three weeks ago, I had a bit of a personal problem while dealing with Aeroplan. I called Aeroplan from my office one morning and pressed 2 to receive services in French. I left the phone on the speaker phone while waiting a half hour and listening to Air Canada music. This is costly for Aeroplan. It is perhaps an isolated incident; I don't want to spend all our time on it.

I want to talk to you about something else. I would like to make a suggestion. You said that training is given in French and in English in a given area. You also talked about the French Café awareness workshop.

I would like to suggest something else. You should stop using prerecorded cassettes on your flights and allow your employees to speak. That would force them to practice. In the past, flight attendants would talk to us because they were supposed to be bilingual. Today, they simply put in the audio cassette. We're not giving them the chance to practice.

I would suggest that they be given a chance to sit down, have a coffee and talk to us. That would be a good opportunity to practice the other language. We have taken away their chance to chat. Flight attendants stay quiet nowadays during flights. They put in an audio cassette and somebody else does the work for them. That's just a suggestion. In addition, that would prove to clients that your employees are able to speak both languages, not simply saying "Bonjour, monsieur" and play a cassette.

We don't even know if employees are able to speak French or not: they no longer speak to us. Those who dare ask for a bottle of 7UP find themselves before the Supreme Court.

[Duncan Dee]

I believe that you've raised a good point. We often complain about the lack of practice but do not allow our employees to practice their second language.

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

No, not at all. Quite frankly, you do not allow them to practice.

[Duncan Dee]

Therefore, that would perhaps be a good idea—

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

If I was able to learn the little English that I know, it is because I worked hard to learn it. The same goes for immersion schools. People can do what they wish, but if people are not given the change to practice French, they will not be able to learn it. It is through speaking that one acquires a language. You should be very familiar with this, you yourself have learned French. It is by practising that one learns the language.

In fact, it is Air Canada which has taken away from these people the chance to practice their French. They don't do it anymore.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

Mr. D'Amours you have 30 seconds to ask one last question.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Only 30 seconds, Mr. Chairman? I can understand why my Conservative colleagues only want me to speak for 30 seconds, but...

Mr. Chairman, I believe that it is important to highlight the following situation. I hear comments from the government concerning its commitment to official languages and its desire to make sure that both official languages be respected. The reality is somewhat entirely different. Two weeks ago, we travelled to Eastern Canada and we heard the exact opposite during the entire trip.

That being said, I want to ask a question about Air Canada's Internet services. On the one hand, the government has reiterated its commitment to official languages, but on the other hand, Minister Cannon did not deem it important to mention in Bill C-11 that Air Canada's Internet services must be bilingual.

Mr. Dee, I'm sure you will agree with me on the following: a unilingual francophone will surely have difficulty making an on-line reservation if Air Canada's website is exclusively in English.

Therefore, I'm sure that you would agree with me if I were to say that if this obligation were built into the law, not much would change because Air Canada will continue to provide bilingual services for on-line reservations. I'm not mistaken by saying that Air Canada will continue to provide this service in the future, am I? I understand that the service already exists, but the minister does not believe that it is important enough to legislate bilingual service. Ultimately, if this were enshrined in to the act, it wouldn't be a problem for you.

[Duncan Dee]

Mr. D'Amours, I do not want to get involved in a partisan issue between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, but I must say one thing. Since Minister Cannon's arrival, we have had many more discussions about the obligations pursuant to the Official Languages Act than we had under the former government. The new minister has spoken to us several times about these matters.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

What I want to hear from you is that given the fact that you already extend a bilingual online reservation service—and you admit that the online reservation service is bilingual; we all agree about that: currently, it is bilingual—, you would not object to have this provision included in the legislation.

[Duncan Dee]

I do not understand what you mean. We must put—

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

I am speaking about the bill that the minister came to table before this committee some time ago. The minister said that it was not necessary to include the online reservation service in the bill to guarantee that it is extended in both official languages.

You told me, as far as you are concerned, that the service is already bilingual. I agree with you. Given the fact that it is already bilingual, I want to know whether you would have a problem with including this provision in the legislation. Yes or no?

[Duncan Dee]

I would prefer to study the content of the bill before making a statement.