Anglophones need to hear what Harel has to say

Montréal - élection 2009






Mayor Gérald Tremblay and his campaign team are doing what they can to take advantage of the fact that his principal rival in the Nov. 1 Montreal election speaks little English.
She is said to have studied English this summer, but still has a long way to go. Plenty of anglophones and allophones whose French remains imperfect will know how she feels.
Reasonably enough, however, Tremblay sees an advantage here: "It's necessary that the English community have a debate in its language." We might find that more credible if more city services were in both languages.
Debate season begins Wednesday, in French, on LCN television. Harel has not yet agreed to debate in English, saying this would depend on the format and the themes to be debated. We hope she will agree to an English encounter, taking advantage of the simultaneous translation Tremblay's people say they will accept.
Many anglophone and allophone Montrealers will draw their own conclusions about having a unilingual mayor, especially since the agglomeration council gives the mayor considerable clout in the demerged suburbs.
But it would be a mistake to use Harel's unilingualism as an excuse to ignore her. The linguistic courtesy that marks everyday life for most ordinary Montrealers, a happy phenomenon we have mentioned more than once in this space, should be extended to Harel - and Richard Bergeron, as well.
Louise Harel has a reasonable chance to be elected mayor. Anglophones need to hear what she has to say.

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Montréal - élection 2009

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