Official Languages committee  The department's learning directorate administers the BCPE program and education savings. To strictly answer your question, there are no specific criteria supporting the objective of bilingualism. It must be understood that—

Official Languages committee  With your permission, madam, I would say that the basic objective of those two programs is to encourage Canadians to study at the postsecondary level to the full extent of their abilities. So they're trying to eliminate the financial barriers to their education. In that context, everyone who meets the basic financial criteria is eligible.

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much for your question. It's a very good question. In that regard, the Clerk of the Privy Council has written to the Prime Minister about public service renewal on a number of occasions and has certainly shared his views about this topic in the past. I'm aware of a number of initiatives, but I may not be the best witness to answer this question.

Official Languages committee  In the circumstances, the graduates that we recruit are subject to the Public Service Modernization Act. As public service managers, we are all required to apply the merit principle. Obviously, that involves the individual's basic skills and whether that individual meets the linguistic profile required by the position.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, sir. My name is Sylvain Segard. I am director general, program policy, at the learning policy directorate of the Department of Human Resources. I played a dual role when I was appointed outgoing champion of postsecondary recruitment for my department. In that capacity, I was responsible for working with all my manager colleagues at the department to organize a campaign to recruit talented graduates from university institutions.