Official Languages Committee on June 19th, 2007

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

Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to amend my motion in order that we can hear from her when she will be available, even if it is not until September.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Duly noted.

Ms. Folco.

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

Excuse me, we have an amendment here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

So it will read by the end of the session or—

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

I had written June 21 in the motion, but if that poses a problem for the minister, it would be when we come back in September.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

It could occur on June 21, in the afternoon, since there is a meeting scheduled with the minister in the morning.

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

We are flexible, we are not ministers. We could hear from her in the afternoon or at the next committee meeting in September.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

So, do you wish to amend your motion?

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

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Have you submitted your motion in writing to the clerk?

[Godin]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Ms. Folco.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I cannot accept the arguments put forward by the members opposite.

First of all, I'm hearing that the ministers will have only 36 hours or something of that nature to prepare themselves. Then, there's the matter of the number of questions that we, the opposition, have asked during Question Period in the House of Commons, as well as the number of representatives who have tried to meet with one minister or the other. Obviously, some were unable to get a meeting. Finally, the fact that the ministers, or the minister, made a decision regarding the cancellation of the Court Challenges Program means that someone has reasons for eliminating it.

The only thing that we are asking these ministers to do is to come before us and explain their side of things. After all, we have heard from at least 10 witnesses, perhaps even more, when we consider the travels undertaken by this committee right across Canada. With the exception of two of them, to my knowledge, everyone told us the same thing.

I feel that the motion tabled by my colleague, Mr. Godin, is fair and balanced. I am really hoping that the ministers will all come and talk to us about this matter. I would even suggest to my colleague that we ask the ministers to send us something in writing if they cannot come, to explain exactly why they cancelled this program.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Ms. Folco.

I will reread the motion:

That the Standing Committee on Official Languages invite the Honourable Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage; the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages; and the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice, to explain to the Committee at its next meeting on Thursday, June 21, 2007 or in September 2007, the reasons why the Court Challenges Program was cancelled in September 2006.

Mr. Godin.

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

Mr. Chairman, in response to my colleague's suggestion, the problem is that if the minister responds to us in writing, we will not be able to ask her why she refused to have meetings, etc.

I'm saying that we should vote.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. D'Amours.

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

Mr. Chairman, I will be brief.

First of all, I am nevertheless surprised to see that the government members are expecting the House to adjourn on Wednesday, when according to our program, as far as I can see, this will happen on Friday. I do understand that they may want to leave earlier, because things are starting to heat up more and more, but I am a bit surprised to hear such comments. Sometimes the rumours fly.

Mr. Chairman, you can tell me whether or not I was suffering from a moment of weakness at one point. Did you not announce at our last meeting that Minister Verner was suppose to appear before this committee on June 19, 2007 which, it so happens, is today?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

As you know, Mr. D'Amours, the committee adopted two motions to have the minister appear, but she was unable to do so today. As I indicated, it would appear that she is not able to come on Thursday either.

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

I understand what you're saying, Mr. Chairman. However, if we go back a few meetings, is it possible that you announced here, at the committee—unless my memory is playing tricks on me—that the minister was to appear before the committee on Tuesday, June 19, 2007?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Yes, according to the information that I had at that time, the minister was hoping to appear on June 19.

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

I thought that my mind had been wandering for a moment, but that wasn't the case. How many times are we going to have to ask the ministers to appear? They're going to go back and forth with us because they do not want to appear before the Official Languages Committee on such an important issue. I can't believe it. I understand that they are not available Thursday; indeed, they will never be available.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. D'Amours.

We will now hear from Ms. Boucher, and I would then like to know whether the committee is prepared to vote on the motion.

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

Mr. Chairman, with respect to the motion that has been tabled and the fact that the minister was unable to appear on June 19, to comply with the motion adopted, Minister Verner will respond in writing to the committee before we resume our work. All right?

Moreover, anyone who has ever been a minister knows that at the end of the session, it may be difficult to free up their schedule for a meeting the next day or the day after that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Ms. Boucher, for that clarification.

Mr. Chong.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We have studied this issue to death. I think everything that needs to be said on this subject, on both sides, has been said. I don't think it's a productive use of the committee's time to spend yet another meeting on this issue. I think there are far more productive ways for the committee to spend its time.

Frankly, we do have some serious challenges in this country with respect to linguistic minority rights, with respect to the use of French in this country. The fact is that French is declining as a language in this country, and yet we're focusing on this $2 million or $3 million program, and we've studied it to death.

Frankly, there are a lot more productive ways for the committee to be using its time. If we look back at the time we've spent on this particular program in years hence, I think people are going to look back and say it wasn't a productive use of the committee's time.

It would be far better to take a look at broader issues around bilingualism and how we're going to increase the number of people in this country who are bilingual than spending meeting after meeting discussing this subject. I think that would be a far better use of our time. I don't think we should spend another meeting on this subject.

If I could use an analogy, Rome is burning and we're worried about the silver chalices. We have to move on.