Official Languages committee  In terms of making suggestions to deal with that kind of issue, the geography we encounter means we have to move towards the use of technology. We can have a conversation. You can be in a town at one end of the townships and I can be in another, but through video conferencing, through Skype, and through the use of electronic devices, we can create more avenues of communication.

Official Languages committee  Because the territory is so large, one of our major problems is that we may have a small pocket of anglophones who would like to participate in a certain activity who might find themselves near Philipsburg, which is at one extreme, and then there may be another group. When we talk about how we create avenues of vitality, communication becomes extremely important.

Official Languages committee  No one answer covers it all. In part, what was alluded to earlier on the question of transport, when a number of young people hit the age of 16, they've had it with being on a bus sometimes three to four hours a day. When they leave home, they're tired; when they get home, they're tired.

Official Languages committee  What you've identified is precisely one of the issues we've tried to get at. When we're dealing with a rural community, you could go to places in Quebec —in Gaspésie and the north shore— and what you'll find is that exactly the same kind of problem exists. What we find is that, as the young people become better educated....

Official Languages committee  I'm having a technical problem.

Official Languages committee  I am going to ask Ms. Hunting to answer that question because she has the expertise on that.

Official Languages committee  She could provide some clarifications that I could not. My apologies to you, sir.

Official Languages committee  I'd like to reinforce a couple of points. Stability will create vitality, because stability creates presence. In looking at what might be described as a wise investment, to take a business model, I think both provincial and federal governments need to invest so there will be ongoing sustainable vitality, and what we'll see is the communities themselves will begin to take on more and more of that responsibility.

Official Languages committee  That's part of the problem, but what can we do when it comes to recommendations? In order to continue to meet the economic development and employment needs of the English-speaking members of our community, associations and organizations such as ourselves must work in tandem with and support other associations, institutions, and organizations working to address the issues present in this sector whether they be defined locally, regionally, or provincially.

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much and good morning, Mr. Chong. Vice-Chairs Monsieur Godin and Madame St-Denis, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for granting Townshippers' Association the opportunity to testify before this committee on the subject of economic development in Canada's official language minority communities.

Official Languages committee  Yes, go ahead.

Official Languages committee  In order to do that, what we have to have in place are sustainable, well thought out, and effective mechanisms to get people at critical times to ensure that they can have a sense that they are still a part of a community. In many of the small towns and small villages the church is gone, the school has closed, and where do you go?

Official Languages committee  I'm going to have to introduce another term here; it's called the missing middle. What we have experienced in the townships is a continued outward migration of those people who have already graduated. Many times they are professional, highly employable, and highly mobile. What has happened is this.

Official Languages committee  Well, I'd like to come back to perhaps a couple of terms here that are really crucial as far as we are concerned. On investment, take a business model. What is the federal government investing in? It's investing in a population that must become bilingual, and as a result of that, we can in fact become a model that is exportable.

Official Languages committee  Exactly. We can explain ourselves in either language, easily and clearly, and have a vision of things, but first of all this vision needs to exist.