Arya argued that Canadians and Quebecers don’t care which language their leader speaks
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OTTAWA — Liberal MP Chandra Arya’s leadership campaign is barely one week old but he’s already being scolded by his own colleagues for saying that Quebecers don’t care if the prime minister speaks French.
Arya, who does not speak French and does not intend to learn it, has argued that Canadians and Quebecers don’t care which language their leader speaks as long as their core concerns — namely prosperity, the economy and affordability — are addressed.
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“Quebecers, like all Canadians, at the end of the day, they want to see the work to be done. It is not whether you’re polished in French (or) English,” Arya told National Post.
National Post has learned that during a Liberal Quebec caucus meeting on Wednesday morning, Arya’s comments were so widely scorned among attendees that Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos called Arya later in the day to relay his caucus mates’ disappointment.
In an interview on Quebecor’s Qub, Arya said it “would be good” for the prime minister to know both official languages but argued that his first language “is neither English nor French, but Canada.”
He then joked that he met his wife in a French class decades ago and was afraid that he’d meet another woman if he tried to learn the language again.
“Maybe that’s the reason I don’t want to go back to the classroom to learn French again, because I still love my wife and I don’t want to meet anyone else,” he said with a laugh.
But Arya’s repeated comments about Quebecers not caring if the prime minister speaks French was no laughing matter for Quebec’s pundit class and Liberal Quebec MPs.
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In a statement, Duclos spokesperson Guillaume Bertrand said that Quebec caucus — many of whom have publicly called for the next Liberal leader to be bilingual — determined during the meeting that someone should speak “directly” to Arya to share their frustration.
“Minister Duclos relayed many of the concerns expressed by his Quebec caucus colleagues, and the disappointment felt by his colleagues and Liberal members after comments made by Mister Arya, notably that French was not important for Quebecers,” Duclos’ spokesperson Guillaume Bertrand said in a statement.
“The Liberal Party always has been and will always be the party of bilingualism, since the first federal Official Languages Act in 1969 and more recently with massive investments through the modernization of the Official Languages Act,” he added.
Arya declined an interview request but did offer a statement that appeared to criticize his colleagues for misunderstanding his views.
“MP Arya is not interested in addressing numerous misinterpretations on his stand on Canada’s both official languages,” his leadership campaign wrote in a statement attributable to Arya.
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“As neither English nor French is his first language, MP Arya recognizes the importance for policymakers—and indeed all Canadians—to have proficiency in at least one of the two official languages. Ideally, it is desirable for individuals to have a working knowledge of both.”
National Post
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