Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona, for her support for Campus Saint-Jean. I know she has been a vocal advocate for this institution, which shows the vitality and success of the Franco-Albertan community.
As we outlined in the Speech from the Throne, our government is firmly committed to supporting Canada's official language minority communities, while also protecting and promoting the French language. We understand that our two official languages are an essential part of Canada's identity. Supporting Campus Saint-Jean is a fundamental part of both of these aims.
As the only francophone university west of Manitoba, Campus Saint-Jean is a source of pride for the Franco-Albertan community, offering young francophones an excellent post-secondary education.
Campus Saint-Jean is open to all Albertans and all Canadians who wish to strengthen their bilingualism and their ties with French. That is why our government recently invested $3.7 million to support Campus Saint-Jean through our bilateral agreement with the Province of Alberta.
We understand that the federal government has a role to play in ensuring that this vital institution can continue to operate.
We cannot do it alone. Under the agreement between our two governments, these funds cannot be released without the Government of Alberta providing its share of the funding. Unfortunately, the Conservative government of Jason Kenney has made Campus Saint-Jean one of the victims of cuts to education.
Our government has asked the Alberta government to reconsider. The Minister of Official Languages wrote to Premier Kenney asking that his government live up to its end of the agreement, but today it remains silent.
Just yesterday, the federal Conservatives remained silent despite calls from the government and the member for Edmonton Strathcona. No federal Conservative condemned the cuts at Campus Saint-Jean. That is extremely disappointing, and it shows how little the Conservatives care about Alberta's francophone community and about protecting official bilingualism across the country.
Our government is keen to collaborate with the other parties to support Campus Saint-Jean and to ensure that the 286,000 Franco-Albertans, the thousands of francophiles in Alberta and all Canadians out west can access post-secondary education in French.