New Brunswick’s Acadian rights organization says Premier Blaine Higgs’ is “burning bridges” by including former People’s Alliance leader Kris Austin in a committee that will form the government’s response to the review of the Official Languages Act.
Higgs confirmed that Austin was part of a committee of 10 government MLAs who are looking at the recommendations in the 10-year review of the Official Languages Act, released last year. He says Austin’s inclusion was an attempt to ensure all views are represented, arguing that marginalizing certain viewpoints is what leads to the creations of parties like the People’s Alliance in the first place.
Higgs says it would a mistake “not to have voices heard simply because they’ve expressed a different opinion.”
“Let’s put everything on the table and let’s work through this in a meaningful way and then we come up with a plan that everybody will say ‘yes, this will work.'”
Austin’s participation in the committee is being slammed by le Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, who invoked the name of Leonard Jones, the former Moncton mayor who is best remembered for his refusal to conduct city business in French and opposition to bilingual road signs.
“With such cynicism, and so openly against the rights of the francophone and Acadian community, the Higgs government leaves no ambiguity about its intentions regarding Official Languages,” the organization said in a statement in French.
“By letting the wolf enter the fold and giving it – on a silver platter – all the necessary power, Blaine Higgs’ Conservative Party is deliberately burning bridges with the Acadian community and with its own past,” said SANB president Alexandre Cedric Doucet.
The government has been under fire for the delay in responding to the mandatory 10-year review of the act released last December by former deputy minister John McLaughlin and Judge Yvette Finn. Higgs initially promised a response in June, before changing the deadline to the end of the year. Among the recommendations of the review were the creation of a permanent standing committee on official languages and a stand-alone government department to oversee everything to do with the act.
The act ensures access to government services in both official languages.
Liberal leader Susan Holt said Austin’s past advocating for the dissolution of the office of the official languages commissioner and the merging of the province’s two health authorities should disqualify him from serving on the committee.
“This is going to be another slap in the face, … another middle finger to the francophone population who have someone who’s actively worked against the advancement of their language now in a position to make decisions on whether it’s supported or not,” she said.
Not everyone is fully opposed to Austin participating in the committee, however. Green MLA Kevin Arseneau said Austin should be able to represent his viewpoints, but that those discussions should take place in a public forum, during meetings of an official languages standing committee.
“Having him inside closed-door meetings talking when we know his positions, when we know Mr. Higgs’ positions and their misunderstanding of what the official language act is, that’s the worrisome part,” he said.
The full membership of the committee includes Higgs, the only two francophone PC MLAs Daniel Allain and Rejean Savoie, justice minister Ted Flemming, agriculture and aquaculture minister Margaret Johnson, social development minister Dorothy Shephard, natural resources and energy development minister Mike Holland, education and early childhood development minister Bill Hogan and backbencher Greg Turner.