Yes, like you, I learned of the minister's comments when he appeared before you one week ago. I did not repeat his comments.
However, there is another distinction that must be made: some obligations are to the Olympic Movement and are not part of our obligations. We must remember that there are two official languages and that French has precedence there. If there is a conflict in the statutes or rules of the Olympic Movement, the French version prevails.
Ms. Charlebois said that we received a certain number of comments that were not formal complaints. There were comments on the issue of French during the opening ceremonies, and others who said that there was too much French. We had to explain that during the introduction of the athletes, they were introduced first of all in French and then in English, not because of the Official Languages Act, but because of the rules of the Olympic Movement. In our analysis of the ceremonies, we have to make the distinction between the protocol of the Olympic Movement, which received the very positive approval of Mr. Couchepin, and the essentially Canadian elements.