Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his ongoing advocacy for the tourism sector. Obviously, as a government, we have been there since the beginning of the pandemic and the economic crisis to help the tourism sector, including tourism operators, hotel owners and restaurant owners. We have been there to make sure they can get through this crisis, have access to the different supports…
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Mr. Speaker, of course, I have the pleasure of confirming to my colleague our common objective of ensuring that francophones are able to work in French in federally regulated businesses, not only in Quebec but also in regions with a strong francophone presence. I am sure my colleague will agree with me that we need to protect French both in Quebec and across Canada. That is important. I would also…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for her question, which gives me an opportunity to remind the House about the government's position on official languages and specifically the protection of the French fact in Quebec and Canada. I want to remind my colleague that we will of course protect the right to work in French and the right to be served in French, as well as francophones' right not …
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is trying to make something out of nothing. What is most important is that we all recognize that protecting and promoting the French language is important and that we ensure that linguistic minorities in Quebec and across the country are protected. That is what we said and that is what we are doing. We are walking the talk and we are the first federal government in hist…
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Madam Speaker, it goes without saying that we enforce the Official Languages Act. However, we do need to give it more teeth, which is why we made a historic decision this winter to make ambitious reforms to the act. We want to provide more tools to enforce language rights in Canada, and in particular to protect the French language, which is a minority language. That is why I will have the opportun…
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Madam Speaker, francophones are absolutely entitled to the same respect as all anglophones in Canada. That is why we decided to modernize the Official Languages Act and introduce an ambitious reform document that will give the public service more resources and tools to ensure that institutional bilingualism is implemented and respected. It will be a pleasure to work with my colleague on this issue…
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Madam Speaker, here in Ottawa, we take our responsibilities seriously, and we know we have to do more for French. That is exactly why we will make sure that complaints in both French and English receive equal treatment. We will make sure the public service meets its obligations in terms of bilingualism. We will try to improve coordination significantly by creating a new central agency, and we will…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to clarify for my colleague that the protection and promotion of the French language in Quebec and across Canada is a priority for the government. We tabled a reform document in the House and, for the first time ever, the federal government has said that we must do more to protect the French fact. That is why we intend to take the necessary steps, in our area of jurisdi…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for Montarville for his excellent question. Indeed, our government has taken a historic step in recognizing the need to protect and promote French. We also want to enshrine the right of francophones to work in French, to be served in French and, of course, not to be discriminated against because of their language in federally regulated businesses in Quebec an…
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Mr. Speaker, the government recognizes that Quebeckers form a nation within Canada and that the official language of Quebec is French. We also recognized it in the reform document that I had the opportunity to table in the House earlier this winter. Now, it goes without saying that we as a government must play our role to protect French in Quebec and across the country, because, as my colleague me…
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Mr. Speaker, I would remind my colleague that we have recognized the special status of French since the reform document was tabled and even before that, in the Speech from the Throne, because French is indeed declining in Quebec and in Canada, and we must do more. For the first time, the federal government believes that substantive equality between our two official languages is necessary and that …
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Mr. Speaker, of course, we understand that the tourism sector is undergoing great difficulties, and that is exactly why we have been there. We have been there to support people through the wage subsidy, the rent relief program, the CEBA, all the different support we got through the regional development agencies and also through the HASCAP. At the same time, we know that we have to do more, and tha…
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Mr. Speaker, the regional relief and recovery fund, RRRF, provides critical support to businesses and organizations that are not eligible for other federal government COVID relief measures and was designed to be a backstop for businesses that may have fallen through the cracks, to help them continue to pay expenses and protect jobs. Demand for this program has been consistently high in western Can…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent work and his excellent question. Those of us on this side of the House have always stepped up to protect francophones in minority communities, and we always will. Post-secondary institutions are key to the vitality of our linguistic minority communities. I am worried, and our government is worried, about the Laurentian University situation. That …
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Mr. Speaker, we know that people working in the tourism sector have been extremely hard hit by the pandemic and economic crisis. That is why we heard their call for more help. That is exactly why we have announced in the budget that we will be providing $1 billion more in support for the tourism sector, including a tourism relief fund to help our local tourism businesses. We cannot wait to welcome…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question and especially for her great work on official languages, especially at the Standing Committee on Official Languages. What we did recently in the budget is strengthen our vision for the official languages. We presented this vision in our blueprint a little earlier in this session. We are investing in post-secondary education for our offic…
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Mr. Speaker, of course, we believe in hard-working Canadians and want to support them as they want to create jobs. We stand side by side with them. We are investing across the country, in all regions of the country. That is why we are putting into place a $500 million community revitalization fund to help build and renovate those spaces to which my colleague refers. From small towns to big cities …
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her question. Many of us in the House of Commons have participated in the Ma cabane à la maison initiative. I myself participated in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, and our Quebec lieutenant took part, as well. It is a great initiative. I want to reassure my colleague. Not only do we support sugar shack owners, but we have been there to help them through the …
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Madam Speaker, given the circumstances, I would like to answer both questions.
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Madam Speaker, obviously we know that tourism operators and travel agencies have gone through difficult times. That being said, we have been there for them since the beginning and there is also good news for them in the budget. I hope my colleague will share the good news about the $1 billion to support the tourism sector, making sure businesses have access to the wage subsidy and rent relief prog…
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Madam Speaker, yesterday, his colleague asked me what investments were in the budget for the official languages. He obviously had not read the budget, and I am wondering whether my colleague has read it either. Funding is provided in the budget for the French language and also for Quebec. With funding also allocated for French second-language programs in Quebec, which are for English-speaking Queb…
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Madam Speaker, I want to reassure my colleague, because obviously we have a plan to support the tourism sector. We have been there since the beginning of the pandemic for them. We are here for them now. We will continue to make sure that we are there for them in the future. That is why we have invested $1 billion, a historic investment. I hope my colleague will share that with his constituents, be…
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Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to answer my colleague, for whom I have such great respect. I wonder if he has read the budget, which allocates $120 million to supporting post-secondary education in French in Canada. I would be happy to work with him to explain exactly how we plan to distribute the funds. Communities know they can count on us. We will be there to support francophones across t…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to send my thoughts to the people in the tourism sector who have been going through a very difficult year. We know that. This is exactly why we have been there for them since the beginning of the pandemic, and my colleague knows that. It is the case in B.C., it is the case in his riding and it is the case across the country. To make sure that the sector would be able to g…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. It goes without saying that we are extremely concerned about what is happening at Laurentian University. We are concerned and we are obviously thinking of the professors who have lost their jobs and the students who have been negatively affected. That is why we are in talks with the Government of Ontario, which had jurisdiction over education, to…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see you and all my colleagues this evening. I will be sharing my time with my esteemed colleague, the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance. The reason we are gathered here this evening is a sad one. Laurentian University is an institution that makes a tremendous contribution to the region's economic development, but it is also a flagship …
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Mr. Speaker, there are several things. We recently provided funds to Ontario to support recruitment and retention of French teachers. In the media, we see that teachers are being laid off. Obviously, that makes no sense. The federal government has been providing funds to Ontario to make sure there are teachers to teach our youth, knowing that there is a shortage of French teachers, and Laurentian …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Laurentian University is an important institution. That said, the university primarily discussed its management of public funds with the province and not the federal government.
