Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to my colleagues.
Since Ms. Lattanzio had another committee meeting to attend and couldn't be here today, I have the pleasure of moving amendment LIB‑41 on her behalf.
The reason we're moving this amendment is that the current wording of Bill C-13 has caused a lot of confusion and consternation among Quebec's anglophone groups. Let me explain.
Proposed subsection 9(1) of the future use of French in federally regulated private businesses act would create three rights for employees, which we agree with. They are the right to:(a) carry out their work and be supervised in French;(b) receive all communications and documents...in French; and(c) use regularly and widely used work instruments and computer systems in French.
Subsection 9(3) of the future act would not prevent employers from communicating or providing documents in both official languages, but it wouldn't make that a right.
It's not a right; it's a permission. As opposed to creating a right to do things in English, employers would have the permission, as long as they're fulfilling their duty, to provide other employees with the right to do things in French. They would have permission to say to employees who would prefer to do things in English that they can do things in English. What's happening here is that we're creating an exception for documents and communication, saying they can be in English.
Subsection 9(3) covers paragraph 9(1)(b) of the future act but not paragraphs 9(1)(a) or 9(1)(c).
This means that if I'm an anglophone employee in Quebec and I prefer to use work instruments and computer systems in English, my employer can say that francophone employees who want those instruments and systems in French will get them, but the act doesn't specify that I have the right to get them in English, any more than it specifies that employees who prefer to work and be supervised in English can do that if the employer allows other employees to work and be supervised in French.
I think employers will find it confusing that Bill C‑13 creates an exception for documents and communications, but not in relation to paragraphs 9(1)(a) and 9(1)(c) of the future act. Will employers have the right to provide other employees with computer programs or systems in English? Do they have the right to allow other employees to work in English?
I would much prefer to avoid having that confusion by simply adding that as long as French-speaking employees or those who prefer to work in French are accorded the right, meaning they have to be allowed to do what's in paragraphs 9(1)(a), (b) and (c), an employer is free to let employees who prefer to do things in English also do what's in paragraphs 9(1)(a), (b) and (c) in English. That is the purpose of this amendment.
Thank you.