By ANDY BLATCHFORD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL - It was a sign of the coming fiscal storm: thousands of people poured into the streets of Montreal to protest Quebec's bad-news provincial budget and prompted a police intervention.
As governments everywhere try to tackle deficits after an era of heavy stimulus spending, Thursday's demonstration could be a warning of what's ahead in the post-recession era.
Police in riot gear fended off a crowd outside the Quebec finance minister's office.
Old Montreal's business district was awash in chanting, placard-waving demonstrators against a budget that will pile new costs on Quebecers, including a sales-tax hike and a historic health fee.
But Finance Minister Raymond Bachand was unapologetic in defending his budget, saying it's time Quebecers accepted that public services aren't free.
"Every adult benefits from the health system, perhaps every adult should pay for the health system," Bachand said Thursday after giving a speech to the Montreal Chamber of Commerce.
"Nothing is free".
The finance minister said he understands the public outrage, but predicted it will soon dissipate.
Bachand hopes his budget will impel a cultural revolution in the province, a change he insists Quebec taxpayers had better get used to.
The debt-ridden province is banking on new fees to pull its books out of the red.
Tuesday's budget hit Quebec's already tax-weary residents with increases to the provincial sales tax, fuel tax, electricity rates, and tuition.
The province will have the country's highest sales tax, jumping to 9.5 per cent in 2012 following another hike of one percentage point set for January 2011. That doesn't include the federal GST of five per cent.
Quebec also announced a highly controversial -- and potentially historic -- plan to start charging patients $25 for a doctor's visit.
"The budget that we tabled is a budget that presents measures necessary to preserve the future of the health system," Charest said Thursday in Montreal.
Quebec is among the most heavily indebted jurisdictions in the developed world, with debt at a crushing 94 per cent of GDP. The annual deficit is actually smaller now than it was in the 1990s, at $4.5 billion, but Bachand wants to start trimming it immediately.
Protester Emile Ouellet agrees that Quebec's health and education systems need more funding, but not on the backs of the poor.
"We have to take the money from somewhere, but we're not taking it from the (right) place," said Ouellet, who painted his face like a clown for the march.
"Rich people have more money, so you had better take it from the rich".
Demonstrators marching on behalf of numerous causes, from students to unions to community groups, snaked through the city and congregated outside of Bachand's office building.
Police say more than 100 protesters forced their way into the tower, where some broke doors, dumped potted plants and emptied fire extinguishers.
Officers in riot gear intervened and one man was arrested for breaking and entering, Const. Andre Leclerc said.
"They did not manage to get inside the office of the finance minister," Leclerc said.
More public unrest across Canada could be on the way as provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario turn to public-sector wage freezes.
Most provinces are planning to stick to big-ticket stimulus spending this year and won't turn off the tap until after 2011.
Federal opposition parties are quietly counting on a similar backlash against the Conservatives when they eventually shift to deficit-tackling measures following this year's stay-the-course approach.
Toronto Sun
