Mr. Chair, members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, thank you for inviting us to appear before you this morning. The Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta is a member of RDÉE Canada, the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité du Canada. I would like to use the few minutes allotted for my presentation to review the brief that we submitted to the committee.
For the past 18 years, with the support of the Canadian government and other partners, the Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta, or CDEA, has assisted thousands of francophone business people and entrepreneurs who have started up businesses. Those entrepreneurs have created jobs and made a positive contribution to the economies of Alberta and Canada.
We already have 238,000 Albertans who speak French. Francophones arrive in Alberta every day. Many come to enjoy economic benefits, find a job or start up a business. There is a labour shortage in certain industries, and we are therefore pleased to take in newcomers, but it would better if they came as families and settled permanently.
Despite the fact that we welcome francophones with open arms, many decide to live in Alberta only on a part-time basis, moving on to Quebec City, New Brunswick or elsewhere after working for 10, 14 or 21 days. We can only wonder why they do not settle permanently with their families. We have all the infrastructure necessary to take them in: French-language schools, reception centres, employment centres, a mentoring network for entrepreneurs starting up businesses, community centres, francophone parishes, occupational activities, family activities and festivals. It would be better for Alberta's francophone community if they came as families to stay.
Franco-Albertans and newcomers are scattered across Alberta, from Fort McMurray to Plamondon, including Grande Prairie, Beaumont, St. Albert, Morinville, Edmonton, Lacombe, Red Deer, Calgary and Medicine Hat. Although demand for our services is strong, the Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta is unfortunately unable to provide services to francophones across the province despite its provincial mandate. Although it is difficult to serve our clientele, we thank our partners, with whom we work together to leverage our impact. CDEA has worked with Liaison Entreprise for several years now to assist francophone entrepreneurs. We have offered no fewer than 37 webinars and workshops for francophone entrepreneurs and business people since 2005.
On a different note, the tourism industry is a major economic development driver in Alberta. Another noteworthy partner is the one that helped develop a smart phone app to support the Pan-Western Francophone Tourism Corridor. That project is funded by the Economic Development Initiative under the aegis of Western Economic Diversification Canada. It is a partnership involving the Government of Canada, the private sector and four francophone economic organizations: the Société de développement économique de la Colombie-Britannique, the Conseil de la coopération de la Saskatchewan, the Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba and us, CDEA.
The app helps francophone tourists plan their trip before they leave home. They can use it to take a virtual tour of the west and, of course, to assist them in their travels once they are here. They can locate businesses, museums, restaurants, cottages and hotels where they can be served in French. To date, the application has been used more than 25,000 times by Canadians from across the country, including francophones from western Canada and Quebeckers, but also by French, Swiss, Belgians and others.
This app, combined with the 12th annual tour guide, which we have just published, and our 10 strategies for increasing the active offer of French-language services at hotels and restaurants, shows that we are very active and involved in tourism development. Our activities in this industry support thousands of jobs, francophone and bilingual workers as well as tourism entrepreneurs and operators, all of which makes a considerable contribution to the Albertan and Canadian economy.
In conclusion, I hope that our brief, my testimony and that of the other speakers will help you form a clear picture of the reality of francophones who choose to live in the midst of the anglophone majority. For some, the decision to live in a minority setting is not an easy one. They have probably come to western Canada because they need a job. Others live in a minority setting because that choice is based on their lifestyle, perhaps their family. Still others were born in a minority community and have lived their entire lives in French. The common denominator of these thousands of francophones is that they have chosen to live their lives as francophones where they want, in Alberta, Yukon, British Columbia or elsewhere. That is their choice and their right.
It is important to recall that these francophones contribute to the economies of the provinces and of Canada. Many face linguistic challenges every day, at work, at the doctor's office or in their interactions with provincial governments.
The Government of Canada has long supported francophones through initiatives and programs such as the roadmap for linguistic duality and by implementing the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities.
Agencies such as CDEA and RDÉE Canada continue to support francophones and the Canadian government in providing services to that population. It is fundamentally important that the Government of Canada continue to do so, which will enable minority language Canadians to flourish and make a major contribution to the Canadian economy.
I have some information kits with me, in French only, in case committee members would like to have a copy.
Thank you for your attention and interest.
I would like to thank you on behalf of the Conseil de la coopération de la Saskatchewan, or CCS, for inviting me to appear before you as you begin your study on the economic situation of Canada's minority linguistic communities.
CCS, which was founded in 1947, is the organization mandated by the Fransaskois community to promote economic and cooperative development across the province. We are members of RDÉE Canada and of Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada, the former Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité. We are also one of the Francophone Economic Development Organizations in Western Canada, as my colleague just noted.
Other francophone organizations in the province offer programs and services in various activity sectors. We cooperate regularly and closely with those organizations to avoid duplicating services offered to the community and to maximize the resources put at our disposal.
A year ago, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the organization that represents us, the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise, which is a member of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, to provide us with the tools to help us deliver services to our communities more efficiently and to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each of our agencies.
Today we receive funding from four federal departments to provide direct services to the community, for which I thank you very much. Those departments are Western Economic Diversification Canada; Employment and Social Development Canada—previously HRSDC—through the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities; Canadian Heritage, through the Young Canada Works in Both Official Languages program for the Prairies and far north, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut; and, lastly, Citizenship and Immigration, which provides assistance to employers and job seekers.
Since our francophone population is widely scattered, we have four service points in the province so that we can get closer to that population. We nevertheless face certain challenges despite our efforts to decentralize our staff.
As you have probably heard, our provincial economy is very strong and the forecasts are for continued growth. The provincial unemployment rate is currently the lowest in the country, on a month-to-month basis, and is competitive with that of our provincial neighbour Alberta.
The construction and production sectors are currently experiencing strong growth and generating a lot of jobs in the province. The mining sector and the oil industry are also experiencing a period of growth and development in various parts of the province. The agricultural sector, although no longer the province's main economic driver, is constantly changing and contributing to the province's economy.
We are going through a period of growth and have a promising degree of stability for the future, but where do francophones stand in this economy?
Our population is scattered across the province. According to the 2011 census, French is the mother tongue of 16,280 residents, who represent only 1.6% of the province's overall population. According to the same census, approximately 47,000 people understand French in Saskatchewan. Some 65% of francophones live in urban areas and 35% in a rural setting.
According to the data, the Fransaskois population has the highest rate of population aging of all minority francophone communities in Canada. The majority of francophones in Saskatchewan work in government and the sales and service sector. In rural areas, they are mostly in the agricultural sector.
Despite our four service delivery points in the province, we must nevertheless travel long distances to serve our rural communities. This results in a lack of ongoing and timely support and inefficient use of our staff's time and slows development in certain cases because our employees are not constantly in the communities.
We are still in a position where we cannot offer the same services as our anglophone counterparts in the Community Futures program. For more than 20 years now, every member of that anglophone network has had an investment fund to support business development. We can support future entrepreneurs to a certain degree, but we have to direct them to an anglophone provider if they need financing.
According to the last census, there has been an increase in Saskatchewan's francophone population. Despite that fact, we see that the immigrant and migrant populations, which often come from the larger centres in eastern Canada, have difficulty entering the labour market. Often out of despair, these people try to set up in business even though that was not their first intention.
Since we are the only francophone organization in the province that offers this service, our staff is at times engaged in a support process with these clients who are unable to start up a business.
I have a few recommendations for you.
First of all, we would like certain programs intended for francophones to show some flexibility in meeting needs specific to the community. We are aware of the Economic Development Initiative in the roadmap, but it is defined on the basis of the departments' criteria and does not at all meet the needs of the communities.
I would also like people to take advantage of the value added by the francophone community, as indicated by the last study conducted by the Conference Board of Canada. That would help make better use of the business specialties of Quebec and the rest of Canada.
Lastly, I would like the government to ensure that all agreements between Canada and the provinces involving a devolution of power and responsibilities contain a clause requiring the provinces to contribute to the development of the Francophonie.
Thank you for listening.
:
Good morning, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs Monsieur Godin and Ms. St-Denis, members of the committee,
mes chers collègues, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting CEDEC to testify at this committee on the vitally important subject of economic development in Canada's official language minority communities, OLMCs.
As a leading partner and driving force for community economic development and employability, CEDEC sparks economic innovation in building forward-looking, prosperous, and confident communities across Quebec. We do this through sharing expertise, knowledge, and building partnerships. CEDEC is Canada's only English OLMC organization with the mandate of community economic development and employability.
CEDEC's community planning processes lay a foundation for engaged citizens, entrepreneurs, and partners to identify and advance viable economic development projects. This important step provides a solid framework to leverage investments that lead to business development and job creation.
Across Quebec, CEDEC is working with a number of communities to develop community economic development plans that serve to engage partners and stakeholders and leverage investments directly for economic projects in communities.
These community economic development plans are an integral part of our overall strategic plan, which outlines measurable results that will make a positive impact in our community and our economy. This work is increasing economic prosperity, one of the priorities identified by the Quebec Community Groups Network in its strategic priorities forum.
I have a few short examples to illustrate.
In the Gaspésie, across the bay from Mr. Godin's constituency, CEDEC is brokering partnerships from within the official language minority community and the majority community towards achieving a common goal of community revitalization. Working directly with the Committee for Anglophone Social Action, various CLEs, and six municipalities as partners, more than $2 million in investments has been leveraged for direct benefit of communities that have a significant English-speaking presence. More than 90% of those investments come from non-federal government sources.
These investments are having a direct benefit on the whole community, as we identify and address common economic opportunities, such as tourism and labour market requirements.
In the Magdalen Islands, a multi-phase tourism development plan for Grosse-Île is mobilizing partners, such as the Council for Anglophone Magdalen Islanders and the municipality, to bolster its economy, which has been heavily dependent on the volatile fishing industry.
As we look at tourism as a means for economic diversification, this example illustrates how OLM communities are strategically placed to complement Canada's economic action plan and federal tourism plan and contribute to the more than 157,000 businesses and 608,000 jobs in Canada's tourism sector.
These examples of entrepreneurial communities equipped with community economic development plans are generating new business opportunities and meaningful jobs. These businesses require support if they are to succeed and become engines of job creation, economic growth, and innovation.
CEDEC, which has benefited from investments leveraged from the economic development initiative, is mobilizing partners, resources, and information to directly support more than 1,000 small businesses across Quebec to grow and create jobs.
We recognize the importance of this work, given that in Canada, small businesses account for 98% of companies, employ 48% of working Canadians, and contribute about 30% to the GDP.
Quebec's English-speaking community is highly entrepreneurial and bilingual and represents a competitive advantage for our economy. We have evidence of the benefits of bilingualism in a recent Conference Board of Canada study, “Canada, Bilingualism and Trade”, jointly commissioned by CEDEC and RDÉE Canada with support from Industry Canada.
The first Canadian plan for economic development of official language minority communities will provide a national, evidence-based framework and supportive environment for small businesses to expand their networks and create partnerships within and among OLMCs.
This is a game changer. As one of Canada's most underutilized economic opportunities, OLMCs are connecting and mobilizing to contribute to Canada's economic prosperity in new and innovative ways. Working arm in arm with our partners at RDÉE Canada and its network across the country, we are promoting this innovative opportunity far and wide, coast to coast to coast, with the goal of engaging stakeholders from the private sector, communities, economic organizations, and all levels of government.
We hope this study will be an influential piece of information for this committee as you study and provide recommendations on how to harness fully the considerable potential for economic growth and job creation that exists in OLM communities.
We have a few recommendations.
First, the enabling fund for official language minority communities is a powerful lever for community economic development investments that benefit whole communities. We strongly recommend that the Government of Canada continue this important investment to ensure there is a viable and prosperous English-speaking community contributing to our Canadian economy.
Second, CEDEC asks the leadership within the federal government to ensure that it engages in efforts to seek input from all stakeholders in Quebec's OLMC in order to develop sound policy and effective programs that will enable the community to build on its considerable economic potential, rather than focus exclusively on addressing its needs and deficits.
Third, there's a lack of focused and timely information about the economic situation of OLMCs and their relation and impact on Canada's economy. This inhibits the ability of both government and the community to institute policies and programs from a sound position of knowledge. The Government of Canada should increase investments in research related to the economic situation and potential of official language minority communities.
Finally, the Government of Canada must recognize the considerable and undervalued potential of Canada's official language minority communities as engines for economic growth and job creation. Investments in economic and human resource development within Canada's OLMCs should not be recognized merely as a legislative obligation, but as an important contribution to Canada's long-term prosperity.
Thank you very much.
I want to thank committee members for inviting us here this morning.
My name is Jean Léger and I am executive director of the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Canada, better known as RDÉE Canada. The chairman of our board, Gilles Lanteigne, who is from New Brunswick, was to be with us this morning, but the weather was not very good in the Maritimes yesterday and he is unable to be here this morning.
I will begin with a brief history of how RDÉE came about and then tell you about the benefits reaped to date by our organization, which has become a key economic driver in Canada. Like those who preceded me, I will conclude with a series of recommendations to the committee that will give RDÉE the means to develop the full economic potential of Canada's francophone and Acadian communities.
RDÉE Canada was created in 1997 with the original objective of organizing economic development in all of Canada's francophone and Acadian communities, except Quebec.
Specifically, RDÉE Canada, which stands for Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité Canada—Canada's francophone economic development and employability network—fosters mobilization, collaboration and coordination of efforts to support francophone and Acadian communities to contribute fully to Canada's prosperity.
RDÉE Canada derives its strength and inspiration from its extensive Canadian network. Each province and territory, except Quebec, has an RDÉE Canada member organization. This morning you had a chance to hear from two representatives of those organizations, the Conseil de développement économique de l'Alberta and the Conseil de la coopération de la Saskatchewan. RDÉE Canada members come directly from Canada's francophone and Acadian communities. Business people from a range of backgrounds come together to help create the conditions to build a solid and, of course, sustainable economy.
