It is an honour for me as Minister responsible for Francophonie and as a French Canadian from eastern Ontario to address the House in order to call attention today to the Journée internationale de la Francophonie.
This event is celebrated today in the prolific web of 49 countries and governments that share the use of French.
We know that La Francophonie is very much alive in Canada, but it is as well in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa the Middle East, Asia, the Indian Ocean region and the West Indies.
The Government of Canada has participated in La Francophonie since the outset, thereby saluting the importance of the French fact in Canada. For this reason, it makes the international francophone community an integral and essential part of its foreign policy. We wish to demonstrate in this way our desire to highlight the contribution of the various Canadian francophone cultures in our great country. Whether in Moncton, St. Boniface, Hawkesbury, in my riding, or Ste. Marie de Beauce, in Quebec, French is alive and well in Canada.
Canada is also a member of La Francophonie because it believes in the virtues of multilateral relations based on cooperation and exchanges. It is no accident that Canada belongs to a great many multilateral organizations; from the G7 to the Asia-Pacific Forum, from NATO to the Organization of American States, from La Francophonie to the Commonwealth, Canada's geography and linguistic make-up virtually invite such participation.
There are other reasons as well for Canada's very active role in La Francophonie; the participating government status enjoyed by the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick enables them to share fully in the activities of the francophone world and provides them with a way exhibiting their vitality and expertise.
In addition, next May 19 to 21, an important conference on information highways will bring together in Montreal all the ministers of La Francophonie responsible for the information high way. This conference, jointly organized by the Agence de la Francophonie, the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada, bears witness to the desire to enable the developing countries to participate in the modern world by putting the means of communication at their service.
The Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Hon. Jean Chrétien, will go to Vietnam next November to participate in the Hanoi Summit and to help make La Francophonie an increasingly integrated community. It should not be forgotten that Canada hosted the 1987 Summit in Quebec City.
Need I add, especially in your presence, Madam Speaker, that in Hanoi, we will once again put forward our candidacy to host the Eighth Summit in 1999, this time on Acadian soil in Moncton, New Brunswick, a part of the country you know well.
I would like to conclude by wishing the 8.5 million francophones and all the francophiles from one end of Canada to the other a happy Journée internationale de la Francophonie.
I must also ask to be excused-I apologize to my hon. colleagues across the way-because, as they know, as we speak, there is a reception under way for key figures of the Canadian and international francophone community, which I am hosting.
My hon. colleagues are invited of course, when their duties in the House of Commons permit, to join me there so that we can celebrate all together this great day, not only for the Canadian Francophonie, but for all of Canada and all Canadians.