Official Languages Committee on Feb. 9th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

So, you really need different and separate facilities.

That's excellent. That completes our first round.

We'll now start the second round.

Mr. Murphy.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to thank all the witnesses for being here.

I am an Anglophone from Moncton, New Brunswick. In that province, we have long considered that a Francophone population, or bilingual population, is an important tool for promoting the local economy. It is an economic development tool among others.

I am wondering why a federal agency like CanNor is not providing minimal services in French. Moncton is where ACOA, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, has its head office. If it were not providing bilingual services for business owners and entrepreneurs, that would cause a real scandal.

I read in the notes prepared by the Library of Parliament that, here in the North, you have a higher percentage of Francophone immigrants than in the rest of the country. That may mean—and I'd like your feedback on this—that there are some Francophone entrepreneurs out there who would like to start a business here but don't do so because CanNor is unable to provide services and there is no federal agency to help them.

Am I right? It seems incredible. I think Mr. Godin already asked you this question. Is that the way it is?

[François Pitre]

There are no services in French offered at this time, either by the federal government or territorial government.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I have the paper from the Library of Parliament in front of me. It provides figures showing that, since 2009-2010, $100,000 has been provided yearly by Canadian Heritage, under the Economic Development Initiative, to the Northern Economic Development Agency. Where is that money?

[Sylvie Francoeur]

As a matter of fact, I wanted to talk about that initiative, but my time for answering was up. I wrote a little note to Mr. Godin, asking him to remind me to talk about it.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Please share the information with us!

[Sylvie Francoeur]

Absolutely. I will tear up my little note.

This is the only program offered by CanNor at this time in support of Francophone development in the North.

We are sitting here criticizing CanNor, but I think its officials actually show a lot of openness towards the Francophone community. They are making a tremendous effort to work with us. We received funding for projects through other programs. There is a lot of openness there.

I am currently working with a gentleman who is responsible for official languages, so that we can go one step further. In terms of their service offer, they do not provide services in English to Anglophones either. The problem is that they have to structure this new creature, which seems incredible. It took six months to settle the issue of the new president's signing power.

Dealing with the bureaucratic and administrative issues involved in creating this new infrastructure is taking an enormous amount of time. That is what we have been told. It took two years to build their offices in Iqaluit and now they have to hire staff. We have been told that they are still at the initial phase of developing the actual structure of the agency, now that they have dealt with the fundamentals and created the organization.

There has been some discussion about a more formal process under the new mediation program. I have forgotten the name of it. There has been discussion of the idea of submitting a project under that program, in order to support our actions and start to pick the pace. We have been patient up until now. We have cooperated closely with them, but beginning in the new year, part of my mandate will be to apply a little more pressure and move things forward a little more quickly.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I have two quick questions.

There is also an economic development and employability network at the federal level.

Is that network operating in your community? Is it effective?

[François Pitre]

Are you talking about the Coordinating Group on Economic Development and Employment Canada?

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Yes.

[Jean-François Pitre]

That's us. The CDETNO is one of the 12 representatives on the Coordinating Group.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I see; thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Murphy.

Please be quick. We will let you take a little bit more than the few seconds you have left.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Access to high speed Internet is an important communications tool for economic development. I know there is no such service in Hay River, based on what we've been told.

[Simon Lepage]

High speed is slow.

[François Pitre]

It's not very good.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Where is that service available?

[François Pitre]

The only high speed service is in Yellowknife, because they have cable there. Everywhere else, it is a satellite service and it's not very fast.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Murphy.

We will move now to Ms. Guay.

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

Earlier you said that there are 80 Francophone businesses here. I would like to know what areas they are operating in.

[Simon Lepage]

Primarily in the services sector.

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

And what kind of services are we talking about?

[François Pitre]

I used to do translation. A lot of people work in the restaurant and construction industries or provide services of that nature.

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

I would like to know whether there are any private French-language schools.

[François Pitre]

No, we are not lucky enough to have one of those.