Official Languages Committee on Nov. 1st, 2023

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

Right. In any event, when you tell me the amount given to each region, I will see how well the work is going in the province in question.

I would also like to know whether you focus on young entrepreneurs in the Atlantic region, whether they are anglophone or francophone. Do you have a particular approach for novices who want to get into entrepreneurship? What steps do they have to go through? Is it your objective to try to attract new businesses and young entrepreneurs?

[Daryell Nowlan]

Absolutely.

As colleagues from my side have mentioned before, when you look at the make up of OLMC entrepreneurs, certainly in our region, they're in rural communities. Rural businesses are facing the same challenges other businesses are. They are facing the challenge of labour shortages, lack of immigration, all those sorts of things.

We have invested a lot in trying to keep young people in the region. For example, in northeastern New Brunswick, we're doing a project in the francophone school system to engage students in innovative ideas and innovative entrepreneurship practices to try to teach them how they can start businesses—

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

Very good. Can you send us that? What projects are out there in Atlantic Canada and in French communities where we have initiatives for francophones?

Finally, what are some of the challenges that you're seeing in Acadian communities around Atlantic Canada?

[Daryell Nowlan]

As I said, we have the same problems in our official language communities as in the rural communities in the Atlantic region.

We have the challenges around labour. We have the challenges around access to capital. We have the challenges around accessing the skill sets that they need. The challenge is exponentially more difficult because they're doing that in the minority language.

That's why we have directed funding and we have people there who could work with them on a case-by-case basis, in a client-centred approach, so that they can actually figure out what the exact need of that business is, because it varies business by business. We can work with them to support whatever specific problem they might have.

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

How long do you think it would take to get the information I'm asking for, which is identifying the regions that have francophone communities and how much money is in projects that were approved in those communities across Atlantic Canada?

[Daryell Nowlan]

That will not take very long at all.

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

And the youth projects as well....

[Daryell Nowlan]

Absolutely.

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

Does “not too long” mean a week, two weeks, a month, before Christmas?

[Daryell Nowlan]

It means before Christmas—this Christmas.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

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

The sooner the better. Tomorrow is better, but—

[Daryell Nowlan]

I would say we'd be able to get that to you in a week or so.

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

I appreciate that. That's why you carry the name Daryell.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

Mr. Beaulieu, you now have the floor.

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

Mr. Perron, you said earlier that out of a total of $220 million, approximately $120 million was intended for anglophone businesses.

[Sony Perron]

Mr. Chair, I would like to clarify that, since I did not have the time to finish.

We did a thorough evaluation of investments over a five-year period, because businesses' projects can take a lot of time to materialize.

In five years, $120 million was allocated to business projects or development projects associated with entrepreneurs who identified as anglophone.

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

So that was about $120 million over five years.

[Sony Perron]

Yes.

As I said earlier, our base budget, if we exclude special initiatives, is approximately $220 million per year. That means that $120 million out of approximately $1 billion in investments was granted to anglophone entrepreneurs in Quebec.

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

Does that include the $10.2 million per year budget that you are allocated?

[Sony Perron]

No, that is part of regular programming. That budget is an addition.

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

Right. So the $10.2 million budget is an addition to support anglophone entrepreneurs.

[Sony Perron]

We also support organizations, such as the ones I mentioned in my opening statement, that are there to support the community, to set projects up, and to support anglophone entrepreneurs, including young entrepreneurs. There is an equivalent that is used for the population as a whole, but we specifically support some organizations in those communities in order to make sure that the service is available and is very active in the anglophone communities.

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

Since 2020, and it is in the new act, the government has recognized that francophones in Quebec are a minority in Canada and in North America and that it also has a responsibility to protect the French language in Quebec. In the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023‑2028 and the $10.2 million in funding, was something provided for protecting the French language?