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Results: 76 - 90 of 223
View Steven Blaney Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform you that I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier.
We just heard a moving account from a member whose very important community has seen its university put on the chopping block. We also examined this very troubling situation yesterday at the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
For francophone minorities outside Quebec, linguistic institutions are the pillar, the core around which a minority community can flourish. In North America, where English is the dominant language, it is particularly important to ensure that minorities have their own institutions, even in the most remote areas of Canada. Earlier a member referred to Campus Saint-Jean, which is located in western Canada. Other examples are the Université de Moncton in Atlantic Canada, and Laurentian University, which we are talking about now.
Yesterday I had a chance to ask the Minister of Official Languages questions, and I hope she will take part in tonight's debate. She told us she was looking for solutions for Laurentian University. That was yesterday. Today I hope she has had time to think about the solutions being put forward by, for and with the francophone community, including the member of her own caucus who obviously wants to find a solution.
Yesterday the minister presented her white paper to us. This white paper was not without interest, but there was nothing concrete. For five years now, communities have been calling for the modernization of the Official Languages Act and for concrete action.
I have here a news release from the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, which joins the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario in calling on the government to intervene and ensure that the University of Sudbury is able to take over, collect the funding that Laurentian was receiving for French-language university education, and become a university by and for francophones.
There are solutions. My colleague mentioned this earlier this evening. This is a full-frontal attack on an institution that plays an important role in northern Ontario.
What we got from the minister yesterday was, unfortunately, a white paper. A white paper is all well and good, but we want concrete action. This issue needs to be addressed. We also need to address Campus Saint‑Jean and the Université de Moncton, but we especially need to address what is going on at Laurentian University. That is what we can see.
We are often asked what the Conservatives think about it, and yet our commitment is clear. Even before the Laurentian University crisis, we had committed to increasing funding for francophone post-secondary education in minority communities and to creating a new funding envelope for that.
Next week, a budget will be tabled. Of course, we are still in a pandemic. In the last few years, we realized that budgets for our institutions—such as the Laurentian University—were not indexed. We asked the minister if she intended to index the funding, but our question remained unanswered.
It is still time to do it and to make sure that funds allocated to the Laurentian University to support post-secondary education in French are used only for that purpose. The AFO is calling for that.
I hope the minister will grant that request from the francophone community, so that funds earmarked for the francophone community in northern Ontario indeed are used to its benefit. Teachers and professors must be allowed to remain active, and important programs in engineering and education must be maintained. We have mentioned in particular the programs for caregivers and for women and men who assist women in giving birth.
As parliamentarians, we have the opportunity tonight to make a statement and to encourage the minister to take concrete action for the Laurentian University community. I want to mention that the government does not need to do that out of charity. Indeed, section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms says that the government must enforce the right to minority-language education.
The mandate letter of the present Minister of Official Languages reminds her of her duty to enhance the vitality of minority language communities, to protect their institutions and to increase bilingualism across the country. She must protect the institutions of the francophone minority and, of course, the institutions of the anglophone minority in Quebec.
We have an emergency on our hands. We do not want a white paper that might be tabled after the next election. What I would have liked the minister to do yesterday was present her bill and the concrete actions she would be taking, but instead she told us that she would be holding further consultations and that some measures would eventually be taken.
While the minister jabbers on, we are seeing real tragedies happening all over the country, and tonight we are focusing on Laurentian University in particular. That is why, in this time of great urgency, the members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages are unanimously recommending that the government live up to its obligation to provide help, as well as support, to teaching institutions nationwide that teach official languages and enhance the vitality of official language minority communities.
Tonight, we can see how badly Sudbury and all of northern Ontario have been shaken by this crisis. The minister has a responsibility and an obligation to act to support Laurentian University. I hope that she is in problem-solving mode tonight and that she will offer solutions as well as evaluate the solutions that are being put forward.
As I was saying, the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario, or AFO, has proposed some very specific courses of action that I would like to share with the House, since we are having a constructive debate.
The AFO is proposing a one-year moratorium on cutting programs. We cannot necessarily react very quickly to this crisis, so there needs to be some breathing room. It is also important that the $12 million in federal and provincial funding that has already been allocated for university education be transferred as soon as possible so it can be used to retain professors and ensure that the students and community that rely on their francophone institution can maintain this connection. This is a shared responsibility between the federal and provincial governments, of course, and the AFO reminds us that the two governments demonstrated their ability to work together on the issue of Ontario's French-language university. We believe that they could do it again for Laurentian University.
This time, we want the minister to take action. I have a lot of respect for her, but she sometimes goes on partisan rants that can get a bit annoying after awhile. I am thinking here of her references to what she calls Conservative cuts.
I want to remind the minister that the program for official language minority communities was in force until 2015 and was part of the roadmap for official languages proposed by the Conservative government, the second iteration of which was developed by Bernard Lord. When the Liberals took office, the communities no longer had access to that program. They had to wait for the Université de l'Ontario français crisis before the minister finally realized that nothing was being done with the program. That is when the minister reinstated the court challenges program.
The communities do not want us to argue semantics. They want action. The minister has been in office for five years. She has the ability and the responsibility to take action, and that is what we expect in the case of Laurentian University. I believe that the Liberal member is going to speak to her personally in order to ask her to take concrete action.
View Élisabeth Brière Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his speech. I would remind him that the minister is very passionate and active on the ground. She promotes and seeks to protect both of our official languages across Canada and Quebec for all minority language communities. We changed the census questionnaire, we supported the creation of the Université de l'Ontario français and we put together a landmark $2.7-billion action plan to support those communities. On this side of the House, we appoint bilingual judges to the Supreme Court of Canada. The minister has been focused on strengthening the Official Languages Act since day one.
These are meaningful steps that have been taken to promote and protect our two official languages.
We understand how desperate Laurentian University's situation is. The minister reached out quickly to the provincial government, and we will always be there to support it.
That was more of a comment than a question.
View Steven Blaney Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I agree that there was no question in my colleague from Sherbrooke's comments.
I will remind her that the Standing Committee on Official Languages is currently studying the federal government's pitiful management of the pandemic, especially from a linguistic standpoint. Her government submitted tons of documents in English only to the Standing Committee on Health, in violation of the act. Instead of patting itself on the back, the government should take a long, hard look at how it is violating the Official Languages Act and showing its contempt for communities by not meeting their number one demand, which calls for an actual modernization of the act and not a white paper that is nothing but wishful thinking and accomplishes nothing.
I would invite my colleague to urge her minister to walk the talk.
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.
My question is about Laurentian University's tricultural mandate. Laurentian is pretty much one of a kind in that it prioritizes French, English and indigenous languages. It gives all three cultures priority.
What does my colleague think of the threat to this tricultural mandate, which is pretty much one of a kind in Canada?
View Steven Blaney Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for asking her question in French. She is absolutely right in saying that Laurentian University operates at the intersection of anglophone and francophone communities as well as indigenous communities, which we have not talked about yet but are an important component.
Here are my thoughts on colleague's question. Both the indigenous community and the francophone minority are at a disadvantage relative to the anglophone community, which is the dominant community, of course. Solution-wise, it would be great to have an institution that focuses on the francophone and indigenous parts of the equation, which would mean overhauling the governance model so we would have an institution created by and for francophone and indigenous communities.
View Joël Godin Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for granting the NDP's request for an emergency debate.
I think tonight's debate transcends partisanship. As parliamentarians, we have to think about this situation. I listened to the member for Sudbury and sensed a lot of emotion in his speech. This is happening right in his backyard, in his community. As he mentioned, he represents the people of Sudbury. His friends and family members who study or work at Laurentian University do not know what will happen to them.
I thank the Speaker for granting the request by the member from the other opposition party. It is very commendable, and I wanted to highlight that.
My thoughts go out to the member for Sudbury. I was sad to hear during his speech that he will not be running in the next election. I had the chance to work with him on a number of files. I appreciate him greatly. It is unfortunate that we may never run into each other in person again. If he is listening, I send him and his wife my regards.
I want to talk about the importance of emergency debates and their criteria. House of Commons Standing Order 52 states the following regarding requests for leave:
(1) Leave to make a motion for the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter requiring urgent consideration must be asked for after the ordinary daily routine of business as set out in sections (3) and (4) of Standing Order 30 is concluded.
Mr. Speaker, I do not want to belabour the point, but I thank you once again for granting the request for tonight's debate.
I am saddened to see the people of that region having to face a loss and reduction in services in addition to the pandemic. The pillars of the French fact in northern Ontario have been shaken. It is sad because these people should not have to face this on top of a pandemic. I think we have to be aware of that and work together to find solutions.
This is what happens when a government has had no vision for more than five years. The Minister of Official Languages has been in office since 2015. I respect the minister. In fact, I told her so yesterday at the Standing Committee on Official Languages. The fact remains that she is not taking action. She is holding consultations. Earlier, her colleague said the minister was promoting the French fact and the two official languages and that she was very present. However, she is always in reaction mode. The government seems to wait until the house is on fire before taking action.
Recently, in December, a white paper on official languages was proposed to us, but it is just another case of postponing decisions and having to hold more consultations to make sure that whatever is put in place some day will be effective. However, that day might be too late, and new consultations will need to be launched. It is important to act. That white paper is no solution.
I met with people from the Canadian Association of University Teachers, or CAUT. They were speaking out against the insolvency situation that started on February 1. This is the first time a Canadian public university has become insolvent. I heard the comments from the CAUT representatives. They are urging the federal government to work with the Province of Ontario to provide the funding that Laurentian University needs and to help bilingual and francophone post-secondary institutions. Given the vital role that these post-secondary institutions play in meeting Canada's current and future challenges, they recommend that the federal government develop a national strategy with the territories and provinces, in order to provide sufficient stable funding to promote high-quality post-secondary education.
I met with these people on February 17. They filed for bankruptcy protection on February 1. Today is April 14. The Minister of Official Languages may have a plan, and Monday's budget may contain some solutions. However, these people filed for bankruptcy protection on February 1. As a member of Parliament, I met with faculty representatives on February 17. There was no reaction until Monday, April 12. As I said before, the government is waiting for the house to catch fire before it reacts.
Mr. Speaker, last fall, we requested an emergency debate on the decline of the French fact in Quebec, especially in Montreal. We are here tonight to discuss Laurentian University, which is in financial straits. What does tomorrow hold?
I have the privilege of sitting on the Standing Committee on Official Languages. Yesterday, the committee heard from the minister and other stakeholders. The stakeholders mentioned that we could not wait for the Official Languages Act to be updated. If Laurentian University is in trouble today, other Canadian universities will also have problems in the future, be it tomorrow or the next day.
Does the government want to turn its back on post-secondary institutions that teach linguistic minorities? If so, it had better tell us. It is not taking action, and that does not sit well with me. I have to talk about what the Conservative Party of Canada has done. I am not trying to be opportunistic. As soon as our new leader was appointed, we presented a clear plan. In the first 100 days of a Conservative government, we will invest the money to sustain our institutions, defend the French fact and protect official language minority communities.
Today, we have to come together because the problem is bigger than the 28 programs that were cut. It is a society-wide problem. As long as Canada has two official languages, and as long as the people of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier place their trust in me, I will rise in the House to defend the French fact. We have to roll up our sleeves and find solutions that give Canadian citizens access to education in French.
Our professors and our students have been wronged. Down the line, that will either stifle our French language or ignite it.
In closing, I would like to read a brief excerpt from the preamble to the Official Languages Act:
...to respect the constitutional guarantees of minority language educational rights and to enhance opportunities for all to learn both English and French;
That is what the preamble to the Official Languages Act says, so I think the minister needs to act immediately.
View Scott Duvall Profile
NDP (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Timmins—James Bay and my colleague from London—Fanshawe for bringing forward this important emergency debate this evening.
Members who have already spoken have made it clear Laurentian University in Sudbury is of importance. I am concerned about a number of aspects about this. There are important protections of the CCAA that provide safeguards other than relief of debts for assets. There are certain protections for pensions of workers in these situations.
I know some of these protections do not go far enough. In fact, I have a bill before Parliament that would expand those protections. We need a comprehensive solution that maintains some of the protections for workers that exist with the CCAA.
With that being said, I do fear invoking the CCAA in this way for a public university might be a sneaky way to privatize it. If this were done by the board or the administration of the university, I wonder if the province should not have had the opportunity to step in here and protect the state of the university, including ensuring it remains a public university. I wonder if the member would like to speak to some of those points.
View Joël Godin Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, it is important to be able to see what is happening in the institutions. In the preamble, there are indicators that call on us to react, observe and demand accountability. It is not interference. It is about holding those in charge accountable.
On the other hand, we have a responsibility to ensure that everything is going well. In this case, we could see this problem coming a mile off. Let me be clear: We are going to see more problems at other post-secondary institutions. We have to put mechanisms in place to protect our institutions and, most importantly, to protect the French fact.
View Marie-France Lalonde Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to ask my hon. colleague from Portneuf—Jacques‑Cartier a question.
I listened to his speech very carefully tonight. He said that, within the first 100 days of forming a Conservative government, his leader would move forward to find solutions for francophones.
