Mr. Speaker, as the hon. members are aware, today is the first day of the Semaine de la langue française et de la francophonie.
As a bilingual country, Canada has seized this opportunity to celebrate the success of biculturalism. This week also provides unilingual anglophones with the opportunity to enrich their contacts with French and to increase their knowledge of it.
I am therefore encouraging all hon. members to make as much use as possible of French when speaking in the House this week.
The first simultaneous interpretation facilities in the House of Commons were installed by the Progressive Conservative government of John Diefenbaker.
I invite all hon. members, particularly the unilingual and bilingual anglophones, to use, or to try out, their knowledge of French in order to show Canada's francophones that we support them and are proud to be representatives of a bilingual government.
Let us learn to appreciate our rich heritage.