Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here, minister.
I want to thank the officials who are here with him.
Minister, you know that we have limited time in committee so I may have to interrupt you if I am not satisfied with your answer. I want to be upfront about that.
Just so you know, this will not be your last visit to the Standing Committee on Official Languages because during the work of the committee I proposed to the chair that we receive you for two hours. The first hour was meant to be reserved for the presentation of your mandate letter and the second hour was supposed to be devoted to today's topic. Unfortunately, there was not enough room in your schedule for you to appear for two hours, but I assure you that you will be invited again, very soon, I hope, to talk to us about your mandate letter.
As you know, minister, you are here because of a Radio‑Canada article about the rather minimal use of French by your Prime Minister, which indicates to us your government's willingness to sprinkle a little French here and there to give the illusion that French, one of the two official languages, is being used fairly. That is not my interpretation.
Minister, you have been in your role since December. Can you tell me what measures have been taken by yourself or your predecessor to address the correspondence from the Privy Council? What has the Minister of Heritage, who is responsible for official languages, done to increase the use of French, both by the Prime Minister and all the federal departments and agencies?