Steven Blaney

[Status of the French Language in Montreal, November 25th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, my regards to my colleague from Nova Scotia. I want him to know that my mother-in-law, who is a Samson, was at the dedication of the Samson family monument in Lévis. I appreciate your passion, Mr. Samson. One can feel your Latin fire, and it is very inspiring. It is true that, together, we want to see French make great strides across the country.

I would like to talk more about how the vitality of francophone linguistic minorities like yours in Nova Scotia is intertwined with the power of the French engine in Quebec. You talked about the importance of taking action.

We were both at the Standing Committee on Official Languages meeting yesterday. We passed a motion stating that the modernization plan must be tabled this year. All the communities that belong to the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network, including your own community, are calling for modernization.

Why wait if the time to act is now? Do you agree that it is time to act and that we need to see a modernization plan this year, not a white paper full of blank pages?

[Official Languages, November 20th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, what are these elected members waiting for? When will they get to work? It is when the going gets tough that we discover who our real friends are.

Yesterday, francophone and Acadian communities and the anglophone minority in Quebec understood that the Liberals are abandoning them in their time of need. Why? Because the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada and the Quebec Community Groups Network are asking the government to do this one thing: to modernize the Official Languages Act.

However, yesterday, the Liberal members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages refused to ask the government to introduce its modernization bill before Christmas. Why? Do they want a national crisis?

[Official Languages, November 20th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, this has been a rough week for the French language in Canada under the Liberal government.

The government has denied that French in Montreal is on the decline, and the Quebec president of the Liberal Party of Canada called the Charter of the French Language oppressive. These people withdraw their comments, erase their tweets or, having painted themselves into a corner, walk out on the paint.

Yesterday, at the Standing Committee on Official Languages, the Liberals tried to sweep a study on the decline of the French language in Canada under the rug. Why are they abandoning linguistic communities across the country?

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I really enjoyed my colleague's heartfelt speech. Her strong attachment to her culture and her language came through loud and clear. She herself is a very talented artist.

In her speech, she talked about protecting content creators. This morning, I talked about protecting copyright. I would like her to explain to me what that means to artists financially, for, as they say, money makes the world go round.

Is there some way that this bill could address that, because it is extremely important to the survival of Quebec culture?

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I would like my colleague to say a few words about the importance of Quebec culture.

Does he believe it is being protected by the bill? Does the bill promote it? I did not see anything in the bill to suggest that to be true.

Does my colleague believe that the bill as currently worded will improve or deteriorate the situation?

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I share the member's grief in seeing some of his friends lose their jobs. In my riding, there is some rationalization among local media. There used to be two newspapers in Lévis and now there is only one. The media sector has been impacted hard.

As I mentioned in my speech, the way to incentivize Canadian companies to invest in Canadian newspapers is by correcting section 19. However, this is not in the bill.

It is certainly important to review the mandate of the CBC. It was recommended in the Yale report. However, again, there is a void in the bill in this regard; there is nothing about it. We are willing—

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question. She is quite right.

During the pandemic, I even approached the minister about investing in our regional weeklies and community radio stations. This was done on a very small scale. Many Quebec organizations are reaching people across the country. Ricardo's website and Véro's website come to mind. Unfortunately, our own government, the Liberal government, is investing more in the web giants' digital platforms than in our own media. As the saying goes, charity begins at home.

I fully agree with my colleague that the Canadian government has a duty to invest first and foremost in Canadian media. That should be the priority.

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his interest in this very important issue, which is about the role of the CBC in our country and the way the CBC can coexist with the private sector, especially at a time when the private sector has been hard hit. How can we ensure that the CBC is focused on its mandate, instead of competing with the private sector, and that we get the funds that could be very useful?

Again, there is a big void in the bill. There is nothing in it about the role played by the CBC or its mandate, nor about the fact that at times it can interfere with the private sector when the private sector has been hard hit.

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, as I just mentioned, it is a basic Conservative principle that we have fairness among businesses. What we have now, and the Yale report has recognized it, is unfairness and an emergency to act. Unfortunately, the Liberal bill in front of us does not address this critical issue. It would be so simple for the government to come up with measures to establish a level playing field for all players, but unfortunately it is not. The Liberals have been talking about it for a while, and it is a lot of talk but no action.

[Broadcasting Act, November 19th, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I have a question for my colleague in return.

If we can use regulatory means, then why have a bill?

I thank the member for recognizing the immense contribution of the Conservatives to our culture in the country. The member might be interested to know that the first bill to promote culture in Canada was introduced by former prime minister Bennett. I was not born then and the member was not either.

I recommend that my colleague look at what the Harper government did during the economic crisis. What the cultural sector is asking for now is a package, and at that time, a package was provided to support the cultural sector in a very difficult period. All experts recognize that this was a very well done state-of-the-art program. It supported our cultural sector when it needed it the most during the economic crisis. That is exactly what is needed now as we go through this pandemic.