Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
In its January judgment in the appeal involving the Commissioner of Official Languages, the B.C. federation and Employment and Social Development Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal clearly held that the insertion of linguistic clauses resulted from the exercise of the federal government's spending power. In fact, the absence of a binding linguistic clause in the agreement respecting the transfer of employment assistance services had harmed the francophone community of British Columbia.
In your amendments, you propose binding language clauses. Do you therefore consider those clauses constitutional, particularly in light of the judgment of the Court of Appeal?