QUEBEC -- The Legault government's education reforms are in the process of being adopted under a gag, and the new amendments are increasing the anger of the opposition parties.

"Contemptuous", "Arrogant", "Cynical": the Quebec opposition parties did not mince words late Friday to denounce a last-minute amendment which, according to the parties, eliminates any transition period for the elected school board commissioners, who will lose their jobs as soon as the law is pronounced in the coming hours instead of the previously announced date of Feb. 29.

Parti Québécois education critic Véronique Hivon said she believed that the CAQ government "added insult to injury."

Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois spoke of the process as "a cynical and contemptuous gesture."

Liberal Party spokesperson Marwah Rizqy lamented the "spectacle" and a blatant lack of transparency.

"We received emails from parent committees - more than thirty - saying that Bill 40 is not the solution. These parents must also be heard. The opposition is gagged, and the commissioners are dismissed," said Rizqy.

She also said she believed that the English-speaking community was "speaking to a wall" when dealing with the government.

Opposition parties - including school board commissioners, unions and parents' federations - have denounced the use of a gag order to adopt the controversial bill containing 300 articles and 160 amendments as undermining democracy.

After more than 60 hours of detailed study in parliamentary committee, the Legault government decided that it had had enough and invoked the accelerated adoption procedure.

Bill 40 notably provides for the abolition of school boards and commissioner elections but includes a host of other provisions that "wrecks the Education Act '', according to the interim leader of the official opposition, Pierre Arcand.

The legislation addresses, among other things, the training of teaching staff, governing boards, the grouping of services, choice of school, reports, grading and the role of the principal.

In the National Assembly, Premier Francois Legault invited the opposition to "go to shopping centres to ask people if they want to keep the school boards or not."

Deputy Government House Leader Eric Caire said that the government would save $10 million by abolishing the boards. He argued that school boards are a "mortgage for academic success," adding that the bill restores power to parents, who will sit on school governing boards.

"Parents are not incompetent," he said. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2020.