Front-runner Carney’s French under scrutiny after faux pas during Liberal debate

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MONTREAL — The first major French test for federal Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney came during Monday’s debate in Montreal, and it proved to be a tough slog.

Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor, is the presumed front-runner for the Liberal leadership and by extension the prime minister’s job.

Quebec’s political pundit class wasn’t convinced by his inaugural performance, although it’s unclear whether it will have an impact on his aspirations. But with the Liberals representing 33 of Quebec’s 78 ridings, the party is looking to maintain its support in the province if it hopes to stay in power after the next election, which is scheduled for October but could come as early as the spring.

One political science professor echoed what many commentators in Quebec said following the French-language debate — Carney’s mastery of the language was the weakest of the four candidates, who included former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former government House leader Karina Gould and ex-MP Frank Baylis.

Carney’s lack of regular exposure to French in recent years was on display as he put himself forward for a job that requires a command of Canada’s two official languages, McGill professor Daniel Beland said in an interview Tuesday. But Carney’s performance should be looked at in perspective, Beland said.

“You have to define what bilingualism is: It doesn’t mean that you have to be like (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau, switching from French to English basically like someone who grew up bilingual,” said Beland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.

“You look at (former Conservative prime minister) Stephen Harper, he worked really hard on his French and in the end it paid off. He was never a natural French speaker, but he was able to master French.”

One gaffe that stood out Monday night came when Carney had to be corrected by Freeland after saying, “We agree with Hamas,” instead of saying the candidates agreed on the exclusion of Hamas from Middle East peace talks.

That particular flub immediately became a Conservative talking point on social media, with the party doubling down on Tuesday. “Canada’s prime minister should be able to speak clearly, not just to Canadians in both official languages, but to our allies and to our partners around the world,” Conservative ethics critic Michael Cooper told reporters in Ottawa.

While Monday was a cordial affair, free from tense exchanges between the four candidates, the upcoming federal election campaign will be another story. Carney, if he wins the leadership race, will share a debate stage with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose French has improved in recent years, and the francophone Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet.

Still, fellow leadership contenders downplayed Carney’s Hamas faux pas.

Freeland, for her part, explained that “as an anglophone, French is difficult.” She said when she was first elected in 2013, her French was weak and the fifth language she spoke at the time. Baylis, a Montrealer with perhaps the best French of the four leadership hopefuls, said Carney had a flub.

“There’s no question that sometimes we all get tripped up on second languages or third languages,” Baylis said.

Beland said Carney had more astute moments during the debate, noting his use three times of “maitres chez nous” — masters in our own house — a slogan from the Quiet Revolution that Carney used in response to the threats to Canada’s sovereignty posed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

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Carney, meanwhile, said he welcomes the chance to debate other federal leaders in French should he win the leadership race, which concludes with a vote on March 9.

Stephanie Chouinard, a political science professor at Queen’s University, said polling will dictate whether Monday’s performance swayed Quebecers in any significant way. “Very few are those who have a chance to be perfectly fluent and who can go back and forth between French and English seamlessly,” Chouinard said.

“That’s not the expectation, but the baseline expectation is that you convey with an adequate level of clarity what your main ideas are and also that you’re willing to work and improve.”

Beland said that with Canada facing so much turmoil, the quality of a candidate’s French may not be top of mind for Quebec voters, especially with the evolving relationship with the United States.

Chouinard noted that Harper gradually and consistently improved his French over his nine years as prime minister, something she believes people noticed. “I don’t think they’re willing to look completely past it,” Chouinard said of language.

“But someone who has a less-than-perfect mastery of the language, but who otherwise has a specific set of skills that seems to meet the moment, then yes, I think, that will be weighing more heavily on people’s minds at this time.”

— With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal and Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa.