Stronach baffled by French quits leadership race

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...ional/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20060406.wstrona0406

Ms. Stronach had mounted a campaign team quickly, led by former cabinet minister Reg Alcock, and including Quebec organizers Richard Mimeau and Brigitte Legault. Close friends said weeks ago that she was “99 per cent” in the race and “almost certain” to run.

But party insiders said her travels across the country to solicit support turned out many Liberal interested to meet her, but few who would commit to backing her.

Not least among her troubles in a party that considers itself the champion of bilingualism, Ms. Stronach's French was broken, at least, and her assurances that she would learn quickly were met with skeptcism. When a reporter asked her in French if she would run for the leadership, she did not understand the question, and asked for it to be repeated in English.
 

Jay

Executive Branch Member
Jan 7, 2005
8,366
3
38
Not knowing French should not be an obstacle for running for PM...it is just about as stupid as it comes.
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
Languages in Canada

While I support the status of both English and French in terms of being official languages, I don't think that the lack of knowledge in one or the other should prevent anyone from attempting to lead their party. It is unfortunate that the Honourable Belinda Stronach, P.C., M.P., the Member for Newmarket—Aurora and Transport Critic for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, would feel excluded from the leadership race, if that is the only thing that would have been in her way. I think she could have garnered a moderate support base, lack of French notwithstanding.
 

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
Re: Languages in Canada

FiveParadox said:
While I support the status of both English and French in terms of being official languages, I don't think that the lack of knowledge in one or the other should prevent anyone from attempting to lead their party. It is unfortunate that the Honourable Belinda Stronach, P.C., M.P., the Member for Newmarket—Aurora and Transport Critic for Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, would feel excluded from the leadership race, if that is the only thing that would have been in her way. I think she could have garnered a moderate support base, lack of French notwithstanding.

Should the same linquistic laxity apply then to the civil service?

This would have been a pragmatic decision on the part of liberals not to try and run a tight race in the future with a leader with no ability to communicate in French in Quebec. Also she doesn't have a university degree. There is only so much power Papa's money will buy?
 

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
Re: RE: Stronach baffled by French quits leadership race

Jay said:
Not knowing French should not be an obstacle for running for PM...it is just about as stupid as it comes.

To be fair one would have to include English here. Why should anyone have to know either of the offical languages to run for PM?
 

Jay

Executive Branch Member
Jan 7, 2005
8,366
3
38
No, either of the official languages will do OR both.
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
One should be required to know either English, or French, if one is going to run for leadership of a party; since the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada offer simultaneous translation in their proceedings, I don't think it's quite necessary for Members of Parliament and Senators to be knowledgeable in both languages (although it would certainly help them to debate with each other more naturally). However, in the public service, simultaneous translation is not offered in most cases.
 

Jay

Executive Branch Member
Jan 7, 2005
8,366
3
38
And you don't need a University degree either. I mean stealing tax payers money isn't a difficult task.
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
One would think that it would be a somewhat hard task; one would need to bypass the Ministry of Finance, and the Treasury Board — a feat accomplished, in modern times, only by the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, P.C., a former prime minister.
 

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
The conservatives or liberals could also try and run behind a nudist but they would risk alienating a lot of voters. That is why leaders should have certain credentials. Do you think putting someone in charge of HRSDC with no university experience was a good idea?
 

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
Re: RE: Stronach baffled by French quits leadership race

FiveParadox said:
One would think that it would be a somewhat hard task; one would need to bypass the Ministry of Finance, and the Treasury Board — a feat accomplished, in modern times, only by the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, P.C., a former prime minister.

This does explain a lot. I am curious about this so can you expand on the reasons to bypass these offices. Do they vet candidates in Canada?
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
sanch, bypassing the Ministry and the Board are very unorthodox methods of administering programs, because it is known that doing so can cause serious problems in terms of transparency and accountability. For example, in administering the now-known-to-be-fraudulant Sponsorship Program, Mr. Chrétien, in his capacity as the Prime Minister of Canada, had ordered the program to be administered through the Office of the Prime Minister — he and his advisers were therefore able to conduct the entire program through that office, superceding the Parliament of Canada and its built-in safeguards.
 

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
But what do they have to do with what a candidate's qualifications are?

I really did think that there was a requirment that the PM be bilingual.
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
No, sanch, there is no such requirement — in terms of my reference to the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury Board, I thought it quite obvious that they were in response to the post by Jay in terms of the inappropriate use of taxes.
 

sanch

Electoral Member
Apr 8, 2005
647
0
16
I took that reference to mean the billion or so that is missing from HRDC on programs that would have been approved by the FM and Treasury.
 

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
43
48
Vancouver, BC
In that case, I am unsure — however, one must keep in mind that the Honourable Belinda Stronach, P.C., was not the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal for a particularly long period of time.
 

DasFX

Electoral Member
Dec 6, 2004
859
1
18
Whitby, Ontario
Re: RE: Stronach baffled by French quits leadership race

Jay said:
Not knowing French should not be an obstacle for running for PM...it is just about as stupid as it comes.

I would say this would be true in multi official language nations like Switzerland and India, but in Canada (where there are only two languages) I cannot see there being a Prime Minister not being able to speak to 25% of his people. Besides, it isn't that hard to learn a language. If someone is not willing to put in the effort to connect to a quarter of the population, what kind of PM would they really be?
 

Lotuslander

Electoral Member
Jan 30, 2006
158
0
16
Vancouver
A PM does not need to speak either official language as proven by out good buddy The Right Honourable Jean Chretien, P.C.

Pearson also was unilingual and Preston Manning never had a firm grasp on the French language. Of course old Preston wont need to be bilingual in his next job premier of Alberta.
 

Jay

Executive Branch Member
Jan 7, 2005
8,366
3
38
Re: RE: Stronach baffled by French quits leadership race

DasFX said:
Jay said:
Not knowing French should not be an obstacle for running for PM...it is just about as stupid as it comes.

I would say this would be true in multi official language nations like Switzerland and India, but in Canada (where there are only two languages) I cannot see there being a Prime Minister not being able to speak to 25% of his people. Besides, it isn't that hard to learn a language. If someone is not willing to put in the effort to connect to a quarter of the population, what kind of PM would they really be?

One from Alberta?