I know about divided families. I come from a family of 11 children, of whom I am the 11th. In 1972, not one of us was still in New Brunswick apart from my mother and father. I can guarantee you there were a lot of tears. That is what happens when families are divided. I know, we experienced it and we are still experiencing it. I have nephews and nieces that I do not even know. That is the problem.
Today, people are mobile and can travel. From the human standpoint, I would like families to be able to at least stay together. People who go and work in the west work 14-day schedules then go home for 7 days or else work for 20 days and go back home for 10. My schedule is four days on and three days off. I can tell you that it is nice to go home. Acadie is beautiful and I do not want to lose it.
However, I do not want to spend all my time talking about that. I just want to send a message. If people decide to stay in your province, they will do so voluntarily. We should hope they are not forced to do so.
Coming back to the business at hand, we are conducting a study and we need your recommendations. I would like to hear from all of you briefly. What recommendations reflecting your needs would you like to see in the report?
I am not trying to criticize the Conservatives, but there have been budget cuts. And yet you say that every dollar you spend generates three. That should wake people up.
You spend $1 and get $3 back in the economy.
With your support, what should the government do to stimulate economic development in the official language minority communities?
On that matter, Mr. Buck,
I want to thank you for the statement you made. You said we could work together.
The official languages are an asset. Some countries have as many as six official languages and they do not fight over the matter. We have only two in Canada. There are two founding peoples, along with aboriginal people, and it seems that every day we look for ways to fight among ourselves rather than to be creative, to work together and to respect our cultures. All that is an asset.
On that point, I want to thank you for your comment, Mr. Buck.
Now I would like to hear you tell me what you would like to see in the report.