Question Period Note: Federal Budget 2023

Budget 2023, announced on March 28, 2023, provides for more than $1 billion in new investments in official languages, bringing the total funding for the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028 to over $4 billion over five years.

• The 2023 Budget reflects the seriousness of the Government's commitment to the protection of official language minority communities and the promotion of official languages.
• The Budget provides the largest investment ever made by a government in official languages: $1.4 billion over 5 years for the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028 in addition to $208 million over 5 years to expand employment assistance for official language minority communities.

• Considering the continued investments, a total amount of more than 4 billion dollars over 5 years will be dedicated to official languages.

• The Government of Canada's Budget 2023, announced on March 28, 2023, provides for new investments of more than $1 billion over five years in official languages. These new investments will be guided by four pillars and two distinct initiatives, as follows:
o Francophone immigration: $123.2 million to boost Francophone immigration in Canada, including support for Canadian employers to recruit French-speaking foreign workers, and increased support for these immigrants once they arrive in Canada;
o Official languages as a tool for economic development: $117 million to ensure the prosperity of official language minority communities, including increased support for the non-profit organizations that serve these communities, for the training of bilingual nurses and personal support care workers, and for the promotion of French-language research;
o Official languages at the heart of Canadian identity: $111.4 million to bolster bilingualism in our justice system, including through the translation of judgments of national interest, and to support cultural and educational activities, including the training of early childhood educators in minority-language communities outside Quebec; and,
o Government of Canada leadership: $22.1 million for a centre of expertise to ensure federal institutions fulfill their duty, under the Official Languages Act, to enhance the vitality of official language minority communities, and to support data and research on the number of children who have a right to be educated in the minority language.
o In addition, Budget 2023 also proposes to provide funding of $679.2 million over five years, beginning in 2023-24, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support equal access to education services of equal quality by working with provinces and territories to facilitate access to quality minority language education, second language learning opportunities and bilingual government services across Canada.
o Budget 2023 also proposes to provide the Department of Canadian Heritage with $24.5 million over five years, beginning in 2023-24, to double funding for the Court Challenges Program.
o Finally, Budget 2023 proposes to provide $208 million in funding over five years, beginning in 2023-24, and $54 million per year thereafter to Employment and Social Development Canada to expand the Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities to assist local organizations within these communities to provide employment assistance services.
• These new investments would bring total funding for official languages to over $4 billion over five years.
• As a reminder, the 2021 Budget proposed to provide:
o $180.4 million over three years, beginning in 2021-2022 to Canadian Heritage to help students across the country achieve higher levels of bilingualism. This funding will be used to enhance French immersion and French second language programs in schools and post-secondary institutions, to help provinces and territories meet the high demand from students and parents for French immersion and French second language spaces, to strengthen the strategy in place for the recruitment and retention of teachers, and to support the learning of French from an early age.
o $121.3 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage to provide quality post-secondary education in the minority language in Canada.
o $81.8 million over two years, starting in 2021-2022, to Canadian Heritage to support the construction, renovation and development of educational and community spaces that serve official language minority communities.
o $6.4 million to Canadian Heritage and $2.3 million to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat over two years, starting in 2021-2022, to modernize the Official Languages Act.
• In addition, on December 14, 2021, the Economic and Budget Update provided $16 million in funding for Canadian Heritage, the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Commissioner of Official Languages and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for 2022-2023 to support the implementation of the bill to achieve substantive equality of English and French and to strengthen the Official Languages Act, once it receives Royal Assent.

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