Transport Committee on Oct. 26th, 2010

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I heard BQ-2.1 earlier.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Me too.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, our motion has to do with the fact that the chairperson of the National Capital Commission should be bilingual. Under the NCC's current structure, it now has a chairperson and not a chief executive officer, as it did before.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that the chairperson, namely the person carrying out that function, must be comfortable in both French and English. The person must be bilingual at the time of the appointment for the simple reason that, in the national capital region, be it in Quebec or Ontario, in Gatineau, Chelsea, La Pêche—I may be forgetting a town—or Ottawa, there are francophones. The chairperson must attend general meetings or even larger public gatherings. For instance, at one point, an event was held at the Casino Lac-Leamy in Gatineau. When the current chairperson, Mr. Mills, was appointed by the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and the minister responsible for the National Capital Commission, Lawrence Cannon—who was the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities at the time—he read introductory remarks in French. Actually, it was not when he was appointed, but rather when I attended the general meeting. When he was appointed, Mr. Cannon said that Mr. Mills would learn French, that there would be no problem.

He will go to Chicoutimi to learn French.

Mr. Chair, when I attended that meeting, he was not able to answer any of my questions in French. That happened in at least two meetings. There was another meeting that took place at Place de la Chaudière, on the Hull-Aylmer side. He could not respond in French at that meeting either, or at the most recent one.

If the government considered it important to have a bilingual person in the job, a person who was not bilingual should not have been chosen. There are other people who are bilingual who could have been chosen, people who could have done the job, if only out of respect for francophones in Gatineau and Ottawa. They are entitled to have a chairperson of the National Capital Commission—an important part of the federal government—who will represent them adequately in their own language.

We miss Mr. Beaudry a lot in this respect. When he was asked a question in English, he would answer in English, and when he was asked a question in French, he would answer in French.

With that in mind, we need to ensure—and this is the purpose of the amendment—that the chairperson of the National Capital Commission, the person who sits on the board of directors of this crown corporation, can speak and understand French, in the same way that they can speak and understand English. That is our rationale, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Chair, I just would hate to see the situation where a unilingual francophone is the right person for the job and doesn't get the job, even though there are tons of interpretation services across this great country, employing mostly Quebeckers.

What if there is a good unilingual francophone who would be the best person for the job, and then all of a sudden we're eliminating them from the job because they don't speak English? I don't think that's fair, to not get the best person for the job.

So from my perspective, I think we should allow the best person to be appointed to do the best job for the people of Canada, whether that be a unilingual francophone or a unilingual anglophone. I don't think it matters as long as the interpretation services are there.

I don't understand why your questions weren't answered. Quite frankly, I think that's wrong, that there wasn't proper interpretation there for you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Further comment?

(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We're now going to move to Bloc amendment 2.1.

Monsieur Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The amendment has to do with the number of members. We want to make sure that the number of members from Quebec and Ontario is equal and that 25% of the other seats are held by residents of Quebec.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Comment? Seeing none--

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

I am simply adding an element. It is to ensure we are being consistent with what was said before, Mr. Chair, for the purpose of clarification. Paragraph 3(4)(c) contains the number 7, but it should be changed to 8 so that it is in line with what was adopted previously.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

It is 15, including the chairperson. If there are 14 people, plus the president, that makes 15.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

That is right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

So you're correcting the amendment to read “eight” instead of “seven”?

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Paragraph 3(4)(c).

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

So there has been an amendment to the amendment in paragraph (c). Instead of “seven”, it should read “eight from Canada generally”.

No comments? Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Could Mr. Dubé give us the current state of the situation, please?

[Simon Dubé]

Currently in the act it provides for two members from the Quebec side of the national capital region. Obviously, the members coming from the rest of the country...there are currently some members from Quebec. There's somebody from Sept-Îles and somebody from Beaconsfield and Gatineau. Well, Gatineau would be the legislative part.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

So currently there are two ordinarily resident in the national capital region.

[Simon Dubé]

That's the only part that is guaranteed by law.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

And how many people would reside in the national capital region, and how many local municipalities in Quebec would there be in that area?

[Simon Dubé]

On the Quebec side, that's a good question. How many people in Gatineau?

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Three, counting Gatineau, Chelsea and La Pêche.

[Simon Dubé]

Yes, and Pontiac.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Four, counting Pontiac.

[Simon Dubé]

Four municipalities.