Official Languages Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I've given latitude to all members.

Mr. Dalton, you have the floor.

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

I'll continue with another question.

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

I can answer the last one.

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

You can answer both when I get this question in.

When over 100 churches had undergone arson, Prime Minister Trudeau said it was understandable. How can you sit here and deny that the Liberals are failing to defend our heritage?

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

I'd say you're failing to do that by not adopting Bill C-9. I don't know what echo chamber you're living in with respect to the 51st state, but we ran and won a campaign on that federally.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

I will now give the floor to Ms. Chenette for two minutes.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I want to thank you for being here. As a parliamentary secretary, I have the pleasure of working with you. We always speak to each other in French, which I greatly appreciate.

How can the government, in all its complexity, ensure that communications are increasingly done in French? In my previous role as ambassador, I spoke to the departments and saw with my own eyes the extent to which people genuinely wanted to learn French and contribute to the effort. In your position, how can you have more influence over the government? The bill will no doubt help you, but do you have other perspectives?

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

Unusually for me, I'm going to compliment a well-known sovereignist, Jean‑François Lisée. I encourage everyone to read his book about Pierre Elliott Trudeau and René Lévesque, which accurately describes the state of the public service back then. He covers it well. What went on in the 1970s is shudder-inducing. I know it was 50 years ago, but I encourage everyone to read his book to see the state of the public service when Trudeau entered federal politics. It was abysmal. Much has changed since then. I wouldn't say that everything is great now, because it isn't, and there is still a lot of work to be done. I think we need to be vigilant. We can pass and review all the legislation we want, but the fact remains that everyone, every member of Parliament, whether a minister or not, needs to take the initiative to ensure that French persists and flourishes in the public service.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

You have 10 seconds left.

[Madeleine Chenette, Liberal, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

You say that things have improved and that French must be used. You do that on a regular basis to encourage others to speak French.

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

I'm doing my best.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Ms. Chenette.

Mr. Beaulieu has the floor for one minute.

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

Thank you.

I think saying that the status of French in Montreal has improved is really disconnected from the opinion of all francophones, at least according to all surveys and language indicators, including French as the language spoken at home. I know you don't like that indicator, but it's the one that best predicts the use of French in the public sphere and at work. In 1971 in Montreal, the indicator stood at 61%. In any case, that's the oldest data we have. In 2021, it was 51.5%. There's been a real decline that we can see on the ground. I see it myself in my riding. You seem to think that the status of French is improving in Montreal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

There are 10 seconds left.

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

What I said was that, since I was a kid, it is a clear and obvious fact that the use of French among anglophones has improved as a result of Bill 101. I don't agree with you that French as the only language spoken at home is the best indicator. That means that me speaking three languages at home would be—

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

I didn't say the language—

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

That's the indicator you're referring to. I think there are nuanced improvements, but, as I told your colleague, we need to be vigilant.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

Colleagues, on behalf of the committee, I would like to thank the minister, the deputy minister and the other officials for coming to talk to us about their work.

We will suspend for a few minutes to bring in a new panel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Welcome to meeting number 18 of the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Pursuant to the order of reference of November 26, 2025, we are continuing our study on the proposed official languages administrative monetary penalties regulations.

I would like to welcome the witnesses.

From Air Canada, we have David Rheault, vice-president, government and community relations, and Marc Barbeau, executive vice-president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary.

Mr. Rheault will have five minutes for his opening remarks. Afterwards, we will proceed to a question and answer period with the members of the committee.

Mr. Rheault, you have the floor for five minutes.

[David Rheault, Vice President, Government and Community Relations, Air Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, members.

I would first like to acknowledge my colleague, Marc Barbeau, who is executive vice-president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary of Air Canada in addition to teaching at McGill University's Faculty of Law for the past 30 years. In other words, Mr. Barbeau is a busy man.

I want to thank all the committee members for the invitation to appear today.

Air Canada serves 50 airports in Canada and nearly 150 around the world. We operate approximately 1,000 flights per day on over 400 routes and carry 50 million passengers per year.

We are proud to connect Canada to the world.

Air Canada fulfills its linguistic obligations in the context of a unique, complex operation. On average, each passenger's journey includes five to six points of contact with our staff: buying tickets, checking in, airport reception, boarding, in-flight service and collecting luggage. Each of these stages involves official languages. Using and promoting them is an integral part of our values and priorities. In particular, on each designated bilingual flight, employees are assigned to serve customers in the official language of their choice. In fact, staff on all Air Canada flights are bilingual.

Air Canada is fully committed and has implemented a series of initiatives to improve its service delivery in both official languages. One of them is prioritizing the recruitment of bilingual employees across the country. Today, nearly 50% of our employees who serve the travelling public are recognized as bilingual, and approximately 65% are able to express themselves in both official languages. We have also implemented awareness and training measures for our employees. Lastly, we set up an official languages management committee to integrate our action plan.

