NDP welcomes Conservative flip-flop on bilingual Officers of Parliament

The NDP is pleased that Conservatives finally listened to reason and admitted that the appointment of a unilingual Anglophone Auditor General was a mistake, and called on them to adopt the New Democrats' bill requiring bilingualism for Officers of Parliament.

“It took Stephen Harper a long time to acknowledge his mistake, but better late than never,” said NDP Democratic Reform Deputy Critic Alexandrine Latendresse. “I hope they will now put their words into action and support the bill I proposed with my colleague, Yvon Godin, on the bilingualism of Officers of Parliament.”

According to the New Democrat bill, bilingualism should be a requirement for Parliament’s ten key positions, in particular for the positions of Auditor General, Chief Electoral Officer and the Commissioner of Official Languages.

Tabled last spring, the bill is due to be debated this fall in the House of Commons.