Official Languages Committee on April 8th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Chong, for raising the important issue of education. You convinced the whole committee that it's an important issue for linguistic duality.

We will now turn to Mr. Godin who has five minutes for questions and comments.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You said a little earlier that you had decided to modify your contract. Did you decide by yourself to meet with other people and amend the contract, the contract for which you have not been paid? You are not asking for any money, that is your problem not mine. Did you decide that?

[Bernard Lord]

A contract may only be modified when both parties are in agreement.

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

So the minister agreed to your contract being modified.

[Bernard Lord]

Yes, that is correct.

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

You indicated that you met with people from the language industry. Who informed you that those individuals wanted to meet you?

[Bernard Lord]

The wrote to me.

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

We met with representatives from the Public Service School of Canada who wanted to meet with you, and you refused. Did you not think that it was important?

[Bernard Lord]

As I said earlier, Mr. Godin, I did not accept every invitation extended to me.

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

Did the minister decide who you would meet?

[Bernard Lord]

No, I decided that.

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

So, you decided not to meet with the people from the Public Service School of Canada. It wasn't important enough.

[Bernard Lord]

I decided to meet with some of them. It was my choice, as I said earlier. I did decide, in certain cases, to not meet with some individuals.

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

Why did you think it unimportant to meet with representatives from the Public Service School of Canada?

[Bernard Lord]

I did not say that it was not important, Mr. Godin. I decided to meet with certain groups because I wanted to meet with them. I decided not to meet with other groups because I believed that some fit in better with the consultation process I was heading up, while others did not fit in as well.

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

Are you disappointed by the current government, which was elected on January 23, 2006, and which saw the former action plan and received the Standing Committee on Official Languages reports? There was nothing in the March budget, unless money is going to come later.

Under your terms of reference, were you not supposed to conclude your hearings early so as to give the minister a chance? You should be able to give us some figures. You said earlier that the community was very happy with your tour. Do you really think that they are very happy that the government has not made a decision?

[Bernard Lord]

You are asking me the question. As far as I am concerned, I am very happy with the current government.

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

I do not doubt it.

[Bernard Lord]

And I am happy to be able to say that because the government keeps its promises and takes its commitments seriously. It undertook, in the Speech from the Throne, to conduct additional consultations, and that is what it has done.

Mr. Flaherty's budget indicates that there will be further initiatives. It is up to the ministers to provide these details. It is not my job to do so. I am here today as an individual, Mr. Godin. I am not representing the government.

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

This government abolished the Court Challenges Program. Everywhere we went in Canada, from Newfoundland to Vancouver, people spoke of this. One of the most important things you said, Mr. Lord, is that if these people want to go to court, it's up to them to do so. This is a government that went to defend itself in a Fredericton court against minority communities and which indicated that if it won, it wanted those communities to pay for the cost of the trial. Could Ms. Paulin from Tracadie-Sheila have gone to court without the Court Challenges Program and won her case against the RCMP in New Brunswick?

Do you think that this is a good government when it took away from these minorities the main tool they had to get the law enforced? Moreover, the Department of Justice attorney even said that it wasn't up to the court to decide if the government had broken the law, and that the onus was on voters to overturn the government if they weren't happy with what it was doing. Do you agree with everything your government, a government that you like, said to the minority community?

[Bernard Lord]

Mr. Godin, your statement is so full of things that aren't completely accurate or that are incomplete...

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

What I said was accurate.

[Bernard Lord]

...that it would take me a long time to give you an answer.

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

What I said was accurate, and you know it.

[Bernard Lord]

That is absolutely not the case. I don't know that what you're saying is accurate. On the contrary, I know that many of your remarks are inaccurate or incomplete.