On vacation, barely speaks French, and an NDP candidate in Quebec

Posted by Andrew Chung, Quebec Bureau

With the NDP riding high in the polls in Quebec, the quality of its candidates is coming under heavy scrutiny.

There are nearly a dozen students counted among the party's candidates in Quebec. Two others are on vacation, one in France and the other, Ruth-Ellen Brosseau, in Las Vegas. Brosseau works at a pub on Carleton University's campus. The Globe and Mail reported that her boss didn't even know that she was a candidate.

NDP leader Jack Layton, who after a huge rally for the party last weekend in Montreal brushed aside quetsions about unknown candidates, on Wednesday came to their defence. He instead blamed the electoral system, emphasizing that Canada doesn't have fixed election dates.

On Thursday more trouble arose for Layton, again regarding Brosseau, who is the candidate for Berthier-Maskinongé, some 400 kilometres from Ottawa.

La Presse reports that Brosseau barely speaks French.

This could pose a problem since the riding is overwhelmingly French-speaking.