Good morning again.
I would like to come back to some of the concepts that were raised earlier. As you know, we francophones are in the majority in Quebec, but in the minority throughout Canada, and increasingly in the minority throughout the world. Consequently, the whole struggle to preserve our culture becomes important in order to preserve our language. We therefore introduced legislation to protect our language and culture, while continuing to show respect for the anglophone minority. That is a very important dynamic at the moment.
I come back to the fact that people are leaving. As we said earlier, francophones were under tremendous pressure to learn the country's second official languages, because of our international relations and our trade. In the business world, in my region of Louiseville, for example, in the furniture and textile industries, business is conducted in English. So there is a great deal of pressure for people to learn English. Is there enough pressure on anglophones to learn French?
It is said that young anglophone workers between the ages of 30 and 50 are leaving. They go elsewhere because English is the language of business. So there is an attraction to business. They think that in order to succeed, they have to go to Ontario or to one of the other provinces. I think that is part of the problem. Is there a way of applying more pressure to get the anglophone community more interested in French? It is true that some learn French; I do know that there are a considerable number of bilingual individuals. Are there any other ways of stopping this exodus? What can be done to keep anglophones in Quebec? You want to keep your young people, and that is right: it is quite reasonable to fight to keep our young people in our community. At the same time there is a growing need for people who speak both languages.
I would like to hear your views on this.