English school board promising fight over CAQ's abolition plan

Quebec's incoming premierwill have aconstitutional legal battle on hishands if his government goes ahead with a plan to eliminate the province's elected school boards, vows the head of western Quebec's English-language school board.

"We have the right to take this all the way to the Supreme Court," said Western QubecSchool Board chair James Shea.

• Franois Legault would invoke notwithstanding clause to ban hijabs from civil service

During his first news conference following Monday's historic vote, premier-designate Franois Legault confirmed his Coalition Avenir Qubec(CAQ) government intends to abolish all elected school boards and replace them with "service centres,"a term he's yet to define.

Legaultsaid it's one of several constitutional changes for which his government might invoke the notwithstanding clause.

Attempts by previous Quebec governments to tamper withEnglish school boards, including the former Liberal government's Bill 86, fizzledunder pressure from the province's anglophone minority.

Shea said the western Quebec board's lawyers are already sharpening their pencils for another fight.

"Our schools are the beacons of our community," he said.

Outgoing premierPhilippe Couillardbecame a defender of the English boards, stating during the campaign that "English-speaking Quebecers are part of who we are. They have built Quebec with us. Their rights and their institutions matter to me."

• Liberals stand by school board system, calling it an Anglo rights issue

LiberalAndr Fortin, who was re-elected in the Pontiac Monday, vowed on election night to support the English school boards in their fight to maintain the current structure.

But the CAQ argues the elected boards, most of which represent French-speaking students,are a waste of taxpayers' money.