French N.B. MLA fought ticket for not being in English

Former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Paul Robichaud tried to avoid paying a speeding ticket by arguing that the RCMP officer who gave it to him did not offer him service in English.

Robichaud, who is a francophone and held several cabinet posts in the Bernard Lord government, including minister of la Francophonie, was caught speeding in the northeastern community of Tabusintac in January 2008.

The former MLA, who is running for re-election in the riding of Lameque-Shippagan-Miscou, spoke with the officer in French and received the ticket in French, Robichaud's first language.

'It's not a loophole. We included in the [Official Languages] Act the right to be served in the language of your choice.' — Tory MLA  Paul Robichaud

But he appealed the fine in 2009 because he was not offered the service in English. He lost the appeal.

The Liberals used the incident to attack the Tories in the lead-up to the Sept. 27 election. They revealed the details of Robichaud's appeal Thursday, accusing him of using loopholes to avoid paying the speeding fine.

"This is a perversion of what the [Official Languages] Act is meant to do and a trivialization of linguistic rights," Paulette Richard, Liberal campaign co-chair, said in a statement.

"The Act is there to respect the rights of both linguistic groups, not to allow a bilingual francophone to try to use English to get out of following driving rules when he, in fact, received the services in his language."

Speaking to reporters in Moncton on Thursday, Richard could not explain what the RCMP's obligations are under the law or why it was wrong for Robichaud to fight the ticket.

Robichaud told reporters on Thursday that he fought the ticket because the Official Languages Act says a choice of language must be offered, even if the police officers knows the individual and what language he or she speaks.

"It's not a loophole," he said. "We included in the act the right to be served in the language of your choice.

"The RCMP officer had the obligation to ask me."

Robichaud said he wanted to make sure that he made the point that in the future every New Brunswicker was served in their language of choice by the police.

Tories on defensive

The Liberals put the Tories on the defensive twice on Thursday.

In a speech, Liberal Leader Shawn Graham said Conservative Leader David Alward had not been clear enough on his campaign promises.

And then later in the day, the Liberals released the Robichaud ticket issue.

Alward told reporters while campaigning in Tracadie-Sheila that the attacks show the Liberals are losing the election campaign.

"When you throw mud, chances are you lose ground," he said.