Official Languages committee  I would like to go back to the multilateral early learning and child care framework. Regardless of its terms, the framework does not offer either support or permanent protection for French-language education in early childhood. You probably know that the CSF, the Fédération de

Official Languages committee  That's an excellent question. In the last throne speech, the new government underscored the importance of early childhood development, which is a good thing. However, neither the budget nor the throne speech made the slightest mention of the francophone community, and even less

Official Languages committee  That's exactly right.

Official Languages committee  It's been more than 15 years, nearly 17 years now.

Official Languages committee  We and the CSF took this aspect of the issue before the courts several years ago, and this has yet to be settled.

Official Languages committee  We appealed the decision. The matter is in fact related to the census. The judge based her decision on the data provided by the census, period. The problem is that francophone students are not all included. Since the judge only had partial data, she considered that we were not e

Official Languages committee  I would like to support what Ms. Lavoie said. We are being offered very little in this agreement. On the one hand, the 1.5% investment for the training of educators is calculated on the basis of population data, but we see on the other hand that the assimilation rate is higher. A

Official Languages committee  It is 1.5% of the $153 million allocated to training educators. To answer Mr. Samson's question, we are being offered free translation of this agreement. Bravo! We are making great progress! I can't get over it! That is what they are offering us. The officials will provide a br

Official Languages committee  Yes, the province. The federal government took a step ahead, and we thank it very much. I'd like to go back to the point Mrs. Boucher raised earlier. Political affiliations do not matter when we talk about the French language. However, there are governments that do more than oth

Official Languages committee  Indeed. Adding a provision to the act about early childhood education would represent great progress.

Official Languages committee  You must be talking about the Official Languages in Education Program, the OLEP. Thanks to the OLEP, the province receives about $6 million a year for education. Out of this amount, the CSF receives approximately $4,433,000.

Official Languages committee  Not even. The national average is about 60-40, when you deduct costs. It is about 60% for the first language and 40% for the second one. In British Columbia, you can invert those numbers because for one reason or another we are not included.

Official Languages committee  No. We ask for explanations, but we are not given any.

Official Languages committee  I hope they will react; that would be something in itself. Up to now, we have been rather ignored. Perhaps, if we prod them a little, they will eventually wake up and see that we exist. Up to now, the signs have not been very positive.

Official Languages committee  As long as the negotiations take place in camera, it is hard to answer your question, clearly. Concerning our relationship with our friends at Heritage Canada, it's going very well these days. They're listening to us, but the question remains whether they're understanding us. If