[lg policy] Canada: Bilingualism debate heats up on Parliament Hill

[Harold Schiffman]

Bilingualism debate heats up on Parliament Hill


By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News October 27, 2012

The bilingualism debate is heating up on Parliament Hill following the
release of new data suggesting English Canadians are losing interest
in French, and amid media reports that Prime Minister Stephen Harper
feels it was a "mistake" to appoint unilingual anglophones to senior
positions such as the office of the auditor general and the Supreme
Court.

Harper reportedly made his comment after several cabinet ministers
told the Tory caucus last week that the government would support
legislation introduced by the NDP to require that all officers of
Parliament be functionally bilingual. While Quebec Tories, such as
cabinet minister Maxime Bernier and Senator Leo Housakos, have
publicly supported the NDP proposal, MPs from Ontario, such as
Conservative Larry Miller, feel parliamentary officers only need to
speak one of Canada's official languages.

Alexandrine Latendresse, an NDP MP from Quebec City who introduced the
legislation on bilingualism, said Friday, "Most of the Quebec MPs,
even in the Conservative caucus, seemed to be in agreement" with the
NDP bill. "So I imagine that they wound up understanding that it was
something important and we're really happy about it."

Harper's office downplayed a report in Montreal's La Presse that said
the prime minister recognized making a mistake.

"What happens in caucus remains in caucus," said Harper's spokesman,
Carl Vallee. "We are still studying the NDP bill."

Treasury Board President Tony Clement, the lead minister on the issue,
declined to say what sort of amendments the government might propose
to Latendresse's private member's bill.

"Our government remains committed to Canada's official languages,"
said Clement's spokeswoman, Beverly Young, in an email. "We seek
applications from bilingual Canadians, but in the end, we select the
most deserving applicants - appointments are approved by Parliament."

The federal government has an obligation, under its official languages
legislation adopted in 1969, to protect the vitality of minority
English and French communities across the country, in part by
protecting access to services in the official language of their
choice.

But the controversy over unilingual appointments is heating up just as
the newly elected Parti Quebecois government in Quebec muses about
strengthening the province's French language laws.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Bilingualism+debate+heats+Parliament+Hill/7457996/story.html#ixzz2At9fiopw


-- 
**************************************
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