Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank the witnesses for their presentations. I will continue in English. The 150th anniversary of Confederation is an important milestone in the history of our country. Our country is unique in the world, with many people of different origins contributing to make Canada the best place to live in the world today.

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much. There are approximately 200,000 new people coming to Canada every year. In the last 15 years, which is approximately half a generation, approximately three million people, or 10% of the population, came in. They are not necessarily bilingual. How are we involving them in the 2017 celebration, and in emphasizing our bilingualism?

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank today's witnesses for their presentations. I am bilingual, as I speak Romanian and Hungarian. In addition, I love English and French. But above all, I love Canada. I have the following questions. For Statistics Canada, what is your recommendation, based on your area of expertise, for encouraging bilingualism in 2017, on the 150th celebration of Confederation?

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I thank the witnesses very much for their presentations. Canadian linguistic duality and multiculturalism complement each other. What measures should be taken to ensure that these two Canadian values are celebrated in a fair and equitable way and also reflect our duality of the two languages?

Official Languages committee  I have another question. As MPs, how will we be able to help organize the 150th anniversary celebration in our communities? How do you think we should contribute? Do you think we should play a leadership role, particularly regarding the official languages? I'm working very hard in my community, at least in the Durham region, to implement a little bit of French, which is lacking promotion.

Official Languages committee  What about the municipal and the regional levels? For example, the Region of Durham is not bilingual. Then there is the city of Toronto. You can have a ministerial level at the province, but how are you involving the municipality? You need to go a little bit deeper.

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the witnesses for their presentations. I will address you in English because my English is better than my French. I think I'm the only person on this committee who was born outside the country—well, probably not—but I come from a trilingual country in which Hungarian, Romanian, and German are spoken, and I appreciate very much the bilingualism of Canada.