Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is for the representative of the Canadian Association of Second-Language Teachers.
All my cousins in Asia can speak two or three languages, and my cousins in Europe can speak two or three languages. Here in Canada, an officially bilingual country at the federal level, the vast majority of students are not bilingual. I find that quite ironic.
It's an irony, and despite all the attempts by various governments to try to address this, we don't seem to be going in the right direction.
The Government of Canada introduced the action plan on official languages about five years ago. We are halfway through that action plan, and it has been renewed. Over its lifetime, about $2 billion will have been poured into second language instruction and instruction for minority language communities.
One of the goals of this action plan was to double the number of students between the ages of 15 and 19 who were functional in the other official language. My understanding is that halfway through this action plan we are not going to meet that target. Why is that?