Official Languages Committee on Dec. 6th, 2022

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

What I mean is that your answers show that you do not agree to any of the requests by the Quebec government and there will be no help coming from you regarding positive measures for French.

[Mona Fortier]

There are positive measures everywhere in Canada, through our programs, precisely to make sure...

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

I am talking about Quebec.

[Mona Fortier]

In the public service, for example, we have a training framework, and we are going to continue...

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

In the public service, specifically, 68 per cent of positions require English...

[Mona Fortier]

There is training in English and in French.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Just a moment, please. There is a lot of noise.

There are ten seconds left.

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

To conclude, I would point out that in Quebec, 67 per cent of positions in the public service require English, for about nine per cent anglophones. That makes no sense. The Official Languages Act of Canada is probably the main factor in the anglicizing of Quebec.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Ms. Ashton and Mr. Boulerice, it's your turn. Which of you two would like to speak?

Ms. Ashton seems to be busy.

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

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

I was going to say I'm back.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Right. Go ahead, Ms. Ashton.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

No, Mr. Chair, I am going to let my colleague have the floor. It's not the ideal time for me, as you can see.

[Mona Fortier]

Your boy is certainly growing up fast!

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead, Mr. Boulerice. I will reset the clock to zero.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the President of the Treasury Board for being here.

In recent months, we have heard about a number of problems in the federal public service regarding respect for French, when meetings are held solely in English and communications also take place solely in English.

First, do you acknowledge the problems that have been experienced by federal public service employees in the last two years or in recent months?

Most importantly, what corrective measures are you taking to avoid this happening again in the future?

[Mona Fortier]

First, the situation always needs to be improved. That is one of my guiding principles. I have the privilege of being the President of the Treasury Board and of holding almost 80 per cent of my meetings in French, so I am setting an example. However, I will not hide the fact that we have work to do. We can improve the situation and encourage public servants to work in both official languages, and we have done that.

Earlier, I talked about the Policy on Official Languages, which means that we have 200 official languages champions in 200 federal institutions. That provides us with a better idea of what we can do to improve respect for official languages in the public service.

Obviously, I am going to work with the unions and with employees throughout the government to promote the use of French and English.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I'm happy to learn that you are setting an example personally, but what we often hear is that people are uncomfortable and will switch to English if there is a majority or even a minority of unilingual English speakers at the table. Sometimes, there is no interpretation, or it is not widely used. It is as if there is a cultural unease.

Speaking institutionally, do you have clear directives for protecting francophones?

[Mona Fortier]

First, in my opinion, the situation you refer to is language insecurity, and we see it across the federal government and everywhere in Canada. That is why we are putting various measures in place to encourage public servants to work in both official languages.

Very recently, as I mentioned, I met with the official languages champions. We reiterated that various measures need to be instituted, and we are going to continue doing it.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Boulerice.

You have four seconds left. You have time to wish everyone merry Christmas if you want.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I want especially to wish everyone a happy 2023.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

We have used 18 of the 22 minutes. That doesn't give us enough time to continue the round of two five-minute questions. Unless someone really wants to split hairs, I would stop here.

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

Mr. Chair, I would like to say something.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have the floor, Mr. Godin.

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

As you know, we have expressed our fervent desire to have the ministers testify for two hours. In my opinion, we could ask for unanimous consent for the representatives of the Liberal and Conservative parties to have four minutes each so that the President of the Treasury Board could finish her testimony.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Because we had agreed to 22 minutes, I would allow each of the parties two minutes. I am already late for a meeting of another committee.