Official Languages Committee on Nov. 1st, 2023

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

A lot of what I've heard from business owners in general, of course, is about the time that it takes away from what they're desperately trying to put together. They're very busy in terms of those businesses. It consumes so much of their life, so to try to carve out some extra time to be able to apply for a lot of these programs is very difficult. I heard that a lot when I was working on the trade file.

How are you helping these businesses and these people do that? Has the application process been more streamlined over the years? Could you explain a bit of that?

[Etienne-René Massie]

I can speak to the entrepreneurship programming that we have in the department. We hear that entrepreneurs are busy people. They're problem-solvers on an ongoing basis. Our intermediaries provide a range of services and a different level of engagement with the entrepreneurs, so the entrepreneur can sometimes come in and get quick hits, or they can get more in-depth services that are there.

The ecosystem providers, like Futurpreneur or an organization like the Black Business and Professional Association, will try to tailor their program to make it easy for entrepreneurs, which is why we believe that intermediaries are key in the delivery of our services. For these intermediaries, this is their business. They are there to support entrepreneurs. They are there to work with entrepreneurs, so they know what entrepreneurs want, how they want it, and when they want it. That's why we fund these organizations, because they are best placed to work with entrepreneurs to help them develop their project.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Do those intermediaries—forgive my ignorance—take the entire pot of funding and then decide who receives it and how it's received? Is it a separate amount of money that you provide to them that's not indicative of what those businesses get?

[Etienne-René Massie]

The programming that I'm talking about is their entrepreneurship programming, which is over and above the official-language minority programming that we have in the department.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

So it's separate.

[Etienne-René Massie]

It's separate, and it's generalized to the population.

We try to enable organizations to help businesses through the provision of free services and supports. We don't necessarily do a direct contribution to a business or even an indirect financial contribution to the business. We do a range of services that help that entrepreneur build out their project through that programming, be it WES, BEP or Futurpreneur.

[Kasi McMicking]

May I just add one additional thing to what Etienne was just saying to the member? With regard to what our shop does, Marie-Caroline and I are essentially, apart from doing research and coordination, the one-stop shop for coordinating feedback with regard to how the EDI program itself operates throughout the country. We are quite conscious of the issues for entrepreneurs in all parts of the country and in all ways with regard to capacity. We try to work with our collaborators in other departments to make the processes as simple as possible using the feedback that we hear from entrepreneurs.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Mathyssen and Ms. McMicking.

In the second round of questions, we'll start with the member for Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, Mrs. Goodridge.

The floor is yours for five minutes.

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

Thank you. It is not very cold here today. It is one degree Celsius.

First, the responsibility for western Canada economic diversification has been divided between two different agencies: PrairiesCan and PacifiCan. How does that change the way the funds will be spent?

[Marie-Caroline Badjeck]

Up to now, the funding associated with the Economic Development Initiative was a function of the population. We can expect that this will continue. However, that is why the presence of the representatives of the regional agencies at this committee is important, as the Assistant Deputy Minister said, because they can tell you in greater detail about the allocation of resources between these two new agencies.

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

Is the funding divided based on the number of francophones or based on the general population?

[Marie-Caroline Badjeck]

Once again, I would invite you to put that specific question to our colleagues who will be testifying in the second hour. They will be better able to explain how they use their funds and how they are given out.

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

Right.

Can you give me examples of economic development projects or programs in official language minority communities that have been successful and have been supported by regional development agencies under the Action Plan for the Official Languages 2018‑2023?

[Marie-Caroline Badjeck]

Once again, I would not want to take the pleasure of talking about their successes away from the representatives of the agencies who will testify after us. They will be able to give you examples of projects.

However, I can talk to you about the type of projects that we fund directly at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, to support strategic planning and evaluate the emerging needs of communities. For example, we fund research projects relating to strategic planning, such as RDEE Canada's recent white paper, which was submitted in 2023 and was funded in part by us.

Once again, the regional development agencies are on the ground.

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

Thank you.

We know that bilingualism is an economic advantage, but in what respect is it an asset for the economy at the national and international level?

[Marie-Caroline Badjeck]

I do not have data on that on hand. However,...

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

Can you send it to the committee, in that case? We have very little time.

You can submit it in both official languages to the committee, or in one of the languages, and the clerk can share it. It's just because my time is running out very quickly.

One of the big things that I've heard very clearly from language communities is the importance of having “by and for”. It's not an anglophone community that can do the work in both languages, but a francophone community that is serving the francophone community.

You were talking about the fact that you hire agencies to spend the money. How do you guys make sure that the money is spent exactly how you want?

[Etienne-René Massie]

In our entrepreneurship programming, the contribution agreement spells out a range of reporting requirements, so the quarterly claims come in and annual reports come in, which allow our officers to do a paper review. Then we have ongoing engagement with our recipients, so those are phone calls and regular meetings to get an understanding of what the challenges and opportunities are.

We will often bring the recipients together under an initiative. For example, the Black entrepreneurship initiative—the knowledge hub of which is at Carleton—will bring all the ecosystem recipients together for information exchange, learning, lessons and best practices. We are there, talking with them directly during the meeting, and in the hallways as well, to try to better understand the issues.

The reporting is the ultimate.... They have to account for the number of services and the diversity of clients they have, and that gives us a full accounting.

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

So it's—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm sorry, Mrs. Goodridge. That's all the time you have for now.

Thank you, Mr. Massie.

The floor will now go to Mr. Serré, MP for the North Bay region.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

In fact, Mr. Chair, I represent the region of Nipissing and Greater Sudbury, more precisely.

Thanks to the witnesses for being here today and for their work in the department.

Ms. McMicking and Mr. Massie, you spoke about the consultations you held a few years ago. You mentioned problems accessing capital and markets. Since we are here to make recommendations that will enable us to progress, is there a formal report on the consultations that you could send to the committee so that our analyst and committee members could get some ideas from it?

[Kasi McMicking]

Yes, we have a report on the consultations our department held.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you. Given that we do not have a lot of time today, please let us have that in writing after the meeting. We would appreciate that.

There have been consultations about the action plan for the official languages with a number of official language minority communities around the country. They want the federal government to play a major role, and it is doing that. However, do the provinces also have to address the needs of francophone minority communities? What is your role with the provinces? Do you have formal agreements with some of them?

[Marie-Caroline Badjeck]

No, we do not have formal agreements with the provinces at this point.

In Ontario, for example, the communities themselves, through organizations like the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario or the Société économique de l'Ontario, hold discussions with their provincial government and present the results to it. That is kind of the idea of development by and for the communities.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Like Ms. Goodridge and Mr. Iacono before you, you referred to the idea of development by, for and with the communities. Do you have formal criteria, concepts, priorities or practices that require you to work first with organizations that prioritize work by, for and with the communities, rather than with bilingual organizations?