The New Democrats say the Ford government has a chance to restore Franco-Ontarian services that they cut in the fall economic statement.
In his role as Finance Minister, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli announced the French-Language Services Commissioner was moving to the Ombudsman’s office and plans to create a Francophone university were cancelled.
However, Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas held a news event in North Bay on Tuesday where she outlined how the services can be restored.
On Wednesday, the Legislature will debate an NDP motion calling for the Tories to reverse their position on both issues.
Gelinas says when it comes to the language commissioner, there are no savings at all because the entire office, including staff, are transferring to the Ombudsman’s office.
Gelinas says the NDP want the language office to remain intact because under its current format it’s independent.
“Right now the French-Language Service Commissioner reports directly to the Assembly and can speak freely without worrying about something the government wants to hear or doesn’t want to hear,” she said.
On the issue of the Francophone university, Gelinas says the annual operating cost is $4.2 million.
She says while that’s a lot of money for ordinary people when compared to the provincial government’s overall budget of $132-billion, the amount is very small.
“But it will generate huge economic opportunities,” Gelinas said.
“People who go to the university will be well trained and bilingual and will contribute to our economy way more than the $4.2 million a year that the university needs.”
Gelinas says for decades in the education field, Franco-Ontarians have been involved in a constant struggle to secure rights and services.
She says it wasn’t until the late 1960s that Franco-Ontarians finally had their own French public schools at the elementary level meaning students no longer had to attend bilingual schools.
Francophone high schools followed several years later and then about 20 years ago Ontario finally had a Francophone college with the creation of College Boreal.
“Every time the government gave French people an opportunity to go to a Francophone school, it changed things for the better,” Gelinas said.
Fedeli has said that Francophone students aren’t denied a post-secondary French education because 10 post-secondary institutions in Ontario carry 300 Francophone programs.
However, Gelinas says the students are still big losers in all this because of the province’s university funding formula.
She says funding is based on the number of students enrolled in programs and by default, because there aren’t as many Francophone students as there are Anglophones, the French-language programs get short-changed.
She says often this results in students going out of Ontario to get a French-language university education.
Gelinas is hopeful that after Wednesday’s motion is debated and the vote follows, some Tory MPPs will side with the NDP and reverse the cuts.
She hopes Fedeli is one of those MPPs.
That’s because the Tory MPP tends to use economic arguments when making a case and Gelinas says since the NDP have shown there’s no money saved by moving the language commissioner, Fedeli should vote in favour of the motion.
Moose news asked her what the NDP would think of Fedeli if he voted against the motion and Gelinas responded: “we would have to question his knowledge and support of the Francophone community.”