The members of the RDÉE Canada board are all entrepreneurs and business people active in their respective sectors from all provinces and territories, except Quebec. They are all volunteers who are involved in their communities and who have chosen to live in our Canada in French. In doing so, they help other francophones and Acadians to do the same. By creating jobs, they contribute to our country's prosperity and proudly promote our values of linguistic duality by helping French prosper and flourish.
RDÉE Canada has four priority action areas on which we are working hard.
The first action area is the Canadian economic Francophonie. The task is to ensure that this Francophonie running from east to west and including the north works together and that our francophone entrepreneurs work together. Here we also see the connections with francophones from Quebec.
We also have another action area, economic immigration. The goal here is to educate employers about hiring immigrants and, of course, to invite immigrants to settle in our communities.
The tourism area represents excellent potential for the Canadian Francophonie. We need to enhance the francophone tourism product and to extend its outreach to the national and international levels. This becomes a kind of value-added for our country.
The fourth action area is the green economy. We must ensure that our businesses and communities go green for the sake of sustainable development.
In addition to these four main action areas are the other, more sector-based initiatives. I will name only a few, in fact two key issues for the francophone communities.
The first is labour. This issue often highlights the gap between business needs and the skills businesses seek and labour availability. We must direct our young people to promising sectors in our various regions.
Another area requiring our attention, both anglophones and francophones, is entrepreneurial succession. Changes in business ownership in the OLMCs is becoming a critical issue for the sustainability of businesses and the communities. You can imagine the consequences of losing a business in a rural francophone community. It obviously undermines demographic and economic vitality.
RDÉE Canada and its members have achieved concrete, measurable results. RDÉE Canada commissioned Ronald Bisson and Associates Inc. to measure the influence it exercised from 2009 to 2012. Here are a few examples of our contributions.
Our network invested $100 million in the Canadian economy over those three years through the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities, which serves as a lever and encourages the private sector and federal and provincial departments to participate in a real way. It thus helped create 3,700 direct and indirect jobs.
For example, every year RDÉE Canada members support 20,000 entrepreneurs through various activities. We want to do even more and further maximize the impact of our actions. We would like to establish a Canadian economic development plan for the official language minority communities.
As you can see, as a result of the enabling fund, we have taken various actions that have had a major impact.
Further to these achievements and the confirmation of the economic importance of French for all Canadians, RDÉE Canada undertook an inclusive, nation-wide consultation in cooperation with its Quebec anglophone colleagues from CEDEC to involve both economic and community players in the plan and thus to encourage cooperation on specific projects.
We are not necessarily trying to stick with the strategies, but rather to engage in actual projects. I can tell you that 1,200 people responded to an on-line survey, which gave us a good overview of the economic concerns of our communities across the country, including in Quebec.
I will close with a few recommendations.
You may have noticed that limited research is being done on economic development or on the economy of official language minority communities. We recommend that more studies be conducted on the economic development of OLMCs under Industry Canada's Economic Development Initiative.
We also recommend consulting and engaging in open dialogue with the communities for improved efficiency of federal government investment for the amounts identified under the roadmap for official languages, supported by the Canadian Plan for Economic Development of OLMC, which we are developing.
Lastly, we recommend that the federal government continue and enhance Employment and Social Development Canada's enabling fund to allow the francophone and Acadian communities to continue contributing to the economy of our country, to create ties with other federal government departments and agencies, the provinces and the private sector and to exercise an influence over them.
That concludes my presentation, Mr. Chair.
:
In Saskatchewan, when you work with francophone communities, that is to say where there is a francophone majority or at least a francophone presence, you sometimes forget that this benefits the entire community, both francophones and anglophones. I can give you some examples.
In a small community of 500 inhabitants, we helped set up a seniors centre providing primary, secondary and tertiary health care in the province. That created eight permanent jobs in addition to the jobs generated during the construction period.
In another community, we are setting up a similar centre, which will create roughly 10 jobs and approximately 70 more during the construction period. That will benefit the entire community.
We also helped a community in the southwestern part of the province create an emergency centre that serves a region. Our employee helped establish the centre, which provides both an ambulance service and a firefighting service. Those five jobs were generated in a community of approximately 400 inhabitants.
That does not seem like a lot, but you have to bear in mind that we work with micro-businesses. In Saskatchewan, the big businesses with French names like Bourgault Industries can have some 2,000 employees. However, since we rely on five or six employees to provide services to businesses, those big businesses do not really need our help. On the other hand, we can help them find labour, for example.
That varies for entrepreneurs. I can cite you some examples. There is a crisis in the child care service sector in our region. There is a shortage of spaces in the early childhood centres. We have helped set up day care centres.
We offer a variety of services. We helped one entrepreneur start up a motel, a hotel-restaurant project, which made it possible to create some 15 jobs.
Thank you for the question. It's a good question. I've had the pleasant challenge of trying to pick from among many, so if I could, I'll speak to two of them which I think are particularly relevant, and also two for which there are case studies that might be helpful for the committee in the future as you look to the success stories in your recommendations.
One I choose is close at heart and close geographically, and that's Campbell's Bay. It's just down the road from here in the Outaouais region. If you ever have the opportunity, it's about an hour's drive to the west, right along the river. It's a beautiful place to visit.
In the 2000s, due to a number of circumstances in our economy, they went through terrific challenges with respect to primary industries. That's very common within OLMCs across the country. We saw devastation in the lumber industry. We saw the disappearance of literally hundreds of jobs. Campbell's Bay at that point in time when things were working well was a community of upwards of 1,200 people. When several facilities closed in the area, they found themselves ultimately in a situation where there were simply no ways in which to work there. The people who stayed either remained unemployed or had to seek other jobs which in many cases caused them to leave the area or be displaced significantly in order to work.
We became involved with the area of Campbell's Bay in about 2004. I use this success story because I think it demonstrates that sometimes these things do take time. We engaged in the community through community economic development practices to look at assets, to look at what was possible, to look at what they had and how to leverage that not only to inspire but also to create a sustainable environment where people could live and thrive.
Over time we've seen a number of successes. Perhaps one that is very practical to speak to is an annual event called Bikes in the Bay. A number of citizens in the area, as an asset, were fans of motorcycles, and decided to create a festival. It brings individuals from not only the area but quite literally from all over North America into their area on an annual basis, into a small community that now has 600 people, if you can imagine this. The festival brings thousands of motorcycles into the Outaouais area down the road.
Now, that alone is not sufficient to create a sustainable economy. However, at this point in time, and I believe this will be the sixth or seventh annual festival of Bikes in the Bay, it generates as a festival upwards of $50,000 on an annual basis now, which the municipality reinvests directly into the community, into playground equipment, into technology, into different facilities.
As a consequence, this is serving as inspiration. We are seeing individuals who are there recognizing that they can be entrepreneurial. They are taking advantage of this and becoming involved in industries that are sustainable.
Along with this, to get to Campbell's Bay, of course, in many instances one drives through Ottawa. It's 100 kilometres to the west to get there. We're working with the Pontiac region, an area that has experienced some economic challenges as well, to develop a regional profile. It will be based around tourism. It will be based on attracting people and generating a sustainable economy.
Mr. Gourde, I like that example, because I think not only is it an economic opportunity, but it also has dramatically altered the way of life for the individuals who are there. When we started to work with them, they were devastated, in many cases unemployed, and lacking a lot of hope. I think now we see an inspired community that is thinking about its future and planning very strategically for its future.
Thank you for your question, Mr. Gourde.
About a year and a half ago, I attended the Montreal Conference, a major international economic forum that was extremely important for our country. It was attended by the presidents of major banks and representatives of organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the OECD. I checked the information provided by the exhibitors there and saw that every participating country offered economic benefits.
As ambassador of the economies of the francophone and Acadian communities, I felt there had to be a tool to present the economies of those communities across the country. We prepared a document entitled "Invest, Do Business, Succeed—An overview of the economic benefits of the Francophone and Acadian communities", which presents our provinces and territories and the promising economic sectors and financing programs that could assist with business start-ups.
I used that tool at one point in my involvement in an activity called Destination Canada in Paris and Brussels. At the request of Canada's ambassador to Paris, I made a presentation to people interested in investing or starting up a business in Canada. I presented my document to them, and some 600 people were interested in starting up a business and investing in Canada. We designed a database to which the people interested in investing and starting up a business in our communities added their information. People were interested in buying restaurants in Manitoba, for example, or investing $300,000 or $400,000 in our communities.
There is an extremely significant amount of potential there, and we would like to take these initiatives to another level. This is a success story that could apply to our francophone and Acadian communities and provide them with money.
:
To answer your question, I must say that two major programs in Alberta were not extended.
The first was the Small Business Internship program, which provided us with government funding, from Industry Canada in this instance, which was redistributed to businesses, SMEs, so that they could hire people to train in e-commerce. That very important program provided jobs for young people, for new graduates. As far as I know, the program was cancelled without being evaluated.
The same is true of the Co-operative Development Initiative. Our council in Alberta was a member of the Conseil canadien de la coopération et de la mutualité. Now we will be a member of CMC. This program was cancelled and the consequences have been quite significant.
