Looking at where we are at right now, there has in fact been some progress. I remember that at one time there were hardly any provincial services in French. As to the agreements between a province or territory and the federal government, the reporting requirements are not very clear in many cases. There should be very clear criteria for the linguistic clauses. An important part of a linguistic clause is promoting duality.
Further, in terms of duality and the Commissioner's mandate to work towards equality and promote linguistic duality in Canada, that affects everyone. It is important for the federal government to show leadership to ensure that the agreements signed with the provinces and territories are very clear, specifically, that the linguistic clauses are strong and robust and that there is a transparent reporting mechanism.
In terms of Canadians' support for the official languages, a number of surveys have clearly shown that is it very strong right now. So it is accepted, but now we have to get to the next level. We have to achieve greater acceptance. We have to make sure it is vibrant.
We have to make sure that all Canadians buy into the concept of duality, not just the francophone communities outside Quebec and the anglophone community in Quebec.