March 23, 2007 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLV No. 40


The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit Strangers.

This afternoon we are very pleased to welcome to the public gallery, Mr. Mark Small, who is a sealer with the North East Sealers Co-op; and we have from The Carino Group of Companies Mr. Knut Nygaard and Mr. John Kearley.

Welcome to our House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: the hon. the Member for the District of Humber Valley; the hon. the Member for the District of Bonavista South; the hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair; the hon. the Member for the District of Placentia & St. Mary's; the hon. the Member for the District of Burgeo & LaPoile; and the hon. the Member for the District of Ferryland.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for the District of Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to recognize two constituents in my district, Norman and Pearl Moss of Deer Lake, who recently celebrated a huge milestone in their lives, their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

Mr. and Mrs. Moss were married on March 11, 1947, at the old Salvation Army Church in Deer Lake. During their married life they have had six children, five of whom live on the Island and are within ten minutes of their hometown.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. and Mrs. Moss have been blessed with sixteen grandchildren and over twenty great-grandchildren. Mr. Moss has worked all his life as a carpenter and woodsman for Bowaters. He retired in 1993, and since that time both Mr. and Mrs. Moss have spent their time quietly enjoying family and friends.

It is inspiring to hear stories like Mr. and Mrs. Moss' - they are an example of the beautiful importance of family and family ties that can be seen across our great Province.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members to join with me in extending congratulations to Norman and Pearl Moss, on their sixtieth wedding anniversary. May they have many more happy years of togetherness.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista South.

MR. FITZGERALD: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Sir William F. Coaker Heritage Foundation on its recent receipt of a Manning Award from the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Manning Award for Excellence in the Public Presentation of Historic Places was presented in a ceremony last week to Mr. Bruce Sweetland, Chairman of the Coaker Foundation, for work at the Fishermen's Advocate Building in Port Union.

Mr. Speaker, we all recognize the importance of preserving our Province's culture and heritage, and the work being done by local volunteer groups, like the Coaker Foundation, is absolutely tremendous. It is wonderful to see such hard work and dedication rewarded in this way. As Edith Samson, Executive Coordinator of the Foundation, said, it lets them know their efforts are appreciated and it inspires them to continue doing this important work.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very prestigious award for the Coaker Foundation and, indeed, the whole local area. I encourage all hon. members to go see the restoration work being done in Port Union and I ask you to join me in congratulating the Coaker Foundation on receiving the Manning Award.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate the members of the Red Bay Volunteer Fire Brigade who have been honoured for twenty and twenty-five years of dedicated service to their volunteer fire brigade and their community.

Mr. Speaker, the work and dedication of these volunteer firefighters over the years shows a tremendous commitment to their community and highlights the character of individuals who volunteer to be a part of such an operation in their communities.

Volunteer firefighters deserve to be recognized, not only by their communities but by the Province as well because of the work that they do to ensure the safety of the residents of their communities. They often place their lives on the line for the protection of people in a moment's notice, at times not knowing the situation or the circumstance that they may have to deal with.

I am proud, Mr. Speaker, as the MHA, to recognize the following individuals for their service of dedication as volunteer firefighters in the Town of Red Bay. Mr. Speaker, I would like to add, that back a few weeks ago I did present to them certificates on behalf of the Minister of Municipal Affairs for their service as well. They are: Phil Bridle, Eric Layden, Leslie John Layden, Mervin Layden, Eric Paul, Ian Stone; and for twenty-five years of service: Les Belben, Frank Brown, Reg Moores, Bruce Moores, Clarence Moores, Edmund Ryan and Ron Ryan.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Assembly today to join me in congratulating the members of the Red Bay Volunteer Fire Brigade and, in doing so, recognizing the volunteer firefighters all throughout our Province and thanking them for their dedication and their tremendous service to communities and to residents in our Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia & St. Mary's.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to pay tribute to the Genesis Employment Corporation of Placentia, which is a community-based supported employment agency serving the Placentia and Cape Shore area.

Supported employment provides job search assistance, placement and on-the-job training for individuals with developmental disabilities.

On Tuesday, February 27, Genesis held their annual Employer and Supporter Recognition Night in partnership with the Argentia Area Chamber of Commerce. This marked the tenth anniversary of Genesis in Placentia, and during that time the corporation has generated over 150,000 hours of employment.

This year, the employment award was won by the Town of Placentia. This award honours the employer who has made an outstanding contribution to the increased employment of individuals with developmental disabilities in the Placentia-Cape Shore area.

I was pleased to be able to attend the ceremony, along with my colleague, the hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment.

I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating the board, the staff, partners and employers of the Genesis Employment Corporation, for ten years of contributing to the meaningful lives of these individuals.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate the Gateway Status of Women's Council on their twenty-fifth anniversary, which they celebrated in conjunction with their annual Bread and Roses Dinner recently. The council's goal is to improve the quality of life for women and, in turn, improve the quality of life for their families and local communities.

Mr. Speaker, they had a packed house. There were 164 women in attendance, from all walks of life. Three women from Port aux Basques told personal stories explaining their life struggles as women living in rural Newfoundland, and how the women's centre helped them tackle the challenges. The stories touched everyone in the house.

Mr. Speaker, the message from nearly everyone who stood at the podium that evening during their Bread and Roses Dinner was: Many battles have been won, but there is still a lot of work to do.

The energy, the enthusiasm, and the dedication in that group is as strong now as it was when they started twenty-five years ago.

The women's centre, with their office in Port aux Basques, has been an important and necessary force in the social, family, economic and political life in Southwestern Newfoundland for the past twenty-five years.

I ask all members of this House to join with me in congratulating the Gateway Status of Women's Council on their twenty-fifth anniversary. We wish them well, and many more years of success.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize and congratulate the Goulds Lions Club on their thirtieth anniversary celebrated at their charter night which I attended on Saturday, March 17.

The contribution this group has made to their community and to the lives of children is outstanding. The club has been involved in fundraising initiatives, both big and small, over the past thirty years, including $25,000 for the Goulds Fire Department, $105,000 to the Goulds arena, $30,000 to Goulds schools, and the list goes on and on for financial contributions in their area. Their generosity and hard work has been extended to seniors' projects, St. John Ambulance, food banks and Christmas hampers.

The Lions have also been heavily involved with youth groups, in particular the Lion Max Simms Memorial Camp that provides a summer camp experience for kids with physical disability. Over the past thirty years, the club has contributed unselfishly over $500,000 to different projects in the region.

Mr. Speaker, it is groups like the Goulds Lions Club who continue to build and sustain the fabric of our communities through the values of sharing, caring, and providing a helping hand.

It is indeed an honour and privilege to have such an organization as part of the District of Ferryland, and I once again congratulate them on the thirtieth anniversary and the outstanding contribution they make in the lives of so many.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, sealing has been an important economic activity in Newfoundland and Labrador for hundreds of years. It continues to be critically important for many fish harvesters, plant workers and coastal communities.

During the last year, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been stepping up our communications activity in relation to the sealing industry to address the misinformation about the industry that is put in the public domain by international animal rights organizations.

In Budget 2006, we as a government recognized the need to correct this misinformation, and $100,000 was dedicated towards the implementation of a sealing industry communications strategy. I am pleased to announce today, Mr. Speaker, as part of that initiative, government is launching a sealing industry communications Web site.

Mr. Speaker, it is critical for the public to have easy access to factual information on the sealing industry. The groups that are spreading the misinformation have a strong Web presence, and in order to effectively counter this information, or this misinformation, it is important that government have a strong presence as well. The Web site, which was launched this morning, will enable people who wish to be better informed on the sealing industry to have easy access to that information.

As part of our efforts, our government has partnered with industry, including some of the representatives who are present in the gallery here today. We have met with European Parliamentarians, journalists and embassy staff members. We have also participated in meetings in Boston and Los Angeles with federal government and industry representatives.

Last week I was in Ottawa to lead a provincial delegation to the counter-demonstration referred to as "Up the Anti" event on Parliament Hill. Over 120 individuals from across the country joined together to ensure that the truth was told.

My colleague, the hon. Trevor Taylor, the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, in co-operation with the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, will be part of a delegation of individuals to Europe beginning Sunday, March 25. The delegation will meet again with European Parliamentarians and media regarding the seal harvest. The delegation will be travelling to Brussels, London, Berlin and The Hague.

Mr. Speaker, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we take a great deal of pride in this industry which is humane, sustainable, extremely well managed and economically viable. As a government, we will continue to promote and defend it to all those who need to be educated and informed on the true facts of this very important industry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the Minister of Fisheries for an advance copy of his statement.

I would also like to welcome Mr. Small and representatives of Carino to the gallery today, all of whom I know and have worked closely with as Minister of Fisheries for the Province and as Executive Assistant to a previous Minister of Fisheries. I commend them on the work that they have done for the sealing industry and I would also like to commend the initiatives that the provincial government has undertaken in the last couple of years to promote, enhance and maintain our sealing fishery.

As a private citizen, as Minister of Fisheries in the past and as an MHA today, I certainly have always supported the sealing industry. In fact, my father sailed to the ice on the last voyage that the Kyle made back in the mid-1960s, Mr. Speaker, and I remember that well.

There is one initiative in this report today that I cannot support and that is this delegation that is being led by, I would assume, His Excellency, Loyola Sullivan, to the EU this weekend. The reason for that comes about as a result of a telephone call that I received just minutes before coming to the House of Assembly today from a Mr. Eldred Woodford of Herring Neck, which is in my district, and Eldred happens to be the President of the Canadian Sealers Association, the association, which I might add, Mr. Speaker, that Mr. Small was president of and did yeoman service. It is the Canadian Sealers Association that kept the seal fishery alive after the whitecoat fishery was stopped back in the 1970s. Without that association we would not be talking about seals today.

