Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for being with us today.
My first question is for Ms. Chouinard.
The Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne criticized the official languages in education program in its presentation to the committee. That program doesn't fund institutions based on their mission, but rather by project, and does so with mandatory matching contributions from the provinces.
Mr. Normand noted that it would be constitutional to enter into agreements directly with the educational institutions in order to provide them with better funding because that would meet the federal government's mandate under part VII of the Official Languages Act.
Ms. Chouinard, you appeared before the committee a little more than a year ago to tell us about the deficiencies in funding for post-secondary educational institutions. You explained that post-secondary education in francophone communities across Canada was in crisis and that the federal government needed to step in to resolve it. We agree with what you told the committee. We think the government could play that role by including language clauses in its agreements with the provinces or by defending French and francophones' rights, as the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada proposes.
What do you think of the FCFA's proposal to add language clauses to the bill and to define the federal government's responsibilities in its agreements with the provinces?