I would like to talk about the Marine Rescue Centre. We had a consultation where my colleague Mr. Godin was present. A former official, who specialized in improving river safety, shared his knowledge with us. He said that he was following the file everywhere. He was present at the public consultations in Trenton and he followed the issue at every stage, from A to Z.
That is when he told us a very troubling story. He said that, in Trenton, the candidates were required to have two skill sets. Let's not forget that the person who takes the full-time position will have to replace the five or six people who were working in Quebec, which is a great loss of services. That is already quite troubling. He was there when the decisions were made at the public consultations in Trenton. He told me that they were not able to find a candidate who was sufficiently familiar with the river and who had a very high level of French. It seems that the next candidate who is going to be hired will not have sufficient knowledge of the river or the appropriate French skills.
I for one see a great loss of services for the linguistic minority. The francophones, who need the river for marine transportation, deserve to get the services of someone who has both skills, knowledge of the river and the ability to provide an answer in French to someone who is panicking. We are not about to get anything like that. We will get someone who can get by in French and whose knowledge of the river will be mediocre. Thanks a lot.