Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to thank our guests for being here today.
I am a little embarrassed to say that this is the only province I had not yet visited. Last night, when I arrived, at 1:30 a.m. I saw the nice houses and said to myself that I had to come for a visit: It is wonderful. I am originally from Manitoba and I understand the challenges that you face as a linguistic minority.
During the first round of questions, I would like to focus on education. As you know, in the Action Plan on official languages, over 50% of funding was official languages earmarked for education. I was wondering whether you could provide us with a clear overview of the situation.
Ms. Poirier, you spoke about the management of your schools over the past few years. How have things worked out since you have obtained the right to manage your own schools? And what about the immersion programs? Is immersion as popular as it is elsewhere? I know that immersion programs are extremely successful in Manitoba and British Columbia. I would like to get a sense of what is happening here with regard to immersion. Do you have organizations like Canadian Parents for French? Do they exist here? Are they well organized and are they partners of yours? Elsewhere in Canada, we have seen that they are extremely resourceful and help support francophone communities.
I will speak a bit more about literacy in a few minutes.