Madam Speaker, I want to mention that I will be splitting my time with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. I have not seen her in a long time and I have missed her. I hope to soon be able to sit with her in the House.
I am the member of Parliament for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell. I like to tell my Ontario colleagues that I represent the riding where the sun rises in Ontario.
Madam Speaker, I love these exchanges. As long as it is French, we can understand each other. I get interrupted from time to time, but it is not a big deal.
As I was saying, I am a proud Franco-Ontarian. More than 60% of my constituents are francophone. Although I am a Franco-Ontarian, I do not have the same day-to-day experiences as my Franco-Ontarian colleagues elsewhere in the province. It is very easy to find francophone schools in my riding. It is very easy to access an education in French within 100 kilometres. Although we do have our share of problems and there are some gaps, I know that my reality is completely different from the reality of my francophone colleagues in York Region, for example, who may not have access to the kinds of francophone institutions or community centres I have access to here. This is why we need an action plan on official languages, which we presented in 2018.
There is another thing I want to mention. Since 2015, I have had a very good working relationship and friendship with the member for Sudbury, who will not be running in the next election. All of us Franco-Ontarians get along well, including the member for Nickel Belt. We are a small group, each with our own accents. People from Kapuskasing have an accent, francophones from Orléans have an accent. The francophone accents in Hawkesbury and Embrun may be different, but that is okay. We celebrate our accents when we speak French. We make a good team.
On that dark Monday back in 2018, we all stood in solidarity with the member for Orléans and the member for Ottawa—Vanier. We worked together to inform the minister responsible for official languages. I know that she even hired some Franco-Ontarians, including a francophone from Casselman who is very familiar with the challenges our community faces.
I am a graduate of the University of Ottawa and the Cité collégiale. I was fortunate enough to sit on the board of directors of the Cité collégiale, but I also studied at Laurentian University, where I did a personal finance course. It has been quite some time since I have had any interaction with Laurentian University, but today I am thinking of Dr. Yves Robichaud. I remember my conversation with him. I do not know if he is still at the university or if he was a victim of what happened recently, but I want to thank him, because he had an impact on my career and my education.
Before I studied at Laurentian University, I knew there was a partnership between the Cité collégiale and Laurentian University for the personal finance course. I had called Laurentian University, and Dr. Yves Robichaud called me back right away to tell me that I could take an online course, no problem. Funnily enough, I often meet people from Sudbury who move here. It is often older people who move for family reasons. I was just a guy from eastern Ontario taking classes at a university with connections to northern Ontario. I know people from northern Ontario often come east to study or work, but I thought it was a rare for a student from eastern Ontario to go north. This is important, and it shows how connected our francophone community is.
Getting back to Dr. Robichaud, if he is still at the university, has lost colleagues or has lost his own job, I would like him to know that my thoughts are with him, with all of his colleagues and with the entire student community at the university.
I hear some members say that we must find a solution, that we should have done so over 24 hours ago. The fact of the matter is that it will not be so simple. The federal government is not responsible for finding a solution. Yes, we will be partners, as we always have been, whether through official languages programs or funding provided by Canadian Heritage. However, it is the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities that must find a solution, in collaboration with Laurentian University. This we know very well, having heard my colleagues' speeches during this debate. The federal government will be there, represented by the Minister of Official Languages. The Prime Minister has said that the government would absolutely be there.
Right now, there is no plan. I do not say this to point the finger at the provincial government, but it will take some time. It is important to take the time to prepare a solid business plan to ensure the viability of Laurentian University. We must not find ourselves in another emergency debate in the House of Commons in five years, rehashing the same arguments and accusing one government of not having done this and another of not having done that. This means we must take the time. I heard one of my Conservative colleagues say that it is really a dark day for our community, but we must roll up our sleeves and get to work. We can find a solution, as we did for the Université de l'Ontario français.
I disagree that the federal government should fully finance Laurentian University or any other Canadian university. The federal government must be a partner but it should not finance universities 100% because they fall under provincial jurisdiction. I would hate for the federal government to encourage provinces to stop investing in post-secondary education for our minority communities, which is what would happen.
It is true that, for the Université de l'Ontario français, we said we would pay for the first four years as long as the provincial government committed to paying for the next four years. We have a solid agreement that will last at least eight years under which the Université de l'Ontario français will get $40 million from the provincial government and $40 million from the federal government. This will make the institution viable and give our community access to programs in French.
In closing, let me say that I know exactly what our francophone community is going through. I myself was raised in a Franco-Ontarian family. My father was a founding member of the Association française des municipalités de l'Ontario. He was not as lucky as me for his high school studies. I lost track of how many times he told me about how, when he was in school, the minute there was one anglophone in a class, that class was taught in English even if the other 30 students were francophone. In the 1960s and 1970s, that generation fought for its rights. It fought for access to education in French.
I know that all of us, the NDP, the Conservative Party and even the Bloc Québécois, will work together. I am pleased to hear Quebec speaking today about francophone communities outside Quebec because that is really important. I heard my Bloc Québécois colleagues say that we francophones represent only 3% of the population of North America. It is true that we are very much in the minority. It is true that we must act. It is true that French does not have the same status as English because we are a minority throughout North America.
Despite everything, I am confident. I am confident because our government includes people like the Prime Minister, who recognized that the official languages action plan and the budgets were not enough and increased this funding. Our government recognized that for francophones to have access to French institutions and French-language education, it had to recognize the issue of—