Mr. Speaker, the minister says she cares about and respects the official languages. Yet it is this same government—calling itself Canada's new Government—that eliminated the court challenges program.
The minister says she is willing to listen to what Canadians have to say, out of respect for the Standing Committee on Official Languages. That committee visited every province in Canada to conduct a study. I personally chaired that committee. There was not a single meeting in Canada in which someone did not ask the government to bring back the court challenges program.
Indeed, that program helped communities, for instance, in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, specifically regarding schools. Other examples are the Collège Boréal case in Sudbury and the Montfort Hospital case right here in Ottawa. The program really helped minority francophone communities in certain regions, as well as minority anglophone communities in Quebec.
If the government has so much respect for official languages, why did the throne speech not include a promise to restore the court challenges program? Although there is no mention of it in the throne speech, is the minister willing to bring back that program?