Unfortunately, Mr. Woodford called to inform me that a couple of short weeks ago he was called by External Affairs or Foreign Affairs, as the President of the Canadian Sealers Association, and invited to go on this junket. He had his passport prepared and everything was a go until Wednesday afternoon, when he -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. REID: By leave, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been requested.

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave is granted.

MR. REID: Wednesday, of this week, he was called by an individual in External Affairs in Ottawa and was told that he could not go on this junket because there was no room for him. The President of the Canadian Sealers Association, not just of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Sealers Association, an individual who was dully elected president of that association, and he is finding it appalling. He thinks it is deliberate and he called it nothing short of a slap in the face to the Sealers Association of this country, and especially of Newfoundland and Labrador. He thinks it is a deliberate attempt at keeping the Sealers Association away from this event. I call on the minister and the Premier today to interfere with his excellency, Mr. Sullivan, and Minister Hearn to have that solved so that the President of the Canadian Sealers Association can take part in this, because if he is not there the rest of it will be nothing but a sham and a joke.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader, with leave.

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, just for a second or so, with the concurrence of my colleagues opposite. I only became aware as I was en route to the House to make a statement that this matter had in fact surfaced. It had surfaced in another form, in terms of the Province and its official delegation, and we spent the morning getting that straightened away, and the minister will now be accompanied by another person from the Province.

Let me say this, if the President of the Canadian Sealers Association is available to be part of this very important mission, the Province will pay for his transportation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, here!

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

MR. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to inform my hon. colleagues that government has approved $36.2 million in provincial funding for municipal capital works for 2007-2008.

Capital Works Programs will assist municipalities develop municipal infrastructure and will support continued growth and development of communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. In partnership with federal and municipal counterparts, the total value of capital works commitments for 2007-2008 is $77.4 million.

This commitment will allow municipalities an earlier start to the construction process and provide additional time for projects to be completed. Municipal capital works programming supports infrastructure programs for residents of the Province and, in addition, Province-wide, will provide up to 64,000 person weeks of direct or indirect and spinoff employment.

The capital works commitment includes the Municipal Capital Works Program, Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund, Gas Tax Program, and the Multi-Year Capital Works Program, all of which are administered by the Department of Municipal Affairs.

Historically, the majority of funding has been directed towards water and sewer infrastructure. In light of increasing demands, government will begin to broaden investments in municipal infrastructure to address investment deficits in the areas of recreation, buildings and fire equipment. An increased emphasis will be placed on infrastructure where investments are required and can be supported by a business case analysis which rationalizes the need and the long-term sustainability of the infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, we remain committed to working with municipalities to find cost-effective solutions to address increasing infrastructure requirements for municipalities across Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Department of Municipal Affairs is in the process of evaluating applications for municipal capital works, and will make announcements for specific projects in the near future.

Mr. Speaker, I will just add that I think there will be somewhere between sixty and seventy new projects approved this year, in the very near future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

When I looked at it, I saw the amount that was there, $77.4 million for this year, and I thought it might be a little low. I went back and checked, and in 2004 there was about $100 million. I think there might have been more than that in 2005-2006, but I would have to do some more checking on that.

Again, to have early starts, like has been done sometimes, is very advantageous for the municipalities. It gives them time to prepare and call tenders and have the work done. That has to be lauded, as I said, as we have been doing for some time.

It is good to see the broadening, as the minister talked about, other than infrastructure, into such areas as he has already announced, in recreation, buildings and fire equipment; however, if the amount of money is not there to do it all, I am just wondering which one of these particular projects, or part of the municipal funding, will have to do with less.

I am a little concerned about the last sentence in paragraph four. Probably, in talking with the minister a little later on, he might be able to explain it in more detail for me. This is what it says: An increased emphasis will be placed on infrastructure where investments are required and can be supported by a business case analysis which rationalizes the need and the long-term sustainability of the infrastructure.

It causes me concern, because I am not sure if the small rural communities will be able to take advantage of all of this and if, rather, in a sense, they might be -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. LANGDON: Just a minute?

MR. SPEAKER: The member asks for leave.

Has leave been granted?

MR. LANGDON: Just a minute?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave is granted.

MR. LANGDON: Okay, thank you.

- if they will be eliminated from participating in these programs.

I do not think for one moment that it was a matter of deliberate exclusion rather than to include, and I am sure the minister, as I said, can probably explain that to us a little later as to what that particular trend would be.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers.

The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform hon. colleagues about an event, sponsored and organized by the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, designed to help develop our provincial craft industry.

Mr. Speaker, the craft industry provides employment to more than 2,000 people in Newfoundland and Labrador, many in rural areas, and is worth an estimated $38 million with the potential to grow substantially.

To support the growth of the craft industry, INTRD holds an annual trade show and conference for local craft producers. This weekend, March 24 and March 25, we will host the fourteenth Annul Provincial Craft Trade Show and Marketing Conference at the Holiday Inn in St. John's.

The show will feature thirty-nine exhibitors of high quality Newfoundland and Labrador craft, and attract over 100 wholesale buyers from craft and gift shops from across the Province who will place orders for the coming season.

Through this event, craft producers have a dedicated venue through which to sell their products to wholesale buyers. We also use this event as an opportunity to provide the industry with professional development seminars. As with previous years, awards for the Best Booth and the Heather Stone Award for Best New Product will be presented.

Mr. Speaker, the quality products made by Newfoundland and Labrador craft producers are being recognized outside of this Province as well. Last month, two local companies and a College of the North Atlantic student won awards at the Atlantic Craft Trade Show in Halifax.

Scraps of Beachside won the Award in Excellence in Product Design. Abbyshot Clothiers Limited of Mount Pearl won the Award in Excellence for Outstanding Exporter. Gillian Slaney, a College of the North Atlantic student in St. John's, won the Heather Stone Emerging Artist Award.

 

Mr. Speaker, 2007 has been named the Year of the Craft in Canada. This government recognizes the value of the craft industry to this Province and is proud to support its growth. I congratulate all Newfoundland and Labrador craft producers on their quality, creativity and achievement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS FOOTE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement today.

Of course, I too support the craft industry and I certainly support this initiative which was an initiative of a Liberal Administration. It is another opportunity to showcase our craft industry, and anyone who knows and is familiar with the craft industry in our Province would have to talk about the variety and the quality of products being produced in Newfoundland and Labrador today.

I would also like to mention, they have the Stone award because I knew Heather and I think to have that award established to remember Heather and her contribution to the craft sector in our Province was certainly the right thing to do. In fact, I was delighted when I heard about it.

This is again an excellent opportunity to showcase what we have before us in our Province and the many people who work in the craft industry. As the minister has said, when you talk about an estimated $38 million, with a tremendous potential for growth, then anybody would have to support this particular industry.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House we questioned the negative impact that the Premier's confrontational approach with Ottawa will have on this Province. Today we want to explore the negative impact that the Premier's confrontational approach will have on the business sector in our Province. Since taking office this Premier and his government have called ExxonMobil a rouge partner; the CEO of Abitibi Consolidated incompetent and should be replaced by the board of directors; NOIA, an industry group that represents hundreds of local businesses in this Province, he called them ‘ANNOYA'; and has told countless other companies, including the one wanting to do wind power development in Lower Churchill, to go fly a kite.

I ask the Premier: When are you planning to tone down your confrontational tone and rhetoric and do something to prevent the hundreds and thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from leaving this Province on a daily basis to find employment elsewhere?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I do not think I said go fly a kite, but I am pretty sure I said all the rest of it and I certainly stand by it.

Mr. Speaker, we make no apologizes for taking tough stands. When the federal government, the Liberal government, the Martin government, basically said to us take it or leave it, a colleague of the hon. people opposite, we said, no, we are not going to just take it. We are going to stand and we are going to stand tall and we are going to fight.

I would think that the hon. member opposite is assuming that we should take a company like ExonMobil, who made $40 billion last year, which is about four times the total debt of our entire Province - they paid their CEO, if I remember correctly, about $500 million, about half a billion dollars. They were asking us, as a government, to give them a half billion dollars in concessions so that they could then pay that to one person, who is a CEO of the company.

I would like to know from the hon. member opposite where he stands. Do you want us to give it away or do you want us to rollover? I stand for no giveaways. Where do you stand?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, it is like I said earlier, it is time for the Premier to give up his foolishness and his rhetoric and get down to working a deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. REID: I am not talking about giving anything away, Mr. Speaker. What I am talking about is making a deal; a deal that is good for this Province so that we do not see, everyday, people leaving here to find work elsewhere.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, the Premier does not hold, sir, a monopoly on patriotism to this Province, I say. Now it has been almost a year since this Premier launched into his Incredible Hulk-like attack against the oil companies that ended with the Hebron-Ben Nevis field shelved. Instead of trying to negotiate, the Premier walked away, leaving any chance of this project going ahead delayed indeterminately. Meanwhile, the Province is expected to be last in the country in economic growth next year, the real estate market is in decline and there are businesses in this general area, as well as all over the Province, who are suffering as a result of no deal.

