Not everyone got the memo that Canada has two official languages.
French? Whatsdat? Kessed that? What?
O KANDA, THE LAND OF OUR EYES
The year 2025 has barely begun when we are already being reminded that French is being trampled on in the country.
Have you seen that Chandra Arya, the first declared candidate for leadership of the Liberal Party, does not speak a word of French? Not only that, but the guy who wants to become Prime Minister of Canada says that Canadians don’t care about official languages, that what interests them is access to property and the money that remains in their pockets. And the worst part is that he’s right! Since Justin Trudeau appointed Mary Simon as governor general, he has sent a very clear message to everyone: “Speaking French is not an essential criterion for obtaining important positions in this country.”
You can get a job paying $351,600 per year with taxpayer money without speaking a word of French. And you will even have French lessons paid for by taxpayers to pretend to be interested in French and you will have no consequences if a year later you are not jabbering French. Isn’t that beautiful?
Last week, at QUB radio at 99.5 FM, my colleague Benoit Dutrizac received an interview with Mr. Chandra Arya.
The Liberal candidate jabbered “hello” with difficulty and afterwards, the entire interview was done in English. The worst part is that Mr. Arya speaks English like a Spanish cow. Arya, who is of Indian origin, proudly declared to Benoit that his mother tongue is kannada. Yes, yes, it is really a language spoken in India, like Hindi, Bengali, Telugu or Marathi. According to Wikipedia, “it is the language official state of Karnataka, one of the four southern states ofInde».
Admit that we cannot imagine a more beautiful image of what Canada has become: a guy who is not able to say “my name is Chandra” in one of the two official languages of the country he wants to lead , but who speaks a language called Kannada, spoken by 50 million people in India.
Remember, in December 2023, when the Canadian national anthem was sung in Punjabi and English before the Jets game in Winnipeg? In Punjabi and English, but not in French! While the Oh Canada was written in French in 1880 by Adolphe-Basile Routhier and only translated into English in 1906!
I’M A FROG
Every time I talk about the cause of French in my columns here, in The Montreal Journal et The Quebec Journalmany of you reacted. Same thing when I launch into vibrant pleas for the survival of French at QUB or in interventions at LCN or elsewhere.
But there comes a time when I would like you to take action. If French is so important to you, can you tell me what we still do in this country, Canada, where speaking Kannada is more important than speaking French?
