Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute and congratulate an organization known as Canadian Parents for French, which is holding its eighth annual festival national de l'art oratoire in Ottawa this weekend.
Over the past few months over 55,000 students from all across Canada have been taking part in French language public speaking competitions across the country. The festival is the culmination of these events.
This weekend we will see representatives from all 10 provinces, including the territories, showcase their winning speeches, speeches delivered in a language other than their first language, that is, in French.
It is a great pleasure for me to salute this organization and the young people who have been involved in these competitions from the very beginning and will come here from all our provinces and territories.
This is an important event. I am delighted to see that so many young people in Canada want to learn French, and I challenge hon. members to do likewise.