Dion's English

Adam Radwanski makes the oberservation today that Dion's lack of English will be a serious impediment to his candidacy.

I, for one, disagree. First, though being hobbled in English is more of a burden than in French, given the number of voters who speak each language, let's remember (as Mike B just pointed out to me) that Harper keeps promising to "couper les taxes." Count the mistakes.

But more importantly, I'd much rather have a candidate who has thoughts and is just unable to articulate them in one of the official languages, than a candidate who has no ideas but can make a lot of articulate hot air.

The last campaign showed Canadians are hungry for ideas - we crave some substance, we crave meaningful debate. I think Canadians will be turned on by Dion's seriousness and his policies, even if they have to hear it through a translator or read it translated in the papers.

How many Canadians listen to politicians live anyway? We get our news either through print, where everything is translated, or via television news, where there's voice-over. I think all of us in a bilingual country are completely used to hearing the voice of a translator and have no real issue with it.