Debates of April 14th, 2021

Laurentian University in Sudbury

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there are several things.

We recently provided funds to Ontario to support recruitment and retention of French teachers. In the media, we see that teachers are being laid off. Obviously, that makes no sense.

The federal government has been providing funds to Ontario to make sure there are teachers to teach our youth, knowing that there is a shortage of French teachers, and Laurentian University lays them off.

Our goal is to be there to emphasize to Ontario that there are other possibilities and solutions.

To answer the member's question concerning the University of Sudbury project, I am very open to different scenarios. Ultimately, the objective would be to be able to offer university courses in French in northern Ontario because, as my colleague from Sudbury stated earlier, francophones who were born in Ontario and whose parents and grandparents grew up in Ontario have the right to continue to speak French, to live life in French and to hope that their children and grandchildren can continue to live in French in northern Ontario, and to have access to good jobs, since they will have obtained a university education—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

The minister is out of time. I am sorry.

The hon. Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking my colleague, the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, because we are really working as a team this evening. I really appreciate her remarks and the fact that we are calling for solidarity this evening.

As we have shown repeatedly, our official languages are a priority for our government. They are at the heart of who we are as Canadians. French and English are integral to our shared identity. Our linguistic duality helps build bridges between our communities.

I would like to start with a brief tangent.

As a proud Franco-Ontarian, I have always been part of a minority community. I was raised and educated in French and I fought for the Montfort Hospital, our post-secondary institutions and services in French. I raised my three children, worked in our institutions and businesses and celebrated my francophone identity every day. That is why I am troubled by the recent news about Laurentian University.

Like thousands of Canadians, I studied sociology and completed an MBA in French. I did my studies in French. I am a graduate of the University of Ottawa, but I also did some courses at Campus Saint-Jean in Alberta. I learned to appreciate the advantages and the added value that these institutions bring to our country, from both an economic and a social perspective.

I also want to take this opportunity to tell the students, faculty and staff, as well as the entire community of Sudbury and the Franco-Ontarian community in general, that I stand in solidarity with them and that they are my foremost concern.

This evening, I want to thank my parliamentary colleagues for focusing on solidarity in our debates in order to support those who have been adversely affected by this situation. We believe and know that French-language, francophone and bilingual post-secondary institutions across the country are essential to the vitality, development and even growth of Canada's francophone and Acadian communities. They are at the very heart of official language communities.

That is why we are prepared to help Laurentian University, and we are working in partnership with the Government of Ontario to remedy this situation, as my colleague who spoke just before me said.

It is why I can say that through an ambitious mandate, tireless work, real actions and concrete investments, our Liberal government has proven our ongoing commitment to the vitality of our official languages and of our linguistic communities.

I would like to remind members about our action plan for official languages 2018-2023 entitled “Investing in Our Future”.

It includes new investments of nearly $500 million in addition to existing funds, which represents a historic investment of $2.7 billion over five years for official languages. These historic investments seek not only to help Canadians in official language minority communities to thrive, but also to ensure that all Canadians of all ages and in all regions have the opportunity to learn and live in their two official languages.

Education, from early learning and child care to post-secondary and adult learning, is essential to the vitality of communities, and our investments reflect that. We have increased investments of $64 million, for a total of more than $95 million, in infrastructure, including for community education infrastructure, to support institutions in renovating and upgrading their infrastructure. This means more funding for post-secondary institutions that serve official-language minority communities and French second language learners.

Our government is also proud of the $12.6 million in new funding invested in scholarships to help anglophone students take post-secondary programs in French. We also invested an additional $17.5 million in the Odyssey language assistant program, which gives young people the opportunity to work for a year as a language assistant in a classroom for second language learners.

I also remind members of the $62.6 million investment in teacher recruitment and retention strategies for French-language minority schools, French immersion programs and French second language programs. Recruiting qualified teachers to teach French in Canada is extremely challenging, especially in the context of the pandemic. These new investments will help ensure that there are enough teachers to meet the demand.

We are also proud to be working with our partners, the provinces and territories, on this particular issue. Our government is committed to renewing our bilateral agreements to support minority-language education and second-language instruction. In budget 2019, the government went a step further by announcing new investments totalling $60 million over four years to support minority-language education across the country.

In concrete terms, this means that under the bilateral agreement with Ontario on official languages, according to the 2019-20 annual report submitted by the province, the federal contribution to Laurentian University was over $1 million in 2019-20.

