One can't help but feel a bit sorry for Justin Trudeau, as he trundles around the country, fielding questions and complaints from disaffected citizens, as part of his series of meet-the-people town-hall meetings.
In between complaints about electricity prices and healthcare options, he is also getting stick for being too bilingual! While answering a question posed in English in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Trudeau chose to answer in French, explaining (in French) that he would answer in the language that most people in the room would be most comfortable with. The questioner, who also spoke French and so understood Mr. Trudeau's response perfectly well, then hit social media complaining about how felt "disrespected" by the Prime Minister, who she feels should have done a complete translation of his words in both languages.
A similar situation, but in reverse, occurred when Trudeau was asked a question in French in Peterborough, Ontario, and proceeded to answer in English. This actually makes even more sense to me, as the number of French speakers in Peterborough is almost certainly paltry, unlike the much more bilingual population of Sherbrooke.
So, what's a perfectly bilingual Prime Minister to do? It's clearly a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. I think by explaining his decision, as he did, he covered himself quite well. And rather than disrespecting the questioners, he was actually trying to respect his audience more perhaps than the questioners themselves were. But whatever he did somebody somewhere would no doubt find something to complain about.
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