Statement made on 04 November 2010 by Senator Claudette Tardif
Hon. Claudette Tardif (Deputy Leader of the Opposition):
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Yesterday in this chamber, the leader expressed her government's commitment to official language communities and to enforcing the Official Languages Act. However, the measures taken by her government since it came to power in 2006 suggest quite the opposite.
For example, in 2009, the government abolished the Canada Public Service Agency and transferred its responsibilities and the Centre of Excellence for Official Languages to a new organization, the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer of the Treasury Board Secretariat. Departments have since been left to their own devices and do not have the capacity, internally, to understand, interpret and analyze their obligations under the Official Languages Act.
Because these responsibilities changed hands, the public service now lacks official language coordination and champions.
Does the leader believe that her government's decision has anything to do with the poor performance of federal institutions, which, according to Volume II of the report on official languages, are still not managing to promote linguistic duality in Canada and create equitable workplaces?
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