Official Languages committee  No. At this point, we do not. We're still in the infancy of our immigration strategy overall. We are building our immigration strategy and building capacity within Nova Scotia.

Official Languages committee  In the same way, we are building our partnerships with the francophone communities.

Official Languages committee  We will have a new immigration strategy with overall objectives, yes.

Official Languages committee  Well, I was not aware there was a clause in our agreement that says there is a percentage to be stated percentage as the target--

Official Languages committee  But if that is the case, then of course, if we have a signed agreement with another level of government, we would be required to honour that clause.

Official Languages committee  Oh.

Official Languages committee  First, let me clarify that we do not have a devolved settlement agreement with the Government of Canada, unlike Manitoba, which does. We do have a provincial nominee agreement and that allows us to nominate individuals who meet our labour market and economic development needs in the province.

Official Languages committee  No, because people access a variety of services: banking services, transportation services, and investment services. Not all of those services are available in French.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  I would say that there is an Acadian community in Nova Scotia already. Those individuals have to speak English as well as French, but they also enjoy a very rich culture. My expectation is that immigrants who come to Nova Scotia and are French-speaking immigrants will also have to learn English, but they will be welcomed into a very rich and welcoming Acadian community.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides funding to those provinces that wish to participate and specifically target francophone immigrants. Nova Scotia, since the opening of our Office of Immigration in the spring of 2005, has participated in those immigration fairs, not just with our provincial government staff, not just with Joëlle and other staff in our office, but also with our community partners.

Official Languages committee  We don't have an unlimited budget in Nova Scotia, sad to say, but we do have a budget. In fact, this year our government increased our international marketing budget, which we are very pleased about.

Official Languages committee  It's to recruit all immigrants. Because we now have more money on the overall marketing side, we will be able to do more on the francophone side as well.

Official Languages committee  I'll take you along with me to Treasury Board next time.

Official Languages committee  We are using census data to find out our retention rates. We haven't done any other form of retention information because that's really the only source data we have. The 2001 census data said that our retention rate was 37%, almost 40%. The 2006 census says it is 63% or 64%. I don't have the numbers with me now, broken down by language, but I will check to see if Statistics Canada has done the breakdown.