Let me finish, Mr. Lemieux. I let you speak, even though I can tell you I wanted to interrupt.
First of all, if Canada has a national sport, it is certainly hockey. It is not volleyball, it is hockey. For Canadians generally and for French Canadians particularly, hockey is the sport. For Quebeckers and francophones elsewhere in the country, this sport allows people to become national heroes. It is a sport with which Canadians identify. In fact, when we ask people across the country what distinguishes us from the English or from Americans, for example, they mention hockey. Americans play hockey, but it does not have the same importance for them. For us, it is important. I would like to remind everyone that hockey is what has enabled French Canadians—and I am using the term on purpose—to become known and to overcome many of the problems they faced.
Second, Canada has a world-wide reputation. We all recognize that Canada does not accept discrimination, that it reacts against it. We are talking here about the World Championships. We are told that the best individual is chosen, regardless of his ideas and remarks, but at issue here is a game in a sport that is almost the most precious symbol Canadians and French Canadians have, with the exception of the Charter of Rights. I have a great deal of difficulty accepting the fact that internationally, the captain of the Canadian team could have said what it is claimed he said—and here I am giving him the benefit of the doubt. Whether he made the remarks or not, the fact remains that the people who decided to choose him as captain showed a flagrant lack of sensitivity, in light of what hockey represents and the effect that this individual's remarks had. This is totally unacceptable.
We do not want to know what he said or did not say. The courts will decide that. As others before me have said, I would just like to emphasize that we are talking about an important symbol of our country, and as committee members charged with monitoring the progress made by official language minority communities, we cannot let this comment go or the decision that followed it. I think this is absolutely fundamental.