Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to welcome you, Ms. Adams, Mr. Morrow and Ms. Ellwand.
The committee has decided to do a study on immersion. As we had already talked about second language teaching at the post-secondary level, such as, for example, in universities, I liked to hear Mr. Morrow talk about it.
We have a lot of questions to ask you, but I would like to know how you feel about one thing, in particular, with respect to universities. Perhaps you have already answered this question.
I will not hide the fact from you that I'm one of the people behind the bill to ensure that justices of the Supreme Court of Canada are bilingual, and the bill designed to ensure that parliamentary officers are bilingual. Even the universities supported us on this legislation. For example, the universities in Toronto and Vancouver told us that if the bill were adopted, they would then have the authority to tell their students that they need to learn the other official language if they have any desire to work at the Supreme Court of Canada, no matter where they happen to be.
In this fashion, students would have a goal to reach. Otherwise, they simply elect to take immersion courses without knowing too much about what is expected from them, and as you said, once the immersion course is over, they no longer are fluent in the second official language and lose their ability.
Do you not think that it is time that the government demonstrate leadership in certain areas, particularly with respect to public services?
Moreover, although the government is one of the largest employers in Canada, we see that it is not promoting both official languages in the universities. As an employer, the government should specify the type of employees that it is looking for, which would in turn help the universities make decisions.
In this respect, I must congratulate our chair, Mr. Michael Chong. Indeed, he really emphasized the need for universities to provide instruction in the second official language, because our country is supposed to provide services in both official languages.
Mr. Morrow, I would like to hear your comments on this issue.