If Canada is a bilingual country.....

[Tropicana]

[Tropicana]

How come the Prime Ministers haven't mastered both languages.

[Tropicana]

This is as good as it gets for Harper....

[Tropicana]

I am trying to find John Diefenbaker and Robert Stanfield (leader of the opposition not a Prime Minister) speaking French. If you can find it, please share it.

[Tropicana]

Louis St. Laurent was excellent in both English....

[Tropicana]

....and French

Catch him at 0:58

[Tropicana]

Brian Mulroney was also fluently bilingual...

[Tropicana]

Let's see how Paul Martin Does

[Tropicana]

Anyway, should bilingualism be a pre-requisite for the office of Prime Minister in Canada?

Trudeau certainly qualifies he is fully bilingual but me and im naw go gree on de ganja bizniz and im need more seasoning. He is right on the money re: First Nations People though.

[Tropicana]

...but then so was his father..

[Tropicana]

Let's see if the premier of Quebec does any better.

The Quebec media is criticizing her and saying her English is so bad that she should speak through a translator.

[My Looh]

Canada is a joke!

Quebec should separate. People in Toronto and Vancouver would be better off learning Mandarin rather than French.

[Tropicana]

So I take it that you don't think English-French bilingualism should be a pre-requisite for the office of prime minister?

[remo]

Apart from Jean Chretian who couldnt speak either language the other's were all perfectly bilingual
and all from Quebec...Trudeau and Mulroney spoke both language perfectly...I think Harper speaks very good french for a non Quebecer...

[Tropicana]

Harper is not bad with coaching and a tele-promoter. In informal situations

Come come now is your memory that short? Did you ever hear Robert Stanfield speak French.

I have yet to find a take of Diefenbaker or Pearson speaking French...I am still looking but in the meantime listen to this audioclip at 2:25. If I can find it on Youtube I will find it:

Mocking their French

A politician will soon have to know more French than "a Diefenbaker or a Pearson." That's what one Torontonian predicts in a speech about the Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1965. In this CBC Radio skit, Max Ferguson mocks Opposition leader John Diefenbaker and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson attempting to speak French. Diefenbaker, played by Ferguson, insists he and Pearson are perfectly capable of speaking Canada's two languages: "Toutes les deux langues parlent bienmont, er, just bien."

The following Prime Ministers did not speak French or spoke it poorly:

• John A. Macdonald - poor
• Robert Borden - poor
• Mackenzie King - None whatsoever
• John Difenbaker - hardly any - extremely poor
• Lester Pearson - poor
• John Turner - Surprised his French was that poor. He grew up in Montreal.
• Kim Campbell

Other

• Rorbert Stanfield - "the greatest prime minister Canada never had" (he was the leader of the opposition)

The best have been:

• Wilfred Laurier
• Paul Martin
• Pierre Eliott Trudeau
• Louis St. Laurent
• Joe Clarke and Stephen Harper aren't bad.