So it's not my imagination that this is the case. The irony is that as we live in an increasingly interdependent world, in an economy that is increasingly reliant on international trade, we seem to be pulling back from the need to learn or encourage second- or third-language knowledge. It seems to me to be the exact opposite of the direction in which we should be moving.
The other set of questions I had is for the public servants who are here. We're the largest employer in the country. We employ, through agencies, crowns, and directly, close to half a million Canadians. What steps have the department or central agencies taken--I know you don't work for central agencies, but I mean central agencies that you're aware of--to indicate to universities that we are not getting the graduates we need from the universities? We spend a lot of time and effort training recently graduated students from Canadian universities because they don't have the skills we need.
The one skill in particular that they don't have is the need to be bilingual. What steps are you aware of, if there are any, that have been taken to have that discussion with Canadian universities, to say, listen, you're not producing the kinds of graduates we need for today's public service with respect to knowledge of both official languages?