Official Languages committee  To begin with, I feel that there is a determination to succeed and an atmosphere of cooperation. Like you, I admire Mr. Furlong and I am impressed. That said, I have the impression that VANOC started out using the Turin Games as a model. They then realized that the Turin Games had had serious difficulty representing the Olympic Games' two official languages.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, we all saw the figures on the number of francophone households which do not have access to cable in Canada. I hesitate to put out those figures, because it is very difficult to determine the exact number of people affected. Under IOC rules, the successful bidder must be able to reach 95% of the population, and CTV claims it can do this.

Official Languages committee  It was a problem raised in the course of some of the conversations I had. That's when I raised the idea of bringing in satellite TV in community centres in communities which, for one reason or another, have a considerable number of people who do not have access to television by either satellite or cable.

Official Languages committee  Indeed, we are covering all aspects: allocation, management, translation, interpretation, signage and reception. In order to successfully stage the Olympic Games in both official languages over a rather brief period of 17 days in February 2010, you need to be prepared. We are helping in the preparation, and to our knowledge, there is currently a very good relationship between the francophone community of British Columbia and VANOC.

Official Languages committee  As it now stands, the CBC has said that it made the efforts and put in a bid, but that it did not win the contract because CTV's bid was about $60 million higher. There was an exchange of correspondence between CTV and the CBC. But I don't think that discussions are ongoing right now.

Official Languages committee  I have the impression that they are taking this issue seriously. Some of the elements are not yet ready. They have had some discussions with the owners of both the large and small cable companies with which they had yet to reach an agreement. I underscored the fact that this was an essential element.

Official Languages committee  The study focuses rather on the state of readiness. We wanted organizers to have our study sufficiently ahead of time so that they could make the necessary corrections.

Official Languages committee  Yes, that is correct. A preliminary version will be available this summer, and the final version will be issued in October.

Official Languages committee  We will be using the Olympic Games to gain leverage with other institutions. I touched on that earlier. I do not want the linguistic duality and the games' success, in terms of linguistic duality, to be limited to the games sites. Visitors arriving at the airport or border crossings will have their first Canadian experience dealing with an RCMP officer.

Official Languages committee  I have already met with Mr. Emerson on a number of occasions and I got the impression that he was determined to ensure the full respect of linguistic duality during the Games. As for the specific agreements between the federal government, the province and municipalities, I am not aware of them.

Official Languages committee  Indeed, volunteer recruitment is part of our study. I have yet to see the results. I know that there have been contacts, discussions and cooperation with the francophone community of British Columbia as well as other communities. However, I do not wish to get into the report's findings since I have yet to read the preliminary report.

Official Languages committee  We are closely monitoring the broadcasting file. I recently met with CTV officials. I shared some of my concerns with them. We had a positive meeting, but a number of elements still need to be determined. I spoke about my concerns regarding hotels. CTV assured me that that would not pose a problem, that a free service would be offered to hotels.

Official Languages committee  I apologize, Mr. Chair, for having presumed to know the committee's role. As I pointed out in my annual report, my office has undertaken a study on the bilingualism of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The study focuses on the readiness of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to meet the language requirements identified in Annex A of the multiparty agreement signed in November 2002.

Official Languages committee  Thank you Mr. Chair. I presume that all members have the right to ask any question they want.

Official Languages committee  With regard to the delay in tabling the second action plan, that question must be put to the government. I would not like to speculate. I have already said what I had to say on that. With regard to the language of work, we note there is a gap between the satisfaction of francophones in Ottawa and the satisfaction of anglophones in Quebec.