Evidence of meeting #73 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was positions.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
In French, we make a distinction between masculine and feminine, which is clearly not the case in English. At any rate, I think those are simply the official titles and they are also used in each of those acts.
Otherwise, we obviously encourage women as much as possible to apply for positions as officers of Parliament.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Okay.
In addition, the use of capital letters is somewhat random. The word “commissaire”, for instance is capitalized in some places, but not in others.
Were you advised by the legislative services as to the correct spelling of those titles?
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
That is how the word is written in each of those acts. It varies most of the time. That is the reason.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Okay.
In addition, the English and the French are not the same everywhere. The English version says “the Auditor General”, but the French version says “vérificateur général” without the article. Once again, was that the advice you received or is it a lack of accuracy? Or perhaps the goal was not to include the masculine and feminine in the title.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
“Un ou une commissaire”, for instance. I don’t know.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
It is possible. I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I don’t think this really changes the procedure. However, harmonizing the English and the French versions further can only help.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
When we pass a piece of legislation, we want it to be perfect.
As for the officers of Parliament, the list includes only 10. Other officers are not mentioned.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Actually, the problem is that there is no clear definition or consensus as to what an officer of Parliament is exactly. The category is not very set or strict. Under those circumstances, we said that the simplest and clearest criterion would be for the position to require an appointment by the House, the Senate or the two Houses. So those are the positions that make up the list.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
I will briefly go to the English version.
I'm hesitant to see laws changed by orders in council in the sense that this is a law that we're passing and we're putting it before Parliament. The creation of a new officer of Parliament would be an act of Parliament.
Would it be appropriate, when we create a new officer of Parliament, that at that time we could amend this, if this were to become a law, rather than have orders in council?
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
In fact, the Governor in Council cannot create a new officer of Parliament position; he can only add a position to the list. As I said, adding positions can only be good for us. We want to have as many bilingual positions as possible. In our view, it is not really a problem to have the Governor in Council do that.
Conservative
Bernard Trottier Conservative Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
But when we want to change a piece of legislation, would it not be better to do it through Parliament rather than through an order in council?
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
If the amendment was specifically to remove some of those positions or to change the aspects inherent to the act, we would obviously have to do that through Parliament. However, Parliament still has the power to amend acts or to create new ones. We don’t really need to specify that Parliament can add positions. It already has that right anyway. We simply said that the Governor in Council should be able to add positions if he thought it was a good idea.
Conservative
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
I listened very attentively to all the questions that have been asked.
Ms. Latendresse, my first comment will be in Russian and has to do with the work you did: spasibo.
I would like to continue in the wake of my colleague's questions about the quality of the French in the bill. The English version has a sort of rigour. In fact, the English is consistent from one paragraph to the next. But, that is not the case in the French version. It isn't very serious, but perhaps the people who drafted the bill could look into it. I do not want to make a big deal out of it, but since our role is to defend Canada's official languages, first and foremost, I think the French language should be treated equally.
NDP
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Absolutely. Obviously, it is important to always be especially careful. There is some consistency with the French and the English. The only thing I see is the absence of articles in French.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Articles are more common in French than in English. The articles aren't there in French, but it is in English.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Perhaps dreamers wrote the French version and linguists wrote the English version.
I had another question, but I will let my colleague ask it.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Congratulations, on your bill, Ms. Latendresse.
I fully agree with my colleague, Mr. Trottier, with respect to the Auditor General title.
I hope you will be flexible. Do you understand that the government supports your bill? It's clear to you, isn't it?
Alexandrine Latendresse NDP Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Yes, absolutely. The unanimous vote at second reading sent a clear signal that Parliament as a whole was in favour of the bill.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
I am very proud to be part of this consensus. I presume that there will be a few amendments, for the word “vérificatrice”. For example, our government supports this bill with amendments to enable all parliamentarians to work in the official language of their choice. That is the reason behind the support, is it not?
