Official Languages Committee on May 7th, 2018

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

It is actually directly related to the document that Mr. Choquette is showing us right now. It is absolutely essential that you report on the results obtained on all the objectives. Let me reiterate that you have an initial objective. In order to evaluate in five years what might be considered success, you will have to go from point a to point b.

[David Manicom]

Yes.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

So, for us to know what is happening between those two points, over the next five years, you would have to report to the committee every year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

A schedule.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

This report would include the evaluation criteria for the objectives that you have set, not us.

[David Manicom]

Yes, sir, absolutely. We have a performance framework for this program and we will report to the committee on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

If possible, we would like you to provide your performance framework to our clerk so the committee members can review it.

[David Manicom]

Yes, I will have to consider that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

What do you mean by that?

[David Manicom]

I did not really understand your question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You just said that you have an internal performance framework. If your timeline is five years, we would like to review the progress being made over those five years.

Could you provide the performance framework to the committee clerk?

[David Manicom]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Lapointe is up next.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for being with us today.

I arrived after the minister left, but I am very interested in what you are saying. The target is 4.4%, but it is not being met. A colleague asked earlier which provinces meet it and which ones do not. I don't think you clearly stated which provinces are doing a better job of meeting their target than others. You said the federal government cannot require the provinces to set targets. It cannot require that, but it can encourage them to set targets through the agreements.

With regard to immigration and the economic agenda, some practices are more effective than others. How could you let the provinces know that some of them have adopted practices that produce better results?

Please tell us about the best practices and how they could be applied by the other provinces.

[David Manicom]

Yes, of course. Sharing best practices is officially part of the shared plan with the provinces and territories.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I said initially that some provinces are better able to meet their target than others. Which provinces are they?

[David Manicom]

The provincial targets are very recent.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Very recent? Do you mean one year, two years or three years?

[David Manicom]

Ontario's target has been known for a year, I believe.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Has Ontario been able to increase its francophone immigration target?

[David Manicom]

It should be noted that the provincial targets are not total immigration targets. Their target is set through their own provincial nominee programs, which is in fact the part they control.

Ontario's objective is for francophones to make up 5% of provincial nominees. I do not think that objective has been achieved to date.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

You said earlier that the 4.4% target would not be achieved in 2018 and that the level would once again be about 2%.

On the other hand, if the best practices result in higher levels, is there not some way they could be shared with the others?

[David Manicom]

Absolutely.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

What are those best practices? I would like you to tell us.

[David Manicom]

You want to know what the provinces' best practices are, but as I just said, the provincial targets are very recent so we cannot tell yet whether a province has been successful.

That said, it is very promising that the federal program has changed our express entry program to give extra points to international students who speak French. We have noted recently that the percentage of francophones invited to apply has doubled. That is extremely promising.

On the whole, the provinces still work very closely with their communities, especially New Brunswick, as you can imagine. The goal is to connect employers who can offer jobs with international recruitment efforts. We work very closely with the provinces and our overseas missions to help them.

Sharing best practices, now and in the future, is officially part of the federal-provincial-territorial action plan.