Yes, I have a lot of leeway to promote official languages. I find myself in an interesting situation now because, as an author, I have been invited to give a number of talks in the fall, which I accepted last spring, a long time before this process started.
I do not know when or how the process will end, but I have not cancelled those speaking engagements. So I will be speaking in Vancouver at a conference of immersion teachers, and to a translators' association. One of the things that I plan to do in the first year of my mandate, if I am appointed, is certainly to visit all regions of Canada, in order to meet people, talk to them about various issues, learn from and listen to groups, provincial authorities and academics.
One of the problems is that we are often not fully aware of what is being done in other parts of the country. I think that the commissioner has a role as a rapporteur, if I can put it that way. For example, people in Saint-Boniface do not necessarily know what is happening in Moncton. Despite all the efforts made by the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes du Canada, this is a big country. Not everyone is involved in these organizations. I hope to play a liaison role, not between minority communities and the government, but between the minority and majority communities in all regions of the country.
Something that struck me...