If Justin Trudeau were to resign as Prime Minister of Canada?.....

[DC Al Fine]

Why do you need to speak French? Isn't only the province of Quebec majority-French-speaking? It seems really antiquated to demand the PM be able to speak French.

Not just Quebec, but 1/3 of NB, parts of Ontario, and Acadian communities in Nova Scotia, PEI and there are even French communities in Western Canada, particularly in Manitoba.

And more to the point, most of those communities consider unilingualism to be a dealbreaker, so leaders of parties that want to win power pretty have to speak at least mediocre French.

[DC Al Fine]

Speaking of which, how is the language issue handled in other democracies with significant language minorities? Are Swiss or Belgian leaders expected to all speak German/French/Italian or Flemish/French? How about South Africa or India? I imagine it'd be very difficult to find someone who speaks all of their umpteen languages.

[DC Al Fine]

Thank you for your replies.

However, we have to date two possibilities as interim leader and one as permanent leader.

This has developed into a discussion about bilingualism, not leadership.

Any more suggestions as to who would become interim leader and permanent leader?

Thank you. 

Interim leader pool is pretty slim. Requirements are usually:
1) Greybeard
2) Bilingual
3) At least semi-prominent, ideally a former cabinet minister.
4) Not running for permanent leader.

The Liberals had their worst ever result in 2011, so the pool is pretty small to begin with. John McCallum is far and away the best choice. I guess Stephane Dion meets the requirements, but he has his own issues. Geofff Regan fits the profile, but he's Speaker, so I doubt he'd do it. Does Lawrence MacAulay speak French?

[DC Al Fine]

Permanent leader would depend on the circumstances. Is Trudeau hit by a bus tomorrow or going down in defeat ten years from now?