I ask the Premier: When are you going to get back to the table and at least talk to the partners in this oil company, or in this oil field?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman opposite has certainly changed his tune when it comes to talking tough. Back in April, 2003, in Hansard, he said: For the Opposition - referring to us - to be sitting across the floor and trying to give the impression that we have to somehow try and get along with these people in Ottawa after getting kicked in the teeth so many times in the last fifty years, I think it is time for that to stop.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Well, we stopped it. We did exactly what you suggested.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: And now, Mr. Speaker, we have a new, big buddy of big oil and it is the hon. Leader of the Opposition. He is now standing up to support these companies who not only want a half billion dollars in tax credits, but they go to the C-NOPB and they do not provide us with enough information so that we can make a proper decision. Would he like us to grant Hibernia South without having adequate information? Would he like us to give the half billion dollars to the oil companies? Would he like us to give the gas tax relief that they were asking? The rest of us in the Province are paying because of increased oil prices, as everybody in the country is, but ExxonMobil and their partners want a tax break on gas and oil, which they produce. That is what they asked us for and we said no deal to that. But, now you are the new big buddy of big oil. Good luck to you!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, if the issue was not so serious it would be laughable. The little boy from Carbonear is the friend of big oil. Talking about reminding people of what they say, Mr. Speaker, when the Premier sat here three short years ago he criticized those opposite for their confrontational approach to negotiations and said that this has to stop, that he was the great negotiator and that he was going to solve all these problems through his negotiating abilities. If you are talking about who says what -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair has recognized the hon. Leader of the Opposition. I ask all members for their co-operation.

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: If you are talking about who supports whom in this House of Assembly, I would ask the Premier to get out his little brochure he was passing out one year ago when he was out campaigning for Stephen Harper, the fellow who just stuck the knife in his back this week, I say to the Premier.

Mr. Premier, in today's Telegram -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. REID: Could I have some order, Mr. Speaker, please?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair has recognized the hon. the Leader of the Opposition. I ask him to put his question immediately.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, in today's Telegram a businessperson involved in the oil and gas industry states, in reference to the Premier, "As far as everyone is concerned globally, we're not open for business. No one wants to deal with him. All he does is fight. The business community here is sick of it."

I ask the Premier: Are you concerned that members of the local business community believe that you are scaring away private sector investment because of your confrontational approach to negotiations?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the approach that we took with the Martin government got us $2 billion. We know what that got us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: We used that money to fund up our public sector pensions. That is why the hon. minister stood proudly, or sat proudly, at a news conference just recently with the heads of all the unions and they acknowledged the tremendous contribution that we have made.

As for the business person that was in the paper today, if you read that article, that person is an unnamed person. That person is a coward, who will not put his or her name forward in the paper. Why won't that person name themselves? I don't stand up here in this House and answer allegations from people who don't have the guts to put their name in a (inaudible) paper.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I guess the Premier would like to sue him as well, would you?

I say to the Premier, if a Liberal Prime Minister did not give you the Atlantic Accord, what could you stand and slap yourself on the back about today, I say to the Premier? Nothing.

Mr. Speaker, exploration in our offshore is also taking a nose-dive. In each year since 2003, when this government was elected, exploration has dropped. In 2003, over $672 million was committed. In 2004, $71 million was committed. In 2005, $39 million was committed. Last year, $31 million was committed in new exploration bids.

I ask the Premier: Are you concerned that these figures have dropped each year under your leadership, and that there is a direct correlation between what is happening there and your confrontational approach?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the reality of the fact is that, from the original reserves that Hibernia had, which I think was a little over 500 million barrels, they are now at 1.2 billion. The C-NOPB estimate is, that could be conservative and, in fact, that could be 1.9 billion, if I remember correctly, so that would be about four times the original estimates.

Husky and White Rose have just recently announced that they have another reservoir, that they basically doubled their reserves. Petro Canada have indicated that their reserves have increased.

As well, the situation which is referred to in that article, which is the Erik Raude or Erik Rhode, whatever the proper name of that particular rig is, we have been notified by ExxonMobil that there are actually mechanical and technical difficulties with that rig. There are actually problems that they are having in actually drilling out there.

So, you can read into it whatever you want, and the articles in The Telegram can imply whatever they want, but the reality is that the company is actually saying to us that, in fact, the delay is due to problems that are occurring with the rig. So, that is the truth of the matter.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the Premier, the business people of the community are all wrong; The Telegram cannot get it right. Everybody is wrong expect you, I say to the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, ExxonMobil and Chevron have announced that exploration wells scheduled to be drilled in the Orphan Basin will not be moving forward this year. Many local service and supply companies are worried about the impact that this will have on their businesses, as the Erik Raude was scheduled to do drilling.

In addition, another drill vessel, the Henry Goodridge, will be leaving the offshore out here late this summer and heading for the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a void for many companies and individuals who provided goods and services to those rigs.

I ask the Premier: How many jobs will be lost as a result of these rigs leaving, and what impact will that have on the local economy of this area?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman opposite is obviously not following world trends. Rigs are in huge demand - that is the reality of it - it is very difficult to get rigs. The rigs that are to be obtained are now in a deep water environment and they are learning as they go, so it is a learning experience. Rigs are being booked when they can get them, and as they need them, but it comes back to, where is he going with this?

Is he going back to the Hebron development? Is that what it is all about? So, he is basically going to say that we should roll over on Hebron, we should give it away; because the hon. House Leader was on the radio last year and in one breath he was saying we should fight, we should dig in, no more giveaways. On the other hand he was saying we should sit down, we should negotiate, we should get the deal done, because that will create jobs and that will put more money and that will pour more profits in the pockets of the oil companies.

Well, we do not stand for that. Our concern is not ExxonMobil, it is not Chevron, and not Norske Hydro.

MR. SWEENEY: Obviously.

PREMIER WILLIAMS: It is not, obviously not, hon. member. Obviously not, the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace, definitely not. Our concern is the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: It comes down not to their profits, because they are making exorbitant profits. It comes down to our return for our people, what goes in their pockets, so that we can build hospitals and schools and we can pay off pension funds, and we can do all the right things that are necessary for this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will tell the Premier what it is all about. It is about keeping thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in the Province so we do not have to witness the 9,000 who were lined up on Kenmount Road before Christmas. That is what it is all about!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: I say to the Premier: When are you going to come down off your soapbox and do something for the youth and the grandmothers and the grandfathers and the fathers and the mothers in this Province, so that we do not have to see the exodus of people like we have been watching under your watch?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Let's talk about that, Mr. Speaker. Let's talk about some of the things that we are doing.

What I have been doing, every time I can, is trying to read as many of the papers and watch as much of the media as I can, just to track exactly what is doing and what people are saying.

In The Business Post, a quote from The Business Post, January 29, 2007, "Mining and exploration companies need favourable political and economic climates in which to operate and Newfoundland and Labrador's is among the best. Few governments support the industry the way ours does.... I don't think you could be in a better environment."

 

The fur industry, the Advertiser, January 18, 2007, "...fur is quickly emerging as an economic plus for the province.... Mr. Wiseman says with the growth in the industry, there are

‘tremendous opportunities' to start fur farms."

The nor'wester, "The first shipment of gold ore has arrived from Greenland...".

We are bringing ore in!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: We are not shipping it out; we are bringing it in.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: The Business Post, again, "The value to our economy in 2006 from aquaculture was over $100 million.... We have more than 1,000 people in coastal areas of this province dependent upon aquaculture."

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: The Coaster, February 20, 2007, "...the Coast of Bays region in southern Newfoundland is considered by many to be on the brink of being a leading center of rural revitalization. It's a very exciting time..." they say.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: It is an exciting time; you just don't like it!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Cartwright- L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the Premier, it is easy to come in here and read headlines from papers across the Province that talk a different story as well about out-migration and job loss and unemployment, and people living below the poverty line, but my questions today are for the Minister of Natural Resources.

This provincial government's effort to negotiate with the federal government is evident in the federal government's goose egg for Newfoundland and Labrador in the recent budget, but I say that government's record in negotiating with the private sector groups is not hot either.

The joint partnership between the Labrador Metis Nation and Ventus Energy is prepared to invest $2.5 billion in revenue - more than those equivalent to the Atlantic Accord - and give the Province a 25 per cent equity share in the Highland wind project in Labrador that will generate 1,000 megawatts of power.

I ask the minister today: Why have she and the Premier not been able to take the time to even sit down and hear this case for energy development in Labrador, and why are you not encouraging this investment by the Metis Energy Corporation?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Mr. Speaker, the proposal that is being suggested by the hon. member, the critic for Natural Resources, is part and parcel of an energy plan that is being presently worked on by this government. A plan, by the way, Mr. Speaker, which requires -

MR. REID: (Inaudible) four years.

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Yes, it is four years, but I will remind -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: I will remind the hon. member, Mr. Speaker, when I sat in Opposition, it was in 1998 when the government of the day - which was comprised mostly of members opposite - in fact stated that they were ready to start and commence the working of an energy plan. Well, Mr. Speaker, five years later, in 2003, when members opposite were defeated, we in this Province were still waiting for an energy plan.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Mr. Speaker, it is an important issue. We will put the due diligence into this work. It is important work on behalf of the people in the Province. We hope to be in the position to announce to the public in the spring of this year our complete and diverse energy plan on behalf of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. However, Mr. Speaker, if it takes a while longer, that will be the case.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Now, Mr. Speaker, I listened to the minister and it blows me away, and I will tell you why.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS JONES: He stands up and he says that you cannot entertain an energy project in Labrador in the absence of an energy plan. Well, I would like to remind the minister that there are private sector companies investing in wind power and environmental assessments being conducted on the Island of Newfoundland today in the absence of an energy plan. Why the double standard for Labrador, Minister? Why are you not allowing the Metis Energy Corporation and Ventus Energy to move forward with an environment assessment on this particular wind power project? You know it does not grant approval or disapproval by allowing that to happen. So, why aren't you doing it?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: As just indicated, Mr. Speaker, this proposal that is being presented by the member opposite will be considered in its entirety as part and parcel of an energy plan, which is being put together, which is being worked on by this government, as we speak, and in due course the appropriate announcement will be made.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, we already know that there are two standards here. There are projects given the environmental assessment and the go ahead for wind power on the Island, but this company has not been granted the same in Labrador. In fact, this company has been doing wind data on the Smallwood Reservoir on the Height of Land wind project for the past year. They are prepared to share that data with government.

