Canada: Former NB premier Bernard Lord accepts appointment to head a high-profile committee on bilingualism in Canada.

[Harold Schiffman]

MONCTON - Former 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
will report to the federal government in January as it prepares to
update its 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.

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."

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