Official Languages Committee on May 23rd, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu on a point of order.

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

I may not have been clear enough last time, but I would like to sincerely apologize to Mr. Housefather.

I'd like my colleague to get back to the subject of the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's not a point of order, but, as chair, I do appreciate your apology, as do all committee members, I'm sure.

Mr. Samson is explaining choice and the absence of choice in the context of the choice we'll be making about the motion. You may not see the connection, but I certainly do. I will therefore allow Mr. Samson's comments on his own amendment.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

The connection is extremely clear.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Chair, a point of order.

Mr. Godin clearly explained that we cannot apologize when rising on a point of order. I'd like to know if that's allowed or if my colleague should wait his turn.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'll repeat what I said. As chair and as a member of the committee, I appreciate Mr. Beaulieu's apology, but it wasn't a point of order. I think that was clear, but thank you for bringing it to our attention, Mr. Serré.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

I'd like to keep listening to our colleague, Mr. Samson, who was making the connection between the choices we can make in life and the choice we have to accept or reject his amendment.

Please go on, Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you very much.

That's the connection: choice. Opposition party members now have the choice to get busy and support francophone communities in Canada.

As I said, when I was young, I couldn't choose to be educated in French. The good news, though, is that my three kids got all of their education in French from kindergarten to grade 12, because they had the choice. It may have been a difficult choice, and sometimes we had to have tough conversations. In grades 9, 10 and 11, they wanted to go to the same school as their friends. In the end, I told them that they could study wherever they wanted after grade 12, but that they were currently getting a quality education in French. Not many kids were at the time, and they benefitted tremendously.

When I think about choice, I think about my five grandchildren. Imagine that. Do I seem old enough to have five grandchildren?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Samson, allow me to interrupt because we're running out of time.

As a reminder, our meeting is being broadcast, so for everyone tuning in, I have something to say before adjourning the meeting. I want this to be on the record.

After consulting colleagues, I made a decision for administrative and technical reasons that don't concern committee members but that are related to everything going on behind the scenes, which people don't see. When we suspend a meeting instead of adjourning, that causes problems that are tricky to resolve, so I'm going to adjourn this meeting. However, before I do so, I want to say that I'll maintain the speaking order, which is as follows: Mr. Samson, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Iacono and Mr. Serré.

After I adjourn the meeting, I'll prepare the notice of meeting for the next meeting, which will take place next Monday. We'll have the Commissioner of Official Languages with us. I would like to remind everyone about what we discussed a few meetings ago.

The commissioner will be here for an hour and a half because one hour might not be long enough and two hours might be too long. We agreed that the rest of the meeting would be spent working on the report, but we could resume this debate instead. If the committee decides to do things otherwise at that point, we'll do what has to be done in accordance with the procedural rules.

I want this to be transparent. For technical reasons, I don't want to suspend the meeting, period. I want to adjourn debate, but I want to do so in a way that satisfies all the committee administration people behind us. I will therefore adjourn the meeting.

I'm announcing that, at the next meeting, we'll have the commissioner and his usual officials, Mr. Leduc and Mr. Wolfe. If it turns out that one hour with the commissioner is enough, we'll thank them for coming and pick up exactly where we left off today.

Again, the speaking order will be: Mr. Samson, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Iacono and Mr. Serré.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm listening, Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Can the opposition now confirm that the commissioner will be testifying?

I would really like for us to hear from him.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I do believe there's unanimous consent for that.

We discussed it earlier in camera. I wanted the people listening to know what's going to happen.

This meeting is adjourned.