Order please. I'd like to start by thanking you for appearing before the Standing Committee on Official Languages. As I've said to the other witnesses, it is a great pleasure for us to travel to all regions of Canada. The Standing Committee on Official Languages has been in existence for 25 years yet it had never travelled. We wanted to go out and meet people on the ground, because not everyone can make it to Ottawa. We also wanted a change and we wanted to show that we take our work on the Standing Committee on Official Languages seriously. So far people seem to have appreciated this.
My name is Yvon Godin and I'm the Member for Acadie—Bathurst, a riding in northeastern New Brunswick. Ms. Sylvie Boucher is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Francophonie and Official Languages, and Mr. Pierre Lemieux and Mr. Steven Blaney are Conservative government party members. Messrs. Raymond Simard and Brian Murphy are members of the Official Opposition. Ms. Paule Brunelle was travelling with us, but she had to return to Ottawa.
Before we begin, I would like to ask members of the committee whether they would agree to the following. The Greater North Central Francophone Regional Authority Number 2 and the school board trustees are running late. The witnesses that were supposed to make presentations are not here. I would suggest that once they arrive we interrupt, the question and answer session, give them a chance to make their presentation, and then proceed.
Now, I would like to start by turning over the floor to Mr. Collette, from the Saint-Thomas Community Health Centre. You'll have five minutes to make your presentations. You may find that that is not very long, but you'll see that we will have some questions for you which we will want to discuss. Members will then have a five-minute round for questions and answers.
Mr. Collette, you may begin.