Evidence of meeting #20 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was languages.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
A subsection of the commissioner's report is entitled “Five decades of interventions with Air Canada”. This isn’t the first time you have testified before the Canadian parliamentary Standing Committee on Official Languages.
In your presentation to the committee, you mentioned the progress and improvements pertaining to bilingualism. As far as I can see, you want things to improve, and you are making constant efforts to do so. I applaud you but, at the same time, I have to say that, if we asked you to give testimony here today, it's because we think that there is still work to be done. That's how I see it.
What is your budget for legal challenges? Do you have a budget for that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
No.
There may be a case dealing with competition, or one that has to do with something else. We don't know what will happen in a given year. We had a lengthy case a few years ago that had to do with cargo, but we didn't budget for it. It happened after the budgets had been established.
If you are asking me whether we budgeted a certain amount to defend ourselves in cases pertaining to language rights, the answer is no.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
I'm not talking about cases involving language rights. I wanted to know if you had a budget for legal challenges in general.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
We have a budget for the group.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
We don't have a budget for lawsuits in particular. It’s for the group. It may relate to contracts, funding or all kinds of things.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Are you talking about the group that is taking steps to implement bilingualism?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
By “group”, I mean the legal department.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
In the last decade, there have been 14 cases involving official languages. I think that number is very high. I should mention that these are only the cases that have been listed. This figure is from the commissioner’s report. These are cases that have been disclosed publicly. I, too, am a lawyer, like Mr. Arseneault. I know very well that, while some lawsuits go that far, there are many others that were settled before.
Personally, I think that 14 litigations in one decade is an extremely high number. I would like to know what you think about that.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
I can ask Ms. Sénécal to answer the question after I do.
With all due respect, I will go over the statistics again. There have been 14 litigations and we have 42 million passengers. We are not in the same league as the Canada Revenue Agency. It seems to me that 14 litigations over a period of a number of years, given the millions of passengers we serve, is not a lot.
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
Actually, the 14 litigations are not from the past decade.
Liberal
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
There has been no litigation over official languages in court. There was one case 20 years ago, not in the last decade. The commissioner initiated proceedings for the service in Toronto and in Halifax. That dispute was settled through mediation.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Okay.
Over the last 10 or 15 years, how much have these legal proceedings or litigations cost you in total?
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
I don't have those figures with me.
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
They didn't cost a lot in the past 10 years, because we handled those cases internally.
Liberal
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
We have lawyers, we have a legal department. We have to deal with a number of legal situations. I am responsible for all cases worldwide, whether disputed or not.
Assistant General Counsel, Law Branch, Air Canada
The official languages cases represent a small part of the litigations.
Liberal
Paul Lefebvre Liberal Sudbury, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I will share the rest of my time with Mr. Di Iorio.
Liberal
Nicola Di Iorio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Thank you, Mr. Lefebvre.
Mr. Rovinescu, I listened to what you said. You clearly said that you felt frustrated and I sensed your frustration. However, I would like to tell you about a situation. This is not about castigating anyone. We must not dwell on the past, but rather see how we can solve the problem. I want you to know that there is a clear desire for acts of Parliament to be complied with, whether it is Parliament deciding on the legislation, the government deciding on the content of its regulations and all the organizations complying with them, be they in the private sector or not, or even business organizations. Discussions can take place at the outset, but once the decisions are made, we would like people to comply. That's important.
You indicated that 17% of Canadians are bilingual. You will understand that this makes us react and concerns us. Clearly, there is an idea behind that, and I see it in the brief submitted to us. We feel that you see this obligation as a burden. I also understand that an obligation is a burden. However, there is something you can control. As the president, are you prepared to issue a directive? I am referring to the Linguistic Action Plan. I will read it to you and you can trust me:
Collective agreements Measure 13: Upon renewal of the various employment contracts, discuss ways for the Company to improve official language compliance with unions.
This refers to our act. You will discuss ways to comply with our legislation with the unions. That will definitely prompt a reaction.
You know that the Official Languages Act is in the public domain. It supersedes any contracts, including collective agreements.
My question is very specific: are you ready to commit to issuing directives to your departments to ensure that contracts comply with the collective agreement? You don't need negotiations because these are public laws. Are you ready to issue this directive to your departments?
