There is a well-established language etiquette that's taken hold in Quebec in recent decades. It came after a century or more of struggle and only once the fundamental balance of power shifted from the province's anglophone minority to its francophone majority.
This etiquette is based on a generosity of spirit. A francophone majority, secure in the knowledge that its language enjoys the protection of the state, no longer perceives the province's anglophone minority as a threat. In turn, the anglophone minority accepts the primacy of French, secure in the knowledge that English institutions can not only endure, but thrive. Tensions occasionally flare, but they no longer define the linguistic relationship.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau breached this etiquette in spectacularly inelegant fashion last week at a town-hall meeting in Sherbrooke, Que. Mr. Trudeau refused to respond to an anglophone woman (who was no less concerned about poor access to mental-health services in English) in her own language. "Thank you for using both official languages," Mr. Trudeau told Judy Ross, "but we're in Quebec, so I'm going to answer in French."
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It was not only rude to anglophones. It was patronizing to francophones.
What kind of muddled logic would lead anyone, much less the son of the father of official bilingualism, to act in this way? Did Mr. Trudeau think he would score points with francophone voters by humiliating an anglophone? Would he reply to a Franco-Albertan worried about French-language services by telling her to speak English? Maybe, judging by his insistence on responding in English to a question asked in French at a town hall in Peterborough, Ont.
Mr. Trudeau made some attempt to excuse himself for his bavure in Sherbrooke. But not before several complaints were lodged with the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, which is now required to investigate whether the Privy Council Office (the agency can only sanction institutions, not people) violated the Official Languages Act – one of Pierre Trudeau's proudest legacies. Needless to say, papa would not have been amused.
What this incident reveals is that, unlike his father, Justin Trudeau has not thought deeply about the central role language has played in the formation of the Canadian identity. Perhaps that's understandable for someone who thinks this country has "no core identity." But it is no less unforgivable than someone seeking the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2017 without busting his or her butt to be bilingual.
Mr. Trudeau masters neither of Canada's official languages with the finesse of his father, and it would perhaps be unfair to expect him to. But if he truly cared about preserving the status of French for which his father fought, and paid such a heavy political price, he would not be pulling stunts like the one in Sherbrooke, but putting a truly bilingual face on his government.
Mr. Trudeau has insisted on naming only bilingual judges to the Supreme Court, though this is a debatable measure (it shrinks the pool of eligible judges from English-speaking provinces) aimed more at scoring points with francophones than engendering institutional change. It's telling that Mr. Trudeau has not imposed the same requirement on his own cabinet or inner circle.
That's why his behaviour in Sherbrooke seemed so gauche to Quebec francophones. It entirely missed the point about what matters to them, which is proportionate representation at the highest instances of their federal government. The departure of Stéphane Dion left the federal cabinet with no senior francophone ministers, unless you count Marc Garneau .
Mr. Trudeau can't invent francophone heavy-hitters who don't exist, though new International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne is apparently being groomed to become one. Most of Mr. Trudeau's Quebec ministers lack the chops for the biggest cabinet jobs.
Mr. Trudeau represents a Montreal riding but, given his personal trajectory, he has never had his ear to the ground in Quebec. Without a Quebec lieutenant or connected francophones in his innermost circle, he has always risked looking out of touch. He showed it in Sherbrooke, big time.
Konrad Yakabuski