Mark Carney says ‘non merci’ to a French-Language debate

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Ottawa – Liberal Mark Carney lost his first French debate even before he even started.

The Canadian Liberal Party’s announcement that its leaders will not participate in the most important French TVA debate, raises another question of his ability to speak with French people across the country, especially Quebec.

The most watched French network in Quebec organized parallel events for French and English debates organized by the Leaders’ Debate Committee, and Carney will still attend.

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But TVA debate has become a must-see event during every election.

For example, former conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s performance in this 2019 debate was widely invested, while Justin Trudeau’s liberals were able to restore momentum and win a second term.

However, TVA announced a few days ago that the four major parties donated $75,000 each due to lack of funds. Now, the absence of a single party means the debate won’t continue.

Québécois quickly signed the contract and expressed willingness to participate, even if it raised moral issues. All political parties are reluctant to pay for debate. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party announced its participation.

Poilievre even challenged Carney to do the same.

“Why not? Yep,” Carney told reporters on Monday. He stressed that he wanted to participate in debates with all political parties, including the Greens. However, TVA only invites liberals, conservatives, Québécois and NDP.

A few hours later, his team announced that he would not debate on TVA. No Liberal Party means no debate will take place.

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Liberal Party spokesman Guillaume Bertrand said: “Mr. Carney … looks forward to participating in the Leader’s Debate Committee debate, confirmed today in Montreal on April 16 and 17.”

The party did not explain why he would not participate. A source speaking in the backstage said he was reluctant to pay for the event.

“The leader of the liberals claims to have the ability and courage to face-to-face with Donald Trump, but he doesn’t even have the courage to talk to the Quebecs. He has lost his qualifications and the Quebecs will judge without appeal.”

Alexandre Boulerice, deputy leader of the NDP, said it was “very insulting to Quebec”, “no matter what excuse he gave, the fact is that Mark Carney likes to answer questions in hiding rather than in French.”

However, his absence can underline his difficulties in French.

Carney’s only debate in French was during the freelance leadership competition, showing limitations, unexpectedly saying that he was “in line with Hamas.”

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Then, at a press conference last week in Iqaluit, he didn’t know about French-speaking journalists about his potential conflict of interest.

More and more voices, including those from the opposition, pointed out that Mr. Carney had no “test” in France and Quebec, where he received extraordinary support in the polls.

According to a recent poll by the state-Léger, liberals have 40% support in the province, while Andrew Enns, executive vice president, described the growth of Liberal Party in Quebec as “astronomy.”

“Quebecs are very willing to forgive some people who have made certain mistakes or hesitations, but they have to feel genuine interest,” said Antonine Yaccarini, a political analyst and former contributor to Parti Québécois and his former contributors.

For example, Carney adopted the slogan of Quebec’s quiet revolution “Maître Chez Nous” in his speech.

However, the new Prime Minister did not conduct many interviews in French.

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For example, he abolished the title of “official language minister” and made many criticisms among the French minority.

“We think the fact that the ministers listed for official languages, I think it is a sign of respect, it shows people realizing that there is a part of the population, and Canada is composed of two official languages,” said Liane Roy, president of the Legal and Arcadia Community Federation of Canada.

Then, with Mike Myers, an elbow movement, and the famous Canadian actor expressed support for Carney. Quebec is not mentioned in the video, and the Liberals provide French subtitles for the French version.

The word “elbow” has no meaning in French. The Liberal Party declined to comment on French language advertising campaigns targeting Quebec, such as Pierre Poilievre, in progress.

“Unfortunately, Quebec is so rich in cultural reference and metaphorical expressions that it is hard to believe that the Liberal exchanges ultimately cannot choose an expression that has the same effect in French while respecting their subjects that they try to develop around hockey,” said Ceedrik Verrerik Verrerik, strategist at catapulte Communication Communication.

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Verreault stressed that the liberal path to victory was inevitably related to Quebec, so if the party did not give the Quebec more attention, maybe they would spin to Québécois in Quebec.

“We have accumulated a few things that will add to the yellow flag,” Yaccarini added.

It would be one thing if he refused only the invitation to participate in the TVA debate. But the accumulation of small details could disappoint Quebecs, the country’s most turbulent voters.

“At present, there is clearly a phenomenon of Canadian patriotism and Canadian unification, which means that the specific problems in Quebec are somewhat overshadowed in all of this,” Yaccarini said.

“But these problems and these particularities of Quebec have not disappeared forever.”

State Post
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