Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay.

Now I see three hands up.

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

Mr. Chair, I have the floor—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You start.

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

Wait, Mr. Chair. I have the floor, and I asked you to stop the timer because I want to move a motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I did.

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

Okay.

Mr. Généreux raised his hand. He probably wants to speak.

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

I raised my hand at the same time.

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

Mr. Beaulieu wants to speak too. It's up to you to decide who goes first, Mr. Chair.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Wait a moment, Mr. Serré.

Mr. Généreux raised his hand first.

Do you have a point of order, Mr. Généreux?

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

No, I had—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, we were advised of your motion, so I expected you to move it and I stopped the timer. Then you pointed out that Mr. Généreux had raised his hand, and I thought it was to do with your motion.

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

Yes, it's about my motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I have Mr. Généreux, Mr. Beaulieu and Mr. Serré on the list of speakers.

Mr. Godin, you had the floor, and you asked me to stop the timer because you had something to say, so please go ahead and say it. When you're done, I'll give the floor the Mr. Généreux, then Mr. Beaulieu, then Mr. Serré.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Following the committee meeting last Monday, we tabled a motion according to the rules and within the prescribed time frame. The clerk received the motion and forwarded it to you. I would like to move that motion today, and I would like us to make a decision about it. I'll read it:

That given the unacceptable remarks made by the Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell towards witnesses Frédéric Lacroix and Nicolas Bourdon during the meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages on May 6, 2024, and that the Member has withdrawn his remarks but has not apologized. It is resolved that the committee requests the Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell to apologize to witnesses Frédéric Lacroix and Nicolas Bourdon as well as to the members of the committee.

As a committee, we must respect the witnesses, and the member's remarks were unacceptable. That's why I tabled the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Before we move on, I'll give the floor to the other people on my list who wish to comment on the motion that was just moved.

Mr. Généreux, you raised your hand. Did you want to comment on the motion?

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

Yes.

Mr. Chair, I'd like to move an amendment to my colleague's motion. The wording will be sent to you shortly. The amended motion would read as follows:

It is resolved that the committee: (a) requests the Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell to apologize to witnesses Frédéric Lacroix and Nicolas Bourdon as well as to the members of the Committee; (b) demand the immediate removal of the Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell from the committee; (c) requests the immediate resignation of the Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell as Chair of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie; (d) requests the immediate resignation of the Member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell as international Chair of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie; (e) reports to the House on this intolerable situation.

Mr. Drouin's remarks on Monday were not only unacceptable, but also harmful, to an extent. In life, we can disagree with statistics, statisticians, professors, researchers and other witnesses invited here at the parties' request. We can all disagree on certain things, but that's no reason to treat witnesses the way our colleague did on Monday.

It tarnished the reputation of the committee and of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, because Mr. Drouin is the chair of the Canadian Branch of the APF and international chair of the organization.

His remarks were deeply disrespectful. I think such behaviour is unacceptable. That's why we're asking that he resign from the positions he occupies, as stated in my amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, I'll give you the floor, but keep your remarks to Mr. Généreux's amendment only.

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

I'd actually like to move a subamendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay, go ahead.

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

I'd like to add the following after point (a) of Mr. Généreux's amendment:

(b) acknowledges that the data presented by the witnesses in support of their testimony is based on science; (c) recognizes that such behaviour is not worthy of the role of parliamentarian or president of a parliamentary association; (d) demands that Francis Drouin issue a written apology to the witnesses.

I feel it's easy to apologize as the member did, three or four days later. He should apologize in writing.

His behaviour was obviously not worthy of the chair of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie. The witnesses were completely calm and reasonable. Their testimony was based on statistical data. What happened was absolutely unacceptable. That kind of response is tantamount to bullying.

Simply put, my subamendment is to insert these three points into Mr. Généreux's amendment. The rest of his amendment would stand.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Have you provided this in writing? The amendments are starting to pile up.

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

I can send it to you. What I just proposed corresponds to points (b), (c) and (d) of the proposed amendment we sent initially. The other points of that amendment have already been proposed by Mr. Généreux.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, according to my information, your subamendment affects not only points (b), (c) and (d), but also point (a).

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

Point (a) is already in Mr. Généreux's proposed amendment.