Official Languages committee  My opinion on this issue is very clear. I think we should have language provisions in all federal-provincial agreements. That is part of transparency and accountability principles.

Official Languages committee  We have submitted a special report to Parliament on the official languages regulations and part IV of the act. We have identified certain key principles, but the main reason we have to make those changes is that significant demographic changes have occurred across Canada. Office

Official Languages committee  At my meeting, I will indeed raise certain important elements related to this. You are right. As you say, following the Gascon decision, especially with regard to part VII, how can I do my job? Part VII affects communities more intimately. That is the part that requires federal

Official Languages committee  It is interesting to note that the President of the Treasury Board is responsible for reviewing part IV, while part VII is the responsibility of Ms. Joly's new department. That only confirms the urgency of modernizing the act.

Official Languages committee  I talked about this earlier, when I provided a brief overview of various approaches used in the past. During our consultations on the modernization of the act, a number of stakeholders made many suggestions on how to ensure better governance. So this is a matter of governance. W

Official Languages committee  I was floored. Honestly, I was very disappointed. I don't think the word “disappointed” is strong enough to convey what I felt. I remember we were at the office; the lawyers came in, looked at me and said it was not good news. I asked them if there was any good news, and they sai

Official Languages committee  The answer is fairly simple: the act has changed. According to the act, and according to this decision, what we can do in investigations is now limited. The most difficult element of this decision is the fact that it cannot be determined whether a complaint is substantiated unl

Official Languages committee  You are completely right. That is why, as part of the modernization project, we will request—

Official Languages committee  In terms of part VII, one of the challenges is that there is no definition in this section. It refers to “positive measures” that are to be taken to enhance vitality and support community development. Pursuant to the Gascon decision, anything can constitute positive measures. I

Official Languages committee  In any discussion about federal, provincial and territorial levels...

Official Languages committee  Looking at where we are at right now, there has in fact been some progress. I remember that at one time there were hardly any provincial services in French. As to the agreements between a province or territory and the federal government, the reporting requirements are not very cl

Official Languages committee  In general...

Official Languages committee  To date, we have met with Minister Joly, Minister Duclos...

Official Languages committee  Right now, I contact Ms. Joly, who is the minister.

Official Languages committee  The governance issue came up often in discussions on modernizing the act. Is our governance structure the best? I would say not. For a number of years, our governance structure has not been the best. In 2003, there was a committee of ministers responsible for the official languag