Mr. Chair, I listened carefully to what the members of the NDP had to say on this issue. The amendment, in effect, would remove the new requirement for minors—at pages 14 and 17—to meet a language requirement before they can apply for Canadian citizenship. These are youngsters who would have been in this country for potentially four out of the last six years, and in the four of the last six years the opposition would have us believe that they would not have obtained a level of some proficiency in English or French.
I would suggest, in addition, that it would repeal the minister's ability to waive the requirement for minors. Minors who are in this country for four years would have a proficiency level in one of the two official languages that would be considerably higher than the minimum requirement under the bill.
Primarily for the fact that we do believe it will help those 14-year-old to 17-year-old youngsters moving forward to better integrate into society, they should have a level of knowledge of English or French for them to do better in their studies in school and work. Moving forward in their lives, they need to be able to speak an elementary level of either of Canada's two official languages.
We will not be supporting this amendment.