Government review forum fails to produce consensus on cuts

The Gallant government says it will move ahead with tough decisions in next year's provincial budget after a key consultation forum failed to produce a clear consensus on spending cuts.

About 75 people spent two days in Fredericton in a forum intended to generate ideas on reducing spending and increasing revenue.

But the conversations often strayed away from those goals, with some participants calling for more public spending and hiringnot less, while others spoke mainly in generalities about broad principles.

"The theme that emerges for me is complacency among people like ourselves," complained Anthony Knight, the CEO of the New Brunswick Medical Society. "We're not really willing to ask ourselves tough questions."

Activists and public-sector union representatives criticized the talk of spending cuts and the idea of privatizing some government services.

Vallie Stearns, of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the government should be expanding public services and hiring more people, not outsourcing work to the private sector.

"Our tax dollars should not go towards private profit. Those two things should not be mixed up," she said.

At one point, cabinet minister Victor Boudreau, who is overseeing the Strategic Program Review, went to the podium to admonish participants for not offering specific ideas.

Responding to calls for better long-term planning in government, Boudreau said the priority was finding short-term spending cuts to get the budget balanced.

"I beg of you as we move forward today to please try to focus on the short-term decisions to be made to help government balance the books, because that's what this exercise is about," he said.

Boudreau has said he wants to close a $600-million budget gap through both spending cuts and new revenue.

That figure represents the current budget forecast as well as additional costs that the government is projecting based on spending patterns.

Boudreau told reporters that he was disappointed at the meandering discussions, although he said many good ideas did emerge.

The government will look at all of the ideas and produce a document of specific proposals that will be published this fall for public feedback, he said.

3,200 civil service jobs cuts proposed

Despite the lack of consensus, Boudreau made it clear the Liberals will stick with their plan to deliver a budget next year that is even tougher than this year's.

"Look, we all want what's best for the province, and I understand when people stand up and say that we need to do more to improve outcomes in education and we need to do more to provide positive outcomes in health," he said.

"Well, before getting there, we need to address the fiscal challenges. We need to balance the books."

One of the starkest comments on Thursday came from Dave Ferguson, the chair of the Horizon Health Network. Ferguson used to be the clerk of the executive council, the highest-ranking position in the civil service.

Ferguson said he was disappointed that the Liberals had put off tough decisions until next year.

And he offered his own calculation of what needs to happen: to make up $500 million, he said, it would take a two-point increase in the sales tax plus the elimination of 3,200 provincial government jobs.

"When people come here and are talking about, 'Maybe we should shift this, or shift that,' that's not getting us to 3,200 fewer jobs," he said. "That's what we need if we're going to have an affordable system."