(Ottawa) The Liberals accumulated failures on Friday when the opposition prevented them from having any reference to the Charter of the French language removed from Bill C-13, which aims to modernize the Official Languages Act and that three amendments requested by the Quebec government were adopted, including two without their support.
“In the seven years that I have been here, this is perhaps the most important plea I have made in Parliament,” Liberal MP Anthony Housefather told the official languages committee, explaining that the Charter of the French language contravenes the idea that the federal government should offer services in French and in English throughout the country.
The member for Mount Royal was then trying to have an amendment to the bill adopted, sponsored by his own political party, to remove all reference to this provincial law.
He implored the Conservatives and New Democrats to preserve “the historic vision of all federalist parties (since) 1968” by defending all official language minority communities rather than supporting the Bloc Québécois’ vision that “the English-speaking minority in Quebec is not really a minority”.
To his comment that Anglophones are “afraid,” Bloc Québécois official languages critic Mario Beaulieu replied that Quebec Francophones are “fighting for their survival.”
“What they (the Liberals) want is not the right to have services in English for Anglophones,” he said. They present it as a right to have services in English for newcomers, for allophones, to anglicize them. »
“Quebec bashing”
A few minutes later, the Liberal MP for Saint-Laurent, Emmanuella Lambropoulos, – the very one who had questioned the decline of French in Quebec – testified that a grandmother had been refused to be served in English at the doctor after the adoption of law 96.
Mr. Beaulieu immediately banged on the table and threw his arms up in the air. “This is unacceptable!” he complained. As for me, it’s “Quebec bashing”. To suggest that anglophones are afraid to speak French because they are going to be arrested by the Office de la langue française is completely absurd. »
It should be noted that health services in the official language of one’s choice are guaranteed in Quebec.
New Democratic Party MP Niki Ashton, whose vote is often decisive, became angry in the wake of the exchanges. She explained that she did not understand why elected officials find themselves faced with “a Liberal amendment to modify a Liberal bill” while the Minister of Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, has been repeating for months that her bill is “excellent” and requires “no” change.
Is the minister and the Prime Minister’s Office okay with you, she asked the Liberals. “What is the Liberal Party’s vision when it comes to defending French in Canada? Because what I see here is no real vision, no real plan and lots of political games. »
MP Housefather then replied that Bill C-13 was tabled before the adoption of Bill 96 in Quebec.
After the vote, reporters watched a particularly heated exchange between Mr. Housefather and the Minister’s Parliamentary Affairs Director, Matthew Pollesel, outside the committee room. Mr Pollesel slammed the door in a gesture that was not lacking in brilliance, but the interaction was cut short abruptly when the MP had to return to the room for another vote. The minister’s office declined to comment on these events.
Quebec Amendments
Three amendments requested by the Quebec government were subsequently tabled by the Bloc Québécois. The first asserted that the English-speaking minority in Quebec and the French-speaking minorities in other provinces have different needs. It received unanimous support.
The other two were passed with the support of the Conservatives, the Bloc and the NDP. They added respectively in C-13 that the Charter of the French language of Quebec “aims to protect, strengthen and promote this language” and “that the existence of a majority French-speaking home in a Quebec where the future of French is assured is a legitimate objective and a fundamental premise of the federal official languages regime”.
At the previous meeting on Tuesday, a majority of elected officials sitting on the committee, namely the Liberals and the New Democrat, refused to add to the preamble of the bill that French is the “common language” of Quebec and that Ottawa will respect the linguistic arrangements provided for in the Charter of the French language.
Finally, on Friday, a Conservative amendment to give the Treasury Board the responsibility of coordinating the law, as requested in particular by the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) of Canada, was adopted with the votes of the opposition and of a single Liberal, Nova Scotian Darrell Samson.
“After 50 years of dithering […] we essentially reflect what the francophone and even anglophone community across Canada wants, to have a driver behind the wheel, a pilot on the plane, a captain on the ship, put it as you like, summed up the MP curator Bernard Genereux. It takes someone here in Ottawa who will be responsible for the application of official languages. »
One of the highlights of the study of the bill should occur in the coming weeks when the members will vote on an amendment aimed at subjecting private businesses under federal jurisdiction to the Charter of the French language, as demanded by the Government of Quebec. It should pass since the Conservative, Bloc and New Democrat oppositions are in favour, despite the Liberals being against it.