Official Languages committee  I can quickly finish answering Mr. Beaulieu's question about Laurentian University and the idea of “by and for” francophones. The university doesn't necessarily meet the definition of “by and for” francophones, but that's the kind of question that will have to be considered when establishing the indicators to measure whether an institution is a strong performer or not.

Official Languages committee  Yes, absolutely. Under part VII of the new Official Languages Act, the minister had every power to create such an exception. This would take into account the fact that a francophone minority institution—even before the minister's decision to cap the number of visas for international students—needed twice as many applicants as an anglophone institution in order to end up with the same number of actual students in its classrooms.

Official Languages committee  I have two points on that. The application where numbers warrant comes from section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which deals with primary and secondary education. It has no impact on post-secondary education, first of all. If you look at—

Official Languages committee  Okay. When you consider the number of rights holders in each province, you realize that minority institutions actually have access to a much larger pool than they currently capture. The numbers already warrant it, so that's not where the challenge lies. The current challenge for our institutions is to be able to compete with majority institutions, particularly in situations where, as is the case in Ontario, tuition fees have been reduced and frozen since 2019.

Official Languages committee  If we want to talk about “by and for”, Laurentian University does not meet that definition since it was a bilingual institution. When it decided to reduce its number of programs because of a real financial problem, it did not try to maintain a balance by saving francophone programs.

Official Languages committee  I think the situation has deteriorated. In 2021, Laurentian University was going through a crisis and the Ford government had decided not to fund the Université de l'Ontario français. The second matter was finally settled. However, now we have the issue of international students that Mr.

Official Languages committee  I think it's a good start. Having said that, I also think that what comes next, that is, how the act is implemented and what comes out of that process, is critical. Again, it's about the part VII regulations, so many aspects of which have yet to be clearly expressed so that federal, provincial and territorial officials know what to expect, particularly in terms of accountability.

Official Languages committee  We can have the best legislation in the world, but there will be no progress at all if lawmakers like you aren't prepared to implement it as it was intended.

Official Languages committee  Thank you for the question. My job as a professor involves three main things. First, I teach. People know that because their kids go to university. Professors spend about 40% of their time teaching. Second, I do research. That's another 40% of my job. Third, I provide services to the community, which can be interpreted broadly.

Official Languages committee  Thank you for the question. That's actually an issue I hope parliamentarians will address. Part VII of the new Official Languages Act states that the government will protect and promote the presence of strong community institutions. As part of the regulatory process that has just begun, selecting the criteria for determining whether an institution is strong or not is essential.

Official Languages committee  One of the first things I would recommend is to find out what local communities think. For example, what are the needs on the ground? How are the existing institutions meeting the needs? What do they need in order to meet the needs on the ground? What institutions would these communities like to have nearby?

Official Languages committee  I know I'm not the first person to ask this question about funding, obviously. Negotiations that result in agreements with clearly established priorities are crucial. The parties must agree on accountability, funding amounts and how the funds will be used. Also, the provinces shouldn't decide what the community's priorities should be.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee, thank you for having me here today to discuss funding for minority French-language post-secondary institutions. I'd like to draw your attention to the federal government's new obligations under Part VII of the Official Languages Act and, above all, to how they will be implemented.