As I probably will not be allowed to say anything in committee, I would like to propose an alternative explanation and hope that my friends and colleagues will look in that direction, and that is in the direction of the Prime Minister’s Office that writes all the speeches for Conservative members.

I do not happen to believe that Bev Oda lied, by the way, at least she did not lie when she initially said she did not put the word “not” in there. I can use her name as she is no longer in this place. It is clear to me from the chronology of events on the signing of those documents that she signed the document to approve funding to KAIROS, and that subsequently the Prime Minister’s Office told her she was not allowed to do that because “we do not like those people”. That office put in the “not”, and she covered for it. That, to me, is the chronology that makes the most sense.

As a somewhat objective observer, the chronology that makes sense in this instance is that an over-torqued speech was handed to a member who then read it and realized that he could not live with having said something he never saw.

I hope that when this goes to committee we will seek out the truth, and not just seek to destroy one member’s reputation. As I said, I know the member to be a good person.

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Thursday the committee members again heard testimonies from four organizations, divided into two groups. For the first hour, committee members listened to representatives from the Association Canadienne d’Éducation du Langue Française and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. These groups provide pedagogic material for teachers. ACÉLF also organises exchanges for FLS students to go live in francophone communities and practice their French. In the second half of the meeting, the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers (website in French only) and the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers made their testimonies. These organisations work to promote bilingualism and provide resources for teachers and students. As with previous groups, these two organisations are working to promote the use of French outside of the classroom.

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