Actually, as I said earlier, I myself am an entrepreneur. All my employees are bilingual and we provide bilingual services in Saskatchewan.
That being said, whether you are a francophone or anglophone employer, you need an incentive. What is the benefit of hiring a plant worker who speaks French and English if the plant is small and does not work at a national or international level? What is the benefit then of telling employers that we will help them recruit people who speak French and English?
There is no denying it. If a person settles in Regina, it is very likely that they will be working in English. A basic knowledge of English is therefore needed. We let francophone immigrants know that. Language training is also provided in a number of our institutions.
Earlier, Mr. Nicholls talked about the Desrochers case, the CALDECH case. As a result, we know that, under the legislation, federal programs designed for the anglophone majority must be adapted for minority francophone communities and for anglophone communities in Quebec.
Let me give you a concrete example. Under a government program, you are entitled to funding if you have 500 participants. It is highly unlikely that you will obtain funding in Regina, just because you will not have 500 participants. The fact remains that under part VII of the Official Languages Act, federal programs must be adapted according to the specific needs of communities.
It is important to be able to hand out a carrot. There was one with the francophone significant benefit program. With that program, the idea was to find an employer a francophone employee who also spoke English. As a result, a labour market opinion was not necessary, which meant significantly less red tape for the employer and fewer fees. Employers agreed to hire francophones. We were really making up ground.
I was listening to Mr. Dubé earlier. I’m happy that the number is 15% in Moncton, because that is my former city. We hear talk about 38% francophones in Moncton, but we must raise the target to 38% because, if we don’t meet it, the percentage will keep on dropping. We also say that the percentage in New Brunswick must not fall under 33%. In my community, the percentage is 5%. Soon the federal government will no longer provide French-language services there. Do you think the province will continue to provide us with French-language services if the federal government no longer provides them?
In Saskatchewan, we do not have legislation on bilingualism, we only have a policy that refers to the concept of “where numbers warrant”. We also have the schools. That is where we are. We need to find a way to do more for francophones, just like we did with the legislation on diversity. We took the positive recruitment approach to fill the gaps within organizations. We need to do the same for francophones.
Mr. Dubé's suggestion to give more points to francophones is excellent. It is unfortunate that your colleague has left the room. In his view, more and more francophones are interested. However, we learned yesterday that, when people use the express entry program, there is no way of knowing whether they are francophone. We are able to know whether they speak English and French, but not whether they are francophone. As a result, I don’t know how we can say that francophones are very interested based on the express entry program. It is impossible to tell.
We are holding discussions with the department. We would like a significant number of additional points to be given to francophones who settle in a community. The provinces also have the nominee program. There is one in Saskatchewan and one in New Brunswick. Why is there no federal nominee program that would allow the government to consider the big picture when a person is francophone and qualified?
It is a matter of jobs for us as well. We want these people to come and settle in our communities, not for EI benefits but for jobs. We want to do our part. However, we need incentives but we have lost them all. In addition, our communities are no longer promoted. In express entry, there is absolutely no indication that there are francophones outside Quebec.