Official Languages Committee on Feb. 15th, 2011

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

Where is the bill?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Sir, I cannot commit to you which day the bill would be tabled because that is not something that is under my control. It is done by the minister and--

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

You are the deputy minister. Are you telling me it is the minister who is not doing his job?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I didn't say that. I basically--

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

No, I said it. I take full responsibility for it.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Okay, whenever the bills are tabled in the House of Commons is a decision--

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

But the minister doesn't write bills. Your people write the bills. Your department writes the bill. You help him to write the bill.

Where is the bill?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

The bill will be tabled when the government feels they are ready to--

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

You are very clearly saying when the government feels ready to table it. You'd be able to produce a bill if they want one, right?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Yes.

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

Then the order has to come from them.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

It did come from them. Our minister came to this committee and committed--

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

But you will be able to present a bill when he wants it.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Yes.

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

Thank you. I really appreciate that answer.

How can you explain that the Department of Transport did not account for official languages in the latest public accounts? There is absolutely no mention of official languages, in terms of costs, etc. Some departments have produced such reports in the public accounts, but Transport Canada is not one of them.

[André Morency]

I believe we do not have to report on that, but if the committee has questions concerning our expenditures, we could provide you with any information that you request.

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

Would you be able to include that in the public accounts? You do have duties with regard to the official languages. You might not be required to produce reports, but would it not be appropriate to do so, given that the current government is preaching transparency?

[André Morency]

We could certainly deal with that, eventually.

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

Could you report back to the committee on any forthcoming decision in that regard?

[André Morency]

Yes.

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

When you, the deputy ministers, meet, do you talk about official languages?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Yes, there are a number of committees that discuss official languages. The Public Service Commission advisory committee is a deputy ministers' committee advising the Public Service Commission, and official languages get discussed there. As well, the Secretary to the Treasury Board chairs a committee, the public service management advisory committee, again with a large number of deputies. They do discuss official languages.

Recently, in the fall, maybe in November, the commissioner came and spoke to all deputy ministers at a meeting the Clerk of the Privy Council chairs. We call it the DMs' breakfast. It is on Wednesday mornings. He came to speak to us.

As well, a couple of weeks ago--I don't know the exact date--the commissioner came and spoke to deputies specifically around his report and how can we make it better, etc. So it does get discussed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

We will continue with Mr. Gourde.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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

You have presented two action plans on official languages in regard to the findings of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Part of the larger document speaks to the action plan 2010-2011 to 2012-2013. Another smaller document contains the action plan 2011-2012. Those plans were no doubt drafted based on a number of findings, including strong points and weaknesses.

Could you first talk about those findings and then address the procedure you have taken to implement those action plans? As well, do you intend to take action in order to improve the weaknesses?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

In terms of our department, our program management is.... We got an A, and we believe that we're doing quite well, as part of our action plan. With regard to communications and service to the public, we went up one grade. That doesn't mean, by all means, that we're perfect, but we're continuously working on it. We still have to remind our employees about the active offer of providing service to them, either on the phone or in person. That's an area we note that we need to do better.

With regard to language of work, we just discussed the whole thing. You have to constantly stress the language of work and to make sure that our employees are comfortable.

We have an issue on equitable participation. We dropped from an A to a C because in our Quebec region there was a reorganization before I took over as deputy. Out of the 50 anglophone staff we had in Quebec, quite a number of them moved to Ottawa. So our English participation in the Quebec region fell below the 13.4%. We were at 8.1%, and the commissioner was not particularly happy with that, which is why our grade went down. We're really trying very hard to increase our staffing levels in terms of anglophones in Quebec. Today I think we're at 10.6%, so that's an area that needs a lot of attention.

The other report that we gave you is on part seven of the act. That's an area, as was asked earlier, we really have to focus on very hard in terms of making sure that our policies and programs contribute to the development of official-language minority communities.