Official Languages Committee on March 10th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

Mr. Serré, you have the floor.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to my colleague for presenting his motion.

I think we can all agree that all of the amendments to the bill that have been proposed in this committee are important.

We have already debated certain matters and this is now the eighth meeting at which we are debating the bill, and we are going to add 6.5 hours of meeting.

For these reasons, I am moving an amendment to delete the second point of the motion in its entirety.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Mr. Chair, I do not share my colleague's comments. It is not true that all the amendments are as important as each other. There are some that have more impact than others. It is very important, for me and for us, to debate clause 54.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, we believe that clause 54, which we are discussing here, is an important issue. In fact, we have addressed it in the House and outside the House on several occasions.

That said, the NDP's concern is the time we have already given to consideration of this bill. Since November, we have been trying to propose a clear and efficient agenda, to find a balance that both allows amendments to the bill to be proposed and allows us to move forward. We believe the proposed debate on clause 54 would significantly prolong consideration of the bill, that being something that we are already seriously concerned about. We think it is important that the committee refer the bill to the Senate as soon as possible, so that it comes back before the House of Commons before the end of June. The communities have been clear on this subject: they are despairing and we have to move forward.

I would like to clarify our position. Yesterday, we sent a motion to the clerk. We intend to support adding 6.5 hours of meeting, but we do not want to continue the debate on...

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

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Wait a moment, Ms. Ashton.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Mr. Chair, you probably know why I have raised a point of order.

Can my colleague focus on the amendment proposed by my colleague? Then we will deal with my motion. After that, we will see how the rest of the proceedings will go.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Good. I was just going to make the same comment.

Ms. Ashton, I would ask that you focus on the amendment proposed by Mr. Serré.

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

Yes, Mr. Chair.

I intend to support the removal of the second part of the motion, because we think it would add a lot more time than is needed to the consideration of this bill. Our goal is to finish consideration as soon as possible. We therefore support this amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

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

Clause 54 is important. There is consensus on this in Quebec. All former premiers, even those from the Liberal Party, all the major trade union federations and all the major cities in Quebec have supported this proposal. That is why I believe it is important to be able to debate it.

The motion under consideration, Mr. Godin's motion, does not give us more time to consider it; it just reorganizes the time so that we keep some time at the end of our consideration to debate clause 54, very simply.

As to Mr. Serré's amendment, we will let things stand, otherwise... If I understand correctly, it's so that it will be possible to vote against clause 54 and still have the 6.5 hours of debate.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Once again, Mr. Chair, we have a demonstration of proceduritis that is making us waste time.

Personally, the way I decode the situation is that the Liberals and the NDP do not want to debate clause 54, and that is a big disappointment to me.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

As no one else wishes to speak, we will proceed with the vote.

Just before that, I would note that I have checked with the clerk and the word used by Mr. Serré is in fact "delete". It's clear. If the amendment is adopted, the second part of the main motion will be deleted; it will no longer exist.

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

Mr. Chair, the procedure is very clear to me.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Fine.

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

Mr. Chair, am I still entitled to—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I have already called the vote, Mr. Beaulieu.

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

Voting hasn't started, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Right, you have the floor, Mr. Beaulieu.

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

It will be very quick.

I don't understand why the NDP, which is supposed to support the application of the Charter of the French Language to federally regulated businesses, does not want to debate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, the amendment was proposed by Mr. Serré, not by the NDP.

I am ready to call for the vote, but I see that we have lost a player who is participating in the meeting remotely.

Can someone send a message to Mr. Gourde to see what's happening?

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

He just said that his Internet connection was interrupted.