The Government of Canada supports Laurentian University through its bilateral education agreement with the Government of Ontario. Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, $59.3 million was provided by the Government of Canada to support all post-secondary education in Ontario. We are also proud to say that under the 2021-23 agreement, the federal contribution in 2020-21 in support of post-secondary education is $16 million. This does not include the significant investments in research that my colleague from Sudbury talked about earlier this evening, and I give him my regards in passing.

Let us not forget the important work we do for rights holders. We have also increased core funding for organizations working to promote and support minority-language education, empowering them to encourage more rights holders to choose minority education and facilitate the sharing of educational resources with educators.

With regard to rights holders, I would add that not only has our government reinstated the long-form census, but it has also added new questions to the 2021 long- and short-form questionnaires, which will more accurately determine the number of people entitled to minority-language education in the next census.

Our government is determined to promote and protect the official languages, and it will continue to propose meaningful and positive measures to that end.

We are pleased to continue the work begun with our provincial and territorial counterparts and also with our opposition colleagues on this shared objective. This evening we should work together and think also of our future generations that wish to attend post-secondary institutions offering French-language programs in Ontario and across the country. I am thinking of my children.

We will continue to do this work, not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is the smart thing to do. We know that when we invest in our communities, education, trade, tourism and French culture flourish for everyone. Across the country, from Moncton to Sudbury, from Edmonton to Victoria, our linguistic communities are vibrant and resilient. That is why I am proud to represent the residents of Ottawa-Vanier and to be part of a government that takes action, is proactive for official language communities and is making important investments to help them prosper.

I hope we will be able to continue working together to find solutions.

I am pleased to have had the opportunity to speak this evening.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Several members would like to ask questions. Before we proceed to questions and comments, I would remind hon. members to be concise.

The hon. member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to the speech by my colleague who asks us to show solidarity this evening. We are facing a crisis and unfortunately, I heard my colleague boasting and passing the buck to the provinces.

I will respect the wishes of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and ask my colleague a specific question about the situation we are discussing this evening. Does she agree with the proposal by the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario to take the federal funding for French-language university education that was earmarked for Laurentian University and send it to the University of Sudbury instead as soon as possible?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have to weigh all the options and work with the community. We know that this is not the first time Ontario's francophone community has gone through this type of situation. I remember when we were standing up for Collège La Cité, Collège Boréal and the Université de l'Ontario français. Now it is time to see what the federal government might do together with the Government of Ontario to contribute to the development of an institution that offers French programs in the Sudbury region.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will try to be brief even though the issue of French is so important that we could talk about it at length.

Fifty years ago, Canada brought in the Official Languages Act. They said they would permanently protect French and English until the end of time. Fifty years later, we are still here this evening to hold an emergency debate because a francophone community in Ontario is under threat.

According to Statistics Canada, the demographic weight of francophones outside Quebec was 3.8% in 2011. According to the projections, that percentage will be 2.7% in 2036. In 2021, is it not time to admit that the Official Languages Act has been a failure and that we need to move on to something else?

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.

I worked on the development of this reform, and I participated in the discussions regarding the options for the next official languages bill. Thanks to the modernization of the Official Languages Act, we will be able to continue to help official language communities flourish and, above all, to help the French language thrive across the country. Obviously, this will also enable us to encourage both official language communities to live in French and English across the country.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, earth to Liberal cabinet: Laurentian University is on fire. What I heard from the minister was a lot of pats on the backs of the Liberals that everything is fine. Everything is not fine. That is why we are having an emergency debate.

There will be the destruction of the indigenous language program, the Anishinabe language, the Cree language, the training of a young generation of indigenous people who live in the north and stay in the north, in law, in politics, in environment. That is all gone. I have heard nothing from the member, who sits at the Prime Minister's table, about what they are going to do, nothing. We heard from the member for Sudbury that he is going to bring forward a private member's bill at some point in the distant future. They are abandoning Laurentian.

I want the member to tell us what her cabinet is going to do to help the people of Laurentian, particularly indigenous students.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am in the same situation as my hon. colleague. As I mentioned, I am calling for solidarity because it pains me to see that our French-language schools are once again having to fight to offer programs in French and English. What is more, as the member mentioned, they need to fight to support indigenous communities.

