Ottawa, February 20, 2001
Linguistic Duality in the Era of Globalization: Canada's Comparative Advantage
Speech Delivered to the Regroupement des gens d'affaires
Dr. Dyane Adam – Commissioner of Official Languages
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Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a great pleasure for me to speak at this monthly breakfast organized by the Regroupement des gens d'affaires of the Ottawa-Hull region.
As you probably know, my concern, as Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, is to ensure respect for the official language minorities and promote our linguistic duality. This role prompts me to speak to you about a subject of mutual interest: languages and the economy in the context of globalization.
My talk this morning affords a good opportunity for me to address a subject that is becoming ever more topical due to the growing influence of globalization in our lives and in society in general. My goal is to encourage you, as business people, to give some thought to the need to modernize public debate about our linguistic duality and our bilingualism. What I propose to you is another way of looking at this fundamental characteristic of Canadian society in terms of the economic advantages it gives us, both individually and collectively, at a time when markets are becoming globalized.
A number of academics have examined the question of the economic advantages accruing to a society because of its bilingual or multilingual character. Despite the relative newness of this area of study and the preliminary nature of the research done to date, it is invariably found that people speaking different languages who are in contact and who mingle with one another are to some extent obliged or at least encouraged to learn those languages.
In itself, there is nothing new in this observation. What is new, however, is the finding that the advantages arising from this linguistic synergy are measurable on two levels: the individual and the collective.
In itself, as Harold Chorney, professor of public policy at Concordia University, points out, the mere fact of acquiring linguistic knowledge and skills has a decisive positive impact on a person's economic potential. In addition to indicating that a worker has above-average aptitude and greater adaptability, knowledge of another language helps to increase an individual's chances of playing a larger role in society. Seen from this perspective, a person's social participation may become considerably greater because of his or her linguistic knowledge. In short, as the writer Julien Green said, [trans.] "We are as many people as the languages we know."
Such are the individual advantages that knowledge of one or more other languages affords. I wish, however, to emphasize the collective advantages that openness to bilingualism and to cultural diversity bring.
The English and French linguistic communities, to be sure, give us access to two of the great world cultures, and their cultural vitality enables us daily to affirm our originality in the concert of nations. This advantage consists in being a member of both the Commonwealth, which has 56 member countries, and of the international Francophonie, which has 47.
While we are familiar with the cultural advantages brought by our duality and by such international links, what about the strictly economic ones?
Just think about our particular way of doing things and our openness to the linguistic and cultural diversity of our trading partners. The synergy that is routinely produced by our two official languages, with their two ways of conceptualizing things, also generates our unique know-how and the originality of our products. It makes Canada a society at once more sophisticated, more innovative and more open to economic and technological change.
You no doubt are aware that, with the globalization of production and the liberalization of trade, these characteristics are important assets in a situation where Canada depends more and more on international trade for its economic growth. In addition to being able to communicate more easily with clients all over the world, Canadian business people can also be more desirable partners in the eyes of certain countries concerned about cultural and linguistic diversity.
With the proliferation of new information technologies, the development of the Internet and the advent of the knowledge economy, we are experiencing a veritable revolution that is already having an impact on all sectors of our economic activity.
The rapid development of E-commerce, particularly in languages other than English, is an example of the new opportunities available to us. The business community in Ottawa will be in an especially good position to seize this opportunity and secure a still larger place in E-commerce in French. For, if the Internet abolishes the boundaries of space and time, it does not abolish those of language. To succeed in selling on the Internet, you must speak the client's language. It is up to you to take advantage of this rapidly expanding market by developing French-language content and services on your Web sites.
Since the creation of wealth now requires the development and use of knowledge, it has become clear that our human capital is the key to our prosperity. This revolution also brings with it its share of disruptions in the labour market and greater mobility of specialized workers.
In this context, language skills are without doubt a valuable asset to such workers. However, a community's bilingualism and openness to diversity are just as valuable in attracting workers, who also no longer know any frontiers. There has been much talk about the brain drain, apparently caused by our less competitive tax policy than that of the Americans. But have we ever considered the attractive power of our society on those foreign workers who come to settle here because they have chosen the right to diversity rather than the melting pot?
The same could be said of the thousands of foreign students who, each year, are attracted to Canada by high-quality university education and by research programs available in both official languages. The Ottawa-Hull region has a great advantage in this respect with its five English-, French- and Spanish-language universities with international reputations, as well as its many post secondary institutions offering occupational training adapted to the needs of business.
Let us not forget that these students also come here for the advantages that a society open to linguistic duality and cultural diversity offers. When they return to their home countries, they take back with them some of our values and our vision of the world, at the same time expanding the network of contacts of our professors and business people.
No matter how we look at them, linguistic duality and bilingualism are increasingly perceived as a comparative advantage and an added value in the context of globalization. This is certainly more obvious here in Ottawa, the bilingual capital of our country.
This is all the more important, it must be added, since we are beginning to see loom on the horizon the future free trade zone of the Americas, which will bring millions of Spanish and Portuguese speakers into our continental market. With its four great official languages, our language industries will no doubt be one of the sectors experiencing strong growth in the years ahead. But, more generally, the expansion of our trade with the Americas is bound to mitigate the current influence of English and provide a commercial advantage to those who are sensitive to the linguistic and cultural diversity of others. The Ottawa region, as well as Canada, is already well positioned in this regard.
It is clear that the value of our linguistic duality can be measured in more ways than merely in terms of symbolism or identity. With the benefit of hindsight, it is legitimate to say that Pearson and Trudeau, the fathers of official bilingualism, were ahead of their time. Thirty years after its promulgation, the Official Languages Act and the culture of respect for the rights of linguistic minorities appear as a heritage whose value is still growing, especially in the era of globalization.
Conclusion
I therefore invite you, as leaders of the economic community, to reinvent our linguistic duality every day and to view it from the perspective of the various advantages it brings us, individually and collectively. I invite you to value and promote what distinguishes us on the international scene by continuing to assert our identity, by together developing our distinctiveness. For in a new century where competition and innovation are the alpha and omega of business, originality is the key to success.
Without going so far as to say that we must "privatize" Canada's linguistic duality, I nevertheless invite you, as economic leaders, to break the monopoly that politicians have too long held in this regard. The truth is that our linguistic duality now transcends politics and identity. It gives Canada a wider vision of the world and a unique way of doing things that is our trademark in the context of globalization.
Thank you.
