Official Languages Committee on Oct. 29th, 2020

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

Can we vote on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

According to my ruling, your motion is not admissible because it recommends certain actions to the House, while our official mandate, as clearly stipulated in Standing Orders 108(2) and 108(3), is to report on an issue, and not to make recommendations.

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

Can we vote on it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I have ruled that the motion is not admissible. However, Mr. Beaulieu, you can challenge the chair's ruling. In that case, the committee will have to vote on the chair's ruling. Depending on the circumstances, we will either move on to other motions or come back to the discussion on this motion and put it to a vote.

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

With all due respect, I challenge your ruling, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay.

Before we go any further, I will give the floor to the four people on the list.

Ms. Lattanzio, go ahead.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

No, it's okay, Mr. Chair. I already spoke. I will take away my raised hand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay, thank you.

So we have something to debate.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Arseneault. I will ask the clerk, once he has spoken....

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I don't think this can be the topic of debate. Mr. Beaulieu is challenging the chair's ruling, but that cannot be debated. We have to hold a vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

You are entirely correct, Mr. Dalton. The clerk just told me that the challenging of the chair's ruling cannot be debated. So we have to vote on the ruling I just made. We will proceed to a vote.

The chair's ruling has been challenged. We would like to know which members of the committee are in favour of that challenge and which ones are against it.

[The Clerk]

Here is the motion:

That the ruling of the chair be sustained.

(Ruling of the chair overturned: nays 6; yeas 5)

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

The motion to sustain the ruling of the chair has been rejected. So we are returning to Mr. Beaulieu's motion on WE Charity. The debate is reopened.

I have four names on my list, and a number of others are being added to it. The first to take the floor will be Mr. Duguid.

Mr. Duguid, the floor is yours.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Mr. Chair, I will have more to say. This is more in the way of a point of order.

With some of our speakers, I'm hearing both official languages at the same time, so it does make a difference what channel they put themselves on.

I'm hearing you perfectly, but for Ms. Lattanzio, for instance, I was hearing both languages at the same time. I believe my Zoom is updated, so I don't think the problem is at my end, but of course, I will check after our meeting.

I'm ready for what I think will be a long debate, unfortunately, on this matter that has been talked to death on the floor in various committees. It's really unfortunate that we're not able to get on with the important business of protecting both official languages in this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Duguid.

If you have that problem again, just let us know. We'll verify with the technical support if there is a problem.

Mr. Généreux is next.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

On several occasions over the past few years, the minister in charge of official languages, Ms. Mélanie Joly, told us that the committee was independent. So I respect her position that the committee is independent and that it can choose its own debates and fights.

We have been unable to debate this issue since we returned to Parliament. But we now have the opportunity to determine once and for all what happened. I remind you that this is, after all, a contract nearing $1 billion where francophones were explicitly forgotten.

All governments must be accountable to Parliament, and we must ensure that something like this would not happen again. As parliamentarians sitting on a committee like the official languages committee, it is our role to make sure of this.

The fact that the committee is managing not to debate this motion is contrary to the spirit of our role of parliamentarians and representatives of our respective regions. I sincerely believe that we must get to the bottom of this issue, so that this would never happen again.

I hope that we will be able to vote on this as quickly as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

The next person on the list is Ms. Lambropoulos. She will be followed by Ms. Lattanzio, Ms. Ashton and Mrs. Lalonde.

Go ahead, Ms. Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

At our last meeting, we discussed the WE Charity issue for two hours. We explained why we did not think it was a study we should undertake in the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

I am a teacher from Montreal, and I have personally dealt with WE Charity in Quebec. The organization worked with my students to take them to a third-world country to build a bridge. So it is false to say that it is not for Quebeckers. That organization exists in Quebec, as well, and it has a French name. It held a conference fully in French, in Montreal, which attracted hundreds of individuals. I have brought this up several times.

I know that the opposition members have not dealt with WE Charity, as I don't think anyone here has had an opportunity to work with young people in the past.

In my experience, it's definitely an organization that has worked in both the French sector and the English sector and across the province of Quebec.

In Montreal, as I mentioned, they had only French speakers. It's actually public information. You can check their Facebook page. You can watch a three-hour long conference that took place in French, with French music and French everything—

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

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Go ahead, Mr. Dalton.

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

The member said that she already brought this up. I think this is actually the second or the third time. That's all good and well, but our time is limited and we have many things to do. So I suggest to all committee members to keep their comments much shorter.

In addition, I would like to point out that I am also a teacher.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Dalton, but that is not a point of order. All committee members can speak. We are debating the motion. This is not the first meeting where we give it time, and we all want to set a schedule. As I was saying earlier, I will set aside the last 15 minutes for us to plan the next meeting.

Ms. Lambropoulos, you can finish your comments, please.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Dalton, I appreciate the fact that you were a teacher, but you were not a teacher in Quebec. With my experience in Quebec and in French immersion schools—that is, with English schools that are French immersion—I have dealt with the organization in French, and that is the point being discussed. I think it's a very relevant point—probably one of the most relevant we'll hear. No offence, but it's just given my experience working with them personally.

As I mentioned, you can check out UNIS on their Facebook page, and you can see the three-hour long conference that took place purely in French to help French youth get involved. The argument that this is an anglophone only organization that does not do anything in French and does not reach the French population is not a good one because it's false.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Lambropoulos.

We have Ms. Lattanzio, Ms. Ashton, Mrs. Lalonde and Mr. Beaulieu on the list.

Ms. Lattanzio, the floor is yours.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have read my colleague's motion. It is pretty long. I'm wondering whether we should consider only the aspects of the motion corresponding to the mandate of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

As I told you earlier, the same motion has been moved in various committees. Since your ruling was overturned, Mr. Chair, as it was deemed that those elements did come under the committee's mandate, I was wondering whether my colleague Mr. Beaulieu could guide us by telling us exactly what paragraphs he is referring to when he says that it is part of this committee's mandate.

I will comment again after Mr. Beaulieu clarifies this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Ms. Lattanzio.

Mr. Généreux, it is your turn now.