I can assure you that we have a multi-pronged approach to consultation. We hold annual consultations with the communities and the major official languages stakeholders in the spring. We also rely on reports from parliamentary committees and the commissioner. Furthermore, we recently held a consultation with a view to seeking out the opinion of stakeholders who had not necessarily previously had an opportunity to contribute to the debate. It was really Mr. Bernard Lord who carried out this last phase of consultations. Our analysis involves looking at all of these elements, as well as recent census data, evaluations that are under way, and information concerning programs funded by the action plan. All of this is being studied to help us develop an opinion as to what direction the second phase should take.
On January 29th, 2008. See this statement in context.