This funding previously helped us create cooperatives. For example, thanks to us, a theatre cooperative was established in Calgary. Two weeks ago, it had a major success when it presented a theatre play to nearly full houses for an entire weekend. Unfortunately, we cannot continue helping people who want to start up cooperatives.
:
Thank you very much to our witnesses for their great presentations. I'm commending you for the good work that you are doing in your respective communities. Based on your presentations, I have a couple of questions.
First of all, what are your priorities? In the official language minority communities, when it comes to economic development, based on how you are setting up your priorities, have you initiated any market research or a vision of what will be happening in the next five years?
Why I'm asking you this question is that the world is evolving around us. We negotiated that the government develop a series of free trade agreements. One of the significant free trade agreements is with the European Union, which gives our businesses access to more than 500 million people.
This agreement will come into place in a maximum of two years. Businesses need to be prepared to capitalize on this market, including also the official language minority communities. You are able now to capitalize on a huge market, which is the European market. We are a trading nation.
Mr. Buck, you mentioned about the success that you had with establishing a motorcycle festival, but that's related only to North America. How can we attract people to invest in Canada and also capitalize on the skills that you have in the respective minority language communities?
:
Mr. Chisu, that's a very good question, and I think my response will demonstrate that these strategic considerations are very, very much at the forefront of what we're considering as we move forward.
You spoke at the beginning of your question about some of our priorities, and I can address that. I can also speak to some of the specific things we will be doing to leverage the opportunity that lies before us. You're right, in that although there remain elements of it to be confirmed, now is the time for us to get ready for what will emerge as an enormous economic opportunity.
First, I will discuss some strategic priorities we consider that help us to address an opportunity of this magnitude. The creation and sustainability of entrepreneurial communities is a fundamentally important aspect of what we do to encourage innovation. There's business development support to small and medium enterprises, and this, perhaps, addresses some of the questions of preparedness and being able to be agile and nimble in an economy that requires this kind of ability. There's connecting people to jobs, addressing employability barriers, and promoting labour force opportunities. These would be some of our key priorities as we look forward strategically.
Some of those things we are doing as we speak. I say so with great pride, recognizing that there's a representative from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Mrs. Suzanne Tannouri, behind me, who I saw walk into the room earlier, and we're grateful to have her here. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade does a phenomenal job on an annual basis of meeting with official language minority communities. Just before the new year, in late December, my colleague Jean Léger, representatives from FCFA, representatives from Quebec Community Groups Network, and representatives from some universities had an opportunity to sit down with deputy ministers and others in a dialogue consultation. This was a key aspect of what we wanted to talk about: what can we do now to work with entrepreneurs to help us get there? The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has already opened up its capacity to talk with us about what we need to be working on.
With the resources we have—and this talks to the operations and the value of everyone who has a presence across the country, and we work directly with more than 1,000 small and medium businesses, as I mentioned in my testimony—we will be offering things like webinars to talk with people about what's emerging in terms of opportunity. We'll be offering consultation services that will enable people to figure out what some of the regulatory considerations are that they might need to consider to export, and all of these types of things, and to attract human resources to be able to do what they do.
I do respect everyone's time, and I don't want to go on too long. Something I mentioned in my testimony a little bit earlier, and it's a game changer and I encourage the committee to look at it, is the report in which we talked about bilingualism, trade, and Canada. This talks to the economic impact of our nation being able to work in a bilingual capacity when it comes to other economies. For example, I will use a reference that economists sometimes use, and Mr. Williamson might be able to help us understand it more clearly. It's called a gravity model. The Conference Board of Canada prepared this report for both RDÉE Canada and for CEDEC, and it speaks to our economic opportunity. I say it's a game changer because I really do think that in the global economy we are working in now, we need to look at the official language minority communities as engines for economic opportunity. The report I've referred to conveys it very clearly.
You receive funding from a lot of different sources. For example, I read that you were funded by Western Economic Diversification Canada, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, Industry Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada. Some organizations are also funded by RDÉE.
I am a chartered accountant, and it seems to me your office must need a lot of resources to meet all the obligations involved in managing this funding.
How do each of you think the federal government can improve matters and meet needs? You must be able to help your clients penetrate new markets, as my colleague said. You are currently experiencing an accounting nightmare with all these minor funding sources.
I agree with Mr. Buck that you are all involved in the job creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity of Canada as a whole for generations to come.
[English]
How can we make this more efficient and effective?
[Translation]
Mr. Léger, perhaps you can respond since you contribute a little money.
:
The obvious answer is yes. I would come here and I would say that we need a lot of money, and we need it for a long time to do what we want to do, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who comes to testify before a committee who says that.
