HOUSE OF COMMONS RALLIES BEHIND NDP VISION ON BILINGUALISM

Members of Parliament from all parties vote in favour of Bill C-419

OTTAWA — On the 50th anniversary of the Commission of Inquiry on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, a major step was taken today to strengthen bilingualism in our federal institutions following the passage by the House of Commons of the NDP’s Bill C-419 on agents of Parliament.

“In the eyes of the NDP, it is essential that Francophones across Canada be served in French by the senior public servants who are at the head of our greatest democratic institutions,” said NDP Deputy Critic for Democratic Reform and sponsor of the bill, Alexandrine Latendresse (Louis-Saint-Laurent). “That’s why we introduced this bill: to ensure that French is respected in Ottawa.”

Historically, bilingualism has always been considered a necessary skill to occupy any of the ten positions covered by Bill C-419, such as Auditor General, Chief Electoral Officer and Commissioner of Official Languages.

“But ignoring this well-established tradition, the Conservatives have appointed a unilingual auditor general,” added NDP Official Languages critic Yvon Godin
(Acadie-Bathurst). It was high time to enshrine this principle in law to prevent such a situation from happening again.”

“With Bill C-419, all federal parties have shown that they can work together for the good of all Canadians. We can be proud,” concludes Alexandrine Latendresse.

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