When I attended this committee in June as a journalist, I heard a presentation by Minister Josée Verner, where she spoke of an action plan. As a journalist, I asked her some questions about this. First, I asked her whether this action plan was alive and well, and she answered that she was studying it to see if it could be improved. Then I asked her whether this action plan was meant as a minimum. She answered that in fact, the action plan was a minimum.
I was reassured by this as I looked into the file because the action plan covers an entire set of problems faced by minorities, by mixed marriages, and even includes the assimilation problems of francophone minorities. If my appointment is confirmed, this is one of the basic issues I want to deal with. I am not ready to announce the first step of my plan, but I want to listen to the communities in order to identify the most important measures and to find out what our government intends to do in the future, following the road map announced by Ms. Verner last spring.