The big reason why Brad Wall can’t be prime minister

Sums up one of the fundamental realities well but ignores that many new Canadians send their children to French immersion programs:

A paradox encompasses two mutually exclusive propositions that are nonetheless both true. Federal bilingualism is such a paradox.

It is right and proper that senior federal politicians and public servants must speak both English and French. English-speakers need only ask themselves how they would feel about a unilingual French cabinet minister or Supreme Court judge to understand that truth. Canada is a bilingual country. Ottawa must be bilingual. Case closed.

But the bilingualism requirement is also exclusionary, which government hiring practises should not be. Because only 17.5 per cent of Canadians are bilingual, it effectively prohibits four out of five of us from advancing in the federal public service or in federal politics. It discriminates against Western Canadians, people from Southern Ontario, Quebeckers who don’t live near the Ontario or New Brunswick borders (those two “bilingualism belts” are where most bilingual Canadians are to be found) and most Atlantic Canadians.

It similarly discriminates against most immigrants, who come from China, India, the Philippines and other countries where French isn’t spoken.

Such observations often provoke a retort from Graham Fraser, the Commissioner of Official Languages. But as Mr. Fraser himself recently observed: “Canada is a country with two unilingual majorities: Some 60 per cent of Francophones do not speak English, and some 90 per cent of Anglophones do not speak French.” Almost 50 years of official bilingualism haven’t changed that reality, and the next 50 years are unlikely to change it either.

The bilingual paradox inhibits the ability of political parties to renew. Mr. Wall and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary have both been touted as possible leaders for the Conservative Party, but both have no hope of leading that party, because both are unilingual and Canada’s prime minister simply must be bilingual.

And the lost opportunities extend far beyond these two. We may never know what potential prime minister was lost to the country when, years ago, she decided not to run for Parliament because her second language is Mandarin, not French.

And please, let’s dispense with the idea that Mr. Wall or anyone like him could “pick up” French if they wanted to lead the Conservative Party. Middle-aged learners, unless they inherently gifted, do not “pick up” a second language well enough to joust in the House of Commons or take part in a national leaders’ debate. Stéphane Dion’s English is actually quite good – certainly better than Mr. Wall’s French would ever be – yet many English Canadians considered it inadequate when he was Liberal leader.

Brad Wall is a popular and effective premier who will never become prime minister because he can’t speak French. That’s the price of the paradox. And there really isn’t anything anyone can do about it.

Source: The big reason why Brad Wall can’t be prime minister – The Globe and Mail