Thank you, Mr. Chair.
For 13 years, I've been the member of Parliament for Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie, a constituency in the heart of Montreal. There are challenges for the French language. However, I can say that we have a variety of French‑language radio stations in Montreal. Moreover, people are served in French every day in restaurants or other places. Certain issues can sometimes arise, but it's extremely rare.
That said, the overall situation of French in Montreal, Quebec and across Canada remains fragile and sometimes under threat. The House of Commons has recognized this. We must remain constantly vigilant and make every effort to advocate for the preservation and development of the French fact. We agree on this.
That's why the August 19 article in the Journal de Québec, which reported that Canada Post changed the status of 24 Montreal‑area post offices from unilingual French to bilingual, caused quite a stir. This shows, for example, a potential decline of French and a bilingualization of the Montreal area.
According to the explanation given, the decision seems to have been made based on data from the 2021 census. According to the census, 71.3% of people in the Montreal area speak French, 20.4% speak English and 6.7% speak both languages, meaning that they're bilingual. I already have my doubts about this figure. However, I'll check with Statistics Canada, since it isn't your department's responsibility. The 6.7% figure for bilingual people in the Montreal area seems low to me, given what we're seeing on the ground.
However, the change in status of these Canada Post offices has increased the percentage of bilingual offices from 21% to 31%. The key issue here is that unilingual anglophones amount to 20.4% of the Montreal population. In light of this, the 31% figure for bilingual offices seems enormous. I understand that, if we add the 6.7% of people who identify as bilingual, the figure rises to 28% of the Montreal population who identify as either anglophone or bilingual. This would justify the 31% figure. However, the 6.7% of people who are bilingual don't need bilingual post offices, since they can speak and understand French.
Why the discrepancy between the 20.4% figure for anglophones and the 31% figure for bilingual offices?