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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 51

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 1, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
Ms. Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, NDP)
  • Apr/1/22 10:15:46 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-13 
Madam Speaker, our message today is that we all want to adopt a modernized act, but it must be as good as possible. We look forward to working with all parliamentarians on the committee to improve Bill C‑13. The Commissioner of Official Languages released report after report highlighting the failures within the public service and the lack of compliance with the Official Languages Act. As a central agency, the Treasury Board must be fully responsible for implementing and coordinating matters relating to official languages. Why did the government not give all of the powers to the Treasury Board instead of Canadian Heritage?
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Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor
  • Apr/1/22 10:16:26 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-13 
Madam Speaker, the idea of having a central agency is absolutely key to ensuring compliance with the Official Languages Act. In Bill C‑13, we have established the Treasury Board as the central agency with monitoring, auditing and evaluating powers. We want to ensure that it will have more tools and resources to do its job.
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Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)
  • Apr/1/22 10:16:57 a.m.
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I apologize to the hon. minister. She was right in thinking that she needed the unanimous consent of the House to share her speaking time. As I saw no one oppose her request, however, we will resume debate. The hon. President of the Treasury Board.
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Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
Hon. Mona Fortier
Madam Speaker, I am happy to answer this question. The process that took place over the last few years, which included consultations and engagement with parliamentarians to strengthen the bill, led to the introduction of Bill C-32 last June. Following the election, we came back with an even better bill, Bill C-13. The fact that the Treasury Board will act as a central agency and play a compliance monitoring role is an example of something that has been strengthened in the new legislation, Bill C-13.
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Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
Mr. Robert Kitchen (Souris—Moose Mountain, CPC)
  • Apr/1/22 10:30:45 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-13 
Madam Speaker, I thank the president of the Treasury Board for her intervention today and for her answer to my colleague for Sarnia—Lambton. One of the things I noticed is that one of the changes appears to be that there might be a fine instigated here. It seems we are seeing a lot of ministers now giving their press conferences in only one language. Will that mean that ministers will now be fined for basically not responding in both languages?
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Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
Ms. Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia—Lambton, CPC)
  • Apr/1/22 1:06:58 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-13 
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for her incredible work on the official languages committee. The member spoke about the importance of the Treasury Board being in charge. I am a bit concerned about that, because the Treasury Board has a lot of different priorities. I am concerned that maybe official languages will fall to the bottom of what it is doing. Would it not be better for the Minister of Canadian Heritage to have the power to act?
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Context: House Hansard - 51 - Apr/1/22
Ms. Niki Ashton
  • Apr/1/22 1:07:33 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-13 
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her comments and her question. We think that should be Treasury Board's job because its primary responsibility is to ensure that measures applicable to the federal government are upheld by the entire public service and the federal government. That is consistent with recommendations from the Commissioner of Official Languages and many other people who submitted comments on the modernization of the Official Languages Act.
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