Community groups representing English-speaking Quebecers “felt that they were heard” during the pre-budget consultation with provincial Finance Minister Eric Girard, says QCGN Director General Sylvia Martin-Laforge. The QCGN called for more equitable funding for English services during the meeting.
“It was a good meeting,” says QCGN Director General Sylvia Martin-Laforge of the pre-budget consultation with Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard. The QCGN called for more equitable funding for English services, as well as for wide-ranging hearings to be held on the potential negative impacts that could be created by Bill 96.
Non-profit organizations serving English-speaking Quebecers are seriously underfunded compared with francophone groups and thus often unable to provide important and sometimes essential services. That is among the messages the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) and other community stakeholders brought to Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard during a pre-budget consultation this afternoon in Quebec City.
“No legislation, past or present, will damage our community more than Bill 96,” reads an op-ed by QCGN President Eva Ludvig: “Moving forward the QCGN strongly suggests that [Minister Eric] Girard and his government hold formal consultations on the regulations that implement Bill 96.”
Eric Girard speaks with CBC Montreal’s Debra Arbec about his new role as Minister Responsible for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers. Girard says that he plans to meet with the QCGN to discuss concerns surrounding provincial legislation seen as detrimental to the English-speaking community.
Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard now also holds the role of minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers. “This appointment is a major first step in ensuring the concerns of English-speaking Quebecers are heard,” says QCGN President Eva Ludvig.
Premier François Legault’s new cabinet appears to be smoothing the waters with English-speaking Quebecers, writes the Montreal Gazette’s Philip Authier. The QCGN welcomed the appointment of Finance Minister Eric Girard to the role of minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers.
The Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) is delighted that Finance Minister Éric Girard, a powerful voice in Cabinet, has been named Minister Responsible for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers.
The QCGN is funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.
