Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that we may seem a tad touchy on the linguistic issue. There is no denying it can always be argued that there is the Official Languages Act. But as I and many of my hon. colleagues have said, and will keep repeating for as long as we are in this place, the French language is in peril in Canada.
Commendable efforts are made by everyone involved in transcribing speeches and committee proceedings, but still, all too often and in the case of some offices more than others, clearly a closer attention ought to be paid to language quality.
As for the use of the French language in the air transportation industry, it can be a major problem. For instance, there are times when on a flight from Ottawa to Toronto, not a soul on the plane speaks French, including the captain, who may not even understand French. An absolutely brilliant solution was found. At the touch of a button-we can now have a perfectly bilingual person filling the job-a pre-recorded message is played in English or, at the touch of a button, a voice explains in good French how to fasten our seat belts, what the safety rules are, and so on. Pre-recorded messages are used onboard many planes now. The trouble is that, if something unforeseen happens, we cannot just push a button and hear: "Take off has been aborted; we are going back to the airport." These explanations would then have to be given in English.
Already, we notice in the transportation industry, and at Air Canada in particular, that since being privatized, the company has considerably lowered its standards regarding the use of the French language. There are now captains who speak English only. They would be in big trouble if they were flying an international flight and had to land in Paris for example.