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House Hansard - 63

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 3, 2022 10:00AM
  • May/3/22 2:58:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Robert Laplante testified before the Standing Committee on Official Languages and said, “There are not two majorities in Canada; there is only one, and it is an anglophone majority, a representative group of which lives in Quebec.” The government said the same thing in its 2020 throne speech. It said, and I quote, “the situation of French is unique. There are almost 8 million Francophones in Canada within a region of over 360 million inhabitants who are almost exclusively Anglophone.” Is that still what the Minister of Official Languages thinks?
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  • May/3/22 2:59:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. As a francophone living in an official language minority community in New Brunswick, I know first-hand how important it is to protect and promote French. That is part of my daily life. That is why I am pleased that my government reintroduced our bill to modernize the Official Languages Act. I hope that my friend and colleague will support this bill and help us pass it as quickly as possible.
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  • May/3/22 3:00:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said repeatedly, protecting and promoting French are a top priority for this government and a priority for me as Minister of Official Languages. We are the first government to recognize that French is in decline in Canada including in Quebec. Once again, that is why we are moving forward with a new version of the official languages bill. Again, I hope the opposition members will help us pass this bill as quickly as possible.
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