Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
If Ms. Boucher hadn't mentioned the fact that the Prime Minister had received the rank of Grand-Croix of the Ordre de la Pléiade from the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, I wouldn't have talked about it. I wasn't in favour of that, and I'm going to tell you why.
I don't think you should receive that kind of reward simply because you've learned to speak French. Let's look at the work that's been done. Pardon me, Ms. Boucher, but you talked about it, so I'm going to do so as well. It was the Conservative government that cancelled Canada's Court Challenges Program, for which we had to fight. In fact, it has not yet been resolved; it's not really in place. The program disappeared about two years ago. It was given to a university, but it's not yet been resolved.
The Conservatives voted against requiring Supreme Court judges to be bilingual. The Supreme Court isn't a place where you make gifts to lawyers or judges. The Supreme Court justices are there for Canadian citizens. Citizens should feel comfortable in the Supreme Court.
As for the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality, where do we stand? The situation regarding funding sent to the communities is worse this year. And they award a medal! I think it was just to be nice. They figured that if they awarded a medal, the government might be kinder and give more.
I've given you my opinion. If Ms. Boucher hadn't broached the subject, I wouldn't have addressed it, but she opened the door.
Let's go back to the Commissioner's powers because I also say he should have more. I go further than you because you used the word ombudsman, which I don't like. An ombudsman checks, reports, but you'd think the government was never wrong. A commissioner is appointed under the act; he has power. Currently, for example, he can't issue contraventions or anything of that kind, but he has the power to take the government to court and thus to ensure that the court imposes sanctions.
I would like to hear what you have to say. How do you view the commissioner's role? You said he should have enhanced powers. How could that help us?