Official Languages Committee on March 6th, 2014

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

That's remarkable. And that's for the entire country?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Yes.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, minister. My hats off to you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Bateman.

Mr. Williamson, go ahead.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Minister, it's great to see you. You can always tell somebody who is excited about their job and enjoys it. You are just overflowing with that today, so I salute that. It's great to see.

I have a question regarding the 2012-13 report from the Commissioner of Official Languages. In that report he commented on a weakening of the application of the law on official languages and linguistic duality, but made no mention of the evidence he relied on to reach this conclusion. In his report he implied there is or has been an erosion of bilingualism in the public service because of some of the consequences of our move to balance the federal budget. I'll cite the paragraph from the report so you're aware of it:

Although the federal public service is going through major changes, budget cuts and subsequent massive job cuts do not justify ignoring Part V of the Act. In these difficult times when federal employees are feeling particularly vulnerable, it is important for senior executives in all institutions to lead by example and make it clear that employees who have the right to work in the official language of their choice can continue to feel free to exercise that right.

Those are his words. I think he overstates the changes that have happened in Ottawa. Could you speak to this and perhaps reflect on the evidence, if he has any, that he was basing this on?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you very much for the question.

I have to say that I think the official languages commissioner does his very best in the circumstances that he finds himself in. There are so many requests of his time, and I understand that. I did meet with the official languages commissioner very close to the time he released the annual report to ask him about this very statement that he made in his annual report, because there is frankly no evidence to suggest this hypothesis that he includes in the annual report. I was quite disappointed actually, because he admits it is a hypothesis only. He indicated very clearly that he has no evidence to suggest this but said that there will be a survey done and that he and his staff are embarking on looking for some evidence.

I just said to him, I think it would be better that you find the evidence first before you make the statement. It confuses the issue when that happens. I've also heard from other people who thought that this suggested somehow that francophone immigration was also being negatively impacted, which wasn't said directly, but you see how it dominoes. I have suggested to the Commissioner of Official Languages that this may be a better way to proceed in the future. When we look at francophone immigration, for example, it's a myth that's perpetuating. We had a third party expert come to the federal, provincial and territorial Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie in Winnipeg. He indicated very clearly how he was seeing francophone immigration. If you might allow me, I'd like to read a quote from his presentation. I have it in French.

He found that reforming Canada's immigration system would have a positive effect on the country's francophone communities across the board and that the communities would have to adapt.

Again, there are two different issues at heart that I've just answered to, but this is why we have to myth bust.

Thank you for the question.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

I would agree with that. I think Graham Fraser does very good work for the federal government. It's rare to see him talk about issues without support, so that's why I was curious to ask you about that.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Williamson.

Mr. Godin, over to you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I have noticed that you have all kinds of ways to say how well your government is doing, but I think we need to tell it like it is.

Under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, a unilingual English-speaking auditor general was appointed, something that hadn't happened in years. It even necessitated a bill being brought forward to prevent a similar appointment from being made in the future and to ensure that all agents of Parliament were bilingual. Under that same Conservative government, two unilingual judges were appointed to the Supreme Court.

On February 22, the newspaper Le Soleil published an article entitled “Communications dans les ministères fédéraux: «Anglais. Sorry »”. In response to the article's findings, you defended the government. Calls were placed to ministers' offices and staff answered only in English. We are talking about ministers' offices. No legislation is being violated, but, as minister, you defended the government.

And there's another thing. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was using English-only business cards. The official languages commissioner had to step in, and it took the minister in question a year before he got rid of the offending unilingual cards. I would point out that the Minister of Foreign Affairs travels all over the world to promote our official languages.

I am going to ask you a straightforward question. This is the third time I have sponsored a bill that would ensure Supreme Court justices were bilingual. Federal courts are bilingual. Appellate courts are bilingual. All the legal experts tell us it makes no sense for things to be any other way. Francophones should have the same rights as anglophones. They should have the right to be heard by a judge who speaks their language and who doesn't have to rely on interpreters.

Minister, will you support the bill this time around? In 2010, when the government had a minority, the majority of members supported the bill on the appointment of bilingual justices to the Supreme Court. The Conservatives in the Senate, however, dragged their heels until an election was called to kill the bill, when Parliament could have taken a stand on the issue once and for all.

As the Minister of Canadian Heritage, are you willing to support Canada's official languages? Are you prepared to support the bill on the appointment of bilingual justices to the Supreme Court, to finally give Canadians equal access to justice in both official languages, once and for all?

That is the question I put to you, minister, with all due respect.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for your questions. I will start with the first one.

Regarding the article you mentioned, you were wrong. I did not defend the departments that were unable to serve Canadians in French. I defended myself in this article, since I was attacked, first as the minister in charge of official languages, and then as member of Parliament for Saint-Boniface. I was told that my official website was not available entirely in French. I have been a member for Saint-Boniface for almost six years, and I have constantly made efforts to provide services to my constituents in both languages. My website is provided entirely in French and in English. In addition, two bilingual people work in my office.

