Good morning. Thank you for being here today. I'm a member from Eastern Ontario. There are 65,000 Franco-Ontarians in my riding.
I'd like to start by making a comment. Unfortunately, my colleague Mr. D'Amours started by making a brief political presentation on the Court Challenges Program. I'd like to add that his commens were not entirely accurate.
What's really important is that Francophone associations and individuals have access to the courts. And that's the case, whether it be directly or through the Commissioner of Official Languages. That's guaranteed by the Official Languages Act. It's access that's really important, and you have it directly or through the Commissioner.
I'd also like to emphasize that we are incurring expenses to improve services and education in the minority linguistic communities. For example, we've announced a $1 billion education agreement. We're working with the provinces to improve education services. As regards services to Francophones, an agreement has been reached under the Official Languages Act with $64 million, a 25 percent increase; and there's $120 million for our communities. The money is there to help communities and improve services.
I'd like to know whether you have the mechanisms to determine which local associations receive money from the federal government because money is indeed allocated to local associations.
Do you have a system or a network for determining the total number of organizations in existence, whether it be 20, 25 or 50, and that share the money earmarked for improved services to Francophones?