Official Languages Committee on Oct. 25th, 2023

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I don't have much time.

Effectively, part VIII of the act only gives authority to the Treasury Board over certain parts of the act—parts IV, V and VI and subsection 41(5) of part VII. It does not completely concentrate it to the Treasury Board.

This is a space where, frankly, it is not the golden goose that you claim it is. This is not what we were asking for.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I think many people in this room voted for the motion. I haven't checked the voting record, but I know that the law passed Parliament. There was robust conversation over the course of the year.

I remember when I was the parliamentary secretary.

It was a heartfelt plea from francophone communities that wanted those powers concentrated within a central agency, be it PCO, Treasury Board or some other central agency.

That would never work. So you landed in a great place.

I am always, and the future ministers of official languages are always, going to make sure that every single one of our ministerial colleagues is responsible for respecting the act and the law and for making sure that all minority communities have access to the rights and benefits that come from the great action plan we put in place.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Effectively, you're saying that we should continue to invite every single minister from all across government to come to this committee, because every single one is responsible for official languages when it comes to their file, and not you.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

You are completely right. Every minister is responsible for official languages in their ministry,

and there's the President of the Treasury Board.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you. That's wonderful. It's good to know. Sometimes we have some consternation on this committee from members of the Liberal Party who are concerned about us inviting different ministers from every single different department, but here you're telling us that clearly we need to be inviting every minister to come. Every single minister is responsible for this, not just one.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I think you might run out of time with studies if you invite every minister, but know that every minister has a responsibility to implement the act. The minister responsible for making sure that part VII is implemented across government, with the implementation of the act, is the President of the Treasury Board.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

We now know what happened at the RCMP with respect to bilingualism. Can you comment on that?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Bilingual positions must be filled by bilingual staff.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Boissonnault. You finished your response just in time.

Mr. Serré, you have five minutes. We're going to hear from Ontario.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm very proud of the work the committee did on Bill C‑13. Every political party, 300 parliamentarians and everyone here in this room voted in favour of this bill. We have seven provinces represented today.

I wouldn't be a member of Parliament if not for official languages. My father was here in 1969. He voted for the first version of the Official Languages Act. It's definitely very important.

Mr. Minister, let's talk a bit about education. As you know, things are tough, especially for francophone universities in minority communities. They are in danger.

There are two things to consider here. The first is the action plan and how we are going to tackle the situation. The second is related to the fact that, as you know, on June 30, Ontario's Conservative government flatly rejected the University of Sudbury's proposal to add courses in French “by and for” francophones, a proposal the federal government supported.

I would like to hear your opinion on that. We know it's under provincial jurisdiction, but seeing as we're all here, I'd like to know what you think.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Serré.

Thank you for the great work you did as parliamentary secretary to Ms. Petitpas Taylor, and thank you for remaining in office.

With respect to universities, for both capital investments and operating costs, it's important to establish partnerships with the provinces. This is within their jurisdiction.

Back when Premier Kenney was making drastic cuts, slashing the University of Alberta's budget by 40% without even touching the University of Calgary's budget, we launched the “Sauvons Saint‑Jean” campaign. We felt really threatened by that. It would have been a real blow to lose Campus Saint‑Jean. Federal funding for Campus Saint‑Jean is part of that.

In Ontario, I met with the Treasury Board president, Minister Mulroney, to discuss the issue. She is also my official languages counterpart and knew exactly what I meant when I told her that we were involved in the University of Sudbury file but that her government had to take the lead on it. She is well aware of that. We also talked about the Université de l'Ontario français and the fact the the province has to take the lead on that file. We went through a difficult time during the pandemic, but I am hopeful the university will work out.

It's important to see bilingual and francophone institutions like Collège Mathieu, Campus Saint‑Jean and wonderful examples of everything we're talking about in the Atlantic provinces and Acadia thrive all across the country.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to ask a second question about the Canadian francophonie, the rural factor and the importance of the action plan, which has been approved and has $1.1 billion in additional funds. We held consultations with the three territories and 10 provinces last year. How will the action plan, whose budget has doubled since 2015, help the economic situation of francophones in rural communities in western Canada, northern Ontario and the Atlantic provinces?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That's very interesting. The answer has to do with the middle class, with every aspect of immigration all over the country and with the fact that we have a mobile workforce.

People settle in big cities, but they also settle in small communities. What we're seeing is that the francophonie outside Quebec is thriving in small and medium-sized communities. The provinces have to offer services in French where there is a significant population. I am responsible for implementing that regulation.

Here's an example. We just announced some very promising projects to be administered by the Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta and the Saskatchewan and Manitoba development agencies in both cities and smaller communities to support and promote the work of “francopreneurs”, francophone entrepreneurs.

I want to see that work continue with the help of organizations like those ones and other economic development agencies from coast to coast to coast.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Minister, we've heard from indigenous communities that there are 70 distinct indigenous languages in Canada. Can you tell us about discussions taking place about indigenous languages and official languages, as well as support for both?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'll start by saying in Cree:

[Member spoke in Cree]

[Translation]

That means, “Hello, you are all welcome.” My Cree name means “strong eagle man”, and I say this because I can be francophone, I can be Albertan, and I can be proud of our official languages and the progress we've made in preserving indigenous languages. Indigenous peoples also want the “by and for” principle to apply to them, and I see linguistic duality as the foundation of that, just like the preservation of the important heritage represented by the languages of indigenous peoples. That is also important to who we are as Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much, Mr. Serré.

Thank you very much, Mr. Minister.

That's all the time we have for this meeting. Mr. Minister, Ms. Boyer and Ms. Mondou, thank you for participating.

Mr. Boissonnault, I want to thank you on behalf of the committee, not just because you're the Minister of Official Languages but because we can definitely tell that you're passionate about official languages. Thank you so much for participating and for giving such straightforward and specific answers.

We will continue in camera. The sitting is suspended.

[The committee continued in camera]