We'll check this together.
In the Dion action plan, that the Liberals are bragging about, it says:
In addition to these two funds, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will renew the framework agreement and federal-provincial-territorial agreements under the official languages and education program at current funding levels.
When it talks about “current funding levels” the plan would provide a surplus, if I understand correctly.
This is referred to in our report of May 2007 on page 165. It says that with regard to minority language education, that is the funding from kindergarten to grade 2 in francophone schools outside Quebec, progress has been continuous, but it cannot be attributed to investments under the action plan. It says that indeed, these significant investments were offset by a reduction that was almost equivalent to investments in the regular program.
According to the information we received from the Library of Parliament, in 2002-2003, the regular program received an investment of $144,819 million. In reality, in 2003-2004, only $122 million was spent. So the regular program was cut by about $20 million and the government only spent $9 million under the action plan.
Since it was saying that it would invest in the action plan to improve minority language education, there was a shortfall. I could continue, but I don't want to waste too much time, we only have seven minutes. Every year under the Liberal reign, there was supposed to be $144 million invested under the current program, in addition to the action plan. In 2004-2005, only $116 million were invested. With regard to the action plan, it was supposed to be $43 million and that's the amount that was invested.
These amounts continue to decline, but let's examine the figures for 2006-2007. The actual investment forecast was $144 million, but it was reduced to $99 million. However, the investment under the action plan was supposed to be $44 million and was raised to $67 million. If you do the math, in a real plan, the government should have spend $724 million but it only spent $544 million. In addition, in the action plan which provided for spending $209 million, $256 million was spent. It's all very well to say that $50 million extra was put in the action plan. The Conservatives can brag about having put $50 million more in the action plan but in reality, every year, there was a net loss of $132 million.
In your opinion, Commissioner, how did the action plan work with a shortfall of $132 million earmarked for education for our young people in order to ensure that they don't lose their language, for instance in St-John New Brunswick or in Hearst, Ontario or in Prince George, B.C.? The government says it has an action plan that should work, and that it has invested the necessary funds. In fact, $132 million were stolen from the action plan, a theft committed by both governments, because the figures speak for themselves.
I'd like to hear your views on this.