Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his question. It is quite relevant in light of the nature of the bill and initiative under discussion.
As I see it, reconciling bilingualism and competency is not really a problem because bilingualism as such is a skill in this instance. To argue that requiring people to be bilingual in order to be appointed to office potentially excludes some more qualified individuals is a little like saying that there are no bilingual people in Canada qualified to fill this position, or that there are no bilingual people who are qualified enough to hold this office. In my view this is not a real problem because clearly we have a large pool of highly skilled bilingual people. I do not think it is that difficult to appoint people from this pool to these positions.