Thank you so much for that. Yes, it’s a very important issue. When I became the Minister of Official Languages, in putting together the new Bill C-13, I really wanted to ensure that all Canadians saw themselves in this legislation. Being a francophone who lives in New Brunswick, and belonging to an official language minority community, I know the importance of protecting and promoting our rights, may it be anglophones in Quebec or francophones outside of Quebec. That is why, in the piece of legislation we brought forward, we have enshrined in the legislation, if you will, to ensure that the Court Challenges Program was not going to be optional for future governments. We want to make sure that the Court Challenges Program is going to remain, because it is an important tool for many official language minority communities to use when their rights are not respected. So moving forward in the bill, we wanted to make sure that was defined there as well.

Finally, my message to English-speaking Quebecers and to francophones outside of Quebec is that we want to ensure that people are aware that, through this legislation, we want to protect the official language minority rights all across the country. It is absolutely imperative that we do so, and again, as I have indicated, if I had the advantage of living in Moncton, studying in Moncton and doing my post-secondary education in Moncton, it’s in part because of the official languages legislation that existed when I went to school.

Honourable senators, the time for Question Period has expired. I’m sure that all senators will join me in thanking Minister Petitpas Taylor for being with us today and in inviting her to return.