Nouvelles

Times & Transcript
Mardi 3 novembre 2009, p.A7

Group wants quick court action
Acadian group says province trying to drag out issue of health-care governance

James Foster

Not only Acadians but all New Brunswickers would be better served if the provincial government agreed to immediately put before the courts the question of whether the province's health reforms respect official bilingualism in New Brunswick, says an Acadian lobby group.

 

"It helps no one for us to fight this out," says Jean-Marie Nadeau, president of the Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick.

 

The SANB is one of many Acadian groups supporting Égalité Santé en Français, which is suing the provincial government, arguing that the provincial government violated Acadians' constitutional right to control their own institutions when it merged eight health districts into two last year. The reforms also eliminated the election of health-board members, who are now appointed. Nadeau contends the court fight is unnecessary and expensive. At a SANB news conference yesterday, he proposed that New Brunswick's Court of Appeal should hash out the issue. Under the law, constitutional questions can be referred directly to the court. By doing so, taxpayers of both linguistic backgrounds would save millions of dollars in legal fees and Acadians would have their answer, good or bad, to the question at hand within months instead of years.

 

Otherwise, Nadeau contends, taxpayers of both linguistic groups will continue to pay hefty legal fees and years of delays until the question is settled -- or until it reaches the Supreme Court of Canada for an ultimate resolution, which is a possibility.

 

So far, the provincial government has been silent on the letter, which was sent in late October. A spokesman for Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Michael Murphy said the minister wouldn't comment on a matter that remains before the courts.

"We're disappointed that after 10 days," Nadeau said, "we're still waiting."