Premier defends decision to put Kris Austin on languages committee

Premier Blaine Higgs is being criticized for tapping former People's Alliance leader Kris Austin for an internal working group of Progressive Conservative MLAs crafting the government's plans for the Official Languages Act.

Higgs confirmed to reporters Friday that Austin, now a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, is one of 10 party MLAs tasked with figuring out how — or whether — to update the legislation.

The premier was reluctant at first to identify MLAs on the committee, but after confirming Austin's membership he quickly added that the two francophone members of his cabinet, Réjean Savoie and Daniel Allain, are also part of the secret deliberations.

"We have a balance in the committee," he said.

The premier said he included Austin, who joined the PCs in March after years criticizing many aspects of official bilingualism, to ensure a broad consensus on changes to the act.

Excluding Austin and his perspective would risk sparking another backlash over language issues, he said.

"I don't want to see another conflict in our province, creating another political party that's concerned, that's representing a number of citizens that have that concern on their ability to speak both languages," Higgs said.

"What I'm trying to do here is say, let's put everything on the table, let's work through this in a meaningful way and that we come out with a plan where everyone will say, 'Yeah, this can work.'"

The Acadian Society of New Brunswick promptly issued a statement accusing Higgs of "burning bridges" with francophones just two days after he met with the society's leadership.

But there is a precedent for Higgs's approach.

In 2002, then-PC premier Bernard Lord appointed a former president of the anti-bilingualism Confederation of Regions party, PC MLA Tony Huntjens, to an internal consultation group examining how to respond to a New Brunswick Court of Appeal ruling on language rights.

Huntjens and another MLA, francophone Louis-Philippe McGraw, helped Lord forge a consensus in his caucus on a new Official Languages Act. 

But the leaders of the two other parties in the legislature rejected the idea that Austin needs to be at the table to make the final decision credible.

"It concerns me when there's a bias clearly displayed in the membership of the committee making decisions," said Liberal Leader Susan Holt, who said Austin has tried to "undermine bilingualism."