Question Period Notes
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In accordance with the Access to Information Act, the government proactively publishes the package of question period notes that were prepared by a government institution for the minister and that were in use on the last sitting day in June and December.
The question period notes may be partially or fully redacted in accordance with the legislation; for example, if the notes contain information related to national security or personal information. (Learn more about exemptions and exclusions.)
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In May 2019, the Government of Canada announced an investment of over 16 million dollars for a free program for learning and maintaining English and French as second languages.
On February 7, 2017, the Government of Canada announced the reinstatement of the modernized Court Challenges Program to improve access to justice and strengthen the protection of constitutional rights. Two independent Experts Panels are responsible for making decisions on funding granted by the Program. Panel meetings to make funding decisions are scheduled for mid-December 2019.
Amended Official Languages Regulations (Communications with and Services to the Public) were registered on June 25, 2019 following extensive cross-country consultations. They represent the first review of the Regulations in 25 years.
Canada and Ontario signed a memorandum of understanding on September 7, 2019, in which both parties agreed to conduct negotiations on the funding for establishing the Université de l’Ontario français following a due diligence process.
On May 9, 2019, the Commissioner of Official Languages publicly released his Annual Report and a position paper on the modernization of the Official Languages Act. Two of the four recommendations in the Annual Report concern the Canadian Heritage, while the other two are addressed to the Prime Minister of Canada.
In the past year, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages handled a record number of 1,086 complaints. The Commissioner says he is able to continue his mandate with the current budget.
In June 2019, The Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie announced a partnership between the Government of Canada and the Association des communautés francophones d’Ottawa (ACFO) in order to support the bilingual character of Canada’s capital.
On June 5, 2018, the departments of Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development announced the launch of the review of the Broadcasting Act, the Telecommunications Act, and the Radiocommunication Act. The Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel has completed its consultations and is expected to publish its final report by the end of January 2020.
Some stakeholders have expressed concerns that CBC/Radio-Canada competes with the private sector for advertising revenues, and recommend that the Government should impose stricter guidelines on CBC/Radio‑Canada with regard to its mandate and focus. On November 14, 2019, CBC/Radio-Canada announced workforce reductions of approximately 30 positions, most of them in the Corporation’s newsroom in Toronto. On November 20, 2019, CBC/Radio-Canada announced that it is reversing its decision to consolidate local radio newscasts in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, in light of backlash from staff, listeners and politicians, including the Yukon Premier and Finance Minister.
In response to recent reporting on the Maison de Radio-Canada project by TVA and Le Journal de Montréal, CBC has confirmed that it will release all the costs related to the new Maison de Radio-Canada when the project is completed, that the new building will be delivered on time on December 31, 2019 and that no additional funding has been requested from the government for the MRC project.