The government sends people to a full year of intensive language training to learn French, and they often fail after that year and have to go back for more. Not difficult? Outside of Quebec, where it's needed, and a few small places like eastern Ontario, French is pretty much useless in Canada. So naturally few people bother. That leaves our political leadership to Quebecers, non Quebec Francophones, and a few venal politically motivated people combined with the oh-so-precious "I love foreign cultures' crowd from which to choose our leadership.