Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of the work we accomplished after consulting Canadians, especially official language minority communities. The result was the new action plan for official languages 2018-23, which meets the needs of our communities. The action plan provides a historic investment of nearly $2.7 billion to strengthen our communities, strengthen access to services, and promote a bilingual Canada.
Leadership, governance, and coordination in the area of official languages are important matters which our government takes very seriously. We have shown a great deal of leadership in the area of official languages since the fall of 2015, and the concrete actions we have taken are a testament to that very commitment.
We have made it a priority to regularly meet with official language stakeholders to listen to their concerns and understand their needs and priorities. This deepened dialogue paved the way to key commitments upon which the action plan for official languages 2018-23 rests: strengthening collaboration with official language stakeholders and communities; extending new funding for official languages to address key challenges and trends, some of which were outlined by the member opposite; favouring evidence-based and grassroots-driven policy decisions; and demonstrating greater transparency and accountability in government funding. These commitments will continue to guide our approach, which fundamentally and above all things is focused on community-driven results.
The Minister of Canadian Heritage will continue to improve the coordination of official languages issues in co-operation with the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board Secretariat, and the Department of Justice. As well, the Prime Minister has announced that we will be modernizing the Official Languages Act.
With regard to governance, the government can count on a high-level committee, the Committee of Assistant Deputy Ministers on Official Languages, currently being co-chaired by representatives from Canadian Heritage, Treasury Board Secretariat, Justice Canada, and the Privy Council Office. This committee helps promote concerted government action on official languages. It opens the way to sharing best practices in a spirit of inter-departmental collaboration.
The committee's mandate was recently broadened to include three priorities, the horizontal federal strategies on official languages, including the action plan, language of work in the federal public service, and managing other issues related to the Official Languages Act.