Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Honourable members of the committee, hello.
Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge that the lands on which we are gathered are part of the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people, an indigenous people of the Ottawa Valley.
I’m pleased to be with you today to present my 2023–2024 annual report.
Since the modernization of the Official Languages Act last June, my team has been laying the foundations for exercising my new powers. We’re now ready for action according to the timeline I unveiled when I tabled my annual report.
We therefore plan to start gradually phasing in the use of these new tools with the funding we’ve been granted in the 2024 budget.
It's hard to say, at this point, whether this amount will be enough, though, because we don't yet have all the details on the new Use of French in Federally Regulated Private Businesses Act or on my new power to impose administrative monetary penalties. We'll know more once they come into force, after an order in council is issued by the Governor in Council and regulations are adopted.