Student demonstrators disrupt Cathy Bennett speech in Corner Brook

Finance Minister Cathy Bennett was met with student protesters this morning while speaking to the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade.

• Full coverage: Newfoundland and Labrador Budget 2016 

Bennett took the high road, shaking the students' hands and continuing to the podium to address the crowd.

Bennett used the speech, her second since April 14, to promote the budget, and talked about money for infrastructure, jobs and the Corner Brook hospital.

Budget cuts are an 'injustice'

The students are protesting the cuts to the needs-based grants program and the reinstatement of provincial student loans.

"Budgets are about choices, and this government has made the choice to ignore the youth and people of Newfoundland and Labrador and instead prioritize the interests of the wealthy," Sara Langer, vice-president of the Grenfell Campus Student Union, said in a statement.

"Cuts to the needs-based grants program will impact our most vulnerable students. We will not stay silent in the face of this injustice."

Langer said the government's changes will mean some students could incur as much as $6,700 in additional student debt over a four-year program, adding that the Liberal government has ignored students' concerns.

"As someone who has worked multiple part-time jobs while still taking on massive debt, I know first-hand the impact that these cuts to the grants program will have," student Gary Savoury said in a student union statement. 

"I want to stay in this province after graduation and raise a family here, but as my student debt continues to rise, I become more and more worried about finding a decent job right away in order to pay down that debt, even if that job takes me outside of Newfoundland and Labrador." 

Tough decisions

The finance minister said that the Liberal government had to make some tough decisions that not everyone will agree with.

"It's difficult to hear the impact of these decisions on the province and we are always going to be respectful to those individuals that want to share with us their opinions, especially those who are passionate and may have a contrary opinion to ours," she said.

Bennett also tried to put the budget measures in perspective.

"The fact is the tax increases in conjunction with the deficit levy are no higher on every single category than they were in 2006," she said. 

"We have implemented the Newfoundland income supplement to offset the impact for low income seniors, individuals, peoples with disabilities and that's the facts we are going to get out to the people of the province."