I recall that in November 2018, a Progressive Conservative leader made the same promises to francophones in Ontario. What did that leader do? He slashed everything.
I would like to know how anyone can trust the Conservatives when they were in power between 2012 and 2015 and made no investments in francophones, either in Canada or in Ontario.
View Joël Godin Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, with whom I have the privilege of serving on the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
I will provide her with some information. From 2009 to 2015, investments did not increase. From 2015 to 2021, there were no investments in institutions.
My colleague attended yesterday's committee meeting. Representatives from Campus Saint‑Jean pointed out that there were no increases during that whole time.
I invite my colleague to do the math with me. From 2009 to 2015 is six years. From 2015 to 2021 is also six years. We cannot change the past, but we can change the future. What we do know is that if the Liberal government remains in power, the French fact will be in trouble.
View Denis Trudel Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, we are not going to fix the whole issue with French in 30 seconds.
I find it pretty pathetic to hear the Liberals and Conservatives passing the buck over the French language. There is just one language at risk in Canada, and that is French.
Three per cent of North Americans speak French. We do not need a policy on the two official languages. We need a policy for one dominant language and one language at risk. So long as the government does not officially acknowledge that French is at risk in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and all across Canada, we will not get any policies to specifically address this serious issue. A culture is in the process of dying.
Does my colleague agree that there is one dominant language and one language at risk in Canada? Could this become a policy?
View Joël Godin Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Longueuil—Saint‑Hubert.
We are in a country called Canada. There are two official languages. We are here in Ottawa this evening in the Parliament of Canada as part of an emergency debate on the French language in Ontario and on Laurentian University. Yes, we need to protect the two official languages across Canada, from coast to coast, to ensure that we remain a bilingual country. Some substantial work is needed to address the French fact specifically.
View Mario Beaulieu Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I wish to express our complete solidarity with Franco-Ontarians and their ongoing struggle to preserve their language. I think that the young people of the sizable francophone community of northeastern Ontario deserve quality services without having to move as far away as Ottawa or Quebec.
Laurentian University, in Sudbury, is about to slash some 60 programs to avoid bankruptcy. We have learned that programs for francophones were especially hard hit. This always seems to be the case.
The president of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario, Carol Jolin, said there had already been cutbacks in French-language programs for years. He also pointed out that the board of governors of Laurentian University was predominantly anglophone. Historically, whenever an anglophone majority has made decisions for francophones, the outcome has not been positive.
That is why there is the principle of “by and for francophones”. We even learned today in a Radio‑Canada article that there was a confidential meeting between several leaders of bilingual universities, including the University of Ottawa, which tolerates Quebec bashing, but that is another issue.
These leaders met with the new Government of Ontario, which had just come into power, so funding for the Université de l'Ontario français had already been secured. They worked hard and made all sorts of proposals to allow the bilingual universities to conduct their programs in French. Three weeks later, we find out to everyone's surprise that the province cut the Université de l'Ontario français and the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner. People joined forces. I admire the francophone and Acadian communities. It is often said that they are experiencing a growing rate of assimilation. That is true, but these people fight for French every single day. We saw that with the Montfort Hospital and the Université de l'Ontario français and we are seeing that yet again with Laurentian University.
The University of Sudbury intends to become a francophone university. I think it is very important to strengthen French in Ontario. The francophone and Acadian communities are saying, and we have seen it, that immersion schools are actually assimilation schools. The francophones who attend those schools get assimilated. That is why I am very concerned to see that, in her official languages reform bill, the Minister of Official Languages plans to increase funding for immersion schools, but she says nothing about schools that are run by and for francophones.
I think that, before increasing funding for immersion schools, the government should ensure that francophones outside Quebec have access to French-language schools. A very large proportion of francophones do not have access to elementary and high schools because of the infamous “where numbers warrant” principle, which is completely shameful. I will come back to that. They do not currently have access to French-language schools, so they end up going to immersion schools and getting assimilated, when all they really want is to go to a French-language school. I think we need to work hard to change the very principle of the Official Languages Act.
When Ms. Risbud, from the Association canadienne‑française de l'Alberta, appeared before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, she talked about how serious the situation is in Alberta. The whole issue of Campus Saint-Jean does not make any sense, particularly since the Government of Alberta recently announced a $98-million commitment to improve the infrastructure of post-secondary institutions. However, not a single penny of that money was allocated to Campus Saint-Jean.
