I think I said it earlier, but I will say it again. French is an essential skill, not an asset. So it should not be at the bottom of the list, as we see all too often.
I'm going to draw a parallel with the University of Ottawa: between two otherwise equal candidates, the university will choose a unilingual anglophone professor rather than a bilingual professor. We see this frequently in the academic world.
Again, it takes strong leadership. People should know that, if they want positions that interest them, they have to know both languages. We're talking about appointments at senior levels. This is something that you prepare for in life, not something that happens as soon as you enter the public service. So, if a person intends to someday become a director general or assistant deputy minister, and knows that he or she must know French at the time of his or her appointment, he or she will learn French. The message has to be clear.
We haven't talked about it yet, but there also has to be a clear policy on how official languages provisions are applied. This policy will have to be centralized at the Treasury Board Secretariat, most certainly, with general parameters that can then be put in place by each federal institution.