Evidence of meeting #15 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was quebec.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10 a.m.
Manager, Government Relations, Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada
I don't think we really have anything to say on it right now.
Thank you.
10 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
We are very happy that the federal government has used the Canada job grant to give more flexibility to provincial and territorial governments. It is very important. The grant will be fully in effect on July 1st, and the participation of the provincial and territorial governments will go up.
What we are concerned about is the way the provincial and territorial governments are going to organize themselves and coordinate access to training with employers. For instance, in Nova Scotia, the Université Sainte-Anne currently provides retraining for immigrants and the unemployed. How is the provincial government going to continue working with the same providers? How will our providers know what the needs of employers are?
That sort of goes back to what the gentleman was saying a few minutes ago. It is important to achieve full coordination and co-operation among all levels of stakeholders, provincial governments, service providers and employers alike. Otherwise, there will be negative consequences. First of all, candidates, employees or workers may well not have access to training in French. Then, our colleges may well not be selected by the provincial and territorial governments to provide the training.
For us, the way this whole system works remains a murky area. How are we supposed to ensure access to French-language services and effective co-operation between employers and workers in this new system?
10 a.m.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
If Service Canada offered this program, do you think that would address some of the language concerns?
10 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
That remains to be seen. We don't really know how Service Canada is going to work with provincial governments. We also don't know whether the importance of having strong and stringent linguistic clauses and of consulting communities will be recognized.
I know that is part of the labour market agreement. However, we must keep a close watch on that, given what has recently happened in British Columbia, where five employment centres that provided services in French closed. They were not able to continue providing their services because the linguistic clauses in the agreement between Employment and Social Development Canada and the Government of British Columbia were not strict enough.
We know that the department has taken steps to deal with and rectify those types of situations. It remains to be seen how this will all play out in practical terms.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Could I just hear quickly from the YES group as well please?
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
If you have any comments on the job grant as well, I'd be curious to hear them.
March 25th, 2014 / 10:05 a.m.
Executive Director, Youth Employment Services
It's interesting, because I know initially the community was quite concerned about it in Quebec. The fear was that there was a lack of recognition for the role of the community organizations in that model. I think the amount of work that community organizations put into that triangle of the business, the employee, and putting those together was being underestimated.
Regarding people at risk, most of the community organizations work with people who are really difficult to place, and there was a concern that those would be the people who would fall through the cracks. Since then I understand that Quebec has signed the agreement as a status quo situation. The feedback I received at our employment round table was that people were quite satisfied with the entente.
I think there was a fear that moneys taken out of training were going to be coming out of the community organization's funding. I think that was why the community was quite anxious about it.
10:05 a.m.
Conservative
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Manon Perreault NDP Montcalm, QC
Good morning, everyone.
The answers are very interesting and instructive. I have not been on the committee for a long time, but I have learned a lot this morning.
My first question is for Ms. Kenny or Ms. Bossé.
You quickly talked about this earlier. In your speech, you recommended that federal institutions include language issues in their research on economic development and employability. Why is that so important, in your view?
10:05 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Thank you.
I briefly referred to the importance of including language issues in the investigations conducted by Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada on the workforce and other topics. The databases need to be brought together so that we have access to information. At the moment, there is no way to access the information, which makes it impossible to understand the full picture of the economic reality of our communities. Right now, we cannot even define what a francophone company is.
The Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie, which includes the federal, provincial and territorial governments, organized a forum on economic development in 2012. One of the main issues defined was the importance of research and of including linguistic clauses in federal-provincial-territorial agreements.
10:05 a.m.
NDP
Manon Perreault NDP Montcalm, QC
Is there currently any joint planning between the government and the communities?
10:05 a.m.
Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
There is the integrated plan of action from the Forum pancanadien sur le développement économique en francophonie canadienne. As Ms. Kenny said earlier, this plan relies on six priority areas for implementation. Now it is a matter of having the right players around the committee table to follow up on this action plan.
Perhaps you have something to add, Ms. Kenny.
10:05 a.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Another strategic plan is being implemented by the anglophone community in Quebec and by francophone and Acadian communities, in collaboration with economic development organizations, CEDEC and RDEE Canada.
You will understand that we are very concerned by the fact that the economic situation in English-speaking Quebec is not the same as in the francophone and Acadian communities. I would not go so far as to say that everything is rosy in Quebec, but let's just say that Quebec has more English-speaking employers or employers looking for people who speak English than our communities have employers looking for people who speak French.
A strategic plan is taking shape, but what I'm most afraid of is that we are going to end up with a plan that will mix the needs of anglophones in with the needs of francophones.
Also, there has not been a lot of consultation on how to approach the strategic plan that is being developed jointly with CEDEC, RDEE and Air Canada. Neither QCGN nor FCFA were really consulted before being presented with a done deal. That raises a lot of questions for us.
Right now, the survey questions coming out of the boxes from RDEE Canada and CEDEC deal more with entrepreneurship. So the survey questions are targeting entrepreneurs more than the communities.
