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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 308

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 3, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 308 - May/3/24
M. Xavier Barsalou-Duval
  • May/3/24 10:49:48 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my colleague on his French. I think it always deserves mention when we see people from other provinces of Canada who choose, out of respect for others and perhaps out of personal interest, to learn the language of people who are part of the same country, at least for now. A lot of Quebeckers are learning English or know it well. We usually see the opposite, I mean, francophones who learn and speak English. We rarely see anglophones learning French. I have to point that out. To answer my colleague's question more specifically, I cannot say that I am surprised by his question about the government's reluctance to do its job. That is generally what I said in my speech. This is a government that rarely shows much interest in its own job. It is usually more interested in things outside its jurisdiction, in jurisdictions that belong to the Government of Quebec, like health and education. It even meddles in our laws, such as our law on secularism. It usually lectures us, yet it does not even look after its borders. The best example is customs. During the pandemic and even up until not so long ago, we saw endless lineups at customs, staff shortages and exasperated travellers speaking out about situations and flight cancellations, sometimes due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. We truly have a federal government that does not do its own job and yet lectures everyone else. If I could make one recommendation to the federal government, it would be to concentrate on its own job.
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Context: House Hansard - 308 - May/3/24
Hon. Pascale St-Onge (Minister of Canadian Heritage, Lib.)
  • May/3/24 11:28:22 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would caution the Bloc Québécois against speculating as to what is currently happening at CBC/Radio-Canada. I want to reassure the employees and my Bloc Québécois colleagues, who I know are very fond of Radio-Canada, as are we. Radio-Canada's francophone content and programming will remain separate. We understand how important this is to francophones across the country. Radio-Canada will use public funds wisely. I am being careful because we know very well what the Conservatives want to do: They want to defund the public broadcaster.
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