OTTAWA - It took just over a week for Justin Trudeau to run afoul of his party leader and earn a public lecture about the Charter of Rights his father created.
Leader Stephane Dion distanced himself Monday from Trudeau's weekend suggestion that New Brunswick should put an end to separate English and French school systems and create one bilingual system.
Dion pointed out that the Charter of Rights guarantees minority-language educational institutions and said his new star recruit has some explaining to do.
"He's new,'' Dion said of his rookie candidate, who is the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
"He will certainly have to clarify his thinking.''
Dion said official bilingualism is dear to Liberals and repeated his call for Trudeau to explain himself.
Trudeau issued a statement expressing regret over how his remarks were interpreted.
"If I offended Acadians and francophones living in minority situations, I would like to publicly apologize,'' he said.
"I spent several years of my life teaching, in French, in Vancouver. I am and I always have been a fervent defender of bilingualism, and even more than bilingualism.''
Trudeau said separate school systems are divisive and economically inefficient when he was asked a question by a a a member of the audience following a speech Friday to 2,000 New Brunswick elementary school teachers.
He also said Canadian children should move beyond bilingualism and learn a third or fourth language that would help them succeed in the 21st century job market.
The remarks were criticized by New Brunswick politicians of all stripes.
Former Conservative premier Bernard Lord noted the irony that it was his own father who extended the minority-language protection in Section 23 of the Charter.
"Maybe his name's Trudeau but he doesn't understand what's in the Charter,'' Lord told CTV.
"It's a major mistake.''
New Brunswick's Liberal education minister, Kelly Lamrock, said two separate school systems are the best way to deal with unique challenges faced in New Brunswick.
For example, Lamrock said, French is much more common in some parts of the province and students there would take intensive English classes early on.
Dion scoffed when asked whether off-the-cuff comments like the ones Trudeau made last weekend will hurt the party in Quebec, where the young candidate hopes to win a seat in the next election.
No province defends its jurisdictions more fiercely than Quebec and Section 93 of the 1867 Constitution Act clearly establishes education a provincial responsibility.
"No. Listen, he's starting out,'' Dion replied.
"It happens to everyone to make remarks they need to clarify later, and we shouldn't judge him forever for one remark.''
