Mr. Speaker, in Edmonton on Monday the Liberal Party’s star candidate, Justin Trudeau, once again insulted 22 million unilingual Canadians when he stated at a teachers’ conference that people who do not learn a second language are “lazy”.
Some people learn a second language in their spare time, others spend time at their hobbies, and others do volunteer work or simply work at their jobs. It is incredibly elitist and arrogant for the privileged son of a former prime minister to suggest that people are “lazy” because they have not had the same opportunity he had to learn a second language.
This is not the first time that Justin Trudeau has insulted Canadians on the question of languages. In May 2007, Mr. Trudeau questioned the right of francophones to have their own school system in New Brunswick.
Justin Trudeau’s comments show how divorced from reality the Liberals may have become. It is time for the Liberal leader to rein in his star candidate’s impulses before he insults more Canadians.