Evidence of meeting #38 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 point.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Denis Chartrand  President, Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l'Ontario
Sophie Bouffard  President, Université de Saint-Boniface
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Michelle Legault

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

They agree to add the minister and change the date.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Exactly.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

So, that’s what I was saying a few seconds ago. The party on the other side needs to add a thank you and accept it.

The problem now, Mr. Chair, remains the schedule.

When I tabled this amendment, it was November 1. Will the ministers all be able to meet with us before November 24? I thank my colleagues, but I remain skeptical.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Yes, but that’s not…

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC

That’s not within my scope, you’re right.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

There are resources outside of this committee that can deal with it. Nonetheless, I will still give the floor to Mr. Beaulieu regarding the first point of Mr. Godin’s amendment.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

Thank you very much.

Regarding the first point of Mr. Godin’s amendment, and in response to Ms. Ashton, I believe that in Bill C‑13, there are indeed no tools to counter Acadians’ current struggle against assimilation. In fact, the bill will not prevent the appointment of any anti-francophone ministers or counsellors in New Brunswick. There’s no power to do that.

I call on my colleague.

Right now, in my opinion, pushing this closure through at full speed is a slap in the face for Quebecers. Does she think that…

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Mr. Beaulieu, we are on the first point of Mr. Godin’s amendment. You have no reason to call on a member of a political party.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

That’s fine. All right.

I think that this insult to Quebecers will not help Acadians to…

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Mr. Beaulieu…

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Serré Liberal Nickel Belt, ON

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Just a moment…

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Serré Liberal Nickel Belt, ON

We’re not doing the Chair’s job.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Mr. Serré, I was just going to say that.

Let’s stick to the first point of Mr. Godin’s amendment 1.

Mr. Beaulieu, you argued in favour of this amendment earlier, as written by Mr. Godin. There seems to be consensus to pass it as is.

Does everyone agree on that?

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

In my view, the first point is a good thing.

I don’t know about the schedule either, when it comes to how we’re going to manage to give each minister two hours. It’s rather important. If it’s not realistic, it’s easy to accept it, but...

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

Mr. Beaulieu, we heard you and you agreed with it. We started with your subamendment, which was negatived, and after that, you argued in favour of Mr. Godin’s first point. We have heard you.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

Why did he say that it raised opposition?

On the one hand, it was brought forward in the usual manner, like a point of order. On the other hand, there’s the issue of dropping the last point, which is the essential one that we want to get to.

As it is 1 p.m., I move to adjourn the meeting.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

We will not adjourn the meeting; we will suspend it.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

You don’t want to adjourn it.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

If you want unanimous consent to adjourn, we can ask for it.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

No, suspend the meeting.

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

The meeting is therefore suspended, taking note that...

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC

Why don't you just remove the motion and put forward a whole new one, saying, “House leader, I don't care what you said—

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

I suspend the meeting.

[The meeting was suspended at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, November 15.]

[The meeting resumed at 11 a.m. on Thursday, November 17.]

12:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

We now resume meeting No. 38 of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, which we suspended on November 15.

Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of Thursday, June 23, 2022. Members may attend in person or by using the Zoom application.

To provide some context, I remind everyone that when we suspended the meeting last Tuesday, the committee was discussing Mr. Serré’s suggestion to pass the first four points of Mr. Godin’s amendment, avoid deleting the fifth point and add a sixth point.

If there is unanimous consent to proceed this way, we can do so. Otherwise, we will have to resume debate and proceed one point at a time, as we had agreed.

When we suspended the meeting, Mr. Godin had the floor.