Redefining bilingualism–badly.
At an event last weekend, prime minister Stephen Harper took part in a rendition of a beatles song with a little help from Yo-Yo Ma at Ottawa’s national arts center. While most people thought the performance was at least halfway decent, that didn’t stop some folks from criticising everything from his very presence at the event to the fact he didn’t sing the song in french. Okay, I get that Canada has two official languages. And, I get that one of them is french. But–and, correct me if I’m wrong–it’s an english song. One which–and, also, correct me if I’m wrong–doesn’t exactly translate all that well in french. But apparently, because Canada’s a bilingual country, he should have tried. Well, for the life of me, I can’t find anything that says someone else gave it a go. I suppose the arts critic with the inequality complex would have preferred he make it up as he goes along? Folks, let’s just take it for what it is and be done with it–it’s a PR stunt designed to show support for his wife. Little more than that. Don’t give it any more credit than it deserves–he’s already got a majority government in sight.
