I think you have put your finger on one element that, in my opinion, has been neglected. I'm talking about the promotion of linguistic duality within Canadian society. In fact, you'll see that one of my recommendations is to better focus on that goal, which is a part of our act. Of course, this is a recommendation to the government.
Since I've been commissioner, I've been struck by the extent to which linguistic duality seems to be a matter of greater concern for minorities. It concerns francophones outside Quebec, anglophones in Quebec, and francophones in general in Canada. We all agree that French is in the minority in this country. I personally have always worked for bilingual institutions, whether they be universities or hospitals.
If the majority does not subscribe to a value, or if they are indifferent to it, then you cannot talk about a Canadian society-wide project. You need to do more promotion and, most importantly, encourage both linguistic communities to work actively together. You need to empower both in terms of reaching that common Canadian goal.
That being said, all the necessary elements are in place to allow the next commissioner to make choices that best suit his or her personality. For my part, I'm putting the ball in your court. It is the responsibility of the political actors, in this case the elected representatives, to promote linguistic duality. No commissioner can do it as much as you can. Commissioners have neither be necessary resources nor the time. A commissioner cannot be everywhere in the country at the same time. That is why I say that it is up to our elected representatives to always speak in English or French, depending on the circumstances, in their ridings. Of course, that also applies to the government, to ministers, and so on. If, on top of that, senior officials did the same, then there would be no need to promote linguistic duality in Canada. We have the players we need.
To sum up, if I were the next commissioner, I would not be travelling from one end of the country to the other. I would do my best to convince our elected representatives, our senior officials and the government to speak in both official languages and to actively support linguistic duality.