Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening, the Canada-Belgium parliamentary group held its first event of the season, a roundtable on the theme “Ottawa, a Bilingual Capital”.
Several distinguished guests, including the Minister and Vice-President of the capital region of Brussels and Chair of the European Union regions' committee, Jos Chabert, the Ambassador of Belgium, the Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Chairman of the National Capital Commission and the Commissioner of Official Languages, contributed to an eclectic evening that produced lively discussions.
These discussions stressed the importance of preserving bilingualism in our national capital and, more importantly, in our vast country. This meeting with Belgium officials made us appreciate their efforts to promote multilingualism.
They showed us that a country can thrive even more when its citizens respect their various languages and cultures, and those of their neighbours.
As co-chair of the group, I firmly believe that the vision presented to us at these meetings can help us promote our linguistic duality.