Premier sticks to French for third day

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s premier spoke almost exclusively in French for the third consecutive day in the legislature on Wednesday in a move welcomed by the province’s francophone community.

The consistency is unusual for Wab Kinew, though he has suggested there is nothing noteworthy about him answering questions in one of the province’s two official languages.

In the legislature, he said in French that he was proud to live in a province where it is normal for the premier to speak the language during question period.

Derrek Bentley, president of the Société de la francophonie manitobaine, says hearing leaders speak in French is important.

“We obviously want French to be a normal and visible part of public life in Manitoba,” he said. “If our leaders aren’t able to use French, well, how will we ever get to a spot where we’re hearing more and more French in everyday public life?”

Kinew’s decision does not affect legislature members who don’t speak French, as they can access real-time translations. Bentley noted it could, however, affect Manitobans tuning in, as those live translations aren’t available to the public.

“Maybe that’s part of the reason why some folks might be getting their backs up,” he said.

“If you can’t tune in and listen to what’s going on through that translation, well, of course you’re going to be upset that suddenly you don’t have that access.”

He said it’s flawed to automatically link speaking French to a political act, even if it might raise questions for some. “Because we’re so unused to it being used on topics that aren’t directly related to La Francophonie, there’s always going to be a risk that folks misinterpret what’s actually going on.”

Kinew’s recent use of French in the house coincides with Konrad Narth becoming leader of the Opposition Tories. It also echoes back to a confrontation during question period in May, when Narth took issue with Kinew responding in French to a question asked in English.

Narth later apologized, saying he meant nothing against the French language but only took issue with how the premier was politicizing the use of the language.

He said Wednesday that he welcomes the premier’s use of the language, and is now expecting it, even if needing translations can disrupt the flow of debate.

“It does make things a little bit awkward because that isn’t normal conversation, but I welcome it and I encourage the use of French language in Manitoba.”

On Tuesday, Kinew pushed back against questions from reporters on whether his consistency in speaking French had anything to do with Narth.

Kinew spoke instead about how it wasn’t so long ago that there were ugly attacks against the francophone community in the province.

When pressed, he said it was important to be able to make his responses in both official languages.

“It has nothing to do with personality. It has nothing to do with emotions. It’s a bilingual venue.”

» The Canadian Press