Most Canadians speak English, not French
Re: O’Leary And The French, Lise Ravary, Feb. 11.
I do not wish to get into a debate on the need for bilingualism as a prerequisite for national leadership in Canada and Kevin O’Leary’s position on the subject. Suffice to say, since the Diefenbaker government our prime ministers have been able to communicate in both Canada’s official languages. Rather, my point in writing is to counter Lise Ravary’s assertion there is significant support outside Quebec for the notion that senior federal politicians, Supreme Court of Canada judges and top civil servants should be bilingual.
According to the latest Statistics Canada survey ( 2011), 24.8 million Canadians ( 75 per cent) speak English, 7.7 million (23.2 per cent) speak French and 600,000 (1.8 per cent) speak neither English nor French. The same survey reported that 5.8 million ( 17.5 per cent) Canadians described themselves as bilingual. By Ravary’s criteria, the 82.5 per cent who lack bilingual skills would not qualify for appointment/election to the highest political, judicial and administrative of- fices in the country. That is an elitist and undemocratic notion that has no place in Canada.
Robert Teskey, Ottawa.
Contrary to what Lise Ravary says, the Quebec Act of 1774 was passed by the British parliament in that year thanks to the strong representation made by the governor of the time, Sir Guy Carleton (later Lord Dorchester). He realized the majority of the population in Quebec were French; and this is why the act recognized the French language and certain aspects of French law. The previous governor, Gen. James Murray, who was a Presbyterian, acknowledged the citizens were Roman Catholic and was instrumental in facilitating the establishment of a Roman Catholic bishop for the province. The British North American Act of 1867 recognized these facts and established Quebec as a bilingual province, but not the rest of the country.
Robert Martin, Ottawa.