I was elected for the first time in 2004. I have used your services, and I know they are truly exceptional. It must be said that it is thanks to you that French is still spoken on Parliament Hill. But it is also thanks to the needs of francophone members. this is important if we want to maintain jobs.
From the start, we've been told about the exorbitant costs of these services. We must not forget however that there are revenues involved as well because translators pay taxes. When I fill out my federal income tax return, I have access to very well translated forms. Clearly, poor quality machine translations are absolutely intolerable. It is a factor in the assimilation of workers. It reminds me of Christmas time, when you are trying to assemble a toy made in China and the French translation makes no sense and so you turn to the English. So, it is a factor in the assimilation of francophones who are basically considered second-class citizens. These people may be going through a difficult time. These jobs are often not specialized; unilingual applicants would not have access to them. Why not do what parliamentary committees do and refuse to accept or post a document when the translation is not correct?.
I must say, it's rather incomprehensible to me. There are a number of multilingual countries. Just look at the European Union. You say that you are consulting. I support you and would encourage you to continue to seek out information as to their ways of doing things. They must work with a host of cultures and languages. It must be incredibly complicated. They must certainly have a great deal of experience. We simply cannot fail here, when we know how important the matter is.
What differentiates Canada from the United States is our two languages as well as the richness of the French language and culture. That was more of a comment than a question.