Official Languages committee  Absolutely. To assure this committee, that is one of the issues we are considering and for which we are doing the analysis.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  Perhaps I can talk about the steps we're taking in terms of arriving at that decision this committee is seeking. Right now, as I mentioned, I'm in active dialogue with my colleagues in the other three departments with regard to the various issues before this committee. That is o

Official Languages committee  Again, this is why I wanted to appear before the committee today, after receiving your invitation, to give you an idea of what are some of the issues and the context within which we at Transport Canada are considering the recommendations of Mr. Fraser and anticipating the advice

Official Languages committee  Within the Transport Canada portfolio, we have a series of crown corporations. This would include crown corporations such as CATSA and VIA Rail. There's a wide series of crown corporations. When I talk about the federal institutions within Transport Canada's control, I'm referrin

Official Languages committee  If I may, I will clarify my title. I am acting assistant deputy minister, policy. I wouldn't want my deputy minister to think I'm taking over his job.

Official Languages committee  Again, it's not that I'm trying to avoid the question. I want this committee to understand the position I'm in, in the sense that we are studying the issue. We are looking at the different considerations. We are looking forward to the advice of this committee. We are very much aw

Official Languages committee  I think this is again where we have to be careful in the context that these are private sector organizations. It's not a government entity. When we privatized Air Canada, we wanted to put it outside of government for it to manage its own affairs in a competitive, market-driven

Official Languages committee  That's a questionnaire that, as you say, Air Canada completes each year and is provided to the Treasury Board Secretariat. We at Transport Canada do not receive that specifically, but we have an ongoing dialogue with our colleagues at the Treasury Board Secretariat with regard to

Official Languages committee  Again, I've mentioned how complex these issues are. You've been hearing advice. Imagine us having to deal with a variety of different departments on the same issue. That's a very good question. Why are there so many departments involved? From Transport Canada, I've talked about

Official Languages committee  The working relationship is actually quite good, particularly in the context of deliberating some of the issues that are before this committee. I have an ongoing dialogue. We meet on a regular basis with my colleagues at Heritage, Treasury Board, and Justice. It's very collegial

Official Languages committee  Sure. Again, we have our own conversations with Air Canada, but we were particularly interested in the presentations they've made before this committee. They came to you and I think talked to you in great detail about their linguistic action plan, their internal language policy,

Official Languages committee  My day job is to work as a policy analyst. Whenever you look at a policy issue and you see that there's a policy anomaly, you wonder why that is. Right now, we have a policy anomaly with regard to the obligation of official languages with regard to Canada's air carriers, in that

Official Languages committee  Perhaps on that question I could defer to my colleague, Mr. Blasioli.

Official Languages committee  Yes.