Official Languages Committee on Oct. 25th, 2023

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

We don't just want to do it; we're actually doing it with the francophone immigration corridor. That's exactly what the corridor represents: the recruitment of francophone teachers. The idea is to encourage people from francophone countries to come and settle in Canada and teach our children in French.

I'm very proud of this program. We'll see how the $16 million will be used. If we need more money, colleagues, you know how to start the process.

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

We can't wait to see how it all progresses. I'm going to hang on to my other questions for later.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

We now go to Alberta.

Mr. Dalton, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Minister, congratulations on your new position.

We have a lot of connections. My father attended Collège Saint-Jean in 1940 and then sisters and family...so there are a lot of connections there.

I know you addressed this a bit, but you were appointed in July and the mandate letters are still not out. We're hearing that this is a continuation of before. I think you mentioned that.

To me, that reflects a lack of organization, energy and vision of the government of the Prime Minister. It's a little disappointing. I would think that would influence you, too.

One reason we're here is to hear about your mandate.

Could you comment on that, please?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Look, I will say this very clearly: I don't write mandate letters. I receive them. I have a very clear mandate letter from the mandate of my predecessor. It was a very clear mandate letter, colleagues. It's to get Bill C-13 passed and then to implement it. That's it. That's the job.

I said it in French earlier. I'm the conductor of the orchestra here, so I want to make sure we have everybody on the stage, they're playing the music we want to hear and we're dealing with the issues we have to deal with.

We had a big win in this modernization of official languages because we now have the President of the Treasury Board responsible for part VII.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

All right, you don't have the mandate letter, so we'll go back to the mandate letter from the previous minister, Madam Petitpas Taylor—

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Let's be clear. It's the same mandate.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

That's good. What was the first priority in that mandate letter?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

It was to pass Bill C-13 and implement it, should it be passed.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

No, actually the first point was to pass, in full, the white paper. In the white paper, the number one point and concern expressed by the francophone community that we voted on was the fragmentation of power—that official languages are dispersed. You have a piece of it, the Heritage ministry and Treasury Board have some. We're saying that it needs to be under one minister, under Treasury Board.

That was the number one priority and we don't see that. I don't know if you're even aware of that. Do you have any comment?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'm totally aware of it. I think what I meant to say with the question was that you achieve that with the concentration of powers with the President of the Treasury Board having responsibility for the implementation of this act across government.

That is something this committee has been fighting for and that the communities have been fighting for since I was first elected in 2015. I think this committee can be very proud of that.

There are always things, in an act of modernization that takes 50 years to achieve, that may not be scoped in, but in this case this is a big win.

You're going to see Minister Anand on November 8 or 9, I think. You'll be able to ask her these questions, but we got the win, colleagues. It's in the Treasury Board.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Yes, the fragmentation is a concern and it's still there. The Conservatives have put forth amendments to put the authority with the one minister and that was voted down in spite of the white paper's recommendation.

Given what you said here about different ministers, would you not agree on the importance of having the Minister of Heritage come before the committee?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Colleagues, that's entirely in your scope, but there's no hierarchy in the ministries.

Let me give you an example.

I have a line responsibility in Employment and Social Development Canada and five other ministers that I work with on this file, but I don't have any senior role or authority over those other ministers.

It's the same when we look at official languages, Canadian Heritage and sport. Ministers are equal in this administration, so there's no reason for you to talk to Minister St-Onge about official languages because guess what, colleagues. I sign the cheques and I make the decisions. It will be my team that will be putting all the stages of the rules through Parliament to get them done.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

Having it so fragmented means it's just a bit more challenging for us as a committee, as far as representing second-language minority rights is concerned.

I have another question here. I'll just leave this with you as I'd be interested in your comments.

It is about the situation in Quebec with the out-of-province English-speaking students and the fees doubling. I'm wondering if you could comment on that, please.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Let me just clarify—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You have 15 seconds.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Fragmentation is very different from having every single minister of the Crown responsible for implementing their responsibilities under the act. As it concerns the situation in Quebec, they have the rights on the ground over universities as their champ de compétence, but I think universities should be windows that are open to the world and not closed.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Minister.

I'm sorry, Mr. Dalton. I said you're from Alberta, but you're from B.C. Your roots are in Alberta.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

I come from a military family.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Exactly.

From British Columbia, we now go to Nova Scotia.

Mr. Samson, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd like to inform you that I'll be sharing my speaking time with Mr. Iacono.

I just want to remind Mr. Dalton that the amendment to Bill C‑13 respecting the Treasury Board was moved by the Conservatives, and I voted for it, which should please Mr. Dalton.

Minister, I'm very proud of your appointment and to have you here in committee. As you know, we've been working together, toward the same objective, since 2015. Now we have tools in the toolbox that we can use to do a lot of things that we've had trouble achieving in the past. There are francophones, the "francocurieux", of course, but Acadians as well. It's very important not to forget the Acadians of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

My question is brief because I don't want to take up too much of my colleague's time. The Réseau pour le développement de l'alphabétisme et des compétences plays a very important role in the learning process and in skills development in minority language communities. I know that organization has asked your department to renew its agreement, which is a very important factor in enabling it to continue its work. Would you please tell the committee where matters stand in that file?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That's very well put.

I worked in the early childhood field for nearly two decades before becoming an MP. As I said earlier, I know just how important the "cradle to rocking chair" continuum is.

With regard to RESDAC's good work, I know Mona Audet very well; she's nicknamed "Monatoba" because she represents her province so well. To give you an idea of how interested I am in her funding application, I asked my deputy minister, Paul Thompson, of the Department of Employment and Social Development, to speak with Ms. Audet. That was done, and we'll continue monitoring the file very closely.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Boissonnault

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

Welcome, Minister, and congratulations once again on your appointment.

Minister, the action plan for official languages 2023‑2028 contains four investment components for the next five years. Would you please tell us about the massive investments that the government plans to make in the official language minority communities?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I'll to give you the highlights, which are set out in annex 2 of the action plan. There's $752.9 million for minority-language education and $428 million in support for second-language learning.

As regards the new funding now in our system, I've already mentioned the $50 million fund for the consolidated integration pathway for newcomers, another fund, $147.8 million, to support minority-language education, and a third fund, $65.8 million to support French-as-a-second-language learning.

The action plan also provides for a $62.5 million increase for our community organizations on the ground. They've been urging us to grant more funding for years now to expand access for new groups.

The new action plan represents a total of $1.4 billion of funding for all these great projects. So I tip my hat to all of you and to our government for improving this action plan and putting historic levels of funding on the table.