‘Bilingualism Is Bad Politics’

“…The ‘de facto’ rule that any person seeking the leadership of a Canadian political party — and thus the prime ministership — must be fluent in English and French is proving a particularly visible glass ceiling… Some rare but useful public pushback on the role of bilingualism in Canadian politics has been the result. 

“The conservative publisher Ken Whyte wrote a masterful and much-shared essay in the ‘Globe and Mail’ {See below}…coolly debunking the conventional wisdom that speaking French provides an invaluable electoral edge to any would-be prime minister. What actually matters, Whyte noted, is whether the candidate is from Quebec. 

‘The Undemocratic World of Canadian Members of Parliament’

“In the crazy, Leninist world of Canada’s leader-centric parliamentary politics, maybe the only proper role for any MP, other than the one who has been selected as leader, is to be silent and obedient — like a Victorian child, to be seen and not heard, except when they are reading a speech prepared for them by a staffer from the PMO or the Leader’s Office…” 

“Leaders habitually make decisions on behalf of their caucus without full consultation. Votes are virtually never taken in Caucus. Rules of order are non-existent. The leader decides what will be done by “reading the room”—when he or she can be bothered—and any person who complains out loud about the abuse of process is ruthlessly punished for breaking ‘caucus confidence’.”

“This means that, by the end of the 42nd Parliament, the ‘Conservative’ {Party} caucus had become as dictatorial in its demands, and as opaque in its management practices, as Justin Trudeau’s ‘Liberals’.”