Jean-Paul Marchand

[Official Languages, April 8th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, this morning the official languages commissioner tabled a new report.

This year, not only is he continuing to place the two language communities on an equal footing, which is ridiculous when you look at the conditions in which francophones outside Quebec live, but he is telling us there is no need to be alarmed about the rate of assimilation of francophones. He said that a francophone who does not speak French in the home is not necessarily anglicized.

My question is directed to the Acting Prime Minister. Can he tell us what he calls a francophone in British Columbia who speaks English at work, at home, in restaurants, in hospitals, and even when he plays bingo?

[Official Language Minorities, March 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, when Heritage Canada chopped subsidies to official language minority groups, the government claimed it had no choice but to do so. Today, we learn that the government has used that money for propaganda purposes.

Can the Minister of Canadian Heritage make a commitment to reimburse the official language minority groups for the losses they have incurred?

[Official Language Minorities, March 21st, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada challenged the statement by the Minister of Canadian Heritage that the objective of the assistance program for minority language groups was to promote Canada. The government's documentation on the various programs available to official language minority groups does not, in fact, ever mention this objective.

Does the Minister of Canadian Heritage realize that, by declaring that the objective of the official languages program is to promote Canada, she is attacking the political independence of all official language minority groups in Canada?

[Francophone Communities, March 3rd, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, last summer, the Prime Minister did not hesitate to support Howard Galganov in the Quebec signage matter. He has, however, always been in less of a hurry to defend the interests of francophones in English Canada.

His first reaction to the announced closing of the only French language hospital in Ontario was to refuse to support the francophones. In so doing, the Prime Minister clearly demonstrated what Canada is: a country which rushes to the defence of the slightest complaint by English Quebecers, but barely reacts to the conditions in which francophones in English Canada find themselves, particularly when those conditions favour their assimilation.

The Prime Minister finally gave in to public pressure and spoke to the Premier of Ontario. He must, however, do more than that; he must also speak out against all of the other English speaking provinces which, like Ontario, offer neither health services, social services or cultural services in French, thus making it clear that the only language in use in Canada-

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, February 20th, 1997]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-374, an act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (social services for the French linguistic minority of a province).

Mr. Speaker, the second bill is along the same lines as the first one. Its purpose is to ensure that the provinces that do not use the portion of transfer payments which is designated for francophone communities are fined accordingly by the federal government, in other words, an equivalent amount is cut from transfers to the provinces if the amounts allocated to francophone communities do not go to those communities.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, February 20th, 1997]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-373, an act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (provincial legislation contravening the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms).

Mr. Speaker, I am, in fact, introducing two bills whose purpose is to wake up francophone members outside Quebec who are usually asleep or hide their heads in the sand when enforcement of the Official Languages Act in Canada is at stake. The President of the Treasury Board, when he was principal secretary at Foreign Affairs, even tossed out the Official Languages Act.

This bill is intended to give enforcement of the Official Languages Act in Canada more teeth. It would ensure that funding earmarked for Canadian francophone communities gets to those communities. Unfortunately, this money is appropriated by the provinces for other purposes.

The bill therefore suggests that transfer payments to those provinces be reduced, if the money does not go to these communities or if the provinces violate the Canadian Constitution as it applies to the minority rights of francophones. That is, in fact, the case in most Canadian provinces.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Petitions, February 12th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition from my constituents in Quebec-Est in which they call upon Parliament to urge the federal government to co-operate with the provincial governments on improving the national road network.

[French Language, February 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, if the answer is so straightforward, perhaps the minister would bother to rise and answer this question: how can the minister honestly give his own government credit for saving the French language in Quebec, when its policy has speeded up the assimilation of francophone and Acadian communities in Canada?

What explanation does he have for the fact that the same policy by the same government can have the exact opposite effect?

[French Language, February 10th, 1997]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Human Resources Development told the young Liberals that it was thanks to Ottawa that the French language was preserved in Canada and Quebec and that the federal government had protected the French fact against all odds.

The minister's statement is nonsense. The Minister of Human Resources Development forgot to mention the billions of dollars that a succession of Quebec governments have spent on developing and preserving French language and culture.

Will the Minister of Human Resources Development rise in the House today and apologize to Quebecers for the incredible nonsense he told the young Liberals in Drummondville?

[Official Languages Act, February 5th, 1997]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-367, an act to amend the Official Languages Act (enforcement of the duties of the government).

Mr. Speaker, this bill is to ensure that the federal government complies with the Official Languages Act. As you know, sections 41 and 42, set out in Part VII of the act-a crucial part in terms of enforcement-are being flouted by the federal government. They act in this matter as if there were no legislation.

The bill will require the federal government to enforce its own legislation.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)