That being said, Mr. Nicholls, the $2.7 million that we see in Quebec, if we specify in Quebec; it's $12.9 million across the country, we’ve leveraged that across the country at a ratio of between three and four.... For every dollar that gets invested, we see $3 to $4 of economic impact, which represents a pretty impressive result and speaks to that economic engine piece I discussed before.
I want to tie your question to Ms. Bateman's because I think it speaks to a question of efficiency. Obviously, if we could double that, it would be wonderful, but continuity is important in enabling us as communities to be more efficient. As organizations, one of the ways we are able to achieve such tremendous results across the country, very impressive results I think you'll agree, is that we have developed and worked on our expertise as organizations. We can leverage resources, whether they be from a provincial government, a municipality, or the private sector, to complete activities and projects that are going to have meaningful results for citizens in our communities.
I think that the maintenance of it, the fact that it enables our organizations to build that essential core expertise, gives us the capacity to be very efficient. In the absence of that, if we had to work in a project environment, it would be very difficult to have that expertise and to build relationships. In our instance, this year in Quebec we've built over 250 partnerships. Those partnerships in many cases enable us to invest in projects directly. In many cases, and I gave an example in the Gaspésie, only 10% of the project is coming through federal government funding. The rest of it is from a number of different stakeholders.
Investing for a long time with as many resources as possible in the enabling fund is a terrifically successful strategy, and I think a very efficient one at the same time.
:
The definition of a francophone business varies with the people we talk to. However, four important parameters should be considered.
The first parameter is territory. A business located in Caraquet, on the Acadian Peninsula in New Brunswick, will obviously be a francophone business in most cases.
There is also the French-language services aspect. Businesses in Halifax or Edmonton may also offer French-language services and are therefore receptive to high-quality services in the official language of the client's choice.
Another parameter is ownership of the business. In some cases, a business belongs entirely to a francophone, or it may be subject to co-ownership. A man and a woman or an anglophone and a francophone may own a business.
I believe that one other aspect is very important in the definition of a francophone business, and that is the business's involvement in the community. I will cite a specific example. I have lived in Halifax for 25 years and am a member of the Chambre de commerce francophone d'Halifax. Some board members are not necessarily francophones. They are francophiles, people like you, anglophones who speak French. They are involved in the francophone economy and in the francophone community. In some cases, these anglophone entrepreneurs who speak French contribute to a theatre play or a club at a community school centre. In those cases, I believe you can say they are francophone businesses.
This is how we try to determine what francophone businesses are. However, this is an important research issue. We find it hard to determine what constitutes a francophone business. We can put the question to Industry Canada, for example, which works with the business sector, but how do we know whether we have the right information given the way the questions are asked and the four parameters that I have presented to you? We need more research—again it comes back to research—to determine to a large extent what the francophone businesses are. Our organization wants to support the francophone economy or the francophone economic space, but we have to know what our clientele is.
We know certain aspects, but we would like to take the research further.
:
Quickly, I would agree with everything my colleagues have shared.
I think the language of business among many business owners is business, and an interesting point is that among all of us in Quebec, a lot of our English-speaking entrepreneurs sell exclusively French-speaking products and services, and conversely, a lot of our French-speaking entrepreneurs in other parts of the country sell almost exclusively in some instances products and services that are geared for an English-speaking market. I think, yes, they are present and they are successful in many cases, and in some cases not. In some cases they require special services. We can better meet their needs, and all of us do that through services that we provide.
I think the other piece, though, and a very important piece is that we are, among us, part of what I would almost call a privileged group that recognized this economic opportunity at this point. Part of our challenge is to make sure that the rest of our community, the whole community, recognizes the added value of our linguistic minority communities. The “Canada, Bilingualism and Trade” report I mentioned earlier helps us to persuade a lot of people that, yes, there's a tremendous economic benefit here, and the Canadian plan for economic development that we talked about earlier has been quite revealing for us as we've gone outside of our communities, in some cases, to consult. We found large chambers of commerce, large enterprises, governments, in some instances, that have said that they never really contemplated the official language minority community entrepreneurs and businesses before, and they'd like to learn more about that. There's some opportunity there, I think, for all of us.
:
Thank you. That is a very good question.
The challenge for francophone entrepreneurs in urban areas is that it is hard for them to access funding for their businesses, both for start-ups and to secure working capital and liquidity.
Some specific communities have access to several programs, such as the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, programs for women entrepreneurs and those intended for aboriginal people. It is also possible to obtain funding in rural areas from Community Futures.
However, it is very hard if you are a francophone established in an urban area. You can go to a bank, but you have to do that in English. Some banks and credit cooperatives provide French-language services, but, to file a loan application, you have to complete documents in English and, as a general rule, submit a business plan in English as well. That is a challenge for some entrepreneurs who are not sufficiently proficient in English, and it is also a challenge in day-to-day communications.
