Mr. Speaker, as critic of the Reform Party for official languages, I am pleased to commemorate this Journée internationale de la francophonie.
The Reform Party recognizes how much the French-speaking population has contributed to the development of our great country, which continues to be enriched by them. Conscious of that fact, the Reform Party supports the principle of using English and French within key federal institutions such as Parliament and the Supreme Court. We also support the right of
all Canadians to speak in either of these two beautiful languages.
By being part of an organization like the Francophonie, Canada maintains relations with 46 other member states having a combined population of 400 million people. As a member of this organization, Canada can play an active role at the international level, whether it is in technological and medical breakthroughs in some African countries or in promoting democracy in certain Caribbean states such as Haiti.
Although this international co-operation offers limitless opportunities, we must remain conscious of our responsibilities towards taxpayers.
In this regard, most Canadians support our efforts to restore democracy in Haiti. However, there are those who question the $9 million spent by the Agence de coopération culturelle et technique in French-speaking countries, as well as the $7 million allocated to the implementation of projects and development activities agreed upon at the Francophonie summits.
What we have to do, in fact, is balance our responsibilities towards our partners in French speaking countries and those towards Canadian taxpayers. This is a difficult exercise which warrants special attention. On behalf of the Reform Party, I congratulate francophones all over Canada and around the world on this day celebrating the Francophonie. I would also like to take this opportunity to challenge the government: Let us hope that it will be bold enough to ensure some balance between its commitments to this alliance and its responsibilities towards taxpayers.