Language New Brunswick's health care reforms may trigger an unwanted and divided system

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Chris Morris
Telegraph-Journal

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FREDERICTON - The New Brunswick government says its formula for health care reform is critical in securing the province's economy for the future.

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David Smith/For the Telegraph-Journal

It has been about seven months since Health Minister Mike Murphy decided to tackle the health care squeeze by merging the province’s eight regional health authorities into two.

But Shawn Graham's Liberal government may have left out an important calculation in the health equation - minority language rights.

Now the province faces a serious legal challenge from francophones who say their constitutional rights have been brushed aside in the province's rush to save health care dollars.

The outcome could trigger an outcome no one seems to want but may be inevitable - a dual health care system in New Brunswick based on language.

"I think the government is going to learn a lesson," language expert and political commentator Robert Pichette said in an interview.

"This is going to haunt Shawn Graham."

It has been about seven months since Health Minister Mike Murphy decided to tackle the health care squeeze by merging the province's eight regional health authorities into two.

He made it clear the move is designed to help the province avoid a looming economic crisis as soaring health care costs consume more and more of the province's revenues.

One forecast has the province spending more than half of all of its revenues on health within 11 years, putting it on track to become the first province to reach such a grim milestone.

Murphy says his health care reform package will avert that looming financial disaster.

He also says the province cannot afford duality - two separate health care systems based on language.

But the Committee for Equality of Health in French has filed a lawsuit in the Court of Queen's Bench in Moncton that seeks to overturn Murphy's reforms.

The group says it's not seeking duality in health care, but admits that could be the outcome of a court decision.

"We think the Murphy reforms are not constitutional and they are illegal, and they must be rejected, now what the judge will decide afterwards is hard to say," Dr. Hubert Dupuis, spokesman for the committee, said recently. "Will the judge institute duality, will he propose equality? In the law, it says equality, so I can presume that a judge will rule what a judge reads, but I don't know."

The group has recruited Michel Bastarache, a retired Supreme Court of Canada judge and expert in linguistic cases, to assist in the case along with Michel Doucet, law professor at the University of Moncton.

Doucet said the lawsuit doesn't aim to impose duality in health care. Instead, he said the objective is to restore a health authority that is clearly francophone.

"The Canadian Constitution states that in New Brunswick, both linguistic communities are equal and both linguistic communities have a right to institutions," Doucet said.

Pichette says the committee's claims are strong, and he says the government - which won't comment on cases before the courts - better get some sharp lawyers to counter the fine legal minds handling the committee's arguments.

He says the government has painted itself into the duality corner, and now faces a court decision that could put costly dimensions on linguistic rights in New Brunswick.

"Personally I don't think we can afford duality. But I think they have mishandled the matter to such a point, they will be forced to consider that outcome."