I have to ask, Minister: Why are you not communicating with this company? Why is it that government went in there and put up their own wind towers to conduct their own data? Are your relations and negotiating tactics with private companies so bad in this Province that you cannot even sit down and talk about a project of this magnitude with this kind of capital investment in Newfoundland and Labrador.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Mr. Speaker, the proposal as suggested and the points being brought forward have validity. They have validity on their own. This particular proposal and this concept must be considered in the entirety of an energy plan which is part and parcel of an energy policy for this government. As we speak, it is being formulated. It is proposed that this government, through the Premier - and presumably my colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources, will make the appropriate announcement in due course and we will then see whether or not the points and the validity that is made by the hon. member will, in fact, be included.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, in the government's response on wind development in the Province, they talked about small wind and big wind. Well, we know where the big wind is in Labrador and it is the Member for Lake Melville, I say to you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, let me ask this question on the Lower Churchill Development. Two weeks ago the Prime Minister announced nearly $600 million for the Province of Ontario, a large portion of which will be used as investment in the construction of an east-west electrical transmission interconnect with Manitoba, allowing Ontario to move forward with clean, hydro electric power.

I would like to ask: Why were there no funds forthcoming for the development of Newfoundland and Labrador's clean energy hydro project on the Churchill River in the recent Federal Budget?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: If I can, Mr. Speaker, I have been involved in discussions at that level that evolved through the Council of the Federation, and I am Chairman of that energy committee as well, which is looking at national energy grids right across the country.

There seems to be an appetite in Canada to entertain an energy grid from Manitoba to Ontario. I have always maintained that an east-west energy grid is St. John's to the other coast. Obviously they are not listening, and of course the reason is because Quebec are opposing it. Quebec are adamantly opposing an energy grid that comes on past Quebec. That is where the stop is, that is where the block is, and that is something - not the Bloc Québécois. That is where the blockade is. That is something we are dealing with, that is something that we are wrestling with, and basically we have to convince the rest of the country that it is very, very important that we have a complete transmission grid because our power is as good as anybody's else. It is our goal to either deliver it to the rest of Canada, either through Quebec into Ontario, either through Quebec down to New Brunswick, or otherwise we are going to go east and we are going to go south and we are going to go into New Brunswick and we are taking that power to the States. That is where we are taking it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest as the Premier tried to take credit for initiatives happening in this Province which the government had nothing to do with. Absolutely nothing!

What is truly ironic is that when he was Leader of the Opposition he did not hesitate to refer to any out-migration as a result of government mismanagement. Now that he is Premier he is singing a different tune.

Well, Premier, how do you explain your mismanagement to the people of Bird Cove and Tilt Cove where the population has dropped by 50 per cent; to the people of Whiteway, where it has dropped by 32 per cent; Fermeuse, 28 per cent; St. Shotts, 24 per cent, all under your watch?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest if the people opposite, when they were in government, had made the appropriate investments in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and put the appropriate programs in place when we had about $4 billion come down from the federal government in the wake of the collapse of the cod fishery, if they had made the appropriate investments at that time, Mr. Speaker, the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly in the rural areas, might be a little more diversified than it currently is, and the people who have left those communities over the past fifteen years, might not, Mr. Speaker, have had to go.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: The difference, Mr. Speaker, that would have been since we took over, because we have established a Regional Sectorial Diversification Fund, we have established an SME Fund, we have, Mr. Speaker, established a Commercialization Fund through our Innovation Strategy, and we have, Mr. Speaker, expanded the Business and Market Development Program in the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development. We have invested, Mr. Speaker, tens of millions of dollars over the course of the last three years in infrastructure, in programs and in businesses in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and that is what is going to turn it around, that approach, not the approach that they had for fifteen years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, what is so funny here is how they continue to blame the previous Administration after four years in office; fours years and you still cannot get it right.

In my District of Grand Bank, there has been a population decline in most of the twenty communities. To name a few: Point May, 19 per cent; Frenchman's Cove, 15 per cent; St. Lawrence, 13 per cent; Lord's Cove, 11 per cent; Fortune and Point au Gaul, 10 per cent; Grand Bank, Lamaline and Lawn, 9 per cent. Three years ago the Premier appointed a rural secretariat which, to date, has spent $5 million.

I ask the Premier: What has the rural secretariat done with that $5 million to help stem out-migration from rural Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

While she is on the topic of spending money, she might want to mention that we committed $10 million to Cooke Aquaculture to extend the aquaculture base on the Connaigre Peninsula.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: She might also want to mention the fact that we have somewhere around $12 million, I believe it is, tied up in a loan guarantee program with the Barry Group to expand the aquaculture operation on the South Coast.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: She might also want to talk about the thousands of dollars that we put into dynamic air shelters in her own district, in the community of Grand Bank.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: She might also want to talk about the $250,000 that I announced in August to support the establishment of the Seafarers Memorial in her district, in the community of Grand Bank.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: She might want to look at the resolution of a longstanding dispute between the government and Wood Product Industries Ltd., when a sawmill burned down while they were in government in the spring of 2003 that they could not get resolved, which we resolved last week that will see the establishment of a new sawmill in Roddickton with private sector funds. If that does not happen, the permit will come back to government to be issued to somebody else.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, air dynamic shelters was an initiative that was put in place by the previous government, by the Liberal Administration.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS FOOTE: Cooke Aquaculture, I am told, was actually something that came to be in this Province as a result of meetings that took place in Minister Hearn's office, not in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, $15 million was allocated under a federal-provincial agreement to fund infrastructure in rural communities in this Province. I was shocked when I learned that nearly half of that money was spent to construct a sports provincial training centre in St. John's. Now the last time I checked, St. John's was hardly a rural community.

On the other hand, there is an arena in Fortune, a rural regional facility, which will not be able to operate this year without a one-time grant from the government because of the dire circumstances that Fortune finds itself in. We all know what that is. In response to their request for help, the town was told the government did not have appropriate financial resources.

I ask the Premier: Given the situation in Fortune, will you give the town the financial help it has requested so the arena can operate for the benefit of the people in the area?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have had some very, very good dealings with the Town of Fortune. I want to read to you a letter that was written to me on December 18, 2006, from the Concerned Citizens Committee in Fortune.

"Dear Hon. Premier: Recently, I was informed of a Statement made in the House by M.H.A. Judy Foote wherein she accused you of not meeting with the members of the Concerned Citizens Committee in August 2006.

Please be assured that M.H.A. Foote was not speaking on behalf of the Concerned Citizens Committee..."

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: "...we have had no dealings with M.H.A. Foote since our first meeting with you in March of 2005.

The members of our Committee are very appreciative of your support and the support received from Minister Rideout, Minister Dunderdale, and Minister Taylor, and their respective Assistant Deputy Ministers.

On behalf of all the fish plant workers of Fortune and surrounding areas, we wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year."

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have one of the greatest hydro development projects in the country. What I heard today from the Premier is that we have no footing from the federal government on guaranteed investments in this project. In the meantime, here we have Ontario getting federal government investments and the green light to go ahead with energy project initiatives.

I have to ask the Premier today: Will you table in the House of Assembly any proposals, if there are any, submitted to the federal government by the Province asking for the Guaranteed Investment into the Lower Churchill Development Project?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, in all fairness to the hon. member opposite, she probably does not understand that we are at a stage now whereby we are not in a position to do that yet. There is a letter that went to the Prime Minister. There is a letter of commitment from the Prime Minister, which is probably not worth the paper it is written on. Having said that, once we get to a point where we get to the pre-engineering - we are now in the process of doing pre-engineering, which will be getting ready for the feed for the project itself. We are looking at project sanction at 2009, and when we are in a position to finalize exactly what the project is all about and where it is going, and we have done all the necessary work, then we would be in a position to put something to the federal government. Right now, it is not appropriate to do it. We do not have the information that would be necessary in order to put a proper package together, and if it was not done properly they would just send it back and that would be their excuse for getting out of it. We are not going to let them off the hook that easily.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Time for oral questions has expired.

Presenting reports by standing and select committees.

Tabling of documents.

Tabling of Documents

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Minister of Government Services.

MS WHALEN: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand today to table the Consumer Protection Fund for Prepaid Funeral Services 2005-2006 Annual Activity Letter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further tabling of documents?

Notices of motions.

Answers to questions for which notice has been given.

Petitions.

Petitions

 

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Before I read the prayer of this petition I want to thank the Government House Leader with regards to Bill 72, where we went through first and second reading and committee level and he withheld the third reading until we received this petition. So, I want to thank him for that.

The petition reads, Mr. Speaker:

To the hon. House of Assembly in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled:

WHEREAS the Electoral Boundaries Commission has made its report to the provincial government concerning the electoral boundaries and are to be in place for the 2007 provincial election; and

WHEREAS this report has been accepted by government and in the spring session of the House of Assembly, the provisions of this report will be presented to the Legislature to be enacted into law; and

WHEREAS this report will see the municipality of Spaniard's Bay divided into two electoral districts, Harbour Grace-Carbonear (all areas east of the centerline of Brown's Road, Church Hill, Conception Bay Highway commencing at Church Hill to Brazil's Hill, Crane's Road) and everything west of that aforementioned said line in the District of Port de Grave; and

WHEREAS the residents of Spaniard's Bay and Tilton have come together into one united community;

THEREFORE we, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge government to take immediate action to amend the Electoral Boundaries report so the municipality of Spaniard's Bay and our 2,540 residents be placed in one single electoral district.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I thank the minister for the opportunity, and I reference back to the comments I made in second reading with regard to the concerns being looked at when changes are made, that they be made with the wishes of the people rather than just for numbers' sake.