We need to sit down with the Government of Ontario and see how we can work together to better serve the communities and better support the programs offered in northern Ontario. My family is from northern Ontario, and all of my family members contacted me to ask what was going to happen. I told them that we were going to work with the Government of Ontario to develop a plan to support our institutions, not only in the north, but across the country.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I think there are two orders of problems here that are crises. One is with universities in general across Canada.

I do not think I am wrong to say this. I am going to be blunt. The Ontario government, when we look at Laurentian, is partly responsible for this mess. Four of the people on the board of governors are appointees of the Ontario government. The faculty association is calling for the minister responsible for colleges and universities in the Ontario government to be fired. There has been mismanagement. They spent millions on building buildings instead of paying professors and now 110 professors are out of work and programs are slashed.

I think the federal government needs to step up and say this is a publicly funded university and that it is going to save it, not trust the current mismanagement to figure out how to mismanage more dollars if the government gives them those dollars.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for sharing her views and also the reality of what is happening in Ontario.

I think at this time it is really important also to be a part of the solution. That is why our government will be working with the Government of Ontario to try to see how we will make sure that there are French-language programs and also other programs that are delivered, not only in the region of Sudbury, but for the whole region of northern Ontario.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to be joining tonight's emergency debate on the situation unfolding at Laurentian University and to say at the outset that I will be sharing my time.

We see a fairly familiar pattern when we talk in this House about the federal government's actions in areas where there is a primary role for the provincial government, and it is frustrating for me to see how this unfolds. Very often, the federal government is eager to offer opinions and direction about what other levels of government should be doing, and yet in the same areas or in proximate areas we see the federal government neglecting its own responsibility. The government members are more keen to tell provincial governments how to manage things within their own provincial affairs and how to spend their own provincial money than they are to step up with respect to their own federal responsibilities.

This is very familiar to Canadians when they see the unfolding of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prime Minister has not been shy about offering provinces all manner of advice about things in provincial jurisdiction and trying to pass off blame to other levels of government, for instance around the vaccine procurement challenges. On things that are clearly within the jurisdiction of the federal government: things like appropriate measures at the border, screening processes, resolving the absurd spectacle of their hotel quarantine policy, actually procuring vaccines in the first place for provinces to then distribute or supporting a kind of tracing infrastructure that would assist the provinces, we see these failures in areas of federal responsibility, but then a diversion of the conversation to what members of the government think the provinces should be doing.

When it comes to official languages and defending the vital linguistic duality we have in this country, of course there is a core responsibility for the federal government. Any time the government does not agree with the direction another level of government is going in this respect, the federal government and members of the Liberal caucus are very loud about it. Yet when it comes to actually partnering with the provinces, stepping up and engaging and being at the table appropriately in a federal way to defend official languages in areas of federal responsibility, there has been a lack of response.

Members of our caucus have been calling on the government to modernize the Official Languages Act, for example. The Official Languages Act is a federal statute, very clearly within federal jurisdiction, and we see the failure of the government to move on that at the same time as talking about what happens at other levels of government.

As the MP for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, I want to say that I believe very much in the importance of the French language. I am proud of the strong, vibrant francophone community that we have within my own constituency, and I have been pleased to support the work of members of that community through letters to ministers with respect to work that they are doing and projects that they are pursuing. I have benefited from French language education that is available at the Campus Saint-Jean in the greater Sherwood Park area, as we like to call it, in Edmonton.

Although the issues at Laurentian University and in Sudbury are not local to me, I can identify with and appreciate the importance of having strong programs and supports that are available, and in particular that are available to support programs for indigenous languages as well as francophone programs.

I have been looking at the numbers here because they are interesting in terms of understanding what is happening and some of the engagement of the provincial government as well as the federal government. Just one observation that I would have is that in Ontario, the provincial government allocated $74.19 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year for French-language programs in Ontario; whereas, the federal contribution was much less. The federal contribution was $14 million. Therefore, the Ontario government is substantially providing for French-language education in the province, far over and above the federal contribution.

However, it is not for me to say, and we do not have anybody from the Ontario government who is able to speak in the House to defend their point of view, but I suspect they would challenge the federal government and say that if it has suggestions or things it wants to see happen, then coming to the table and providing that support might be one way to do that.

