Official Languages committee  It is part of our study.

Official Languages committee  It would be my pleasure.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, when we undertook our study or our investigation, one of the key things we wanted to find out was precisely whether that kind of analysis had been done, and we found no evidence it had. Our interpretation of the obligations the government has is, effectively, that

Official Languages committee  I certainly don't challenge the right of the government to govern and make decisions concerning programs, as I stressed in the report I made. However, the government does have the obligation to respect the law, and we had no evidence that was done. We had no evidence that the kin

Official Languages committee  The problem in Quebec is that there are some very specific issues concerning services such as, for example, medical services. The survival of English-language schools is also a problem. Indeed, particularly in the regions, the issue is somewhat paradoxical. The concentration of t

Official Languages committee  I believe that the program has played an extremely important role. We carried out an in-depth inquiry into the decisions that were made, decisions regarding not only the abolition of the Court Challenges Program, but other programs that affect Canada's linguistic minorities as we

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can come back to that, if you want.

Official Languages committee  No, that is not what I said.

Official Languages committee  No, what I said was that funding sometimes comes through in January or February and has to be spent by the end of the financial year, which is March 31. This means that they have a month to spend the money.

Official Languages committee  I apologize if I did not express myself clearly.

Official Languages committee  There is another point I could add for your consideration. Some representatives of an official language minority group told me that having very limited time within which to spend the money resulted in other negative impacts. The organization in question had planned to hire a comm

Official Languages committee  It is true that the Auditor General has done a more comprehensive study, one that far exceeds my abilities to do a financial analysis of the way in which the program works. I would refer you to the three studies put out by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. You mention

Official Languages committee  I will consult my legal counsel, but it is important to recall that the Court Challenges Program was set up to protect the rights defined in the charter. The program dealt solely with cases where charter rights were at stake. You might say that those rights were constitutional ri

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chairman, our legislation does not allow us to grant financial assistance or pay such costs.

Official Languages committee  I would say that I meet with ministers and deputy ministers to talk about their departments around the time when the annual report is published.