We know the Commission went around the Province and they had hearings and they came to a unanimous decision, Mr. Speaker, but it also should be noted - which was recorded in the report - that if at all possible they would not split communities, if that could be done.

Having said that, we know that the Commission has, I guess, done their best, but throughout the Province there have been divisions within communities, and those changes make a greater impact on the smaller communities than in the larger centres.

I present this petition, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the residents of the Town of Spaniard's Bay, to object to the dividing line going through their community. It is not an issue, Mr. Speaker, of who represents their community; let me assure you of that. The only thing they are saying is, they would like to see their community placed in one district.

Having said that, I want to say it has been a pleasure dealing with the community and the municipality of Spaniard's Bay. I look forward to working with the portion, I guess, that will be in the District of Port de Grave. I am looking forward to working hand in hand with my fellow colleague from the Carbonear-Harbour Grace district.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the residents, I present this petition so that their objections can be registered in the hon. House of Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.

MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to present this petition on behalf of the residents of Conception Bay North, primarily from the Spaniard's Bay and Tilton area.

The petition, as I said last night, and again I thank the minister of his leeway in stopping Bill 72 last night at second reading, the petition basically asks that - and I will condense it because my colleague from Port de Grave just read out the prayer of the petition - the petition itself basically asks for the community to stay intact. They are not asking for any particular representation or to be part of any particular district. I have to give them full credit for that.

The council and the committee in that community are legitimately concerned about splitting their community down the middle. As well as that, I have to say, the neighbouring community of Upper Island Cove, Mayor George Adams has voiced his concern by letter to the chair of the committee and members of the committee regarding his community, Upper Island Cove, being split. Some of these residents here may be also from Upper Island Cove, as I look at some of the names here.

In any event - again I have to say this and reiterate - these people are not asking for any particular district to be in. They are not asking for any particular member. They are asking that their community, a small community in rural Newfoundland, a community of 2,500 people, that they be kept together and not split into two electoral districts.

It is a totally different situation than we are dealing with here in the City of St. John's, where people arbitrarily draw lines down through streets, Kenmount Road, Topsail Road and so on, bifurcation roads and whatever else comes in there.

Mr. Speaker, it is not an unreasonable request for these people to have their needs met and to have their concerns heard. That is why today I am here in this particular House at this particular time with this petition, before we get to the final vote this afternoon, to have these people's concerns heard and listened to; and maybe, for some reason or another, maybe government will listen and make the necessary changes.

As I said last night, plus or minus 10 per cent is an arbitrary figure. It can be just as easily plus or minus 15 per cent, or plus or minus 20 per cent, when we are talking about keeping the fabric and the geography of rural Newfoundland together.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for you time, and I present this petition on behalf of the residents in that area.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, I present this petition on behalf of the people of Pasadena. Actually, it is in their words and I would like to read it as they put it here. It reads:

WHEREAS the Electoral Boundaries Commission has made its report on electoral boundaries for the October 2007 provincial election; and

WHEREAS this report will see the Town of Pasadena split between the electoral districts of Humber East and Humber Valley; and

WHEREAS Pasadena was formed from the amalgamation of the three communities of Midland, Pasadena and South Brook; and

WHEREAS the division of Pasadena between two electoral districts will be detrimental to the process of community building which has been going on in Pasadena for the past 30+ years; and

WHEREAS the electoral map was prepared based solely upon the basis of population numbers without any regard for community; and

WHEREAS the provincial government has the authority to vary the Report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to vary the Report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission to have the Town of Pasadena remain entirely within the District of Humber East or, alternatively, entirely within the District of Humber Valley, but not split between the two; and

As in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A point of order.

In the course of Question Period today, the Premier made reference to a letter that he had received -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognized the hon. the Opposition House Leader, who is rising on a point of order.

We have to finish with petitions. I do believe there are more petitions.

The Chair is recognizing the Member for Baie Verte.

MR. SHELLEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to present this particular petition from the people from Pasadena. I think it is a companion petition of the Member for Humber Valley, who just presented.

For the members opposite, for their information, of course, the Member for Humber East has asked me to present this petition, which is normal, because ministers do not present petitions in this House, and have not since I have been here.

I am delighted that the minister has asked me. The Member for Humber East has requested that I present this petition on his behalf, and I am glad to do so today. It was requested. I will not read out all of the Whereases, as the Member for Humber Valley has already done that today, but I do understand where they are coming from.

I would like to say, in my discussions that I have had with my colleague and friend, the Member for Humber East, in fact he has made representation on this particular issue and on these particular concerns. He has raised those concerns.

As this debate has continued since last night and yesterday, a number of points have been made about the concerns throughout the Province whenever there are changes to boundaries. With the geography of this Province, the shifting in populations and so on, a number of those issues have been raised. The member has raised those issues and made representation to the Commission.

As the Member for Lewisporte said when we started this debate, tinkering, I guess, gerrymandering - and different words were used yesterday - would be a mistake, we believe. That is why, although concerns have been raised by particular districts, especially with Pasadena, I understand the concerns Pasadena has raised, the same as my colleagues have just raised about Spaniard's Bay, when you split a community.

I guess in the bigger communities like St. John's and so on, where we have, I think, seven or eight seats, Corner Brook with three, I believe, Stephenville has a split, there has always been a concern especially when there are smaller communities. I can certainly understand that in discussions I have had with the member, and he has been concerned about it, because Pasadena is a growing community, moving in the right direction. As a matter of fact, I have worked with the member a number of times, as Minister of Tourism, on concerns with the particular community of Pasadena.

Mr. Speaker, the member was asked to present this petition and he cannot, as minister today. He asked me to do it on his behalf, and I am doing it on behalf of the communities. I understand that 50 per cent of this petition was presented by the Member for Humber Valley, and we respect that. The concerns have been raised; they have been addressed in this House of Assembly.

I can assure the people, on behalf of the member and my friend, who I have been a neighbouring colleague of for a long time, and I know the community of Pasadena, that certainly the member will continue to represent that community whether it be half or full, and that the concerns of those particular residents in that particular part of the district will be addressed. As a matter fact, Mr. Speaker, some people would argue that now you have two members to represent their views and bring their concerns through to the House of Assembly.

With a representative, like the member has been for the last number of years for Pasadena, I am sure that it will be strengthened and better again. Certainly, Mr. Speaker, he wanted to make sure that the petition was presented on his behalf, and I am pleased to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand today to present a petition on behalf of the residents - I will say one thing, Mr. Speaker, it would be a sad day in this House of Assembly when this member for the Bay of Islands would not present a petition on behalf of the people in his own district. It would be a sad day if I would not do that, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBER: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: It is on behalf of the residents of the North Shore concerning the highway conditions. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the conditions on the highway of the North Shore are in a deplorable condition. We had three former ministers, the now Minister of Fisheries who would not meet with the residents, who did nothing with the roads; we have the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development who would not meet with the residents and did nothing with the roads; and we have this current minister who goes out and takes a little joyride and says, oh, yes, I know all about the roads, but refuses to meet with anybody.

Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day in the Bay of Islands when I learned today - and I am going to get the information on it because I am not sure. I think it was the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, when the Member for Humber East would not present a petition here today on behalf of his residents, gets $450,000 to do a bypass road up in - where is it? Massey Drive. I will tell you why it is up in Massey Drive, Mr. Speaker. The confusion, as he knows, is because the road that he built for Massey Drive is a part of the City of Corner Brook. What is going to happen now is, it is not even a Massey Drive road now. You think that it is a Massey Drive road, but I was told today by department officials that the road is going to remain with the Department of Transportation and Works. It is not even Massey Drive.

MR. T. MARSHALL: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the Minister of Finance.

MR. T. MARSHALL: As the proud Member for Humber East, I would like to correct the Opposition Member for the Bay of Islands, who, once again, has his facts incorrect. The road in Massey Drive is a government road. It is owned by the Department of Transportation and Works, and the hon. the minister is right there. Part of the road happens to be in the Town of Massey Drive, part of the road happens to be in the City of Corner Brook. It is a government road built for the benefit of the people of Massey Drive, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There is no point of order.

The hon. the member has one minute-and-twelve seconds left to present his petition.

MR. JOYCE: The people of Pasadena can thank me. At least we know he can stand on some other part of the district, not his own up in Pasadena.

You talk about a waste of money! It was not the current minister, the former minister got up in this House of Assembly and said, this road is going to be turned over to the Town of Massey Drive. I have Hansard and I will produce that. That just shows how the minister here is taking money, absolutely for no benefit to the transportation system in this Province, while the people down in the Bay of Islands are suffering. Somebody here made statements in this House of Assembly and out in the public, that was going to be turned over. They did it in such haste to get it done, they did not even realize that the road they were putting through from Massey Drive is a part of the City of Corner Brook land and they cannot turn it over. The City of Corner Brook refuses to turn the land over.

That is just the abuse, and the people of the North Shore expect the same type of treatment. Stop playing petty politics with people's lives and safety and do some work in the Bay of Islands. If the Minister of Transportation and Works wants to keep on smirking over there, go down and tell the people who went off the road. You can smirk as much as you like, but go down and tell the people, go down and tell the ambulance drivers who cannot get up the road. Go and do it, instead of smirking.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise to present a petition on behalf of the residents of Williams Harbour in my district. Mr. Speaker, the people of Williams Harbour are asking the government, and petitioning them, to invest money into constructing a highway into their community.

