Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's my turn to greet the Saint‑Hyacinthe air cadets who are with us today. I'd like to welcome them to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. I'm very happy to see them, having been a sea cadet instructor myself for a number of years.
Senator Boehm, it's great to see you again. I would like to join my colleagues in recognizing the excellence and eminence of your professional career, both as a Canadian diplomat and as senator and chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Senator, according to one of the recommendations in your report, “Global Affairs Canada should promote the equal use of French and English within the department, ensure that ab initio official language training is maintained, and expand official language training opportunities to all other employees, including both Canada‑based and locally engaged staff.”
I would like to ask you two questions about that.
On the one hand, have you heard that some senior public servants who should normally have a qualification in French have a special privilege that allows them not to have this qualification?
On the other hand, most of the time, the Prime Minister, the ministers and senior public servants speak mainly in English, if not exclusively in English.
What message does this send to the rest of the bureaucracy at Global Affairs Canada and, more importantly, what message does it send to our international partners?