Official Languages Committee on Nov. 29th, 2023

[Stephen Traynor]

That is a good question.

All of our CanNor offices are designated under the Official Languages Act as providing bilingual services; however, sometimes due to turnover, we may have temporary or isolated problems in a specific office, but we certainly ensure that we can dispatch those services from other offices. All our offices are designated as providing bilingual services.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Is it true that in order to access financial assistance and to be understood better, heard better, and treated better, it is preferable for people to submit their applications in English?

[Stephen Traynor]

We have both official languages on our website, and during our expression of interest process, we accept them in both English and French. Before that time, we do have staff on the ground who meet with potential applicants, and they are able to speak both English and French, so they receive both languages.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

However, you cannot confirm that applications in French receive treatment equal to the treatment of applications in English.

[Stephen Traynor]

That would be difficult for me to say.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, how much time do I have left?

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

You have one minute left.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, before going further, is it possible to interrupt my speaking time? I would like to move a motion for which notice was given earlier. I would like the committee to consider the motion and decide on it today.

That given that the government of Canada has failed to protect manufacturing jobs for Quebecers and that hundreds of foreign replacement workers will be coming to Quebec to work at the NorthVolt plant, and considering that these jobs should have gone to Quebecers, the committee expresses its concern that these foreign workers may not have adequate French language skills to comply with language laws in force in Quebec. And, the committee call on the Minister of Languages, the Minister of Industry, and the Quebec Lieutenant to appear before the committee to discuss this matter, for two hours each.

I think it is important that this committee be able to be the guardian of the official languages. Considering that the decline of French is recognized in Quebec, these contracts and investments have to include protections so that French is respected and so that it is promoted among these foreign workers. As I said earlier, the most vulnerable official language is French. We see that there is a decline, so we have to ensure that we have ways to stop the decline, reverse the curve, and protect and promote both official languages.

I think this motion is relevant to what follows from the agreement the government has signed. I urge the committee to take a position. I hope my colleagues feel the same as I do regarding the official languages and French in Quebec. I hope the committee will take the necessary measures to require that the foreign replacement workers be attuned to French. This is a great opportunity to promote the language of Molière.

We may have to see the contracts, as we have been asking to do for several days. They may contain language provisions, but so far, the government has not wanted to make the contracts public.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Thank you.

I want to let our witnesses know that we sometimes move motions this way. Once we finish discussing them, we will come back to you.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I applaud my colleague's motion.

I have some points to raise regarding the Northvolt plant. I imagine my colleague has not discussed this with the government of Quebec, given that it supported this investment. The government, which sponsored Bill 96, supported this investment.

This proposal has nothing to do with French. I know this motion does not even come from Mr. Godin. He had to stretch it so that it would not be out of order at the Standing Committee on Official Languages. If the notice of motion had been provided to the chair before the meeting, it would have been rejected, because it has no connection with official languages. We are seeing the same thing happening in other committees.

Regarding the foreign workers, I want to remind everyone that blaming them for the decline of French or the lack of respect for Canada's official languages is a bit absurd.

If Mr. Godin wants to talk about foreign workers, I will ask him whether he has discussed it with the representatives of the Union des producteurs agricoles, for example, whose members bring in foreign workers every year to work in our agricultural fields. Has he discussed it with the UPA representatives to find out whether all the foreign workers speak very good French? I know what the answer is; it is no. They do not speak French very well; they do not speak English very well. Often, they speak Spanish. They work in our fields in Quebec, in Ontario, everywhere in Canada. I think that wanting to pursue the discussion of the foreign workers issue is an effort, on that subject, to make poutine using just a drop of sauce.

I respect my colleague, but I know this motion comes from the leader of the official opposition, because the same motion was made in all the other committees. It is more or less the same as what happened for carbon pricing. A motion was made in all committees to attempt some kind of takeover of the committees.

I repeat: it is absurd to claim that the government of Quebec, which introduced Bill 96, a bill to defend the French language, is opposed to the investment in the Northvolt plant because foreign workers would be coming here for a few weeks, or even a few months, to transfer knowledge to Quebec workers before leaving again.

This is comparable to any investment that is made abroad by Canadian companies. When Bombardier, for instance, builds planes somewhere else, it brings in Quebec workers, regardless of where it sold its planes. The Quebec workers transfer knowledge to the foreign country and then come back to Canada. This is an entirely standard practice.

I will not propose anything now. Mr. Godin has proposed that this motion be considered while the witnesses are here at the committee. We could go on and on about the value of this motion, but I think we should stick to the subject. The witnesses are here to discuss the subject being studied.

I will stop here, but I may come back to some points later. I think we are wasting time. I would propose that we set this motion aside and come back to our witnesses and the subject we are concerned with.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Mr. Serré, did you want to speak?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have nothing to add.

My colleague, Mr. Drouin, has really pointed out how partisan this motion is. We have witnesses here for two hours to discuss the subject being studied. Out of respect for the witnesses, I think we should proceed with the discussion.

We are talking about creating 3,000 jobs at the Northvolt plant. The comments made in Mr. Godin's motion are not valid. These are jobs in Canada. As Mr. Drouin said regarding the issue of foreign workers, knowledge is transferred when there is investment in other countries. That is entirely standard practice, and these are temporary jobs.

The motion that is before us, which was distributed to all parliamentary committees, displays an extremely partisan spirit. The government of Quebec supports the Northvolt plant, the unions support it, but the opposition parties want to play politics.

This project will mean that Quebec gets a place in the auto industry for 20 or 30 years. This project is very important. A plant will be built and jobs will be created.

With that said, our work goes on. We are hearing witnesses right now, and I think it is time to continue the discussion with them.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor.

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

I think this motion raises good questions, but I do not think it is appropriate to talk about it now.

As the member for a northern and western riding, I am interested in our witnesses' testimony and I would like to ask them questions, so I wonder whether it would be possible to postpone the conversation on the motion to later.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Mr. Dalton, you have the floor.

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

This is a very significant investment, in Quebec. There will be hundreds of employees, and French is really important.

I therefore believe that this motion is very important and very relevant.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Thank you.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Chair, I move to adjourn the debate.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

Okay. Call the vote.

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

Mr. Chair, my hand was up.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Mario Beaulieu]

I saw you and I was going to give you the floor, but Mr. Drouin moved to adjourn the debate. Normally, there is no debate on a motion to adjourn. We go straight to the vote. I'm sorry.

I will ask Madam Clerk to call the vote.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Audrée Dallaire]

The vote is on adjourning the debate.

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

I would like to understand. Are we voting on adjourning the vote?

[The Clerk]

You are voting on adjourning the debate that is underway.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

So we are postponing debate on my motion.