Evidence of meeting #41 for Official Languages in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bilingual.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
Because it's imagined they have the opportunity to learn the English language more than English people have a chance to learn the French language.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
It's because of the geography of our country. We have a country of 10 million square kilometres.
10:25 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I was in British Columbia, and the Chinese communities come to British Columbia and learn French. How could they do it?
10:25 a.m.
NDP
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
10:25 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I honestly think what you have done here, and probably I agree, is you're saying you're following the law, but the promotion of bilingualism will fall apart.
Mr. Landry said it himself on Radio-Canada television that they're going backwards. I think it's sad, and I hope you review what you have done.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
Mr. Godin, I don't believe we're going backwards. I believe we're going to achieve the goals set out in the Official Languages Act. They haven't been achieved for decades. We are attempting to do so.
As I said, the current system doesn't work, and we're trying a new system. We will be measured year by year. When I come back here a year from now, we'll see whether there are any changes or not.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Guy Lauzon
Mr. Godin, your time has run out.
This is the end of our second round.
I'd like to thank the two ministers. As all the members of the committee said, you were very kind to accept our invitation to testify before the committee despite such short notice.
I want to really thank you, both ministers and the other guests, for being here on very, very short notice. I'm sure the members all agree with me. They've all mentioned we're really, really pleased you care as much about official languages as we do. We urge you to continue the good work. Thank you very much for coming this morning.
We're going to suspend for about two minutes, because we have some future work we want to discuss.
[Proceedings continue in camera]