Long live Isle Madame!
Our government is also aware that official language minority community media face significant challenges. For the first time in an action plan, the government is responding directly. On October 4, I outlined the implementation of the Community Media Support Fund, with an envelope of $14.5 million, including $4.5 million for hiring interns and $10 million for special projects, to be managed together with the Official Languages Community Media Consortium, which brings together thousands of organizations, throughout the country.
While we are getting ready to mark the 50th anniversary of the Official Languages Act, I have been mandated to start a review to modernize the act. We intend to conduct the review in collaboration with official language partners and communities and also with parliamentarians and members of the public. This is an important exercise.
Also, I am continuing this work with all of my colleagues to see to it that our official languages remain at the heart of our action. Last week, I was proud to announce, along with the President of the Treasury Board, the proposed amendments to the Official Languages Regulations, which had not been reviewed since they were created in 1991. That announcement was long overdue.
Our proposal responds to requests from community representatives, particularly francophones outside Quebec, who must deal with a completely different reality. Indeed, the fact of being geographically dispersed throughout the country can sometimes cause major challenges when it comes to providing bilingual services. Our changes will mean an improvement in bilingual federal services offered in Canada pursuant to the Official Languages Act. We want additional services to be offered where people need them.
In Alberta, this could mean opening new offices to serve citizens near a French-language school. In Charlottetown—and in all provincial and territorial capitals—this will mean service in French for travellers at railway stations and airports. In Quebec, the English-speaking communities, for example, in Gaspé, could have access to more services in their first language.
The bottom line is that across the country, close to one million Canadians will be better served by their government. The proposed amendments aim to support and strengthen the vitality of our communities across the country, taking into account the reality of those who live there.
No services will be eliminated; on the contrary, we will improve them for everyone. With this initiative, we are contributing to the presence and influence of the French fact in Canada. We will all benefit from it and we can all be proud of it.
Speaking of which, I would like to touch briefly on the influence of the French fact in Canada, and particularly as concerns francophone communities outside of la belle province. However, one thing is clear: the Canadian francophonie is alive and well, it is dynamic and it is also different, depending on whether you hail from Moncton, North Bay, Trois-Rivières or Winnipeg. Having studied this subject closely, you know this only too well.
If Quebec is the heart of a strong francophonie in the country, we know that we must protect French from coast to coast, and that minority francophone communities need our support.
Linguistic rights are written into our Constitution and our Official Languages Act, and we will continue to protect them and promote them. Our government is committed to providing that support, which includes notably the deployment of our action plan. And our government is working hard to implement it. The work is well underway, and I am delighted to continue it with you.
It will be a pleasure for me to answer all of your questions.
Thank you.