QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Canadian Heritage
Commissioner of Official Languages
September 25, 2025
Welcome, minister. The Commissioner of Official Languages plays a vital role in protecting the language rights of Canadians. Last January, you extended his term by six months until July, and now it has been extended by another six months. This is reminiscent of your government’s fiasco when you kept an acting commissioner in office for nearly two years while you tried to appoint a close Liberal friend, Madeleine Meilleur. Minister, are these delays happening because you are once again trying to appoint a Liberal to a position that should be impartial?
Thank you for your question. Honourable senators, I’m very pleased to be here today. I think this is the fourth or fifth time that I have appeared before the Senate as a minister since I took office in 2019.
Senator, I do not agree with you at all. Our government has done more than any other federal government for official languages in Canada. We modernized the Official Languages Act. We invested $4 billion in official languages, which is an all‑time record in Canada. For the first time in the history of the country, we met the target of 4% francophone immigration outside Quebec. Several governments tried unsuccessfully to meet that target, but we succeeded. We will be at 7% by the end of the year, and our goal is to reach 12% by 2029 in terms of francophone immigration outside Quebec, a level that will enable French-speaking communities outside Quebec to maintain and even increase their numbers. This will also enable us to build increasingly resilient and vibrant French-speaking communities across the country.
I would also like to give a shout-out to all Franco-Ontarians today as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Franco-Ontarian flag.
Minister, while the government is tinkering with the interim appointment of a Commissioner of Official Languages, it is doing exactly the same with the Parliamentary Budget Officer, another officer of Parliament whose term of office was extended in piecemeal fashion.
Why does your government have so much difficulty appointing officers of Parliament within a reasonable amount of time? Can you promise us that the government will appoint a new Commissioner of Official Languages by the end of the year? This is not just about money: The Commissioner of Official Languages position is very important.
Senator, Canada’s official languages cannot be safeguarded without investing money. I don’t see how it can be done any other way. Whether we’re talking about Quebec’s English-speaking minority or francophone minorities outside Quebec, unless we invest in our official languages, we will miss the mark. Only historic investments will put these communities on a better footing. Of course, other challenges will remain.
To answer your question, I have extended the commissioner’s term just once, considering that I was only appointed as Minister of Official Languages after the last election. As for a commitment to appoint a new commissioner by the end of the year, the answer is yes.
