Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

I yield the floor to Mr. Godin, then it will be Mr. Beaulieu's turn.

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

Mr. Chair, we have to put the situation back into the context of what happened on Monday.

On Monday, I raised a point of order to ask Mr. Drouin to apologize. You then mentioned to me, Mr. Chair, that Mr. Drouin had apologized, but that was untrue. I have a great deal of respect for you, Mr. Chair, but I must say that you misled me.

As we prepare to listen to the minister, this is not the time for Mr. Drouin to speak. It's not even a point of order. When Mr. Drouin gets his turn to speak, he can convey all the messages he wants to. We must respect procedure, Mr. Chair. As I said, in my opinion, there was no point of order. I don't think his comments should be entered into the record of proceedings.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

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

I completely agree with that. It's not a point of order. All the member has to do is wait his turn to say what he wants to say.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

First of all, Mr. Drouin's intervention is not a point of order, insofar as the Standing Orders have not been cited. I see his intervention as a continuation of what happened on Monday. It could have been considered a point of order last Monday, since it would have followed on from what Mr. Drouin had said to the witnesses. I should have intervened at that point to ask Mr. Drouin to apologize.

I haven't listened to the recording again, Mr. Godin, but it's possible that I said that Mr. Drouin had apologized. What I remember is that before he finished his sentence, before I intervened by banging my mallet, he had already withdrawn his remarks. In the heat of the moment, that's what I remember happening. When you asked for Mr. Drouin to apologize, I may have said that he had, but I was thinking more of the fact that he had withdrawn his remarks. If that's what happened, obviously he hadn't apologized.

That said, I consider the comment Mr. Drouin just made to be a continuation of the point of order that could have been made at the time. Obviously, no standing order was cited, but it's a continuation of what happened at Monday's meeting. That's how I see it.

So, when you say it's not a point of order, I don't disagree with you, because the meeting's just starting, but I see it as a continuation of what happened on Monday, since it happened before we started today's testimony.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor.

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

I can confirm that just before you said that, I too had made a point of order. You said that he had withdrawn his remarks, that he had apologized, or something like that. It was confusing, because Mr. Drouin had said: “… excuse me, but I think you're full of …”, after which he withdrew his remarks. It was a bit easy.

I don't consider that a point of order. He should wait for his turn to speak. We'll get to it when it's time.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's fine, I'll make a note of it.

Mr. Serré, you have the floor.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It is important to move quickly to questions for the minister, as he has to leave at 9:15.

On the other hand, sometimes the chair of a committee or the Speaker of the House will give the floor to a member to allow him or her to apologize. There are precedents for this in all committees. So I don't know why the opposition members, in this case, are refusing to allow Mr. Drouin to apologize. He made it clear this morning, and it's done.

So, let's move on to the next stage with the minister who in front of us, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

In fact, Mr. Chair, I think my colleague Mr. Serré is trivializing Monday's situation.

In your defence, you raised the fact that this was a continuation of the point of order that had been made on Monday. I don't have the same interpretation as you. If the intention is to continue the debate from one meeting to the next on a point of order, we should be informed before the start of a new meeting.

I remind you that the comment Mr. Drouin just made is not a point of order. We knew very well what strategy he was going to employ this morning. Now, it's important to respect procedure. So, Mr. Drouin's comments should not be considered by the committee at this time. We'll come back to it later, rest assured, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Perfect.

With that said, we'll continue with the meeting.

Mr. Minister, welcome back.

I'm very strict about speaking time. You'll have five minutes to make your statement, and then we'll move on to questions.

You have the floor.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Minister of Employment]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, committee members.

I'd like to begin by noting that we are gathered on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today. I am accompanied by colleagues from the department: Timothée Labelle, Julie Boyer and Isabelle Mondou. They are regulars on the committee.

Colleagues, it's a pleasure for me to be with you again to talk about federal funding for post-secondary institutions in official language minority communities. This is a crucial issue for our communities. Guaranteeing access to quality post-secondary education in the minority language is a major asset for developing communities, improving employment prospects and alleviating labour shortages in many fields.

