School-board plans spark war of words
QUEBEC The government’s plans to transform Quebec’s school boards into service centres sparked a war of words Tuesday with the education minister sticking to a hard line and his opponents accusing him of being condescending. “It’s not a negotiation, it’s a discussion,” Jean-François Roberge told reporters. “Of course we will write the law in a way that respects the constitution. “If they go for a battle in the courts, of course they will lose. I think it will be a loss of time and money.” Roberge also suggested the English-speaking community is needlessly worried about the impact the changes will have and they will easily adapt to the new reality. The Coalition Avenir Québec government wants to replace the province’s 72 school boards, including nine anglophone boards, with service centres. “I think everything’s going to be all right, just like the song,” Roberge said quoting a famous Bob Marley hit. His comments, made at a news conference to announce funding for the Université du Québec network, reflect those made last week by Premier François Legault in an interview with the Montreal Gazette. In the interview published Thursday, Legault said a possible legal challenge by English school boards to protect the existing system would fail. “They are going nowhere with this (challenge),” Legault said. “They will lose.” Roberge later met the heads of the province’s schools boards to pitch his reform plan but neither side agrees on what was said there. Alain Fortier, the president of the Féderation des commissions scolaires du Québec (FCSQ), emerged from that meeting saying he felt the CAQ’s plan was not “carved in stone.” “He (Roberge) presented the general principles but he also said it was not to be considered the bible, it’s an opening view,” he told La Presse. “I am using his words.” Reached Tuesday, Russell Copeman, executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association, who was also at the meeting, said he left the room with the same feeling. “We thought there was a certain amount of openness,” Copeman said in a telephone interview. “He talked about their school governance plan, which they presented in January of 2018, as a kind of blueprint. He repeatedly said it’s not carved in stone, dialogue will continue.” “This (the new statements) seems to be a hardening of the tone, which is at odds with what we thought was a good first meeting with the minister on Friday. “The government is sounding quite condescending,” he said. “That’s both inappropriate and disquieting.” But Roberge said he was surprised by Fortier’s comments after the meeting. “There is no room to manoeuvre there and I was really surprised to read Mr. Fortier’s comments,” Roberge said. “I asked, maybe he wasn’t at the meeting. It (his statement) was pretty, pretty clear, pretty clear.” Roberge added he will continue trying to explain why he thinks the plan — opposed by both the anglophone and francophone boards — makes sense. “We will continue talking about it, explaining it. We have until Nov. 1, 2020 to implement the program.” But Copeman said the government has yet to explain how much autonomy service centres will have and who will control them. He said the CAQ’s plan now says service centres will be integrated into the education ministry. “That’s a regional office of the department,” he said. “The head (of the service centre) reports to the minister. This is not control and management of our education system by our community. “I don’t care how well meaning your board of directors is. They ’re not going to be calling the shots. How they can claim this is going to respect the control and management provision as interpreted by the Supreme Court just boggles the mind.”