Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to talk about Bill S-3, an act to amend the Official Languages Act. This bill was introduced in each session of the last Parliament. This is the fourth attempt to pass it.
I want to begin by commending now retired Senator Gauthier for his lifelong dedication to official language minority communities in Canada and for his effort to strengthen their protection with Bill S-3.
The main purpose of this bill is to make the commitments set out in part VII of the Official Languages Act binding on the government. The way the act is worded now, the fulfillment of the objectives in part VII is left up to the discretion of the government, with no obligation of results.
It is interesting to note that a senator, a Liberal senator, has had to try four times to get the government to live up to its commitments, and the only way to do that is to make it a law.
Bill S-3 enhances the enforceability of the federal government's obligations. We are no longer talking about the government's intention here, but about taking concrete measures to advance the equality of status of English and French. We all know how much this Liberal government is dragging its feet on proving that it wants to take action in matters of official languages, like in other matters.
I can understand why Senator Gauthier felt such a bill was necessary.
Three sections of the Official Languages Act are affected by this bill: sections 41, 43 and 77.
Section 41 of the Official Languages Act commits the government to:
Enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development.
Section 41 also commits the government to:
Fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.
Section 43 follows suit and more specifically aims at increasing the level of responsibility of the Minister of Canadian Heritage on promoting official languages.
The government has failed miserably on both these accounts.
The Official Languages Commissioner, Dyane Adam, has criticized the lack of action of the Liberal government with respect to official languages. Indeed, in her last three annual reports she recommended to clarify the legal scope of the commitments set out in section 41 of the Official Languages Act.
Furthermore, in 2004 the Federal Court of Appeal stated that “section 41 is declaratory of a commitment and that it does not create any right or duty that could at this point be enforced by the courts, by any procedure whatsoever”.
In others words, the court ruled that section 41 of the Official Languages Act was a broad statement of principle and not an actual legal obligation. The court went on to say, “the debate over section 41 must be conducted in Parliament, not in the courts”.
Bill S-3 addresses this ruling in two ways. First, it would add subsections requiring all federal institutions to take positive measures for the ongoing and effective advancement and implementation of section 41. Second, it would add part VII of the Official Languages Act to a list of specific sections of the act that is justiciable which is contained in section 77.
When this bill was being considered in committee, the Liberals tried to shirk their responsibilities yet again by proposing amendments that were clearly meant to diminish the scope of this bill.
In May 2005, before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, the Minister of Canadian Heritage proposed replacing this result obligation with a process obligation. Once again, this government is trying in every way to avoid implementing all the provisions of the Official Languages Act. The government wants to consult, but does not want to formally commit to taking concrete measures to improve the situation of linguistic minority communities.
Clause 77 is also aimed at binding the government to its commitments. Clause 77 reads:
Any person who has made a complaint to the Commissioner in respect of a right or duty under sections 4 to 7, sections 10 to 13 or Part IV, V or VII, or in respect of section 91, may apply to the Court for a remedy under this Part.
As I mentioned earlier, clause 77 would make it clear that if the government does not live up to its obligations under part VII of the Official Languages Act it can be taken to court and forced to fulfil these obligations. It is a shame in this country that we have to go that far to promote our official languages.
Therefore, Bill S-3 would strengthen the Official Languages Act making explicit the federal government's legal responsibilities to our communities' vitality. It also clarifies our right to use the courts under part VII of the act to enforce the government's legal duties to our communities.
As a general principle, I am very supportive of legislation that removes wiggle room for ministers and holds them to their commitments.
Participants in the public debate on Bill S-3 have suggested that the proposed legislative measures would encroach on areas of provincial jurisdiction and have a prejudicial effect on the balance of power which is at the heart of the Canadian federal system.
It is clear that many of these issues directly related to community development fall under either shared jurisdiction or exclusive provincial jurisdiction. That is why the Conservative Party has fought to have this bill amended to specify that this commitment of the government is to be fulfilled “in compliance with the jurisdictions and powers of the provinces”. We know full well that this Liberal government jumps at any opportunity that comes by to encroach on the provinces' areas of jurisdiction.
With this amendment, the Conservative Party is proud to remind the Liberal government that Bill S-3 is not a new way of interfering in provincial jurisdictions. The Conservative Party's amendment is designed instead to ensure that the government will finally assume its responsibilities in official languages, and do so in compliance with the powers delegated to the provinces under the Canadian Constitution.
In conclusion, I would like to remind my hon. colleagues that the Conservative Party supports any measure to force this government to fulfil its official languages obligations.
The Conservative Party believes that Parliament should draft legislation that is clear and enforceable for everyone involved, instead of passing vague laws and leaving it up to non-elected judges to provide details about measures that the government has to take to meet its official languages commitments.
The Conservative Party respects provincial jurisdictions. It has worked on that, to ensure that this Liberal government will not be able to jump at the opportunity to once again invade areas of provincial jurisdiction.
With the Conservative Party's amendment that seeks to protect provincial powers, the Bloc's exclusionary policy is no longer relevant. The Conservative Party values bilingualism in Canada, while the Liberal government is clearly trying to use all possible ways to divert attention from the failure of its own action plan on official languages.
The poor track record on official languages will not change until the government is replaced by an effective government. Just last evening, during the minister's own mid-term report on the action plan, speaker after speaker stressed that leadership was sadly missing.
The Liberal government has been leading this file for two and a half years and our minority communities are still looking for leadership. Seven-five per cent of them report it is totally ineffective. The language commissioner herself says that it is ineffective. After two and a half years, only 20% of the $750 million in funds have been released to the communities that so desperately need it. This will only change when a Conservative government takes power.
