Thank you.
As I said earlier to one question on something else, I don't have all the invitations of people who have asked to meet with me, and I cannot, but some I said yes to and some I said no to.
With regard to the diversity of our country, the face of Canada is changing. I think the government and citizens must understand those changes and see what opportunities come from these changes and how this will allow our country to grow even more. People want to live in Canada because we're a country of prosperity. We're a country of rights, freedoms, the rule of law, and we have a strong democratic system. Those are the reasons we're so proud to be Canadian and so many people want to be here. I think in terms of officials languages, we should limit ourselves to two, but in terms of learning languages, we should not.
Two weeks ago I was in Amsterdam on business, and the two individuals working at the hotel where I was staying--they were young, in their twenties--both spoke four languages. I didn't sense there was a crisis of their identity, of who they were and what they stood for. They knew who they were, and they were very happy to serve people in the language of their choice. And they could do it in four languages. The two combined spoke five languages. There were three languages they shared, but each had a different language. It fascinated me. In Canada we feel good when we speak two languages, but frankly it's not that many.
When I was Premier of New Brunswick we put a program in place to encourage learning a third language, and at the time we selected Spanish, because of volume. But I think we should favour and encourage teaching and learning of the two official languages across the country, and other languages as well. I think the native population in our country needs support in preserving their languages as well.