We also learned that the Government of Alberta repeatedly refused to sign federal-provincial agreements which would have resulted in federal funding. The Government of Alberta refused to provide any money for Campus Saint-Jean. Many people ignore or pretend to ignore the fact that all provincial governments that today are primarily English-speaking created laws or regulations prohibiting French-language instruction for francophones. This led to the assimilation of francophones. They were truly ethnocidal laws. That is not too strong a term.
There was a certain rallying of the Estates General of French Canada. We heard about the Laurendeau-Dunton commission. We were told that André Laurendeau himself asked for this commission.
View Mario Beaulieu Profile
BQ (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I will try to slow down, because the interpreters tell us that the faster we talk, the more difficult their work is.
My point is that the language issue has been brushed aside for too long. Up until very recently, we were told that everything was great and that Canada stood as a model in terms of treatment of linguistic minorities. Meanwhile, assimilation rates of francophone populations increased everywhere and the proportion of people who spoke French at home, for example, declined. Nevertheless, everyone kept saying that everything was fine, including in Quebec.
Now that an election is looming, suddenly there is a recognition that French is declining and we have emergency debates. That is great, I am very happy about it, but I think a fundamental change is in order. The Official Languages Act does not work.
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the Laurendeau-Dunton commission, considered more territorial models, like in Switzerland and Belgium. They are the only models that work. Unless there is a common language in a given territory, the survival and vitality of that language cannot be ensured.
In Canada, outside Quebec, we see that English is clearly the common language. In spite of the immigration levels being quite high in Canada, about 99% of language transfers among newcomers favour English. Therefore, English is not threatened in Canada.
We have seen laws against the French language being adopted everywhere. At the time of the Dunton-Laurendeau commission and the Estates General of French Canada, things started moving in Quebec, and the independence movement was born. That was the time when people started waking up. I believe Mr. Pearson had good intentions, but when Mr. Trudeau came, he refused to allow anything to be called into question and did not want to grant any collective rights to Quebeckers or to francophones. He established a model of institutional bilingualism based on individual rights which would be exercised conditionally, in accordance with the famous “where numbers warrant” rule. That model does not work.
Wherever such a system of institutional bilingualism is used in the world, with the same rights applying everywhere, it invariably leads to the assimilation of minority languages. Conversely, systems of territorial bilingualism do work.
In Flemish Belgium, the public service operates in Dutch. That does not stop people from learning four or five second languages easily. Dutch, which is not widely spoken in the rest of the world, is not in danger in Flemish Belgium. The same is true in Wallonia, the francophone region. We need a system that looks like that.
A people's right to self-determination includes the right to secure the future of its national language and culture. That is not what the government opted for. “Where the number warrants” is ludicrous. It means that, if French is in decline somewhere, services in French are cut. That is a bit like having a law to promote employment and fight unemployment that cuts job-finding services wherever employment rates drop. It makes no sense. It is an absolutely ludicrous principle.
The other ludicrous principle was the official language minority rule, which separated French Quebec from francophones in the rest of Canada.
It just so happened that, in Quebec, anglophones were considered to be minority language speakers even though anglophones had school and university systems that received vastly more funding than francophone systems.
According to the rule, anglophones were a minority. Well, they would be if Quebec were independent.
Anyway, they received loads of funding. I just want to quote a study about university funding across Canada. Oddly enough, the study is virtually impossible to find. It was carried out by Frédéric Lacroix and Patrick Sabourin some time ago, in 2005.
They looked at the share of funding for universities based on language.
At that time in Quebec, the Government of Quebec and the federal government jointly provided 27.7% of funding. However, the Government of Quebec is exemplary in its treatment of its linguistic minority as primary and secondary schools as well as CEGEPs and English universities are overfunded. You will find English schools and services for anglophones almost everywhere in Quebec. Where there are very few anglophones, the means are found for English services. Universities have more equitable funding. In the case of Quebec, the funding is not equitable and English universities and education are overfunded.
Approximately 33% of New Brunswick's population was French. Funding for the Université de Moncton and for French-language university services was 26%. That was pretty good. In Ontario, funding was 3% for 5.9% of francophones. In Nova Scotia, it was 1.6% for 4% of francophones. In Alberta, it was 0.2% for 2.5% of francophones. The percentages keep dropping—
View Charlie Angus Profile
NDP (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I was surprised to hear my colleague say that the francophone population in Ontario was 3%. In northern Ontario, is is 50%, and 70% in northeastern Ontario.
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