Official Languages Committee on Feb. 24th, 2026

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

We talked about that: We'd like to see consultations.

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

The Treasury Board Secretariat consulted you, but it didn't put much of what you said in the draft regulations.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

There's always room for dialogue.

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

Let us be clear. It's all well and good to talk about consultations, but—

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

We need to have the resources to properly respond to the various institutions and tell them what we need. We don't have those resources. We can't be consulted by 7, 8, 10, 12 or 15 institutions. Even for us, who are funded to do this, it's difficult to respond to all the consultation requests. Our organizations aren't equipped for that.

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

In that case, the consultation process could be improved, couldn't it?

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

Absolutely.

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

First, then, the consultation process could be improved.

Second, what can be done to get results?

We're considering draft regulations today. We want to improve them. We have the same objective, which is to protect official language minority communities, while taking into account the specific situation in Quebec where, it's important to remember, the common language is French.

How can we add something to the regulations that will enable us to get better results? We can ask Treasury Board to include an element in the draft regulations, and say that this element will help us achieve the objective and that it should already be included in the regulations. It's important to remember that it took three years to draft these regulations.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

I think our problem—

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

Personally, I don't have a problem.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

You don't have a problem.

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

I do have one, but it's personal.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

It comes from the act. I think that's where the problem is. You don't have enough meat in the act to allow you to go much further. That's why we need revision in five years. That's your problem.

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

I'll stop you right there, Ms. Martin‑Laforge. We aren't going to change the Official Languages Act. We're having trouble getting the draft regulations corrected. One Liberal voted against the act, but all the others voted in favour of it, so the changes will be made in 10 years.

Let's not waste our time and instead focus our energy on something else, namely the regulations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

You have 45 seconds left.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

If you have indicators measuring the impact of the act's provisions, you can start suggesting things.

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

Second, then, the indicators in the regulations could be improved to enable a better response. Can we write it that way?

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

Yes.

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

I have limited time, so I'm being brief.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

Trust the vitality framework we already have. We already have one; we don't need to invent another.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

To conclude this round, the floor is now yours for five minutes, Mr. Villeneuve.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you very much.

Good morning, Ms. Martin‑Laforge and Ms. Sandilands.

Ms. Martin‑Laforge, I'm pleased to see you here today. You're a former resident of Bromont.

[Sylvia Martin-Laforge]

It's always the Townshippers.

[Louis Villeneuve, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

I know. In fact, I meet with townshippers a number of times during the year. We discussed various issues this summer, and we really tried to help them.

I want to come back to what Mr. Godin was saying earlier. It's true that we aren't going to change the Official Languages Act overnight. You said that the act lacks teeth. How would you define an act that has more teeth?