Official Languages Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2026

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I think we should all agree on that, whether we are ministers, the Prime Minister or backbenchers.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Okay, thank you.

Nicole Gagnon, conference interpreter and spokesperson for the International Association of Conference Interpreters, Canada Region, stated that the Prime Minister's use of French was an important symbolic measure.

Do you agree with that statement?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Yes, absolutely.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Minister, you said recently that you're sick and tired of hearing about the decline of French.

Do you think the French language is part of Canadian distinctiveness and culture?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

What's the question?

I'm trying to follow what the statement has to do with the question.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Do you think the French language is part of Canadian identity, distinctiveness and culture?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Yes, absolutely.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

Okay.

There's a lot of concern about a point of view that has been expressed by your government, including leaders. There were comments, for example, by Trudeau that we're in a postnational state and that we have no core identity.

Many Canadians feel that our history is not valued. There has been a rash of statues being toppled under the Liberals' watch. We can talk about the tremendous disrespect and hostility that Liberals—and you in particular, Minister—have shown to people of all faiths, denigrating their beliefs and scriptures and wanting them muzzled.

Right after you made these comments as chair, Prime Minister Carney appointed you minister and changed the ministerial title from minister of heritage and minister responsible for official languages to Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages.

Conservatives believe in Canada's history and culture. Why does the minister, and by extension the Prime Minister, seem to be so inclined to undermine the heritage, culture, faith and belief of Canadians?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

If that was a question, it was more of a veiled statement. The reality is, the bill that your Conservatives are blocking in committee, Bill C-9, aims to protect religious freedoms by protecting the institutions around them. You're blocking this.

Also, I don't think—to address your comment regarding hate speech directly—that people should hide behind scriptures to protect hate speech. That's the reality. Anyone can read the Bible, the Torah and the Quran. In fact, I encourage them to do so. I do myself.

The reality, however, just to conclude quite briefly—

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

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

This may be off topic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

There's a point of order.

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

Mr. Chair, it's important to remember that, according to the notice of meeting for today, we're supposed to be dealing with the use of French in the machinery of government. Right now, we're a long way from that discussion.

Can we get back to the—

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

It's your own member.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

We're dealing with a point of order.

I would ask all members, when they're asking questions, to keep in mind what Mr. Godin just said, which is that we need to stick to the topic at hand.

In my opinion, the minister was responding to Mr. Dalton's question, which deals with the subject of our study.

Mr. Dalton, you have 30 seconds remaining.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

You know that Mr. Carney had only two French lessons, in July and August. By September, he didn't even have a French teacher. He wasn't interested.

Do you know whether that's still the case or is he continuing with his French lessons?

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

We're almost out of time. Please give a short answer.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I would simply say that I can see with my own eyes that his French is improving day by day.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dalton.

I will now turn the floor over to Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault for five minutes.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Minister, thank you for being here with us today.

Supporting the vitality of francophone communities contributes directly to increasing the use of French in the public sphere, especially by strengthening institutions, services and living environments where the use of French happens naturally and can continue into the future. One of the main tools we have for supporting the vitality of our communities is the action plan for official languages. As you mentioned, the action plan for official languages 2023-2028 includes a historic investment of $4.1 billion, the biggest investment any government has ever made in official languages.

We're about three years into the implementation of this plan. I wonder if you could tell us what measures have been taken to assess the impact of the 2023-28 action plan and gauge the progress we've made toward achieving our objectives. Could you please comment on that?

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

Point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Go ahead.

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

I have exactly the same comment as earlier.

According to the notice of meeting, the committee invited the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages to discuss the use of French in government communications and in federal institutions. Now is not the time to be talking about how the official languages action plan is going.

Mr. Chair, I'm sorry, but the question that my colleague just asked is not relevant to the study topic stated in the notice of meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault, do you have a response for Mr. Godin?

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Yes.

As I said in my preamble, the action plan for official languages contributes directly to the vitality of our communities. If we want French to be used in the public sphere, in services, including government services, if we want to increase the use of French and have a public service that can provide services in French, we need to support the vitality of our communities. The action plan is the federal government's main tool for supporting the vitality of our communities, so I think there's a direct link between the measures set out in our action plan for official languages and the vitality of French in Canada.

Just to clarify, I'm not using up my speaking time right now, am I? You stopped the timer? Okay, good.