Rally planned at Province House

Hundreds if not thousands of people are expected to sound off on a range of issues outside Province House on Tuesday.

But there will be one overriding message from one coalition of groups to the politicians sitting inside: Stop ignoring us.

“The government isn’t listening to the people in this province about the things they’re dealing with — we’re talking about health care, education, mental health services, a lot of environmental concerns around the province with regard to clearcutting, the pipe in Northumberland Strait for Northern Pulp,” said Stacey Rudderham, an organizer of Nova Scotians Rise Up, which will take part in a mass protest beginning at noon when the legislature begins its spring sitting.

The most prominent issue these days is education, particularly the Liberal government’s decision to largely endorse a consultant’s report recommending education reforms, including eliminating the province’s seven English language school boards and removing 1,000 principals, vice-principals and supervisors from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

Last week, about 82 per cent of NSTU members voted in favour of authorizing an illegal strike or some other job action over the issue.

But said frustration with the political process in general is boiling over.

“There’s just basically lot of exasperation among the people in this province who are hearing that the government is dealing with stakeholders and we don’t seem to be on the list of stakeholders.”