Should Federal candidates be required to master at least two languages?

[Machjo]

When we consider how Federal MP's are expected to write and vote on laws that affect the daily lives of all Canadians, isn't it reasonable for the law to expect them to know at least two languages so as to ensure their access to a wider body of knowledge from which to inform their decisions?

I'm not necessarily talking here about requiring them to know English and French specifically, but rather any two languages, whether a sign language, the local indigenous language, Chinese, Esperanto, or any other language of their choosing as long as they master at least two languages.

What would be your thoughts on this?

[August1991]

Absolutely not.

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As I was walking home today in Montreal (I took a Bixi en passant... ), I wondered about this exact question. What is a "Canadian"?  What is a "Québécois"?

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I'm with Trudeau Snr: a language/religion does not define a State.

 

 

 

[Michael Hardner]

Our state has become an iteration of the American state: it is an IDEA.  They are suffering from their own success, while we are pursuing happiness as a collective.

[ImBrock]

I feel like that gives an arbitrary benefit to Quebecois politicians. Generally the rest of canada learns a minor functional amount of french in order to facilitate communications with our Francois country members. There hasn't really been call to enforce french fluency on the rest of the country, but mandating bilingualism for politicians would make that into an issue.

Personally I think our current system works alright. That being said I can see the international benefits of having more canadian politicians able to speak other languages (not necessarily french) fluently to facilitate diplomatic relations.

[J4L]

Yes.

[Argus]

On 6/7/2019 at 8:58 PM, Machjo said:

When we consider how Federal MP's are expected to write and vote on laws that affect the daily lives of all Canadians, isn't it reasonable for the law to expect them to know at least two languages so as to ensure their access to a wider body of knowledge from which to inform their decisions?

I'm not necessarily talking here about requiring them to know English and French specifically, but rather any two languages, whether a sign language, the local indigenous language, Chinese, Esperanto, or any other language of their choosing as long as they master at least two languages.

What would be your thoughts on this?

Merit is the only thing which counts. And if we discount 90% of the population in favour of only bilingual people it means we're unlikely to get the best. It basically confines our choices to certain areas of Quebec like Montreal and Gatineau, and some of the well-off in central Ontario who make sure their kids get bilingual educations.

I think an alternative would be for someone not bilingual to have a strong deputy PM to campaign in the other language. Diefenbaker did that.

I see no political advantage in knowing some other language such as a native language or Italian. The only purpose would be to let you pander to that group more intimately instead of having surrogates do it for you.

[cannuck]

Argus hit that right on the head.

Just think about dealing with government employed bureaucrats and you can imagine how much lower into the pits of hell politicians and the political process would sink.

This sounds very much like the kind of treachery contrived by the LPC.   Just think about it:  virtually 100% of immigrants are bilingual, and maybe 10% of Canadians.

Edited June 10, 2019 by cannuck