Official Languages Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No. What I'm saying is that right now we had planned to have witnesses on Tuesday, November 15, to appear in front of our committee. I don't want to have a situation where, if we put your motion first on the orders of the day and we end up having a two-hour debate on it, these witnesses are here and are just wasting their time.

I will do that, but I will then try to move those witnesses to Thursday. Okay?

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Let's talk first.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, we'll talk about it then.

The second thing I want to tell you is that

Mr. Godin suggested that we prepare a witness list. I will distribute the complete witness list that you have suggested. We've already invited more than 30 groups. We're now awaiting their responses to confirm the meetings that will be held before the Christmas break.

For the moment, the plan is that, on Tuesday, November 15, we will hear from three groups: the Consortium national de formation en santé, Société Santé en français and the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique.

So that's what we currently have booked.

Go ahead.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Chairman, perhaps it might be a good idea to meet with representatives of the departments. Mr. Gourde initially suggested that when we were considering starting this study. It would be important for us to meet with representatives of the departments. We hear things, but we have no idea what's being done in the various departments.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

We'll invite representatives from the departments.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

We would do well to do it before bringing in all the other groups.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Are you talking about officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage?

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I'm talking about representatives of the departments who have a role in the Roadmap.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

All right, yes.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I'm talking about those who deal with immigration, early childhood, justice, health—

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

We're getting through the list. I'll have the list distributed to all members. We've invited more than 30 groups, and we're waiting for confirmation from them. The reason why we haven't issued the notice of meeting for Tuesday, November 15, is that we have confirmation that the three groups are able to appear; they just haven't confirmed to us who exactly from their association is appearing. So before I issue the orders of the day, I want to make sure we've got the names properly confirmed. That's the second thing I wanted to tell you.

If you tell me you want to move your motion to the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, I won't invite those witnesses to Tuesday's meeting. I'll--

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

That's not what I said.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

I'm telling you, Mr. Bélanger, that if you tell me you're going to move your motion at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, I'm going to cancel their appearance--

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

That's not what I said, Mr. Chairman. I said when you get to the item I'd like to be the first to speak, so I can introduce the bloody motion before Monsieur Gourde calls to go in camera.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay. I will commit to you then to dedicate the last 15 minutes of Tuesday's meeting for your motion. I will allow you to speak first.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thirdly, the other thing I want to indicate to you is that

today, there will be a meeting with Sri Lanka's minister of national languages and social integration, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, in the Centre Block, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., if you are interested in attending.

The other thing I wanted to inform the committee of is that, as requested, we contacted

representatives of Canadian Heritage to get answers to your questions

and they told us exactly this.

Following the appearance of PCH's Officials at the October 18 meeting, a number of follow-up questions were identified. The Department is currently working to gather the information and will provide the documents to the Committee as soon as possible.

Those are all the points of information we've been provided.

Thank you to our witnesses for appearing, for coming across the country. We very much value your testimony, and I want to thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone.

This meeting is adjourned.