Liberal leadership hopeful and former Brampton MP Ruby Dhalla wants a translator for French debate [Video]

Former Brampton MP Ruby Dhalla arrives to appear as a witness before a parliamentary committee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday May 12, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Liberal leadership candidate and former Brampton MP Ruby Dhalla says that while she’s still working on her French skills, she plans to ask for a translator to help her in the party’s upcoming French-language debate.

Dhalla is one of the five leadership candidates who will face off in two debates in Montreal later this month, one in French and another in English.

She says she plans to appear at the French debate in Montreal on Feb. 24 and make her opening and closing statements in French, despite not having mastered the language.

Dhalla says she also plans to announce a two-week cross-country tour in the coming days as she seeks to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the helm of the …