I will try to be brief because there seems to be a strategy of obstruction to delay debate and prevent us from proposing that Bill 101 should apply to federally-regulated businesses.
In short, for 52 years, the federal government's Official Languages Act has served to promote English in Quebec, period. And yet it is French that is under threat, not English. This act has served to fund anglophone lobby groups, such as Alliance Québec, which Mr. Housefather headed up for a long time. He is arguing against adopting French as the common language of Quebec, and did so yesterday as well.
Making French the common language is necessary to integrate newcomers into Quebec society. Despite what Mr. Housefather said, and what Alliance Québec maintains with many anti-Quebec prejudices and so forth, this is still the situation today.
Unlike francophones outside Quebec, all anglophones in Quebec have the right to receive services in English. They receive those services in all regions, while francophones outside Quebec hardly receive any services in French. That is the reality.
So what anglophones want is not the right to receive services in English for themselves. They want newcomers, allophones, to receive services in English as well. Their goal is to anglicize those people, and that is what we see. A great many people switch to English, out of all proportion.
The federal government's impact in Quebec through the Official Languages Act has made anglophone organizations too large, while serving to anglicize allophones, the children of Bill 101, as well as francophones in Montreal.
So I think this is really crucial. For over 50 years, the federal government has denied the decline of French. But suddenly, two years ago, it admitted there is a decline. In its throne speech, the federal government admitted that it should be responsible for defending and protecting French.
We see that our colleague is trying to eliminate the Charter of the French Language. It has been dismantled. It has been weakened in all its areas of application as a result of pressure and groups funded by the Official Languages Act.
Right now, Quebeckers are not just afraid; they are fighting for their survival. We are witnessing a fight for the survival of French in the only jurisdiction in Canada and North America where there is still a francophone majority. It is a fight for linguistic diversity internationally in North America.
There were some fine intentions in the Official Languages Act, which was supposed to respect the Charter of the French Language.
For the Quebec government, Bill 96, which Mr. Housefather is trying to demonize, simply restores a few sections of the Charter of the French Language. Its objective is merely integration, the francization of newcomers, so that Quebec society can be inclusive and cohesive. That requires knowledge of French.
Right now, we can see the true face of the Liberal Party of Canada, defending English in Quebec. This simply furthers and encourages a decline in the number of francophones. I will leave it there, but we will have the opportunity to return to this.
In my opinion, my colleagues in the official opposition will certainly reject this proposal. Quebeckers must really pay attention. If we are unable to make significant gains right now, the federal government will continue to work entirely in favour of English in Quebec, but we cannot suffer any further decline.