Report

The parliamentary delegation of the Canadian Branch that attended the Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) held in the Parliament of the Wallonia–Brussels Federation from March 21 to 23, 2018, has the honour to present its report. The delegation was composed of Mr. Robert Aubin, Member of Parliament and Chair of the Committee.

Numerous parliamentarians from the four regions of the francophonie participated in this meeting. In addition to the Canadian Branch, the following branches were represented: Belgium/Wallonia–Brussels Federation, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius (Island), Niger, Quebec, Romania, Seychelles, Switzerland, Chad and Togo.

Address by the Chair of the Committee

Mr. Robert Aubin, M.P. (Canada) and Chair of the Committee, welcomed the attendees and opened the proceedings. The assembly adopted the agenda, as well as the minutes and record of decisions from the meeting held in Luxemburg on July 9, 2017.

The Chair invited the members of the branches present to participate in a round table discussion during which the parliamentarians briefly introduced themselves. In a brief address to the Committee members, the Chair then reviewed the main decisions taken by the Paris office in February that are of interest to the Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

Presentation and review of draft reports

After a presentation by Mr. Fathi Derder, National Councillor (Switzerland), about the draft report of Mr. Imbassou Ouattara Abbas, M.P. (Côte d’Ivoire), entitled “La protection des données personnelles dans l’espace francophone,” (privacy of personal data in the francosphere) and having heard from Mr. Stephan Verschuere, Vice-President of the Association francophone des autorités de protection des données personnelles (AFAPDP), there was much discussion on the substance of this issue, with a view to following up on the report.

Under the guidance of the Committee rapporteur, Mr. Jean Rousselle, M.P. (Quebec), the report “Les déontologues et les codes d’éthique des Parlements dans l’espace francophone” (compliance officers and codes of ethics in parliaments of the francophonie) was then discussed by the Committee members. This draft report provided an opportunity to hear from Mrs. Agnès Roblot-Troizier, compliance officer for the French National Assembly, as well as Ms. Ariane Mignolet, Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly of Quebec. Discussions among the parliamentarians followed these presentations.

We also studied two new draft reports for the first time: “La représentation parlementaire des expatriés dans l’espace francophone” (parliamentary representation of expatriots in the francophonie) by Mrs. Claudine Lepage, Senator (France); and “La place du Parlement et des parlementaires dans l’équilibre des pouvoirs avec leur gouvernement” (the place of parliament and parliamentarians in the balance of power with their government) by Mrs. Nadia El Yousfi, M.P. (Belgium/French Community/Wallonia–Brussels).

Given that the quality of the relationships between the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) is crucial to the continuation of our activities, the Committee was very pleased to hear from His Excellency Stéphane Lopez, Permanent Representative of the OIF to the European Union. Mr. Lopez spoke to us about his role as an influencer, issues related to the membership of Western Balkan countries and the use of French in European institutions.

Parliamentary cooperation programs

Francophone electoral missions

This subject has been raised many times in our committee. For the benefit of new members, Mrs. El-Yousfi reiterated the changes being sought and the progress that has been made toward better relations between the OIF and the APF. Some tension still remains, however, with regard to the equity of the partnership. The Québec City session and the discussions that will be held there on this subject should enable us to take another step in the right direction.

The Noria program

The Noria program has been audited after 15 years of existence. Mr. François Mouterde, associate director of Planète-Publique, was responsible for this study. It was in this capacity that we interviewed him in connection with the presentation of the evaluation report. All of the stakeholders are in agreement as to the program’s virtues, and discussions have begun on how to add value to Noria in terms of its management and flexibility. After hearing from all of the interveners, the Committee Chair undertook to provide the members with the directions he wishes to present to the Québec City office. This approach should give the various branches time to react in order to improve the presentation.

Parliamentary seminars and training courses for parliamentary officials

Once again, the report of Mr. Louis Vlavounou, M.P. (Benin), served as an example of the quality of his work. The precision of the evaluation procedure provides for taking a critical look at each of the activities and correcting the situation as necessary.

The Geoffrey-Dieudonné award

Members were once again delighted with the creation of this prize, which provides for a one-week internship, with all expenses paid out of the APF’s own funds, in a parliament of the francophonie chosen by the winner, with the agreement of the host parliament. According to Ms. Claudine Lepage, who was recently in Cambodia, this year’s recipient, Ms. Kong, is very grateful to the APF.

A discussion ensued on the appropriateness of only offering this award to officials of parliaments in southern countries. The matter will have to be decided by the Québec City office.

Multilateral francophone parliamentary development programs

Committee Chair Robert Aubin (Canada) is closely following the implementation of the report. The program is almost completely implemented in Madagascar, where it will be terminated this year with the end of the legislature.

Things are more complicated in Mali because of the marked slowdown in cooperation activities following the attack in Bamako in November 2015. Apart from various technical actions of the Noria program in Bamako, most of the capacity building activities for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff take place outside Mali.

The Francophone Youth Parliament and national youth parliaments

The Vice-Chair of the Committee, who is from the Africa region, should be the rapporteur for this program. Presentation of the report is therefore postponed until the Africa region appoints a new representative.

The ‘‘Jeunes parlementaires francophones’’ program

Mr. Bruno Lefebvre, M.P. (Belgium/French Community/Wallonia–Brussels) gave us a complete overview of the work and visits by the young parliamentarians enrolled in this program. He also presented the basic criteria that should constitute the by-laws of an official APF network modelled after the women’s network. This young parliamentarians’ network will be formalized in the Québec City office once its by-laws have been reviewed by the APF political committee.

Follow-up on the APF’s strategic framework

The study on the comparative law requirements of French-speaking parliaments conducted by Senator Ngayap (Cameroon) will be relaunched one final time in order to improve the needs assessment. A decision on next steps should be made at the Québec City session of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

Drafting the APF Opinion on the theme of the XVIIe Sommet de la Francophonie

With the summit dates being earlier than usual this year, the period for preparing the Notice has been accelerated. That is why a questionnaire was already sent to the branches.

Update on resolutions

Mr. Robert Aubin (Canada), Chair of the Committee, recalled the desire expressed by the former parliamentary secretary general (SGP) in his strategic framework to reduce the number of resolutions in order to ensure better monitoring by the various parliaments. The summary table developed by Canada and followed by Quebec serves as a model. The Chair thanked these two branches and encouraged others to join the process for the next meeting.

Date and location of next meeting

July 8, 2018 in Québec City.

Other business

Mr. Thierry Vanel, administrative secretary general, asked about the receipt of invitations, access codes and guidelines for making reservations at the Hotel Le Concorde that had been sent out a few days earlier by the National Assembly of Quebec.

Respectfully submitted,

Darrell Samson, M.P.
President of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (CAPF)