“The Report of the 2021 Review of the Official Languages Act of New Brunswick, released in December 2021, included a series of recommendations to improve language equality. The Higgs Government has yet to provide a position on these recommendations and has not shown any indication that his government will be tabling Legislation to make improvements to the Act.

Not only is Premier Higgs not respecting his obligations as Premier or Minister for Official Languages, but he is also showing a serious lack of respect for both language communities and the highly respected commissioners tasked with doing this review.

Now, after the Premier accepted members of the People’s Alliance into his caucus, people are rightly growing very critical of his silence on the review of the Official Languages Act. The shocking move last week, along with his past position on official languages and the lack of seriousness given to the process and ensuing report of the review are making people sceptical of the Premier’s intentions regarding the Act.

On behalf of the Liberal Opposition, I urge Premier Higgs and his Government to fully support and immediately begin work to implement all recommendations identified in the report.”

Roger Melanson

Leader of the Official Opposition