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Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for her leadership on the question of Campus Saint-Jean. We have, indeed, had a lot of conversations together regarding the survival of Campus Saint-Jean. As a federal government, we do many things to ensure that francophones in Alberta are not only able to continue to have a post-secondary institution, but that they are able to uphold their rights. That is star…
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Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concern because what is happening at Laurentian University right now is particularly worrisome for the francophone community. That is why my thoughts are with the professors who have been affected, the students and the community. That is also why I have had conversations with the Government of Ontario. I am calling for the Ontario government to come up with a pl…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague just said that he could not care less about the government's official languages reform. Here is my question. Is the member for or against linguistic reform that has the support of francophone organizations across the country, the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, other chambers of commerce across the country and the Conseil du patronat du Québec, yes or no? Th…
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Mr. Speaker, I will not take any lessons from my colleague or the Conservative Party, which has no credibility when it comes to official languages. Why? It is because every time a Conservative government takes office, at either the provincial or federal level, francophone rights are set back. That being said, I agree with my colleague that we need a central agency, and that is included in the refo…
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Mr. Speaker, the member has a great riding. Of course our government will always stand side by side with the English-speaking community in Quebec and with francophones outside of Quebec to make sure they are able to defend their constitutional rights. That is exactly what we can do by supporting both official languages, and protecting French, but never to the detriment of English-speaking Quebecke…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not complicated. We recognize that French is in decline in Quebec and across the country and we want to protect and promote our beautiful language of Molière. Everyone must do their part, both in Quebec and in the provinces and at the federal level. We will take our responsibilities. We are acting in good faith and we recognize that we need to secure new rights, including in the…
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Mr. Speaker, we have always been clear that the bill would be introduced this year. We do intend to introduce the bill, but beyond that, my colleague is not answering my question for him. Does he support the reform? We are a minority government. We will need the support of the opposition parties. Now is not the time for partisanship. Does the Conservative Party support our reform document? Does it…
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Mr. Speaker, when it comes to official languages, no one is better at putting on a show than the Conservative Party. A consensus is beginning to emerge. Francophone communities, including the FCFA, the Conseil du patronat du Québec and various chambers of commerce, support the reform. I would ask my colleague to encourage the Leader of the Opposition and the Conservative Party to join the consensu…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my gracious and competent colleague for her question. French is in decline in Quebec and across the country. To achieve substantive equality of both official languages, we have to do more to protect and promote French all across Canada as well as in Quebec. Our approach gives francophones in Quebec and in regions with a strong francophone presence the right to obtain service i…
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Mr. Speaker, we all agree that we must protect French, that Quebec's official language is French and that we really must ensure that we look to the Charter of the French Language to protect the right to work and be served in French in our federally regulated businesses. I had the opportunity to speak to six former Quebec premiers, three former prime ministers and two former premiers of New Brunswi…
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Madam Speaker, every time I have risen in this House over the past year, I remember how things have changed. Almost a year ago to the day, we were all gathered here, not knowing what to expect. Since then, we have had a difficult year, a year marked, yes, by upheavals and mourning, but also by the resilience, courage and compassion of our fellow citizens. In saying that our world has changed, I am…
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Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the Government of Canada's public reform document for the modernization of the Official Languages Act, entitled “English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada”.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. Obviously we must protect our linguistic rights now and always. We must also ensure that francophones outside Quebec have access to universities and educational institutions where they can continue to learn their language and support the vitality of their communities. I hope my colleague will join me in denouncing the inaction of the current prov…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Châteauguay—Lacolle for her question and her extraordinary work. Parc Safari is certainly a key tourism attraction for the region. We know that the tourism sector is facing huge challenges. Of course, we have been there from the beginning to help. Through economic development agencies, we have supported about 1,000 Quebec businesses. We have inv…
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Mr. Speaker, I had the chance to have many discussions with tourism operators in northern Ontario along with many of my colleagues. Obviously, we know they are going through difficult times. We have been there for them since the beginning of the pandemic. We have invested $10 billion through the wage subsidy, through the regional development agencies and through also the support to a fixed cost. R…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Vancouver Centre for her strong advocacy. Our government understands that British Columbia has specific needs. That is why, for the first time in history, we will be creating a B.C. regional development agency to create and protect jobs in the beautiful province of British Columbia. My colleagues and I have been connecting with entrepreneurs and workers all acro…
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Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada continues to value the contribution of the hunting and outfitting sector to the Canadian tourism economy. For the 2016-2018 period, Destination Canada received a one-time, special funding envelope of $30 million to launch a major tourism campaign in the United States. This campaign, entitled “Connecting America”, included a co-operative marketing fund where De…
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