Official Languages committee  I'll start really quickly. I wanted to make that point. I think we often still hear very much about the good jobs in our economy being labour-intensive manufacturing. The truth is that we have suffered a huge restructuring in manufacturing, and it's very difficult for us to compete, especially with the openness that we're looking at towards other markets in labour-intensive manufacturing.

Official Languages committee  Maybe I could just touch on the undervalued. In fact, I think for the most part, the francophone community within and outside Quebec makes a greater contribution than the average population, with the exception of New Brunswick, as we discussed. I'll leave the solutions to my colleagues here.

Official Languages committee  Yes, frankly, we have had some issues with a lot of the data we use on a regular basis in terms of compatibility and making sure the data looks the same. In terms of the population data, we'd be okay, but to get a sense of...especially the community study we did and how that has evolved from 2006 to 2011, that might be a little tougher, because it drills down a little more.

Official Languages committee  We spoke about the importance of other francophones whose mother tongue is not French. That's important. Teachers of French as a second language are in demand. I think that promoting the francophonie outside Quebec makes an important contribution. Canada as a whole is facing a challenge with respect to economic growth.

Official Languages committee  Yes, in fact there was a study we've offered to the committee that looks exactly at the economic impact of the francophone community and the economic contribution. I think the important piece from that is not only is the direct contribution quite large—about 19.5% of total GDP from workers, essentially, that are maternal French—but also there is an impact on the rest of the economy.

Official Languages committee  It is important to mention that the figures I gave you were taken from the 2006 census. We would like to do the study again with new data, but it's a lot of work and our resources are limited, as everyone can understand. Based on the demographic data, it is true that in regions where growth has been strong, there has been an increase in the francophone population.

Official Languages committee  It's difficult, but I think that Mr. Chiasson…

Official Languages committee  That's a good question. I don't think it's necessarily related to politics. We spoke about education-related skills. I would like to say that I fully agree with that. I think we have a labour market that generally favours employment but that it is getting tighter. We've missed the opportunity to fully integrate youth into the workforce.

Official Languages committee  In that case, I was talking about gross salaries, which are generally higher for the francophonie in each province than the gross salaries for the rest of the province. The problem is that Quebec comprises a large part of the francophonie. On average, salaries are lower in Quebec than they are nationally, unless we are comparing them to salaries in Ontario and certain other regions.

Official Languages committee  Indeed, I said that in almost every province, economic contribution of the francophonie, that is, people whose mother tongue is French, their wages are higher than the provincial average. However, there are some exceptions, and New Brunswick is one of them.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am pleased to be with you today to talk briefly about two of our recent studies that deal with the topic you are considering today. One of those studies, which was completed in 2012, if I recall correctly, deals with the economic situation of the Canadian francophonie.

Finance committee  I don't think so. I think the indebtedness issue is clearly tied to a long period of very low financing rates and essentially to people taking on a lot of housing debt in purchasing homes. The issue of the youth staying at home is directly in line with the fact that they are having trouble finding work.

Finance committee  Yes, I'm not quite sure what's driving that particular component. I can only speculate that may be the case, that they're staying closer to home and able to not take on as much debt perhaps—

Finance committee  —or they can't afford to take on an apartment.

Finance committee  Actually, it's a waste. I recall driving in my car a few months ago and hearing that Ontario had a surplus of 40,000 teachers. How is that possible, when we know very clearly where the demographic demand for education lies? It's apparent from the figures. It's similar to the phenomenon of baby boomers leaving the workforce.