Pierre Lemieux

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, actually, I would like to correct my colleague. It is not that Quebec is a nation; the motion was that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada. He does not even remember the motion that the House passed.

That motion was quite embarrassing to my Bloc colleagues. I remember that they had put forward a motion, and they amended their own motion, and then they ended up voting for our motion, the government motion. What an embarrassment for the Bloc.

The problem the Bloc has is that the Bloc members serve no relevance in this House. They do not represent the interests of Quebec. They are basically passing the time putting in place arguments that carry no weight whatsoever. They are a waste of time.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained, we have a responsibility, as federal government, for both official languages, English and French. We need to promote both languages in every official language minority community.

I also explained that the overall bilingualism rate in Quebec is 70%—over 80% for young people. When I mentioned immigration, I showed that immigrants who choose to live in Quebec tend to adopt French instead of English as the language they speak at work and at home.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

As the right hon. Prime Minister said last year, French is the first language of Canada, and the developments that I am bringing to your attention show that its importance remains. We will celebrate the fact that French came first, chronologically speaking, in the coming year during the 400th anniversary of Quebec City.

French is also an international language spoken on all continents. It also ranks, I might add, among the ten major languages spoken in the world. After English, French has an official status in the greatest number of countries. As you know, the Government of Canada actively supports the institutions of the international Francophonie.

Given the Government of Canada's support for the French language, as I have just explained, I really wonder why we would have to amend the federal legislation to allow a so-called better protection of French in Quebec. The Government of Canada already acknowledges Quebec's francophone reality in all of its initiatives, and a number of indicators suggest that this approach is working. In Quebec, and in the rest of Canada, the promotion of French remains a priority to which we are committed.

[Business of Supply, April 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to respond to the motion of the member for Joliette. The point I want to make is that the Bloc members' statements about official languages do not stand up. Inevitably, they start by claiming that French cannot flourish in Canada, which could not be further from the truth and flies in the face of our country's history.

I want to assure this House that our government is firmly committed to meeting its obligations to support the official languages and promote French and English throughout Canada.

I will begin by outlining the linguistic framework put in place by the Government of Canada in recent decades. The objective and results of this framework have always been to enhance and not to impede the vitality of our two official languages.

The first Official Languages Act, passed in 1969, laid the groundwork for protecting and enhancing linguistic duality in Canada. This act was adopted as a result of the recommendations of the Laurendeau-Dunton commission on bilingualism and biculturalism.

In 1982, we saw the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was part of the constitutional amendments that came out of the repatriation of the Canadian constitution. This charter clearly states that English and French are the official languages of Canada and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada.

A new Official Languages Act came into effect in 1988 to reflect and implement the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This new act included provisions about promoting English and French, and these provisions were strengthened by an amendment in 2005.

I would like to remind the House that it was a unanimous resolution of our caucus that paved the way for the adoption of this amendment, whose main objective is to enhance the vitality of English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and support their development.

This description of the measures that have been put in place in recent decades to recognize French shows that there is a consensus in Canada on official languages: Canada's linguistic duality is an essential part of the Canadian identity and an extraordinary asset for all of society.

Our government is fully in favour of this linguistic framework, which it intends to strengthen in the near future, as announced in the most recent throne speech.

I would stress that the provisions relating to linguistic duality are not inconsistent with the Charter of the French Language, as the Bloc members suggest. The Charter of the French Language in fact has full effect in areas under Quebec’s jurisdiction, and things work well that way.

I would like to mention in passing that the Official Languages Act essentially applies to institutions of the Government of Canada, plus a few others such as Air Canada. One of the objectives of the act is to ensure that services are provided to the public in the language of their choice. This is true in most cases.

Members of the public who speak the minority language can therefore receive services in either official language. As the most recent census figures show, 98% of the Canadian population speaks English or French, so we are able to reach virtually everyone by using one of those two languages.

The policies of the Government of Canada regarding the implementation of the Official Languages Act assign an important role to linguistic duality. I can also say without hesitation that there are many policies and programs that deal directly with the French language itself.

One concrete example is support for minority language education throughout Canada. Some provinces have established immersion programs in recent years.

It is too early to evaluate the final results of those measures, but requests for second language instruction continue to grow.

Teaching French as the minority language is a component for which the Government of Canada provides direct support to provincial and territorial governments. There are funding agreements in place for this.

On the question of knowledge of French, I would point out that based on recent census figures, anglophones in Quebec are increasingly bilingual. Their rate of bilingualism has reached 70%, while among young people it has risen above 80%. We can therefore say that programs to support official languages work directly to promote learning French from one end of the country to the other.

