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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 259

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 30, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 259 - Nov/30/23
Hon. Pascale St-Onge (Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)
  • Nov/30/23 3:25:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. I want to start by saying that I am a proud Quebecker who is proud to be a francophone and to be able to speak in French. I want to remind the House that we have the right to express ourselves in the language of our choice, regardless of the language in which the questions are asked. Today, I was in committee to talk about our government's success stories, including the Google agreement. Unfortunately, a member of the Conservative caucus hijacked that opportunity and chose to challenge my right to speak in my mother tongue. Our government was the first to recognize the decline of French. Bilingualism is a fundamental principle of our country, one that we will continue to defend and promote, even if it displeases the Conservatives.
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Context: House Hansard - 259 - Nov/30/23
Hon. Pascale St-Onge (Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)
  • Nov/30/23 3:33:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague. I remember when I was at the National Federation of Communications and Culture and I would come talk about the importance of defending our media. My colleague, even though he was in the Conservative caucus at the time, always spoke out in favour of the media, especially regional media. I am happy to reassure him and tell him that the act stipulates that local and regional media will have a place at the negotiating table with digital platforms. The same holds true for official language minority media. This is good news for media throughout the country. We have reserved a place at the table for local and regional media.
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