Thank you, Ms. Ashton. That's a very good question. It gives me an opportunity to underscore an important factor.
As you just mentioned, Ms. Ashton, this would appear to be an everyday battle for francophones outside Quebec, except for those in Ottawa of course. Every day, people are trying hard to enable their children to live in French. These efforts could, of course, also make it possible for your francophone and francophile colleagues, and you, to learn and use French.
As a demographer, however, my view is pessimistic. The fact is that changing languages, reviving a language or assimilating a language takes time. Very few people change their language. There have been estimates: every year in Quebec, approximately 10,000 people, that's tens of thousands of people, change to another language. Francophones may try to make headway by doing so, but it takes time. It often takes one or two generations for non-francophone immigrants to make the transition to French. In the meantime, other factors come into play, like the low fertility rate and the fact that most of immigrants are not francophone.
You're asking me whether having francophones or francophiles immigrate to areas other than Quebec could solve the problem with respect to the future of French in some regions like Manitoba. It would help, of course, but it would do so at the expense of francophone immigration to Quebec. It's impossible to do both at the same time. Moreover, even if the effort to have a few more francophones and francophiles immigrate to communities outside Quebec would not do anything to reverse the trend observed in the rest of Canada.
So I'm not very optimistic. It's important to fight for it, I will admit, but I fear that it won't be enough because there is a distinction to be made between the language behaviour of individuals and the behaviour of language groups.
I'm not sure that answers your question. But it's a subject of interest to me. I see that you have a minute left, Ms. Ashton, so if you don't have any further questions, I…