Evidence of meeting #52 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 french.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Human Resources Officer, House of Commons
Exactly. So it is a generalization made on the basis of that reality. However, if you get away from the national capital or even the large cities in Quebec, the level of bilingualism probably goes down considerably.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Would it not be interesting—as Mr. Choquette asked you to—to obtain some figures? You said that you do not necessarily have them, but would it not be desirable to conduct a survey of the 338 members to find out more?
It seems to me it would be interesting for the committee to obtain the results of such a survey; you could survey all of the members in order to see who is bilingual. I see that you have some quite accurate figures with regard to the number of people who are taking classes, but if as a committee we want to take action to encourage the use or learning of both official languages, it seems to me that it would be easier if we had some tools or the results of some analyses.
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
The members self-evaluate.
Conservative
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
In general.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Personally, I have never been asked to self-evaluate.
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
They can answer that, in their opinion, they are bilingual and that there is no need for them to take language training. We also hear that.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
A lot of my anglophone colleagues do not speak French.
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
Yes, absolutely.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
From time to time we organize evenings where we speak only French.
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
As a rule, the members are not given any tests.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
During those evenings we speak only French and this is also a way of meeting people. The objective, however, is to show that it can be fun to speak French.
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
Yes, absolutely.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I'll ask you another question, quickly. The people you do business with on a normal basis and who provide the English or French classes, are they freelancers, or entrepreneurs?
Chief Human Resources Officer, House of Commons
We have both. Since there is a lot of fluctuation in our activity level, we have a core group of permanent employees, employees who work when demand is minimal. When demand peaks, we have a pool of contract employees who work elsewhere but who also provide services to us. Also, thanks to all of the external schools in the ridings, we are able to deal with those fluctuations; but we have a core group of permanent employees.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
With your permission, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chair, I would like to add something.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I'd like to thank Mr. Parent for his openness. I submitted the candidacy of a private school in my riding where immersion classes can be taken, and where students may stay with families. Mr. Parent was very receptive to the suggestion. In fact the school is currently making a bid and it should soon be authorized to receive students.
You will allow me, I hope—not on behalf of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, but with regard to the members—to promote that private school. I don't know if I have the right to do that, but I can say that the school in my riding is open to members from all parties. You are welcome in a Conservative riding if you want to come and study in La Pocatière.
Chief, Official Languages, Language Training and Assessment Centre, House of Commons
It is an intensive immersion school.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Thank you, Mr. Généreux.
I will now give the floor to Mr. René Arseneault.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to welcome the witnesses and thank them for these excellent answers.
Of course when you are the last person to ask questions, all of the relevant ones have already been raised. I don't want to be a parrot, but I did like what I heard. I'm especially looking forward to the figures you are going to give us to follow up on the questions put by our colleague Mr. Choquette. That will be interesting.
What struck me in your comments is that immediately after an election, the demand for language classes tends to increase and then over the years, if I understood correctly, there is a drop. I don't know what explains that; perhaps it is that the workload of those who are taking the classes gets heavier. What explains that phenomenon in your opinion?
Chief Human Resources Officer, House of Commons
Once again, this is very anecdotal. We can suppose that certain students reach the desired level of knowledge, that others lose interest, and that others have heavy workloads that prevent them from continuing. We have never really done any specific surveys to determine the reasons. What we see, and once again this is anecdotal, is that, yes, after the massive arrival of a group of members there is renewed interest for our program, and then over the next years the interest diminishes and levels off. Interest does not necessarily fall to zero, but that is a typical scenario. It does not mean that the same situation will occur after the next election, but that is the tendency we see from one election to the next.
Liberal