Hello. My name is Sylvie Boucher and I'm a member of Parliament from the Quebec City area, specifically the member for Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix. In other words, I represent the most beautiful riding in Quebec. Under the previous government, I was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Status of Women, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages.
I find this trip both very relevant and very troubling. Let me explain. I'm a humble girl from Quebec City, and we've always been told that Quebeckers are the fighters and that there are no francophones outside the province. All the francophones are supposedly concentrated in Quebec. Over the past two days, witnesses have been saying that native-born Quebeckers are not helping them very much, that their contact with Quebec governments at any level has been rather limited and that Quebeckers don't care about supporting the francophonie.
That said, we have talked a lot about school boards and instructors. As everyone knows, education is a provincial responsibility. I have a few questions for you.
Why can you not find people willing to invest in the francophonie? Why is it so hard to find instructors?
Mr. Arseneault asked whether you recruit instructors from outside the province. You said yes, but specified that you prefer to train them here. I agree with that 100%, but why can you not find any? What is the problem?