We should put them on the agenda. I therefore officially ask that we set you down on the agenda to come back before the committee. As I've previously said, you've made a lot of statements, but taking action is something else. Your actions will have to be evaluated to see what has happened. The story that Mr. Nadeau told is unfortunate. You say senior officers have to get the CBC linguistic profile. Perhaps they should start by learning their ABCs. I may be the toughest guy on that subject.
I'm going to give you an example. Air Canada told us that it's making its workers learn French. Rather than say, “I don't speak French,” they'll say, “Je ne parle pas français”. On the weekend, I took the plane and that's exactly what happened. A person told me she didn't speak French and I was never able to tell her which sandwich I wanted of the six that were offered. I pointed out the name of the sandwich and I told her I wanted it. However, she repeated to me that she didn't speak French. I told her I wanted that sandwich. She told me: “Je ne parle pas français”. I swear I said it three times: “Je veux celui-ci”. She answered me that she didn't speak French. So Minister Stockwell Day said: “He wants that sandwich.” Ah! He turned to me and told me he thought she didn't speak French and that she didn't understand him either. I'm telling you this little story because we're being told all kinds of things. I'm taking you seriously. You represent the Department of National Defence, which represents us in Canada and abroad. You are our ambassadors. You go to countries to fight so that the people of those countries will have the right to democracy, whereas, in Canada, there are two official languages acts that aren't complied with.
Let's go back to Mr. Nadeau's story. Imagine that person gets on a ship for a period of six months. The only thing the commander will have learned to say is, “Je ne parle pas français.” His stay on that boat won't be very pleasant, even if that comes from you. Since we've been talking about it, he should know that's not the way to talk to a military member. I'm pleased you said you were trying to solve the problem. Imagine the position a person finds himself in. I'm not a man who is easily influenced, but I guarantee you that, when I was sitting in my airplane seat, I was fed up with showing her the damned sandwich. Imagine the guy who works for the commander.