Official Languages Committee on Sept. 22nd, 2016

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

It was just distributed five minutes ago.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

All right.

Continue reading to provide us with the context.

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

All right. I understand that it may a bit of an innovation to amend one's own motion, but, once again, I am prepared to—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Technically speaking, one may not amend one's own motion except with the unanimous consent of committee members.

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

All right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I will allow you to continue reading it.

Mr. Samson, do you have a comment?

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

If you want to allow him to continue reading the motion, that is fine with me. However, I would like to move an amendment to the motion that includes what Mr. Généreux is proposing. He therefore does not need to amend his own motion, since I myself will move to amend it by adding a paragraph. I will do so following his reading of the motion, if that all right with you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Then we will return to Mr. Généreux, who may continue reading.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Christine Holke]

Are we returning to the original motion, in that case?

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

That is a good question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

What we have before us is your original motion, is it not?

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

No, this is the amended motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

All right.

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

However, I do not have the original version with me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Perhaps I would prefer that you read the motion you officially introduced.

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

All right.

[The Clerk]

We have copies of it for everyone, including Mr. Généreux.

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

All right. I will read the motion I initially introduced:

Whereas Air Canada has been subject to the full Official Languages Act for close to 50 years; The committee recommends that the Government of Canada take immediate action regarding Air Canada following the release of the special report by the Commissioner of Official Languages.

The committee recommends: a) That the government strengthen the enforcement regime applicable to Air Canada and expand the powers of the Official Languages Commissioner, in particular to enter into compliance agreements. b) That the government amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act to give the Federal Court the power to award damages for violations of certain provisions of the Official Languages Act without the claimant having to prove an actual loss stemming from the violation. The Federal Court could assess damages based on a number of explicit factors to be taken into consideration. c) That the government introduce provisions for fines to be imposed by the courts for certain regulatory violations. d) That the government provide for administrative monetary penalties that can be issued in response to non-compliance with the legislation.

Those are essentially the four solutions outlined in the Commissioner's report.

I had originally proposed that “immediate action” be taken. Instead of “immediate action,” the amended motion refers to evaluating “the feasibility and desirability of implementing” those four solutions.

The idea would thus be to call on the government to analyze the proposals rather than take immediate action and to present a bill. In that way, committee members could obtain a report from the government informing us whether that is feasible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

All right.

I repeat that one may not amend one's own motion. That would require unanimous consent.

Mr. Samson has requested the floor.

Go ahead, Mr. Samson.

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

I would like to move an amendment. Mr. Généreux refers to immediate action. That is what is causing a problem, and that is why I would state the following at the end of the motion:

WHEREAS serious concerns have been raised by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages in its special report on Air Canada; BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Standing Committee on Official Languages continues to study at a date to be scheduled later, the Commissioner's report on Air Canada, and present its conclusions and recommendations to the House of Commons.

With this change, the words “immediate action” are removed from the motion, which states instead that the report will be studied “at a date to be scheduled later,” and it is agreed that the committee will “present its conclusions and recommendations to the House of Commons.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We have an amendment before us.

Mr. Choquette, you have the floor.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

First of all, I want to thank Mr. Généreux and his party for this motion. I think it is very interesting and very appropriate in that Commissioner Fraser clearly explained that he was speaking from the heart. The situation was a particular one that was systematically causing problems.

Mr. Généreux, I had forgotten you had tabled this motion. I was saying on Tuesday that the motion should be amended in the way you have done. Consequently, I will definitely support it. I feel, as you do, that the commissioner's suggestions should be analyzed before they are implemented. In fact, in my view, these really are suggestions by the commissioner. I do not believe he asked that all the suggestions be implemented, but rather at least one of them.

I think the most appropriate, most important suggestion—and it would be useful in other situations—is to give the commissioner more powers, to reinforce the implementation regime of the Official Languages Act. That would be helpful not only in the case of Air Canada but also in those of other organizations that might the problematic.

In this way, the future commissioner—and it is important that the position be advertised very soon—would have more powers and would be able to reach binding agreements and thus to ensure that the recommendations are implemented. The problem is often that the recommendations we make are shelved. They are forgotten and the problems unfortunately continue.

I think Mr. Samson's amendment is appropriate. I do not have the exact wording.

[Some hon. members]

We just received it.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Oh, I see. We have received it.

I am going to take a closer look at it, but I am sure you will have my support, gentlemen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Généreux, you have the floor.