SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act and provides that the Governor in Council must order a reduction in the cash contribution by the federal government to a province under the Canada Health and Social Transfer where the Supreme Court has declared, during the preceding year, that one or more provincial laws are unconstitutional on the grounds that they infringe the rights and freedoms guaranteed to the French linguistic minority of that province by subsection 16(2), section 16.1, subsections 17(2) or 18(2), section 19, subsection 20(2) or section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The enactment also provides that the Governor in Council shall direct that an amount equal to the reduction in the cash contribution be paid to institutions or agencies in the province that, in the opinion of the Minister of Human Resources Development, are dedicated to the protection or promotion of the use of French in the province or will be able to offer social programs in French to all or part of the French linguistic minority of the province.