Thank you very much.
Madam Minister, I would first like to speak in support of all the members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages around this table. There is no doubt that they work in close cooperation for the advancement of the francophonie. However, what happened between 2005 and 2015 has weakened francophones all over Canada. Let me just give you the perspective of one francophone, and all my francophone friends, from one end of Canada to the other.
First, funding for the Action Plan for Official Languages did not increase for 10 years. If you calculate that at 2.5%, it probably means a loss of 15%. The effect was to weaken front-line organizations.
Here is the scenario. Because they have been weakened, they decide to undertake a court challenge, but there that program is, gone! They cannot even challenge the fact that it has gone. Then they decide to check the facts. They tell themselves that there are certainly a lot of francophones outside Québec and it will be good to check that. But there the long-form census is, also gone! What, no more census? How can that be?