Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, Minister, Mrs. d'Auray, Mr. O'Sullivan.
As Mr. Rodriguez was pointing out, there is some discomfort in Canada with respect to official languages. There is the issue of the assimilation of minority linguistic groups, which we are all very familiar with. Francophones are being assimilated. Mr. Toews, you know something about this, since you come from Manitoba. People in that province have worked very hard, but the level of assimilation remains very high. I think the Canadian government should reconsider the following question, which is important. If the government wants to demonstrate a real desire to support linguistic duality in this country we call Canada, the leaders of the government should set an example. Hence, the Prime Minister and his ministers should have a good command of both French and English.
This is part of a dilemma which is obvious when we look at representatives of the Supreme Court and deputy ministers, who represent the Canadian state. You know my position on the subject and I know that you do not share it. You demonstrated this earlier. In my opinion, you should not feel insulted. As a francophone Quebecker, I find the position taken by the federal government very hard to swallow. That being said, I think that's Canada and it's unfortunate.
With respect with the Roadmap, I see that the government was going to invest $2.7 million in this plan to ensure, I believe, that future public service employees would already be bilingual when they were hired. Do you not think that this is a prerequisite? Do you agree with this principle?