Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In January, the Federal Court of Appeal found that the federal government had failed in its obligation set out in part VII of the Official Languages Act to take positive measures to promote the vitality of the francophone minority in British Columbia. Of course, everyone here knows that this was the second such ruling in just over a year.
In Alberta, we've seen the provincial government fail to protect French in Alberta. It's reneged on its contractual obligations to fund Campus Saint-Jean, and to date has refused to accept federal dollars to make up for part of that funding gap.
Without Campus Saint-Jean, Alberta will not have the qualified teachers it needs to serve its francophone students or those who, like my daughter, are enrolled in bilingual programs.
How can the federal government bypass or otherwise compel provincial governments like Alberta's United Conservative Party government to protect minority language rights?