Official Languages committee  What would be feasible and perhaps easier is to set an annual amount of $10 million. An agreement could be established whereby the federal government commits to contributing half the funding for the first four years. That would mean that during the first four years, the provincia

Official Languages committee  That question hasn't come up yet. We would have to see whether that is feasible. I haven't done any legal analysis on that, but based on my general knowledge of constitutional principles and the law that applies, I would say that if a request were submitted to the federal governm

Official Languages committee  I think the answer is no, but I can check and get back to you later. If the provincial government refused to meet its constitutional obligations and also refused an offer for funding from the federal government, then a court order might be needed to force the provincial governmen

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much, Ms. Lambropoulos. As I mentioned, in two major cases brought before the Supreme Court of Canada, I represented the anglophone minority, which was facing important challenges similar to those that francophone minorities were facing elsewhere in the country. I

Official Languages committee  When you're an anglophone in Quebec, there's not much of a chance that you're going to get assimilated. Chances are, you're going to move away. You're going to want to live elsewhere. That's the option you have, if you want to exercise it. That's what we have to avoid. That's wha

Official Languages committee  Mr. Clarke, you are quite right when you say that you invited all these stakeholders to give their opinion on the matter in order to explain their reality to other people. You made it clear to everyone, to literally all Franco-Ontarians and people outside the province, that what

Official Languages committee  That is how we were able to retain our doctors, nurses and specialists at the Montfort. The board and Gérald Savoie had their work cut out for them, but at least we had that protection. As far as the university is concerned, the government could tell us today to keep moving forw

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much. I mentioned the University of Ottawa and Laurentian University in Sudbury. Obviously, those institutions are primarily English-speaking, but still, they have done a lot for the francophone community. For instance, loads and loads of people have been trained

Official Languages committee  The answer is yes, but I must be careful. In my opinion, as a lawyer, that obligation already exists in the Official Languages Act, in part VII, which could actually be improved and clarified. However, Ontario has the French Language Services Act, which, in practical terms, impo

Official Languages committee  Thank you for your question, Ms. Fortier. You have been at the helm of nearly all the battles fought by the Franco-Ontarian community. I would say the federal government has spoken out from the beginning of this crisis, from the day the Ford government announced this on Thursda

Official Languages committee  To illustrate how the federal government could show some leadership, I will use the example of the Premier of Quebec, who harshly criticized Premier Ford's decision to make changes to the Office of the Commissioner and to scrap plans to build the Université de l'Ontario français.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Choquette, I believe the FCFA has also made similar demands. Its members have emphasized that this could be a good way to send a message to all Canadians. Convening a meeting of the first ministers of all the provinces to discuss this topic could really emphasize the importan

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Arseneault. Let me just point out that I am not a constitutional expert. I work with a lot of them, but, as a lawyer, I handle litigation. Nevertheless, I have had the opportunity to argue some major constitutional cases. I would like to say a few words about the

Official Languages committee  I"m hoping that, as a result of the committee's recommendations, we won't have to go through the courts and that the situation will be resolved. That's the first step. As for timelines, it depends how long it takes before the community suffers any irreparable harm. As soon as it

Official Languages committee  The federal government holds the key, given that the solution is a financial one. The only reason given by Premier Ford was money. The federal government could contribute funding, which would then remove this argument or this concern, so the university could then be established.