Like many of our French-language schools, our immersion schools do not have the necessary infrastructure to deal with the issue of students dropping out.
Let us suppose that a student wants to become an electrician. Not all French-language schools or immersion schools offer secondary level courses that would enable that student to pursue studies in that field. That is one of the reasons why students preparing for trade school, CEGEP or university drop out to enter majority schools where they have access to more programs.
As for incentives, I believe we have to consider the parents who register their children in French-language schools. First we must ensure that we have the necessary infrastructure and that we do not simply lengthen the waiting list. Immersion schools are managed by the English-language school districts. Is there not a way to get incentives directly from them so that anglophone students can take immersion programs and we can promote them?
There are bilingual leaders around this table, in this government and across the country who are, to my mind, models who should be followed. These people could also serve as models for parents and children, who could then see the contribution that bilingualism actually makes to leaders of this country. That, for me, is a very important message. I will not conceal the fact that the best possible model for French-language learning is an anglophone. When I talk about linguistic duality, I seem to be preaching to the converted. However, an anglophone who talks about the benefits of speaking French has a lot more impact on anglophones.