"You don’t speak both French and English? You shouldn’t lead a federal political party in Canada".

This is part of what is messed up about Canada.

Only about 15 percent of Canadians are bilingual, and the vast majority of those people received formative parts of their upbringing and/or education within a few hundred miles of the narrow line you can draw between Quebec City and Ottawa.

If a nation wanted to ensure that a small set of parochial-minded citizens got a leg up in seeking national leadership, the Canadian model is definitely one to follow.