Former politician Madeleine Meilleur has withdrawn her candidacy for commissioner of official languages amid persistent criticism that she could not be impartial.
Independent commissioner promote French and English
The role of the commissioner is to promote the equality of English and French in society, the national government and its institutions. He or she is also mandated to support minority communities where one of these languages predominates.
The commissioner is one of Canada’ independent officers of Parliament and must be approved by both the House of Commons and the Senate. One senator questioned whether Meilleur could be impartial in providing advice on official languages to the federal Liberal government.
Links criticized
Meilleur was a member of the Liberal government of the province of Ontario between 2003 and 2016. There was also concern that two staffers in the national heritage minister’s office had worked for her at that time.
In hearings before the Senate, Meilleur said said she had defended and fought for the rights of minority francophones in Ontario among colleagues who did not necessarily agree with her. She assured senators she was a francophone first and a politician second.
In the end, she sent a letter to the heritage minister withdrawing her candidacy which, she said, had become the object of controversy.
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