Bonjour / Hi!
The Holt Liberals break the pattern of closed-door language consultations
Behold the image below: the legislature’s standing committee on official languages, visibly at work last week:
The committee is meeting in public as part of its review of the Official Languages Act. As I explained in last week’s story, holding these discussions out in the open is a bit of a novelty.
Back in 2012 a committee of MLAs reviewed the act, but not in public. The opposition Liberals were in favour of the secrecy until they were against it.
Now it’s 2026, and not only are the Liberals holding these hearings in public, they’re taking them on the road:
There are a lot of suggestions before the committee already, including proposed changes to the act regarding nursing homes and municipalities.
I had to miss Café Politique on Friday, but here’s the episode. Unfortunately there’s no link for Shift’s Friday political panel.
If I had been around for this week’s panel, I might have observed that language issues are never far from the surface in New Brunswick, no matter who is in office or how sympathetic they may be to the topic.
Interested in digging in more? Here’s a story I did a while back on how a key constitutional amendment broadened language rights in New Brunswick, and here’s a more recent story on how recent court decisions may have narrowed the interpretation of those rights.
Hot Climate Summer
Forget the frost. It’s going to be a hot, dry summer. And it’s not too early to get ready.
Fortunately the province has acquired four of these babies to help tackle wildfires.
You may recall an FPL aircraft purchase was at the heart of this story from me about how a classic New Brunswick government-industry symbiosis allowed information being kept secret.
In Other News
We heard from the Carleton County mom who had a most unusual labour and delivery by Trans-Canada Highway marker 242.
We also got another side of the Sussex Agropur story.
Robert Irving, co-CEO of one of the province’s biggest companies, died at 71.
Steve Outhouse, the consultant brought in to run the 2024 New Brunswick PC election campaign, and who had better luck last year in Newfoundland and Labrador, got a new job — his second for Pierre Poilievre, not unlike the “night duties and day duties” for Blaine Higgs.
The premier of Alberta decided to take the plunge.
And a very special former CBC colleague was honoured at his alma mater and delivered the convocation address to graduates. Worth a watch.
The Calendar
The legislature resumes Tuesday, but first, today (Monday), the Holt government will announce its long-awaited plan for N.B. Power following that review. More nuclear, less debt? We’ll find out this afternoon.
We also expect the government’s equally-long-awaited bill on property tax reform this week. The legislature is due to adjourn June 12 and, as noted above, the official languages committee will then hold two weeks of hearings around New Brunswick from June 16 to 26.
The deadline for PC leader candidates to confirm their eligibility is June 19. The new leader will be elected Oct. 17, and two days after that is the Alberta referendum.
Thanks for reading. Back in a week!