Liberal MP Francis Drouin finally apologized Thursday for having called witnesses who campaign for the protection of French in Quebec “extremists” and “full of crap”. But the opposition is asking to go further, and demanding his resignation from the presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF). Heated exchanges which overshadowed the testimony of the Minister of Official Languages, Randy Boissonneault.
“Any witness who comes before this committee should feel free to have a conversation in a respectful environment. I did not do that on Monday, so I apologize once again to Mr. Bourdon and Mr. Lacroix,” declared Mr. Drouin at the opening of a meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
The Franco-Ontarian was quickly interrupted by the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives, judging that this was not the appropriate time for an apology, since Minister Boissonneault was to testify as part of a committee study on the financing of institutions postsecondary education in a minority situation.
Conservative Joël Godin then tabled a motion, amended by his colleague Bernard Généreux, then sub-amended by Bloc member Mario Beaulieu. In addition to a written apology, it calls for the “immediate resignation” of Francis Drouin from the presidency of the APF, his “immediate expulsion” from the committee and the transmission of a report of this “intolerable situation” to the House municipalities.
“It’s a shame that we find ourselves at this point, but I don’t think we can minimize what we saw on Monday,” declared New Democrat Niki Ashton, believing that the excuses of her liberal colleague have too late. According to her, MP Drouin’s “blatant lack of respect” tarnishes the “reputation of the committee and of French-speaking Canada internationally.”
During the previous session, the member for Glengarry — Prescott — Russell vigorously opposed the comments of researcher Frédéric Lacroix and CEGEP professor Nicolas Bourdon. The two witnesses explained, based on Statistics Canada data, that when a Francophone or allophone attends an English-speaking university or CEGEP, this significantly increases the probability that they will then lead their life in English.
“Science-based” data
The Bloc Québécois also demands that it be recognized “that the data presented by the witnesses […] are based on science. On Wednesday, MP Drouin refused to apologize, going so far as to describe as “simplistic” the link that witnesses established between post-secondary education in English and the decline of French in Quebec. “I went to school in English. Am I an English speaker? » he said.
“I don’t think that when we have French speakers studying in Alberta, like me, at the Saint-Jean campus [en français], it can Frenchify the province of Alberta,” Minister Boissonneault also declared, coming to his colleague’s defense. “If we look at the number of students [anglophones] that we have in Quebec, it cannot be anglicized. Neither does the province. »
“Boissonneault added to this by giving personal anecdotes […]. We cannot rely on personal anecdotes like that,” declared Bloc leader Mario Beaulieu.
The Bloc also criticizes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to “put Francophones outside Quebec in opposition to Francophones in Quebec.” The day before, Mr. Trudeau had accused the Bloc Québécois of attacking a Franco-Ontarian MP, proof “that they do not like Francophones who speak French outside Quebec”. “We are absolutely not against Franco-Ontarians or Francophones outside Quebec, we have always supported them here in the chamber,” responded Mr. Beaulieu.
Parliamentary “obstruction”
For their part, the Liberals in turn accused the opposition of being “irresponsible” by wasting precious time, while Minister Boissonneault was there to testify. Completely erased, the chosen one, who almost “exit[tir] popcorn”, finally answered only one question, about his colleague’s excuses.
“We are doing politics here. It’s a shame, because we had the minister,” declared MP Darrell Samson, before monopolizing the floor himself for nearly 45 minutes.
For his part, Mario Beaulieu accused the Liberals of “obstructing systematically”, proof that they “don’t take it seriously at all”. “They are doing filibustering [faire de l’obstruction] so as not to have to vote on my colleague’s amendment,” added Mr. Godin, before requesting the suspension of the session.
With The Canadian Press
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.