Official Languages Committee on March 28th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead, Mr. Drouin.

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

We don't yet know whether the motion is debatable, because we haven't given my colleague the opportunity to talk about it. According to the rules, 48 hours' notice is required before a motion can be debated, but we haven't even had an opportunity to hear what the motion is. All members are entitled to introduce a motion, whether or not it can be debated.

Our excellent clerk could perhaps clarify things for us. We could then stop arguing.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have the floor, Madam Clerk.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Ariane Gagné-Frégeau]

The motion does have to be heard, because it's possible to give notice of a motion orally.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I believe that's what I'm in the process of explaining to my colleague Mr. Godin.

Mr. Serré, 33 seconds have gone by and I'm going to start the clock again.

You have the floor.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, for that information. What I am presenting today is simply a notice of motion. You have all received the wording of the motion, which pertains to a preliminary study of Bill C‑13. I am filing this notice because we want to inform people ahead of time. I believe that we are all in agreement on this, because we've already discussed it. I am therefore filing the notice of motion in the hope that I will receive your support when we discuss it on Wednesday and move on to the vote.

I would now like to speak to the officials who are with us today. Representatives of the ACFA, the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta, and the AFO, the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario, pointed out when they testified before the committee that francophone immigration targets had not been reached for the past 20 years. In my northern Ontario region for example, the demographic weight issue is extremely important.

You are still expecting to reach these targets, probably in March 2023. In view of testimony and recommendations made to the committee, what concrete measures have you taken in recent months to ensure that our francophone immigration targets are reached?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you for the question.

We take this target very seriously and want to achieve it. If it's all right with you, I'll give the floor to Ms. Prince, who can give you clear examples of what we have done with a view to meeting the targets in 2023.

[Corinne Prince, Director General, Afghanistan Settlement , Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you for the question.

We have been working closely with our Canadian Heritage colleagues for several months now. We enhanced Bill C‑32, and in fact made improvements to the bill that had been introduced, and which is now Bill C‑13.

You spoke earlier about the obligation to adopt a policy on francophone immigration. Accordingly, what we did in Bill C‑13 was add objectives, targets and indicators. This means that once there is a francophone immigration policy, it will include these details.

In a working group, we also worked closely on with the representatives of the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta and various representatives of the francophone community. The working group has two goals. The first is to find ways to meet the current 4.4% target in 2023. We also worked closely with the group to come up with solutions with respect to the next target. This means determining what we will be doing after 2023.

This means that we now have recommendations from the francophone community about the future of francophone immigration to Canada, outside Quebec.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Ms. Prince, what are you going to establish in the communities to ensure that the funds go directly to organizations for services in French?

[Corinne Prince]

Thank you for asking.

We have in fact, for the past few years increased…

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Prince. I'm sorry to have to interrupt you. Perhaps you will be able to get back to this matter later.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I think that in the next round of questions, we should have more than two and a half minutes of speaking time. It seems to me that we normally have six or seven and a half minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm sorry, Mr. Beaulieu, but I didn't understand what you were telling me. I'll stop the clock, so don't worry.

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

At the moment, it's a new meeting, as it were, with new guests. The Conservative Party had five minutes of speaking time, the Liberal Party had five minutes and normally the Bloc Québécois would also have five minutes. This is the second round in which we have two and a half minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, I think I get what you're saying.

I spoke about it with the clerk last week, and she can correct me if I'm wrong. When we decided on the speaking time, it was for the full two hours. The time allocated in the first round of questions is six minutes for the first speaker from each party. For the second round and subsequent rounds, the time allowed is two rounds of five minutes for the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, and one round of two and a half minutes for the Bloc Québécois and the NDP.

When we begin the second part of meeting, whether it's one hour or two hours, we don't start over again. The speaking time is set for an entire segment. This is always six minutes for the first round followed by two rounds of five minutes for the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, and one round of two and a half minutes for the NDP and the Bloc Québécois. It's all based on the number of seats held by each party.

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

In that case, you're taking into consideration the fact that it's the same witnesses.

Normally, if we have guests for a one-hour segment and there are other guests for another hour-long segment…

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

It's the same thing. We are still doing the timing the same way.

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

That's not how it works. We've never done that in the past, I don't think.

Usually, we start over from scratch.

That means that we can't ask any of the guests any questions in the second hour if we only have a short speaking time of two and a half minutes.

We can talk about it again, but it doesn't make sense to me.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm not saying anything about your comment. I'm telling you that the timing for the rounds of questions assigned to the different political parties was pre-established even before we began our meeting. In fact, we all agreed on this and that's how we're going to move forward.

Madam Clerk, would you like to add anything, or tell me if I'm wrong?

[The Clerk]

You're not wrong; that's how it is. The subsequent rounds follow the same sequence, meaning that you have two and a half minutes, Mr. Beaulieu.

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

And that applies even if it's a completely different group of witnesses?

[The Clerk]

When there are other guests, we restart the sequence.

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

So you're treating them as if they were the same guests because the representatives are from the same department.

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

Mr. Chair, your explanation certainly applies in instances where a meeting has gone on without interruption for two hours. However, what Mr. Beaulieu has pointed out and the clerk has confirmed, I think, when a given subject has been covered in an hour, we go back to starting off all the parliamentarians with six minutes of speaking time when a different subject is addressed or different witnesses are present.

In the current instance, as was the case last week when we welcomed Ms. Petitpas Taylor, we consider it a full two-hour segment. You were very generous last week, Mr. Chair, and I'd like to underscore that. You allowed the privileges to two parties, the second and third opposition parties.

I discussed things with you, Mr. Chair, and with the clerk. My understanding is that normally when there are two subjects and two sets of witnesses, we start the timing over again.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Is everyone clear on that?

Mr. Beaulieu, you can get back to your questions. You're at 21 seconds.