How a former PC premier helped forge the Higgs government's ambulance compromise
Medavie CEO Bernard Lord key to new Ambulance New Brunswick policy
A phone call the day before Christmas from Health Minister Ted Flemming to a former Progressive Conservative premier opened the door to solving a thorny political dilemma involving language rights and health care.
Flemming made the call less than a week after his brusque performance at a news conference announcing a new directive that Ambulance New Brunswick weaken bilingual hiring requirements for paramedics.
At that Dec. 18 announcement, the minister dismissed questions about constitutionally protected language rights as "some academic discussion of the legal nuances" and said francophones who need ambulances in anglophone regions "don't live in a perfect world."
That provoked alarm, and talk of lawsuits, among francophones. The province and its new Progressive Conservative government seemed destined for a protracted legal and political confrontation over bilingualism.
Six days later, Flemming called Bernard Lord, the former premier whose government passed the 2002 Official Languages Act and who is now CEO of Medavie, the company that administers Ambulance New Brunswick.
"He was seeking improvements to what was in place," Lord recalled. "He had a clear objective. And based on that conversation, we agreed to have more conversations. He included other people in that conversation."
Aftermath of combative announcement
One of those other people was Michel Carrier, the acting commissioner of official languages, who had warned publicly that Flemming's solution would violate the legal requirement for services "of equal quality" in both languages throughout the province.
Carrier said when he heard from Flemming early in January, the minister was no longer using the combative tone of his Dec. 18 news conference.
"Minister Flemming did not have an adversarial approach," Carrier recalled. "He said to me, 'I think I understand the concerns and we can fix this. Let's see if we can put something together to fix it.'"
Soon the three men were working together to replace the provocative Dec. 18 directive.
Carrier said Lord's experience as premier was key to the eventual solution.
"He is well aware of language rights, how they have been interpreted by the courts, what they mean to New Brunswick and what they mean to both linguistic communities," Carrier said.
Perilous political footing
Navigating the politics of bilingual ambulance service has been perilous for the Tories, who are governing without a majority in the legislature.
They've been relying on the support of the three MLAs from the People's Alliance. It demanded that the province implement a 2018 labour ruling by arbitrator John McEvoy that found seniority rights of non-permanent unilingual paramedics were being violated when they weren't placed in vacant bilingual positions.
The Alliance wanted unilingual paramedics hired to fill vacant, designated-bilingual positions for which there were no bilingual candidates.
In December, Flemming told Ambulance New Brunswick to comply with McEvoy's suggestion of bypassing the bilingualism requirement in regions where there is less demand for second-language service, which Carrier quickly labelled contrary to the law.
Carrier said when Flemming called him the following month and asked for help, he agreed immediately.
It's not easy to find a solution that works, that is better for everyone.- Bernard Lord, CEO of Medavie
"The commissioner's role is to advise the government," Carrier said. "We can do it in public or we can do it behind the scenes. I've always believed the way to move things forward is to have frank discussions with the key players."
The negotiations came to a head in a meeting at Medavie's Moncton head office on Jan. 11, attended by Carrier, Flemming, Lord, Ambulance New Brunswick CEO Richard Losier and Deputy Premier Robert Gauvin.
"It's not easy to find a solution that works," Lord said, "that is better for everyone, that improves the services for people, that is offered in both official languages, improves working conditions, and that is acceptable to all political parties, and acceptable to the languages commissioner and acceptable to the workers."
The compromise
The five men developed a plan that became Flemming's Jan. 18 letter to Medavie. Lord said it "supersedes" the earlier Dec. 18 directive.
It replaces the relaxing of hiring requirements with a new model: a "float team" of unilingual paramedics in permanent, full-time positions who will fill bilingual-designated positions until a bilingual paramedic can be found.
The solution plugs holes in the system, maintains a commitment to eventually having at least one bilingual paramedic on every ambulance crew, and means permanent, full-time jobs for unilingual paramedics.
That last point was key to winning the support of Alliance Leader Kris Austin, who met with Flemming several times. Austin said Tuesday that even the province abandoning the McEvoy proposal, his goals have been met.
"The outcome's the same," Austin said. "If I were in government today, I would have implemented McEvoy's ruling without hesitation. However, in a minority government, it gets back to give and take.
"But the objective is the same: unilingual paramedics will be receiving permanent full-time work which means there are more boots on the ground."
He shrugged off Flemming's letter that says the goal remains that "every emergency 911 ambulance unit be a bilingual unit."
If I were in government today, I would have implemented McEvoy's ruling without hesitation.- People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin
"It's an unreasonable goal, but if that's what they want to put on paper, have at it," Austin said.
While Austin said the outcome is the same, Lord said the two directives are very different. The new version respects the law because "the bilingual positions remain bilingual" even if they are temporarily filled with unilingual "float" paramedics.
Upcoming judicial review
Lord's comments this week were the first time he has spoken to reporters since Flemming's Dec. 18 announcement. During those four weeks, Medavie refused to say how or even whether it would implement the weaker hiring standards.
Michel Doucet, a retired University of Moncton law professor and an expert on language rights, said Lord "certainly played a very important role in having the government modify its position. … He certainly has a good knowledge of the obligations under that act."
Doucet also believes Thursday's scheduled judicial review of the McEvoy decision forced the province to reconsider its position.
The judicial review Thursday was sought by the previous Liberal government to determine if McEvoy's ruling violated the language law and Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees of bilingual government services in New Brunswick.
"I believe that somebody at the attorney general's office gave a Constitutional 101 course to some politicians in Fredericton, explaining that they can't just modify the Canadian Constitution and decide not to follow the Official Languages Act based on some whim they say in public," Doucet said.
Doucet said Monday's announcement brings the situation back to when Ambulance New Brunswick was created in 2008, with the organization setting bilingual service as its goal but with obstacles to getting there.
Flemming was not available to comment on his new directive, but Lord said it's the minister who deserves the credit for making the initial phone calls. "He decided to bring us together," Lord said.
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