44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 9, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/9/24 10:55:31 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the bill specifically sought to address calls to action 53 to 56 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report.
With this in mind, I would like to focus more closely on call to action 54, which reads as follows:
We call upon the Government of Canada to provide multi-year funding for the National Council for Reconciliation to ensure that it has the financial, human, and technical resources required to conduct its work, including the endowment of a National Reconciliation Trust to advance the cause of reconciliation.
As I see it, predictable funding is absolutely essential. This is true not only for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, but for the various diversification funds for indigenous peoples as well. Reconciliation goes beyond the work of this committee. It has to apply coherently to all government action.
I recently met with an economic development group interested in developing indigenous entrepreneurship from the ground up, in the communities, through various models such as co-operatives and registered charities. That is fundamental. The federal government has not guaranteed the group's funding for the coming weeks. To cement good relations, predictability is essential.
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- Feb/9/24 11:27:29 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that we have taken action.
All of our hard work paid off and led to the modernization of the Broadcasting Act. I would also remind the House that no one thought we would successfully reach an agreement with Google when we went after the web giant for $100 million, plus interest, plus inflation every year. We introduced tax credits to support newsrooms and funding for local journalism.
There comes a point when we can no longer continue to line the pockets of Bell's billionaire companies, as the Conservatives would have us do, but we can continue to support journalism.
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- Feb/9/24 11:28:43 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, everyone in this country has a right to housing, and it is unacceptable that any Canadians are sleeping out in the cold.
That is why we have doubled funding to help communities tackle homelessness. We recently announced $100 million to help protect the most vulnerable 85 communities across the country. Our investments throughout our time in government are paying off. We have prevented over 125,000 people from becoming unhoused, and have placed over 71,000 people experiencing homelessness in permanent housing.
We are ready to work with parties that are serious about housing. There is a lot more work to do; we are up to the task.
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- Feb/9/24 11:43:16 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I hope the hon. member will come with me to 651 Cambridge Avenue in Kelowna to see a 75-unit construction. There has been $4.6 million invested in the city of Kelowna, which he voted against.
We are getting housing built in this country. Time and time again, the Conservatives pretend, during this hour of the day in question period, to care about housing, but when it comes to voting on funding, they are absent. They vote against funding, and they have promised that, when they form government, they will cut all funds and raise taxes on builders.
We are going to get the job done. We are serious about housing.
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- Feb/9/24 11:52:17 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, we see the Conservatives pretending to care about housing during the hour of question period. They bang their fists on the table to demand more work on the file, but when it comes to actually voting on housing funding, they stand up and vote against it, time and time again.
The Government of Canada has invested $900 million in the province of Quebec. How did that member vote? He voted against it.
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- Feb/9/24 12:08:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with five former world junior players now formally charged with sexual assault, a dark cloud hangs over the sports so many of us love. One solution is anti-sexual violence training like that which the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region has delivered to athletes since 2015.
Last year I, and others, advocated to reallocate the millions to Hockey Canada to fund this training, without success. This year, this government has another chance to step up and help root out the toxicity in hockey by funding this critical training and pushing Hockey Canada to do the same.
Will it do it?
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- Feb/9/24 12:48:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have attended several Acfas conferences, where francophone researchers from across Canada and Quebec share information vital to the future of applied sciences and several other sectors. It is extremely important that the federal government understand the importance of funding research in French in equal measure to research in English.
In British Columbia, the province I represent, we have a growing number of francophones. The percentage of francophones continues to increase. There are more and more people doing research there.
Does my colleague agree that it is important to provide funding for research in French and that it is just as important for that funding to be available across Canada?
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- Feb/9/24 12:51:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to congratulate my colleague from Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques for his excellent speech and his dedication to the French language. He mentioned a lot of figures, including the percentage of funding allocated to French-language research funds compared to English-language research funds. I think it was something like 95% for English. It reminds me of official language funding in Quebec, where 94% goes to support English.
Can the member tell us what he thinks is the cause of this imbalance, this inequity?
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- Feb/9/24 12:53:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment my hon. colleague on his work in our science and research committee. He is a very strong advocate for research. He and I have been pressing the Liberal government to provide more sufficient support, especially for graduate students. That is not what I am going to ask him about today. We are talking about a different subject, but I wanted to thank him for that work.
He claimed, in his speech, that the funding rates for francophones were lower than for anglophones, but in the report, there is conflicting data that shows that the percentage of francophone applicants asking for money from the tri-council is actually higher, in all cases, than for English applicants.
I am wondering if he could comment on the source of that conflicting information. It looks like, to me, francophones do very well in funding applications.
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- Feb/9/24 12:54:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I salute my fellow member of the Standing Committee on Science and Research.
I think we can agree on a few things. I know exactly what he is talking about. I would suggest that he look at the proportion of francophones who apply for funding in French compared to English.
It is fine to say that 75% of francophone researchers in Canada qualify for Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council funding, but let us take a look at the facts. I have the numbers here: Only 5% to 12% of funding applications are written in French, even though 21% of researchers in Canada are francophone. That means that 50% of francophone researchers in Canada apply for funding in English. They do it because it is easier to get approved.
What the report says is true. For the three granting agencies, funding rates are higher for requests in French, but that is not representative of the proportion of francophone researchers. Francophones in Canada are forced to apply for funding in English in the hope of obtaining funding.
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- Feb/9/24 1:18:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the number of steps taken is really unprecedented by any government. I continue to say I understand the concern, but the government also has to understand the concern, and the Official Languages Act has been modernized by the government after a very long time.
Funding has also been put in place. I would like to specifically mention, in budget 2023, the government provided new funding of up to $128 million for minority-language post-secondary education over four years. The investment is a part of an action plan for official languages. The government's approach to modernizing the Official Languages Act has included a commitment to strengthening opportunities for members of the OLMC to engage in quality learning. There have been so many areas, formal and informal settings, in their own language throughout their lives, from early childhood to post-secondary education.
Budget 2021 also made a big commitment to increasing funding available for official languages, including for post-secondary education in minority languages by $121 million over three years, and the list goes on.
We are really putting our money where our mouth is, and taking the actions and steps necessary to make sure that official languages are respected in this country.
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