© Jon Collicott/CBC News Education Minister Dominic Cardy defended the conference in Banff, Alta., noting there haven't been "any of these [professional development] opportunities for a couple of years now." Education Minister Dominic Cardy is defending a trip to a conference in Alberta by dozens of school principals and education officials at the very moment COVID-19 was putting a staffing squeeze on schools. Principals from five of New Brunswick's seven school districts were in Banff from April 9 to 12 for a conference on "reimagining school leadership." Cardy, his anglophone deputy minister Georgy Daly and Opposition Liberal education critic Benoit Bourque were also there. Cardy said the five school districts paid for the travel of their principals and staff out of their existing budgets for professional development.

Source: CBC News April 20, 2022 17:56 UTC