“The Official Opposition is flatly rejecting Premier Higgs’s lame excuses for missing his own deadline to respond to Commissioners Finn and McLaughlin’s report on the review of the Official Languages Act. Yet again we are witnessing the Premier’s disrespect for the process, the Act and most importantly New Brunswickers. While the Higgs government was quick to endorse the Commissioners’ recommendation to essentially eliminate French Immersion in the Province thereby severely weaking French language learning in the province they are dragging their feet on the Commissioners’ recommendations for significant improvements to the Official Languages Act and to the protection and promotion of both English and French language rights in New Brunswick.

Both the recommendations made through the review of the Act and the recommendations of Official Languages Commissioner, Shirley MacLean, have been widely viewed as timely and progressive – unfortunately the Premier’s true views on official bilingualism and language rights are coming to the fore. The Premier has an opportunity to prove to New Brunswickers that he understands, and truly values language and cultural rights at all levels. It’s deeply concerning that this opportunity may be missed.”

Benoît Bourque

Critic for the Official Languages Act