The objective is to ensure that there are fewer and fewer violations of the act and that it is less and less necessary to impose administrative monetary penalties or fines. It is a deterrent because there are consequences.
According to Air Canada's history of bilingual services and to what Commissioner Fraser says in his special report, the same complaints keep coming back year after year. The first commissioners of official languages reported the same complaints in their annual reports. In the last year of Commissioner Fraser's term, it was basically the same complaints.
Imposing fines may prevent such situations from going on for more than 25 years.