Official Languages Committee on March 8th, 2012

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

That's fine. Thank you.

How much time I have left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You have one minute left.

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

I have a brief question for the representatives of Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. Earlier you said that the problem appeared to be the reverse in Quebec. You mentioned the recruitment of anglophone employees. Is your percentage of francophone employees that high?

[Jean-Pierre Lavoie]

Our percentage of francophone employees must be about 97%. In addition, 88% of those francophone employees occupy bilingual positions. In his evaluation of the roadmap, the Commissioner of Official Languages gave us a slightly lower mark for anglophone recruitment. That's why we have taken slightly more proactive measures to try to increase anglophone representation.

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

Do you want to increase your representation by 12%, 15% or 20%?

[Jean-Pierre Lavoie]

If I remember correctly, the target should be about 13.5%, which will bring us up to near the percentage that anglophones represent in the general population.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Bélanger, it's your turn.

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

Mr. Chair, since today is International Women's Day and only one woman member is sitting at the table, I am offering to trade my seven minutes of speaking time for her five minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

Ms. Michaud, it's your turn.

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

Mr. Chair, since today is International Women's Day, we have suggested that Élaine ask all the questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Do you want to sit as chair?

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

That would mean that I wouldn't be asking all the questions; that's not so bad.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Go ahead, Ms. Michaud.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

I want to thank all the witnesses for their presentations.

My first question is for you three. As the roadmap is already coming to an end, we are anxiously awaiting the mid-term evaluation. We have not heard about your summative evaluations. Have you started them? Exactly where are you in that process?

Anyone can answer first. Go ahead, Mr. Watson.

[Daniel Watson]

We are very closely monitoring every project we carry out. We have conducted a review of each of the projects that have been launched, such as the Olympic Games project, from which we have drawn some very positive conclusions. We were very pleased to see the amount of money derived from other sources, for example, following the Olympics project.

However, this question goes beyond purely financial issues. For example, in my remarks, I mentioned the growing recognition of the value added by the francophone communities in western Canada following similar events. When people see something, they see development, opportunities and connections that are being made between businesses and visitors who come from the rest of the world, connections that otherwise would not have been made.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

So I understand that you have evaluated various aspects but that there has not yet been a summative evaluation.

[Daniel Watson]

We are in the process of doing it. Of course, the program is not over. We generally wait until the end of the program before conducting the major valuation. However, during the process, we also review what is going on, and we intend soon to complete a review of what has happened to date.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you very much.

[Jean-Pierre Lavoie]

Thank you for your question.

As you probably know, the Treasury Board Secretariat's decision on the initiative offered two options: that each of the initiative partners conduct its own summative evaluation, or that we conduct it jointly with Industry Canada. I believe the same is true for ACOA in the west and for FedNor.

So we are working with Industry Canada. We have already provided information to the department, which will prepare the summary, the synthesis of the evaluations of the three agencies, and produce a summative evaluation that will then be integrated with those of the other partners. So that is already under way in our department. Information has been provided to Industry Canada. I know that we are about to see the first drafts over the next few weeks.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

[Dr. Danial Wayner]

Thank you for your question.

We have a first draft evaluation.

I can say that it is now being considered by the executives at NRC. We're very pleased with the outcomes we're seeing, and there are a number of recommendations that we'll be bringing forward as well.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Do you know when that would be available to us?

[Dr. Danial Wayner]

That's a good question. It is not on the agenda for our next executive meeting, but I expect it will be on the agenda for the following meeting, which will be before the end of the fiscal year.

[Élaine Michaud, NDP, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you.

Now I'm going to put some slightly more specific questions to the NRC representatives.

The $10 million in funding granted in 2003 was renewed in 2008. Exactly how was that amount determined? Was it based on actual needs, proposed projects or the summative evaluations?