Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Standing Committee on Official Languages is already quite concerned about the health care services available in minority language communities across the country, meaning French-language health care outside Quebec and English-language health care within Quebec. And now, we are learning about a problem that may further undermine the availability of French-language services all over the country.
We realize that Ontario has a problem, but it isn't the only one. This affects all the other provinces, as well. Ontario isn't alone in offering nursing programs in French. My understanding is that four or five universities provide the training.
Today, we heard from witnesses representing a number of provinces where nursing programs are offered in French. They had just one recommendation for the committee. I would've thought they would come to us with two, three, four, or five recommendations, but that wasn't the case. They recommended only one thing: that the bilingual Canadian exam be restored. The witnesses told us that following through on that particular recommendation would fix all the other issues, including the lack of French-language preparatory materials.
The Standing Committee on Official Languages is very worried about this situation. We just released a report on the new official languages action plan, and health plays a central role. The government in power will certainly want to make sure that health services in the minority language are not less accessible but, just the opposite, more accessible.
Given what I've just told you, would you reconsider your decision to use an American exam, in favour of going back to a bilingual Canadian exam? We were told that it could be done, that the science existed, and that we had the skills to do it.
I'd like to hear where each of you stand on that.