Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

So it had to do with the one-hour meeting to be held before the end of the session.

Go ahead.

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

I find the Liberals' defence, to the effect that we are attacking Franco-Ontarians, unacceptable. They continually try to turn francophone minorities outside Quebec against the Quebec minority, which is also a minority within Canada. It represents 90% of francophones in Canada.

We have a right to defend French in Quebec. We thought things would change with the adoption of the official languages bill, but that's not what we're seeing. We'd like to put a stop to these efforts to deploy francophone and Acadian communities against Quebec. We want that to end. The member's comments were truly contemptible. I find them unacceptable and believe that he has discredited himself by making them.

Mr. Lacroix was appearing before the committee for the third time. What he presented was therefore nothing new. If the members had listened when people were talking about Quebec, they might not have reacted as they did, unless it had been deliberate.

I find that the entire defence follows the same pattern, which is to use bullying and to keep us from talking about the status of French in Quebec.

Ultimately, I agree with Mr. Serré's amendment, but only because I want to see an end to the systematic obstruction so that we can discuss the fundamental issue, which is the underfunding of post-secondary institutions, by which I mean colleges, CEGEPs and universities both outside Quebec and in Quebec.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Go ahead, Ms. Lalonde.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to begin by simply apologizing to my colleague Mr. Godin, because during his address, I may have got a little overexcited, which is not something I usually do. I was just proud to see that we were considered leading lights in this area. It made me smile and I wanted to thank people.

I certainly don't consider myself to be anything of the sort, but rather just a proud Franco-Ontarian. I would in fact describe everyone in my caucus as VIPs, proud defenders of the French fact, francophiles, francophones, and for myself, Franco-Ontarian.

I take pride in the fact that my colleague Mr. Beaulieu appears to be receptive to the amendments to Mr. Godin's motion introduced by my colleague Mr. Serré. I did not attend the last committee meeting, and got wind of what had happened from Mr. Serré's explanations of what has brought us here, and why we are reviewing a motion.

When the minister appeared before the committee, there were efforts to score political points on a committee which I feel ought to be apolitical. We know that French is important but in decline, and I'm pleased to see that we are finally going to get back to—or at least try to get back to—the study on federal funding for minority-language post-secondary institutions.

I wanted to comment officially on my hobby horse, which is not really something I usually do. I would also like to confirm that not all the luminaries of the francophone world are here today. On my side of the House, we are all leaders and proud francophones, francophiles or anglophones who defend the French fact in Canada and Quebec.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Lalonde.

Go ahead, Mr. Godin.

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

I'd like to thank my colleague. It's always nice to see her express her enthusiasm.

Mr. Chair, I'm going to speak on behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada.

We are comfortable with the amendment proposed by my colleague, as well as with the motion. I think we could put the question now.

I'd like to approach the vote in a way that would speed the process up because I have another motion to introduce after we've voted on the amendment and the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Is everyone okay with Mr. Serré's amendment? As I look at people around the table and on screen, there would appear to be unanimous consent.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I'd like a recorded division, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

All right.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will now move on to the amended motion.

Are there any questions?

Ms. Lalonde, please go ahead.

[Marie-France Lalonde, Liberal, Orléans, ON]

I don't want to slow the process down, but there was some ambiguity surrounding the letter from the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario referred to by Mr. Serré. I know that you all feel it should be considered moved as drafted, but I was wondering if I could read the letter in question.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

The amendment to Mr. Godin's motion was agreed to, unanimously in fact, and so we have to vote on the amended motion first.

Are there any questions?

Mr. Lehoux, you both nodded and shook your head.

[Richard Lehoux, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

I was answering your two questions at the same time.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay.

Go ahead, Mr. Serré.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I'd like to clarify something with respect to the motion.

We are asking for the Minister of Official Languages to be urgently invited to give his opinion concerning the situation, but also for him to answer any other questions related to his duties. What is the opposition's intent? The minister is being asked to come here to speak about post-secondary education, on which we are in agreement, because he came here Thursday to do so; but then he's expected to answer any other questions pertaining to his duties. I'd like clarification on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

The motion was deemed admissible because it's linked to the letter we received. The passage you mentioned was part of it. It was in the final paragraph. You can propose an amendment, but we've already adopted an amendment and must now vote on the amended motion, if there are no further questions.

Go ahead now, Mr. Drouin.

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

When we are studying budgetary appropriations, we normally allow the opposition to ask any questions. However, here, it's strictly concerning our study on post-secondary education. I therefore expect questions to be about that. It would be interesting to hear what opposition members have to say, but our role now is to ensure that if the minister is invited to come and speak about our study on post-secondary education, we stick to that subject.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you for your comments, Mr. Drouin.

However, I repeat that the motion, as worded, is linked to the final paragraph in the letter.

Does Mr. Godin have any comments to add on that score?

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

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I believe some of you feel that the motion appears to go beyond the scope of the study on post-secondary education. Are we going to invite the minister to talk about post-secondary education, as we conclude our study on that, or are there also plans to ask broader questions? That is what Mr. Drouin is asking.

If there are no amendments, we'll vote on the motion, but you could still make comments. We are still debating it.

Mr. Godin, the ball is back in your court.

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

Mr. Chair, I'll just say that I agree with your comments. The motion is indeed linked to the request for a meeting pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), and that is what our meeting today is about. So it is important.

My colleagues have already seen the motion and made an amendment, only to notice afterwards that there should perhaps be other amendments. Are they going to go over it line by line, word by word, and suggest other amendments? I don't know.

As for me, I've given my presentation.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Motions are often to do just that, line by line, word by word.

Go ahead, Mr. Généreux.

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

When ministers are invited to a committee, their role is to answer questions. We are here until the end of June and in the meantime all kinds of things may arise with respect to Canada's official languages. We may have to ask the minister questions about a situation that is not necessarily related to our current study. His role is to answer any questions pertaining to his work.

That's why I think this part of the motion is necessary.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

It's over to you now, Mr. Beaulieu. Go ahead.

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

I do believe that it's related to the post-secondary institutions study. We also want to hear further details about the arguments used by Mr. Boissonnault when he defended Mr. Drouin for not apologizing. Among other things, he said that Campus Saint-Jean had not led to Alberta's francization. We'd like to know what he's talking about. Are there statistics to back up this argument?

He even said that the anglophone universities in Quebec were not anglicizing the province and that there wasn't a problem. We'd like to know if there are numbers to back that up.

That's certainly related to the post-secondary education study.