I don't understand it either. When I came to Ottawa—I won't say how long ago—to this bilingual institution called the University of Ottawa, I was struck by the lack of bilingualism. I'll make a comparison with the University of Ottawa to explain how this applies to the public service. The issue still arises when it comes to conducting research and having excellent researchers who speak French. There's still this dichotomy between conducting excellent research and speaking French, on the grounds that you can't do both. However, it's a false debate.
I agree with you. Among Canada's 40 million inhabitants, there should be some bilingual people. This should be seen as an asset. I think that an educational effort should be made earlier in life. People should learn early on that we're in a bilingual country and that they need to know both languages. This should also be taught at university.
Something came to mind earlier while I was listening to a question. I would love to see the public service reach out to universities to tell them that it needs bilingual candidates, especially in public administration programs. I floated this idea on my end, but it hasn't caught on. If a person comes from a bilingual university and proves that they have taken courses in English and French, this should equate to public service language tests. It isn't complicated to implement. We just need people to think about these aspects and provide guidance on how to cut costs, make the system more effective and send a message too. I think that this message concept doesn't exist and that people work in silos. That's what happens in the federal public service. We each work on our own side, and we use French in Quebec and English in other places. That's the perception. In other bilingual institutions, the logic is much the same.