Of course, we know that following many comments about the francophone university in Ontario, it ultimately came to pass that there was an agreement that was signed between the federal government and the Ontario government to support a stand-alone francophone university here in Ontario. The federal government engages more constructively when it recognizes its own areas of responsibility and is willing to come to the table in those areas rather than simply trying to sort of dictate and tell other levels of government what they should be doing.

Another point, which is evidenced in the numbers in terms of spending and so I think it is worth observing, is that the provincial government support accounts for 40% of Laurentian's total revenue, and that is in the last year of data available in 2019-20. This compares to the provincial average in this province of 23% of universities' revenue that comes from the province. The argument would be that Laurentian University is receiving substantial dollars in terms of provincial support, but clearly there are challenges and clearly there are needs. There is a need for discussion and resolution in getting towards addressing those issues. However, the federal government, again, while keen to point the finger sometimes, I think needs to recognize its areas of responsibility when it comes to official languages, when it comes to defending and supporting university education and when it comes to working collaboratively with the provinces on these issues.

Although is not central to the topic tonight, I think it is important for members to think about and ask the question of how the delivery of education programs is going to change with changing technology. Many people in my own circles are looking at university programs that are in other parts of the country, perhaps further away or joint programs that are happening between institutions. Their participation in those programs is enabled by distance learning and by the kind of online environments that we are all living in as a result of COVID-19.

There is one school of thought that says as soon as the pandemic is over, people are going to want to snap back to the way it was, and there will be a desire to have the same kind of on-campus presence with most programs offered in person, the way things were, not in every case, but generally speaking, prior to the pandemic. However, there is another school of thought that maybe the flexibility that is associated with the new potential learning environment with people being able to take university courses from institutions anywhere in the world from the comfort of their own homes and communities, provided they have sufficient Internet access, is another possible future world.

One of the questions we should be thinking about in terms of post-secondary institutions in Canada is how that possible adaptation will occur and how our universities could thrive by offering education programs to people all over the world who might want to participate remotely. Some may, no doubt, like to be on campus, but some would want to participate in and benefit from those programs from other parts of the country and, indeed, other parts of the world. My encouragement to the federal government and provincial governments would be to think about how to collaborate with universities in this process of innovation so that we have a thriving university sector coming out of this pandemic, kind of riding these technological trends, and offering top instruction and information to people who are interested in accessing those programs from all over the world.

It is exciting to think about the opportunities my kids may have to be able to study somewhere else and take courses in different parts of the world at the same time, so we should try to be hopeful and build toward that future, where Laurentian University and other post-secondary institutions will be a strong part of our national fibre.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is of course my neighbour, and his comments were very interesting.

One of the questions I have for him is that he talks about the value of online learning and about the excitement of being able to study abroad or in different places. First of all, does he not recognize that campuses, Francophone campuses, particularly in communities outside of Quebec, are vital to the communities they support?

In my riding of Edmonton Strathcona, Campus Saint-Jean is fundamental to the Francophone community we have in our riding. Without it, we would lose so much of what makes Edmonton Strathcona so special. I am wondering if he recognizes the value campuses have for the communities in which they reside. Could he comment on that, please?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I actually specifically addressed the benefits I personally received from language classes at Faculté Saint-Jean, so I very much understand and appreciate the value of communities that are created by physical locations.

I addressed the issue of potential changing technology around the delivery of university education relatively parenthetically at the end of my remarks, but it is important to note that change in technology may provide opportunities for strengthening these campus communities as well. Perhaps existing campus communities would also be able to draw in additional revenue by offering online as well as in-person opportunities. That does not, in any sense, negate the value of those campus environments, but it gives them more flexibility to offer more courses, more offerings, and to reach more students in person as well as remotely.

These kinds of evolutions are going to happen as people seek for them to happen, but we should be watching and attentive to these trends and supporting innovation so all of our campus communities can survive into the future.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent speech this evening.

Brenda Austin-Smith, the president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, said that poor decisions on campus modernization left Laurentian with big mortgages on still half-empty buildings.

I believe that reflects what my colleague just said in his speech about how universities have to adapt to new technology while recognizing, as the member for Edmonton Strathcona pointed out, that francophone campuses are very important at universities outside Quebec. Is it possible to reconcile those two points of view?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, of course there can and there must be a connection between those strong physical campuses and being able to offer more options to more people. I am sure there are many cases of people in Alberta, to use my province as an example, who would be interested in benefiting from courses that are available at Faculté Saint-Jean, but who do not live in or around Edmonton, and for whom it is not feasible or practical to attend courses in person.

