I'm very pleased to be here today. As I previously said, the northern Fraser River in British Columbia is well represented today.
At the start of the meeting, someone told me that the French word "vis" means "screw". However, my family comes from the Netherlands, where it actually means "fish". So think of me as a fish rather than a "screw".
Mr. Perreault, I listened to you talking passionately about protecting French. I'd like to tell you a little about my personal situation.
I have a six-year-old son who wants to learn French. He entered a lottery and won a place at a francophone school in the British Columbia education system. When he started the school this year, not a single teacher could speak French. Many parents in British Columbia would like their children to be taught in Canada's second official language, but we're unable to grant that constitutional right to my son and thousands of other children in the province who have neither the luck nor the opportunity to speak both official languages.
How can we change this situation?
Is this a federal transfer payments issue? Should the government establish incentives to attract more teachers and to address the labour shortage problem?