Isabelle Hains asks New Brunswick Minister of Education, Roland Haché (MLA Nigadoo Chaleur) questions about Class 2 Drivers at his campaign headquarters in Beresford, NB, Sunday, September 5, 2010.
After eight weeks, several emails and telephone calls asking what was taking so long, we have finally received an answer to our Right to Information Requests from mid July. (Click here and here to read the original Requests, which are the sixth and seventh we have sent to the New Brunswick Minister of Education, Roland Haché and Minister of Transport, Denis Landry).
The requests are broken down into two main categories of information:
1. Volunteer MFAV Driver Education Program
The first request deals specifically with costs and participation rate of the Volunteer Driver Education Program that was implemented by the Department of Education in 2009 despite the Coroner's Jury recommendation that only professional, Class 2 yellow school bus drivers get behind the wheel of the 21 passenger Multi Function Activity Vehicles (also called mini-buses). These 21 passenger MFAVs replaced the now banned 15 passenger vans like the Ford Econoline 350 in which are sons were killed on January 12, 2008.
Photo of Bathurst High School Phantoms 15 Passenger Ford Econoline Van on the morning of the tragedy, January 12, 2008
2. Seeking Information on Provincial Fleet of Multifunction Activity Vehicles
The second request asked for details on the number of trips taken during the school year 2009-2010 by volunteer drivers, including the total number of hours behind the wheel, distances etc.
We will be reviewing the documents today and will have a response for the media as soon as possible. There are about 100 pages, many of them with the text redacted (blacked out). So we have to take our time to sort through the entirety of the material before coming to any conclusions about the answers we have received today.