Just now, I pointed out that communities need to be there, need to be consulted. If you want to talk about my economic development, I need to be there to be able to tell you about my reality, meaning the rural exodus in my community, the shortage of jobs for young people, and entrepreneurship training.
However, the survey that is going around—and in which we encourage our members to participate—deals more with my needs and priorities as an entrepreneur. I think that's a good thing because this is the first time I have ever been asked about it, but the other economic development organizations, of which I am a member, should not be forgotten. Of course, I think it is important that I am surveyed as an entrepreneur, but economic development is not limited to entrepreneurs. When a strategy is prepared, it is important to include organizations such as QCGN, YES and CMC, instead of working in a vacuum.
Earlier, I pointed the finger at the government, but I am also ready to point the finger at some of our francophone and anglophone organizations that decide to work in a vacuum. That serves no one. That is not a good use of taxpayers' money and the needs of communities are not met. Let's try to open things up.
My role is neither to stand up for the interests of an organization, a secretariat or an office, nor to stand up for a budget or for employees. I am sorry, Suzanne, but my role is to stand up for francophone and Acadian communities. If we don't all work together in that direction, we might as well close the doors and go home. I am not ready to do that, even though our organization has a long way to go. The government must encourage everyone to sit at the same table and promote those types of opportunities.
The concept of community-oriented schools implies that the whole community is there. In terms of immigration, I always say that it takes an entire community to welcome an immigrant. The same goes for economic development, culture and other areas. The entire community must participate and be involved.
10:10 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Kenny, this part of your presentation has been very interesting. I feel that we are really hitting the nail on the head; this is really the issue we want to discuss in our study.
The Standing Committee on Official Languages will probably summon representatives from the organizations you mentioned that work in a vacuum on developing strategic plans. Do you know other organizations that are trying to find points in common or should we count only on our committee to do so?
10:10 a.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Actually, the majority of organizations work well.
As you know, our funding has not gone up in years. We have the same pie for the same number of organizations, but sometimes we must share it with emerging organizations. As a result, the pieces of the pie are getting smaller while the amount of work is going up.
Unfortunately, some organizations or interest groups have got it into their heads that they should make sure they have their own budget. However, the goal is not to ensure that everyone has their own budget, but rather that, at the end of the day, all the work the organizations do meets the needs of the people in our communities. Let's not protect our budget or our courses at all costs.
As I said earlier, the roadmap anticipates an investment of $100 million over five years in economic development. However, the government must make sure it specifies what results it expects before it distributes the $100 million. It is important to specify that everyone is expected to work together to achieve x, y or z results in terms of employability, for instance, or when young people, seniors and women need to be integrated into the labour market, to combat the rural exodus, to create companies and to encourage entrepreneurship.
Right now, we don't have any of that. At the end of the day, it is your money, our money that we are getting. Will this money be used to develop 35,000 strategies without doing anything tangible? Our communities really need economic development. Let's work on it. However, let's first make sure that, when all is said and done, the money distributed will be used for the desired outcome.
10:15 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
I have one concern about what you are telling me, Ms. Kenny. I think all the organizations have commendable goals. It seems that everyone is working toward economic development, and that's good. However, if all these organizations want to do the same thing, if they all have the same goals and they have to fight for funding, some actions and activities will end up being compromised. If too many activities are compromised, not a whole lot will get done.
10:15 a.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Actually, economic development is not the only goal. I am referring to all the issues related to communities.
In terms of economic development, there is CMC of course, but there are also colleges, universities and RDEEs. Many organizations are working on economic development. For instance, a women's organization in Manitoba also looks after the employability of immigrants and works with employers. There are many.
It is important that everyone works together, hand in hand, and agrees on the common strategies. However, before all those stakeholders agree on a common strategy, the community must be consulted to find out what its real needs are. That varies from province to province. As I said, the needs are different for our francophones and for our anglophone friends. The needs, the realities and the issues are not the same.
I am not at all saying that economic stakeholders must be eliminated. What I am saying is that we must work together. Some things on the ground are working very well. The co-ops are doing very well, the RDEEs in some communities are doing very well. We just have to work together better.
10:15 a.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
How can we put this synergy in place?
10:15 a.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
The departments spending the money should speak to the community before they spend it. As for the governance of that money, it is important to make sure that the representative organizations in place are consulted. If money is being given to CMC, CMC must be required to work with the other organizations that engage in economic and community development. The same thing applies if money is given to RDEE: it is important to make sure they will work with CMC.
10:15 a.m.
Manager, Co-operative Development, Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada
I would like to briefly support what Ms. Kenny is saying. We are not entitled to our piece of the pie. As I said earlier, we do not have a budget. Perhaps we are not directly involved in this discussion, but I would like to support what was said. Even so, we can now see that there is a lack of coordination. There are various plans, but at some point, we need to stop planning and start working together. We are not part in this discussion, but we are seeing what is going on around us. I would like to point out that we have also noticed that there is currently a lack of coordination.
