Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It was recently reported that federal money given to the Province of Ontario for French language instruction in private schools is being eliminated from certain private schools. I want to bring this up in committee because this is an example of where the federal government has a role to play.
Since 1970, the federal government has used its spending power to encourage French language instruction in Ontario in its private schools, and that program has continued for over 30 years. However, the Province of Ontario recently announced that it will be eliminating this funding to a substantial number of private schools in Ontario.
There are a number of issues here. The first issue is one of unfairness. Presently there are about 230 private schools in Ontario that receive federal funding, administered by the province. The province has announced that it plans to restrict funding to only those schools that are secondary in nature and spend at least one-quarter of their classroom time teaching French. In other words, the province has announced that they're going to eliminate federal funding for primary schools, any schools that are religious in nature, and any schools that do not teach at least 25% of the curriculum in French.
I think the problem here is twofold. First, it's an issue of fairness. If you're going to fund certain private schools and certain religious schools, like Catholic schools, for French language instruction, then in Ontario, with such a diverse population, you should fund all religious schools and not pick and choose which religion you're going to favour.
The second issue is simply the preservation and promotion of the French language. I don't see how it is in anybody's interest to eliminate or reduce the amount of French language instruction or the support thereof in Ontario. If French language instruction is being provided because of federal grants to certain private schools, that should continue regardless of the affiliation of the school or whether it's a primary or secondary school.
I would argue that eliminating funding for primary schools versus secondary schools is the wrong way to go. As a matter of fact, we need to be encouraging children to take French at the primary level, because that's where they set their habits and their interest in the French language.
I bring this up because I think it's a very important issue. I'll give you one example of the type of school that will lose its funding. There is a school in Kitchener-Waterloo called the Kitchener-Waterloo Bilingual School. It has 350 students from kindergarten to grade eight. This school spends half its time teaching the curriculum in French. It will no longer be eligible for funding. I think this is an abomination.
We should support this motion because it's federal money, it's an issue of fairness, and this committee is responsible for an issue where the province is eliminating federal money from certain schools in the Province of Ontario.