TORONTO — In a rare public disagreement among political allies, federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has expressed his concern about cuts in services for Franco-Ontarians to Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Scheer’s office said he met with Ford and his minister for francophone affairs, Caroline Mulroney, on Saturday on the sidelines of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party’s policy convention in Etobicoke. His spokesperson, Virginie Bonneau, said Scheer had the meeting to “voice his concerns” and those of his caucus colleagues.

“We should always try to improve the services to official-language-minority communities, not reduce them, because Canada’s bilingualism is a strength and an asset that must be protected,” Bonneau said in an emailed statement.

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On Thursday, the Ford government announced it was breaking its election promise to build a French-language university, and axed the office of the French-language services commissioner. The government said the office’s responsibilities would be absorbed by the provincial ombudsman.

The changes were announced as part of the fall economic update. Two other officers of the legislature, the provincial child advocate and the environment commissioner, were also cut.

The government’s moves have been met with condemnation, not just from Franco-Ontarians, but also from Quebec. The mayor of Quebec City and the new CAQ government have both raised concerns about the changes. CBC News reports that Mayor Régis Labeaume called the moves “petty” and a “provocation.”

The newspaper Le Droit called the rollbacks a “dark day for francophones.”

Because the cuts are drawing the ire of Quebecers, the Ontario decision risks hurting Scheer’s 2019 electoral chances, especially because — until now — Scheer has tied himself closely to Ford, and the two have been in lockstep on major policy issues, such as fighting the carbon tax.

While he spoke in French a few times during his Saturday-morning speech, Scheer did not raise the issue. And even though a location was set up for a news conference, he did not speak to reporters.

Here’s the press conference area that was set up for the PC convention. So far no politician has made use of it, and no one’s scheduled to use it. #onpoli #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/iQdF3e6pPh — Marieke Walsh (@MariekeWalsh) November 17, 2018

The federal Liberals were quick to pounce on Ford’s cuts to Franco-Ontarian services.

In a statement, Mélanie Joly, minister for official languages and the Francophonie, called the cuts “unacceptable” and accused the Conservatives of “disrespecting the 600,000 Franco-Ontarians and the millions of francophones across the country with their inability to protect the French language.”

Her office said Ottawa is investing $500 million in new money to support official-language-minority communities, including Franco-Ontarians. The funding is part of the $2.7-billion Action Plan for Official Languages.

But Scheer’s office also took the opportunity to counter-punch. Bonneau accused Joly of “playing politics,” saying “for the last three years, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have failed to help official-language communities in minority situations.”

Still, Scheer appears to be following the advice of federal party stalwarts like former minister Lawrence Cannon, who told Le Droit that Scheer should distance himself from Ford. “Shame on Doug Ford,” he told the French newspaper.

The provincial Tories are standing by their cuts, however.

Laryssa Waler, Ford’s director of communications, said his support for the French-language university was reversed because of the state of the province’s books.

“We inherited a $15-billion deficit from (former Liberal premier) Kathleen Wynne, and in order to protect essential services like health care and education, we’ve had to make difficult decisions,” she told iPolitics.

On the axing of the French-language services commissioner, Waler maintained that “no oversight has been lost; we have consolidated our oversight under the ombudsman and we have expanded the scope of the mandate of the ombudsman.”

“When the public has concerns, their first call is almost always to the auditor general or the ombudsman,” she said. “So it made sense to us to consolidate the oversight under those two offices.”

The mandates for the French-language services commissioner and the child advocate will both fall to the province’s ombudsman. Meanwhile, the environment commissioner’s mandate will go to the auditor general.

Under the headline “improving legislative accountability,” the economic update said the officers of the Ontario legislature — including the French-language services commissioner — are being cut to “reduce unnecessary costs.”

The commissioners’ offices will all close by May 2019.

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