Thank you, Mr. Dion. I will answer quickly.
Over the past two years, Statistics Canada has published 11 statistical portraits extracted from the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities conducted in 2006, and data from the censuses. Each province publishes one report for official language communities, and in exogamous couples, there is a very clear link between the fact that both spouses speak French, or are bilingual, and the growth of the use of French in the home. You are quite right, that is a reality. However there are challenges regarding school attendance. We know that outside Quebec, generally speaking, one young francophone out of two goes to a minority school and 15% are in immersion programs. However, close to half of the parents whose children do not attend a minority language program mentioned that if they had had that opportunity, they would have chosen to send their children to such a school. The lack of availability and accessibility is the problem, and that is due to the fact that the distances involved are too great. So there are some issues in that respect.
Soon, Statistics Canada, in the context of its new electronic publication policy, will be publishing a study on the factors that have influenced the development of bilingualism over the past 20 to 30 years. We will use different files, some of them from the provinces, specifically to determine which factors have been at play.
You are quite correct regarding the teaching of French. West of Ontario, there is no obligation to learn French as a second language. In British Columbia, for instance, French is one of six languages on the menu, so to speak. A large proportion of immigrants settle in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. The fact that that obligation is not felt west of Ontario means that, consequently of course, there is a drop in the number of young people who register in French as a second language programs. There are reasons for that. We would have to be able to study that more in detail. The census data would allow us to do that, but of course our resources are limited. That said—