Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to seek further clarification on the question that I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage on September 26, 2016, regarding Parks Canada. Although the words “official languages” are unfortunately no longer part of her title, I will add them.
In September, the Commissioner of Official Languages published a report regarding his audit of the delivery of bilingual services to Parks Canada visitors. Unfortunately, he revealed that Parks Canada is still struggling to provide equal services in both official languages.
Like the other commissioners, the Commissioner of Official Languages produces reports in which he makes recommendations and then he later checks to see whether those recommendations have been implemented. Of the nine recommendations the commissioner made to help Parks Canada meet the objectives, only two were fully implemented. Four were not implemented at all, and three were implemented in part.
It is important that the government show leadership on this file. At this point in time, we have a Liberal government. The same goes for the Minister of Canadian Heritage—and official languages. She needs to meet with her colleague, the Minister of Environment, who is responsible for Parks Canada, to tell her to take the necessary corrective measures. Unfortunately, she has not done that.
In many ways, when it comes to official languages, the problem comes down to a lack of leadership. How is it that the RCMP still does not have a monitoring mechanism for the delivery of bilingual services on Parliament Hill?
How is it that the response from the Minister of Public Services to the unanimous report of the Standing Committee on Official Languages on the Translation Bureau does not follow up on any of its recommendations? I could talk about a number of similar situations where there is a lack of leadership.
To celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary, admission to Canada's parks will be free in order to encourage Canadians to celebrate our environment, our nature, and our wealth. Sadly, we once again have reason to fear that people will not be able to enjoy our parks in both official languages.
What is the Minister of Canadian Heritage and official languages going to do to show more leadership? She should meet with her colleague the Minister of Environment and ask her the following questions. What is happening? Why the lack of active offer? Why is Parks Canada not offering bilingual services at its parks and sites? Why is she not showing leadership in other important files, such as bilingual service delivery at the RCMP? There is still no monitoring mechanism for bilingual service delivery on the Hill. Regarding the Translation Bureau, the government provided a response to a unanimous report that was an utter disappointment to every member of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.