Thank you very much.
I'd like to thank the Standing Committee on Official Languages for inviting me to appear today.
My name is Daniel Boucher and I am the executive director of the Société de la francophonie manitobaine, or SFM. As the voice of Manitoba's francophone community, the SFM works to advance all areas of the community's activities with the help of its vast network of collaborators and partners.
Today, I'd like to talk about three main issues: the implementation of the Action Plan for Official Languages, federal-provincial-territorial agreements, and the lack of research on the economic impact of the francophonie. I will keep my remarks brief so that I can answer your questions at the end.
The SFM would like to take a moment to acknowledge the leadership shown by the federal government and parliamentarians in getting C‑13 and the new Action Plan for Official Languages, or APOL, passed. These are essential tools for promoting prosperity in our communities. That said, we are increasingly concerned about the delay in implementing the action plan, which is limiting the economic development of Manitoba's francophone community and all other francophone communities in Canada.
Through their hard work in providing stimulating jobs here at home while strengthening every aspect of community life, our community organizations act as catalysts for the economic vitality of our country and our province. It's important to stress that bilingualism is an essential part of Canada's competitive advantage. French is an economic asset on which we must build. The decline in the demographic weight of francophones across Canada calls for urgent and accelerated action on the part of the federal government.
It goes without saying that the economic development of our communities depends to a large extent on the availability of services in French, including education and health services. These services help to attract and retain bilingual workers and new arrivals. This has a major impact not only on the competitiveness of our economy, but also on the ability of our local businesses to grow and flourish.
That said, our communities are still waiting for new agreements on French-language services and the federal and provincial funding that goes with them. In the meantime, community organizations and the workers who support them are suffering from economic insecurity in times of uncertainty. In addition, the lack of language clauses in the Canada health transfer leaves much to be desired, making it more difficult for French-speaking people to obtain services in their first official language. We therefore encourage the federal government to conclude the agreements, to add language clauses to the agreements that still do not have them, and to support the municipalities so that they can offer services in French.
We are living through a revolution that is fundamentally transforming the way we work and the way we claim our rights. Never before in human history has so much data been produced. Yet there is a glaring lack of understanding of the weight and economic impact of the Canadian francophonie and bilingual entrepreneurs. Despite the work of organizations such as the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité, or RDÉE Canada, and its members, among others, more needs to be done to encourage the collection and, above all, the analysis of evidence in this area.
The Conference Board of Canada's 2018 report on English-French bilingualism outside Quebec is an excellent example of a methodologically robust analysis that provides a better overall picture of our realities than mere anecdotes. Analyzing and integrating research into the logic of our work is what allows our organizations to respond to real needs and work with different levels of government to find winning solutions. This could be done by encouraging collaboration between our economic development agencies and Statistics Canada, for example.
Thank you for your attention and for giving us the opportunity to present our point of view today. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.