Thursday, 29 September 2011 16:03
Debates from the Senate - Question Period
Hon. Maria Chaput: Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate and concerns the Prime Minister's new director of communications. The gentleman in question wrote an incendiary column about Quebec and Canada's two official languages.
This summer, columnist Angelo Persichilli spoke about Canadian bilingualism as an enormous waste defended by crusaders for French. Yet he was hired by the Prime Minister to be his director of communications. Does the government understand the message it is sending to Canadians who support bilingualism and to francophone communities across the country in hiring this man as the Prime Minister's main spokesperson?
Hon. Marjory LeBreton (Leader of the Government): I thank the honourable senator for the question. I look at Senator Munson and am reminded that he once was a journalist and reported on air. In the context of his position as former director of communications for Mr. Chrétien, he could have been called up on a few things, as well. I can think of a few.
In any event, I want to assure Senator Chaput that Mr. Persichilli wrote the column when he was a columnist with the Toronto Star, I believe. The views and comments expressed in that article do not reflect the Prime Minister's opinion or, for that matter, the government's opinion. We have a stellar record in terms of the implementation of the Official Languages Act and absolute linguistic duality in this country.
Mr. Persichilli is an outstanding Canadian with a long history of service in the ethnocultural media. He is an outstanding individual. Other hires in the Prime Minister's Office will acquit themselves extremely well and represent the views of francophones across the country, in particular in the province of Quebec.
Hon. Jim Munson: Does the honourable leader have any examples? I would never say anything bad about a French Canadian because I married one. Thank you.
Senator LeBreton: No, no, no. The honourable senator misunderstood me. I was saying that generally, when journalists are on air or writing columns, they make comments and participate in discussions that they might not have made or participated in had they known that one day they might become a director of communications in a prime minister's office. That is all I was saying.