Official Languages Committee on May 25th, 2010

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Yes.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

And are you able to name them?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I certainly understand the debate and the views expressed by everyone—Francophones and Anglophones. Lysiane Gagnon, who is not exactly an Anglophone, said: “I am totally opposed to this bill. It is an unrealistic idea which is dangerous. It would considerably reduce the pool of qualified candidates.”

I believe Lysiane Gagnon is a Francophone, is she not?

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Yes, but as I said, you named English-language newspapers earlier.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Well, I--

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Earlier, you said that it would be tantamount to adopting the American system if we questioned judges in French. Did you not say it would be a little like the American system? If we were to ask a question in French to a candidate for a judgeship, that would be discriminatory if they were unable--

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Is that what I said?

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Well, I am asking you. Is that what you said? That is what I understood.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

You are familiar with the process whereby judges are appointed. We are seeing that now, with the new appointments made by Mr. Obama. In the United States, there is always a debate about abortion. There will not always be a debate on bilingualism.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

In Canada, there is, and always will be, a debate about abortion.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

But not at the Supreme Court. My view is that it is difficult and unnecessary. For 143 years, the Supreme Court has served Canada without this bill. It is not necessary.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Gravelle.

Ms. Glover, you will have the last word, I guess.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In the three minutes I have available to me, I would like to make two points.

First of all, Ms. Zarac, we distributed the tables you referred to this morning. If you would like to share that with the organizations that have been requesting this information, I believe you have it in your copy.

Secondly, I have been studying French for 40 years now. I believe I am bilingual. On the other hand, when I am in the House or in committee, I sometimes do not understand the French spoken by some people. In some cultures or regions, the accents are so pronounced that I have trouble understanding. Thanks to simultaneous translation, I am able to understand everything that is said. Mistakes are made at times, but it is much better than just letting the discussion go.

I, too, am opposed to the bill tabled by Mr. Godin. The reality of our country is that we are not ready for this. Yes, we want judges to be bilingual, but there are not enough fully bilingual individuals in the pool.

I would like to come back to what Mr. Coderre said. In fact, last week before the break, a Liberal MP made a joke about the English spoken by one of our ministers from Quebec. It was pitiful. I raised a point of order, asking that she apologize. If Liberals show no respect when they are in the House, what is going to happen in the kinds of situations you mentioned? The language proficiency of candidates for a position on the Supreme Court is tested. I fully agree with you. I am bilingual and proud of it. However, according to this bill, I would not be bilingual enough to apply for the job if I were a lawyer.

I would like to come back to what the Bloc members said. I, too, have some concern when Bloc members have reason to celebrate. At Canadian celebrations, like the ones in honour of our Olympic athletes, the Bloc members were the only ones to not proudly sing the national anthem, in honour of all the athletes, most of whom were from Quebec. Once again, that was pitiful.

Let us talk about reality. We are not really ready, but we are encouraging bilingualism. Right, Minister?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Ms. Glover.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

When I felt confident enough about my ability to speak French, and my assistants were equally confident, I took part in my first panel in French. Among the participants was Mr. Yvan Loubier, a former Bloc member who speaks very good joual, Mr. Godin, who speaks Acadian French, and Mr. Simard, a Franco-Manitoban. There were four completely different styles of French. I understood approximately 6% of the conversation.

I am perfectly serious. There are different ways of speaking French, different expressions and accents. To be fully bilingual is not as easy as some people believe.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

That language, like English, is a great asset for our country. I hope you will forgive me if I spoke with a Québécois accent; one must never betray one's origins.

Minister, thank you very much. That is all the time we have. Thank you for agreeing to attend a two-hour Committee meeting, at our express request.

Thank you and we hope to see you soon.

The meeting is adjourned.