New Brunswick: Harper appoints Bernard Lord to review government language policies

[Harold Schiffman]

Harper appoints Bernard Lord to review government language policies
16 hours ago

MONCTON, N.B. - Former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord is moving
back into the public spotlight by accepting an appointment to head a
high-profile committee on bilingualism in Canada. Prime Minister
Stephen Harper announced Lord's appointment at a news conference
Monday in Moncton, the bilingual community Lord represented in the
provincial legislature until last year. Lord, who was born in Quebec
but raised in New Brunswick and is fluently bilingual, was described
by Harper as the model of a bilingual and bicultural Canadian. The
prime minister said "it's hard to imagine anyone more qualified" than
Lord, who was Conservative premier from 1999 until his government's
defeat in 2006.

"Mr. Lord is a proven leader, experienced consensus builder, and
throughout his experiences and actions the very model of a bilingual
and a bicultural Canadian," Harper said. Lord, 42, will travel to
seven cities across the country during the first two weeks of December
to speak to members of English and French minority communities. He is
to report to the federal government in January as it prepares to
update its action plan on official languages. "This is a public policy
issue I care deeply about," said Lord, who oversaw the updating of New
Brunswick's Official Languages Act when he was in office.

"It speaks to the identity of who we are as a country and the values
we share as Canadians. In that sense, New Brunswick is a microcosm of
Canada." New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province.
The appointment will thrust Lord back onto the political stage prior
to a widely expected federal election campaign. He smiled when
reporters asked if this means he is dusting off his public image in
anticipation of a possible federal election run. "If anything ever
changes, I'll be happy to let you all know," he said.
Lord has never closed the door to a return to public life.

There were two major federal appointments Monday.

The federal Conservatives also named former Quebec premier Pierre-Marc
Johnson to lead its advisory team at critical international
environment meetings in Bali, Indonesia.

The move is seen as an effort by the Harper government to improve its
environmental credentials and head off Quebec opposition to its global
warming plan.

Lord is to report to Official Languages Minister Josee Verner in January.

"His findings will help the government ... provide language programs
and services that serve the unique needs of minority communities,"
Harper said.

The Liberals criticized the government's appointment of the committee,
accusing the Tories of waiting until the "last minute" to begin
consultations.

The party's official languages critic, Mauril Belanger, said the
government has put off renewing the plan, which comes to an end in
March.

Lord lost the election in September 2006 and resigned as Tory leader in January.

Harper said students of history will recall that Britain and France
fought hard for control of what would become Canada, and the result
was a remarkable compromise.

"Thanks to the vision of the Fathers of Confederation ... the French
and English achieved unprecedented reconciliation in Canada," he said.

"No part of Canada has embraced this vision of the Fathers of
Confederation with more success than New Brunswick," Canada's only
officially bilingual province.

Lord's assignment stems from a commitment made in the federal
government's throne speech earlier this year. In it, Harper said the
ruling Conservatives wanted to promote the vitality of Canada's two
official languages.

In the end, Lord's task will be to find out "what more can be done to
ensure Ottawa is meeting the needs of our minority language
communities," Harper said.

"We're making sure that minority language communities here in New
Brunswick and across Canada are getting the benefits they deserve."

Harper has won plaudits in Quebec for his insistence in starting all
of his news conferences or announcements in French. The news
conference in Moncton followed that principle.

But in his first report, Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser
said the prime minister's decision to scrap the court challenges
program, which provided funding to minority groups to challenge
government policies in court, showed a "lack of will" to defend the
national conversation in Canada's two founding languages.

Fraser said the government violated the Official Languages Act by
eliminating the program because minority language groups are no longer
getting access to the courts to guarantee their linguistic rights.
Ditching the program was "the product of a seriously flawed
decision-making process."

Lord said his job does not interfere with or overlap the
responsibilities of Fraser.

"His role is mandated through legislation and he answers to
Parliament," Lord said. "My role is different. I will be reaching out
to better understand what people are saying about bilingualism."

Sources said Harper began looking for a way to respond to Fraser's
concerns shortly after his report was released in May.

The Conservatives are hoping to add to the 10 ridings they won in the
overwhelmingly francophone regions off the island of Montreal.

The court challenges program was created in 1978 to help minority
linguistic groups defend and guarantee the services they need in the
language of their choice. It funded legal initiatives by anglophones
in Quebec and francophones outside of the province.

It was later expanded to other minority groups seeking equality, and
was costing taxpayers almost $3 million a year. Some Conservatives
applauded the elimination of the program because they found it
incongruous that the government would fund left-wing interest groups
to attack bedrock conservative values.

Fraser also said it was very important that federal ministers and
appointees be able to speak and understand both official languages to
better serve Canadians.

"I find it difficult to understand how one can play a national
leadership role without being able to communicate with all Canadians,"
he said.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5ZAgj0I17QOkVgITVhTbZqoF8-w
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************