Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to begin by simply apologizing to my colleague Mr. Godin, because during his address, I may have got a little overexcited, which is not something I usually do. I was just proud to see that we were considered leading lights in this area. It made me smile and I wanted to thank people.
I certainly don't consider myself to be anything of the sort, but rather just a proud Franco-Ontarian. I would in fact describe everyone in my caucus as VIPs, proud defenders of the French fact, francophiles, francophones, and for myself, Franco-Ontarian.
I take pride in the fact that my colleague Mr. Beaulieu appears to be receptive to the amendments to Mr. Godin's motion introduced by my colleague Mr. Serré. I did not attend the last committee meeting, and got wind of what had happened from Mr. Serré's explanations of what has brought us here, and why we are reviewing a motion.
When the minister appeared before the committee, there were efforts to score political points on a committee which I feel ought to be apolitical. We know that French is important but in decline, and I'm pleased to see that we are finally going to get back to—or at least try to get back to—the study on federal funding for minority-language post-secondary institutions.
I wanted to comment officially on my hobby horse, which is not really something I usually do. I would also like to confirm that not all the luminaries of the francophone world are here today. On my side of the House, we are all leaders and proud francophones, francophiles or anglophones who defend the French fact in Canada and Quebec.