If Thursday works for the person who moved the motion, it is no problem for me. We are all friends here.
Mr. Chair, the Bloc Québécois will certainly support the motion. I talked about it with Mr. Bélanger at the Festival du film de l'Outaouais recently, when he made the suggestion.
There is one thing. I remember Ms. Forand's presentation when she as much as said “the Maritimes are now anglophone only”. Frankly, I behaved myself and said that there were ways in which things could be done, like conference calls, for example, so that service in French can be provided if no one in the office is able to speak the language of Molière.
I mentioned my experience in an Elections Canada office a long time ago. Today, I can tell you that, if I found myself in an office in Acadie being told “we don't serve in French”, whether by a Mme Gaudreault or by a Ms. MacMillan, it would probably take the RCMP or a tow truck to get me out of that office. I would not be a happy camper and I would make sure that I got service in French. The first language in Acadie, after all, is French. That is why.
If Ms. Forand really did make a mistake, we should know about it. As Mr. Godin said, we have seen the opposite message in the few days after the stir in the media that the presentation by Ms. Forand and the Service Canada people caused.
So I feel that Mr. Bélanger's suggestion is perfectly appropriate. I would like it to become a proposal from the Standing Committee on Official Languages. I hope it will set the record straight. I hope that, in the Maritimes, Acadians will have as much right to services in their language as the descendants of the Loyalists have in theirs.
Thank you very much.