Thank you for your presentations. As we said in the beginning, we are here as a team of members of Parliament from the different parties, ready to listen to you and to hear what you have to say about your successes and your challenges. Education is really important, and I am really glad that it is being discussed in detail.
We had a little exchange about the exchange program; that is important, but certainly what I have heard in our travels now through different communities is that here in Canada it's extremely important that we promote the teaching of official languages in our school systems for our children here at home. In other words, it's so important because it's more than just a language; it's also that the culture is there as well.
What I've heard from parents, what I've heard from teachers, and what I've heard from people who have presented to us is that it is extremely important to have education here at home and to offer those services in French in official minority situations.
We can talk about the cut--that's fine--but we also need to be fair. We need to take note, for example, that in 2004-05 the government spent $49 million in Ontario for official languages education--directly for that. Also, I think to be fair we need to mention that there is a new agreement in place, a four-year agreement of $1 billion. That's an arrangement between the federal government and the provinces for official languages education. I think we need to put the whole picture in context.
I was happy to see that you remarked on that in your report. I think that $1 billion program really kick-started a lot of initiatives at the provincial level right here in Ontario for you.
This is meant to help English-speaking children as well as French-speaking children.
However, I would like to find out something from the two associations present here. You would like to have more immersion, and this is good, because French is one of our official languages.
How do you respond to that, Mr. Théberge? Do you work together? Is there a network? Is there mutual support for this initiative?