Official Languages Committee on April 10th, 2014

[Stephen Johnson]

The idea of increasing private sector participation and drawing more resources from the private sector was announced in the roadmap. That idea has in fact been around for a long time. The support fund was established 15 years ago, in 1999. The aim was to create capacity and to evolve. That evolution began under the last roadmap. Now there has to be a greater focus on actual results and less on core funding, although that is all related. The goal is not to have a network for the sake of having a network; the goal is to have a network in order to achieve actual results. It is in that sense that we want to see actual results in the communities.

[Manon Perreault, NDP, Montcalm, QC]

Does that mean the enabling fund is facing new challenges? You definitely have new challenges.

[Denise Gareau]

We issued a call for proposals a few weeks ago, asking the organizations to develop a plan indicating how they would achieve their targets. They have until October to do that. We are also asking them to outline risks and issues in their communities in that plan. We clearly do not mean to cause problems on the ground. On the contrary, we are trying to strengthen our programs.

The organizations have already done a very good job of generating leverage. As Stephen said, every dollar invested generates two. The networks with the private sector are already well established. My colleague Mr. Wilson used the expression "to fill a room" in reference to the work of organizations such as RDÉE. There are capabilities and networks of professionals.

In their plans, the organizations will describe their issues and problems. We will work with them. Our objective is to promote work in cooperation with the private sector, but not at all to force them to make choices that are too difficult.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Perreault.

Mr. Williamson, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for attending our meeting today.

Mr. Gauthier, you said the following in your presentation: "In the past 50 years, francophone minority communities have closed a historic gap (education level and socioeconomic status)." That sounds like good news to me. Successive governments have made efforts, as have the communities themselves. That should never be forgotten. This is the result of their efforts.

However, you note that some regions have not yet caught up to the majority.

Based on your studies, what regions are those?

[Jean-Pierre Gauthier]

People in New Brunswick are facing very definite economic viability challenges, particularly in the north. That is particularly true of the predominant francophone minority community in that region. This is clearly a place where there is a significant economic dynamic and special challenges.

In southern Ontario, certain classes of immigrants, particularly francophones, need additional assistance. Our colleagues at FedDev have previously examined this particular group in economic development studies. The idea here is to target investments a little more to assist this group.

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

There are also francophone immigrants in Toronto and Ottawa, are there not?

[Jean-Pierre Gauthier]

The area of the southern Ontario Federal Economic Development Agency, FedDev, includes Toronto and Ottawa. However, in speaking with those people, I understood that they wanted to focus more on the community on the peninsula, that is to say in Toronto and St. Catharines, in particular. In fact, this is a sub-group of the francophone minority community in southern Ontario. We are focusing our attention on those two groups.

We are also closely monitoring what is going on in northern Ontario, particularly in Sudbury and surrounding areas. The situation there is not bad, but FedDev and FedNor are joining forces to stimulate the economy there as much as possible. The same is true of RDÉE Ontario, which is focusing on those needs.

Those, briefly, are two or three specific examples that emerged from our reviews.

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

Very well, thank you.

Mr. Gilbert, thank you for coming to meet with us today.

You said in your speech that French citizens were considering the option of settling in Montreal. I am intrigued by that. Is that because it is a francophone city, region and province, where even the French feel comfortable with the fact that it is a French environment where they can live in their language? Is it also because the economy is in good enough shape for them to find a job?

Are those the main two reasons why they are attracted? Are there any others?

[Rénald Gilbert]

I would not necessarily say it is because of the job opportunities. Some reasons are partly historical. The French community has a lot of socio-cultural connections with Quebec. It is impossible for them to turn on the TV in the evening without seeing a Quebec artist. For many reasons of that kind, Montreal is well known to them. In fact, the French community is concentrated in one part of Montreal, the Plateau Mont-Royal, and that causes a ripple effect. However, it is not necessarily for economic reasons.

I would note that the French go where the jobs are. In many cases, those who want to leave the French community, if I may put it that way, do go where there are jobs, in Saskatchewan or Alberta. They are not necessarily fixated on Montreal.

On the other hand, those who in a way want to find a small part of France in a place where there is a large francophone community tend to choose Montreal.

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

I agree with you.

Twelve years ago, I lived in Hong Kong, where a lot of French were living as well. It was quite a large community. I believe it was the third largest after the Canadian and American communities. There was also an English population.

