It’s the new low in a snake’s belly of a campaign.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion misunderstands a complicated question and the Conservatives trot out leader Stephen Harper to declare it the definitive proof this Liberal leader is unfit to serve as prime minister. (Don Martin in the National Post, October 9, 2008)
“Day, who lived in Quebec as teenager, is desperate to improve his mediocre French so that the Alliance may broaden its appeal to Quebec voters. He was the first to admit yesterday that his French needs work and brushed off previous reports that tagged him as perfectly bilingual.” (Windsor Star, July 28, 2000)
“Mr. Day read carefully from a written French text. Even with the text, it was obvious within two minutes that any claims to bilingualism are seriously exaggerated.” (Paul Wells, National Post, April 1, 2000)
“Compounding Reform’s problem is that its leader can’t tell Quebecers his message in their language. Manning is unilingual. But he’s trying. He thanked those present for coming by reading from a prepared text in French – a halting, tortured dialect exacerbated by his natural nasal twang.” (Toronto Star, July 19, 1994)
They were kids, but they didn’t handle Reform Party Leader Preston Manning with kid gloves when he spoke yesterday at an all-girls’ private school.
Manning, who wants to run Canada’s proposed new right-wing political party, was asked in French about his notoriously poor skills in the language by a student during a stop at St. Clement’s school.”(Kingston Whig-Standard, March 11, 2000)
“Despite the appeal to posturing and sound-bite simplicity, the televised leaders’ debates sent one undeniable message: Reform leader Preston Manning is not worthy of being Canada’s next prime minister. Despite the appeals to a Fresh Start, which is his party’s campaign theme, he has personally not made a fresh start by still being unable to speak French. A modern leader of this nation cannot have such a liability. Forty years ago, Canadians could forgive John Diefenbaker’s famously tortured French. In 1997, such bilingual ineptitude in a national leader is inexcusable.” (Kingston Whig-Standard, May 15, 1997)
“But national public life happens in both languages. The federal government serves Canadians in both languages, and if you were a public servant, you would want to be evaluated in the official language you feel more comfortable in – which is one of the reasons senior government jobs require bilingualism. You would think that anyone who wanted to engage in national public life, as opposed to local or provincial public life, would learn both English and French.” (Toronto Star, October 20, 2002)
“It first became clear that Preston Manning’s campaign to win the leadership of the Canadian Alliance was in serious trouble during the candidates’ debate in Montreal. Manning’s composure was shaken by his inability to perform in French; he looked, for the first time, as if he thought he was losing. Stockwell Day, on the other hand, looked like a winner.” (Toronto Star, April 29, 2001)
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:47 am
AHHH…….AIN'T HYPOCRACY GRAND?
October 10th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Exactly right! If the same thing had happened to a Conservative there would be calls for a public hanging! The piece serves two purposes. First, it shows just how inept Mr. Dion really is. Second, it really exposes just how biased the MSM is. Particularly the CBC, they've been making excuses for their Liberal masters the whole way and now even speak for Mr. Dion to explain his own platform!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Of course, the real issue is that, once he DID understand the question (it was explained to him by an aide before the final take), he had NO ANSWER, other than to babble his standard campaign speech about planning to have meetings for thirty days to come up with a plan. A plan to make a plan is not a plan.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Dion was asked the same question today, and he gave the same answer.
'30 day plan'
He understood the question yesterday.
(correction, yesterday his first answer was the 30/50 plan for poverty, on the 3rd attempt he gave the 30 day plan script)
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/election-2008/liberal-...
October 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Stephen – I would suggest emailing this to every media person who covered and excused Dion over this just so they know that we know.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Stephen, leave Dion alone, the poor man has a disability… no I don't mean his hearing… I mean the fact that he's dumb as dirt and is used to being coddled and handled with kid gloves by the media.
Dion can dish it out. but he can't take it. Now the poor man knows what Prime Minister Harper has to deal with every day.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Dion is not dumb, he just doesn't have a plan.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:59 am
It will be interesting to see the fallout on whether this has an effect on the average voter. Whether you are into seat projections or not this is interesting.
http://www.ekoselection.com/index.php/2008/09/e...
October 10th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/202105
…….Stronach's brief three years as an MP have been a political roller-coaster rideind the scenes to bring about the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties, Stronach ran in 2004 for the leadership of the new Conservative party, undeterred by her political inexperience and her inability to speak French…….
……….After Martin's government was defeated in 2006, Stronach flirted briefly with seeking the Liberal leadership. She pulled together a campaign team but ultimately bowed out of the race, claiming that she wanted to devote herself to reforming the leadership selection process instead. However, insiders acknowledged that Stronach realized she simply couldn't win, hamstrung by her weak grasp of French, her relative inexperience and her newcomer status to the party…………..
I recall the media thrashed her for asking for question in english.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Interesting yes, but here's a link for Oct 10th / 08
http://www.ekoselection.com/index.php/2008/10/s...
October 10th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Right, not having a plan just a few days before the election is pretty dumb!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
This poll states the opposite of what Duceppe is saying about a double standard.
'The views of Canadians on the significance of having a leader who can speak their language varied greatly across the two samples. While 73% of Francophone respondents believe it is very important for a Prime Minister of Canada to speak their native tongue fluently, the number drops to 57% for Anglophone respondents.
“Mr. Dion and his handlers are faced with a challenge in terms of getting their message across to English Canada,” says Angus Reid, CEO of Angus Reid Strategies. “Still, they can take some comfort from the finding that Anglophone Canadians place less of an emphasis on linguistic ability as do Francophones.”
http://www.angusreidstrategies.com/index.cfm?fu...
October 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
There's a difference between 'dumb' and not having a plan. Dion has a PhD and was a university professor for a number of years. Almost the same story with Jack Layton. Neither of them are 'dumb' people, they are just flawed in their views and plans (or lack of) for the nation.
You need to be able to separate between people and their ideas. While I fully and totally disagree with nearly everything political that comes out of either Dion or Layton's mouth, I would have no problem having a coffee and conversation with either. (As long as we stayed away from politics!
)
As US supreme court justice Antonin Scalia once said, “some really good people have some really bad ideas.” Dropping to name calling, no matter if you are aiming at the right OR the left side of the spectrum is immature. Learn to argue against an idea, not the person presenting it.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Not understanding English is an issue because it is a world language (the one most commonly used by elected national leaders anyway) and the one in Canada that anyone can understand from coast to coast. Past leaders not understanding French is nowhere near as big of a problem as a possible future one having trouble with English. This is an issue regardless of whether or not Mr. Dion has a plan for the country and economy.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
One of my favourites from the spin dept… this one from Jacques Bourbeau of Global National just a few minutes ago:
“When they got word of this, the Tories rushed to judgment.”
He concluded by saying, “So what has this served to accomplish? To put out a big distraction in the closing days of the campaign.”
October 10th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Dion would have had to undergo oral exams to defend his thesis /dissertation in order to get both a master's degree and a doctorate. He would have been very familiar with the material on which the questions were based because he would have written it himself. He would would not have been asked the question several times (nor would the question have been explained) and would not have had several shots at the answer. Further questions would likely have arisen based on his answer. The point is that the man is obviously intelligent and understands how to answer difficult questions when he is familiar with the subject. He indicated that he heard the question asked by Mr. Murphy because he repeated it. It is evident he was not familiar with the material on which the question was based and was unable to answer. End of story.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
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