Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Madawaska—Restigouche.
I will try not to speak too fast. That is what happened at the Supreme Court; someone was speaking very fast. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court asked him to slow down since the interpreters could not keep up and someone was being judged. I just wanted to mention that. I think we should bear that in mind because the Supreme Court is the last court in the land to which an individual has recourse.
The Conservatives are saying that they respect both official languages. Take for example the Olympic Games. All week they have been making statements in the House of Commons to the effect that the Olympic Games were held in both official languages and that everything went well. No one is criticizing the Olympic Games themselves, but there was something missing culturally speaking. However, the Conservatives never talk about that. Even the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages publicly apologized for this. He thought it was a shame. For a week we have been listening to the Conservative Party say in the House of Commons that it respects both official languages. If it truly respects the equality of the two official languages of the country, French and English, then this is a good opportunity to prove it. When the Federal Court has to be bilingual, when the Federal Court of Appeal has to be bilingual, then the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in the land, has to be bilingual as well.
If the Conservatives vote against the bill, this will prove that they do not support bilingualism in Canada, they do not support the two official languages and they do not support the two founding peoples of this country. This will be a test for the Conservatives and they will have to make a choice.