Thank you, Mr. Menegakis.
We know we have to invest in this program, and we want more than ever to invest in this program, this road map, because we've always had francophones, French Canadians, in all parts of this country. But even more so, we know it is part of who we are.
It's part of our Canadian identity. It is a part of our immigration programs themselves. It's something that all Canadians across the country want.
Never before has there been such a keen interest in immersion programs. For example, in my riding, Ajax—Pickering, the only new schools being built are francophone schools. This is because French-language education has become so popular among anglophones.
We also know, though, that to have successful francophone immigration to all parts of the country, we need settlement services, support, language training, a whole network that wasn't there in the past. We've tripled— in some provinces, quadrupled—the support for settlement services. In every case there is a francophone component, and that is making it more and more attractive for francophones from France, Haiti, and Cameroon to go to places like Vancouver or Yukon. They're not always there in large numbers, but they go because they find the services they need, and that is absolutely the right thing for Canada. That reflects our history, it reflects our identity today, and it certainly reflects our future.