Evidence of meeting #43 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 c-13.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Michelle Legault
Mona Fortier  President of the Treasury Board

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

Thank you. That is good news.

Minister, who is in charge of promoting a culture of bilingualism in the public service?

12:45 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

Treasury Board has the Policy on Official Languages.

I don't know whether you have heard about official languages champions before. That policy requires that each of the more than 200 federal institutions appoint an official languages champion to support the deputy head in developing an integrated vision for the official languages program. The champions in the government enable us to create a culture of bilingualism and to know how it is working in terms of developing and promoting the official languages. On a daily basis, the champions contribute to federal institutions' compliance with the Official Languages Act.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

As you said earlier, 40 per cent of federal positions require that employees speak French and English.

How many public servants are bilingual?

12:45 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

As I mentioned, 44 per cent of public servants are bilingual. That figure refers to the number of bilingual public servants in the entire government.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

Is that a percentage that you want to maintain or increase?

12:45 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

Because I am an eternal optimist, I want to increase that percentage. We are putting training opportunities in place and we are providing opportunities to recruit people who can do their work in both official languages. It is on the upswing, and obviously that number has to be increased.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

Thank you, Minister.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

You have 15 seconds left, Mr. Iacono.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

12:45 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

Take the opportunity to wish us a merry Christmas.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal René Arseneault

The second vice-chair of the committee will ask the next questions.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor for six minutes.

12:45 p.m.

Bloc

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here, Minister.

First, I would like to ask you a question about Statistics Canada. I believe the President of the Treasury Board has an important role to play for that agency.

12:45 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

That is true, since Statistics Canada is an entity that we work with to make sure we have the evidence we need for doing our work.

12:45 p.m.

Bloc

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

Does the data that Statistics Canada wants to publish have to be approved by Treasury Board?

12:45 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

The role of Treasury Board is to promote open government. Statistics Canada therefore publishes data about open government. We do not approve the data, we just publish it.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

The president of Statistics Canada has told us that he could not publish data on rights holders because he had not received authorization from the president of the Treasury Board.

12:50 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

In fact, it is actually that we could not get a complete count of rights holders. If there is one thing that the present government has put in place, it is the possibility of getting a count of all census holders. Statistics Canada therefore now has the ability to do that through the census. In the last census, in 2021, all rights holders were counted.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

You have a responsibility in relation to the language of work and communication in the government. Is that correct?

12:50 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

A few months ago, the CBC reported that 68 per cent of federal employees in Quebec were required to know English, while only 13 per cent of federal employees outside Quebec were required to know French.

Why does such a high proportion of positions require knowledge of English in Quebec?

12:50 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

Thank you for telling us about that study.

In the government, there are designated regions in which there are designated positions that require knowledge of both official languages.

On your question, I will add to what was said by Ms. Petitpas Taylor in the House. I am saying this to anyone who wants to hear it: the use of French is in decline everywhere in Canada and we are proposing measures to ensure that French is promoted.

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

What is difficult is that in Quebec, the language of work is French. An effort is being made to make French the common language. This is vital to ensure the future of French in Quebec, and federal institutions really are a hindrance to that effort.

Mr. Barrière, the vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada in Quebec, has even said that there is systemic discrimination in the federal public service in Quebec that assumes that communications will be in English first, when French should be the language of work. What can you do about this?

There is a request by the Quebec government to amend Bill C‑13. The amendment calls for recognition that French is the predominant language—I would have said "common language"—in the federal public service in Quebec.

Do you think that is something that could be considered?

12:50 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

First, I want to make sure that federal services are offered in both official languages everywhere in Canada.

As you know, in Bill C-13, we are going to ask private enterprises under federal jurisdiction to offer these two...

12:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

Fair enough, but you are essentially reiterating the principle of institutional bilingualism, which is contrary to the Charter of the French Language.

Under the Charter of the French Language, Quebec is the only francophone state in North America. The only way to succeed is to integrate newcomers, and we know that 90 per cent of language transfers in Quebec have to be toward French in order to maintain our demographic weight.

By using the criterion of first official language spoken, for example, the federal government is already taking the position that 33 per cent of immigrants should receive services in English, and that is in direct conflict with our objective. The effect is to make francophones a minority.

We are going to propose these amendments to Bill C‑13.

If it is passed, do you think it would be possible for you to make efforts to achieve this?

12:50 p.m.

President of the Treasury Board

Mona Fortier

I know we are obviously always going to want to ensure that services are offered in both official languages from one end of Canada to the other.