In the area of immigration, as we all know, Quebec is permitted to select its own candidates, and the Government of Canada fully recognizes provincial jurisdiction and Quebec’s francization objectives. You know that for several decades there have been agreements in place in this regard, and considerable amounts of money have been paid to the Government of Quebec to facilitate the integration of these immigrants.

From the last census, once again, we can see that for the first time in Quebec, most allophones who switched languages opted for French rather than English. This trend seems to be taking hold since three-quarters of the new immigrants who arrived between 2001 and 2006, and who speak English or French at home, chose French as their main language. In short, the immigrants who arrived in Quebec after 1971 have overwhelmingly chosen French.

As the right hon. Stephen Harper said—

[Official Languages, March 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, our government works hard for official language minority communities and we are taking concrete action to ensure the vitality of French and English in Canada.

In the last throne speech, we undertook to propose a new strategy for implementing the next phase of the action plan for official languages.

The Prime Minister and the minister of Official Languages announced last December the appointment of Bernard Lord as special adviser for consultations on linguistic duality and official languages. In the 2008 budget, our government reaffirmed this commitment.

I am pleased to announce to this House that the report on the Government of Canada's consultations on linguistic duality and official languages has been submitted to the minister.

This report and the consultations that took place will shape the development of the next phase of the action plan for official languages.

[The Budget, March 3rd, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour and privilege to rise in this House today to speak about our latest Conservative budget.

In addition to being a responsible, prudent and well balanced budget, which reduces debt and helps Canadians, several good initiatives in this budget were very well received by the constituents in my riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. They include real measures for business, agriculture, infrastructure and, naturally, families and seniors, the very foundation of our society and closest to our government's heart.

Before going into the details, allow me to mention once more some of the initiatives taken by this Conservative government since coming to power just two years ago.

We kept our promise made to Canadians to reduce the GST from 7% to 6% and then to 5%, and we did so ahead of schedule. We reduced taxes by cutting personal income tax rate from 15.5% to 15%. Furthermore, the basic personal exemption was increased to $9,600 and will rise to $10,100 in January 2009. A new $2,000 child tax credit will result in savings of hundreds of dollars for millions of Canadian families.

Corporate income tax rates have been cut drastically and will move from 22% to 15% by 2012, giving Canada the lowest federal corporate tax rate of all G-7 countries.

We reduced taxes for small business to 11% one year earlier than promised. Once again, these initiatives will give Canada one of the most competitive corporate tax rates in the world. In total, more than $200 billion has been invested in tax cuts since our government came to power.

Our Conservative government realizes that the months and years to come are full of uncertainty. For that reason, the theme of the budget is responsible leadership. It is vital that we proceed with a sense of caution and responsibility. This budget encourages Canadians to do the same. I am referring to the new tax-free savings account. For the first time in Canada's history, Canadians from all walks of life will have the opportunity to save their hard-earned money, which has already been taxed, without being penalized.

That does not mean that we will no longer do things to help Canadians. As I was saying, the people of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell are big beneficiaries of the priority spending announced in this government's budget. One of these priorities is infrastructure. I was very pleased to see in the previous budget the introduction of the building Canada fund, which is a $33 billion fund for infrastructure. During the past year, this program has helped finance a number of infrastructure projects that are resulting in a better qualify of life for the people of my riding, from Hawkesbury to Clarence-Rockland and everywhere in between.

In addition to this historic building Canada project, which was part of the previous budget, this new budget does even more to meet the infrastructure needs of my constituents by making the gas tax fund permanent. This will bring in millions of dollars annually for the municipalities, which will help them to better plan and finance their infrastructure work in the long term.

A large part of my riding is also dedicated to agriculture, and there is something in this budget for that as well. Since 2006, this Conservative government has taken direct action to help farmers. In fact, we have provided $4.5 billion in additional funding to farmers. This is funding above and beyond the annual funding provided to farmers.

We all remember the hardship felt by our cattle producers during the past few years and now more recently by our pork producers, which is why the government is accelerating programs designed to help them in their time of need. One new measure being introduced in this budget is a $50 million fund to be delivered to hog farmers to reduce the overstock that is currently putting pressure on the hog industry. This investment should translate into a 10% reduction, which is welcome news for the struggling producers of my riding. In addition, our Conservative government is delivering real support by making up to $3.3 billion available in loans to help producers weather current storms and adjust to new market realities.

Our government has listened to producers. We have worked with producers and now we are delivering for producers.

On the issue of seniors, there is no doubt that they are the big winners in this budget. In fact, even the Globe and Mail on Wednesday named seniors as being among the biggest winners. This is because our government has shown tremendous leadership and initiative by allowing pension income splitting for seniors and pensioners, something which has never been done before. We are also raising the tax exemption for income earned under the guaranteed income supplement from $500 to $3,500, a sevenfold increase. Seniors asked for this and we are delivering.

