Thank you for your question. Please say hello to Ms. Simard for me.
That's an important question, and I'm quite regularly asked it. As I said earlier, I was born in Ontario, I've spent my entire life here, and I believe all Ontario francophones think it's important to support the vitality of the francophone community in Ontario.
It's also very important for Canada to continue supporting the francization of the population of central and southwestern Ontario because, as I said in my opening remarks, 36% of francophones outside Quebec live here in this region. It's the largest group of francophones in Canada outside Quebec. I realize they aren't necessarily easy to find because there aren't really any francophone enclaves or islands in the city of Toronto, but a very large group of francophones lives here in Toronto, in greater Toronto and in central and southwestern Ontario.
It would be a bad sign for the francophonie outside Quebec if we weren't in a position to support the development of francophone leadership by establishing a university. If we want a symbolically and actually strong francophonie across the country, we need to produce the next generation of francophone leaders. The best way to do that is to establish a French-language university.