While the Conservative Quebec Senator Claude Carignan continued to denounce the French of the Governor General, Mary Simon, the elected Francophone Liberals applauded “a good start”.
Senator Carignan even tabled a bill in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon to ensure the bilingualism, English-French, of the next governors general.
“It seems so obvious to me that the head of state of Canada should know both official languages that it is almost embarrassing to have to introduce a bill to ensure it in the future,” said the senator. at the time of the tabling of its legislative text.
S-220 therefore proposes to amend the Language Skills Act so that the Governor General of Canada is also subject to it. This law requires the bilingualism of the main agents of Parliament.
Mary Simon read, with great difficulty, the French paragraphs of the text of the Speech from the Throne, presented on Tuesday.
“I was uncomfortable, me, in the room, listening to that part of the speech,” reported Senator Carignan, before entering the Conservative caucus meeting on Wednesday morning.
And according to him, he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
“I spoke with others, in private, people were uncomfortable,” he said of his fellow senators.
Senator Carignan has some against the little French he heard in this speech – less than a fifth of the text – and against the quality of French read by Ms. Simon.
“It’s a slap in the face of francophones,” he said.
“I saw someone who makes an effort and who could perhaps also be an example for others,” instead offered Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Heritage, at the door of his caucus meeting on Wednesday.
“I am happy with the efforts she made,” he said, adding that the Governor General would speak French as well as English “in an ideal world”.
His colleague in Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, maintained that his government is present “at all times” to defend the French fact.
“At all times, we are there to guarantee bilingualism and this Canadian heritage”, he said, citing the intervention of his government during the speech delivered in English only by the president of Air Canada. , in Montreal, and clinging to the fact that “there were passages in French in the speech” from the Throne.
Wearing a mask bearing the effigy of the Acadian flag, Nova Scotia MP Darrell Samson did not want to throw stones at the Governor General either.
“She spoke in French in her speech,” he simply observed, adding to expect progress, eventually.
His Franco-Albertan colleague, Randy Boissonnault, was even more conciliatory.
“We had, I think, 19% of his speech (in French). And I think she shows a lot of interest in the official language of Molière and French speakers, I was encouraged […] It’s a good start, ”he offered.
The Minister responsible for Official Languages, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, went straight ahead, refusing to answer the many questions launched by the journalists who were waiting for her in a corridor of the parliament.