Gerard Kennedy Hill Times Interview
For those who didn't catch it, Abbas Rana of the hill times provided this interview yesterday. My favourite was his answer to the question about his French speaking ability:
I would say that it has never been a barrier to me both understanding and presenting the concerns and the interests of Quebecers or Franco Ontarians or Acadians because I've done that for a long time in French.... Most people in the race are seen to have a drawback or two, that's my principal drawback. It's one that I can fix and people can judge for themselves where others may not be as fortunate.
Franco-Ontarians? Acadians? How many people think outside the Quebec box when talking about the French language. Great. And yes, it is a weakness, but it's one that he can fix (unlike foot-in-mouth disease, or not actually being a Liberal, which I think are chronic conditions).
And his plan on party unity?
Basically offer a very clear leadership on unity in the sense of including people and making sure that there are no Kennedy Liberals, just Liberals.
If we don't elect this guy, we are a bunch of turkeys who deserve to lose.
posted by Gavin Magrath at 10/31/2006 10:51:00 AM
3 Comments:
Oh Swami, who sees all and knows all, can you tell me who will win?
How about the superbowl? Who'll win that?
G
If he hasn't learned French after 25 plus years of sleaping with a francophone, what makes you say he will put in the time and effort now?
By the way, what has Kennedy EVER said in favour of Acadians?
Altavistgoogle - two shots both widely off the mark.
I don't know what the future will bring. I know that Rae can't undo his term as premier of Ontario, and I know that Iggy can't un-put his foot in his mouth. I know that you can't spell 'sleeping'. and I know that GK *can* improve his french, and that francophones *can* elect a leader who is not also francophone like them. So I know that GK *can* overcome his difficulties, while our other two friends cannot. Whether he will, or whether he will have the chance, is beyond my powers.
As for Acadians, you make a living trashing GK on your blog so go look it up yourself. All I was saying was that it was a nice touch to remind readers that not all francophones live in Quebec. It's a clever jab at the idea of enshrining a quebec-based distinct society, when even a claim of distinctness based on language is very tenuous. But if you want to boil this down to 'can we count how many times GK has said something about a group of people far removed from his constituency that I can construe as positive or negative" then go ahead, be sure to post the link to your results here!
G
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