Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to all the witnesses and especially to Marie-France Kenny.
Marie-France, ever since you started working with the committee and elsewhere, I have felt that you deserve our utmost admiration. I hope your future projects will bring you other challenges that will measure up to what you have contributed to our country so far.
Let me go back to our current study. We want to help official language minority communities—especially the francophone communities in some provinces—to retain immigrants. Several witnesses have told us—and please let me know whether they were right—that the key factor encouraging immigration is the economic factor, that is, when they feel that they can obtain jobs.
Unfortunately, some witnesses have told us that even francophone entrepreneurs don’t always consider having another francophone to fill a position because they are looking for skills. They might decide to favour a bilingual employee or an anglophone. I find that a little disheartening.
We want our official language minority communities to be able to survive and grow. Efforts are being made in terms of culture and the quality of life, but it seems that is as far as they go. Immigrants move for jobs and go to other provinces. Not all of them can stay near the communities with the critical mass that allows francophones to live in French. In addition, we have learned that this is not a consideration for entrepreneurs, unfortunately. Basically, if communities don’t find a way to attract them, I am not sure what we are going to do.
Could you comment on that?