Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's relevant, given that the whips decide when members of Parliament will travel or which committees they will take part in. Every political party has a whip. The committees don't decide these things.
At the time, the whip asked my father, for example, to go and speak in CEGEPs. My father often said that, when he visited CEGEPs, he was called a liar and a traitor. He couldn't possibly come from Ontario and speak French. That was in 1970. This point matters, since it concerns the history of francophones.
Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Godin and Mr. Généreux, you're lucky to have been able to live in French more than I and my ancestors did in northern Ontario. In spite of everything, we have kept our language and our culture. We have primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and even universities now.
The motion asks that the chief government whip remove a member from this committee. However, this issue doesn't even fall within the purview of our committee. It would really be an abuse of power on the part of the committee. As a result, the motion is out of order.
Obviously, that's why Mr. Godin and Mr. Beaulieu are always together. They're constantly muttering about their strategy.
In terms of the motion, I find that, when it comes to francophones outside Quebec, the members across the way sometimes have a bit of trouble. I'm a bit jealous that they could work in French. I didn't have the chance to work entirely in French.
In connection with the motion, we can also talk about the court challenges program. I'm also on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. We're having trouble right now, because the Conservatives don't want the court challenges program bill to go through. They have already cancelled this program twice. This program has helped us francophones. It has helped the case for our schools. Mr. Godin's father was also involved with the Montfort Hospital case and with helping primary schools.
The francophone community outside Quebec is closely tied to the motion.
I liked the comments that you made earlier, Mr. Beaulieu, about working together. I couldn't agree more. It's high time the Bloc Québécois thought about francophones outside Quebec. You can laugh about it, Mr. Beaulieu, but the comments that you made earlier were a bit insulting. You said that only 10% of francophones were outside Quebec. I hope that you weren't implying that these francophones didn't need help and that it was a waste of money.