Ottawa/CMEDIA: Current and former bilinguals in Liberal party officials including some elected officials in Quebec have reportedly said that the next Liberal leader replacing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must be bilingual.
The leader “will absolutely have to be bilingual. It’s a question of respect and values. It’s also essential to maximize our chances of winning the next election,” the Liberals’ Quebec lieutenant Jean-Yves Duclos wrote on the X.
On the same social media platform, Gatineau MP Steven MacKinnon, who is considering a bid to succeed Trudeau, said it is “crucial” that the Liberal leader be bilingual.
“Bilingualism means appreciating the French fact in Canada, appreciating Quebec as a whole and all communities in the country, whether they are French-speaking or English-speaking,” said MacKinnon, Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Minister.
“If a leader doesn’t have the ability to understand the reality for linguistic minorities and the populations of Quebec as well, it’s not possible to be a good prime minister or a good leader of the Liberal party,” said Fraser, former Housing minister Sean Fraser.
The new leader would reportedly be announced March 9, Liberal party said, giving potential candidates just two weeks to decide whether to seek the role.
Sandra Aubé, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s former chief of staff, said in an interview that mastery of French is “inescapable,” “non-negotiable” and part of the “very DNA of the party.”
“If there were a leader who spoke little or no French in an upcoming election campaign, he or she would be guaranteed to face major challenges in Quebec, at the very least. And so, it would affect the Liberals’ result overall,” said Aubé, who now works for TACT, an agency that provides government and public relations services.
Announcing on Friday that she would not be contesting for the Liberal leadership, Joly added that, “as a Quebecer and a francophone,” it seemed “obvious” to her that the next leader must be able to speak both French and English.
