Dominic Cardy seeks judicial review on duality in school busing

New Democratic Party Leader Dominic Cardy is calling for a judicial review of the provincial policy of requiring separate school buses for students in the English and French school systems.

The province maintains that separate bus systems are required in New Brunswick under the constitutional provisions for duality in education. Cardy has challenged whether that is indeed the case and says a judicial review could answer that question.

Education Minister Serge Rousselle rejected Cardy's call for a judicial review.

"If Mr. Cardy is the only one who doesn't understand the Constitution, I don't see the importance of giving him that kind of reference," said Rousselle. "You know a reference is something when the law is not clear. Here the decisions of the Supreme Court are very clear. So sorry for Mr. Cardy if he doesn't understand the Charter of Rights."

Cardy's challenge comes as it becomes known that eight buses in Kent County have been transporting English and French students together, which violates provincial policy. The bilingual buses are used by 92 students

Education Minister Serge Rousselle says he learned about the situation three weeks ago and he's asked department official to put an end to it.

"It's very clear by the Supreme Court decision that we have to have distinct buses, so basically those anomalies as soon as I heard about it a couple of weeks ago, I asked my department to make sure that different options exist so that we respect the Charter of Rights."

Rousselle says he doesn't know how long the Kent County busing arrangement has existed.