Anyone who spends a little bit of time around Quebec politics realizes that they’re really, really serious about protecting the French language. Did you put the phrase “Go Habs Go” on a Montreal bus? Whoops, here comes the language police to get you into trouble.

So it’s somewhat unexpected that in the 2025 federal election they went all-in for a prime minister who doesn’t speak it.

Okay, that’s too harsh. But Mark Carney speaks the kind of French I do. He understands when other people speak French. He can read prepared remarks in French. But when it comes to off-the-cuff remarks on a slightly complex topic, things get ugly.

Here’s a French exchange that Carney had in the House of Commons with Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet. Right here, he struggles to find the French word

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