Official Languages committee  First, I'm going to address the issue of governance. Since I took up my position, I have seen that, in a hierarchy like the federal government, messages coming from above have more importance than those coming from next door. When the Privy Council had a responsibility for official languages coordination, I got the impression that action plan successes were due in part to the fact that it was the Privy Council Office, the Prime Minister's Office, that asked the departments questions.

Official Languages committee  I see that—

Official Languages committee  We've prepared a preliminary report. Now we're waiting for the institutions and complainants to react. Some complainants have already given us their reaction. We'll consider them all before issuing our final report.

Official Languages committee  As I told Mr. Chong and stated in my presentation, we speak 150 languages in Canada, but two of those are official languages: English and French. It is with those two languages that we maintain a national dialogue. I also pointed out that learning the other official language was a major step for those who wanted to learn other languages.

Official Languages committee  That's an incident that occurred before I arrived.

Official Languages committee  As regards Mr. Thibodeau's case, I thought Air Canada displayed unsympathetic conduct toward its legal obligations. I was pleased to see that the court's decision was to impose an obligation of result on Air Canada.

Official Languages committee  They are the outline. Gérard, do you want to add anything?

Official Languages committee  There are two reasons for that. Air Canada has had certain problems integrating employees from other airlines that did not previously have the same obligations. There were agreements. As a result of union negotiations, positions were given to people who had spent their careers at other airlines.

Official Languages committee  Our findings are based on what we were able to learn about the decision-making process. Based on the information we were able to obtain, we concluded that the act had not been complied with. I'm not going to say what consultation should have been conducted but was not or debate what would have been the most important thing to do.

Official Languages committee  I haven't. I certainly haven't looked at costs. You're right that the European community has adopted a slogan; I think it's “mother tongue plus two”. It's the idea that Europeans should learn not just a second but a third language. The one thing I would observe is that learning a second official language is not a barrier to learning a third language; it's a bridge.

Official Languages committee  Unfortunately, I didn't reread your recommendations before appearing today. I read your report and I was impressed by the 39 recommendations and by the evidence you gathered across the country, somewhat confirming my observations when I made my visits. I myself met with some of the individuals who have appeared before you.

Official Languages committee  I have two points to mention. In our report on the complaints we've received with regard to the government's conduct, we concluded that there was a lack of compliance with the act. Second, I'm making an effort to stop referring to Bill S-3 because it is as though that amendment to the act were part of the act.

Official Languages committee  I'm not an expert on jewellery.

Official Languages committee  I'd like to qualify some of your statements. For example, I wouldn't say that National Defence's plans represent a way of shirking obligations under the act or of making it so that senior officers are no longer required to be bilingual. If I understand correctly, that represents an effort to be more targeted and to adopt a model that is somewhat similar to that of the public service, where there are unilingual French regions, bilingual regions and unilingual English regions for administrative functions and with respect to the right to work in one's language.

Official Languages committee  In my report, I expressed my concerns about certain trends in the government's decisions.