Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My question is for the Statistics Canada representatives.
A little earlier you talked about immigrants. My colleague Ray Boughen said that, once you start heading west from Ontario, French gets lost. I didn't say that; it was the Conservative member sitting on the other side of the room. When you start heading west from Ontario, it is as though French was being lost. The further west you go, the more people speak Chinese or Mandarin. Has Statistics Canada conducted any studies or research in western Canada on the language spoken by workers? I will explain to you why I am asking that question.
I get telephone calls from people in my constituency. They come from Acadie, which is in northeastern New Brunswick and eastern Ontario. Beyond Ontario is Quebec, and then it's the Acadian Peninsula. I say that to give you some background. I got a telephone call from Alberta, and my caller told me he had been fired because he couldn't take tests in English. He's stuck in Edmonton without any money and can't return to Shippagan. I don't need to explain the situation to you in any greater detail. This is a francophone who went out west to work. The companies asked him to take some written tests in English. He couldn't do it. He's stuck there without money. It will costs money for him to get back home. Our country is big and travel is slow. It's easier to leave Acadie to go to Paris than to go to Alberta.
Today, the Conservative member confirms that there are more Chinese in western Canada, and my voters tell me that workers from other countries are transported by aircraft directly to a landing strip in Alberta. However, a voter from my constituency loses his job because he can't take a test in English. Other voters tell me they will be taking security tests in Miramichi so that they can work in Alberta and that those tests are in English. If they don't know English, they won't get a job. Are we really promoting bilingualism in our country, which has two official languages? I don't want you to comment, but has Statistics Canada conducted any studies on that subject? If not, should the government request that you compile statistics?