Ontario NDP putting forward motion to reinstate French services

Ontario's New Democrats will be putting forward a motion Wednesday in the legislature calling on the Ford government to reverse cuts to French language services.

Nickel Belt NDP MPP France Gélinas says that the motion is meant to give the government an opportunity to step back.

• Protest rallies against French cuts to continue despite Ford backing down

• Francophone Conservatives defend rearranging of French language services

"You have an opportunity to give back to the Ontario community a full, French language commissioner, who is an independent official of the legislative assembly. And you have an opportunity to give back the French language university that had been promised," Gélinas says.

She says there is no financial benefit to losing the commissioner and stresses that the investment into the Francophone university is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of the budget.

"For the Francophone university, we are talking $4.2 million a year for the next 10 years on a budget of a $132 billion dollars. It is such a small investment that always pays off huge dividends when you have a university educated bilingual workforce that is trained in Ontario and that the Ontario economy is based on a knowledge economy."

Gélinas says the motion will give other politicians the opportunity to voice their concerns and addresse the concerns from both sides of the table.

"The motion is an opportunity for politicians to be on the record. If they are still against it, then we will hear their arguments and we will look into their arguments to see if they're valid or not. If there are no arguments to continue down this path, then don't."

Gélinas also touched on the rallies this Saturday, stating there will be rallies in 41 communities where Francophones and people who support Francophones will gather.

"We live in a democracy when...people speak with one voice, and call on the same message, it is pretty hard for a politician to ignore that," Gélinas says. 

Gelinas was joined by some local constituents from Sudbury and stressed that she wanted their voices to be heard.

"We want Mr. Ford and his government to listen to the people of Sudbury, we have to support the people of Sudbury, and we want them to vote for this motion."

'I think it's important not to just wipe out history'

Lorie-Ann Rainville, originally from northern Ontario, and now lives in France as a literature professor, was in Sudbury visiting. She says the cuts to the French language services hit home for her.

"I take this to heart, saving cultural heritage." Rainville says. "I think it's important not to just wipe out history, which I think is what the Conservatives are attempting to do."

Coming from a bilingual family, Rainville says having French and bilingualism is what identifies Ontario and Canada from the U.S.

"We don't want to be just a mediocre copy of the United States."

Rainville says she hopes by putting this motion forward, Franco-Ontarians will come out stronger out of a sense of solidarity.

"It's when you feel that you're threatened, that you react."