Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank our guests for being here this morning.
I think your testimony is very important and I do not consider this committee's work to be useless. This is important work. It would be a mistake for the committee not to study the issue of the Roadmap, because I think it is the most important work the Standing Committee on Official Languages can do, that is to launch a long-term plan. We discussed it with the minister. It is precisely because the Roadmap is a long-term plan that its expenditures were not reduced. According to the testimony of several of our witnesses, often, it is not known if the funds are from the Roadmap or from the departments themselves. So, that may be the problem. We will never apologize for trying to save money when providing government services.
I had some questions for the Ottawa University representatives. I studied there myself in the past. I think you are doing wonderful work. This is a very special experience within Canada. Are other universities in the world doing this type of work?
Although the experience in Canada, as a bilingual country, is quite unique in creating this climate of closeness between the linguistic communities, there are other countries in the world, such as Belgium, Switzerland or even certain Eastern European countries, with more than one language. Do you have contacts with those universities in other countries of the world in order to share this experience?