Grits like nuns at a picnic: ex-deputy minister
Education Robert Pichette decries axing of French immersion
MONCTON - One of the three men who drafted New Brunswick's Official Languages Act is disappointed by the government's decision to eliminate early French immersion from the province's school system.
"Everything I have ever done is to enhance this very special and peculiar status we have,'' Robert Pichette, a deputy cabinet minister under Louis Robichaud, said Sunday as he sat in his office at home in Moncton. "It is a rare, good thing.
"Richard Hatfield built on it, and Frank McKenna did the same. Bernard Lord re-did the Official Languages Act, and I was on the floor of the House as an invited guest with Louis Robichaud when it was adopted unanimously.
"That was an extraordinary moment, and here we have newly elected people talking about implementing 'visionary' reforms, and they risk the entire fragile edifice. I am worried sick.
"I harken back to the climate Louis Robichaud created, and then look at this group and I am troubled by its attitude and approach to government. I wish it was not so amateurish. They are like nuns at a picnic."
A writer, historian and a member of the Order of New Brunswick, Pichette blasted Shawn Graham's government in an interview televised Sunday night by the French-language network Radio Canada.
During the program, Pichette, now 71 and retired, was asked what he would write about New Brunswick's current Liberal government if he was still a journalist.
"I would write that this is not a Liberal government,'' said Pichette, who for years served as a columnist for the Telegraph-Journal and helped establish a French-language daily. "It is a government of untalented amateurs."
A few hours before the show was broadcast, Pichette was no more flattering when he talked about the stormy political climate in New Brunswick today.
Despite his longtime ties to the Liberal government, Pichette said he is disconcerted with Graham's government on a number of fronts. His most significant concern is what he sees as heavy-handed governance, particularly with decisions on early French immersion and the reorganization of the province's health system.
Pichette said he is not opposed to reform, but believes citizens have not been properly consulted as part of the process. He also criticized the government for a lack of transparency.
"This government is embattled," he said. "I wish they would behave like governments should. I wish they would communicate better, so people wouldn't have to guess what its policies are, and wouldn't have to worry about what is coming down the pike. It all comes down to democracy, and they are behaving like fascists.
"When it comes to education, right now they are stuck between a Lamrock and a hard place. And on questions of health care, it is time for Michael Murphy to explain what is going to happen, and stop doing a tap dance with a twirling baton."
A native of Edmundston, Pichette has a license plate from the Republique du Madawaska hanging over the counter in his kitchen. He said the manner in which the government is proceeding has created mistrust among Acadians, especially when it comes to how health-care reforms will affect the Beausejour Regional Health Authority and the role the Georges-L. Dumont Hospital will play in the francophone community.
"I'm not against reorganizing the health authorities in principle, and don't know anyone who is,'' Pichette said. "But people are worried and would like to see the nuts and bolts. The government tells us nothing will change, but people want to see it in writing. They want to be reassured."
Pichette has met Graham several times, and said he likes him. But he doesn't approve of the direction the government is taking.
As a confidant of Louis Robichaud, a man whose legacy includes the Official Languages Act, establishing universal health care and creating the office of the Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission, his standards are high.
"These people were babes in arms when Louis Robichaud won his last election,'' said Pichette, who is launching a book, a collection of his newspaper columns, later this week in Edmundston. "Shawn Graham wants to talk about self-sufficiency, but that is nothing but a cliché, on a par with the government's silly new branding slogan.
"It means nothing, and it simply isn't registering with people. Why do I get the feeling that these are not "visions" of politicians, but musings of bureacrats?
"Visions are for mystics."
Marty Klinkenberg is a contributing editor of the Telegraph-Journal. He can be reached at martyklinkenberg@hotmail.com.
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And he's right, the tactics of this government are looking more and more fascist all the time. I never thought I'd see the day the word Liberal anf fascist were used describe my provincial government but this is what Graham's government has come own to. What a waste of talent and opportunity. Mike Murphy, TJ Burke, even Kelly Lamrock, these are all intelligent and capable men. Its a shame ego and arrogance have gone to their head and they have squandered their "mandate for change".
Can we impeach a Premier in Canada?
Their agenda is simple - RAM IT ALL THROUGH EARLY and then SPEND SPEND SPEND in the last year before the election to make everyone forget. Even though Frank McKenna had every seat in the Legislature, he at least was open in his governing process, and we felt that the government heard us.
Hopefully we will not forget these tactics in 2010 and hold this governement accountable for their lack of concern for the voices of those who elected them.
It is my opinion that the education system in this province is in need of an overhaul. Think of it as a vehicle. A vehicle which burns way too much fuel(tax dollars) Oh, it still gets us from "A" to"B" but as time goes on we are noticing more noises and rattles. Sooner or later this practice of simply cranking up the stereo in order to hear sounds which are more pleasing to the ear will cease to be a solution
And it's also my opinion that the EFI program is one of many educational issues screaming to be dealt with in our school system and this Government is to be applauded not condemned for their leaders
In fact the changes made by these "untalented amateurs" might improve the situation. I trust the judgement of the Premier and Kelly Lamrock, a fairly well educated guy himself, with the fact is the present system does not work and they need to try another model. This is what FSL zealots ignore and have offer up no real solutions. We are only 730,000 souls to pick up the tab, so the money pit is not bottomless, and I already sell (and buy) too much crap for fundraising just so my kids can play school sports, music and/or drama. The way we are doing things has to change.
The moneyed and the well heeled can shriek and bawl, but this change is good for every Kid in the English School system.
Hopefully we will all have the guts to stand up against the Minister of Finance soon. I expect he will stand up soon and tell us self-sufficiency is good for all of us, but costly and he is raising our taxes 25%. You may think that is crazy talk ... but when you have a government as arrogant as this one, nothing should be surprising.