Richard Nadeau

[Centre Espoir Rosalie, February 23rd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the 15th anniversary of the founding of the Centre Espoir Rosalie in Gatineau.

Inspired by the charity work of Rosalie Cadron-Jetté, Sister Claire Ranger officially founded the Centre Espoir Rosalie on January 15, 1992, with the help of three single mothers.

The organization aims to help low-income single mothers, and specifically unwed mothers, develop the means and resources to take control of their lives from a financial, parenting, personal and social point of view. The goal of the Centre Espoir Rosalie is to break the isolation of families and promote parenting skills, while making mothers aware of their rights and helping them to assert them, all with respect and understanding.

The Bloc Québécois is happy to acknowledge the 15th anniversary of the Centre Espoir Rosalie, and proudly recognizes all its volunteers.

[International Mother Language Day, February 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, International Mother Language Day, created during UNESCO's General Conference, was celebrated for the first time on February 21, 2000.

This celebration reminds us that mother languages “—are not only an essential part of humanity's cultural heritage, but the irreducible expression of human creativity and of its great diversity”.

This day serves as a tool for the promotion of linguistic diversity as well as the preservation of cultural pluralism.

On this February 21, 2007, I would like to remind the House of the dishonour done to the French language by the Conservative government. By adopting the National Defence Official Languages Program Transformation Model, it made a mockery of the right of thousands of men and women to work in their mother language.

Quebec will remember those francophone ministers who, rather than defending their mother language, chose to bow to the will of their leader.

[Michel Prévost, February 16th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois and I would like to congratulate Michel Prévost on being re-elected chair of the Outaouais historical society.

Mr. Prévost is leader in the field of heritage conservation. He encourages Outaouais decision makers to keep our past alive by protecting heritage buildings and sites. He has worked to protect Charron House, the Notre Dame cemetery caretaker's house and Moore farm, and to beautify Brewery Creek and Jacques Cartier Street.

Mr. Prévost is also a well-known lecturer in built and religious heritage, and bears witness to the lives of famous people who left their mark on the Outaouais, such as Jos. Montferrand.

Congratulations, Michel Prévost, and long live the Outaouais historical society.

[Official Languages, February 13th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the commissioner has also criticized the late date of 2012 and said, “I don't want to wait until 2012 to see whether this approach works better than others”.

How can a minister from Quebec who is responsible for defending la Francophonie abdicate her responsibilities and let the commissioner of official languages express serious concerns that she should have had in the first place?

[Official Languages, February 13th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the Commissioner of Official Languages has stated that he was not consulted when the Canadian Forces' new bilingualism policy was being developed.

How could the minister responsible for official languages defend the Canadian Forces' policy last week without hesitation, when even the Commissioner of Official Languages was not consulted?

[Official Languages, February 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is a plan that will set back the official languages. Less stringent requirements for bilingualism among the top brass means less demand for language courses. That makes perfect sense and does not take a genius to understand.

If National Defence goes through with its plan, does the minister realize that the school's existence is ultimately on the line?

[Official Languages, February 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as well as being detrimental for francophone soldiers, the abandonment of bilingualism for top military brass will have a negative impact on the Canadian Forces Language School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, since the cuts could eventually lead to the school's closure.

Will the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages be open to the arguments made by the school's union, which fears that the army's recent ill-advised decisions will do nothing except gradually force the school to close?

[Official Languages, February 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the impact of the unwarranted closing of the only francophone military college in Saint-Jean is now being felt.

How can the francophones in this government calmly stand by while the army not only refuses to respect the spirit and the letter of the Official Languages Act but also perpetrates a serious injustice against francophone officers who are bilingual and could take on the responsibilities of those senior officers incapable of learning a bare minimum of French?

[Official Languages, February 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that the Canadian army has just done an about-face and will no longer require its top brass to be bilingual. It seems that for a certain number of its anglophone senior staff, mastering a minimum of French is an impossible mission.

How can the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages stand quietly by while the Canadian army steps back 40 years with regard to the use of the two official languages?

[Government Appointments, February 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, in this context, we see that the Federal Accountability Act was nothing but smoke and mirrors and hypocrisy.

Will the Prime Minister admit that this partisan appointment flies in the face of the Federal Accountability Act because at the first opportunity he has used the same approach he criticized the Liberals of using by appointing cronies to sort out his party's problems?