Official Languages committee  To whom are you speaking?

Official Languages committee  All right.

Official Languages committee  Our main source of funding is Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Our sources of information—

Official Languages committee  We have a number of structures. Our organization has members in all provinces and territories which enable us to support ourselves. We sit on various structures, CMEC, for example and others, which enable us to support ourselves. At the national level, there is a structure that c

Official Languages committee  Small programs don't work, sir. This isn't the time for small programs. This is the time for massive skill development action. The federal government has identified nine major competencies, called essential competencies. One of those competencies is the one you mentioned, inform

Official Languages committee  That's just in Quebec.

Official Languages committee  That's correct. We are having trouble determining that. I'd have to review the figures. It is also difficult to get any national-level figures. For the francophone communities, we're oversampling in only four provinces: Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec.

Official Languages committee  No, not us. That is done through Statistics Canada's international surveys.

Official Languages committee  No. There are variations; you're right, but they aren't as broad as that. As we said earlier, since the skill levels aren't static, economic and social changes cause differences. The phenomenon is that—

Official Languages committee  It's worse. Note that the overall result of 42% breaks down as follows: it is 56% among francophones and 39% among anglophones. I repeat that this is not just in the minority environment, because Quebec is included. Some 55% of adult Quebeckers 16 to 65 years of age are classifie

Official Languages committee  You'd think you'd just read our website! Skills development is indeed a serious problem for adult francophones living in an anglophone setting, as you said. Generally speaking, to find a job in Canada, you at least have to be proficient in English. To do that, you have to have s

Official Languages committee  It's like in the movies. Now we're not working in the same way. We're no longer talking about illiterates; we're rating the skills of adults on a continuum, over a longer period. Including all languages, 42% of Canadians are ranked at levels 1 and 2. I'm not very good at mathemat

Official Languages committee  It's clear to us that the Roadmap is having an impact. In the past 10 years, there has been a specific investment in family literacy, which however came from a modest $7-million budget over five years. If there is a new Roadmap, or any framework of investment for the francophone