Finance committee  For francophone and Acadian communities and for myself living in Saskatchewan, Radio-Canada is the only source of regional news in French. The same thing applies to my Acadian friends, those who live in British Columbia and even those living in Edmonton or Calgary. As for regional news in French, the national evening news report is sometimes a source of frustration for francophone and Acadian communities tuning in.

Finance committee  Absolutely. The resources are hardly enough to cover.... However, I should tell you that they were also insufficient under the former court challenges program.

Finance committee  There is a program right now. The former program was replaced and even improved. The new Language Rights Support Program provides us with more money and, in addition, it includes a negotiation component. You're asking whether it should be replaced, but I think that it has been replaced already.

Finance committee  Yes, it was very important for our communities. It has actually been replaced with the Language Rights Support Program. The Court Challenges Program of Canada enabled communities whose linguistic rights were violated to take the government, be it federal or provincial, under the provisions of the charter—

Finance committee  The departments would first need to talk to each other. Those of us here, at this table, need to be aware of the impact of those budget cuts. In addition, each minister would have to look into this matter. Basically, all departments and institutions should be clearly instructed to take into account the potential repercussions.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. All the departments clearly have obligations under the act. A number of departments administer programs that directly affect official language communities. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Industry Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, among others, have those types of programs.

Finance committee  That's just enough. As soon as the Government of Canada transfers funds, the provincial and territorial accountability obligation in terms of those investments is limited, almost non-existent. The last issue I would like to talk about quickly is that of cooperation among a number of federal institutions in matters of interest to francophone and Acadian communities.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee. I would like to begin by thanking you for inviting FCFA du Canada to appear today, on behalf of Canada's francophone and Acadian communities. Commitment to linguistic duality and the influence of both official languages are matters that concern all parliamentarians.

Finance committee  My short answer is to continue investing in the partnerships you have with the francophone communities in order to fulfill those obligations under the Official Languages Act. We are quite a bit cheaper than setting up your own shop, and the government has said it would work with organizations that are on the ground.

Finance committee  There are investments through the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality. There are also multi-year investments. Today, we are asking the government to maintain its current investments and to increase funding to at least keep pace with the rate of inflation. For more than 10 years, our operating budgets have not increased.

Finance committee  We did not perform a detailed analysis. We talked about the roadmap before the Standing Committee on Official Languages to say that we could still not get a clear idea of where the investments were, that the money was coming in dribs and drabs. We knew money was being spent, but we did not have a clear understanding of how, where or when the money was being used.

Finance committee  We see ourselves as key partners of the government. My first concern is that you are saying we did not fully respect the Official Languages Act because we were the ones delivering the services in French to the communities. In fact, for 40 years now, there have been compliance issues when it comes to the Official Languages Act, but we are a key partner of the government.

Finance committee  Are you talking about the census?

Finance committee  Thank you for your apology and your question. However, I must say that the FCFA has discussed and debated the census issue at length. I would be happy to discuss it with you at another time. But, as for the money and investments we are looking for today, it is important to recognize that francophone and Acadian communities are active in every arena, the same arenas as the English-speaking majority, and that we are a key partner to the government that can help it fulfil its obligations and role with respect to linguistic duality.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, members of Parliament, on behalf of the 2.5 million French-speaking Canadians living in 9 provinces and territories who I am representing here today, I want to thank you for inviting us to appear this afternoon. We are here today to talk about efficiency, productivity and Canada's success.