Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Ms. Richard and Mr. Théberge. Thank you for being with us.
Ms. Richard, your testimony is very moving and reflects the situation everywhere. What nurses are going through is appalling. Overtime is mandatory in Quebec. Nurses work for hours and hours. Our hearts go out to them and to you. We want things to change.
My questions are for Mr. Théberge.
I'm the member for Joliette, a riding northeast of Montreal, in what's known as New Acadia, a territory made up of four villages: Saint‑Liguori, Saint‑Jacques, Saint‑Alexis and Sainte‑Marie‑Salomé. The inhabitants of these villages have very deep Acadian roots. Many have the last name Richard, Gaudet, Cormier, Leblanc or Landry. In fact, former Quebec premier Bernard Landry was from Saint‑Jacques.
It is a pleasure to meet our witnesses today and hear what they have to say.
Mr. Théberge, I can't believe that National Acadian Day isn't part of the celebrate Canada program and isn't recognized as a national holiday. At least a pilot project was launched in 2019, but it wasn't renewed in the last budget.
Did the Minister of Finance, the former Minister of Canadian Heritage or the new Minister of Canadian Heritage explain why the pilot project wasn't renewed? Is it because your nation no longer counts?