(OTTAWA) Bloc MP Mario Beaulieu criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his limited use of French during his testimony to the State of Emergency Commission on Friday. With few exceptions, most of the 76 witnesses preferred to answer questions in English, even the French speakers.
“We were impatiently waiting for the Prime Minister to set an example, to rectify the situation on Friday. Result: 12 short minutes, ”he denounced during question period on Monday.
“Using French as much as possible for the Liberal government, is that it? 12 minutes out of half past five? Well done champ! »
The day before his testimony, the Prime Minister had deplored the fact “that there was not enough French” during the hearings of the Commission and had promised that he would make “efforts” to “use it as much as possible “.
French was ultimately only an anecdote in his testimony which lasted a good part of the day.
Since Prime Minister Trudeau was not present for question period on Monday, it was the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc, who answered. “I testified myself before the commission with the Minister of Public Security on Tuesday, he retorted. I spoke in French myself. I answered the questions that were asked in English with an answer in French. »
Mr. LeBlanc, an Acadian from New Brunswick, also gave most of his testimony in English except when it came to Quebec. “I will answer mainly in English, but there may be times when I would prefer to answer in French,” he said at the outset.
The Commission on the state of emergency had however not skimped on the means to ensure that the witnesses who so wish can express themselves in French. It is presided over by Judge Paul Rouleau, a Franco-Ontarian, and its co-chief prosecutor, Shantona Chaudhury, is bilingual. Simultaneous translation was also available at all times so that lawyers or witnesses could express themselves in the language of their choice.
Some, like the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault, chose to deliver their version of the facts entirely in English. Others, like the deputy clerk at the Privy Council Office, Nathalie Drouin, sometimes alternated between the two languages. Only one witness chose to speak entirely in French. This is Steeve Charland, the leader of the Quebec group of opposition to health measures the Farfaadas.