Another big crowd for province's deficit reduction meeting

There was another big turn-out at the provincial government's hearings into how to reduce the deficit Tuesday night in Fredericton.

All 300-plus chairs were filled, many more people were standing, and that didn't include the union members there to protest the meeting.

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It was the second of ten meetings over ten nights leading up to the introduction of the provincial budget on Feb. 2.

"We are going to fix our finances through this process once and for all," said Liberal cabinet minister Victor Boudreau, who is in charge of the public consultation hearings.

It's the second set of public meetings, after a series in the fall where the government asked for input on what it should consider doing to tackle the deficit.

That resulted in the late November release of the Strategic Program Review, which identified key areas where the government would consider making cuts or raising revenues through tolls and taxes.

Now in this final round, Boudreau wants to judge what the public will accept and what it refuses.

Some, including the province's public sector unions, consider it all a show, and that the government is simply trying to sell its plans by concealing them as publicly-approved.

"Basically what we have here tonight and what we had last night in Bouctouche is nothing more than a dog and pony show," said Patrick Colfer, President of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour.

Union members rallied outside before the meeting at Fredericton's convention centre, and then lined the room for the opening remarks.

Their unions have asked for members to come to each meeting to protest, but they are boycotting the actual talks, leaving when they begin.

Boudreau, in need of almost $500 million in deficit reduction over his government's mandate, said the public's input is critical at these remaining meetings.

"The consultations have been real. They've been extensive. This process started over a year ago," he said.

Asked to rank options

Once the talks got underway, the audience was broken into small groups to rank the government's list of options for boosting revenue or making cuts.

It included raising the H.S.T., introducing highway tolls, cutting senior civil servants and reducing the budgets of the education and health departments.

"We're okay with some of the revenue options, like tobacco tax and things like that," said Lindsay Handren, the executive director of the New Brunswick Student Alliance.

Jerome Levesque is a newcomer to the province, who came to the meeting without representing a group or an agenda, but just to have his voice heard.

"Highway tolls is again a really good idea and it seems, I don't know why we're not doing that," he said. "It seems like picking money off the ground."

Both Bouctouche and Fredericton topped 300 in attendance, and the provincial organizers have said that they have now adjusted expectations for all the remaining public sessions.

Wednesday night's meeting is in Saint John.