Josée Verner

[Court Challenges Program, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, we have just received this preliminary report. We will respond to the commissioner within the 30-day deadline.

That said, our government has clearly shown its constant support for linguistic duality. As far as official languages are concerned, we have signed agreements with the provinces, territories and the communities. In the last budget, we announced an additional $30 million for communities and the NDP voted against that.

[Official Languages, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, of course, the hon. member should, for the benefit of Ottawa and Moncton residents, point out the comments made by the Liberal candidate in Papineau. He should also ask his leader why he voted against the budget, which provides an additional $30 million to communities.

Moreover, in recent days, he had a flyer distributed everywhere to tell Canadians how bad our budget is. He is himself campaigning against the additional moneys that we allocated.

[Official Languages, May 14th, 2007]

The member for Bourassa keeps making comments. For quite some time now, he has been showing this House that he speaks three languages: the French language, the English language and the dirty language.

[Official Languages, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. member, who lives in New Brunswick, to talk to the Liberal star candidate in Papineau and to ask him how he could possibly propose to abolish the distinct francophone and anglophone school boards in New Brunswick. Now, that is a totally unacceptable lack of understanding and contempt.

[Court Challenges Program, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat that the case is before the courts.

The star Liberal candidate in Papineau, Justin Trudeau, who is against bilingualism. He is calling for the abolition of distinct school boards, both French and English, which has certainly created turmoil in New Brunswick.

We have made a commitment to the official language communities of our country. Since coming to power, we have authorized more than $1.18 billion for official language minority communities.

[Court Challenges Program, May 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague probably knows, a case regarding the court challenges program is before the courts. Therefore, we will not be commenting on this matter.

However, we have received the preliminary report. Our comments will be tabled within 30 days. In the 2007 budget, the Conservative Party committed $30 million to our official language minority communities and the Liberals voted against it.

[Official Languages, May 10th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. Allow me to once again remind the House of our government's unwavering commitment to linguistic duality.

In our latest budget, we announced an additional contribution of $30 million. Unfortunately, both the Liberals and the New Democrats voted against this budget. They decided to oppose concrete investments that will enable young Canadians, in particular, to develop in their own language.

For his part, Justin Trudeau, the star candidate of the Liberals, even proposed the abolition of—

[Official Languages, May 10th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the case is before the courts and so I will not comment on it. However, what about the position of the Liberals, who voted against our budget? What about the Liberal decision to cut $100 million from funds allocated to communities between 1993 and 1997? In our last budget, our position on minority communities was very clear: we allocated $30 million for communities. Unfortunately, the Liberals do not want these monies to be given to communities.

[Official Languages, May 10th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition knows very well that the committee makes its own decisions. But what about the position of the Liberals, who voted against our 2007 budget, a budget which allocated $30 million for minority communities? And what about the remarks by Justin Trudeau, the Liberal candidate in Papineau, who advocates nothing less than the abolition of separate French and English education systems?

[Afghanistan, May 10th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to report what is going on in Kandahar in terms of development. This year alone—and I went there again recently—we have spent $39 million, which is eight times more than the $5 million the former government spent in Kandahar.

We are making progress there. I visited the villages and communities. I met Afghan men and women. The Afghan people do appreciate our development efforts.