Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would really like to get into this game and ask you to give a mark to the former Harper government. But I will not do so because we are trying to work in a spirit of collaboration and to see how we can promote the Francophonie, given that we are talking about the decline of French.
Mr. Dupuis, thank you very much for your comments. I would have liked to hear Mr. Johnson also, but we will have other opportunities to talk to him. You talked about promoting French and the importance of being positive with regard to official language minority communities. You know that our government has allocated an additional investment of $500 million in its action plan. It has also presented a white paper, as you said, not to mention Budget 2021, which was brought down last week and which provides for an additional investment of $300 million in the communities.
Could you talk a little about the importance of our infrastructure in culture, in communities and, of course, in schools? Then, I would like to hear your comments about the importance of reviving the Court Challenges program with adequate funding. What does that provide for us? What does it represent in terms of the decline of French and of investments in our communities? How important are these investments?
You know that, in Sudbury, where I am at the moment and where you are from, the government has made a major investment in the Place des Arts, which will soon open its doors and will house a number of cultural organizations. This is the first time for decades that we are going to have our own cultural space. It's a great project that the community is very excited about.
In your opinion, how important are cultural and community infrastructures?