Is it for me that question?
You know.....
I switched to English. That's part of what being Franco-Ontarian means.
We created a francophone economic space, some 15 years ago, when we decided to talk to governments and the community, and to create chambers of commerce and business groups. We found resources to create the RDEE, support structures for economic development, networks and a variety of things in our communities.
Four or five years ago, we created a steering committee to organize the first pan-Canadian forum on economic development in the Canadian Francophonie, which was held in 2012. The forum brought together stakeholders from government, associations and the private sector of the francophone economy to discuss that space. The idea was to determine needs, decide whether any work needed to be done with regard to the market, policies, regulations or taxation, and to define what that space consisted of. You may be surprised, but a draft definition was just completed. It is actually not easy to define what a francophone economic space in a minority setting is, or what a francophone company in a minority setting is.
Mr. Griffith is absolutely right. Entrepreneurs want to sell their products and services. They will sell them in the language of the client, be they anglophone or francophone.
Francophones consider their companies to be different in terms of ownership and management. However, people can obtain services entirely in English in a francophone company. That space is still being defined. Three years ago, I would not have even been able to provide you with the figures I gave you earlier. We are just now beginning to establish economic partnerships between companies and universities in order to carry out research and prove that the francophone economy has added value.