The evolving technological environment allows that campus to be able to offer more services to more people at a greater distance, but that does not take away from the importance and the value of the physical community and it becomes a destination that maybe students who are studying from a distance can still come to and participate in physical events from time to time, so there can be a connection between that adaptation to the new environment and the opportunities it presents while at the same time working to reinforce the physical environment.

We do not know exactly how that evolution is going to work, of course. It is hard to predict these things in advance, but I think it will be driven by precisely the things students are seeking. It will be driven by demand, and governments should work with these institutions to offer the best possible options.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, before I begin my speech, I would like to acknowledge my colleague from Sudbury. Earlier this evening, he gave a very important speech about his region, his city, his family and Laurentian University, an institution I am quite sure he cares deeply about.

It was my pleasure and privilege to work with him at the official languages committee for several years. I want to acknowledge him and tell him I know what he is going through. My hometown of La Pocatière does not have a university, but it does have a private college with about 500 students, some of them from around the world. We also have a big high school, elementary schools of course, and an agri-food technology institution that was in jeopardy some time ago. There was also a university presence until 1962, the year I was born, because Université Laval had its agriculture faculty in La Pocatière.

That is why I understand what my colleague is going through and how upsetting it must be for the people of Sudbury to be dealing with this very worrisome situation and the looming threats facing Sudbury's Laurentian University, which was established in 1960.

I did a little research earlier, and the priest Gustave Blanche must be turning over in his grave today to see what has happened. In La Pocatière, François Pilote founded the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière. It was often priests who founded these institutions, which have become so important in our communities. All the economic spin-offs of college, university and academic endeavours are obvious in La Pocatière, not to mention all the secondary benefits that have arisen over the years.

The university provides an important post-secondary education offering in northern Ontario. It is the only university in the region, which is located more than four hours' drive from Toronto, and it plays an important role in ensuring the survival of the French language in the large Franco-Ontarian community of Greater Sudbury. In addition, it is a highly regarded university, even today, despite the administrative problems that led to it filing for protection under the CCAA. It is worth noting that this institution is now protected from bankruptcy.

What I am going to say may sound strange, but every challenge presents opportunities. One of these opportunities is that Laurentian University now has the possibility of eliminating some of its debts to suppliers or financial partners, as provided for under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. I am trying to see the bright side of this crisis. Eliminating this debt could breathe new life into the university, especially if the federal government and Ontario both invest additional funds to get the university back on its feet. The university can only be revitalized by the current situation.

Education is obviously a provincial jurisdiction. Contrary to what my colleague from Sherbrooke said in her speech about how the official opposition does not recognize this provincial jurisdiction, we know this very well and we respect this jurisdiction. The province has the first say in the day-to-day administration of Ontario schools and universities.

However, the Government of Canada also has a role to play, as it has a moral obligation to enhance the vitality of francophone minority communities. I have been a member of the Standing Committee on Official Languages for several years in my time as a member of Parliament, and I know that the federal government has an extremely important role. The minister spoke about it earlier. I do want to point out that the Liberal government has been in power for more than five years, but I do not want to politicize tonight's debate.

The Minister of Official Languages makes nice announcements. She gets to have fun doing that job. She gives fine speeches constantly repeating that her government is investing record amounts to support official languages.

I have some questions, and I am wondering whether the Liberal government, which is here tonight, can explain where all those billions of dollars that were spent to support Franco-Ontarians went. I asked the minister when she found out that Laurentian University was in trouble. Surely she did not find out about it just two months ago, at the beginning of February. She must have been made aware of the university's situation well before that. I would like to know when she was told what was happening and what measures she took at that time. What discussions did she have with the provincial government to try to find solutions in order to avoid the current situation?

It is clear from the articles published by CBC and La Presse that the university's financial troubles are nothing new. That is what I was saying. The university was founded in 1960. Photos of the university show that the buildings are not new, and surely they were paid off a while ago. It takes years and years of poor management to become financial insolvent, which is how the university described its situation.

Earlier, my colleague and I referred to Brenda Austin-Smith, president of CAUT, who said that the administrators must be held to account for their lack of transparency about their financial missteps. In fact, we would likely need to go back a few years to figure out what happened. We also need to ask ourselves whether COVID-19 exacerbated the problem over the past year. That is surely not the only reason the university is in this position today.

