Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2019-05-13 11:45:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)",
        "fr": "M. Kevin Lamoureux (secr\u00e9taire parlementaire de la leader du gouvernement \u00e0 la Chambre des communes, Lib.)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"5909402\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I have some thoughts on this bill's subject matter. I come from the province of Manitoba, where the French language is actually loved and cherished, and it is in fact expanding. When making reference to immigrants, we should think of those hard-working immigrants who truly care about contributing to our society. Often, we will find that their children are going to immersion schools. A number of people speak French, which is a beautiful language and one I wish I could speak. When people hear my surname, most assume that I can speak French. Unfortunately, we did not have the same sort of schooling back then that we have today in the province of Manitoba.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909403\" data-originallang=\"en\">There has been a genuine growth of a beautiful language, a language that should be treated as equal to English, with a high sense of pride. Often, when I go to many events in my constituency, I am amazed when I run into someone of, let us say, Filipino, Punjabi or Indo-Canadian heritage who can speak not only Punjabi or Tagalog, but also English and French. More and more we see what I believe is a very healthy French community in Manitoba. When one really looks at it, one will find that it is a growing community.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909404\" data-originallang=\"en\">I believe that in the province of Quebec, where French is spoken more than English, it will continue to be that way. I am not naive. I understand that there are pressures outside of the province of Quebec with respect to languages, but I do believe that the language itself is something that will continue to be exceptionally well spoken outside of the province of Quebec, where it continues to grow and prosper. Within the province, there are very strong personalities who will ensure that Quebec continues to lead the country and demonstrate to other countries around the world where French is spoken or continues to expand that Canada can be a role model. We can look at the very character and the vibrant society of the province of Quebec and what it has been able to contribute in the past, and it will continue as a community leading on the francophone file.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909405\" data-originallang=\"en\">I do not think that it is all bad news. I was listening to the members opposite, who recognized French for the beautiful language that it is. It will always be an official language of Canada and respected in all regions of our country. As I protect the minority rights of francophones in the province of Quebec, I also encourage others to recognize that so many good things are happening outside the province of Quebec in ensuring that the French language is growing and becoming a larger part of Canadian society. I see that as a good thing.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909406\" data-originallang=\"en\">With respect to citizenship issues, the only thing I would say is that as a government we have done exceptionally well in speeding up the immigration process. It takes nowhere as long today to acquire citizenship, because of the work of the current <a data-HoCid=\"229219\" href=\"/politicians/ahmed-hussen/\" title=\"Ahmed Hussen\">Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship</a>. I see that as a positive thing. We have a minister who really looks at the ways in which we can use immigration as an effective tool to enhance and complement our francophone communities, whether working with Quebec or with other provinces, to see a minority language continue to grow and prosper. I just say that for what it is worth.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"5909402\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, j'aimerais faire part \u00e0 la Chambre de mes r\u00e9flexions sur l'objet de ce projet de loi. Je viens du Manitoba, o\u00f9 la langue fran\u00e7aise est tr\u00e8s pris\u00e9e et en pleine expansion. Lorsqu'on parle des immigrants, il faut penser \u00e0 ces personnes qui travaillent fort et qui cherchent vraiment \u00e0 contribuer \u00e0 la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 canadienne. Souvent, on se rend compte que leurs enfants fr\u00e9quentent des \u00e9coles d'immersion. Un certain nombre de personnes parlent fran\u00e7ais, une tr\u00e8s belle langue que j'aimerais pouvoir parler. Quand les gens entendent mon nom de famille, la plupart supposent que je parle fran\u00e7ais. \u00c0 l'\u00e9poque, au Manitoba, nous n'avions malheureusement pas le m\u00eame genre de scolarisation qu'aujourd'hui.