Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I want to thank all the witnesses for their presentations.
I come from Moncton, New Brunswick, and I'm an Anglophone. In New Brunswick, we have a very strong, very real Acadian presence.
Mr. Houle, your statistics and those cited in the other presentations show that there may be more Francophones in Vancouver than in Moncton, New Brunswick. I often promote the fact that I'm the member for a riding that has the largest urban Acadian population in the country. Whatever the case may be, we're a federal committee, and we have to recognize the presence and size of the Francophone population of British Columbia.
In 1999, Moncton played host to the Francophone Summit. I was the city's mayor at that time. I observed a major change in the philosophy of the majority Anglophone community, which became convinced at that time of the economic and cultural importance and utility in promoting the Francophone community.
In four years, you'll be hosting a major international event: the Olympic Games. In Moncton during the Francophone Summit, we received support from France to install an Alliance Française office. For a small city like Moncton, that's an important and unique thing.
Like us, you have a French Consulate General and an office of the Alliance Française in Vancouver. Little mention is made of the role that France and the Alliance Française play in promoting the Francophone population here.
When the Olympic Games are held, will you have the support of the Alliance Française, France and your community in promoting your Francophone population in cultural and economic terms?