Official Languages Committee on Dec. 1st, 2009

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

Earlier Mr. Levy mentioned that you, Ms. Moore, were the Official Languages Champion or the person responsible for liaison with the Vancouver port authority. I don't know whether you were already employed at the airport, but how long have you held that liaison position?

[Danielle Moore]

I started in the liaison position four weeks ago.

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

That means, Mr. Levy, that this makes no sense. In addition to the commissioner's report, which was made public early in the year and the reminder that was made in September or thereabouts, we now have this situation. I'm very pleased to see Ms. Moore here.

The Olympic Games will be held in how many weeks?

In how many weeks will we have the Olympics in Vancouver?

[Paul Levy]

They're about two months away.

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

So we'll have them in about 10 weeks.

You just hired someone four weeks ago to solve the official languages problem, whereas the games were to be held 14 weeks after your decision to hire someone. You mentioned that you have been aware you will have to meet certain obligations since 2003. However, 14 weeks before the Olympic Games, you're ultimately trying to hoodwink us into believing that the official languages problems will be solved. That's roughly what you're telling us today. We don't call that being proactive; we call that being reactive to the pressures of, among others, the commissioner or of the parliamentarians on the official languages committee.

Those are precisely the fears that I have previously mentioned. We will have to criticize more, once the games are over, because someone, somewhere won't have done his job. That's what we're seeing today, and we're talking about Vancouver, where the Olympic Games are going to be held.

I think this is a matter of responsibility at some point. You have to be proactive and stop being reactive all the time. In this case, I must admit to you that it is very disappointing to hear that this hiring took place four weeks ago, 14 weeks before the start of the Olympic Games.

I'm now going to go back to what is going on in Ottawa. Mr. Benoit, you were the first person to speak. You tried to justify the retail industry's problems and this general problem in Canada of finding francophones or bilingual persons. Regardless of the reasons, I'm disappointed about that as well because, while you were telling us that, people from Toronto, among others, were saying they were communicating actively to make it understood that concrete efforts had to be made to achieve real bilingualism among franchisees. I even think that, for Vancouver, you mentioned that you were approaching franchisees.

It would be nice not to hear excuses for not being able to push too hard so that they don't all close down, while others seem to want to make an effort to get involved with franchisees and their parent companies.

Earlier I was listening to you try to explain why this can't be done, while others were trying to say that they were there and were at least trying.

[Paul Benoit]

I wasn't trying to say that we couldn't do it; I was trying to give you an accurate picture of the situation in our industry. We are very proactive with our tenants.

It's difficult; that's obvious. As for hiring employees, 55% of them are bilingual. I'm talking about the franchisees in general. In Ottawa, 27% are francophones, the majority of whom live in the east, in Vanier or Orleans. It's very hard to find someone bilingual who will come to the airport at 4:30 in the morning to work at a small restaurant.

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

Mr. Benoit, it isn't up to you to justify these things. It is up to you to ensure the act is complied with.

[Paul Benoit]

I agree, and I won't conceal the fact.

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

The logistical problem of franchisees shouldn't be your problem.

[Paul Benoit]

Unfortunately, it is our problem and we accept it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much.

We'll continue with Ms. Guay.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'm really disappointed. The Official Languages Act has been around for 40 years now, and yet none of the organizations has managed to implement it appropriately at the airports. This is all the more disturbing since there are only nine weeks left before the Olympic Games.

Mr. Benoit, I don't agree with you when you say that people won't go through Ottawa. A lot of people will leave from Vancouver and will visit the National Capital. While they are in Canada, they'll take the opportunity to see what is going on here. I don't agree with you at all, and I think you underestimate the number of passengers who may deplane in Ottawa.

I'm also disappointed that you don't know the Official Languages Act by heart, since it's extremely important for it to be very well enforced. At the last minute, we realized that the web site of one of the airports, Vancouver's perhaps, wasn't complete. At the last minute, nine weeks before the Olympic Games, we're dealing with all kinds of problems. This is troubling because people won't have the necessary services in their language.

You talked about other services, such as franchises and franchisees, in your airports. I'd like to hear what you have to say on that subject. Can you give them penalties? Can you react and ensure that these people offer service in both official languages? I don't know how you operate. When you drive too fast, you get a fine. What do you do in the airports to punish people who don't offer service in both official languages?

[Paul Benoit]

In the leases we've signed with franchisees and tenants, there is an article that concerns official languages. Fines can be imposed, although they are not big fines. We do that from time to time.

Unless all the employees of a franchisee are bilingual, we would impose fine after fine, and that would produce no result. These organizations must comply with the act and with our leases. I'm going to read to you what's stated in those leases.

It states that during each and every shift of operations in all areas of the leased premises used for serving the public, we need “to have sufficient staff on duty to provide an [immediate] oral response capability in both official languages...; to clearly demonstrate--

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

I only have five minutes, Mr. Benoit.

[Paul Benoit]

I'm trying to answer you.

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

Is your lease drafted in both official languages?

[Paul Benoit]

Are you talking about the lease?

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

Yes, I'm talking about the leases and about your franchisees.

[Paul Benoit]

That's not necessarily the case for the franchisees: most of them are companies in the United States or Canada.

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

How many fines have you imposed?

[Paul Benoit]

I might be a bit rash in saying this, but I believe it's less than 15 or so in the past year.

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

It changes nothing.

[Paul Benoit]

It doesn't change much because, ultimately, the people get a $100 fine, but they still can't find any bilingual employees.

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

Oh!

Mr. Lennox, what do you say about that?

[Toby Lennox]

I must say that I understand the frustration and I can appreciate it. Having grown up

in Quebec, I am an anglophone from Quebec, and that already means problems.

The issue for the airport authority in Toronto is to try to get to training first, as opposed to discipline. We've found that discipline is not as effective.

The other thing we're trying to deal with is our staff turnover, which is fairly quick. We're working with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages to do regular training programs for them in Toronto.

One of the problems--