Official Languages Committee on Feb. 9th, 2017

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Well, you certainly have a big challenge to meet at the Bureau. This can be compared to shopping for an ultra-modern vehicle. However, this is about dealing properly with official languages in the department.

In summary, the first step before the end of the fiscal year is to hire the CEO.

[Marie Lemay]

Yes.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Afterwards you will analyze our recommendations, and then hire the chief quality officer, a first for the department.

[Marie Lemay]

Yes.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Bravo! I wish you good luck. I hope you will recruit the best people in Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You have the floor, Mr. Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you again to the witnesses for being here today.

I have a lot of questions for you, but first I want to tell you about a problem.

A complaint was filed with the Commissioner of Official Languages concerning the fact that official languages had suffered from certain budget cuts, and from the fact, among others, that the departments and other organizations made less use of the services of the Translation Bureau. We have heard from reliable sources that there are “ghost translators” in various departments. As you know, that is completely prohibited.

What measures are you going to take to ensure that the various departments and organizations that use contracts will use the services of the Translation Bureau and promote the two official languages, as well as their quality? You will of course hire this person who will be responsible for quality, but how are you going to ensure that phantom translators won't be used internally, which is illegal?

[Marie Lemay]

Mr. Choquette, as far as I am concerned, really, quality is the overarching priority. Whether we have competition or not, quality is going to be our watchword. I think that the measures that have been put in place, which you are aware of, are going to take us there. That is what will allow us to stand out and have productive discussions with our colleagues in the departments concerning the use of our services. That quality must absolutely be maintained at any cost so that we can have these conversations. If all of these measures are applied, we will develop a vision which, I hope, will be attractive to our colleagues and the departments. Obviously, we are going to have a lot of conversations due to this sea change.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I would like to digress, if I may. It will only take a minute.

I simply want to mention that your department is also responsible for the purchase of publicity in francophone minority community media. Community media, whether we are talking about newspapers, radio stations or others, are currently suffering from the lack of publicity purchases that derive from a new policy. Have you looked into this?

In fact, a recent report mentioned that the new approach at Public Services and Procurement Canada was adversely affecting the vitality of linguistic communities, because it is depriving our newspapers and community radio stations of subsistence income.

[Marie Lemay]

I must say I don't have much information on that.

I don't know if Mr. Gibson can answer you.

[Adam Gibson]

I did not understand the question well.

[Marie Lemay]

It was about procurement and advertisements in minority media.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

In fact, you could send a written response to the committee later if you wish.

[Marie Lemay]

Yes, we could do that.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

You could simply send it to the clerk. I would like the answer to be sent to all committee members, please.

I have another question. I'd like to go back to attrition. Are you still expecting to eliminate 140 posts by 2017-2018? Is that still the plan?

[Marie Lemay]

The short answer is no. As indicated in the figures of the 2015-2016 Report on Plans and Priorities, we planned to have 1,165 full-time equivalent employees, or FTEs. In fact, at the end of the year, we had 1,197, almost 1,200. So, we have more full-time employees than we had planned.

I would say that that is where the change is happening. Even if we don't have definitive figures yet, we know that more people were hired this year, and we are going to continue in that direction.

So, no, the 140 positions you referred to will not be eliminated through attrition.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

How many positions were lost through attrition in 2016-2017?

[Marie Lemay]

We don't have the final figure, but we could answer later. Overall, there is probably no attrition. I think there's probably an increase.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Oh, really?

[Marie Lemay]

That does not mean that internally, no positions were abolished following a departure, and they may have been transformed into different positions. However, in total, we are seeing, rather, an increase in the number of employees.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

You can confirm to the members that in 2016-2017 there is a positive balance as to the number of employees.

[Marie Lemay]

Yes. I can tell you officially that 2015-2016 was a positive year as compared to what we had expected, even though those figures are lower than for the following year.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Yes, but you had planned for job losses.

[Marie Lemay]

Correct. So this was more than...

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

You lost fewer than you had expected.