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.
