Official Languages Committee on March 21st, 2016

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Very much, actually.

In his member statement in the House of Commons today, Mr. Samson talked about immigration. I think that immigration and economic development are very important issues. It's clearly an important issue in minority francophone communities. There were objectives that the provinces and the federal government failed to achieve, so it's important to review those objectives.

Getting back to the motion we're discussing, it's about access to justice in general. That's fine. I myself am a lawyer for minority communities. However, if we put too many irons in the fire, we'll get distracted. Before we put our irons in the fire, we should discuss this amongst ourselves a bit more and take a little more time. I understand the idea behind the motion, but we have been striving for consensus since the beginning. Can we carry on like that? Clearly, access to justice is an issue, but we have to decide how many things to prioritize. Are we going to have five priorities? Seven? Three? Four?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Before moving on to the next speaker, Mr. Généreux, I just want to mention that the commissioner will be here on Wednesday.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Généreux, it's your turn.

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

I just want to add that, if we look at updating the Official Languages Act or changing it, we need to focus on that. We shouldn't tack anything else on to that. We should do it truly independently of any other topic we want to study.

Yes, we can walk and chew gum at the same time, as they say. We can do both. We can study the act and other topics at the same time, but we shouldn't. I think that the act is a fundamental document that should be the subject of focused study, not combined with all kinds of other things.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

Mr. Choquette, it's your turn.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I will withdraw my motion because otherwise we won't be able to move on to other things. However, I will be moving it again because it is extremely important. I believe that equal access to justice is essential. My former colleague, Yvon Godin, who is Acadian like Mr. Arseneault, worked very hard on this file. I will definitely keep pushing on this. However, I understand that it makes sense to wait before bringing this subject back for discussion.

However, I would like to comment on what Mr. Samson said about a review of the Official Languages Act. Bills have already been introduced in the Senate about amending the Official Languages Act, including Ms. Chaput's bill. Unfortunately, Ms. Chaput will be retiring or retired recently. It remains to be seen whether someone will take over the bill.

I think Mr. Samson will agree that there is no point redoing work that has already been done. We should see what happens with Ms. Chaput's bill and take it from there.

Does Mr. Samson agree with me about the review of the Official Languages Act?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Allow me to interrupt. It's 5:39 p.m., and we've already gone overtime for this meeting. I'll think about what was said here, and I'll sit down with the clerk and the analyst and try to come up with a plan that takes everyone's concerns into account in order of priority, importance or deadline.

With respect to translation, today we settled on three days. We already have plans to hear from the commissioner and the Heritage Minister.

If you agree, we'll consider what was said and try to come up with a plan for you. We'll have another discussion about a list of priorities. We'll also take into account your motion and what was said today.

Is that okay with you?

[Some hon. members]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Okay. Thank you very much.

Meeting adjourned.