The journalist told me that, when he clicked on “Passport Applications” on my website, he was taken to an English site. I told him that all he had to do was click on “French”, in the corner. He said that was one click too many. That's ridiculous. That's what I told him, and he put that in the article. I told him that we sometimes need to see the glass as half full. When native anglophones like myself make an effort to improve and use both official languages, they should be congratulated, instead of always being criticized. I am being criticized for one click too many, even though my website is available entirely in French and in English. As a member of Parliament, I do not have to have a bilingual website, but I do have one because I strongly believe in that.

I'm sorry, but you cannot make false statements in committee. I did not defend other ministers. I encourage them to make sure they are complying with the Official Languages Act. That's what matters.

I will now answer your second question about the judges. In English, we say that

timing is everything.

Regarding justices, it would be wonderful if that were the current situation in Canada, but the pool of judges is not large enough. In the west of the country, for instance, the pool is not....

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

But who is at the source of the problem? Who appoints the justices? The government does.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

The pool of applicants is not large enough. That's why judges must be selected based on their qualifications, their excellence in legal matters. I want to reiterate that we are investing in language training at the Supreme Court. Everyone can receive services in both official languages, and that will continue. The pool is still not large enough, but it may be some day.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Minister and Mr. Godin.

I now yield the floor to Mr. Daniel.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you, Minister, once again for being here.

Arts and culture is obviously important to any developing country, community, and so on. It's undeniable that the prosperity of arts and culture in Canada helps support both official languages, particularly in the minority language communities.

Following the recession that hit so many countries, many G-7 countries had to cut their funding for arts and culture. However, Canada, under the direction of the Harper government, committed to maintain it.

Can you help us to better understand the commitment that has taken shape regarding our national languages?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Daniel.

This is an important economic driver, as I said in an answer to a previous question. There are 630,000 people employed in the arts and culture sector here in Canada. This is almost $50 billion that comes into our economy every single year. Not only is this an economic driver, but it is also something that we as Canadians hold near and dear to us.

Our culture, our arts make us who we are. It's about where we came from, who we are today, and where we're going. All of that is typically reflected in our arts and culture, and that's how we celebrate who we are as Canadians. That's why it's so invaluable. That is why Prime Minister Harper continues to invest substantially in arts and culture.

As you indicated, we are the only country in the G-7 to maintain that funding. We're very proud of that fact.

Funding was also maintained for official languages programs. Yes, we did have to tighten our belts in a number of areas, but where we tightened our belts and where we saw changes was really in the back-office elements, trying to find efficiencies within my department, for example.

That's where we were able to do our part to try to alleviate the deficit and return to a balance, but we should be very proud of our record. This government has done more for arts and culture investments than any previous government, in terms of the level of investment.

In budget 2014, we also did something that's very important for predictability, something that the arts and culture community has been asking us for some time. We made many of the programs that sunset permanent so that the arts and culture sectors in both languages—because we have applications in both languages that are treated equally—now have predictability. They don't have to worry as the sunsets are coming about whether they are going to have funding to continue.

This was well received across the industry. It was rarely talked about in question period. I continue to wait for that all-important question from the opposition, but I'm going to tell you here and now. It's one of the first things I did as minister and one that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life because it was the right thing to do.

Thank you.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

As a supplement to that, this covers the whole range of arts, not only painting and things like that, but also artistic performers, plays, songs, and everything else.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I'll give you an example of how the artists get their direct funding.

We have the Canada Council for the Arts. We give them $181 million to ensure there is no political interference in providing those funds, and the Canada Council for the Arts determines who benefits from the $181 million provided by the federal government. As I say, that is direct funding to artists.

We also have a number of programs within our department. There is the Canada Media Fund, and the Canada book fund. We have a number of programs, festivals, under the building communities through arts and heritage program, through the Canada arts presentation fund. There are a number of different portfolios. We support 1,100 festivals every year, such as Festival du Voyageur in my own backyard, which contribute enormously to our economy and to our joie de vivre in Manitoba.

As I said, little pots in different places do exactly what you're suggesting, Mr. Daniel, which is to support arts and culture and help us celebrate who we are as Canadians.

[Joe Daniel, Conservative, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you very much, Mr. Daniel.

Ms. Perrault, go ahead.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to briefly go back to the roadmap. I know that your predecessor announced, last year, that the roadmap would not contain any accountability measures.

In light of that announcement, Commissioner Fraser recommended, in his 2012-13 report, that a management framework be established for the roadmap. Has that recommendation by Commissioner Fraser been followed?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you so much for your question.

In fact, that was the second matter I discussed with the Commissioner of Official Languages when we met just before his annual report was published. He said in his report that the government cut an envelope of about $30 million that was intended for accountability and the coordination of departments, but that is false.

As Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, I am responsible for a large part of the programs' management. In the previous roadmap, money was set aside for governance and coordination. However, during the consultations we held across the country in 2012 regarding the next roadmap, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne asked us to remove that envelope from the roadmap because francophone and Acadian communities were not directly benefiting from that money.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Has an external audit been conducted to ensure the transparency of the roadmap?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Yes. The audit report should be published soon.

However, I want to point out that this was a mistake made by the Commissioner of Official Languages. He admitted his error, but his annual report had already been published.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Was an external audit of expenditures carried out?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Yes. Coordination was assessed, and the relevant report should be published soon. There, you will find the information you are looking for.