Evidence of meeting #37 for Official Languages in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c13.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michel Bastarache  Legal Counsel, As an Individual
Yves Giroux  Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Michelle Legault
Patrick Taillon  Professor and Associate Director of the Centre for Constitutional and Administrative Law Studies, Faculty of Law, Université Laval, As an Individual
Pierre Asselin  President, Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta

11:45 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

11:45 a.m.

The Clerk

Mr. Chair, I confirm unanimous consent.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

I see no objections on screen.

The motion is carried.

11:45 a.m.

Bloc

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I hope we won't delay the witnesses in the second hour.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Thank you for your comment, Mr. Beaulieu.

We have 10 minutes left before we hear from the witnesses.

I will now move on to the next question.

I believe Mr. Drouin has the floor.

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

No, Mr. Chair. My new colleague, Mr. Vis, shared his time with me, and I used no more than one minute of that time.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I was saying something and I was interrupted by a point of order and the vote on Mr. Godin's motion. I would like to finish making my comment and to have the time to do so.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Go ahead, Mr. Iacono.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

The comment was made that Liberal members didn't want to hear from the ministers, but we've never been opposed to hearing from the ministers in committee at any of the meetings I have attended. It's simply a question of availability. I wanted to put that on record.

As you've seen, we agree on the motion.

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Mr. Godin, we will let Mr. Iacono finish his comment.

You will have the floor after Mr. Iacono.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just wanted to clarify a point concerning the allegation that Liberal members don't want to hear from the ministers in committee.

11:45 a.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair, because the information my colleague is providing is false. It was said before the committee that the Minister of Canadian Heritage didn't want to come and testify. So I think my NDP colleague's comment was entirely appropriate.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Go ahead, Mr. Iacono.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

That information comes from one person, and I can't attest to its veracity.

Before we wind up the discussion, we should ask the Minister of Canadian Heritage exactly what happened. I can't confirm that's the case since I haven't yet spoken to the office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage. If we want to be fair, we should speak to both parties before concluding that was in fact the case.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

All right.

Since we have less than 10 minutes until the end of the public meeting, I'll have to shorten everyone's speaking time so we can finish the second round of questions. I'll allow the next speaker three minutes and the other parties a minute and a half.

Is everyone in agreement?

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

We are always ready to cooperate, Mr. Chair.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

All right.

Mr. Vis, you have the floor for two minutes.

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses for being here.

I'm looking at this bill from the standpoint of the beautiful province of British Columbia. I come from a region of the country where not many people speak French.

Mr. Bastarache, do you think the bill will make it harder to appoint a judge from British Columbia to the Supreme Court?

11:50 a.m.

Legal Counsel, As an Individual

Michel Bastarache

I think there are enough qualified individuals in all the provinces and regions of Canada to be able to appoint nine judges to the Supreme Court.

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC

The people of British Columbia have another concern about the bill, and that's the relationship between theory and practice. British Columbia currently doesn't apply the Official Languages Act.

Will the new rules and obligations under the bill make the province more bilingual?

11:50 a.m.

Legal Counsel, As an Individual

Michel Bastarache

The federal act doesn't concern British Columbia's institutions; it concerns the federal institutions in British Columbia.

Personally, I don't think many additional obligations have been created; the bill simply clarifies language rights in order to improve the act's implementation. I don't think that's a problem.

11:50 a.m.

Conservative

Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC

I see.

11:50 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Mr. Vis, your time is up.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor for three minutes.