I think there are a number of elements.
One thing I would say is that I think that, to a large extent, a much larger extent than was the case when the Official Languages Act was passed in 1969, Canadians do see bilingualism as an asset. You do not hear, as happened in moments of tension in the past, the booing of the national anthem when it is sung in both languages, as happened at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976. You don't see the kind of overt hostility to the presence of both languages.
The polls show—and it's one of the things we alluded to in our annual report this year—there's an ever-growing support for Canada's linguistic duality. One of the things that has struck me in the meetings I've had or the forums we've organized with immigrants is that many of them were attracted to Canada because they liked the idea that Canada has two official languages.
You see immigrant families who are determined to ensure that their children learn both official languages. There is a sense that this is a way in which they can affirm their Canadianness, by learning or ensuring that their children can learn both official languages.
In terms of the jobs issue, I think it's just a matter of making it clear that bilingualism is not a requirement for hiring in the federal public service, that 60% of the jobs in the federal public service do not require both official languages. There are a relatively limited number of reasons why people need to be bilingual if they work for the federal government: to serve people at a counter or serve the public in an office where they have an obligation where numbers warrant to serve the public; to be able to manage people who have a right to work in their language of choice in an area that's designated bilingual, such as New Brunswick, parts of Quebec, the national capital region, and parts of eastern and northern Ontario; and to be able to brief a minister. Ministers obviously have the right to say they want to be briefed in French, and the system has an obligation to ensure there are senior people who can do that. Finally, there is the importance of senior public servants understanding the country as a whole. All kinds, 60%, of federal jobs do not meet those criteria.