Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question. It is quite relevant in light of the nature of the bill and initiative under discussion.
As I see it, reconciling bilingualism and competency is not really a problem because bilingualism as such is a skill in this instance. To argue that requiring persons to be bilingual in order to be appointed to office potentially excludes some more qualified individuals is a little like saying that there are no bilingual persons in Canada qualified to fill this position, or that there are no bilingual persons who are qualified enough to hold this office. In my view this is not a real problem because clearly we have a large pool of highly skilled bilingual persons. I do not think it is that difficult to appoint persons from this pool to these positions.