FREDERICTON – Green Party leader and MLA for Fredericton South David Coon urges Premier Higgs to accept the recommendations from the Commissioners of the Official Languages Act and move to fully implement them.

“I am happy that Commissioners Finn and McLaughlin have recognized many of the improvements that my Caucus colleagues and I have been calling for,” said Coon. “Now it is incumbent upon Premier Higgs, who is the Minister in charge of Official Languages, to accept these recommendations and implement them with sufficient resources.”

The first recommendation in the report is to establish a Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly on Official Languages. The creation of such a committee was first called for by Kent North MLA Kevin Arseneau in the Legislature on June 6, 2019.

“For over two years I have been trying to convince the Premier and all Members of the House, with the support of my caucus colleagues, of the necessity of a Standing Committee on Official Languages to facilitate further discussion of official languages by MLAs,” said Arseneau. “Premier Higgs needs to accept this recommendation from his commissioners and bring a motion for its creation to the Legislative Assembly this week, so the new committee can get to work in the New Year.”

“We are glad to have had the opportunity to send a submission to and meet with the commissioners,” added Arseneau. “We thank them for their work. It is now up to legislators to take action. Our caucus is impatient to move in the direction of substantive equality.”