Survey A majority of people in the area want the city's pension board to drop its lawsuit against former politician

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BRUCE BARTLETT
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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SAINT JOHN - Those who want the city's pension board to drop its defamation lawsuit against former councillor John Ferguson outnumber those who want to keep it going by a margin of five to one, according to a recent survey.

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KâtÈ LeBlanc/Telegraph-Journal

John Ferguson at the Charlotte Street Courthouse.

A Corporate Research Associates survey, conducted for the Telegraph-Journal during the first two weeks of June, found 56 per cent of respondents were in favour of dropping he lawsuit, 32 per cent had no opinion and only 12 per cent said it should not be dropped.

"That's a pretty strong indication that the majority of people, not just those with an opinion, would like to see this lawsuit dropped," said Don Mills, president and CEO of the Halifax-based polling firm.

A random sample of 400 people from the Greater Saint John area participated in the phone interview with city residents more strongly favoring dropping the suit at 60 per cent, compare to 52 per cent of suburban residents. Only 27 per cent of city residents had no opinion compared to 38 per cent of other residents.

The survey results are considered accurate to within 4.9 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.

"It's not surprising that there are a lot of people who couldn't offer an opinion because they are probably not following the issue," Mills said.

Thirteen past and present members of the pension board are suing Ferguson for defamation - specifically comments he made at a 2006 common council meeting about how the plan was being managed. The lawsuit was first thrown out by Justice Hugh McLellan of the Court of Queen's Bench in 2007, but that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick. It now continues under Justice Peter Glennie.

There are still many steps to go through before the case will be ready for trial.

The survey found older residents are more in favour of dropping the lawsuit than younger ones. Of those aged 18 to 34, only 37 per cent thought it should be dropped, 40 per cent had no opinion and 23 per cent felt it should continue. People between the ages of 35 and 54 were 61 per cent in favour of dropping it, 31 per cent had no opinion and eight per cent wanted it to continue. Respondents over the age of 55 were 69 per cent in favour of dropping it, 25 per cent had not opinion and six per cent wanted it to keep going.

"It does make sense that older people would be more familiar with the issue," Mills said.

That is why there are fewer people with no opinion in that age group, compare to the 40 per cent with no opinion in the 18 to 34 age group, he said.

However, Shawn Peterson, 24, is one young person with a strong opinion on the subject. He follows politics closely in Saint John and participated in the Fusion, Campaign by the Clock event, a year ago during the lead up to the last municipal election.

"I think it's a bit ridiculous," he said, referring to all the money being sunk into a lawsuit that might not go anywhere and which the majority of people want to see stopped.

Officials with the pension board estimated earlier this year that the legal bill so far was close to $500,000. Estimates are that Ferguson's defence has spent an equal amount, although paid for by an insurance policy, which place the costs at around $1 million and running.

"There are so many things that the city should be putting money into like fixing roads," Peterson said.

He believes issues like this are discouraging young people from buying homes in the city. He and his wife recently bought in east Saint John, but all their contemporaries are buying outside the city.

"There are some fundamental problems we need to look at before we start suing people for speaking their minds," he said.