We also realize that with the increased life expectancy of Canadians, many seniors are willing to stay in the workforce longer and continue living as productive members of our society. Previously these seniors were penalized. By permitting phased retirement, we are giving older workers the choice to stay in the labour market.

As for RRSPs, we are also increasing the age limit for converting them from age 69 to age 71.

My constituents in Glengarry—Prescott—Russell welcome the additional fiscal measures taken by this government regarding the effort of tackling crime and bolstering our security.

In addition to making a giant leap in the right direction with the passage of Bill C-2 just last week, budget 2008 calls for a significant investment toward the creation of a new police officers recruitment fund. By allocating $400 million toward the recruitment and training of new police officers, our government is planning on assisting municipalities with the hiring of an additional 2,500 police officers throughout the country.

I can already hear the NDP, a party which opposes our efforts to better protect Canadians by getting tough on crime, complain that there is too much of a focus on correction and not enough of a focus on prevention. Allow me to respond that this is simply not the case.

The fact is that we are dramatically increasing the funding toward the national crime prevention program. This budget is investing an additional $60 million over the next two years, essentially doubling the annual funding, which currently stands at $33 million. These funds are used by the national crime prevention strategy in partnership with community groups designed to help vulnerable families and children determined to be at risk of later engaging in criminal activity, including gang or drug crimes.

As the Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages, I am very pleased to see in budget 2008, that our Conservative government intends to go beyond its previous investments by developing a new action plan for official languages, since the current five-year action plan is coming to a close this year. The priority of the government's new action plan will be to protect and promote linguistic duality across the country.

As a member of Parliament who represents a riding with a very large official language minority community, I very much appreciate the work that has been done by Bernard Lord and, now, by the hon. Minister of Official Languages to ensure that the necessary measures for ensuring the vitality and development of these communities will be included in a new action plan.

In closing, this budget is fabulous news for the people of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell and Canadians across the country. It is a responsible, well-balanced budget that respects its commitments to Canadians and will help our country to move forward in the year to come.

I want to thank the hon. Minister of Finance for his work and the consultations he held to produce budget 2008.

[The Budget, March 3rd, 2008]

What happened?

[February 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to comment on some of the remarks my colleague made. Let us talk about funding for official language communities. When the Liberals were in power, they reduced funding for official language communities by $100 million between 1994 and 1999. In contrast, our government could have spent $750 million under the current action plan, but instead we are going to spend over $800 million in support of official language communities across Canada, an increase of over $50 million.

As I mentioned, in our budget 2007 we announced $30 million for our official language communities and how did that member vote? How did the Liberal Party vote when we announced this extra $30 million? They voted against this positive measure to support our official language communities.

[February 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond to the question of the member for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe regarding the court challenges program and the government's commitment to official language minority rights.

As we know, the court challenges program is in front of the courts right now. It would not be appropriate to comment on the court challenges program. The member's question pertaining to litigation costs will also be determined by the court. I think it is best to let the courts do their job, hear the case from both sides, provide a ruling and also rule on who should be responsible for which costs.

Regarding the government's commitment to official language minority rights, however, I would like to elaborate.

Our government has clearly and repeatedly shown its commitment to fostering the development of official language communities throughout Canada. Our government's objective is to tangibly and positively improve the lives of Canadians. This approach also applies to language rights.

A number of our government's initiatives enable official language minority communities to exercise their rights in their day-to-day lives. Examples of this are programs that ensure access to health care in French, as well as the great progress made in terms of education, from the elementary level to the post-secondary level, to allow members of our communities to study in their first language.

I would like to remind members that in our last budget, in 2007, our government invested an additional $30 million over two years to support francophone and anglophone minority communities across Canada and to promote linguistic duality. These additional resources are supporting very concrete projects that target areas such as youth, media, culture and education.

As well, in the Speech from the Throne that we delivered in October, we announced that we would propose a strategy to implement the next phase of the action plan on official languages.

Our government is committed to our official language minority communities.

[Committees of the House, February 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, once again, we see the hypocrisy of the Bloc Québécois.

In August, the Bloc member for Ahuntsic asked that all immigrants to Quebec choose French, because Quebec is the only place in North America where French is spoken. If you prefer English, you can go to Canada or the United States. This is a remarkable thing to say. I would like to remind my hon. colleague that the minority official language in Quebec is English. I would like to know if my colleague and the members of the Bloc Québécois will protect the rights and heritage of anglophones in Quebec.