Madam Speaker, first I would like to accept the minister's apology for the late delivery of his statement. We have managed somehow even though it is late.
In answer to the minister, it must first be understood that Royal Military College in Kingston is already a rather bilingual institution and has been for years.
It must also be recognized that, following the closing of CMR in Saint-Jean, there must be a place where francophone officer cadets can complete their studies.
Consequently, it is desirable and rather easy to have a fully bilingual institution such as CMR.
I also want to add that, after talking this morning with a former commanding officer of the college, I really think that bilingualism there is something which promotes national unity.
While agreeing that bilingualism at RMC is desirable and achievable at little extra expense, the point could be made that with the closing of CMR and Royal Roads there will be considerable savings.
Nevertheless it is necessary to signal a cautionary. The watchword from DND, the Department of National Defence, cannot be RMC today, tomorrow the whole country. There is a real and present danger underlined by the words of the Minister of National Defence in the House in February when he announced that by 1997 officers in the Canadian forces must be bilingual if they wish to be promoted beyond the rank of lieutenant colonel.
English speaking Canadians should be able to have a full and unfettered career in the English language, however desirable it is to be bilingual.
The recent booklet of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, "Official Languages: Myths and Realities", states: "English speaking Canadians and French speaking Canadians regardless of ethnic origin or first language learned have equal opportunities for employment and advancement". It also states: "The federal government is bilingual but the individual citizen does not have to be. You have every right to remain unilingual. Universal bilingualism has never been the goal of the policy". Finally it is stated on page 16: "Individual bilingualism is a matter of personal choice".
In conclusion we can endorse the completion of the bilingual process at RMC for the reasons noted, including cost savings. However we caution the government against carrying the enforced bilingualism policy too far as it is doing in the rest of the Canadian forces.
Voluntary bilingualism, yes; enforced, no.