Official Languages Committee on March 18th, 2024

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Are there any guidelines for contracts awarded to third parties that provide language training? If so, do they have to be—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux. I made it clear that the speaking time was firm at two minutes, because we're short on time. I know it's because motions have been moved, but that's the name of the game.

We'll go now to the Liberal Party.

Mr. Serré, you have the floor for a firm two minutes.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Carr, you spoke earlier about your three recommendations. They more or less concern employees who are already part of the public service and who are entering bilingual or senior positions.

I'd like to look at the issue of recruitment. I often hear so‑called bilingual institutions say that they are unable to recruit bilingual people because there aren't any who are qualified. So they only hire anglophones.

What recommendations do you have for us on that? Have you heard of tools that could facilitate the recruitment of francophones across the country?

[Jennifer Carr]

If you don't have any qualified bilingual candidates, I think you should offer training to the ones you have, the ones who have competence. I'll turn to Michael Ferguson as a good example of somebody who was offered training, succeeded and now can work in both official languages.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Ms. Bullion‑Winters, you mentioned that the training the school offered for second‑language learning was abolished in 2006. This is another example of the budget cuts made by the Harper government.

Do you hold activities as part of the International Day of La Francophonie or other events where employees have the opportunity to speak French?

[Wendy Bullion-Winters]

Yes, we encourage learning events, including the International Day of La Francophonie.

We offer many different types of events.

For example, this year, we held two events on official languages. As I said, 3,500 public servants attended.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

My time is almost up.

Thank you for your work. We'll be looking at your recommendations shortly.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Serré.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor for a firm minute.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In his report, the Commissioner of Official Languages states that linguistic duality and cultural diversity shouldn't be pitted against each other, nor should linguistic duality and the issue of indigenous languages.

For example, you said that if a person spoke a first nations language and English, French wouldn't be required. Is there a way not to weaken French?

[Jennifer Carr]

That doesn't mean that we should forget about providing training. I think the government must provide training in the missing language. That way, the person can improve and can provide services in three languages, rather than just two.

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

Are guidelines given when contracts are awarded to third parties?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's an excellent question, Mr. Beaulieu, but you've exceeded the one minute allotted to you.

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor for one minute.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Carr, I have one last question for you.

We talked about outsourcing of language learning services. I'm wondering about the impact of broader outsourcing within the federal public service and the impact it has on bilingualism within the public service overall. Could you speak to that and what we as a committee should be taking forward given this reality?

[Jennifer Carr]

There are two ways to look at that. Contracting out means that those positions don't have to meet the language requirements. That work is done by a contractor who doesn't know both official languages, so we need to make sure that what the government says are its priorities are still met, even when we're contracting. Maybe we can make those part of the contracts such that if there's a bilingual position, we need to have them.

From the perspective of contracting out the language services, I think we get less accountability and transparency. We don't have standards, and we need to make sure that when we offer language training, everybody has equitable access to that training.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Carr.

I see we're at time—

[Jennifer Carr]

I'll answer the questions afterwards too.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes, I know, but before you leave, I would like to thank you for all your comments, Ms. Bullion-Winters and Ms. Carr.

As chair, I know that I compress everything, and looking at the clock right now, I see we have four minutes to deal with other things. If there's any other information you think we should be aware of, please provide it in writing to the clerk.

Some members of the committee started to ask certain questions, but time ran out. We all know how speaking time works. Like me, everyone has a cellphone with a clock on it. So, if you didn't have enough time to answer certain questions, you can send the clerk any additional and relevant information in writing that could help the committee in its work. The clerk will then forward that information to all members of the committee, and we'll look at it when we write our report.

With that, thank you very much.

Before we adjourn, folks, we have two budgets to approve for committee studies. You received a copy of it earlier through the clerk.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the budget for the study on federal funding for minority‑language post‑secondary institutions in the amount of $16,900?

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

Mr. Chair, I have a question for the clerk.

Are these costs comparable to those for the other studies? Are you using the same costs based on past experience?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead, Madam Clerk.

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

I looked at everyone's list of witnesses and where they live. Several are in western or eastern Canada. That's the main reason why the amount is higher for this study. That's what I based my budget on.

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

I'm a true Conservative, Madam Clerk.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

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

This budget was based on the assumption that they were going to be here in person. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes, that's right.