Valérie Plante apologizes for delivering speech in English at AI announcement
Plante tweeted a 'mea culpa' Tuesday evening, following criticism for her lack of French in the speech
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is apologizing for delivering a speech in English at an announcement about private investments in artificial intelligence.
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The Journal de Montréal reported that when its journalist confronted her about the speech at the event and asked why she hadn't spoken more of the city's official language, she said, "I'm the mayor of the largest francophone city in North America and I'm very proud. Are there any other questions?"
Several newspaper columns followed, and it was the main topic of conversation on TVA's La Joute current affairs TV show yesterday evening.
Plante gave the speech in the presence of representatives from three British companies that are creating subsidiaries in Quebec.
"Mea culpa," she later tweeted. "I improvised this morning while speaking to a group of foreign investors. My speech should have mainly been in French."
Mea culpa. Je suis sortie de mon texte ce matin en m’adressant à un parterre d’investisseurs étrangers intelligence artificielle. Ma communication aurait dû être principalement en français. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/polmtl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#polmtl</a> (1/2)
—@Val_Plante"I'm proud of being the mayor of the francophone metropolis of North America and I remain engaged in promoting our common and official language on all forums."
Je suis fière d’être la mairesse de la métropole francophone d’Amérique du Nord et je demeure engagée à faire la promotion de notre langue commune et officielle sur toutes les tribunes. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/polmtl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#polmtl</a> (2/2)
—@Val_Plante