House of Commons Hansard #166 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was scotia.

Topics

Main Estimates 2007-08Government Orders

9:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Main Estimates 2007-08Government Orders

9:05 p.m.

Conservative

Vic Toews Conservative Provencher, MB

moved that the bill be read a third time and passed.

Main Estimates 2007-08Government Orders

9:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Main Estimates 2007-08Government Orders

9:05 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

On division.

Main Estimates 2007-08Government Orders

9:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

I declare the motion carried.

(Motion agreed to, bill read the third time and passed)

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

9:10 p.m.

Bloc

Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC

Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak in this adjournment debate because of a question I raised on May 15, 2007.

I had asked the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages some questions following certain events and decisions taken by the government. The questions had to do with the text panels filled with errors in French at Vimy, the appointment of a unilingual English ombudsman for victims of crime, and the elimination of compulsory bilingualism for the senior ranks of the army. On those issues, we wanted to know what the Prime Minister or the minister had to say to the Commissioner of Official Languages regarding the way the Conservative government is trampling the rights of linguistic minorities. The situation is not getting any better in that regard, especially considering the court challenges program.

Today in the Standing Committee on Official Languages we had the pleasure of receiving the Commissioner of Official Languages. He told us that the Conservative government is absolutely not obeying former Bill S-3, which was passed during the last Parliament and implemented things and gave more teeth to the Official Languages Act, to section 7 among other things. Eliminating the court challenges program is another breach of the act.

The Prime Minister tells us that he wants to eliminate this program because his government will respect the Canadian Constitution and we will therefore no longer need the court challenges program. The Commissioner of Official Languages made it quite clear that we do indeed need this type of program. Furthermore, Mr. Matte, the chair of the court challenges program, and Gisèle Lalonde, who advocated for the Montfort Hospital thanks to this program, illustrated the need for this program.

The federal government cannot force a province, a school board or any agency in society that does not recognize or respect the Canadian Constitution. In Canada, some citizens have to pressure the government through the court in order to have their rights respected and the government shows up with a whole host of lawyers. These agencies do not have the money they need to deal with the expertise before them. The court challenges program is so very necessary.

In light of this situation, I want to know what my Conservative colleagues have to say to the Commissioner of Official Languages about their non-respect for the application of the Official Languages Act, with respect to the examples I have just given.

9:10 p.m.

Beauport—Limoilou Québec

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for this opportunity to respond to the hon. member for Gatineau concerning the recent report of the Commissioner of Official Languages and the work of the government to support linguistic minority rights.

Our government is firmly committed to supporting and promoting official language minority communities. We have signed agreements with the provinces and territories on services and education to the tune of $1.18 billion over four years. Dozens of other funding agreements with groups and community organizations have also been concluded, as well as cooperation agreements with the provinces and territories on minority language services to the tune of $64 million over four years.

The Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages announced support for the construction and expansion of school-community centres in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. By providing better programs and services in French-language day cares, schools and universities, where francophones are in the minority, our goal is to allow young Canadians to start, continue and complete their studies in their language.

In addition, the Government of Canada is allocating $80 million per year to second language education programs to support official language education for 2.4 million young Canadians. Our government recognizes that official language minority communities face huge challenges, and we want to support them in a very real way through investments designed to help them develop and thrive.

In October, the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages co-chaired the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie. There is a great spirit of cooperation among various levels of government, a spirit of cooperation that has enabled us to support minority rights. In that respect, I am delighted that Quebec has once again become a full partner in our efforts to support la Francophonie. Quebec is the cradle of Canadian Francophonie, and the support of our partners in Quebec is vital to the development of French throughout Canada.

Cooperation with our partners has had a number of positive results, including: an education agreement with Ontario worth over $300 million for 2005-06 to 2008-09 to support minority language education and second language learning; a special agreement with New Brunswick to establish two school and community centres; funds to set up a New Brunswick institute to support the development of second language education across Canada; and financial support for various festivals and cultural events, such as the Franco-Ontarian Festival, L'écho d'un peuple in Ontario, Quebec 2008 and the États généraux des arts et de la culture in Caraquet.

Furthermore, with respect to immigration, the government has developed a plan to encourage francophone immigrants to settle in minority language communities. This is crucial to the future and the vitality of official language minority communities. With this summary—

9:15 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

I am sorry to have to interrupt the hon. member for Beauport—Limoilou.

The hon. member for Gatineau.

9:15 p.m.

Bloc

Richard Nadeau Bloc Gatineau, QC

Mr. Speaker, once again, the government members are not answering the question. The court challenges program was eliminated. This violates the Official Languages Act. It was done in a cavalier manner. The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women simply announced to the people who work in the court challenges program that the program had been cut and would come to an end. The evaluations of the program conducted in 1997 and 2003 were not even taken into account. The cut was based on ideology.

This file is damaging to French-language minority communities, just as it is damaging to anyone who believes the Constitution should protect the rights of vulnerable people in our society. Furthermore, the Commissioner of Official Languages and other key players in Quebec and Canadian society have demonstrated that this program has helped to strengthen the fight against assimilation. It is a very important tool for those communities.

9:15 p.m.

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government is taking decisive and concrete action with regard to official languages and minority rights. We are making new investments to ensure the development of both official languages throughout the country. In April, we announced that five minority communities would participate in a pilot project to analysed the effects of French-language enriched services on linguistic, cultural and overall development of pre-school children. Our government has made a commitment of $10.8 million over five years for this pilot project.

In budget 2007, the government increased funding for official language minority communities by an additional $30 million over two years. These monies will finance cultural and extra-curricular activities, community centres as well as activities that will help enhance the benefits related to linguistic duality for children. This is in addition to the $751.3 million over five years provided by the action plan for official languages.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Bill Blaikie

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. This House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 9:21 p.m.)