Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome. I do not much like using the word “ombudsman” given that you are our commissioner and an officer of Parliament. By the way, I would like to congratulate Ombudsman Yves Côté for the work he has done at National Defence. I think he has shed light on some very important and insulting issues. For example, he spoke about members of the Canadian Forces enrolled in courses at CFB Borden who could not receive training in their mother tongue. And yet, Canada comprises two officially recognized peoples, francophones and anglophones, and has two official languages.
The government is complaining about the fact that the war in Afghanistan is very expensive, that the Liberals did not do their work and implemented budget cuts. We have heard all that in committee. At the same time, people cannot be served in both languages, even at the reception desk. We are not asking for a lot. I think you would agree to say, Mr. Fraser, that we need leadership. However, if the top brass does not provide leadership, we can't simply blame the people following orders.
I would like to give you another example of the lack of respect for the other language. I will pass out a copy of this document to all committee members.