Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Congratulations, Ms. Kenny. I would not err in saying “long live the Fransaskoisie!”.
Good morning, Ms. Bossé.
Last June, the committee did indeed decide to go ahead with this extremely important study. In my experience, this is a recurring problem. I get the impression that from the day the Official Languages Act was promulgated and organizations were given opportunities to combat the assimilation of francophones in Canada, they have had trouble obtaining the funds within reasonable timeframes for the creation of the programs demanded by the federal government. It was true regardless of whether Liberals or Conservatives were in power. It seems to be the administrative structure that is at fault. I cannot blame any particular government, but this has been going on for far too long. I have met members of the Quebec Community Group Network who are in the same situation. These are Quebec anglophones.
We know what the situation is like. We know how harmful it is. We know our history: you only receive crumbs to fight assimilation put forward by provincial governments for decades under the spiteful auspices of the federal government. Despite that, communities are being asked to take charge of their affairs, to be responsible, to be accountable and to assume all the responsibilities that the government is not taking on in this context. It is not a bad thing for you to be in charge, because you are far more aware of the situation on the ground.
We are looking for solutions. Could you tell us how you would feel if there were no longer a need to go through a minister to get the authorization to issue the cheque? Quite often, it is on somebody's desk and there are many other things to take care of first. The Department of Canadian Heritage is vast, it is very big. There were many, many files at the time. In what way would not having to always go through the minister improve the situation?