Time is running out to debate Bills in New Brunswick’s legislature on district education councils in the anglophone sector and local governance commission.
The session is supposed to end this week.
New Brunswick’s opposition parties are concerned that government will run out the clock to debate bills such as 45 and 46 and push them though to a vote.
They want government to extend the session into next week.
“I think it depends on whether they pull it from the closure motion or whether they remove the closure motion and we just continue to go through economic policy committee and then into third readings for the whole,” said Susan Holt, N.B. Liberal Party leader.
“I mean there’s six bills left so there’s lots to do in very little time,” Holt said.
The government could not confirm or deny whether the session will be extended into next week.
“What I’m pushing for is for there to be enough time to debate, ask questions about, and amend legislation that’s going through,” said Megan Mitton, N.B. Green MLA.
“There’s really important bills going through, there’s local governance, the education act, there’s a bill for corporatizing health care, and what we see with a lot of these bills is an antidemocratic theme,” Mitton said.
An overhaul of New Brunswick’s education system governance structure in anglophone districts is lessening decision making on a local level.
DECs, as they’re known in the four anglophone school systems, will no longer set their own budgets.
Superintendents will report directly to the Department of Education and elected members of the council will now only serve in an advisory capacity.
“District education councils have no role to play in operational issues, that means the day to day issues in the school districts that won’t change,” said N.B. Minister of Education, Bill Hogan.
“District education councils will continue to be elected, district education councils will continue to participate in the hiring of the superintendent, they’ll continue to participate in evaluating the superintendent, they will no longer have the superintendent as their employee,” Hogan said.
“Currently, the district education council approves the budget, however they have no authority or power to make any changes to it,” he said.
The minister says the anglophone education sector of the province needs consistency, and that’s what the changes are working towards.
Francophone district education councils were never on the chopping block and will retain the ability to make decisions due to charter rulings on minority linguistic communities.
