Evidence of meeting #7 for Official Languages in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was study.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much, Ms. Ashton.
We have 35 witnesses on the list, and I can assure you that the clerk is working as hard as she can.
Mr. Beaulieu, the floor is yours.
5:10 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Out of concern for efficiency and so that we do not waste any time, may I propose something? Next Thursday, we will have two witnesses here. In the second hour, could we meet as a subcommittee to finalize everything that will follow?
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Yes, that is a possibility. At about 3:15 p.m.this afternoon, I received the names of the two witnesses who have accepted our invitation. The clerk is continuing to work on it. So it is possible to meet for an hour and then move to committee business.
Mrs. Lalonde, the floor is yours.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Mr. Chair and my dear colleagues, you have done an extraordinary job, together with our clerk, Ms. Ménard, to reach the witnesses on the lists that all parties have submitted.
In my opinion, we are perhaps being a little impatient when people do not reply right away. Certainly, when we invite them, we expect a reply. However, as Ms. Ashton was saying, people have other responsibilities. We are going through a health crisis at the moment. So, I would like to give the witnesses the opportunity to appear on this topic on Thursday. It's important to submit the list of witnesses on Mr. Beaulieu's motion as amended, which we have passed today.
My colleague, who is now joining our committee, expressed what I was saying very well. We all know that we have five meetings left. So we can be flexible and deal with these motions in parallel, in order to have as many witnesses here as possible. Then, in January, we would be able to continue our work and begin to ponder the reports.
Above all, we must give witnesses the opportunity to respond to the telephone calls from the clerk.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you very much, Mrs. Lalonde.
I would just like to clarify my comment just now. In my reply to Mr. Beaulieu, I was talking about one hour meeting with the witnesses and I raised the possibility of working in subcommittee. Unfortunately, that is not correct. It is not about the subcommittee. If that meets, the minutes must be translated and we must report to the committee. It's really about a committee meeting, with the first hour reserved for the appearance of witnesses.
Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.
5:15 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
In that case, could we add a third hour, during which we would have a meeting of the subcommittee?
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
No. That needs too many arrangements to be made during this pandemic. We must make sure that the House of Commons and all its staff are able to respond.
Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor. Please use your microphone, Mr. Beaulieu, so that we can hear you better.
5:15 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
My apologies, it's just that I'm hearing the interpretation in English all the time. Anyway, the meeting is almost over.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Very good.
Mrs. Lalonde and Mr. Blaney still want to comment.
Mrs. Lalonde, you have the floor.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
With all due respect, I really do not understand why we would not meet in subcommittee.
I think we all saw eye to eye today when we passed a new motion, Mr. Beaulieu's motion, to be precise. Last week, we passed a motion that dealt with the impacts of the health crisis on minority communities, with reference to their access to services in the language of their choice.
We have previously tried to have meetings of the subcommittee and we have seen what has resulted from that. It all made us move forward better. We now have a plan, in that we will use the list of witnesses for Mr. Beaulieu's amended motion. Then we'll see what results from the appearances of the witnesses on Thursday. Then we will make decisions.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
I will be quick, Mr. Chair.
I like the idea of having two parallel studies. As I understand it, next Thursday, the witnesses will appear in the first hour. As for the second hour, it will be difficult for our clerk to give us a list of witnesses and a preliminary schedule, because we will not have given her our lists until that same morning.
Nevertheless, we have definite witnesses who can be here. To the extent possible, we could come up with a draft schedule and discuss it on Thursday afternoon. Thereafter, as we receive replies, we will be able to confirm it all.
I think we have consensus this afternoon on our approach, which is to conduct parallel studies, one on the pandemic and the other on the decline of French in the country.
Thank you very much.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you.
Do you want to talk about the schedule that you were alluding to, Mr. Blaney?
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
No, I said that we could talk about it on Thursday afternoon in the second hour.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
5:15 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
I just want to say that it is nomal practice to establish the priority of proposals at the subcommittee. I don't see why we could not have an official meeting of the subcommittee.
We started by giving priority to one study and now, the proposal is to conduct the two studies in parallel. It would have been helpful to consider that at the subcommittee.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Mr. Beaulieu, as I have told you, when we have a meeting of the subcommittee, it is during one of the periods reserved for the committee. We can have a meeting of the subcommittee, but then, at the next meeting, we have to submit a report to the committee, a report that must be approved before we can move any further forward.
A number of calls have been made to witnesses and we are waiting for their replies. As Mr. Blaney mentioned, if we only have two witnesses on Thursday, we will, in the following hour, be able to discuss committee business and the way forward. It will all be done during the committee meeting.
The floor now goes to Mrs. Lalonde and then to Ms. Lattanzio.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Ms. Lattanzio probably has the same idea as I do. Is it possible to ask the clerk to send us the list of the 35 witnesses? We can try to help you.
Ms. Lattanzio, I think that is what you were going to ask. Am I right?
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
We will happily do that. Officially, 38 witnesses were suggested, but three of them were suggested by more than one colleague. That brings the total to 35 witnesses. We will do what is necessary to send you that list of witnesses.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Mr. Chair, when specifically can we expect to get it? I know that it is now 5:20 p.m., but could it be done by tomorrow at the latest?
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
I just received the answer. Tomorrow morning, the clerk will send us the list of all the witnesses.
I see that no one has their hand up to speak anymore.
To summarize, the committee will be able to continue deciding on a schedule and on other motions for study, as appropriate. I am very pleased with the way today's meeting went. Now we know which studies we are going to do. These topics are extremely important and we will be able to start them right away on Thursday.
On behalf of all the members of the committee, I just want to pass my warm thanks to all the staff working with us, the analysts, the interpreters and the technicians. The technical problems are behind us.
With that, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you an excellent evening.
See you on Thursday.