The community of Williams Harbour is on an island and separated from the mainland by a small tickle with very shallow water. There is absolutely no reason why that tickle could not be bridged and a road built into this particular community. In fact, because of the change in temperatures in the north, and especially in Labrador in the last number of years, freeze-up and break-up have not been for extended periods of time. In fact, Mr. Speaker, last season the ice conditions in that area did not even permit people to travel off the island by snowmobile during the winter. So, it is having a dramatic impact upon the lives of the people in this particular community.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I realize that the previous government was prepared to build this road, to make the investment, and a very small investment of less then $6 million, to ensure that this community was connected by road, just as we did to connect the community of Pinsent Arm and St. Lewis and many other communities there.

Mr. Speaker, the government opposite chose to do an economic assessment and decided that because it was no longer economically viable to build roads into small communities like this, that people should go without crucial transportation infrastructure. I totally disagree with that, because if you look around Newfoundland and Labrador today, in many of the bays and coves and harbours that are connected by road to the Trans-Canada Highway, it was not economically feasible to do most of them. Even today, it may not be economically feasible to resurface a lot of those same roads, which is currently being done.

Mr. Speaker, I want to appeal to the government on behalf of these residents, and especially to the Minister of Transportation who is from Labrador, who is familiar with this community, who knows how important it would be to the people of this community to have a highway connection. I have to say to him as the minister for Labrador, that he should, within his power, do the right thing and make the money available to this community to have a highway. When he was a member of the government, an MHA, before he became a minister he supported this highway going into Williams Harbour. He wanted them to have a highway connection and wanted all the communities in that area to have one. Now he is the minister. Now he is in a position to do something about it. I ask him to consider, on behalf of the residents of Williams Harbour, the people whom he knows very well and knows their situation, to make the money available to build this road. We are talking less than $6 million to connect the community to the Trans-Labrador Highway, a community that has to go right now by snow machine or by boat to access medical services, to access postal services, to access fuel supply.

Mr. Speaker, these are crucial everyday services that people in this Province enjoy. I can only ask that the Premier, the minister and the government, for God's sake, have a heart, show some compassion and put the money in to build the infrastructure for this community of Williams Harbour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Opposition House Leader, I do believe is rising on a point of order.

MR. PARSONS: Yes, Mr. Speaker, on a point of order.

During Question Period today the Premier made reference to a letter from, I believe it was a concerned citizens group, and he read the letter actually here in the House of Assembly in answer to a question.

I would make reference to Beauchesne, page 151, ruling §495 that a minister - and, of course, the Premier is certainly the first minister. "A Minister is not at liberty to read or quote from a dispatch or other state paper not before the House without being prepared to lay it on the Table."

I would assume the Premier, having referenced here and made it a public document by doing so, would be prepared to table that letter here in the House. I would ask him to do so as soon he can.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, Mr. Speaker, speaking briefly to the point of order raised by the Opposition House Leader.

The letter that the Premier quoted from is a public document. I know I have seen it. I had a copy of it back some months ago, I believe. We will ensure that the document will be made available to the House.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Just a point of clarification again, Mr. Speaker.

I would appreciate, if we could, from the Government House Leader, some indication as to when. We hope that the tabling of the letter does not follow many of the procedures here whereby, for example, answers to questions posed. I would assume - the Premier made reference to it today, so he has it readily available, and I would think there is no problem having it tabled here in this afternoon's sitting.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, just to that point of order, I do not see any questions on the Order Paper under the heading of Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given. If there are, we will deal with them; but the point of the point of order, we will get that quickly, today if possible, certainly by Monday, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do not have any level of comfort that it will be done forthwith or immediately. I would ask the Chair, what is the ruling in this situation? It is my understanding that, when you do it, you do not take your willy-nilly old time when you do it. My understanding is that you have it, you referred to it in the House, and you do it.

I would appreciate the Chair ruling, and I would submit that is the correct ruling, to order that it be done now.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: I will just have one final word, if I might, Sir. The Premier is not here. I am making an undertaking, as Government House Leader, to get the document. When I get the document, Mr. Speaker, it will be tabled.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair appreciates the exchange that has occurred between the House leadership. The Opposition House Leader appropriately quotes § 495 of Beauchesne, and there are some requirements there.

We will take the word of the hon. the Government House Leader, as we must and we should, that he will act expeditiously. The Chair will have consultations, if necessary, but not necessarily do so, because we assume that this will be handled quite quickly.

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to move to Order 1, third reading of Bill 72, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

It is moved and seconded that Bill 72, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act, be now read a third time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion that Bill 72, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act, be now read a third time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, ‘nay'.

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act. (Bill 72)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 72, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act, has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

MR. REID: We call Division, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Division has been called.

MR. RIDEOUT: Just one second, Mr. Speaker. (Inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, one second. I am prepared to co-operate and have Division after the fact - I am not hard to get along with - however, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it, and the Opposition did not do it right.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: To the point of order, Mr. Speaker.

I do not know where the hon. Government House Leader was looking, and I cannot help that, but I can attest to the fact, and I apologize if the Chair - I cannot help it if the Chair was not looking, with all due respect, but, Mr. Speaker, three people over here said Division. I was one of them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

In order to clarify matters, it is possible that the Chair did not hear or see the members if they were rising; however, the standard practice is that we would stand in our places, and three members would stand.

Without getting into a long dissertation, if it is the will of the House that we have a standing vote, if we can have co-operation between both sides of the House, then we can proceed with the standing vote.

Do we have the co-operation of the House?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Therefore, the Chair will rule that a Division has been called.

Division

 

MR. SPEAKER: Is the House ready for the question?

AN HON. MEMBER: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion. The motion is the third reading of Bill 72, An Act To Amend The House of Assembly Act.

All those in favour of the motion, please stand.

CLERK: Mr. Williams, Mr. Rideout, Mr. Ottenheimer, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Tom Osborne, Mr. Hedderson, Mr. Shelley, Mr. Tom Marshall, Mr. Byrne, Mr. Wiseman, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Harding, Mr. Oram, Ms Burke, Mr. Skinner, Ms Whalen, Mr. Jackman, Mr. Hickey, Mr. O'Brien, Mr. French, Mr. Denine, Mr. Young, Mr. Forsey, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Hutchings, Ms Johnson, Mr. Ridgley, Mr. Collins, Mr. Dinn, Mr. Cornect, Mr. Parsons, Mr. Butler, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Langdon, Ms Jones, Ms Thistle, Mr. Sweeney.

MR. SPEAKER: Those against the motion, please rise.

CLERK: Mr. Reid, Ms Foote, Mr. Ball, Mr. Joyce.

Mr. Speaker, ayes: 37, nays: 4.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I declare the motion carried.

In order to ensure that proper procedures have been followed we will now ask the Clerk if he could read the title of the bill and I will do the concluding statement at the end.

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act. (Bill 72)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 72, An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act, has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, "An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Act," read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 72)

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Motion 1.

MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider Interim Supply, Bill 71, and that I do now leave the Chair.

MR. PARSONS: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

A point of order has been called by the hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A point of order. The Premier is back in the Chamber now and the Government House Leader indicated that as soon as he had a chance to chat with the Premier he would get that letter tabled.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I gave an undertaking. I have it in my hand. As soon as I get a copy made it will be tabled.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The motion is that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider the Supply motion, Bill 71, and that I do not leave the Chair.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, ‘nay'.

The motion is carried.

On motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr. Speaker left the Chair.

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

The committee is ready to continue with debate on Bill 71, An Act For The Granting To Her Majesty Certain Sums Of Money For Defraying Certain Expenses Of The Public Service For The Financial Year Ending March 31, 2008 And For Other Purposes Relating To The Public Service.

The House is ready to hear debate on Bill 71 and the resolution that accompanies that bill.

The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I rise today to take a few moments to thank the people of Ferryland district for the privilege they bestowed on me on February 8.

Mr. Chair, it was indeed an interesting decision to seek public office. My wife and my two children went through the process of determining whether I would offer myself for public office. On making that decision, the people of the Ferryland district, my campaign workers, we embarked on a journey through a nomination process and entered a successful by-election on February 8.

I want to take time to thank those individuals for their time, the volunteer time and the effort they put into my election. I had people involved in my campaign from Trepassey to Maddox Cove, Petty Harbour and all communities in between. Those people gave of their time and effort and I am certainly very appreciative of that.

Mr. Chair, I would also like to specifically mention my family, my wife, Lynn, and my two children, Eric and Jane, who embarked on this journey with me and I am certainly thankful to them. As well, my family. I was honoured yesterday in the Speaker's Chambers to have my eighty-one-year-old mother here to see me escorted into the House by the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: As well, my oldest sister. I am the youngest of six children from the small community of Mobile on the Southern Shore. Growing up in a small rural community, I learned the meaning of community, working closely with people and working together in times of good and in times of not-so-good. I think that will bode well for my experience as the member and here in the House as well. As well, it instilled the values of working together, achieving results and working as a team, which I think as well I bring to this position.

Mr. Chair, at this time, too, I would also like to thank my colleagues on this side of the House who supported me in my nomination and in the by-election, who gave me support and confidence to go forward. I would also like to acknowledge those on the other side of the House who I met in the hallway, or yesterday when they spoke and congratulated me. So, thank you very much.

Mr. Chair, Ferryland district, geographically, is a large district. It is roughly 150 kilometres, parallel to the Atlantic ocean, mostly made up of rural communities. It is steeped in history, culture, folklore and music. It is all abundant. In actual fact, in the town of Mobile, where I am from, the Mobile goat still lives,.

The district has a diverse economy, ranging from the fishing sector, processing, harvesting, the tourism sector is huge, the service sector, communications, manufacturing and small and larger business, just to name a few.

