Mr. Speaker, this past weekend, the first Summit of Francophone and Acadian Communities was held, bringing together more than 700 representatives of 33 organizations to discuss the future of these communities.
Unfortunately, the Conservative government pays very little attention to francophone and Acadian communities, as demonstrated by the fact that the Prime Minister did not attend this event. As well, even though the Standing Committee on Official Languages held consultations in the fall of 2006 and in May released a report containing 39 serious recommendations about official languages and linguistic duality, the government has announced that the Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages will hold a consultation on this same subject in the fall, which proves how little it listens to these communities.
To help francophone and Acadian communities, this government needs to stop reinventing the wheel and immediately restore the court challenges program, which it abolished, as well as taking the necessary steps to comply with the Official Languages Act.