Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I read Ms. Lalonde's motion. The Official Languages Act has been in place for over 50 years. We know the importance of modernizing it. To this end, the Conservative Party has already made concrete proposals that affect all official language minority communities.
I want to take this opportunity to welcome Ms. Martinez Ferrada.
The committee's role is really to support and promote both official languages, but also to pay special attention to official language minority communities, meaning the anglophone community in Quebec and the francophone minority communities in the rest of the country.
I'll now address Ms. Lalonde's amendment. The motion that we're dealing with today opens up new opportunities for the Standing Committee on Official Languages to look at one of the two official languages diagnosed as being in difficulty. There's cause for concern. The status of French is a matter of concern in all French-language minority communities, but also in Quebec.
The motion moved focuses on a new aspect that we haven't studied in the Standing Committee on Official Languages. This aspect is the status of French in Quebec. It seems that, to be consistent, paragraph (c) should reflect this specific focus on the status of French in the country. The scope has already been broadened to include all francophone communities across Canada. I believe that the motion is consistent and that broadening it to include both official languages wouldn't reflect the spirit of the motion, which is to address one of the two official languages.
I read an article in La Liberté entitled “French in decline”. The article states the following:
Canada recognizes English and French as official languages. Yet these two languages are not represented in an equitable manner...
We must promote one of the two official languages. We're doing this. However, there's a real concern about French right now, both in Quebec and across the country. On that note, I'm referring in particular to your government's Speech from the Throne.
That's why I believe that the motion, in its current form, is preferable to the proposed amendment.