Mr. Chair, no doubt we have many challenges in many regions of my district. The collapse of the inshore fishery in the early 1990's played havoc in the lives of many in my district and in communities. It has forever changed the make-up of rural Newfoundland as well as my district. As a rural community in Newfoundland, the community leadership, the community involvement, and this Williams' government has responded and are re-investing and committed to rural Newfoundland. He is indeed demonstrating that rural Newfoundland is a priority and it will be a priority for me and it will be a priority for the District of Ferryland.

I will continue to pursue the needs of the district, which are much bigger, including in the areas of road infrastructure, recreation facilities, tourism investment and municipal infrastructure for our small communities, as well as employment initiatives. Some of my district is doing well, others not so well, but the process is starting and we are building together and we are improving.

A portion of my district is also part of the capital city. In this region, through community leaders, they have grown and diversified and continue to expand into a bustling region of activity and growth. Infrastructure, that area, is important, water and sewer, recreation facilities, and they need to keep pace with the growth, and that is a priority.

Mr. Chair, much has been accomplished since the Williams' government has taken over and run this Province. This government has invested, in my district and in rural Newfoundland, and is committed to infrastructure and demonstrating the confidence in rural Newfoundland, that this government is there for them. I am glad to be apart of that.

Mr. Chair, in the Ferryland District, over the past three and a half years, the Capital Roads programs have begun and investment has started, and the process of bringing our highways up to an appropriate standard has begun. This further ensures our communities and builds confidence and a positive attitude that we can build and it can be positive and have good things happen.

Also, infrastructure with this government: A new state of the art facility, a high school, is being built in Mobile, further indication of the commitment to rural Newfoundland. As well, in Portugal Cove South this government was involved in the investment of a new interpretation center which highlights historic sites and archaeology activity in that region as well. There are a lot of good things happening.

As well, we have continued support for the Colony of Avalon which last year saw over 20,000 people pass through that site. Continuing the investment in infrastructure in rural and municipal communities, in roads and recreation and cultural ventures, still builds our community, and I am looking forward to building it as a member of this government.

Mr. Chair, I would also like to thank my predecessor, Mr. Sullivan, on behalf of the residents of Ferryland for his strong representation and commitment to the district. He was able to accomplish much under the Williams' government and I look forward to continuing that process in working with the Premier and the members on this side of the House.

Mr. Chair, yesterday I felt extremely privileged to walk into this Chamber as the Member for the District of Ferryland. As someone mentioned to me yesterday, there are only forty-eight members at any time. If you go back through the actual history of a particular district, there may not be many who had the opportunity since Confederation to serve, so it is indeed a privilege and I do see it as a noble profession.

Mr. Chair, I am delighted to be the Member for the District of Ferryland. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues and I am looking forward to working with the people of Ferryland District, and I would say a big thank you to them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I would like to congratulate the Member for Ferryland on his maiden speech, and there is no doubt about it, politics is a noble profession. It takes dedication, no doubt about it, and his deliberation with his wife and family was no doubt very important. Because there will be sacrifices that will have to made as a family, and once the family unit, the father, mother and children, buy into it then obviously it is important.

I think of my own parents who are both in their eighties. In political life sometimes we take criticism, and they take it personally. You know, there is nothing you can do with that. This past weekend we laid my mother-in-law to rest back in Seal Cove. She, along with my wife's dad who passed away a few years ago, were great supporters as well.

I remember the first time I ran back in 1989 when I ran for the Conservative Party, and the Government House Leader was Premier at the time. I remember my father-in-law saying to me - and Margaret, my wife was there as well - he said: I had to talk to your mom last night, we have a big decision to make. We have never voted Conservative before, it has always been Liberal. That has been their tradition. He said, I said to your mom: What about if Oliver loses by one or two votes? He was very serious about that and he said: Well, we have to support him, he is our son-in-law. I would assume that for the first time in their lives they did vote Conservative. I had the opportunity, along with the Government House Leader, to be in our house, in my mom's house, and to have a meal with them up in the district some time ago.

Anyway, I want to, as I said, congratulate the Member for Ferryland on his speech.

Mr. Chairman, I say to all of the people, I guess, who watch - and there are a number of people - in the House of Assembly sometimes there is a lot of bantering that goes back and forth. Some of us are better at it than others. Some of them are more vociferous than others, louder voices, and some of us just relax and take it all in and probably others delight in it or whatever. When all of that is done and the bantering is done and over with, the reality still sets in that there are many, many problems that we have to face in this Province. I am not being, in a sense, political or putting blame on somebody, but the thing is this is the reality of it.

I think about a lady who phoned our office today and said: As a result of the Lewisporte Wholesalers closing out in Lewisporte, Lewisporte Wholesalers would not deliver their groceries to them as they had done in the past. They were somewhat concerned about it. This is happening in many, many other communities, smaller communities, I am sure, not only on the South Coast but other communities as well. As a result, this lady said: You know, we are losing a lot of people through out-migration. Basically, there are not many people left any more. When we get freight come in from Sears, we do not have as many parcels, it costs us more and then we have to pass that on to the people who are in the community who are still remaining there. That is a real problem. That does not dissipate, that does not go away, that is the reality that we have to face. Whether we sit on the Opposition side of the House or the government side, it does not change. I am sure the Member for Bonavista South who has been in this House a long time understands and feels the same pressure that I would as a member sitting in the Opposition.

We think of the consequences, and again not in the sense of putting blame or whatever. For example, because there has been no Hebron-Ben Nevis deal, just think about the consequences that has had. We have a lot of engineers at Memorial University School of Engineering, one of the best engineering departments in all of Canada. We train some of our best people. Our university graduates want to have jobs here, yet there are no jobs. As a result of it, they go to Alberta and they have to work.

When we look at the City of St. John's here, no doubt - and it has already been in Question Period today and in the paper today - there are many, many businesses that are subordinate to the oil industry. Many of the local industries here in St. John's are going to suffer as a result of that particular project not going ahead. Nobody wants to give it away, that is not the objective here. There are two extremities when you talk about any project, leave it in the ground as it is or develop it. Somewhere in between there has to be a deal, and that is what the people in the Province are looking for. Nobody wants to give away their resources. They want a deal so that we can put some money into the Treasury to do many of the things that we want to do. As a result of that, many of our younger people, as I said, professionals and nurses and what have you who would have jobs here, they are not having them. It is having an affect on the real estate industry here in the city as a result of that not being done.

Lack of exploration: It does not matter whether we are in an Opposition district or in a government district, when there are fewer jobs in exploration - by the way, many of the people who live in my district and many, many of the other rural districts work with these offshore oil companies or their subordinates or transportation. For example, when those rigs leave the Grand Banks and go into the Gulf of Mexico our people do not travel with them. They do not have the visas and the permits to work in the Gulf of Mexico. What do we do? We have people who earn $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 or more a year, then all of a sudden they are unemployed. Once you lose large numbers like that, 500 people or more, it has a very negative effect on the economy.

I look at the rural part of the Province, for example Harbour Breton. The Barry Group of Companies moved into Harbour Breton there last fall. They did some work on the plant. As a result of them moving into Harbour Breton, there are a number of people who have gotten employment. Some of the management people have been working straight since before Christmas. A few of the people who have been working on the plant have not been getting full weeks. There has only been one or two weeks since December when people have gotten full work. They are getting fifteen hours a week, and some weeks eighteen or probably twenty, and some weeks none. The maximum is seventy people that they employ out of 300. The thing is, for the people who are there, they cannot, under any conditions, maintain their homes and all of the amenities of life if they are getting one week's work this week and nothing next week. That is a major concern.

I have had talks with people over the last week or two when I have been down to Harbour Breton, people with close to thirty years of experience with FPI who have not had an hour of work. They are concerned. They are concerned that they will have to do as they have done in the past number of years, go to Alberta or go to New Brunswick to find work. That is a real concern for the town; not condemning the Barry Group of Companies who have moved in. They did that. People are appreciative of the jobs that are there but there is the uncertainty.

For example, at the end of March this year, which is very, very close now - I had a conversation with the Premier about that yesterday here in the House. There is 1,000 tons of fish that was given to the Barry Group of Companies to be used in Harbour Breton, but it runs out. That particular quota stops at the end of March 31, 2007. There is no fish after that and there is a major quota.

When we talk about aquaculture, yes, no doubt about it, there has been government investment in aquaculture but it is not leading to full time employment for a lot of people yet. In the Barry Group of Companies, they have some sites indicated, but some sites are not even surveyed in the bays and inlets yet. There are no cages built. So before that particular aquaculture product goes into the plant it is going to be 2009 or later. What do you do for 2007? What do you do for 2008? What do you do for most of 2009? That is a problem that these people have.

When you look at the people in the Bay d'Espoir area they will tell you as well, there are many, many weeks when they do not get full hours, when you get seventeen or eighteen or twenty hours a week, and then at the end you have to file for your unemployment insurance and you get $120 a week or $200 every two weeks. It is not enough. People are having difficulty with that. These are some of the things that we are faced with.

Today, when the minister announced, for example, the Capital Works Program for this year and what is happening in many of the smaller communities - I represent rural communities in the Province. When you have people who are leaving, people who have never, ever left, people who have been fishing all of their life who are not even catching their quotas, and going to work in the North West Territories or Alberta or some other place, as these people leave and as their families leave with them, and as the older people in the communities die off, then you have a nucleus of people in those small communities. They are having concerns and there is fear, there is uncertainty and desperation in some instances, that they will not be able to maintain the community that they have. All of us who represent rural Newfoundland communities understand that many of those people in their fifties and sixties probably do not even have a credit card. They have never had a mortgage in their lives and to see a situation where they would have to uproot or to leave or to go to Alberta to work, it is something that they fear and something that they dread. This is the reality that is out there. There is nothing more sinister about it than that. People cannot survive on $6, $7, or $8 an hour as their main employment base, or I should say wage base. They cannot maintain the standard of living that they have had, whether you have your mortgage and your car payments and all the other amenities of life. It is a real problem.

