REPORT

The parliamentary delegation of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) that attended the meeting of the Cooperation and Development Committee (the Committee) held in Quebec City, Canada, from May 24 to 26, 2023, is honoured to present its report.

The delegation was led by Francis Drouin, Member of Parliament, Chair of the Canadian Branch and President of the APF, and also included the following parliamentarians:

· the Honourable Senator Clément Gignac;

· the Honourable Senator Éric Forest;

· Maxime Blanchette‑Joncas, MP; and

· Joël Godin, MP.

The delegation was accompanied by Laurence Brosseau, Advisor to the Canadian Branch, and Julie Pelletier, Association Secretary for the Canadian Branch.

Parliamentarians from eight branches of the APF took part in the Committee’s meeting. In all, three of the four APF regions—Africa, the Americas and Europe—were represented.

In conjunction with the Commission meeting, a symposium entitled “Science, politique et société : quelle place pour l’information scientifique dans les parlements” (Science, Politics and Society: The Role of Scientific Information in Parliaments) was held on May 26, 2023.

COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

The Canadian Branch’s delegation took part in the APF Cooperation and Development Committee’s proceedings on May 24 and 25, 2023. The Committee examines issues pertaining to human development (health, population and poverty), sustainable development (the environment, energy and agriculture) and economic development through the lenses of cooperation, democracy and solidarity. The meeting was presided over by Mohammed Reda Lahmini (Morocco), who replaced the Chair, Angélique Ngoma (Gabon).

When the meeting opened, Senators Forest and Gignac and MP Joël Godin all said they were delighted to be in the company of their APF colleagues.

The Committee began by hearing from everyone around the table about the economic situation in their country. Senator Gignac, the Canadian Branch’s Rapporteur for the Committee, spoke during this portion of the meeting. The Senator mentioned, among other things, the labour shortage in Canada, the increases in interest rates to combat inflation, the concept of an inclusive economic recovery, the fragmentation of the global economy and the energy transition.

The Committee then heard a presentation from Alain Bourque, Executive Director of Ouranos, a climatology and climate change adaptation research consortium. During the discussion that followed the presentation, Senator Forest asked Mr. Bourque whether the fight against climate change could be compared to the efforts that partially restored the ozone layer. Senator Forest also asked Mr. Bourque about the role cities can play in combatting climate change.

Mr. Godin asked Mr. Bourque to speak about the criteria for making green taxation more efficient in the short and medium run. Mr. Godin also questioned Mr. Bourque on the use of French at an event to be held in Montreal in October, the Adaptation Futures 2023 conference, hosted by Ouranos, the Government of Canada and the United Nations World Adaptation Science Programme.

The Committee also heard a presentation on the challenges of food security and biodiversity by Hélène Drainville and Rachel Lévesque of Quebec’s Department of International Relations and La Francophonie. A discussion on the 15^th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) followed. Senator Gignac asked the presenters about the role of parliamentarians and the private sector in biodiversity issues. Later, Senator Forest asked the presenters about stakeholders that are innovating in the area of biodiversity protection.

The Committee considered a number of reports during the meeting. Senator Gignac presented the new draft of the Canadian Branch’s report on the impacts of climate change on island, coastal and waterfront areas in francophone countries. He also thanked Senator Forest for all his work as Rapporteur for the Committee over the past few years.

MP Francis Drouin, President of the APF, gave a speech to open the second day of the Committee’s proceedings. After thanking the Quebec Branch for hosting the event, Mr. Drouin spoke about various important APF matters, including a project to create a legislative corpus on climate change, the recent Africa Regional Assembly in Niamey, Niger, and the application for observer status at the United Nations General Assembly.

During this second day of work, the Committee heard from Cécile Martin‑Phipps, of the Institut de la francophonie pour le développement durable (IFDD). She spoke about the Nexus project, a principled approach based on the positive synergies between agriculture, climate, water, energy and biodiversity. Mr. Drouin asked Ms. Martin-Phipps about the exit strategies associated with the Nexus project.

In addition, the Committee reviewed the monitoring report on international trade negotiations conducted through the World Trade Organization. Senator Gignac commented on the issue of disruptions to global supply chains.

Lastly, at the end of the meeting, the issue of bringing the APF closer to francophone entrepreneurs was raised. Mr. Drouin and Senator Gignac both took part in the discussion on this topic.

SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

The symposium entitled “Science, politique et société : quelle place pour l’information scientifique dans les parlements” (Science, Politics and Society: The Role of Scientific Information in Parliaments) was held on Friday, May 26, 2023. This event was a joint initiative of the National Assembly of Québec and the Chief Scientist of Quebec. One of its goals was to strengthen ties between the scientific community and parliamentarians, both foreign and domestic, and to promote greater access to scientific information in French. Approximately 125 people attended the event, including the francophone parliamentarians who were participating in the Committee meeting.

Francis Drouin moderated a lecture and workshop on including the climate in the law. This portion of the symposium was designed to share and disseminate the preliminary findings of a comparative study on best legislative and parliamentary practices for climate action in the francophone world. The study was commissioned by the APF and the Institut de la Francophonie pour le Développement Durable (IFDD).

Mr. Drouin spoke with Ms. Martin-Phipps, Director of the IFDD, about the study’s objectives, the issue of funding for the fight against climate change and parliamentarians’ awareness of climate issues. The presentation included interludes with comments from Stéphanie Reiche‑de Vigan, an instructor and researcher in climate law and lead author of the APF and IFDD’s joint study.

Respectfully submitted,

Francis Drouin, MP

President, Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie

Chair, Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie