Evidence of meeting #48 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 questions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
My question was about what needs to be done if a province won't listen to reason.
12:40 p.m.
Partner and Sessional Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Obviously, we can't force the provinces to do something they don't want to do. That said, Ms. Boucher, I was simply referring to your committee's eighth recommendation.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
12:40 p.m.
Partner and Sessional Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
In your December report, your eighth recommendation invites the parliamentary secretary—
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
12:40 p.m.
Partner and Sessional Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
—to sign a strategic agreement directly with the school boards. The agreement would then be implemented or not depending on the province or territory, in keeping with the jurisdictions.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Do I have time left, Mr. Chair?
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
12:40 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP François Choquette
On top of that, you have six more minutes immediately afterward.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Corbeil said that he didn't really consult outside specialists. However, since you did a good job of analyzing his remarks, I think he'll at least look at what was said here today. I assume we agree on this.
The committee may want to know the government's intentions. Since Mr. Bains may make a decision, I suggest that we invite Mr. Corbeil to appear before the committee again. He could then respond to the statements you made this morning, which correspond to what you believe. To some extent, you demolished Mr. Corbeil's arguments. I think it would be worthwhile to invite him again, or to invite the chief statistician responsible for Statistics Canada.
I think we all agree that we need to advance the cause. That doesn't mean trapping a person and attacking them. That's not what we want to do. We could submit a report, but as you said earlier, we don't want the report to be shelved. We don't want that to happen.
We need to see how the committee can exert enough pressure on the minister or the cabinet so that, when the time comes for them to make a decision, additional questions are included, regardless of which ones. Mr. Corbeil told us that he was responsible for the entire language issue and that the rest didn't concern him. Nonetheless, some issues affect many areas at Statistics Canada. We need to determine how we can exert pressure on Mr. Corbeil's manager so that, when he goes to the minister's office, he says that this is a top priority for Canada.
12:40 p.m.
Partner and Sessional Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Mr. Généreux, I think Ms. Lanthier, the president of the FCFA, is absolutely right. Mr. Corbeil didn't say it was impossible. He mentioned several reasons it could be difficult and costly. To use your words, we tried to demolish his ideas. We shouldn't be more Catholic than the Pope. If the committee recommends that Statistics Canada do what's proposed and if Mr. Bains agrees, Mr. Corbeil and the others will act accordingly.
12:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Do you know how many reports are studied by committees, tabled in the House of Commons and shelved each year?
The recommendations of all the committees aren't followed. That needs to be clear. In reality, a political party makes decisions for certain reasons. We've seen it in the past. We must make sure we do what's necessary so that, in the future and during the next census in 2021, after all the witnesses have appeared before us, these questions are included in the questionnaire.
12:45 p.m.
Partner and Sessional Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Mr. Bains is partly responsible for the implementation of part VII of the Official Languages Act. Ms. Joly and Mr. Casey also share this responsibility. Like my colleague, Marc-André Roy, I recommend that you invite Mr. Casey every four months to report on any progress—made or not made—in the file. I think the government will act accordingly, especially since all communities across the country, both anglophone and francophone, are asking it to act. It's not only community or school groups, Mr. Généreux, but also groups from British Columbia and other provinces. I'm sure the government will act. However, if you have any doubts, invite the parliamentary secretary on a regular basis to provide reports.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
He doesn't need to be invited because he's always here. We just need to speak with him.
12:45 p.m.
NDP
The Vice-Chair NDP François Choquette
We need to have him speak.
Ms. Lanthier, do you want to add something?
12:45 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada (FCFA)
Yes.
Mr. Généreux used the word “trap.” However, I don't think our goal is to trap Mr. Corbeil in any way.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
12:45 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada (FCFA)
We're also doing work on our side. At the FCFA, we know Mr. Corbeil very well, and he also knows us very well. Each time there is a census, we speak to each other. We have regular discussions with him. He'll attend our next board of directors meeting, in March, to discuss these issues with us. We'll have a good discussion with him. I simply want to tell you that we're still doing our work.
I think that, even though certain committee reports are shelved, you shouldn't underestimate the importance of what you're doing. When you make unanimous recommendations to ask the government to take certain measures, this shows us the committee has understood the situation and that its recommendations support the development of francophone communities. This helps us, and we appreciate it. I think this also sends a message.
12:45 p.m.
Commissioner of Ontario, Office of the French Language Services Commissioner
Yes. I'll do so very quickly by summarizing the remarks made earlier by Ms. Lanthier, the president of the FCFA. She said that a census is just a tool that helps develop public policies.
Mr. Généreux spoke earlier about influencing the cabinet. The federal government is currently exploring the development of public policies that will take the form of a new action plan or roadmap. As part of this initiative, it's certainly appropriate to review the way we use the best tools available, such as a census, to create the strongest possible public policies that address existing issues.
I want to add a final comment about the census. Last year, we noticed how much Canadians rushed to fill in the census form. It was unique, and I don't know what the public meant to tell us through their actions. Moreover, people were disappointed to receive the short form, and I must say I was as well.
To paraphrase Ms. Lanthier, I'm curious to know exactly how much it would cost Canadians, in terms of time and interest, to answer two or three more questions.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I want to add one thing, Mr. Chair.
I hope you understood, Ms. Lanthier, that I didn't say that I wanted to trap anyone.
12:45 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada (FCFA)
I understood.
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
On the contrary, we're here to work together on the advancement of minority communities.
Thank you.