In the wake of these events, I want to salute the students and the professors who lost their jobs. The students have had their courses cut and are unable to complete their degrees. The abrupt end to their studies and the various programs is a devastating blow and will be hard for all the students and professors to accept. Many are wondering about their future. We are talking about 1,000 employees at the university and nearly 7,000 students, including more than 1,300 francophones, so it is a large francophone university in Canada.

As francophone parliamentarians, we have a duty to discuss the solutions to be put in place and to do everything we can to make the opportunity I mentioned earlier a reality. We must be able to rebuild the university on a new foundation. I would like to thank my NDP colleague for requesting this emergency debate.

Depending on the outcome of the current legal proceedings, students do not know whether they will have to move to another region to complete their degrees. It would be awful if all these students had to leave the region to study elsewhere, as my colleague from Sudbury mentioned. When students leave to study elsewhere, they often do not return to their region. They decide to leave and stay away. That would be really devastating.

I am not entirely sure what my NDP colleagues want the federal government to do for the time being since the process is already under way. Would they like the federal government to nationalize the university? I hope not. That could happen. The collective agreements for the professors and the staff should be renegotiated and possibly changed to help make the university solvent again. Would the NDP support that? There are all sorts of challenges in this situation.

I assume the federal government will be there to financially support the French program, which it was already doing in part. However, will it be able to invest more and do more? Right now, that is a question for the minister.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to my colleague.

There is the Official Languages Act, but this evening we are talking about whether the two languages are on equal footing. In fact, there is one language that is doing very well and another that is not doing well at all.

I have a question for my colleague, who has been an MP much longer than I have. I have been an MP for about five minutes, and we have already had two emergency debates on French. That is crazy.

When was the last time there was a debate in the House of Commons on the status of English in Canada?

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

The Bloc Québécois is well aware that Canada is a country where English is predominant and French is the minority language. When it comes to issues that affect official language minority communities, the situation is precarious. Over the years, the Official Languages Act has helped support these communities. I agree with my colleague that there is still much work to be done. Many projects have been proposed by different governments over the past 50 years to improve the visibility of francophone communities across Canada and empower them. However, it is clear that more needs to be done.

[Scott Duvall, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate everybody's interventions tonight, but we have to stay on topic. We are talking about a public institution, a university, that is going into bankruptcy protection and trying to survive.

When we look at it, it has nothing to do with the French language or the English language. It is an institution that made some mistakes through its board of directors. The provincial government has cut $360 million from Ontario universities. The federal government has been stagnant with what it usually gives. It has cut, too.

The full-time faculty have declined over a few years, so it is not salary costs. It is some bad decisions that had been made by the board. The university is over-mortgaged, and it has empty buildings sitting there. We have to find a better way for the provincial and federal governments to provide proper funding and make sure that these institutions stay alive. We cannot just concentrate on saying that it is a French school or an English school. This is just the start of it.

The provincial Government of Ontario is taking a very sneaky way of saying to the federal government, “Provide more funding, even though we cut costs, or we are going to privatize the institutions.” Something—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We will have to go to the response to that.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

As I said earlier, since we cannot change the past, we must look to the future. There will be other opportunities, primarily financial ones.

I agree with my colleague that the university is just as French as it is English; it may even be more English than French. The reality is that the federal government can intervene in very specific areas and it should do more than what it did in the past to ensure that it can place the university on a better financial footing.

I will repeat that it is unfortunate to see a university in this situation, but this is an opportunity for everyone to get involved and get it back on its feet as best we can and ensure that it will be managed by people who know what they are doing.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup.

I appreciated his comments about the management problems at this university. That is nothing new. For nearly a year now, there have been articles and reports in Sudbury's newspapers about this university's financial troubles, but no one made an effort to ask for or demand better management to avoid disastrous results.

What does my colleague think we can do now?

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat the answer I gave earlier.

We can judge what was done in the past and, of course, we need to change things to avoid repeating the same mistakes. The students, teachers and researchers are not the ones responsible. The only ones responsible for the present mess are the administrators. They must be held responsible, and we must replace them if they failed to do the work required to ensure the long-term viability of the university. That is the reality.

Let us look forward and see what must be done. Funding will have to come with conditions that will enable the university to grow.