This is the final Politics Briefing newsletter of 2022. We will be back on Jan. 9. In the meantime, all the best for the Holidays and the New Year. See you in 2023.
A major Acadian group in New Brunswick is calling on the province’s Conservative Party to review the Premier’s leadership over his policies on bilingualism in Canada’s only officially bilingual province.
Friday’s development involving the Acadian Society of New Brunswick and Premier Blaine Higgs reflects tensions that have recently drawn Prime Minister Justin Trudeau into the fray.
In an open letter released Friday, the Acadian society, representing the community that is about one-third of the province’s population, accused Mr. Higgs of abdicating his responsibilities toward official bilingualism.
The letter, signed by more than 40 individuals calls on the party to conduct a review of Higgs’s leadership, suggesting the Premier has become wildly unpopular. Story here.
Among other things, the society accuses Mr. Higgs of sowing discord between linguistic and cultural communities, portraying himself as a victim of bilingualism and lacking respect for the province’s Acadian and francophone communities, and its Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqey First Nations.
The letter criticizes the Premier’s recent review of New Brunswick’s Official Languages Act and his proposal to introduce a new French immersion program that cuts the time elementary school students spend learning in French. Education Reporter Caroline Alphonso reported here on that policy change.
In November, Mr. Trudeau criticized the Premier for naming Kris Austin – former leader of the defunct People’s Alliance of New Brunswick known for his past criticism of bilingualism – to a committee reviewing the province’s Official Languages Act. Mr. Austin is the province’s public safety minister.
“You don’t put someone who’s spent his entire career attacking official bilingualism and questioning the need to protect French in New Brunswick or elsewhere, on a panel designed to protect bilingualism in New Brunswick,” Mr. Trudeau told a news conference during a visit to the province.
“It doesn’t make any sense and it’s certainly something I’m going to be bringing up with Premier Higgs when I see him in about an hour.”
The government also came under fire from Dominic Cardy, who resigned as education minister in October and accused Mr. Higgs of moving too quickly to reform the French immersion program in schools.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
