from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,
The leaders on the Montreal Canadiens should be able to speak in the language of Guy Lafleur.
It’s a question of respect. If you’re part of the leadership group on the team, you should acknowledge the society you’re living in by making the effort to talk to the media en français. I’m not talking about most Habs players, who’re here maybe just for a season or two. They don’t have to learn French.
But I believe that the captain — that’s you, Shea Weber! — and the unofficial captain — that’s you, Carey Price! — should be able to at least have a short conversation in French. I’d add Brendan Gallagher to this list as well. They’re the three leaders of this team and is it really asking too much of them to suggest they spend a little time over the course of the summer working on their French?
The funny thing is that owner and president Geoff Molson is clearly 110-per-cent committed to ensuring that the Canadiens have a francophone face. The head coach has to be bilingual and it appears that the general manager also has to be able to be fluent in Quebec’s official language. I don’t want to get in to whether or not that is the best policy, but what we can agree on is that policy seriously limits the team’s choice in terms of who they hire as GM and coach.
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