QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Canadian Heritage
Modernization of the Official Languages Act
September 25, 2025
Minister, earlier you answered a question about the implementation of the Official Languages Act and deadlines for making orders to add parts of the act.
One part of the act covers the use of French in private businesses under federal jurisdiction in Quebec. When will that part of the act come into force?
As I was saying to one of your colleagues, there are three regulations that need to be implemented. Two of the three will be released in the coming weeks, and the third set of regulations needs a little more work, but will be done by the end of this year.
What about this part of the act specifically?
It will be by the end of the year at the latest. Obviously, until it’s made public, I can’t tell you which one or ones, but there are two coming in the next few weeks, and the third by the end of the year.
At the beginning of your presentation, you said, and I’m paraphrasing, that if we don’t invest in our official languages, we will not succeed, or something to that effect. You talked about $4 billion, but since there will be a 15% cut, we’re actually talking about $3.4 billion in investments. Has the Prime Minister excluded official languages from the budget cuts?
For starters, I disagree with your characterization of what you call “cuts.” Secondly, I can’t tell you what I don’t know. I don’t know what will be in the November 4 budget. The Minister of Finance is in the process of drafting the budget, and we won’t know the outcome of that process until November 4.
