Official Languages committee  If I may also comment, to build on something the minister said earlier, Mr. Casey, there's a nuance here which I think is really important to understand. It's something that the minister adverted to earlier in his comments in the first round. It is that the premise we're working

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some clarifications should be made in that regard. In fact, I already did so in a letter to the editor following concerns which had been raised with regard to potential reductions. First, it is important to specify that the program which was administere

Official Languages committee  Perhaps I could add to that, Mr. Chairman. There were, among other things, some recommendations on governance. In designing the new Roadmap, we worked quite closely with several stakeholders, including the FCFA, to see whether we could, based on those recommendations, develop a

Official Languages committee  Yes. I would just like to complete the answer by saying that, indeed, there was probably some misunderstanding about the budget cutbacks. People were concerned we had some very good success this year with the 2012 edition. As the minister stated, what we did cut was the money a

Official Languages committee  Yes, that is in fact the definition, Minister. Do you want some data on this topic, Mr. Gourde?

Official Languages committee  According to the 2011 census results, 10.3% of the immigrants who come to Canada are French-speaking. Outside of Quebec, this percentage is 2%. As an aside, in New Brunswick, the rate is 12%. So this is the province with the highest percentage of French-speaking immigrants.

Official Languages committee  It could be a combination of the two, but according to the definition, as the minister stated, these are immigrants whose mother tongue is French or immigrants whose mother tongue is a language other than English or French, but who choose French as the first official language.

Official Languages committee  The Expression of Interest system.

Official Languages committee  I will provide some clarification. Of the $149.5 million, $22.5 million represented new funding.

Official Languages committee  $22.5 million, with $7 million in recurrent funding and, as well, $120 million in funding provided for language training.

Official Languages committee  The total government contribution to the Roadmap was $1.1 billion. This amount, which was divided amongst 13 departments, included $266 million in new funding. This has been spread over five years.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, I would not say we feel obliged to go through the ministère. We make an effort to work with our provincial colleagues. However, we have meetings with the Quebec Community Groups Network, for example. We work closely with them on research projects, as my colleague descr

Official Languages committee  There is no committee. We were met with a somewhat negative reception from the province. That does not mean that we are stopping at that response. We are going to explore other avenues.

Official Languages committee  In my opinion, no, there is nothing to prevent us from creating a committee.

Official Languages committee  I had an initial discussion with the QCGN in February. Its representatives raised the question and we are in fact in the process of considering how we could approach it.