Clash over cuts shuts down official languages committee

Clash over cuts shuts down official languages committee
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Other Conservative cuts

Other cuts announced last September by the Conservative government included:

$20 million earmarked for a new citizenship act.

$9.7 million for a program meant to encourage Canadians to volunteer.

$42.2 million from the funding for Technology Partnerships Canada, a Liberal government-created program under which Ottawa supported innovative research and product development by high-tech companies.

Status of Women Canada, a federal agency that funds women's advocacy groups, will not see any cuts this year to its $23.4 million budget.

But the Tory government plans $5 million in annual administrative cuts beginning next year.

Source: Canadian Press
Conservatives accused of neglecting bilingualism
May 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Bruce Campion-Smith
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA–A political fight over Conservative funding cuts has shut down the official languages committee and led to accusations that the government is turning its back on bilingualism.

Opposition MPs yesterday voted to unseat Conservative MP Guy Lauzon as chair of the Commons official languages committee after he abruptly cancelled hearings into the government's controversial axing of the court challenges program.

The Conservatives then refused to appoint another government MP to sit as chair, leaving the committee in limbo.

"What is clear is that the chair of the committee was being controlled by the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister didn't want us to study the court challenges program," Liberal MP Raymonde Folco (Laval-Les Îles) said.

"The government doesn't care about official languages, doesn't care about the Official Languages Act, doesn't care about bilingualism across Canada," she told a news conference yesterday.

The move came on the same day that Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser rapped the government's knuckles and added his own warning about the state of bilingualism in Canada.

The elimination of the court program – used to fund Supreme Court challenges – "delivered a serious blow to Canadians' ability to defend their language rights," Fraser said as he unveiled his annual report.

The political spat was sparked last Tuesday when Lauzon (Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry) upset opposition committee members when he refused to hear witnesses on the government's decision last September to axe the court program.

"These are people we paid for them to come from Winnipeg and elsewhere and two seconds before the meeting was due to start, the chair said it was too political an issue," NDP MP Yvon Godin (Acadie-Bathurst) said. "That's not acceptable."

In question period, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to push ahead with his own agenda, despite public opposition.

"The Prime Minister doesn't like the Charter (of Rights), he kills the program supporting it. He doesn't like official languages, he kills the program supporting it. He doesn't like to be questioned by members of this House, he kills committees," Dion said.

Harper, who once called bilingualism the "god that failed," had those words tossed back at him by Dion.

"Will the Prime Minister admit this is what he still believes?" Dion said.

Harper accused the opposition of playing games and touted his government's $30 million investment in bilingualism.

The Tories yesterday showed little sign of giving in, with Government whip Jay Hill saying the opposition can't dictate the choice of who chairs committees.

"They can't come to terms with the fact that they lost the election," Hill said of the Liberals.

But the opposition parties found an ally in Fraser, who said that the cancellation of the court challenges program was a "significant blow" at a time when outstanding cases are poised to tackle issues such as French health services in the north and the impact of reducing language requirements for RCMP officers.

An investigation by his office, sparked by more than 100 complaints, has found that the Tories' $1 billion in funding cuts last year violated the Official Languages Act.

He said there was "no evidence" the government weighed the needs and interests of French-speaking minority communities when it slashed spending.

"The government did not account for the impact these cuts would have on official language communities," he said yesterday.

Harper's extensive use of French won him praise from Fraser, who said the Prime Minister's role in promoting bilingualism has been "exemplary."

"Unfortunately, the actions this government has taken in the past year do not reflect this message," said Fraser, a former Toronto Star reporter who was appointed to the post last year.

In addition to his concerns around the funding cuts, Fraser bemoaned the lack of a strategic plan – and spending commitments – to boost bilingualism.

Privately, Liberals were scratching their heads that the Conservatives would invite controversy on a topic that could hurt their efforts to woo Quebec voters.