School bus language debate creates mixed messages from Tories

A split may be developing in New Brunswicks Progressive Conservative party over the issue of language-based school busing.

While the partys lone francophone member of the legislature says the issue is not up for debate, at least two of her fellow PC MLAs have questioned the system.

The mixed messages prompted interim PC Leader Bruce Fitch to issue a statement Monday reiterating the partys support for the equality of distinct education systems in New Brunswick. We are not questioning this.

But Fitchs statement didnt say explicitly whether he agrees that the two bus systems are covered by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as his fellow PC MLA Madeline Dub insisted last week.

Within both systems, service delivery needs to be effective and efficient, he said, accusing the Liberal government of stirring up the bus issue to distract from the $70 million Atcon loan guarantee scandal.

The Tories did not respond to a question from CBC about whether Fitch considers buses covered by his statement.

If the PCs did decide to question the bus system, it would mark a significant shift for the party, which made no moves toward undoing it during the four years of the Alward government.

The dual busing system sees anglophone and francophone school districts run their own busing systems, sometimes within the same communities if both English and French schools operate there.

Last week, PC education critic Gary Crossman spoke in the legislature about the two systems for busing when he questioned new criteria for studying the closure of small schools.

Im getting e-mails here today how people are unhappy about closing schools but yet offering extra buses, he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Crossman insisted he wasnt talking about dual busing.

Rather, he said, he was supporting making the most efficient use of buses going from school to school. Duality, he said, wasnt part of the conversationthats something youd have to ask the minister of education about, regarding constitutional rights.

Education Minister Serge Rousselle, a constitutional law professor, says dual busing is required by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees dual education systems in New Brunswick and protects minority-language education.

Rousselle also cites a Supreme Court ruling from Prince Edward Island that said education decisions, including transportation, have to consider the impact on the minority language group.

A few minutes after Crossman spoke to reporters last Friday, his caucus colleague, Madeleine Dube, who represents Edmundston-Madawaska Centre, echoed Rousselles argument.

The Constitution is clear, she said. Its not a debate. I cant repeat it often enough. Its not open for any debate.

Later in the day, however, PC MLA Brian Macdonald tweeted that scarce education resources should go to better schools and teachers, not a second set of buses. That message was retweeted by another Tory member, Jake Stewart.

Asked to clarify his views on Monday, Macdonald told CBC News that Fitch would address it.

Dub wouldnt tell reporters on Friday whether Tory members were raising the issue at closed-door meetings of caucus.

PCs have long history of splitting over language

The idea of dual government services, in English and French, was first broached during the PC government of Richard Hatfield, when a government-appointed independent commission recommended parallel, language-based administrations across the public service.

Hatfield rejected the proposal, but he did implement English and French school districts province-wide for the first time.

And his government adopted Bill 88, legislation that went beyond the idea of bilingualism to lay out the idea of collective rights.

That concept is that, beyond the individual right to government services in ones own language, the English and French communities in the province have group rights.

Hatfield also supported the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which included guarantees that minority language groups in each province had the right to govern their own schools.

But Hatfields embrace of francophone rights alienated some long-time Progressive Conservativesand after the partys 1987 election defeatmany of them founded the Confederation of Regions Party, which advocated repealing bilingualism and Bill 88.

COR won eight seats in the 1991 electionand in the wake of that breakthrough, then PC-leader Dennis Cochrane said the mind is never closed to shifting the partys position on language in response to COR.

But Cochrane ended up supporting the 1993 amendment to the Constitution that explicitly refers to duality in New Brunswick.

Section 16.1(1) says the English and French communities in the province have the right to distinct educational institutions and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for the preservation and promotion of those communities.

In 1998, delegates to a PC party convention adopted a set of aims and principles that included equality of the two linguistic communities an apparent reference to the duality provisions of the Charter.

At the time, party leader Bernard Lord said any candidate running for the party would have to agree to those principles.

Lord was elected premier with the largest-ever francophone representation in a PC caucus, as well as former COR supporters. He kept his team united when he updated the Official Languages Act in 2002, seemingly putting to rest any divisions on language within the party.

But much has changed politically since then.

Bus issue comes at difficult time for PCs

The creation of two regional health authorities by the Liberals in 2008 stoked some concerns about the cost of dual administrations.

While the two RHAs dont duplicate services except in Moncton, critics have called the two-RHA system too expensive. The PCs, however, opted not to change it.

Now, with Liberals talking about school closures and teacher lay-offs as they seek to cut spending, some New Brunswickers say dual busing is a needless expense and Tories such as Macdonald and Crossman appear to have echoed that.

Another factor: the coalition of English and French PC members that Lord elected in 1999 and that stayed in place through the partys 2006 defeat and its return to power in 2010 was swept out of the Legislature by Brian Gallants Liberal victory last year.

Madeleine Dub is the only PC MLA from a northern, francophone riding.

The PC caucus has not been as dominated by MLAs from anglophone New Brunswick since before Richard Hatfield became premier, making it harder for francophone concerns to get a full hearing in caucus.

At the same time, the party lacks a permanent leader, with the election of a new one unlikely until late 2016.

Fitchs statement Monday said the values of linguistic equality promoted by Hatfield, Lord and Alward remain constant under my leadership, but as interim chief, he doesnt have the same ability to impose his views on his caucus.