Personally, I've had the opportunity to enjoy a stimulating and comprehensive university environment in French in Alberta, in Edmonton, at Campus Saint-Jean, thanks to official bilingualism and our Canadian linguistic duality. I say it often, because I'm proud of it. When I was a student, I was elected to the campus student council, and three years later, to the presidency of the student association representing the entire campus, which numbered 25,000 students at the time.

In 2005, I was invited to teach and, as a lecturer, I taught an introductory politics course and an introductory government course.

Also, in 1997, I was part of the Chorale Saint-Jean as first tenor, and we'll be singing at Carnegie Hall, New York, on June 29.

This is the reach that our beautiful francophonie has across the country.

Our minority-language post-secondary institutions are essential to our country's success. I mentioned Campus Saint-Jean, which I know well, but it's not the only one. Collège Mathieu, Université de Moncton, Université de Saint-Boniface, Bishop's University, and I could go on. There's a whole network.

Many post-secondary institutions in Canada's minority communities are experiencing funding challenges because of their small size and unique challenges.

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I don't hear the interpretation.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We'll pause for a moment while we sort out the situation.

I'm told that everything's working fine now, so we'll continue.

We're listening, Minister.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

The study your committee is undertaking will certainly shed even more light on the situation.

As the Government of Canada, one of the best tools we have at our disposal to strengthen minority institutions is the action plan for official languages.

This new plan sets a record for investment in official languages. Totalling $4.1 billion, it enables us to support communities through more than 30 initiatives.

This plan provides up to $128 million over four years, starting this year, to support post-secondary education in the minority language.

This is in addition to $121 million announced in budget 2021, specifically designed for post-secondary institutions.

To address a predominantly English-speaking academic environment, we have committed $8.5 million over five years in budget 2024 to support the creation and dissemination of scientific knowledge in French across the country.

We continue to roll out the action plan measures, and implementation is progressing as planned.

Financial investments are powerful levers to support establishments in this commitment. However, it takes more than that. All partners must be mobilized. Provincial and territorial governments are major players in education, and that's why federal funding is provided in collaboration with the provinces and territories.

We continue to strengthen our relationships with the provinces and territories, notably through bilateral agreements in minority-language education and second-language instruction. Negotiations for the current year's agreements continue, and there is talk of funding for post-secondary institutions. I look forward to announcing these new agreements in the coming months.

Partnerships in employment, education and all other areas are needed to benefit linguistic minority Canadians from coast to coast.

Strengthening minority-language institutions is at the heart of the action plan and my mandate. I'm here to deliver results.

Thank you for conducting this study. I look forward to seeing your recommendations.

Thank you very much for your time this morning. I look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Boissonnault.

We will begin the first round of questions; each political party will have six minutes to ask questions and hear the answers.

We begin with the committee's first vice-chair.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the minister and his team of officials for being with us. It's always a pleasure to meet them here at the committee.

Minister, first of all, I'd like to hear your comments about what's been happening recently.

Last Monday, while our committee was conducting its study on the funding of post-secondary educational institutions, one of your government colleagues addressed disrespectful words to witnesses. It took him four days to start apologizing. Do you find that acceptable?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I heard Mr. Francis Drouin's apology today. Personally, I've attended committee meetings before where the discussions were lively. In my opinion, when a member apologizes, we should accept it as such.

My task here is to inform you that our government, through the Official Languages Action Plan, is the first federal government to indicate that French is in decline—

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

Minister, I apologize for interrupting you, but you know from experience that our speaking time is limited. I simply wanted to ask you this question with regard to your colleague's comments. So you're saying you're comfortable with all this, is that correct?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I answered the question.

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

Okay.

Mr. Chair, would you stop the timer, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay, go ahead.

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

Mr. Chair, did you see that my colleague raised his hand to speak?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Are you raising a point of order, Mr. Généreux?

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

No, it's about an amendment.