44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 13, 2022 10:00AM
- Dec/13/22 2:28:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if I may, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would also like to offer our condolences to the family and friends of the former minister and member Jim Carr.
The Prime Minister has skilfully calculated that Quebec should take in 112,000 immigrants based on Ottawa's goal of welcoming 500,000. In doing so, he ignored the fact that there are about eight million francophones in the country and about 300 million anglophones on the North American continent. Oops. It was basic math. He himself is having such a hard time managing immigration that his government assigned 60,000 files to people who are no longer on the job.
Should he not double-check his math and let Quebec manage its own affairs on immigration and the French language?
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- Dec/13/22 2:29:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I merely pointed out that Quebec is entirely capable of increasing its immigration levels, if it wants to.
This decision is up to Quebec, and we respect Quebec's jurisdiction with regard to immigration, as we do across our system of government.
We will always work with the Quebec government and other governments across the country to protect the French language and to welcome francophone immigrants. We have a lot more work to do, but we will continue to do it.
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- Dec/13/22 2:29:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the past 24 hours, the Prime Minister said that Quebec must take in 112,000 immigrants.
He says that he is not imposing that number. However, all the other times, he said that he would like to impose it. He sent a former minister and now sitting member to say that Bill 96 should be blocked, because the federal government obviously must not recognize Quebec's jurisdictions.
He is forgetting about Roxham Road and the thousands of irregular claimants, who would have a hard time integrating into French-speaking society, and he is forgetting about the thousands of francophone African students who he himself is preventing from entering Quebec.
Could he do the smart thing when it comes to the issue of language and recognize that the French language and immigration are Quebec's jurisdictions?
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- Dec/13/22 2:30:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is exactly what I am doing. I did not propose any numbers for Quebec. I acknowledged that Quebec was capable of increasing its immigration levels, if it wanted to do so, because it has those powers. We recognize the important role that Quebec plays in protecting the French language and the Quebec nation. That is why we will continue to work respectfully with the Government of Quebec.
However, we do want to point out that the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause is something that the federal government should never support.
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- Dec/13/22 3:00:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, only 57% of the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendations were implemented this year. That is only half. The worst offender with respect to the French language is not Air Canada, it is the federal government itself. How many recommendations has Transport Canada followed? Zero. How many recommendations has Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada followed? Zero. How many recommendations has the Prime Minister's Office followed? The answer is still zero.
How can Quebeckers trust this government to protect French when it boycotts the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendations?
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- Dec/13/22 3:01:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, we are the first government to recognize the decline of French, and that is why we are moving forward with Bill C‑13. It is an ambitious bill that will make changes in federally regulated private businesses throughout Quebec and in regions with a strong francophone presence outside Quebec.
I think that when we look at the Commissioner of Official Languages' recommendations, it is important to give him more tools to do his job. He must do his job, and that is why we have really improved his work tools. We look forward to seeing the bill passed.
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