I have two or three comments in response to your question, Mr. Choquette.
First, without wanting to repeat what I've already explained, I don't think anyone should underestimate the fact that, when federal parliamentarians say they're in favour of official languages, that's both symbolically and genuinely useful and important for the linguistic communities, even in disputes, fights and crises, to borrow the term you used, at the provincial level.
I personally want to thank all of you here, in particular, Mr. Clarke, who has expressed his dissatisfaction in this matter, but also the present government and its members. As a francophone outside Quebec, I find this reassuring and I'm grateful to you. It's very important. I think this is part of the federal role in the federation.
My second comment kind of follows in the wake of what Mrs. Fortier began to say. You mentioned early childhood and postsecondary education. For years, the Canadian government has granted millions of dollars to the provinces and territories and set very few conditions and, in some instances, none. That makes absolutely no sense in 2018. Responsibility, transparency and accountability have become values that can be properly used or misused, as we saw last Thursday. It's illogical for the Canadian government to allocate so much funding to Toronto without requiring something in return, such as that it keep the promises it made to francophones. I'm stating this in a general way, but that's enough for the moment.
For my third comment, I want to go back to the modernization of the Official Languages Act. It's the issue of the moment after all, despite last Thursday's surprise. As witnesses have already recommended to you, the Official Languages Act should include a section requiring, for example, that an OLEP or a federal-provincial education agreement be adopted every five years. That section could also require that a five-year action plan be adopted. I'm referring here to what the Fransaskois recommended to you. This would be a structural and structuring way to enable the federal government in future to monitor the money it gives to the provinces more closely. If the provinces knew there would likely be consequences, they would think twice or even three times before cutting the programs and services that are dear to us.
Federal support for education from kindergarten to grade 12 is not unusual, Mr. Choquette. Neither francophones outside Quebec nor anglophones in Quebec had any constitutional right to their schools in the 1960s. What did the Canadian government of the time, the government of Justin Trudeau's father, do? It put money on the table, but with conditions attached, and those conditions were met. It's time to reinstate that notion of reciprocity, more specifically by adding provisions to the act respecting responsibility, transparency and accountability.