As the only other francophone party leader besides Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe has come to the defence of the Liberal leader, on the issue of his command of the English language — though not in the context of Dion's difficulty comprehending a question about how he would resolve the economic crisis on CTV last night.

Tim Duboyce

Duceppe became indignant, complaining there is a double standard in Canadian politics. He says many English-speaking politicians have little or no ability to speak French, yet francophones are somehow always expected to be perfect.

The Bloc leader says sometimes he has even preferred the English leaders' debate in past campaigns, because the poor quality of some leaders' French slowed down the pace of the exchanges too much.

As for Dion, Duceppe said, "He does his best, he learned the language later (in life)."