Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for being here today.
Mr. Lepage, you are a lawyer, and you suggest that part VII of the act be amended to cover the construction of francophone schools. I would like you to expand on that idea.
I was a member of the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario in Sudbury for six years starting in 2000. Francophones took the provincial government to court because it was reserving the construction of new schools for anglophones and abandoning the old schools to francophones. A number of rulings have been made in this regard over the years and the courts have forced the provincial government to build elementary and secondary schools for francophones.
In Saskatchewan, things are a little different, but there are still similar elements. What is the role of Saskatchewan? What role should the federal government play with the province, without infringing on the province's jurisdiction over education?
I would like to hear your ideas in terms of funding and cooperation. What role does Saskatchewan play in ensuring the existence of francophone schools? I agree with you that the underfunding of elementary and secondary schools in Canada is substantial. The provinces seem to be failing to meet their obligations in relation to French or to the language situation in the country.