Trudeau added that\u00a0he was “surprised” to get\u00a0so many questions in English in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.<\/p>\n
He also pointed out that he\u00a0answered a French question in English at a recent town hall meeting in Peterborough, Ont.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0switched gears a little\u00a0later, when a reporter asked another question on the topic.<\/p>\n
He then said he maybe could have answered partly in English and partly in French and that, on reflection,\u00a0it would have been a good thing to do.<\/p>\n
‘Very insulting’ to anglophone minority<\/h2>\n
Trudeau’s\u00a0decision to speak only in French struck a nerve with members of the anglophone minority in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, which now makes up roughly six per cent of the population in the region east of Montreal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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- Anglophones in worse health than francophones in Townships<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Judy Ross, who asked the\u00a0question about mental health services, said she found Trudeau’s response “very insulting.”<\/p>\n
“I really felt disrespected,” she told CBC News.<\/p>\n
Watch the exchange:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Trudeau answers English question in French because ‘we’re in Quebec’<\/strong>0:52<\/p>\n
Gerald Cutting, president of the\u00a0Townshippers’ Association, which represents the local English-language community, said he was shocked by Trudeau’s stance.<\/p>\n
“It was as if someone had just walked up to me and hit me in the stomach. I lost my breath,” said Cutting, who was at the event.<\/p>\n
“During the whole time that the prime minister was in the meeting, he did not say one word of English, not even in his opening remarks.”<\/p>\n
Cutting said French-speaking people around him also appeared puzzled by\u00a0Trudeau’s actions.<\/p>\n
“People afterwards said, ‘Would he have ever thought of going into Manitoba and answering a French\u00a0Manitoban\u00a0who asked a question in French, and say, well,\u00a0we’re in Manitoba and therefore we should speak in English?”’<\/p>\n
The head of the\u00a0Quebec Community Groups Network,\u00a0which represents English community organizations in the province, also criticized\u00a0Trudeau.<\/p>\n
“Even staunch defenders of the French language like Ren\u00e9 L\u00e9vesque would never have made such a misstep,” president James Shea\u00a0said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Politicians take jabs, as Conservatives struggle<\/h2>\n
![\"Kevin](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/03d40_kevin-o-leary-at-the-manning-conference.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKevin O’Leary entered the crowded Conservative leadership race on Wednesday, a day after the French-language debate. (Adrian Wyld\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Politicians also took shots at Trudeau for his French-only position at the event.<\/p>\n
Jason Kenney, a former federal Conservative cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, was one of the first to slam Trudeau.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wrote on Twitter that it was an example of the “sort of arrogance that undermines support for bilingualism.”<\/p>\n
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Bizarre offensive.
PM Trudeau answers English questioner in French. Exactly the sort of arrogance that undermines support for bilingualism pic.twitter.com\/EWNqWf8zpV<\/a><\/p>\n