Official Languages Committee on May 5th, 2009

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Well, if you look at my own province—

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Just ask the heads of universities;, they themselves have told us this.

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'm very proud of the steps that we've taken, both provincially, when I was in the provincial government, and federally. I'm very proud of what my Prime Minister is doing to enhance the development of bilingual people in Canada and that they have opportunities to come into the civil service.

Now, I'm not quite sure of the statistics you're relying on or referring to when you're saying that bilingualism is going down in this country. I would say it's the opposite, that—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lise Zarac]

Thank you, Ms. Guay.

We will now move to Mr. Lemieux.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm very embarrassed about the way my opposition colleagues have been conducting themselves.

I would like to point out that there are two official languages in Canada. If I prefer to speak French, I can certainly do so.

If I want to speak English, I have a right to speak English. I can choose either one language or the other.

We're not here today to attack the minister. We're not here to set traps for the minister. Monsieur D'Amours, in his famous question, says “Ah, Minister, I changed one word in my question and you gave the wrong answer.” That's infantile.

We don't treat any other witnesses this way. We've had many witnesses in front of us from francophone and anglophone institutions and we have never grilled them on why they're speaking French today, on whether they speak French, on what their level of French is, or how they can call themselves this, that, and the other thing when they don't speak both official languages.

This is cheap politics, and it lowers the credibility of the colleagues—not you, Madam Chair, but of my colleagues—and it lowers the credibility of our committee. We're trying to do good work here, and instead it's being undermined by infantile, cheap political tactics. They're taking advantage of a situation.

We are actually here, Madam Chair, to talk about policy—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lise Zarac]

Mr. Lemieux, can we move to your questions and comments for Mr. Toews, so that we may benefit from his attendance while he is still here?

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Madam Chair, I have five minutes. You did not ask that of any of the opposition colleagues--to zero in on the question, to stop making a certain comment. I have my five minutes. If I want to talk for five minutes, I can talk for five minutes.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Lemieux can judge the questions as he wishes, but they were intended for the witness. Right now, Mr. Lemieux is addressing the opposition.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

No.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

He can say what he would like, but these questions were addressed to the witness. The problem lies in the fact that the witness came here today but has absolutely no knowledge of his file. He does not know how to answer so he is trying to deflect attention away from himself. That is exactly what he is doing.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

First of all, Chair, that's not a point of order.

Secondly, I'm not talking to the opposition colleagues. I am commenting on their conduct here in the meeting and how unacceptable it is and how it's an embarrassment for this committee that they have conducted themselves so.

That they would call that a point of order just gives evidence to what I'm saying.

So I am saying that if a unilingual francophone likes speaking French and only French here, he can do so, he is entitled to speak French. The same thing applies to anglophones. We have the choice of speaking either of the two official languages or both, it is our choice. It is the choice of each and every Canadian.

Minister, there are approximately 72,000 bilingual positions in the public service. Sixty-eight per cent to 70% are found in the National Capital Region. Twenty per cent are in Quebec. I would like to know what the government is doing to ensure that all Canadians have equal opportunities to secure employment and be promoted within the public service.

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Thank you.

The Treasury Board assesses the performance of institutions regarding this component of the official languages program. Through the work done by advisory committees and an annual best practices forum, my officials address the issue of equitable participation and equal opportunities to obtain employment and advancement for official language communities.

They also provide support for institutions having difficulty in that regard. The participation rate of both official language groups, linguistic groups, tends to reflect their participation to the Canadian population, and we think that's a good thing.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I would like to know what efforts the government is making to recruit new bilingual candidates? Instead of having to provide training after hiring, what specific efforts is the government making in order to find good bilingual candidates to staff the bilingual positions?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'll let my official talk about that in a more general way. But I had occasion to be in Victoria recently, at the university, where Treasury Board officials and public service officials were holding a job fair for students to try to encourage them to come into the federal public service. I thought that was quite remarkable. I was more than 2,000 miles away from Ottawa, and there was a real concerted effort by the public service to attract people from other parts of the country. So it's not simply people who live within 50 miles of Ottawa who have access to those jobs. I think that's good.

Ms. d'Auray, do you have any comments to add?

[Michelle d'Auray]

Thank you, Minister.

We participate quite actively in career fairs that are held at universities across Canada. We make sure the opportunities offered by a bilingual workforce are highlighted. We're also working very closely with universities. The Canada School of Public Service has a pilot project with universities to encourage them to promote the capacity and competence, in both official languages, of their graduating students to enhance their capacity to enter the public service.

That said, there is an opportunity for people coming in to get language training if they don't meet all the levels.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lise Zarac]

Thank you, Ms. d'Auray.

Mr. Godin, the floor is yours.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, have you already made recommendations to the Governor in Council to establish the enforcement principles of the Official Languages Act, as you are authorized to do?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

I'm sorry, I misunderstood that. I thought the question was directed at Ms. d'Auray about whether she had made recommendations--

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

No, I have asked you the question, Mr. Minister. Have you made any recommendations to the Governor in Council to establish the enforcement principles of the Official Languages Act, as you are authorized to do?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

The last one was made in 1991, I believe.

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

So you weren't here then.

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

That's correct.

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

That's what I thought.

I have another question. The Treasury Board is responsible for doing the official language testing at Canada Post. Is that correct?

[Vic Toews, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

We have a supportive role in that respect, but we are not directly responsible for the French language rights at Canada Post.

As I indicated at the beginning of my comments, each department or agency is primarily responsible for that. We play a supportive role.

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

I realize that you provide support, but who has ultimate responsibility for administering the test? For instance, it used to be Ms. Jeanne-Marie Légère, from the Moncton office, who tested the Canada Post employees in Lamèque, New Brunswick. I do not think that it came from Canada Post.

Things have changed. The tests are now done directly from Montreal or Ottawa. The current events in Ottawa are not the same in Lamèque, New Brunswick. You hear the same news if you listen to Radio-Canada, but the regional news is not the same. According to the comments that I have been hearing from Moncton, from Lamèque and Bouctouche, the people cannot pass the exams.

In its survey on bilingualism, Statistics Canada asked questions about grandfathers and grandmothers and the names may have been English, because there are anglophones in Lamèque. However, I would say that 98% of the population there is francophone. Bilingual testing is administered from Ottawa or Montreal, not from our region. Acadian French and Quebec French are not the same as Ontario French.