Thank you very much for the question.
I have to say that I think the official languages commissioner does his very best in the circumstances that he finds himself in. There are so many requests of his time, and I understand that. I did meet with the official languages commissioner very close to the time he released the annual report to ask him about this very statement that he made in his annual report, because there is frankly no evidence to suggest this hypothesis that he includes in the annual report. I was quite disappointed actually, because he admits it is a hypothesis only. He indicated very clearly that he has no evidence to suggest this but said that there will be a survey done and that he and his staff are embarking on looking for some evidence.
I just said to him, I think it would be better that you find the evidence first before you make the statement. It confuses the issue when that happens. I've also heard from other people who thought that this suggested somehow that francophone immigration was also being negatively impacted, which wasn't said directly, but you see how it dominoes. I have suggested to the Commissioner of Official Languages that this may be a better way to proceed in the future. When we look at francophone immigration, for example, it's a myth that's perpetuating. We had a third party expert come to the federal, provincial and territorial Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie in Winnipeg. He indicated very clearly how he was seeing francophone immigration. If you might allow me, I'd like to read a quote from his presentation. I have it in French.
He found that reforming Canada's immigration system would have a positive effect on the country's francophone communities across the board and that the communities would have to adapt.
Again, there are two different issues at heart that I've just answered to, but this is why we have to myth bust.
Thank you for the question.