Mr. Speaker, listening to my hon. colleague from Glengarry—Prescott—Russell respond to the hon. member for Saint-Lambert, I admired his remarkable parliamentary skills, which were coloured by some degree of demagoguery, however. He addressed at length one aspect of the preamble, but trying to avoid answering the question.
My hon. colleague from Saint-Lambert said, in different words, exactly the same thing as the hon. member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, as we heard a moment ago: until now, the federal government considered that part VII was declaratory only, which was enough as far as it was concerned to protect the francophone and Acadian communities of Canada.
What the hon. member for Saint-Lambert was asking is: why is it that, after so many years, are we now realizing that part VII needs to be made enforceable, because the federal government was unable to properly protect francophone and Acadian communities? My question to my hon. colleague is the following. Why is it that the objectives set under the Official Languages Act were not achieved? That is my question.