One hopes, Commissioner, that you will think fast and refuse, because we are not about to see this become a national language. It has not even been respected as an official language. Let us resolve that issue first.
This is money that should go to the regions. They say they want to teach English to francophones outside Quebec, but I find that worrisome. As Commissioner of Official Languages, that is not your mandate. Your mandate is ensuring that our official languages are being respected. The government has a responsibility to provide services in both official languages. The day they emphasize teaching the other language in regions like mine, will be the day where services will be offered in the other language, English, which is the majority language.
I would like to correct something I said earlier. I mentioned a shipwreck in Neguac, but it did not happen in Neguac, it happened in the Tabusintac channel. I just wanted to make sure that will appear in the “blues”.
It was said that we do not know whether the departments' money had been used for the roadmap. One thing is clear: the roadmap states that $120 million came from Immigration Canada. That is money that Immigration Canada has already spent and that was transferred there.
The government is patting itself on the back, saying that it has not cut the roadmap's budget and that there is still $1.2 billion. That is untrue. We can already clearly see, on paper, that these $120 million come from Immigration Canada's portfolio. I wanted to mention that.
There is something else. Earlier this year, you said you were assessing your options to ensure that Treasury Board respects linguistic obligations, when the time comes to make appointments to the governor in council. That is important, because recently, a job at Library and Archives Canada was posted for which bilingualism was not required. Have you undertaken an objective assessment to find out whether or not it was required?