I entirely agree with you on that point. I was employed by a mixed Catholic and public school board. I taught at Louis-Riel, Gisèle-Lalonde and De la Salle public schools. When we went to the Collège Samuel-Genest in Ottawa, I heard a student say that immigrants, newcomers, absolutely had to learn English because, otherwise, they would have trouble; they would not be able to communicate with their comrades who spoke English in the halls of the school and if they wanted to make friends. As you may perhaps not know, my heart still bleeds. I know this situation exists. This came from the mouth of someone who has been here for about one year. He told us that very freely; that's the reality he experiences.
On another occasion, I made a presentation at Grande-Rivière school in Aylmer, and I also heard English spoken in the halls. That school is in Quebec. So the work is enormous. I understand that every possible effort has to be made to lead by example, the federal government first, and we parliamentarians who are members of Parliament.
When we compare the Dion Plan with the Roadmap, we see that, under the former, the Treasury Board Secretariat received $72 million, whereas the Roadmap received $17 million for official languages compliance. We were told that the money was transferred to the School of Public Service. I checked and I realized that the amount fell from $13 million to $3 million.
In addition, public servants are asked to assess themselves to determine the quality of their French. I'm astounded. You can't say that's an improvement. The main issue is money. The political will is reflected somewhere. When you don't have authority to do it, you simply let the good work that has already been started dissolve. You'll understand my confusion and dismay over this situation.