44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 20, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for the question. I have a great deal of regard for him as well.
Our government is firmly committed to doing everything it can to promote and protect both our beautiful official languages in Canada. That is a priority. I have also stated many times that we agree with the principle that the lieutenant governors of New Brunswick must be bilingual. All of Ms. Murphy's successors will be. We have stated that and we will absolutely abide by it.
What is before the courts is a constitutional matter. It has nothing to do with the principle of the bilingualism of future lieutenant governors. We have made it clear that we will absolutely ensure that the lieutenant governors of New Brunswick appointed after Ms. Murphy will be bilingual.
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Madam Speaker, we saw this week the travesty of an evening session where parliamentarians were supposed to get together and speak to important legislation, but the Conservatives turned it into a circus where debate was over which Conservative faction would put forward its speaker. It was lamentable. I have not seen, in my years in Parliament, an entire party say to the people of Canada that what is most important is its internal stuff rather than talk about important debates. We have seen bill after bill blocked by the Conservatives.
Why are the Conservatives blocking everything? Why, on a bill as important as official languages, are they refusing to get it to committee so hearings can be held and the legislation improved? These are all things I would think every member of Parliament should take to heart.
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Madam Speaker, we have to recognize that, yes, important debate happens in the House, but important debate and work also happens at the committee level. That is exactly where we are hoping this work is going to go. We want the committee members to look at this legislation with a fine-tooth comb, because we want to have the best legislation possible. We recognize the Official Languages Act has not been revised substantially over the past 30 years, so Canadians are expecting us to do a really good job and their expectations are very high.
What we saw this week in Parliament, with respect to the Conservative Party playing games, was really disheartening. I know that when my colleagues and people at home are watching this they wonder what is going on here. When we hear bells ringing every 30 minutes and the motion we have to vote on is which Conservative speaker is going to speak next, people wonder if that is really what we are doing here in Ottawa. People really want to see the work and debate being done constructively, and I certainly hope we are going to have the co-operation of all members as we move forward with this really important piece of legislation.
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Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to rise today to speak to Bill C-13.
As an Acadian from Nova Scotia who worked on the ground in the field of education for 30 some years, I was able to witness first-hand the challenges we face in advancing French in our official language minority communities.
We have known about these issues for 30 years, and we know that something needs to be done to remedy them. We have taken some action over the past five or 10 years, namely with the Translation Bureau, the court challenges program, services in French and bilingual judges in the Supreme Court of Canada. Those are all very important things.
Positive measures are essential, and the courts are saying that we need to do more in that regard. Does the minister think that Bill C-13 responds to this request from the courts?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to once again thank my colleague who has been working in this field for several decades. I am extremely grateful to him for that and for the work that he does here in Ottawa as the chair of the official languages caucus.
Positive measures are indeed a very important part of Bill C-13. The stakeholders we spoke to really wanted to see improvements in the definition and handling of positive measures compared to former Bill C-32. That is exactly what we did.
We took care to closely examine every word and every comma in our new bill because we want to ensure that it will really help official language minority communities. We want the positive measures to be clearly defined, because they are a very important component.
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Madam Speaker, I think the Minister of Official Languages needs to understand that this issue is very important to the Conservative Party of Canada, and it is something we want to work on.
If she had listened to my speech during the first day of debate in the House of Commons, during which she gave parliamentarians the privilege of speaking, I made it clear that the Conservative Party was reaching out to the government to improve this bill.
This bill is a step forward, but we need to keep moving. This is important, because now is the time to take action to halt the decline of French.
Unfortunately, if this version of Bill C‑13 were to be implemented tomorrow morning, it would do nothing to halt the decline of French. If the government allows parliamentarians to speak, it will get suggestions to improve the bill in the interests of our two official languages.
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Madam Speaker, I think we share the same goal of improving the bill and ultimately protecting and promoting our official languages. This debate will continue in committee, which is exactly what we want. We want to have a constructive debate with the members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages so we can produce the best version of the bill. The Official Languages Act has not been reviewed in depth in some 30 years.
We want to ensure that discussions continue so we can come up with a bill that the House of Commons can pass.
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Madam Speaker, I am hoping the minister can explain something to me. How will bilingualism ensure the equality of French and English? That has been the very objective of the Official Languages Act since it was created.
How can the minister explain that outside Quebec only 6% of anglophones are bilingual, whereas in Quebec almost 40% of francophones are bilingual? It seems that bilingualism only exists there. As Pierre Bourgault said so well, bilingualism is making people believe that a rabbit and a lion in the same cage are equals.
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Madam Speaker, if we look at the components of Bill C-32, our action plan and Bill C-13, it is clear that the common thread is the desire to achieve substantive equality. That is why we are going further with our bill. We want to ensure that we make our contribution to achieving substantive equality. It will not happen overnight. We recognize that French is in decline in this country. French is in decline in Canada. That is why we are moving forward with an ambitious bill. We absolutely want to correct this situation.
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Madam Speaker, there is an organization in my riding, London—Fanshawe, called Planète Solidarité that offers services in French for children.
I have forgotten the word in French, but for children with autistm disabilities and issues with autism, and to provide those services for their parents and children in French.
How would this bill help with the people who are fighting in that organization in my riding, Planète Solidarité?
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. It is very important to our government to support organizations in official language minority communities. If we want to sustain the vitality of these communities, we must make the necessary investments. Ever since coming to power, our government has made historic investments in all areas of official languages. Our government will continue to do the work that needs to be done.
I am very much looking forward to starting the national consultations on developing the next action plan, which will enable us to develop a road map for the next five years. I am really looking forward to our cross-Canada consultations.
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Madam Speaker, it appears that the Conservatives do not even know what we are debating right now, based on the point of order that came earlier. The suggestion was that we were debating Bill C-13. We are not. We are actually debating a motion to time allocate it, because we have to: It is a position that the Conservatives have put us in.
The member for New Westminster—Burnaby actually was spot-on as to why we are in the situation that we are in: Conservatives are just putting up person after person for no reason other than to obstruct this Parliament. We saw that on Monday night, when they put up speaker after speaker on a bill that they supposedly support.
Can the minister please explain to the House how she sees the difficulties coming from the other side?
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Madam Speaker, again, I think that we recognize that Bill C-13 is a really important piece of legislation. Yes, debate has happened in the House. This is the fourth day, but we want this debate to continue. There have been a lot of games that have been played over the past number of weeks, and we certainly do not want to see this bill stalled. Canadians are expecting us to take action when it comes to official languages, and people are watching this debate very closely.
That is why we are moving forward with making sure that we finish the debate today in the House. From there, the committees will be able to do the important work that they have to do.
The committee's work is independent. It is going to be able to look at this bill and make the proper assessment of it.
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Madam Speaker, how does the minister feel today knowing that the House is debating Bill C‑13 while government lawyers are preparing a court challenge against francophones in British Columbia?
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Madam Speaker, as the Minister for Official Languages, I am very pleased to present Bill C-13. As I mentioned, I hope that the debates will continue so that our bill can be improved.
However, this is the fourth day of debate in the House, and the Standing Committee on Official Languages will continue the work. I look forward to closely following this debate.
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- May/20/22 10:36:29 a.m.
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The question is on the motion.
If a member of a recognized party present in the House wishes to request a recorded division or that the motion be adopted on division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.
The hon. member for Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne.
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- May/20/22 10:37:01 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I request that the motion be carried on division.
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- May/20/22 10:37:06 a.m.
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- May/20/22 10:37:06 a.m.
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The hon. member for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston.
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- May/20/22 10:37:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I request a recorded division.
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