Official Languages Committee on May 26th, 2026

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

I feel that the media release is to announce the work we did together. The strength of our report is that we all agree that work needs to be done. We have a lot of recommendations. We certainly recognize the varying opinions among the witnesses, but we stand together to declare that we will get things done.

The impact of that message will be very powerful. Journalists will see that we are all in agreement in making those recommendations. If we state in a media release that there is dissent, the effect will be different. Once again, each party can choose to express a dissenting opinion. I understand that and I am certainly not going to say that it must not be done. But if we put it in the release, it's what the newspapers will carry. That would be unfortunate.

So I am inviting you to think about it. Clearly, there is dissent and we can indicate it. But we just want the work we have done to have an impact. So we were thinking that we could agree that the media release would not mention the dissenting opinion in the knowledge that Mr. Beaulieu and the Bloc Québécois are certainly going to highlight it elsewhere.

We are not going to be tearing our hair out on our side either. I just wanted to have it clearly understood that it is not just Mr. Deschênes‑Thériault's opinion, but it's why we said no.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

The floor is yours, Mr. Beaulieu.

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

Our dissent was about Quebec, in the sense that we feel more has to be done for Quebec. Our dissent is not directed towards francophones outside Quebec. We support all the report's recommendations for them.

I just want to go back to one point. Earlier, I would like to have intervened but I did not want to waste the witnesses' time. Mr. Godin's proposal would not waste our committee's time. It was just about asking for documents. His motion does not propose that we do an additional study. I just wanted to say that, because I was not able to say it earlier. I feel that we are better off letting people say what they have to say, rather than relying on a majority to close down the debate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.

So, what does the committee want to do? We have a media release written by our analyst. It is in your hands.

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

Mr. Chair, I will leave it to you to choose how to proceed as you wish. We will look at our options. Someone had a good idea: I could certainly rise in the House to indicate what our dissenting opinion refers to and to emphasize that it is not about everything in the report. I recognize that the report reflects that considerable effort was also made for Quebec. But I have one point of dissent that you could not get behind even if you wanted to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

So are you letting me choose?

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

We are letting you choose.

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

That's what you said at the outset, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Yvan Baker]

Yes, we are back where we started.

I think that's all. The meeting is adjourned.