Official Languages Committee on Feb. 7th, 2019

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Choquette, you have the floor for three minutes.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am going to submit a notice of motion on what is happening at this time. There is, of course, the situation in Ontario, but there seems to be a general decline in the defence of official languages throughout the country. We may need to create a forum to re-establish the leadership of Canadian bilingualism. There are also difficulties in Saskatchewan. There is the issue of francophone schools in British Columbia. About New Brunswick, not much needs to be said. Everything that is happening in that province at this time is worrisome.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Are you talking about the Jeux de la Francophonie?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Yes. As for Quebec, the abolition of school boards is raising concerns.

So, for all of these reasons, I wish to submit the following notice of motion:

That the committee invite, as soon as possible, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA), the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), the Commissioner of Official Languages, and the Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie to attend a two-hour meeting to discuss a federal-provincial-territorial summit on official languages as part of the 50th anniversary of the Official Languages Act.

May I now continue with my questions?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Please go ahead.

Your notice of motion has been received.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Fougère, you spoke earlier of the famous letter Ms. Joly sent to Ms. Mulroney. What was Ms. Mulroney's answer to that letter?

[Marie-Lison Fougère]

In fact, I don't think I referred to that letter. Someone else mentioned it.

At this stage, the file is ongoing. The objective of the letter was simply to inform the minister of the fact that the federal government, through Ms. Joly, had decided to allocate $1.9 million to the needs of the Carrefour francophone du savoir et de l'innovation.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Did the letter not request a meeting between Ms. Joly and Ms. Mulroney?

[Marie-Lison Fougère]

No, not to my knowledge.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Fine.

Have there been any meetings between Ms. Mulroney and Ms. Joly since this difficult situation began to unfold?

[Marie-Lison Fougère]

I will not be able to comment on that matter. I believe there may have been a call at some point but I'm not aware of the details and this is not the type of...

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

So, there was no official meeting, with an agenda?

[Marie-Lison Fougère]

Not to my knowledge.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Fine.

Given the current situation, would you suggest to Ms. Mulroney that she hold an official meeting?

[Marie-Lison Fougère]

It is not up to me to suggest anything to Ms. Mulroney. That decision is up to her. All I can say today is that Ms. Mulroney was very favourable to the federal injection of $2 million. She stated publicly that it was a good starting point, but she also reminded people, as I said earlier, that there is a large gap between the need for French-language services and the federal investments in that regard. It would thus be advisable that the federal government examine the matter, recognize the importance of our francophone community, and seriously consider increasing its envelope for French services in Ontario, without doing this to the detriment of the other provinces.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Let me make a brief comment. The committee will soon be studying the modernization of the Official Languages Act. We would like to take advantage of your presence here this morning to ask for your suggestions on some specific points we will be studying, such as positive measures. Is an administrative tribunal the right path to follow in that case? We would be very pleased to hear your comments with regard to this modernization.

We will continue our question period with Mr. Clarke, for three minutes.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I have a somewhat difficult question, which I expect you will not be able to answer, but I'll try it anyway. After all, we're like a family here, we all support the francophonie, and these matters are important to all of us.

In your relationship with the Government of Ontario, have you ever encountered any ill intent at any point during all of this affair?

[George Zegarac]

I'll speak to fact that I haven't felt that they have. As I said, I've been around for 33 years in the provincial government. Governments have had to make tough decisions. I think all governments struggle with making sure that they're sensitive, and these are difficult decisions to make, but I've certainly had no indication that there's any bad intent.

[Marie-Lison Fougère]

Based on my experience and all of the discussions that took place, I'd like to assure you beyond any doubt that I never felt any hostility toward the francophonie; quite the opposite, in fact.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

That's very good, thank you. It's good news.

I want to ask you one last thing, to conclude.

Based on what we understood from the public comments made by the Premier of Ontario, the premier would like to go forward with the Université once his finances are sound—according to his perspective, as I have no idea what the situation is in Ontario.

Have you been told to continue the work?

You said you meet with the board of directors of the university. If I were in your shoes, and if I were present at those meetings, I would tell people that there is no need to panic, that work should continue, that it's in the works and that things will go forward when it is possible. To be able to move forward in four or five years, you have to continue to work on various elements now, such as finding students to register or finding land to build the university.

While preserving confidentiality, can you tell us whether things are moving forward at this time?

[George Zegarac]

As I stated in my answers earlier and in my opening statements, the legislation is still in place. The board and the president are still in place. We'll continue to have discussions. We're having discussions now in terms of the pause. The real focus now is working with the other institutions that have funding to make sure we utilize that funding in the best interests of our francophone communities and the francophone students.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Clarke.

Ms. Fortier has the floor for three minutes.