The government could facilitate matters for us by requiring the chartered banks to design French-language forms that could be submitted in French outside Quebec.
I also think it would be worthwhile to work together with the Business Development Bank of Canada to facilitate francophones' access to financing.
:
In the case of Saskatchewan, which these days is often nicknamed "the new Alberta", the industries are similar to those in Alberta.
There is a lot of work in construction. The mining sector is also very big in the province. A lot of mining development projects are under way or should start up in the next few years, in the potash sector, for example.
Why Saskatchewan? For years, Saskatchewan witnessed an exodus of its population, more particularly its young people. Like other Canadian provinces, we want to keep our young people at home.
In the past, young people left for lack of jobs. The population of Canada is much more mobile today than it has ever been, and that includes youth and labour in general. Workers today have an opportunity to settle in other parts of Canada with their families, to discover them and to work there.
It is not out of the question that they may return one day to live in their home province. As Mr. Tremblay said, I believe that those workers are only passing through Saskatchewan or Alberta and that they may one day go back and live in their province. I believe the main objective is above all to create wealth in Canada and to provide a higher standard of living for everyone. In this way, we are creating quite a strong pan-Canadian economy. The important thing is to understand that workers go wherever jobs are available. We have to think that these workers will probably want to return to their province one day once circumstances have changed.
:
I know about divided families. I come from a family of 11 children, of whom I am the 11
th. In 1972, not one of us was still in New Brunswick apart from my mother and father. I can guarantee you there were a lot of tears. That is what happens when families are divided. I know, we experienced it and we are still experiencing it. I have nephews and nieces that I do not even know. That is the problem.
Today, people are mobile and can travel. From the human standpoint, I would like families to be able to at least stay together. People who go and work in the west work 14-day schedules then go home for 7 days or else work for 20 days and go back home for 10. My schedule is four days on and three days off. I can tell you that it is nice to go home. Acadie is beautiful and I do not want to lose it.
However, I do not want to spend all my time talking about that. I just want to send a message. If people decide to stay in your province, they will do so voluntarily. We should hope they are not forced to do so.
Coming back to the business at hand, we are conducting a study and we need your recommendations. I would like to hear from all of you briefly. What recommendations reflecting your needs would you like to see in the report?
I am not trying to criticize the Conservatives, but there have been budget cuts. And yet you say that every dollar you spend generates three. That should wake people up.
[English]
You spend $1 and get $3 back in the economy.
[Translation]
With your support, what should the government do to stimulate economic development in the official language minority communities?
On that matter, Mr. Buck,
[English]
I want to thank you for the statement you made. You said we could work together.
[Translation]
The official languages are an asset. Some countries have as many as six official languages and they do not fight over the matter. We have only two in Canada. There are two founding peoples, along with aboriginal people, and it seems that every day we look for ways to fight among ourselves rather than to be creative, to work together and to respect our cultures. All that is an asset.
On that point, I want to thank you for your comment, Mr. Buck.
Now I would like to hear you tell me what you would like to see in the report.
I made some recommendations in my presentation. I suggested that the provinces join forces in a way. A great deal of funding comes from the federal government, but not as much support comes from the provinces. For example, Saskatchewan is much more open today than it was in the past. However, that has not resulted in funding for development assistance, not to mention that the value-added of bilingualism is not used either.
Furthermore, when the provinces receive cash transfers, we must ensure that francophone communities are involved in the process, that they are part of it and that follow-up is done to support development of the communities. Transfers have been made in education and other fields.
Some economic initiatives have previously been introduced jointly by the federal and provincial governments, and it was very difficult to obtain funding. The money was allocated to anglophones. When we submitted projects based on the needs of our communities, they did not meet funding criteria.
So that is an area where the federal government could support us.
:
Thank you for the question, Mr. Godin, and the kind words.
You've really teed it up for us in terms of an opportunity here to share something with you. I think there are some easy practical ones which we wouldn't want to make the key recommendation. For example, I think the enabling fund is a very clear one, very straightforward and very easy to make as a recommendation. Input from all stakeholders is very key as one of the areas. The research element as well is very key.
A more challenging one and a more fundamental one, and I think the one which members of the committee should consider, is that the Government of Canada must recognize the considerable and undervalued potential of Canada's official language minority communities as engines for economic growth and job creation.
I'll come back to the statement I made earlier that investments in economic and human resource development within Canada's OLMCs should not be recognized as merely a matter of legislative obligation.
This is an important point, but rather to the contrary, it's important to recognize it as a contribution to Canada's long-term prosperity.
It's a big recommendation, but I think as politicians and policy-makers, you're in a position to make a statement that should influence and cascade everywhere else through the government.