There is no doubt that Quebec nationalism has meant that language concerns were more centred on Quebec and that there has been a shift from French-Canadian nationalism to Quebec nationalism. That is part of the changing dynamics in French Canada since the 1960s.
But I think that there are important ties being created, in part through the development of the Francophonie and agreements between Quebec and other provinces. If I am not mistaken, there is now an agreement—I have not seen the details—between Quebec and British Columbia regarding the use of both languages at the Olympic Games. I did not mention that in my opening remarks, but I will be following developments in that area closely to be sure that the Olympic Games respect Canada's linguistic duality.
As an anglophone who does not come from Quebec, I think that I have a certain advantage when it comes to promoting linguistic duality. People will have less of a tendency to say that I am defending my own turf. I have strong ideas about linguistic duality and I have managed to express them from Vancouver to Halifax. I have been surprised to see how much goodwill and support there are for that idea. I believe that there is no longer that sort of hostility that used to exist toward French.
I can also tell you that I do not perceive major partisan differences. There is a kind of consensus between the members of this committee that these questions are important. You are also promoting linguistic duality. I think that there is fertile ground now to promote these ideas and I will try to continue to do that.