The debate prompted Quebec's Maxime Bernier to come out in support of the bill, the Language Skills Act, last month before his government officially took a position.
While some cabinet colleagues were sitting on the fence, some have openly opposed the principle that the officers of Parliament should speak both French and English.
"For any job, it doesn't matter where, I think in order to qualify, it has to be on merit and you should have to speak at least one of the official languages," said Ontario MP Larry Miller, following the daily question period in the House of Commons on Monday. "As long as the person can speak one of our official languages, French or English, that should not disqualify them, either way. If the person can only speak French, it should not keep them from getting a job."
His comments drew an immediate rebuke from one of his Conservative colleagues in the Senate who supports the bill tabled by NDP MP Alexandrine Latendresse.
"Officers of the Parliament of Canada who aren't functionally bilingual are not qualified," said Leo Housakos, a senator from Montreal who was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in December 2008.
The legislation would require anyone appointed to one of 10 different positions, including the chief electoral officer, the lobbying commissioner and the conflict-of-interest and ethics officer, to "be able to understand English and French without the aid of an interpreter and to express himself or herself clearly in both official languages," at the time of his or her appointment.
A longtime Quebec Conservative organizer suggested that the legislation was planted by the New Democrats to embarrass the governing party, but warned that Conservatives have no choice but to support the proposal.
"The difficulty is if the Conservatives, for whatever reason, vote against that, it will drive yet another nail into the coffin of the party in Quebec," said Peter White, who stepped down as head of a Quebec Conservative riding association earlier in 2012 after reaching the maximum number of consecutive term limits.
White said the issue strikes a chord for all francophones in and outside of Quebec, explaining that it could also boost support for the province's independence movement if the government handles it the wrong way.
"What francophone Quebecers want above all is to be recognized and respected as francophones within the country that they helped to found," White told Postmedia News.
"And if now their federal government refuses to acknowledge that the officers of their federal Parliament have got to speak both English and French, it is an incredible slap in the face and it will create a huge uproar in Quebec that is playing right into the hands, of course, of the separatists."
The issue has sparked some conflicting positions among other members of Harper's cabinet. Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Minister James Moore initially said he was opposed to the NDP proposal in early May, but suggested at the end of the month that officers of Parliament should be bilingual.
White said that Harper's Quebec lieutenant and industry minister, Christian Paradis, should be ashamed of himself for failing to join Bernier and others who said they supported the bill.
But, in theory, the government could undermine the NDP bill by shutting down Parliament in the fall and starting a new session with a Throne Speech and its own version of the legislation.
"I can confirm that the government is studying the private member's bill and will make its position known in due time," said Aaron Scheewe, a spokesman for Treasury Board President Tony Clement.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Mike De Souza
No comments:
Post a Comment