Official Languages Committee on March 31st, 2023

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

I move that Bill C-13 be amended by adding after line 12 on page 18 the following new clause:

27.1 Section 52 of the Act is replaced by the following: 52 The Commissioner may engage, on a temporary basis, the services of persons having technical or specialized knowledge of any matter relating to the work of the Commissioner to advise and assist the Commissioner in the performance of the duties of his office and may fix and pay the remuneration and expenses of those persons.

Allowing the commissioner to have the tools they need to do their job well is a no-brainer, in my opinion. I don't think we can argue against this additional measure. Those are my only comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, your amendment is in order.

Are there any questions or comments regarding CPC‑42?

Seeing none, I call the vote on amendment CPC‑42, Madam Clerk.

(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)

(Clause 28)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Shall clause 28 carry?

(Clause 28 agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will now study amendment CPC‑43, which introduces a new clause, clause 28.1.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Mr. Chair, the principle is similar here. It's about giving more tools to all the stakeholders who can advance the cause. Amendment CPC‑42 did not pass, but I am making another attempt to better equip the commissioner.

I move that Bill C‑13 be amended by adding, after line 18 on page 18, the following new clause:

28.1 Subsection 56(1) of the Act is replaced by the following: 56 (1) It is the duty of the Commissioner to take all actions and measures within the authority of the Commissioner with a view to ensuring recognition of the status of each of the official languages and compliance with the spirit and intent of this act in the administration of the affairs of federal institutions, including any of their activities relating to the advancement of English and French in Canadian society, consistent with federal, provincial and territorial measures to promote and protect the French language.

I don't want to be redundant. So I won't comment further. This is just to provide tools to the commissioner.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, what I am about to say will answer part of the question you are about to ask, I imagine.

I want to bring to the attention of the members of the committee that amendment CPC‑43, which is being discussed now, and amendment BQ‑51 deal with the same and nearly identical measures. I encourage members to take this into account in their deliberations.

Are there any questions or comments on amendment CPC‑43?

You have the floor, Mr. Beaulieu.

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

Naturally, I support this motion.

The amendment adds consideration of the promotion and protection of French. We are told that it is the government's intention to protect and promote French. So this is to ensure that the commissioner takes those aspects into consideration.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Are there any other comments?

Seeing none, we will vote on amendment CPC‑43, Madam Clerk.

(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We now turn to amendment BQ‑51, which is very similar, but not identical to amendment CPC‑43.

Do you wish to move your amendment, Mr. Beaulieu?

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

I'm going to move it anyway, while mentioning the importance, as I said earlier, of taking into consideration the goal of promoting and protecting French.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's fine, thank you.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You should know that I will be supporting my colleague's amendment, but I just want to express a thought.

The minister said that through Bill C‑13, she would give the commissioner additional tools. If there is an opportunity to add more to make it more effective, why aren't we getting that into the bill?

This is both a question and a comment, Mr. Chair. I would encourage our friends across the way and my colleague from the NDP to think before they vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you for your comment, Mr. Godin.

Are there any other comments on amendment BQ‑51?

(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

New clause 28.1 is no longer needed.

(Clauses 29 and 30 agreed to)

(Clause 31)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We're moving on to clause 31.

Mr. Beaulieu, do you wish to move amendment BQ‑53?

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

No, I'm not going to move it.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

All right.

We'll go to amendment BQ‑52.

You're telling me that you will not be moving that either. All right.

(Clauses 31 and 32 agreed to)

(Clause 33)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will move on to clause 33.

Are you going to move amendment BQ‑54, Mr. Beaulieu?

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

No. I am not going to move amendments BQ‑54 and BQ‑55.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

All right.

(Clauses 34 and 35 agreed to)

(Clause 36)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will move on to clause 36.

Before we hear any comments on the new NDP‑13 amendment, I should tell you that if it passes, it will not be possible to move CPC‑44, LIB‑33, and CPC‑45, due to a line conflict. Also, if the new NDP‑13 amendment passes, it will not be possible to move LIB‑34, as its language is included in the new NDP‑13 amendment.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am moving amendment NDP‑13 with the intention of giving the Commissioner of Official Languages more authority and strengthening his important work. Of course, I hope to have the support of all members of the committee.

I'm keeping my comments brief, as I want the committee to move quickly to a vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Are there any comments?

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

In fact, I am grateful that my NDP colleague wants to strengthen the law by giving the commissioner tools. For the benefit of the people listening at home, I'm going to give a summary of the situation.

On December 9, amendments were moved by the Liberals. On December 2, I tabled amendment CPC‑45. On October 13, 2022, I tabled amendment CPC‑44. On March 21, the wording of LIB‑34 was incorporated into NDP‑13. In my opinion, this demonstrates the teamwork and coalition between the NDP and the Liberal Party, which I find very peculiar.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, I'm going to stop you right there, since this is completely irrelevant.

Your comment is not about the new NDP‑13 amendment. Yet that is the topic of this discussion. Your conclusions and comments are not related to what we are currently discussing. What you say does not concern Bill C‑13 and has no relevance for the public. You are sharing an opinion with us; you are making a political analysis. However, if you have the floor, it is to talk about new amendment NDP‑13.