FREDERICTON – “In Canada’s only officially bilingual province, the position of Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick must be a bilingual position” says David Coon, Leader of the New Brunswick Green Party. “That’s the intervention Premier Holt should be making at the Supreme Court, to support the case brought by the Acadian Society of New Brunswick, rather than opposing it as Blaine Higgs did.”
Coon pointed out that the Lieutenant Governor represents the Crown in New Brunswick, and that King Charles III is fluently bilingual, as was his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Coon said the case before the Supreme Court is a matter of constitutional law, and the Supreme Court justices will make their ruling based on their interpretation of the Canadian constitution.
New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare originally ruled the position of Lieutenant Governor should be bilingual, but the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned that ruling. The Supreme Court then made the decision to hear the case.
“Premier Holt should not be opposing the interests of Acadians and francophones before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will rule on the case brought by the Acadian Society of New Brunswick based on its merits,” said Coon.