Official Languages Committee on Oct. 29th, 2020

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

Mr. Chair, I talked about this earlier, but I would like to add a comment to Ms. Lambropoulos's answer.

She may have had francophone experiences in Montreal with WE Charity. Let's give our colleagues an opportunity to come explain to us what those experiences were. I have personally never had any. I had not even heard about WE Charity before this scandal. We could give them an opportunity to come explain to the Standing Committee on Official Languages how they dealt with this case. We could also make sure that the program is available both in English and in French, not only in Quebec, but across Canada.

That's all I have to add for the time being.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

Ms. Ashton, go ahead.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to reiterate the request made by other colleagues to hold a vote as soon as possible. We have many motions to discuss. I think we have heard everyone's perspective.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

Mrs. Lalonde, go ahead.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll be very frank with you, my fellow colleagues. I'm disappointed. I'm very disappointed. Before I came to this committee, I heard about the serious work being carried out on official languages. I was told that this committee was here to address issues that show our shared commitment, as parliamentarians, to making real progress on official languages.

Mr. Beaulieu, with all due respect, you had in your hands other motions that I think could have proposed work that I would have liked to pursue with you to promote the minority languages, meaning French outside Quebec and English in Quebec. We could have worked closely together to ensure that, from our perspective, good progress is made.

Although the chair ruled that the motion was out of order, his decision was overturned. My fellow colleagues, you made a democratic choice. However, I'm truly disappointed in the path that you took.

I think that everyone agrees that the topic in this motion has been addressed in several committees throughout the summer. Discussions have also been held in the House regarding these issues. In addition, you had the chance to discuss how you felt about the government's decision to enter into a contract with WE.

I represent the people of Orleans, the most beautiful community in Canada. As you know, Mr. Généreux, when I speak with them, I obviously talk about the pandemic, health and education. People call me every day because their business is closed or about to close. Mr. Beaulieu's motion, which we're debating today, on this beautiful Thursday, really makes me think about my role as a parliamentarian on a committee that I think exists to make progress on official languages issues.

I feel a bit confused today knowing that we'll be debating this issue. Mr. Blaney, you're the first to say that you want to make progress on the work and set up a working group.

You know that this issue will be debated elsewhere by parliamentarians. I myself had the opportunity to make my case before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics when I participated in that committee this summer.

The worst part is that Mr. Beaulieu's entire motion is nothing more than a fishing expedition on the part of several departments and ministers. In this committee, we talk about official languages. We know that French is losing ground across Canada and that the English-speaking community in Quebec is facing challenges.

We had the opportunity today to rise above partisanship. Unfortunately, my fellow colleagues, you found a way to raise this issue again in a committee that I was told didn't work in this manner. I heard that the parliamentarians on this committee looked at the bigger picture and firmly believed that the Official Languages Act and this committee—

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Mr. Dalton.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Mr. Chair, I think that you're responsible for controlling the debate, given that our time is limited. You're in charge of monitoring how long someone takes to speak, so that people don't keep talking for four, five, six or ten minutes. We don't have much time.

I want us to proceed with the vote, please.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Well, I—

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I just want to respond to Mr. Dalton's point of order.

As I said earlier, we're debating the motion. As long as the comments relate to the motion, the members have the right to speak.

I must remind you that there are currently five people on the list and that it's already 5 p.m. As I requested, at 5:15 p.m., I'll stop the debate to say what we'll be doing at our next meeting.

Mrs. Lalonde, the floor is yours.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Dalton, my fellow colleague, I understand your impatience and resentment. However, I have the right to speak like every other member. I have the right to talk about the motion that your colleague Mr. Beaulieu moved today, and I'll do so.

I'm disappointed to hear my colleague Mr. Dalton say that he wants to proceed with the vote. We could have discussed a dozen other motions today that—I'm saying this for Mr. Blaney's benefit—would have probably enabled us to start working on issues that we all consider important. Ms. Lattanzio had an excellent motion.

Let's go back to Mr. Beaulieu's motion.

What hurts me the most about all this is that the students were penalized. Not one student was able to benefit from the government's commitment to help students in Canada over the summer and in the weeks that followed. Yet I believe that parliamentarians in other caucuses also made this commitment.

While the government took many other measures, this opportunity was unfortunately missed. I want to remind my fellow colleagues that it was missed for partisans reasons. People wanted to go fishing for scandal when there was none. This contract was never fulfilled, and the students were penalized.

People, especially students, call my constituency office every day to talk about the health and safety of Canadians in the midst of the pandemic. They also talk about business people who need help. Meanwhile, not only are we persisting with a motion that has nothing to do with our committee, we're still showing partisanship. It's appalling that we're still talking about this motion after spending an entire summer doing so.

Sorry for taking all this time, Mr. Chair. However, I had to get my point across.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mrs. Lalonde.

Mr. Beaulieu, the floor is yours.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I wanted to ask for the vote. However, I gather that we aren't allowed to do so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

That's right.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

This means that, if we oppose a motion, we can talk about it endlessly and block everything. Democracy is beautiful.

That's all I wanted to say. I think that everyone is ready to vote. Let's proceed with the vote, so that we can move on and address the real issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay, thank you.

I must respond the same way that I responded to Mr. Dalton earlier. When a committee is debating a motion, as long as a member wants to speak about the motion, they have the right to do so.

It's 5:05 p.m. and there are four people left on the list. We hope to be able to hear from everyone and make a decision. We'll stop at 5:15 p.m.

Mr. Duguid, the floor is yours.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Chair, do I have the floor?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You do.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just repeat what some of my colleagues have said. This is—

Can you hear me?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Yes. It's not so clear, but if the technicians say it's okay, you can go on.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Can the interpreters hear me, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Madam Clerk, could you check this quickly with the technicians, please?

[The Clerk]

The interpreters are unable to do their job.

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

I don't want to take someone else's turn. I just want to say that you can try to close your video tool. This saves a great deal of data and you can still hear the person speaking. The audio also becomes much more smooth at that point. If this approach complies with the rules and satisfies everyone, we could try it out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Mr. Duguid, do one last test. Otherwise, while we wait for the technicians to fix this, we'll need to continue.

Mr. Duguid, the floor is yours.