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909403\" data-originallang=\"en\">Cette belle langue conna\u00eet une v\u00e9ritable croissance. Elle suscite une grande fiert\u00e9 et devrait \u00eatre trait\u00e9e sur un pied d'\u00e9galit\u00e9 avec l'anglais. Souvent, lorsque je participe aux nombreux \u00e9v\u00e9nements organis\u00e9s dans ma circonscription, je suis \u00e9tonn\u00e9 de rencontrer des gens d'origine philippine, pendjabie ou indienne qui parlent non seulement le pendjabi ou le tagalog, mais aussi l'anglais et le fran\u00e7ais. On se rend compte de plus en plus que la communaut\u00e9 francophone se porte tr\u00e8s bien au Manitoba. Lorsqu'on y regarde de plus pr\u00e8s, on s'aper\u00e7oit qu'il s'agit d'une communaut\u00e9 en pleine croissance.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909404\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je crois que, dans la province de Qu\u00e9bec, o\u00f9 on parle davantage fran\u00e7ais qu'anglais, la situation demeurera la m\u00eame. Je ne suis pas na\u00eff. Je comprends qu'il existe des pressions linguistiques en dehors du Qu\u00e9bec, mais je crois que le fran\u00e7ais continuera de se porter exceptionnellement bien \u00e0 l'ext\u00e9rieur de la province, o\u00f9 il continue de se propager et d'\u00eatre vivant. La belle province compte des personnalit\u00e9s tr\u00e8s fortes, qui continuent de faire du Qu\u00e9bec un chef de fil national et international et d'assurer la place du Canada en tant que mod\u00e8le pour les pays o\u00f9 le fran\u00e7ais est utilis\u00e9 et o\u00f9 il gagne en popularit\u00e9. Le Qu\u00e9bec poss\u00e8de un caract\u00e8re unique et une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 vivante. Ses contributions pass\u00e9es et futures font de cette province un leader du monde francophone. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909405\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je ne crois pas que ce soit une mauvaise chose. J'\u00e9coutais les d\u00e9put\u00e9s d'en face reconna\u00eetre la beaut\u00e9 de la langue fran\u00e7aise. Ce sera toujours une langue officielle du Canada respect\u00e9e dans toutes les r\u00e9gions du pays. Tout comme je prot\u00e8ge les droits de la minorit\u00e9 francophone du Qu\u00e9bec, j'invite aussi les d\u00e9put\u00e9s \u00e0 reconna\u00eetre toutes les bonnes choses qui se passent \u00e0 l'ext\u00e9rieur du Qu\u00e9bec pour assurer la croissance de la langue fran\u00e7aise et lui accorder une place plus importante dans la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 canadienne. Je consid\u00e8re que c'est une bonne chose. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"5909406\" data-originallang=\"en\">En ce qui a trait aux questions li\u00e9es \u00e0 la citoyennet\u00e9, tout ce que je peux r\u00e9pondre, c'est que le gouvernement a accompli un travail exceptionnel pour acc\u00e9l\u00e9rer le processus d'immigration. Le temps requis pour atteindre la citoyennet\u00e9 est beaucoup moins long qu'avant, gr\u00e2ce aux efforts de l'actuel <a data-HoCid=\"229219\" href=\"/politicians/ahmed-hussen/\" title=\"Ahmed Hussen\">ministre de l\u2019Immigration, des R\u00e9fugi\u00e9s et de la Citoyennet\u00e9</a>. Je consid\u00e8re que c'est un \u00e9l\u00e9ment positif. Nous avons un ministre qui cherche vraiment \u00e0 faire de l'immigration un outil efficace pour faire cro\u00eetre et appuyer les collectivit\u00e9s francophones, que ce soit en collaboration avec le Qu\u00e9bec ou avec d'autres provinces, afin que cette langue minoritaire continue de gagner des locuteurs et de s'\u00e9panouir. Je le dis pour ce que cela vaut. </p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2019/5/13/kevin-lamoureux-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/kevin-lamoureux/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4032/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "10622676",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Private Members' Business",
        "fr": "Affaires \u00c9manant Des D\u00e9put\u00e9s"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Citizenship Act",
        "fr": "La Loi sur la citoyennet\u00e9"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2019/5/13/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2019%2F5%2F13%2F"
    }
}