Mr. Newman, the consultation and negotiation of agreements fall under this section of the act, section 45. It talks about “may negotiate agreements with the provincial governments to ensure, to the greatest practical extent but subject to Part IV, that the provision of federal, provincial”—blah, blah, blah—“is coordinated”.
Again, you have one act.... I'm not aware of any other act in the country that states who is eligible for services if they are provided in that language, whereas Quebec's Charter of the French Language now makes very explicit who is entitled to receive services in English and who is not.
Again, my concern is that, by choosing to make explicit reference when you're not making specific reference to any other provincial law, even though you're saying that they may be included, you're leading to a situation where I am confident the Quebec government will argue, when they are negotiating an agreement with the federal government for the provision of services to Quebeckers, “We have to look now at the Charter of the French Language that says only this subgroup of people is entitled to get served in English.”
Again, I express my deep concern about this as a representative of that community.