New Brunswick French immersion becoming political pawn after Cardy's resignation

The resignation of New Brunswick's minister of education and early childhood education last week set the stage for French immersion reform to once again become a political pawn.

Leo-James Levesque, a professor at Fredericton's St. Thomas Universit,y who helped write the French immersion curriculum for the province, says he isn't surprised that cabinet is setting the stage for French immersion reform again. The fate of the program remains up in the air following Dominic Cardy's resignation less than a week ago.

"It's sad but it's also expected. When you have any Anglophone system, you have 65 per cent of Anglophones agree with bilingualism. Unfortunately, we have some leaders who fall in the other percentage," said Levesque.

Constituents in Cardy's riding have mixed views on their confidence in him since being expelled from the Progressive Conservative party.

"A turncoat's a turncoat, I guess, but now he's aired his dirty laundry or whatever," said Michael Fox, a resident of Hanwell, N.B. "I don't have much to say about it because there's not much you can say, it's politics."

"Dominic means well, Dominic works for the people. Yes, he has opinions and there's a lot of people that disagree with them," said Hanwell resident Adeline Misener.

Late Monday afternoon, New Brunswick's Department of Education and Early Childhood Development issued a statement to CTV News saying, in part, "The department will have something to say on the issue once phase one of consultation announced back in May are complete."

The statement also said there will be opportunities for the public to participate in the coming weeks.

"When the premier says he's upset over comments made by Mr. Cardy, Mr. Cardy has, I'm not here to defend him, he has strong ideas, strong beliefs," said Levesque. "And he had the courage to point out where the dust is and the premier is not able to see that because he is blinded by the fact that he does not share the view of bilingualism."

Government has said the initial target was to have a new French program for all English students by September 2023.

Cardy resigned from his position as minister in a scathing letter addressed to the Premier Blaine Higgs on Thursday.

In it, Cardy accused Higgs of steadily consolidating power over the past 14 months and creating a disrespectful work atmosphere for public servants. The premier, Cardy added, delayed or undermined work on reconciliation with cultural communities and First Nations.

As well, Cardy said Higgs broke a campaign promise to reform the education system, to take decisions based on evidence and to do politics differently.