(Ottawa) After almost an hour of informal discussions, the MPs who sit on the Standing Committee on Official Languages agreed on a timetable on Thursday for the adoption of the bill aimed at modernizing the Official Languages Actwhich resolved the impasse they had been mired in for the past seven meetings where a Liberal motion labeled a gag had led to charges of filibuster.
“We have taken a giant step,” summed up the chairman of the committee, René Arseneault, reading the wording of the new compromise motion.
At the end of a unanimous vote which was held in a good mood, each joking, the members decided to call four ministers to testify for one hour each, after which the committee will proceed to the study of article per article for eight meetings, at a rate of two per week.
Thus, the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the President of the Treasury Board, Mona Fortier, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, as well as the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser, could appear as early as next Tuesday and Thursday.
Meetings could be added as needed for clause-by-clause study only if there is unanimous consent of the committee members. Otherwise, the chair will put “to the vote, forthwith and successively, without further debate” all other clauses and amendments submitted to the committee.
This agreement means that the Liberal government is giving up on the idea that the bill will be passed by the House of Commons by Christmas. If all of the agreed sittings are used, C-13 would be sent to the lower house no earlier than February 16 or March 7.
Put water in his wine
At the end of the meeting, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Official Languages, Marc Serré, underlined how generous the agreement seems to him. “Eight article sessions per article is a lot,” he said. That’s more than the federal budget with the finance committee. »
In the end, “everyone put water in their wine […] in the interest of French,” summed up the Conservative critic for official languages, Joël Godin, a few moments later.
His Bloc Québécois counterpart, Mario Beaulieu, said that the gains he hopes to make in the coming sessions are to apply Bill 101 to businesses under federal jurisdiction and “that the federal government stop imposing measures to anglicize Quebec “.
Quebec Premier François Legault made the protection of the French language a central theme of an important speech Wednesday at the National Assembly. The same day, Statistics Canada revealed that French is losing ground and that English is gaining ground as the language of work in Quebec.
These elements make Mr. Beaulieu believe that “denial” of the past is less present and that the population will mobilize.
In the New Democratic Party, MP Niki Ashton, also a member of the committee, described Thursday’s meeting as “very dynamic and I would even say historic”. The goal of improving the bill by the holidays was unrealistic, she agreed, rejoicing in the same breath that MPs now have “a clear schedule”.
Ottawa’s bill enshrines a new right to work and be served in French in Quebec and in regions with a strong French-speaking presence in other provinces in private businesses under federal jurisdiction, such as banks, airlines or railways .
However, Quebec wants instead to subject these companies established on its territory to the Charter of the French language, which does not give a choice and makes French the only language of work.
Relief
For the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA), which had organized meetings on Thursday with around thirty elected officials to convince them to speed up the adoption of the bill, the news of an agreement was “a relief”. .
The FCFA wanted to limit the clause-by-clause study to a few meetings. “We didn’t want it to go on indefinitely,” explained FCFA president Liane Roy in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“It’s really highly symbolic that it turns the day when we’re all there, where we’re all on Parliament Hill,” she added.
During stormy exchanges in the afternoon in the House of Commons, Bloc Québécois spokesperson Mario Beaulieu recalled that the Quebec Minister for the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, called this week for “a national awakening” regarding the decline of French in Quebec.
“Precisely, it is high time for the federal Liberals in Quebec to wake up. Their Bill C-13 does not protect French in Quebec. It protects English in the workplace and anglicizes Quebec. […] When are they going to wake up? “, he asked, causing a wave of applause from the benches bloquistes.
The Bloc Québécois is doing “theatre” and wants “chicanes”, replied Mme Petitpas Taylor who insists that her bill is “ambitious” and that she wishes to “work in collaboration” with the Government of Quebec. She was also to meet Minister Roberge on Thursday evening.