When a reporter asked him in French how he would evaluate his performance in Thursday's French-language NDP leadership debate, candidate Rob Ashton paused and shook his head.
“I’m sorry. En anglais?” he replied. He didn’t understand the question.
Fellow hopeful Tanille Johnston was asked the same thing, this time in English. She responded, “comme ci, comme ça.” It’s a phrase often taught to anglophones in school, and rarely used by French speakers.
As the five people racing to replace Jagmeet Singh as leader of the federal NDP faced off for their first time in an official debate in Montreal, it was clear none of them are fluent in both of Canada’s official languages.
Having a leader who can't communicate with the 22 per cent of Canadians whose first language is French could hurt the New Democrats' credibility as a national party, a concern shared by two francophone former NDP staff.
First pitched by the NDP as a French-language debate, later changed to a bilingual one, most candidates spent their time on stage reading prepared remarks in French before switching to English.
"Notre parti n'a pas de chemin sans le Quebec,” said Heather McPherson, the only sitting MP in the running, during a section on how the New Democrats could win back support in the province. (“Our party has no path forward without Quebec.”)
Quebec, with nearly one-quarter of all the seats in the House of Commons, is seen as a key province to win over in an election.
It was less than 15 years ago the “orange wave” crashed through Quebec. Under Jack Layton the NDP won a majority of the ridings in the province and formed Official Opposition. It was the New Democrats' best showing ever.
But since then, one lone Quebec MP — Alexandre Boulerice — has been able to keep his seat. He has joked that he's become the spokesperson for “everything in French” as the only fluent French speaker of the seven New Democrats left in the House of Commons.
The candidates, who mostly come from Western Canada, are making promises to improve their language skills and understanding of the issues facing French-speaking Canadians.
"I guarantee you that I've been working on my ‘en Français.’ I'm going to bust my butt on that,” Ashton said. “But we're lucky because the language of the working class rises above any language in the world.”
"Everybody up here, I like to believe, is dedicated to learning the French language,” said Johnston.
“My adult life has been spent trying to hone my native language of Likʷala … I am truly, deeply, committed to access to French across our country in a super equitable way, because I know what it feels like to have your language threatened."
WATCH | NDP leadership hopefuls weigh in on their French abilities:Following the NDP's bilingual leadership debate on Thursday in Montreal, the bench of candidates, none of whom are fully bilingual, were asked by reporters if their French is good enough to become the party’s next leader.Speaking with CBC News the day after the debate, moderator Karl Bélanger, a former NDP national director, admitted the night was “difficult at times.”
“Three of them do not speak French, do not understand French,” Bélanger said.
He said candidates Avi Lewis and McPherson showed fairly good comprehension.
"The two others have some capacity to express themselves in French, but nowhere near the level that is needed to perform well as a federal leader. And I think they all understand that.”
Bélanger said a lack of French could impede the NDP’s ability to grow in Canada’s francophone communities and win even one more seat in Quebec.
“If you're not able to speak French, to debate in French, you're not gonna break through. Simple as that,” he said.
“If there is an election anytime soon, it will be difficult to be able to establish a connection with the Quebec voters.”
Mélanie Richer, the NDP’s former director of communications and a Franco-Ontarian, called the French debate a step back from past New Democrat leadership races.
"I'm a little bit disappointed that for folks who had been thinking about the leadership for a while, that the French wasn't better," Richer said.
“The ability to go talk to people, not just in Quebec, but … French people across the country is really important, not just for the credibility of the leader, but for the ability to connect with people in the rebuild of our party,” she said.
Richer said the lack of French is a barrier but not a dead end, pointing to past leaders who worked hard to improve their French.
“People have a lot of grace for someone who's willing to try," she said. "Telling people that you're dedicating time to improving, I think in itself is good … that's what we saw with Mark Carney,” she said.
Carney, Richer said, also had the support of prominent Quebec and French-speaking MPs and ministers, which helped bolster his view with francophones in the last election.
“[Carney] showed an understanding, particularly in Quebec, of how the issues are different there,” she said.
Language interpreters work during the the NDP French-language leadership debate on Thursday. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)After the debate, Lewis — the most fluent of the five candidates — was asked if he felt someone needs to be perfectly bilingual to become prime minister.
“The current prime minister is not really bilingual. The standard is Mark Carney, which means there’s hope for all of us,” he joked in French.
Also speaking in French, McPherson said she’s been visiting Quebec, and is working closely with her French-speaking colleagues.
“There’s a way forward for the NDP in Quebec, because there are a lot of progressive-minded people in this province," she said in French.
Candidate Tony McQuail said at 73, he knows he won't become fully fluent.
“For somebody who had two years of high school French 55 years ago, I don’t feel like I did too badly,” he said.
Asked in French if he was satisfied with his performance, he joked: “Je braindead.”