Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada recently confirmed what Canadians have known for years: the face of Canada is rapidly changing.
According to StatsCan, 4.7 million people reported a mother tongue other than French or English. That is a 15% increase in just five years.
Canada is much more than francophone and anglophone. It is time for the government to scrap outdated policies such as official multiculturalism and bilingualism that fail to reflect the reality of Canada. Multiculturalism is a misplaced policy which does more to divide Canadians than to unite us. Bilingualism is costly, unfair and discriminatory.
It is time for a national debate on the true nature of our country. It is time to redefine what it means to be Canadian and to embrace the new reality. It is time to capture and foster a new national spirit.