[lg policy] Canada: Tories launch talks on official languages, shield programs from cuts

[Harold Schiffman]

Tories launch talks on official languages, shield programs from cuts

By: Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press

Posted: 05/22/2012 4:18 PM | Comments: 51 (including replies) | Last
Modified: 05/22/2012 4:29 PM


OTTAWA - The federal government has launched country-wide
consultations on how it can best support Canada's official languages —
one area of spending that the Conservatives have shielded from cuts.

Other potentially sensitive files such as Old Age Security, veterans
affairs, and environmental assessments have felt the belt tightening,
but not the programs that promote bilingualism and the development of
linguistic minority communities.

The government announced $1.1 billion for an official languages "road
map" in 2008, consisting of 32 different funding initiatives over five
years in areas such as arts and culture and education.

The Department of Canadian Heritage is now looking at what should
happen post-2013, embarking on a consultation that will include 17
round table discussions across the country and an online forum. The
first round table took place Tuesday in Moncton.

Heritage Minister James Moore, one of the most visible bilingual
ministers in the Conservative cabinet, says Canada is enriched by the
fact it has two official languages.

"Canada having two official languages and a diverse population is to
our advantage, it is not a burden, it's not a nuisance, it is a gift,
and it's something that we should recognize and celebrate as such and
that's what we do with our official language policy," Moore said in an
interview Tuesday.

"Our next policy announcement on this through our road map will speak
to that and speak to the next set of priorities."

Moore is a bit of a poster boy of the Official Languages Act — a 1969
initiative of Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Moore and his two
sisters, all born in the 1970s in British Columbia, attended French
immersion classes throughout grade school.

One sister became a French immersion teacher, the other an actively
bilingual employee of a multinational, and Moore a cabinet minister.

"My parents just made the decision, just based on their assessment of
things, that they thought the three of us would be better off if we
learned Canada's official languages," Moore said.

"It turned out to be an entirely enriching and helpful experience in
all of our professional and personal lives, and and I hope more
Canadians see the opportunity of learning both official languages."

The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) applauded
the consultations Tuesday, and encouraged its member organizations to
have their say.

Financial support for bilingualism, whether in government services,
within the federal bureaucracy, or at the community level, is not
always popular with the Conservative base.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself wrote in 2001 that official
bilingualism hadn't worked, calling it a "god that failed."

"It has led to no fairness, produced no unity and cost Canadian
taxpayers untold millions," Harper wrote in the Calgary Sun.

Stephen Taylor, director of the National Citizens Coalition, says the
Conservatives are trying to build bridges in Quebec, and are likely
worried about wading into as potentially divisive an area as official
languages policy.

The NCC has questioned spending on official bilingualism in the past,
and Taylor pointed to the millions spent on language training for
bureaucrats as an area that needs scrutiny.

"The rest of Canada is looking at what that costs, and I think they
want groups like the National Citizens Coalition to keep asking
questions about how much these things are going to cost, how much we
should be investing in these sorts of programs, and for what purpose,"
said Taylor.

NDP official languages critic Yvon Godin takes a different
perspective. Godin is pleased the government is undertaking the
consultations, but is concerned about a lack of accountability with
the "road map" spending.

He says some groups and communities have found it hard to sort out how
to get the money and where exactly it goes.

He also criticizes the fact the Conservatives recently appointed a
Supreme Court judge and an auditor general who were not bilingual.

Says Godin: "If they were committed they would be doing it from the
top going down, instead of doing what they're doing."


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/tories-launch-talks-on-official-languages-shield-programs-from-cuts-152708605.html

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list