The Commissioner of Official Languages regularly reviews Air Canada's activities and also handles passenger complaints. Without downplaying the importance of complaints, their number remains limited given the scope of our operations. In 2024-25, for example, there were 85 complaints against Air Canada when we carried close to 50 million passengers. That figure is a testament to our ongoing commitment and efforts. In total, the commissioner received 1,200 complaints that year. As you know, Air Canada is subject to obligations that do not apply to any other airline or any other private company that serves the general public.

While the regime may have been justified when Air Canada was privatized in 1989 and had over 80% of the domestic market share, the reality today is quite different. Our domestic market share is around 40%.

WestJet serves every province and has close to 35% of the domestic market. Porter Airlines also serves all the provinces and, here in Ottawa, for example, has about 35% of capacity. The Ottawa airport is important for the francophone community. Lastly, nearly 70 foreign carriers serve Canada without being subject to French-language service obligations.

The Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act, or UFPBA, provides that the obligations will apply to other carriers. For consistency, the remedies have to be the same.

I will now quote the Commissioner of Official Languages:

This means that the public they serve and the employees who work for them will have different rights, and different remedies, depending on which act applies. Ultimately, Canadians will find themselves in a fragmented and sometimes inconsistent language environment…. Greater harmonization is therefore required.

These regulations will maintain and reinforce an unlevel playing field in which Canadians do not have a guarantee to be served in the language of their choice.

We also note that the government is exempting itself from the penalties, even though a number of its entities play a major role in providing services to travellers, including CATSA, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Transportation Agency.

However, as the commissioner also pointed out, there are many examples in federal law of monetary penalties that apply directly to the government or its agencies, for example, in environmental or safety matters.

In terms of penalties, I want to assure the committee that our commitment to official languages is real, that it has been part of our culture for a long time and that it is not based on potential financial penalties.

However, the $50,000 per infraction could be a really significant amount for a company that carries 50 million passengers per year on 400,000 flights. I repeat: No other airline will be subject to penalties.

In conclusion, we support any measure aimed at promoting French and ensuring that it thrives. However, monetary penalties will not help overcome issues related to providing services in both languages, such as the availability of bilingual labour across the country.

That said, if this measure were implemented, it would have to apply to all businesses and organizations, including government agencies, that must provide services in French to travellers, either under the Official Languages Act, or OLA, or the Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act, or UFBPA.

We thank you for your attention and are available to answer your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Rheault.

We'll now go to questions from members.

I'll start with Mr. Godin, who has the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Barbeau and Mr. Rheault, thank you for taking part in this study. I think it's important.

I should point out that Air Canada has never shied away when it was invited to the Standing Committee on Official Languages. That is to your credit.

Now, Mr. Rheault, I listened to what you said, and, honestly, when I received the notice of meeting, I wondered why Air Canada was going to appear here. We're talking about administrative penalties. Let us be clear, they're actually fines. It sounds like the government wants to confirm with one of the four organizations identified in the proposed regulations that what it's proposing is correct.

I'm sorry, but the government has to take responsibility. I think that to determine whether it's appropriate, it should have consulted lawyers or citizens rather than an organization that would potentially have to pay fines.

I find that rather strange, and I think it was the Liberal Party that invited you here. Thank you for being here, but how do you explain that?

[David Rheault]

I thank the member for his comments.

We're here today because we were summoned. I don't know exactly how summonses work, but when we're sent for, we tend to show up.

We're also here because we think we have an important perspective to share on this issue, which is very important for the country, and to raise the point, Mr. Godin, that the strange thing about it—we agree with the commissioner on this—is that the new regulations would apply to a very limited number of entities that provide services to travellers. If an approach or measure is appropriate or effective, it should apply to all businesses and organizations involved in transportation, including those that belong to the government. In fact, the government should set an example, whereas today it is exempting itself.

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

You're right, Mr. Rheault.

We just met with the Minister responsible for Official Languages, and he's unable to say who will be responsible for enforcing the use of French within government or the Prime Minister's Office. We have quite a problem, then; you're right.

The proposed regulations list the following entities under the headings “Designation” and “Crown corporation or corporation”: “Air Canada”—your company is mentioned in the act—“designated airport authorities, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Airport Transfer (Miscellaneous Matters) Act”; “Marine Atlantic Inc.”; and “VIA Rail Canada Inc.”

For Canadian taxpayers who care about both official languages and want to ensure greater use of French, which is one of the two official languages and is in decline, can they be served in compliance with the Official Languages Act only by these four entities?

[David Rheault]

Look, we have shared our positions on this. We believe that these regulations should have a broader application and cover all businesses and organizations that provide services to travellers.