Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I would like to thank the witnesses for their presentations. My questions are for Mr. Brennick.
I'm the member of Parliament for a riding located right next to Ottawa, in Eastern Ontario. I can certainly say that bilingualism is very important in my area. There are 65,000 francophones in my riding. I myself am a Franco-Ontarian, so I understand how important it is to be bilingual, to be able to speak the other language. Here in Ontario, the community is really anglophone, so we are talking about the ability to speak French. People must be competent when they speak in French.
I will ask you several questions at once, and then give you an opportunity to answer. I would like to know whether you work with French schools in Ontario, or if you work with English schools regarding immersion programs. The reason I ask the question is that in my riding, French is the minority official language.
Second, one of the assets of immersion programs is that our children are more open to their second language. However, people must be able to communicate well in their second language, in this case French. The public service is looking for young people who can speak French and English.
Do you work with the universities? What messages do you give our universities? Committee members are doing this study because they would like young people to be bilingual, to be open to the second language, but also able to speak and communicate well in their second language. We are looking at the universities to determine if they will introduce measures to encourage students to learn the other language. I would like to know whether you are working with the universities. If so, what messages are you passing on to our universities and colleges to encourage students to learn the other language?