I did not say that bilingualism was the cause of the assimilation of francophones; I said that bilingualism did not slow down the assimilation of francophones. That's something else. It shows that in fact something is not working.
My position is that it is not working, but one shouldn't be in denial. There is still assimilation, and it has been going on since... There's a big difference between anglophones in Quebec and francophones: the anglophones in Quebec are not being assimilated. The 80-20 trend in Quebec has been the same for 30 or 40 years. Quebec bilingualism shows a positive trend, but this trend is negative outside Quebec because of the minority situation of the French language.
I'm saying that all is not well, but it is not all bad everywhere. If you look closely at the census data, you see that in northern New Brunswick the linguistic reproduction rates are the same as those of French Quebec. If they are lower at certain points in time it is not because of assimilation but because of people leaving. That is why I am saying that something can be done.
In the older more established areas of French Canada, Acadia, Baie Sainte-Marie, northern and eastern Ontario, the smaller rural areas of Manitoba, assimilation isn't as pronounced. Assimilation is the result of immigration toward cities where people haven't learned how to rebuild their societies in that environment.
That is why I'm suggesting that there be less legal recognition from coast to coast and more of a focus on those areas where there is that critical live presence. You can't give a hospital to Caraquet under the Official Languages Act but you can give it that hospital in order to save a francophone region. It's not the same.
The source of renewal for the francophonie outside Quebec lies in the older francophone communities. That is where people speak French in their homes, where they work in French, etc.
The data is somewhat exaggerated because what we see is the exodus. It is because of Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton that we see 70%. However, in the Acadian Peninsula, in northern New Brunswick and eastern Ontario, the data is not exactly the same.