Official Languages committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, my president, Mr. Maurice Gaudet, and myself are very grateful for this opportunity to give you a brief overview of the Saint-Thomas Community Health Centre. “I want to die in French!”

Official Languages committee  As I was saying in my presentation, in terms of education, we have evolved significantly in recent years, and it is certainly thanks to the federal government and the support of our provincial government. In the area of communications—I worked at Radio-Canada for 25 years—we ha

Official Languages committee  In a way, that is already a part of the action plan. When the plan was developed, we set aside funds to establish our health networks. We asked for funding for two networks, one in southern Alberta and the other in northern Alberta.

Official Languages committee  Secondly—

Official Languages committee  In the very beginning, our networks served to sensitize health authorities, as needed, to provide more health care services, and to sensitize the public on the need to ask for these health care services. We have a lot of work to do on that front. The same goes for education: we s

Official Languages committee  Absolutely. The numerous good precedents set have contributed to the development of francophone communities. We have received 95% of our funding. We are missing 5%. It is not unreasonable. In the other provinces, if a similar project was presented by an organization similar to ou

Official Languages committee  It is quite certain that this is what we have been asking for and waiting for for several years. We put in a request to the federal government last year, under the Canada-Alberta agreements a request for additional funds to balance our budget. Our budget is $24 million; we are ru

Official Languages committee  The representatives of our provincial association, who did a presentation this morning, told you about our priorities for the next few years in terms of infrastructure. The top priority was definitely building the Saint-Thomas Health Centre. So the importance of that project was

Official Languages committee  It requires a sustained effort. What we're going through in health, we have already gone through in education. First, you have to make people aware how important it is to demand service in French. The problem in Alberta is not like the problem in Manitoba. Since I'm a former Man

Official Languages committee  I don't want to defend my former colleagues, but I don't know whether they were invited to cover the event.

Official Languages committee  So there was a press release. It did happen, back when I was running the station, that we weren't invited or only found out about an event at the last minute. But I am not here to defend those people. One would have expected them to be here. I was surprised that they were not her

Official Languages committee  They are here, on the other side of the street.

Official Languages committee  I am shocked to find out that they did not attend.

Official Languages committee  Yes, building has started.

Official Languages committee  The Saint-Thomas Health Centre is currently under construction. You'll be visiting the construction site this afternoon at 2 p.m.