Mr. Speaker, I would like to reply to the hon. member that the problem must be put in a real context. Only 16 per cent of French-speaking Canadian military officers are graduates of the college in Saint-Jean.
Many officers who have pursued a career in the Canadian Forces went to other universities. There are flexible programs
allowing them to choose their universities. We will have only one military college in the future. The Canadian Forces will have about 70,000 members and only one military college. The American armed forces have only three colleges for 2 million soldiers.
As we have to make cuts, we decided to close the military college in Saint-Jean. We are sorry but we had to cut somewhere. We made cuts in every province, including Quebec. We told the Quebec government and all the people that, if they wanted to keep the college in Saint-Jean as an institution of higher learning, we were ready to help them, as we help other provinces hit by base closures and, very often, by cuts much more severe per capita than those made in Quebec. We are ready to help but the decision is final. A country with 70,000 soldiers cannot have three military colleges when the American armed forces have three colleges for 2 million soldiers.