Opinion: CAQ’s message to English-speaking Quebecers seems loud and clear
Increasingly over the past few months, English-speaking Quebecers have been witnessing alarming signals.
Less than two months ago, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government gutted the provincial committee responsible for advising the government on the delivery of health and social services to English-speaking Quebecers. It now seeks to replace the ousted members, presumably with others who may be more compliant. This has left in limbo regional access programs that list which services are available in English in any given region.
Without consulting our community, the CAQ cabinet last week appointed a new assistant deputy minister responsible for the English-language educational network as well as intercultural and Indigenous relations, the most senior bureaucrat responsible for services to English-speaking Quebecers. The candidate selected is a career civil servant with no evident knowledge of or experience in our English-language education network. Meanwhile, the Minister of Higher Education quashed a badly needed expansion of the campus of an overcrowded Dawson College.