New Brunswick Legislative Assembly.

• Author: Donald J. Forestell

The First Session of the Fifty-third Legislative Assembly opened on February 6, 1996, with the Speech from the Throne, by Lieutenant-Governor Margaret NorrieMcCain.

As part of the opening ceremonies, an Aboriginal Sweet Grass Ceremony was enacted for the first time within the walls of the Legislative Assembly. The traditional native ceremony, conducted by Elder Margaret Paul and Elder Barb Martin, included burning a bundle of sweetly scented grass and waving the scented smoke about the historic chamber. The Lieutenant-Governor the Speaker, Danny Gay, Premier Frank McKenna, and Opposition Leader Bernard Valcourt participated in the cleansing ceremony of cedar and herb scented smoke.

The Motion for an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne was moved by Carolle de Ste-Croix who, at 26, is the youngest Member of the Legislative Assembly.

The much anticipated provincial budget, tabled in the Legislature on February 15, 1996, by Finance Minister Edmond Blanchard, projected a fiscal surplus of $92.9 million for the 1996-97 budget year, the largest in recent New Brunswick history. Although the budget called for no new taxes and no tax increases, it did project a reduction in the public service of up to 750 jobs. Municipalities were also affected by a $16 million cut to transfers to local governments over the next two years. Universities will share the burden of fiscal restraint as grants to universities decline by $3 million a year over each of the next three years. Spending on health care and education will increase slightly and about $180 million will be committed to highway spending. A 1.5 percent increase in welfare payouts will commence in the fall.

Dominating the First Session was debate on a plan introduced by Education Minister James Lockyer. It contains far reaching educational reforms, including major amendments to the provincial Schools Act. Considerable time was spent in the House debating Bill 23 which would eliminate the provinces's 18 local school boards and replace them with two provincial boards - one for each official language. These boards would be dominated by parent appointees and eventually advised by a network of local and district parent councils. Official Opposition Leader Bernard Valcourt launched a full-scale filibuster on the issue stating that the removal of local school boards goes against the principle of quality in education. The opposition called for public hearings on the issue, but the Liberal government...