You said the French economy was not currently doing well. Going back to a point that Mr. Godin raised, we do not have a lot of francophones or francophone immigrants back home in New Brunswick. I am a member from southern New Brunswick. If we want to attract people there, we have to offer them economic opportunities.

Do you agree with that?

[Rénald Gilbert]

That is true.

Perhaps I should have explained this earlier. We occasionally take what we call liaison trips. Colleagues from Ottawa, Dakar or Rabat, Morocco, travel to various parts of the country. Some colleagues of mine have just returned from Ontario. We do at least one trip a year, to the Maritimes, for example, to speak with employers. These trips are organized by RDÉE and the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. We meet with employers so they can tell us about the opportunities they offer.

There are several examples of French and Belgians who settle in New Brunswick. Most of the time, I have to admit, they settle in the Moncton area.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Williamson.

I want to thank all of our witnesses for their testimony. It will help us in drafting our report.

We will suspend for a few minutes to allow our witnesses to depart before we reconvene to consider the motion to be presented by Monsieur Godin.

This meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

We will resume the 20^th meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

We will be discussing Mr. Gourde's motion in the second part of our meeting.

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

Mr. Chair, could we go in camera to study my motion, please?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay. I will call the vote.

All those in favour of going in camera? Opposed?

We have a tie vote.

I am going to vote to stay in public because it is to continue debate. I am going to err on the side of being in public.

(Motion negatived)

So we are in public. We have a motion in front of us.

But before we do,

I would like to say something.

It came to my attention that the briefing notes that are being prepared for this committee are ending up in the department. Now, these briefing notes are not confidential.

However, they are prepared for the members of this committee. I hope the documents that are confidential, such draft reports, will remain so.

These briefing notes are distributed normally by email to you. Anyway, it has come to my attention that these documents have been appearing in the department. In fact, I think one of the witnesses today actually had a copy of one briefing note.

They're not confidential. By that, I mean that you're free to use them as you see fit. At the same time, they are produced for the members of this committee in much the same way that research is produced by the Library of Parliament for members of Parliament, and not for other organizations through members of Parliament. I think it's important that we respect that.

More importantly, I hope that the draft reports produced by this committee are not distributed to the department. This is a legislative committee; it's not an executive committee and not a committee of the government. While I don't think there's any breach here from a briefing note being given to the department, I do think it's important that any draft reports of ours remain with committee members or their direct staff.

I just wanted to make that point out of an abundance of caution.

Yes, Madam Bateman.

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

I find these reports prepared by our analysts exceedingly helpful. I think it's quality work. What comes from the Library of Parliament to this committee is, bar none, exceptional. I've been on other committees where that's not always been the case, quite frankly. I think this is excellent material.

I don't know why it would be a problem sharing it. I mean, this is a woman who's capable of looking at these complex programs from 37,000 feet and giving clarity, so maybe that's helpful for the people in the department.

I mean, why would we build silos of information when we're all about working together effectively and efficiently in the best interest of all?

We work in the interests of all Canadian taxpayers.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Well, it's because there's a division of powers, and between the—

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

I understand that, but there's nothing untoward in these documents.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

I understand, but the bigger point I was trying to make is that I hope that draft reports are not being distributed to the department.

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

But that's a completely different issue.

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

I think that's quite a leap.

These documents are produced for all committees by the Library of Parliament. Because of their quality, I wouldn't have a concern even if they ended up in the hands of the media.

These are quasi-public documents. They are not marked secret; they are not marked confidential. I think to go from that to even the suggestion that a serious breach might be happening is a bit of a leap.

Now if you have evidence—

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No, I don't.

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

I think, in particular, that if you're suggesting that something untoward might be happening on the evidence that briefs are finding their way to departments, you're comparing apples to oranges.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

I'm not suggesting that anything wrong has happened. All I'm saying is that it's come to my attention that the briefing notes are being distributed to bureaucrats, and there are just two fine points to make here. One is that the resources of the Library of Parliament are intended solely for parliamentarians, and not for anyone outside. In fact, when you request a research note from Parliament as an individual member of Parliament, it actually says on the inside cover that it's not to be reproduced or not to be published elsewhere. That's just to make the point that these documents and the resources used to produce them are for parliamentarians and not for other organizations.