Mr. Speaker, as the chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, I wish everyone a wonderful International Day of La Francophonie.
I would like to point out the importance of the Francophonie in Canada and the world. Canada is the second largest French-speaking member of the international Francophonie with almost 10 million Canadians who speak our beautiful and rich language in every province.
Yves Duteil said it so well in his song La langue de chez nous:
It is a beautiful language with splendid words
whose history can be traced in its variations
...
It built bridges across the Atlantic
It left its home for another land
And like a swallow transported by the spring
It returns to sing of its sorrows and hopes
It tells us that in that far off country of snow
It faced the winds blowing from all directions
To impose its words even in the schools
And that our own language is still spoken there
It is a beautiful language to those who know how to defend it
It offers treasures of untold richness
The words we lacked to be able to understand one another
And the strength required to live in harmony