With your permission, Monsieur Trottier, I'll say a few words and then perhaps I'll ask my colleague, Dr. O'Donnell, to add something from her perspective.
The question you raise is an absolutely vital one. It is about priorities. I would point out that like everyone in the room, I think, I am a taxpayer. The taxpayer is indirectly represented here, and more directly by you perhaps than by us.
Having said that, it seems to me that it is critical for the Government of Canada never to lose sight of its mission of doing whatever it can to guarantee the vitality of all our minority communities in Canada. I think there are payoffs for the taxpayer in that.
For example, if we hark back to what Dr. O'Donnell was saying about developing metrics and parameters for assessing community vitality, having lived in Newfoundland for many years, which is where I had the good fortune to meet Madame Enguehard many years ago, I have seen it firsthand there, and more recently in Quebec, the terrible pattern of loss that arises when community vitality cannot be sustained, when communities are hollowed out and emptied and people vanish from those communities, either to migrate to nearby cities or, in the case of both Newfoundland and English-speaking Quebec, to other provinces and other countries. That is a terrible loss for Canada, it seems to me.
I think it is incumbent on the Government of Canada to do what it can, within the limits of fiscal responsibility, you're absolutely correct, to sustain those communities, because they are part of the fabric of this nation and they contribute vitally to sustaining the fabric of Canada.