Official Languages committee  I'm going to talk specifically about Ontario. For decades, the province has, in its University funding formula, recognized the additional costs tied to services and programs in the minority language. This takes the form of a special funding envelope for bilingualism and French-l

Official Languages committee  I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chair, the co‑chairs and other members of the committee for having invited us today to contribute to your work on federal support for minority French-language post-secondary educational institutions. As the time allowed for the opening address is five

Official Languages committee  Yes. Let me talk about the current reality in Ontario. In this province, foreign students make up a good part of the student pool. For example, at the University of Toronto, foreign students represent almost 40% of the student population. Even small universities, like the Unive

Official Languages committee  We have not yet had any recruiting activities ourselves, but other universities, for example the Glendon campus of York University in Toronto, have a significant number of foreign students from all countries, more than 200 countries. I think we have about half a million foreign s

Official Languages committee  Actually, we now have a private partner. That is one of the ways of reducing costs. Private partners, such as real estate developers with experience in building in Toronto, consider factors that we were, and are, less aware of. Our criteria are different. For example, building n

Official Languages committee  Actually, there has been a lot of communication. You probably misunderstood me. I talked about written correspondence in January, but I am currently having constant conversations with the provincial government in order to find a way out of our financial impasse. At this stage, I

Official Languages committee  There is a very close link between recruiting foreign students who are francophone or bilingual, and immigration targets. For decades, we have not been meeting the targets. We have to find new ways of meeting them and making the best use of post-secondary institutions. In a way,

Official Languages committee  I am sorry.

Official Languages committee  Francophone immigrants do stay in Ontario. I would even say that a number of francophone immigrants from Quebec come over to Ontario. Ontario attracts immigrants, whatever their language. Our difficult is in recruiting francophones in sufficient numbers and I am not sure what kin

Official Languages committee  The Carrefour and the Université de l'Ontario français have access to a pool of foreign students who are francophone. In Toronto, recruitment is going very well, even in English-language universities. We have to get all our services working, to bring all our efforts together, not

Official Languages committee  Are you talking about programs?

Official Languages committee  The board of governors wants the university to commence its activities as quickly as possible. That is the message that we are sending to all levels of government. We are also ready to play our role and assume our responsibilities. We recognize that the province of Ontario's fina

Official Languages committee  I will finish my answer to Mrs. Fortier's question. We have our priorities. We have to solve the funding question and come to an agreement with the Government of Ontario. We also want to obtain the support of the federal government. We believe that it is perfectly possible for t

Official Languages committee  The first correspondence goes back to the beginning of January. At that time, the provincial government confirmed that the act was not repealed, and that the university, and the board of governors, continue to exist. We are a university, therefore, and we have all the legal powe

Official Languages committee  We want to start the university in a way that will acknowledge the province's fiscal constraints.