Hon. Claude Carignan: Minister, the decision is dated April 14. The deadline for appealing is May 16. It is now May 11. Having worked in private practice, I know that it takes time to prepare an appeal. I have a hard time believing that, today, you don’t know whether you’re going to appeal. I believe that you are holding something back.

I will help you and persuade you not to appeal. The judge states the following on page 41 of the ruling:

In circumstances where members of one of the two constitutionally recognized linguistic communities are unable to interact directly, in their language, with the head of state — how can that be considered equality of both linguistic communities?

Do you agree with this statement? If you do, the case should not be appealed.

As I clearly stated, I don’t know what decision the Minister of Justice will make on this matter. I can’t give you any information in reply to this specific question.

I can tell you that the Minister of Justice is reviewing the matter. I will be happy to inform you once the decision is made. The Department of Justice will certainly take the time to study the decision and determine the next steps.

We remain committed to protecting and promoting the French language across the country and advancing linguistic duality. As Minister of Official Languages, that is truly my priority.

Concerning the bills on the Lieutenant-Governor and the Governor General that are before the Senate, we are watching their progress in the Senate to see exactly what the outcome will be.

Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, P.C., M.P., Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency: Thank you very much for these important questions, senator. Once again, the federal government recognizes that French is declining in Canada, including in Quebec. That is why we are addressing these concerns with a more ambitious bill that has more teeth. Federally regulated private companies like Air Canada and CN, which are subject to the Official Languages Act, need to step up and lead by example by respecting their official language obligations. Like you, I was angry to see that CN had not appointed a francophone to its board of directors. We would have expected the board of directors to be representative of Canada’s population and of our linguistic duality.

Our government has established strong measures in Bill C-13 to protect the use of French as a language of work and service in private and federally regulated businesses in Quebec, as well as in regions with a strong francophone presence. Again, with respect to the language provisions, which was part of your second question, we took the time to ensure that the text of Part VII clearly defines “positive measures.” We did that because we want to make sure that, in the context of issues such as language provisions, once Bill C-13 receives Royal Assent, the federal government will consider the impact that these issues will have on official language minority communities. As a government, we must ensure that we take positive measures to address these situations.