Official Languages Committee on Nov. 5th, 2009

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Like my colleague, I was in Vancouver during the summer, and there was not much bilingual signage, even in Whistler.

[Jacques Gauthier]

It is being produced now.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

When will it be completed?

[Jacques Gauthier]

I cannot tell you exactly, but it will be ready for the Olympic Games.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Perfect.

[Jacques Gauthier]

Within a matter of weeks.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Chairman, do I have any time left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

You have one minute left, Ms. Zarac.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

You will need a lot of staff. At our last meeting, we talked about the possibility of using translation staff here at the House of Commons, given that the House will not sit until the end of January. Is that something you would consider doing?

[Donna Wilson]

Certainly if the staff were available for a secondment, we'd definitely be open to that. At this point, our conversations have been centred around the Translation Bureau, but if there are federal employees who could be seconded to us for that period of time, we'd certainly welcome them--absolutely.

[Lise Zarac, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Ms. Zarac.

We will move on now to Ms. Guay.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

On September 15, we received a report from the Commissioner of Official Languages which contained 11 recommendations aimed at VANOC. This morning, you talked about five recommendations, but there were 11. A month and a half later, you are saying that pretty well everything has been resolved. Personally, I do not believe it. I see there are still serious problems.

In fact, with regard to translation, I was the one that asked the question at the last Committee meeting. Translators at the House of Commons will not be working for us during the month of January. Often they are laid off or used for other purposes, but the vast majority of them will not have any work. This represent a golden opportunity for you to negotiate with the government in order to access those translation services. Indeed, one of the recommendations made by the Commissioner of Official Languages referred to the fact that you are not providing translation services and that the problem is unresolved. You will need to make a considerable effort in that regard.

A solution must be found for Richmond. And don't tell me how great Whistler is, because that town has been bilingual for years now. Whistler is an international site where people go to ski. It's a little like Saint-Sauveur in my region; it's bilingual everywhere, and the same goes for Mont-Tremblant. I am not concerned about either Whistler or Vancouver, but I am concerned about surrounding cities that have not made enough effort and which will need prodding. This is extremely important, because otherwise, we will miss the mark once again.

The third issue I would like to address with you is the Olympic Torch Relay. I know the torch relay will be coming through my area on December 11, and I am very proud of that. I will be greeting the athlete who carries the torch through the city, but I do not want to be treated the way one of my fellow MPs was treated. She was allowed to go up on stage, but seven seconds later, she was asked to leave the stage and told she had no business being there. If the Olympic Flame comes to my area, I at least want to be treated properly. After all, these are Pan-Canadian Olympic Games.

[Jacques Gauthier]

I will ensure that you are able to be up on stage.

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

That is not the issue. Our fellow citizens come out for these events, and we certainly would not want there to be similar hiccups across the country.

I'm even more concerned about Toronto Airport than I am about Vancouver Airport. There will be a lot of staff on hand in Vancouver, and yet a lot of flights will be coming through Toronto, rather than Vancouver. I am not concerned about Montreal International Airport, because it is bilingual; services are available in both languages. But what efforts have been made in recent weeks to improve the situation in Toronto? One does not sense that there have been any improvements.

[Jacques Gauthier]

There have been meetings with the management of both Vancouver and Toronto airports with a view to seeing what they are intending to do and providing them with our suggestions. Over the next few weeks, we will be continuing those discussions to try and help them improve things.

In Vancouver, VANOC staff will be on-site at information kiosks to identify people and receive them properly. We are currently considering something similar for Toronto.

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

I see.

Do you think you have enough time to resolve all these issues?

[Jacques Gauthier]

Yes, of course. I am very confident it can be done.

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

When it comes to Richmond, you may have to… if the government can help you, you will have to get it involved.

[Jacques Gauthier]

As I tried to explain earlier, when it comes to Richmond, there is no need to worry about bilingual identification during the Games, because that is a given.

What I was trying to explain is that we are attempting to resolve the issue of permanent signage now, precisely because the federal government is giving us financial assistance to install that signage. The cost estimate has already been prepared. Engineers are working on it.

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

But can you ignore the mayor? That's the problem.

[Jacques Gauthier]

Discussions are underway. There is no objection, on the part of either the Municipality of Richmond, the government or VANOC. On the contrary, there is unanimous agreement among us on this.

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

I see.

On the other hand, I suppose that the municipality does not want to defray the cost.

[Jacques Gauthier]

You're absolutely right.

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

That is likely the real problem, I suppose.