Official Languages Committee on June 8th, 2021

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

They're funded by the Alberta government.

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

They aren't funded at all, except for a portion of their registration fees.

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

That's fine, thank you. I have very little time.

I was with you a year ago when our friend and former colleague Randy Boissonnault announced that the federal government would be granting approximately $3 million to renovate one or two complexes. The Province of Alberta was also supposed to participate.

What's the situation today?

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

That's the $8 million we discussed earlier. We were supposed to get $3.7 million from the federal government, which was confirmed to me, and the rest was to come from the provincial government, but it hasn't arrived. We've received nothing, zero.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Mocquais.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

When I yielded my time to Mr. Arseneault, what I meant to say was that he had given me a chance to put questions to the representatives of the Coalition nord-ontarienne pour une université de langue française, of the University of Sudbury and Laurentian University. I misspoke and therefore wanted to clarify that for my colleagues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

All right, duly noted. Thank you.

Mr. Beaulieu, go ahead for two and a half minutes.

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

My first question is for both witnesses.

Do you receive money from Quebec?

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

No.

[Denis Prud'homme]

No.

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

So you don't receive money from foundations or the government.

Have you filed any applications?

[Denis Prud'homme]

The only existing program involves interprovincial applications for research projects, and it has relatively little funding.

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

Perhaps we should take a look at what's being offered because there seems to be a new willingness on Quebec's part to take on a greater role in supporting the Canadian and North American francophonie.

Mr. Mocquais, I was going to ask you what the best solution would be, but I can see you're really in a very difficult position: the provincial government doesn't want to make its contribution despite the grants the federal government has proposed.

Do you see any way out of that situation, or do you think a massive mobilization effort will be necessary to make this government take action?

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

Yes, it will take a massive mobilization.

I also think the present principle of complete symmetry between francophone institutions outside Quebec and anglophone institutions in Quebec will have to be reconsidered. Francophone institutions outside Quebec are in a pitiful state compared to anglophone institutions in Quebec because the Quebec government supports its own anglophone universities. So all that should be reconsidered.

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

Definitely. Federal contributions to anglophone university infrastructures are nevertheless substantial. That's probably the case for francophone institutions too. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars here. I think it could be allocated in a way—

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

At Campus Saint-Jean, I haven't seen any of that for 20 years, except for the science labs. So let's be realistic.

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

Mr. Prud'homme, what do you think is the best solution for Université de Moncton?

[Denis Prud'homme]

I'll say it again. It's to have permanent annual funding that is indexed to inflation, in addition to existing programs. That's the only way we'll be able to maintain the financial health of our institutions and contribute to the vitality of francophone communities outside Quebec.

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

I fully agree with my colleague.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Prud'homme and Mr. Mocquais.

Mr. Boulerice gets to ask the last questions.

You have two and a half minutes, Mr. Boulerice.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Prud'homme, I would just like some clarification. You spoke earlier about a language institute that had received $10 million from the federal government, but I didn't catch the full name.

[Denis Prud'homme]

It's called the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities. I don't know what year it was in, but it got a lump sum of $10 million that was placed in a trust fund, and the centre operates on the interest generated from this trust fund.

So one of the options would be for the government to create a trust fund for the activities of these universities, but to restrict withdrawals to the interest generated.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

That's interesting.

Mr. Mocquais, you said that there are $3.7 million from the federal government just sitting there because the provincial government refuses to make its contribution.

Do you think that at some point the principle of matching funding could be ended so that you could at least get your hands on the federal government money?

[Pierre-Yves Mocquais]

Correct. That's one of the desirable options, meaning that the money does not necessarily have to go through the provincial government, nor that matching funding be required systematically.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Mocquais, you mentioned the change made to federal funding. It used to provide funding for core programs, whereas now it provides funding for special projects. This has been devastating, and has caused some horrendous situations in the community sector.

I understand that you think the system should return to funding for core programs. This would make things simpler, wouldn't it?