Mark Carney dismisses Ecole Polytechnique blunder, says his French is 'fine'

Article content

Mark Carney’s blunder on one of Canada’s worst mass shootings is lingering over the Liberal leader.

Speaking Wednesday morning in Windsor, Carney fielded questions on Tuesday’s campaign appearance at which he misspoke several times about the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre — twice referring to Liberal candidate and shooting survivor Nathalie Provost as “Nathalie Pronovost,” and stating the shooting took place at Concordia University.

“Nathalie Pronovost, who out of the tragedy of the shootings at Concordia, became a social justice activist and she’s put her hand up and she’s running for us,” Carney said in Nova Scotia.

Fourteen women were murdered at Ecole Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989 by a gunman, who later killed himself.

When asked in French if his blunder meant he didn’t understand Quebec, Carney said that wasn’t the case — asserting that his French wasn’t perfect, but adequate.

“I spent more time in Quebec in the leadership race than anyone else,” he said in French, citing his many Quebec cabinet ministers and noting a large portion of his 150-person campaign team hails from la belle province.

“Of course I’m not from Quebec, not everyone is from Quebec,” he continued.

“I come from Alberta, I was born in the north, and my French is fine but not perfect.”

Carney did express regret at his Tuesday comments.

“I very much regret that I misspoke yesterday,” he said.

“The horrors of the Dec. 6 massacre at Ecole Polytechnique are very much still with us, and the lessons are still to be fully learned.”

Carney’s poor French skills have garnered much criticism, particularly after his campaign overruled the Liberal leader’s assertions that he would appear in TVA’s televised French-language debate.

Struggling to answer a reporter’s question in French on Wednesday, a clearly-flustered Carney switched to English mid-sentence.

During the leadership race, Carney attracted scorn after Chrystia Freeland was forced to correct her fellow candidate when he said “we agree with Hamas” instead of saying he agreed with the Palestinian terror group’s exclusion from peace talks.

Carney will appear in both the English and French language official debates in mid-April.

The Liberal leader was in Windsor to announce a $2-billion plan to shore up Canada’s auto sector against U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. The plan includes increasing made-in-Canada car parts and leveraging government investments in Canadian-built vehicles.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume