Official Languages committee  At the working level, there are interdepartmental working groups led by IRCC and we are part of that. We're not leading those; they're leading them. For example, my director general is part of one of those interdepartmental working groups. There is sharing of information, especially on those really important issues.

Official Languages committee  If I may clarify your question, do you want to know how we go about accounting to the federal government or within the businesses?

Official Languages committee  The last official evaluation of the economic development initiative that we have goes back to 2017. We can send you that evaluation, which is also accessible online. It is a public document. We consult on an ongoing basis with our partners, the regional development agencies, on the next steps for evaluating the program.

Official Languages committee  We are currently in negotiations about this new mandate. For that reason, unfortunately, I cannot tell you about it, but we hope to have an agreement over two years to produce the data we consider to be important, based on our consultations with the OLMCs, including in rural and urban areas.

Official Languages committee  Under the economic development initiative, the focus is on official language minority communities.

Official Languages committee  Yes, it is English. Once again, in the context of the official action plan, there are various departments that work in all the provinces. So if you want to extend it, that goes beyond the OLMCs.

Official Languages committee  No, we do not have formal agreements with the provinces at this point. In Ontario, for example, the communities themselves, through organizations like the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario or the Société économique de l'Ontario, hold discussions with their provincial government and present the results to it.

Official Languages committee  Up to now, the funding associated with the Economic Development Initiative was a function of the population. We can expect that this will continue. However, that is why the presence of the representatives of the regional agencies at this committee is important, as the Assistant Deputy Minister said, because they can tell you in greater detail about the allocation of resources between these two new agencies.

Official Languages committee  Once again, I would invite you to put that specific question to our colleagues who will be testifying in the second hour. They will be better able to explain how they use their funds and how they are given out.

Official Languages committee  Once again, I would not want to take the pleasure of talking about their successes away from the representatives of the agencies who will testify after us. They will be able to give you examples of projects. However, I can talk to you about the type of projects that we fund directly at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, to support strategic planning and evaluate the emerging needs of communities.

Official Languages committee  I do not have data on that on hand. However,...

Official Languages committee  I do not have the complete list, but, for example, the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation is one of our members. I know its president was here on Monday. We also have Youth Employment Services. So our committee brings together anglophone and francophone partners from the OLMCs.

Official Languages committee  We can't do that today, because our work focuses specifically on the implementation of the Economic Development Initiative. We work with Statistics Canada for the OLMCs. Rights holders are not our sector, but we can see whether they are part of our portfolio. If you have specific questions, we can pass them on to the appropriate people.

Official Languages committee  In the conversation we had last fall, some of the priorities that were put forward around demographics were more around the aging population and youth migration, as well as succession planning. Those were the things that were brought up to us in the context of the EDI. That doesn't mean that child care and access to education services in the minority official language are not an issue, but in our discussion, they were quite focused, and those were the things that came up from a demographic perspective.

Official Languages committee  The EDI is part of the official-language action plan, so we're just one small part of a whole-of-government initiative. There are PCH and ESDC. We're all under that big plan that was announced in April 2023 and will be renewed every five years. We keep our focus on our departmental mandate.