Discussion · Government Orders
Mario Beaulieu Bloc Québécois
“The government claims it protects French, but it spent 120 million dollars promoting English in Quebec and is cutting 340 translation jobs. It also wants taxpayers instead of digital companies to pay fees. I want to hear my colleague's thoughts on this hypocrisy.”
“Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his excellent speech, which very accurately described the hypocrisy that we are seeing. The Prime Minister has told us that he considers French to be non-negotiable in tariff negotiations. Furthermore, federal language policy is supposed to have been changed, since there is a new Official Languages Act that is supposed to strengthen the position of French in Quebec. However, last year $120 million from the official languages budget went to promote and strengthen English in Quebec. Two days ago, there was a press conference with people from the Translation Bureau. They said that there is no budget for translation and that 340 positions will be cut. We are seeing much the same thing here. The government says that it does not want to impose levies on digital platforms because they might pass the cost on to consumers, so they plan to pay those levies with taxpayers’ money instead. What does my colleague think about that?”
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his excellent speech, which very accurately described the hypocrisy that we are seeing. The Prime Minister has told us that he considers French to be non-negotiable in tariff negotiations. Furthermore, federal language policy is supposed to have been changed, since there is a new Official Languages Act that is supposed to strengthen the position of French in Quebec. However, last year $120 million from the official languages budget went to promote and strengthen English in Quebec. Two days ago, there was a press conference with people from the Translation Bureau. They said that there is no budget for translation and that 340 positions will be cut. We are seeing much the same thing here. The government says that it does not want to impose levies on digital platforms because they might pass the cost on to consumers, so they plan to pay those levies with taxpayers’ money instead. What does my colleague think about that?