Madam Speaker, I am very glad to hear this event will be held. I heard it from the minister herself this afternoon, when I went to see her after Oral Question Period. The failure to make the necessary arrangements, whether in this chamber or in adjacent rooms, is unacceptable. Naturally, I am aware that people decided to come back.
All this is to say that we must be constantly on the lookout to protect our language, to defend it at every opportunity, when it should be sufficiently well known that this is a bilingual country. That should be common knowledge by now.
While this government is tooting its own horn, francophone communities are in decline. According to the terminology used by the man responsible for language demography at Statistics Canada, Réjean Lachapelle, francophone communities are in the process of disappearing in six provinces out of nine. This is not the Bloc Quebecois saying this, but Mr. Lachapelle.
Moreover, in a report for Heritage Canada, Donald Savoie pointed out that the challenge for francophones outside Quebec is clearly to survive, to resist assimilation and to promote the development of strong and vibrant communities.
I had many other criticisms, but as my time is running out I simply wish to say to members that I think that the increased funding to the CBC mentioned in the budget is good news for the Department of Canadian Heritage, for now, anyway.
I hope that the $50 million earmarked for the CBC will mean that it can open a television station serving eastern Quebec, the North Shore and the Magdalen Islands.