Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee, first I want to thank you for having invited us to appear today, at an important moment for us. A month has gone by since the FCFA unveiled a bill to modernize the Official Languages Act. We spent this month

Official Languages committee  I fully agree.

Official Languages committee  There you go; I respected the three-minute time limit.

Official Languages committee  Nothing sends a stronger message than a group of parliamentarians presenting a united front.

Official Languages committee  We've spoken with Mr. Hussen a number of times about francophone immigration strategies, and we put forward concrete measures. The main thing we talked about was a distinct request for proposals process tailored to francophones, as opposed to a general process. Under the current

Official Languages committee  First of all, I'm not certain that the Université de l'Ontario français has submitted a formal application. I don't have that information, but the fact remains that such a request would normally come from the province. Was the request made? I'd like to follow up, if I may, on th

Official Languages committee  It is no secret that we are working with Mr. Power on this issue. We are convinced of the measure's merit. Simply replacing the word “may” with the word “shall” can make all the difference in the world. We all know that the word “may” gives the Treasury Board wiggle room, whereas

Official Languages committee  No. A number of precedents can be found. In fact, the federal government often provides transfers to support post-secondary institutions through official languages education programs. The problem with those transfers is that the provinces are under no obligation to account for th

Official Languages committee  I don't know either, but in an ideal world, I think it's always a good practice to include an element of consultation, at least. The communities will certainly have opinions as to the people who should be chosen. If we create an administrative tribunal, we also need to give it th

Official Languages committee  I am going begin answering, and my colleague can add his comments. If the administrative tribunal deemed it advisable to impose coercive measures, the agency in question would be responsible for covering costs, in my opinion. Beyond that, I don't know.

Official Languages committee  He could deal with those two aspects. What we are proposing is very similar to what you have just described, that is to say that the commissioner's office would be responsible for two distinct functions. That is why we say that there is a close link between the tribunal and the

Official Languages committee  It is also comparable to the Human Rights Tribunal.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  I think Mr. Graham Fraser alluded to that on several occasions. It was impossible for him to act as champion and promoter of official languages and to be the official languages watchdog at the same time. Those are two opposite functions. That is why we are basically proposing th

Official Languages committee  The only part of the mandate we would remove would be the coercive aspect. The commissioner would still have the responsibility of investigating the complaints. He would keep all of the functions he currently has.