Evidence of meeting #15 for Official Languages in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was president.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
It’s the same, but I prefer the wording with the word “and”.
Liberal
Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
For our part, we have a slight preference for the word “including”.
Conservative
Liberal
Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
We can discuss it while the meeting is suspended.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
We are resuming the meeting.
Mr. Deschênes-Thériault proposed an amendment, and that is the current topic of the debate.
Ms. Chenette, the floor is yours.
Liberal
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. That’s not quite accurate, so I would like to set the record straight.
We had reached the point of considering my subamendment, for which I had to draft the wording. We had discussions—
Liberal
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
That is true. I wish to withdraw my subamendment.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
Thank you, Mr. Godin.
Mr. Godin is therefore withdrawing his subamendment.
In fact, colleagues, the clerk needs to clarify a few things, so I will give her the floor.
The Clerk
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Godin, I did not receive your subamendment. Since your subamendment was not taken into account, the committee was still discussing Mr. Deschênes-Thériault’s amendment, which had been distributed and sought to amend the text as follows: “That, in relation to the ongoing study on the use of French in government communications and federal institutions, the committee—
Liberal
Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
In fact, Ms. Chenette will propose a complete rewording through a subamendment. We reached an agreement during the break.
Liberal
Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
No. Ms. Chenette is going to propose a subamendment.
Liberal
Madeleine Chenette Liberal Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
The option she’s proposing is that you withdraw your amendment first.
Liberal
The Clerk
The unanimous consent of the committee is therefore needed to allow you to withdraw it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
Is there unanimous consent for the withdrawal of Mr. Deschênes-Thériault’s amendment?
Liberal
Madeleine Chenette Liberal Thérèse-De Blainville, QC
I therefore move an amendment to the original motion. The motion would then state the following in the first paragraph:
That, in relation to the ongoing study on the use of French in government communications and in federal institutions the committee urges the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Official Languages, to testify for a period of two hours regarding his position on the decline of French in Canada, including in Quebec, no later than February 12, 2026. In the event of failure to meet this deadline, the committee will report to the House on the minister’s failure to testify on this matter;
We would keep the text of the following paragraph.
The previous amendment proposed to remove the third paragraph. I think it is important that this amendment also proposes to remove it.
As for the fourth paragraph, it would incorporate the amendments that have already been adopted.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yvan Baker
Colleagues, do you need the clerk to distribute the wording or can we continue?
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I reserve the right to revisit the motion if the wording does not match what was said, but since the session is recorded, I have no problem with that.