Now that's a switch!

Doctored video mocks Francois Legault's English
By Philip Authier
Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Francois Legault talks to the Gazette Editorial Board on February 22, 2011 (Photograph by: Pierre Obendrauf, Gazette File Photo)

MONTREAL - François Legault is brushing aside a doctored video making the rounds that mocks his English.

“My entourage has been telling me, ‘Get ready François, be thick-skinned because it’s going to get rough,’” said Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec party.

“We’re first in the polls and the attacks are going to get more and more personal and stronger and stronger.

I can live with this; I am keeping it in perspective.”

In the video, a montage of various news conference clips and bits of interview with The Gazette Editorial Board, Legault sounds hesitant, fumbling for words or struggling to translate what he means to say.

Posted four days ago anonymously under the name Ralouloula, the video had 14,087 views as of Wednesday.

It is similar to a video posted last year mocking Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois’s English.

In comments posted on the Legault video, viewers question how Legault was able to manage a large company like Air Transat in his pre-political career and speak such poor English.

But as Legault pointed out Wednesday, it’s easy for someone to make him look bad by splicing together clips of moments when he has struggled in his second language.

“I can tell you one thing, I worked for 10 years as president of Air Transat and I spent 80 per cent of my day speaking English,” Legault told the LCN news channel.

“I make mistakes, I hesitate on occasion, but I think my English is functional.”

As an example, the original full-length interview with The Gazette shows Legault – who fielded complex questions for an hour in English – speaking in completely comprehensible English even if he occasionally wobbles.

Legault noted that when he was an MNA in Quebec City, he granted many interviews in English to anglophone media, and “I don’t think they complained.”

The video surfaces just as the National Assembly reconvenes next Tuesday and the CAQ braces for a hostile reception from the Liberals and the PQ.

The video seems to be an attempt to portray Legault a leader not ready to be Quebec premier, a job that traditionally requires an ability to speak English.

In the LCN interview, Legault blamed the Liberals for the video stunt, noting its mostly known Liberal supporters circulating links to it on their Twitter accounts.

He said with $10 million in its election war chest, the Liberals can afford to finance things like video attack ads.

He expects more of the same in the next election, which Legault believes could happen as early as this spring.