New Brunswick has unique educational challenges that can only be met with the current dual French and English public school systems, Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said.

Kelly was responding to comments made over the weekend by Justin Trudeau, who told a meeting of elementary school teachers in Saint John that the province should scrap its two systems in favour of one, more cost-effective system for everyone.

Lamrock said he was surprised by the comments from Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau who recently entered politics as a candidate for the federal Liberals.

New Brunswick's unique challenges can only be addressed by two school systems, Lamrock said.

For instance in Tracadie, where there is a lot of French on the street and French at home, students there would take intensive English early on, Lamrock said.

"In other anglophone urban centres, it's important to make sure that francophone students … have one place in the school that can focus on French language and French culture and build that foundation."

New Brunswick's education system is working just fine, Lamrock said, and other provinces could learn from it.