Official Languages committee  Let me give you a two-part answer. The evaluation period is indeed happening right now. The roadmap has three types of evaluations. There is the evaluation of each of the 28 initiatives. We call them individual evaluations, and each department is responsible for them. Of course, departments can arrange various aspects into groups, so that a number of them can be evaluated together.

Official Languages committee  That is not an option. However, when we do the evaluation, it is important to consult the key stakeholders to find out their point of view about the roadmap. In that context, the key stakeholders are very much in demand. At a certain point, they may well feel that they are too much in demand.

Official Languages committee  At Canadian Heritage, we start by working in the field with researchers. We have already hired consultants to do the evaluation in the coming weeks. Some departments are a little less advanced than we are. In the coming months, my impression is that, to varying degrees, a constant barrage of interviews will be starting up.

Official Languages committee  We addressed that matter with the communities in order to see the extent to which we could maximize the impact of the money we currently have available. It caused a great deal of concern. When we finished evaluating our program's investment logic, we told them that, before transferring the file to any other department, we would make sure that the other department would be able to take it on.

Official Languages committee  To follow up on the immigration debate, it would be interesting to invite our colleagues from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to explain the situation in more detail. However, I can quickly give you the broad strokes. Immigration involves three major objectives: recruitment, which includes overseas promotion to attract people to the country in the best sense of the word; reception, to make sure that they settle in communities and successfully become integrated in an appropriate way; and retention, so that they stay and invest in the communities, rather than assimilating into the majority or moving elsewhere in the country.

Official Languages committee  First, in terms of revisiting the level of investment, we are continuing to implement the current roadmap. So the current plan is continuing. The consultations will certainly be the ideal time to bring up those issues and those questions. It will be part of the recommendations to the minister.

Official Languages committee  A mechanism is built into the agreements that we reach with each province and territory. The bilateral agreement asks the province or territory to provide us with an action plan showing how they intend to invest the money we are giving them. Basically, the province or territory gives us a list that matches the priorities that we and the province or territory have agreed on together.

Official Languages committee  Yes. In the first year of the roadmap, we spent 93% of the funds budgeted. Last year, we spent 95%. At the beginning of the summer, we compile the figures for the current year just ending. Most of the initiatives are progressing as planned. The programs that were supposed to issue funds, did so, as the expense figures show.

Official Languages committee  I would also like to extend greetings to you and to thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to come and present the roadmap to you. I suggest that I review the roadmap quickly. Mr. Lussier and I want to give you as much time as possible for questions. So we will give you the basics, and our answers to your questions will likely be your opportunity to get into the details in which you are most interested.

Official Languages committee  People in New Brunswick are facing very definite economic viability challenges, particularly in the north. That is particularly true of the predominant francophone minority community in that region. This is clearly a place where there is a significant economic dynamic and special challenges.

Official Languages committee  The area of the southern Ontario Federal Economic Development Agency, FedDev, includes Toronto and Ottawa. However, in speaking with those people, I understood that they wanted to focus more on the community on the peninsula, that is to say in Toronto and St. Catharines, in particular.

Official Languages committee  There are different kinds of challenges, I would say. Some challenges are actually common to the whole population, in the sense that you're struggling with people leaving some regions and moving to bigger centres, for example. That will affect both majority- or minority-speaking communities per se.

Official Languages committee  The disadvantages actually will vary from region to region, as I was explaining. One thing is to make sure that we get people close to the ground to work with the communities. That's partly why we have the design that we have with the community development initiative, where it's actually each regional development agency close to the ground that will help with the funding they have with respect to the road map.

Official Languages committee  Perhaps I can give the beginning of an answer. It is important for us, first of all, to be made aware of that need, that lack of engineering in French, because we have some tools that we can use. Again, let's remember that education is definitely a provincial jurisdiction and even the professional associations of engineers are under provincial jurisdiction.

Official Languages committee  Let me start with the question at the end, which is the easiest to answer. It's basically over five years, so it's $10 million out of the $30 million that we have for five years for the community development initiative. The needs of English-speaking Canadians in Quebec are something that we're very mindful of.