Official Languages Committee on Dec. 15th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Lattanzio, thank you for these notices of motion, which have been received in our respective P9 email accounts.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

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

I too would like to present two notices of motion. You will shortly receive my notices of motion in both official languages. Madam Clerk has already received them.

My first notice of motion is very similar to one of the motions that Ms. Lattanzio read:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study on the measures the Government of Canada can take, as stated in the Speech from the Throne, to fulfil its responsibility to protect and promote French not only outside Quebec, but also within Quebec, and that the testimony and documents obtained by the committee during the 2nd session of the 43rd Parliament regarding the study be considered by the committee during the current session, and that the committee resume the witness schedule set out in the original work plan; and that, as part of this study, the committee: (a) Draw an objective and detailed picture of the situation of the English and French languages in Quebec, as well as the francophone and Acadian communities, based on the main linguistic indicators, including French as a mother tongue, main language spoken at home, language substitutions, main language of work, etc.; (b) Evaluate the effectiveness of the government's language policies, and the current role of provincial and federal legislation in protecting and promoting the French language, as well as the impact of these policies on provincial legislative measures to protect and promote the French language (in particular the Charter of the French Language in Quebec); (c) Evaluate possible amendments to the Official Languages Act to align the government's will to protect the French language with provincial legislation; That, in order to conduct this study, the committee allocate a minimum of three (3) meetings and that these be completed no later than June 1, 2022; that the committee report on its findings and recommendations to the House; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the government table a comprehensive response.

In fact, we had already started this study during the last session. There were two and a half meetings left to devote to this study. So it would be a matter of resuming this study according to the timetable that was already planned, in order to respect the balance with regard to the different witnesses proposed.

The second motion of which I give notice is to resume a study that had been started following a motion proposed by Mr. Boulerice:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2),the committee undertake a study on the measures that the Government of Canada can take to administer federal funds and the positive measures taken by federal institutions regarding post-secondary education for official language minority communities; That, as part of this study, the committee compare federal funding for English and French post-secondary minority institutions, as well as federal funding for French post-secondary teaching institutions in Quebec; that the committee allocate a minimum of two (2) meetings for this purpose; That the testimony and documents obtained by the committee during the 2nd session of the 43rd Parliament concerning the study be considered by the committee during the current session; That the committee report on its observations and conclusions to the House; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the government table a comprehensive response.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to speak on three different topics.

I want to move a motion first. This is not a notice of motion, but a motion about Air Canada. I move that the committee invite the president and CEO of Air Canada to a two-hour meeting to answer questions from parliamentarians on the place and importance of official languages at Air Canada. I suggest that this take place at the next meeting. The documents have been given to the clerk.

I also want to submit two notices of motion.

The first notice concerns the Commissioner of Official Languages:

That the committee invite the Commissioner of Official Languages for a two-hour meeting to brief the committee on pressing issues related to the application of the Official Languages Act in Canada.

The second notice relates to the Minister of Official Languages:

That the committee invite the Minister of Official Languages to discuss her mandate, priorities, and pressing issues related to her portfolio.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

I think the clerk is sending out the notices of motion. Then we will deal with the motion.

Mr. Godin has just moved a motion. It is not a notice of motion, it's a motion, and we need to debate it.

Ms. Lattanzio and Mr. Drouin raised their hands to speak.

Ms. Lattanzio, did you want to speak to this motion?

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

Yes, Mr. Chair.

I understand my colleague Mr. Godin's motion, but since my notice of motion refers to the issue of official languages at Air Canada, I was wondering if you could deal with that when you meet as a subcommittee. We could, first of all, invite the person my colleague mentioned to come before the committee. I wouldn't mind if we started with this new study on Air Canada. Given that we could ask questions and do this study, in the interests of efficiency, could you manage this in subcommittee so that we start with this study topic?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Lattanzio.

I must say, however, that this is a motion that we have to debate.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for her proposal.

Indeed, I think we can combine my motion with hers. That said, I want to reiterate that my request is to have the president and CEO of Air Canada testify. So yes, we could discuss it in subcommittee, but what is important is that we agree to specifically mention the president and CEO of Air Canada as one of the witnesses who will appear in this study.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

Mr. Drouin, the floor is yours.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

It isn't that I want to insist on technicalities, but in principle, the notices of motion that Mr. Godin read are inadmissible because we should have debated the motion right away.

I'm sorry, Mr. Godin, but that's the rule: a motion that is proposed must be debated immediately. Yet you have continued by reading other motions, which are technically inadmissible.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

The clerk tells me that the other two mentions of Mr. Godin's motions were simple notices of motion. It's as if he sent them by email, except that he gave us verbal notice.

So we now have his motion before us, and we must debate it.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Actually, Mr. Chair, if I made a procedural error, I ask for unanimous consent for that error to be accepted.

You're confirming that it isn't an error, so we can proceed.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Great.

Ms. Ashton, would you like to speak to this matter?

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

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Before this meeting, we also submitted a motion to the clerk regarding Air Canada. The motion recognizes that the events of this fall are of real concern, but also that this is a problem that has existed for some years.

I am prepared to support Mr. Godin's motion and to support Ms. Lattanzio's proposal to do a short study on this subject. However, I would like to propose an amendment so that we invite the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Official Languages, the current Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, as well as his predecessor, Graham Fraser, since Mr. Fraser presented a study on the situation of Air Canada a few years back.

We are prepared to support the proposal to hear testimony from the CEO of Air Canada, but we are also of the opinion that we could devote a few meetings to this study, perhaps four, in order to properly explore the subject and do an effective job. In my view, this work must be done with the co‑operation of the ministers responsible for this issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

There was a lot of content in your speech. You would like to propose an amendment, but at the same time, you would like to conduct a study on Air Canada. I think that everyone wants to carry out such a study.

I would remind you that Mr. Godin's motion, which is currently being debated, is to invite the CEO to appear before the committee for two hours at the earliest opportunity. Mr. Godin can correct me if I am wrong.

Ms. Ashton, do you want to make an amendment to this motion, or do you simply want to point out that the NDP would also like to do a more thorough, more detailed study on Air Canada?

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

We don't want to do a more detailed study, but I'm proposing by way of an amendment to add to that testimony the testimony of the ministers responsible, as well as the current Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Théberge, and the former commissioner, who studied this issue closely a few years ago.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

So an amendment has been proposed.

Mr. Beaulieu, do you wish to speak to this proposed amendment?

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

I agreed with the original proposal, but I'm not against including this in a study. We'll see what happens next.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I don't want us to lose track.

There is a main motion to which an amendment has been proposed. However, I'm told that an amendment cannot be proposed that broadens the scope of the main motion. At least, that's my understanding.

Mr. Beaulieu, I'm not sure that I understood what you said about Ms. Ashton's amendment. You're not against it, but—

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

We're going to see what happens.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

So you're telling us that you prefer to stick to Mr. Godin's original motion. Is that correct?

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

I agree with the original motion. That said, if Mr. Godin wanted to include his proposal in a more global study, I wouldn't be against it either.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Do you mean that you would agree if Mr. Godin wanted to do a broader study afterwards?

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

Yes. It's not necessarily contradictory.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Drouin.

We are still discussing Ms. Ashton's amendment.