No Leadership, No Fight, No Mas: Carney’s French Debate Dodge Is a National Embarrassment

For the first time in Canadian political history, a sitting prime minister has refused to attend a French-language debate in Quebec during a leadership campaign. Mark Carney, the Liberal Party’s newly minted leader and unelected Prime Minister of Canada, has not only thumbed his nose at democratic convention but delivered a veiled insult to the people of Quebec. This isn’t a minor oversight or a question of scheduling conflicts. It is a deliberate act of political cowardice wrapped in the flimsy packaging of party spin.

The Liberals claim the reason for skipping the French-language debate is the supposed $75,000 entry fee imposed on campaigns participating in the event. Let’s not mince words: that is utter nonsense. This is the Liberal Party of Canada we’re talking about—one of the richest political machines in the country. This is a party that recently accepted $350,000 from Dr. Ruby Dhalla before disqualifying her from the leadership race. This is the same party that ousted over 250,000 members from voting—many of whom were believed to support her or other candidates from outside the party establishment. And let’s not forget that this party also removed Chandra Arya, a South Asian MP, from the race and subsequently hoovered up the money his campaign and riding association had already raised. In what world does this party cry poor?

“The Conservative Party is prepared to provide the necessary funds for Mark Carney to participate in the TVA Face-to-Face. Mark Carney no longer has any excuse to continue hiding. Quebecers are waiting for his response,” said CPC Leader, Pierre Poilievre

This isn’t about money. It never was. It’s about avoiding humiliation. The Prime Minister’s French is abysmal—full stop. It’s not a case of “needs improvement” or “work in progress.” It’s uncomfortable. It’s incoherent. It borders on the offensive in a country where both official languages are enshrined in law and cultural identity. In his first French-language debate, his performance was so poor that he wandered into controversial territory, making vague and damaging references that sounded dangerously close to supporting Hamas. This wasn’t a misstep—it was a warning. The man can’t speak French well enough to lead a bilingual country. And he knows it.

But instead of doing the honourable thing—improving, practicing, and showing respect to Quebecers by standing up and trying—Carney is hiding. He’s hiding behind the Liberal Party’s laughable excuse that $75,000 is too much to pay for a nationally televised opportunity to speak directly to millions of francophones. That figure is less than the cost of a few staffers’ salaries or one cross-country tour stop. No, the real price is political exposure. The real fear is that he’ll be forced to answer questions in real time, in French, in front of people who can’t be spun with vague banker-speak and economic doublespeak. And more crucially, the Liberal leader knew who else would be on that stage, all party leaders with a great command of the French language.

Canadians can not forget the lead-up to the leadership debate, had Dr. Ruby Dhalla not been unceremoniously kicked off the ballot, was set to obliterate him. She requested a translator to ensure clarity and fairness—Carney’s campaign was the only one to object. Why? Because she would have lit him up. She would have exposed his weaknesses in French, in policy, in leadership—flaws that no backroom deal or op-eds to gloss over. She is articulate, multilingual, and bold—everything Carney pretends to be. That’s why she had to go. That’s why Arya had to go. That’s why 250,000 members, many from diverse communities across the country, had to be purged. The coronation had to be protected at all costs.

“The Liberal elites knew that with me on the debate stage, there would have been serious questions and real opinions — not a family group chat. They were scared for me to debate Mark Carney. So, two days before the debates — after they took the $350K — they removed me. And now Mark Carney is scared to debate Pierre Poilievre, Yves-François Blanchet, and Jagmeet Singh. This is an election campaign, not a coronation like the Liberal leadership. Turning down the TVA Nouvelles debate is an insult to Quebecers and all Canadians. P.S. For the elites complaining about the $75K fee for the TVA debate — the Liberal Party forced candidates to pay $350,000.” said, Dr. Ruby Dhalla

Let’s be blunt: If the Prime Minister truly wanted to lead a united Canada, he could have run in a Quebec riding, proving his commitment to the French language and Quebec’s voice at the national table. Instead, he decided to parachute into Chandra Arya’s former riding in Ontario, a move that cynically weaponized Arya’s departure and redirected all his community’s hard-earned fundraising efforts to benefit Carney’s election campaign. Once again, the South Asian community was used as political scaffolding for white-collar ambition.

This is what the Liberal Party has become under the grip of its old boys’ club. The same tired elites who rotate between Bay Street boardrooms, global think tanks, and Ottawa’s inner sanctums. It’s a party that rewards proximity to power over merit, optics over principle, and elite comfort over grassroots representation. And the national press? Complicit. The legacy media has barely scratched the surface of this democratic farce. Imagine, just for a moment, if a Conservative prime minister had refused to debate in French. There would be columns, special panels, full-blown outrage. But with Carney, we get polite euphemisms and soft headlines.

This isn’t leadership. This is an installation. This is the blueprint of a party that decided long ago who their next leader would be and is now playing an elaborate game of smoke and mirrors to make it look legitimate. But skipping the French debate tears down the entire façade. It shows that the Liberals are not only afraid of losing—they are afraid of being seen.

And let’s stop pretending this election is winnable for them. The polls can twist themselves into knots, but the writing is on the wall. Canadians haven’t forgotten the last decade. They haven’t forgotten the scandals, the broken promises, or the widening chasm between what the Liberals say and what they do. Carney is not a fresh start—he’s the final symptom of a party that’s lost its soul.

The Liberal brass may have convinced themselves that this is a coronation, that the rest of us are too disorganized, too divided, or too apathetic to notice. But the truth is, Canadians are watching. Quebecers are watching. And they see a man who refuses to speak to them in their own language. They see a party that removes its rivals before the first vote is cast. They see a campaign that feasts on the money and organizing power of the very communities it sidelines.

This is not how you build a national movement. This is how you manufacture defeat.

Carney may have dodged the debate, but he can’t dodge the reckoning. If he’s unwilling to answer tough questions in French, in public, under pressure, then he’s unfit to lead this country. The prime ministership of Canada is not a hedge fund. It’s not a Davos panel. It’s not a media-controlled echo chamber. It’s a living, breathing responsibility to all Canadians, in both languages, in all provinces. And if he and the Liberal Party can’t understand that, then they’ve already forfeited the right to govern.

The Liberals made this bed. Now they must lie in it. And the rest of us? We owe it to democracy to make sure they are not rewarded for a decade of mediocracy, far-left ideologies and policies.