I talked to one lady, in particular, in Harbour Breton only a little while ago. She said: This is the third year since the plant closed. This is going to be the roughest year for us yet because we have no quota and the projects that the government has provided over the last number of years to bridge this step are not going to be here for us in 2007. They are really concerned about that. That, in itself, is worrisome to families who have lived in a community all of their lives.

Then you just go up the road, there are some brighter spots. For example, in Hermitage, Cooke's Aquaculture just made an arrangement with the Penny Group of Companies to do 400,000 fish in Hermitage. It will create a number of weeks for about 100 people in that community, and that's good. The plant in Gaultois has started to operate, even on a limited scale, but hopefully a little more in the future. Again, these people cannot survive on a few weeks work, it has to be long term. When it is not long term they become desperate and look for alternatives, and in many, many cases they leave the communities. The people who are left, it becomes a real struggle for them to be able to maintain the communities.

I think of the situation, as I said, in that area. I also think of the people, for example, in the Fortune area, and I think of the people in Marystown. One day last week I called Open Line. I do not do it a lot. But if there was a situation where we could improve the work hours and the amount of time for the people in Harbour Breton, if the Barry Group of Companies and FPI could reach an agreement to have three million pounds of fish that is in storage brought to Harbour Breton to be processed - but the union in Marystown said, this is our fish, it was for us. I guess I can understand it to some point, that they did not want to have this fish processed in Harbour Breton, but the thing to remember is, it has already been in storage for fourteen months. It is not going to be able to stay in storage forever if it is not processed. One of these days it is going to rendered useless and not be able to be processed. If it is processed, the return on it is not going to be what the company wanted.

CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that his time for speaking has expired.

MR. LANGDON: By leave?

CHAIR: Does the hon. member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

CHAIR: The hon. member, by leave.

MR. LANGDON: I will just have a minute to conclude.

I am sure that I will have an opportunity to come back to it again, but the gist of what I have to say is the fact that there are real problems, there are real concerns, and the people who live in the small rural communities, the rural, rural communities, are probably finding the situation much more difficult than what you would find in a large area, the urban areas.

The thing on the large urban areas - the Trans-Canada corridor, so to speak - they depend on many of the rural communities as well, because these small rural communities have real disposable income where they can buy some of the amenities of life and keep their business going. So, there is a real challenge for the rural part of the Province and unless something major can be done in the short span and in the long term, then we are going to see a transition in the Province that we have not seen probably in our lifetime.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Kilbride.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to stand here in the House for the first time. You all know my face, I think. Most people know me from the city council meetings in the past. I will say one thing: People said that council meetings were entertaining. I do not think council comes near Question Period.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: I want to thank all the people who supported me, helped me win the nomination, helped me win the election, all the people who voted for me in the Kilbride district. I want to thank my family. My wife is very glad that I have a House to go to, not our own. She is glad that I got out from under her feet. I thank my wife, my children, my four children. I have two grandchildren. I have one grandson, my first-born, since I came here two weeks ago. Actually, he is two weeks old today.

I am standing to speak on the Interim Supply bill. Most of my comments are hardly related to that, but I do support the bill. I think everybody here in this House would actually have to support this, because, if we do not and it gets defeated, you know the situation we are in, so it is kind of imperative, but my remarks are kind of -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DINN: That is right.

They are kind of irrelevant, some of the things that I have to say, but I will say them.

I have been involved in politics for a good while. I have been watching the provincial and the federal scene for a good while, and if there is any one thing that used to irk me in the past was the way our resources in this Province were given away for short-term employment or short-term benefits.

When this present PC government, which I am very proud to be a part of, when this government came to power three-and-a-half years ago, they put their foot down and said: Enough giveaways.

We are now on a path, a course, which will lead us in a new direction. I think we are going to come from being a have-not Province to a have Province, and I am very proud to be a part of that, and I applaud my colleagues in government who have taken that approach and have said that we are going to move this Province forward. I really applaud you for that.

Now, sitting in the House, you sometimes get the impression that maybe not-so-good a job is being done sometimes, but I was a former teacher. For twenty-nine years I taught school, and two or three times a year we made up report cards. If I were to make up a report card for this government, I would give you a passing grade with an 80 per cent average.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: That is right.

To further emphasize what I am saying, I look at the last five by-elections that took place. To support my 80 per cent, we got four out of five of them, which equals 80 per cent; that is right.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: Further vindication of how well this government is doing is reflected in Minister Tom Osborne's very narrow victory the other night in his nomination. We might say that they were all PCs who came out, but I happened to be there, and to see the flock of people that came out to support Minister Osborne will tell you that this government is doing a great job, and I am proud of it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: As a former teacher, I am looking at the great things that have happened in education in the last few years. I see all the work that is being done on our schools, catching up on the maintenance that was not done in the past, the roofs that were leaking, the plumbing problems that we had that led to mould and bacteria and problems in the school. I look at the extensions that have been put on schools that were needed, the refurbishing of schools to update them to modern standards. Look at the investment in equipment, phys. ed. and otherwise, in schools.

I come from the Goulds, and you know that there is a shortage of water all the time in there, right?

I look at, also, another initiative that has taken place. When I taught school many years ago, at one time I had fifty-two boys in Grade 7 and Grade 8.

AN HON. MEMBER: That was a handful.

MR. DINN: It was, but I could handle them, believe it or not.

The pupil-teacher ratio at that time was pretty high, as you can see. Today it is not like that, and this government - and specifically our Minister of Education - is taking steps to even lower that more; because, when you have fifty-two guys in a class, you do not get too much time to give them individual help, as you can imagine. So, I like what is going on with education.

I like another part, too. We are now turning to the needs, the health and physical conditioning needs, of children. When I was going around, and when I was writing down a list of things that I wanted to see done, one of the prime things I had on my list of fifty-two or so things to do was to try to do something about the health and physical condition of children. You guys have already got it started, and I applaud you for that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: As a man who hunts a lot - and I did a lot of that since I left council - I travel our roads. I saw our roads getting in terrible condition. I have heard stories from plow operators of vehicles that were not able to function properly any more. Coming from the city where we always invested in a good fleet, a fleet - what would you call it? - a fleet replacement plan it was, or a policy, I thought this was not a very good idea, but this government has invested a lot of money in roads. I go up the Southern Shore, in Keith's district, and three years ago or four years ago my truck used to take a pounding. Today, those roads are paved. A lot of roads are being paved. If things continue like they are, we are going to have a lot more roads done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: I spoke to some mechanics in the Goulds over the last few years, too. There was a time four or five years ago when forestry and wildlife officers in this Province could not do their job, could not get out of the office to do their job, because they had nothing to drive. One mechanic in the Goulds, his garage is making a fortune repairing old vehicles that should have been thrown on the scrap heap. Today, we do not have that problem. Any good business needs a good maintenance plan and a fleet replacement plan, and I think this government recognizes that.

I am going to speak about something that no one mentioned yet in our talks; agriculture. Now, I come from an agricultural area -

MR. SKINNER: (Inaudible).

MR. DINN: Minister Skinner, I am a bit of a farmer, along with a lot of other things.

I was privileged in the last year to be a member of a farm practice review board. As a part of that board, we went to Labrador. We also made a trip to the West Coast of Newfoundland and we had meetings in St. John's. On our trip to Labrador, and especially to the West Coast, I was amazed at the amount of agricultural activity that is going on in this Province that a lot of people are not aware of. We are now producing in this Province many products that we are almost self-sufficient in. I was not aware that we had a farmer out in Cormack, for instance, who plants out - I think he said - 650 acres of vegetables a year. Now, that is amazing.

There is a poultry farm out in Corner Brook someplace, or just outside of Corner Brook, that produces almost enough eggs for this Province. Amazing! I feel very proud and very comfortable that we now are producing so much food which makes us safe in having a supply of food in a country, in a world today, where you could have a disease outbreak that could affect all of our food imports.

We are now getting to the stage where we are self-sufficient in milk, eggs, chicken, some vegetables and fruits and things. I think that is amazing. The safety of our food we should be promoting, I can assure you that. We should be at that.

I went to Labrador and visited a site. I forget the exact name of the road. I will not say it, but we went down this road where a number of blocks of land had been cleared; not a rock in sight. If I was not here and not at something else and I wanted to go farming, I would love to go there, because you have two things, good soil and good markets. There is great potential for agriculture there and I think this government is taking steps already to realize that.

One of the things that I am going to mention, that some of you may not be aware of, is a program that Minister Ed Byrne put in place to alleviate a problem that I met when I first got on council, and Minister Skinner probably heard of it too. We had a big problem in 1992-1993 with the land freeze. There was a land freeze put on a lot of land in the Goulds-Kilbride area, indiscriminate of whether or not it was good for agriculture, and people could not use their land to build on. There were families, mothers and fathers, with ten, twenty, thirty acres of land that their families could not use to get a building lot.

Minister Byrne, when he was Minister of Natural Resources, put a program in place called the land - it may not have been his program. I might be wrong on that. There was a land consolidation program, which probably never had enough money, but this government put enough money into it so that today - and my last years on council, I got one call about the land freeze. Before, we had 250 people sign up as members of a land freeze committee trying to get something done with that. I applaud you for that and I think it was a great step. Today the farmers are benefitting from that and so are the people who had land. They are now able to get a fair price for their land, when before they were only being offered $2,000 or $3,000 for an acre of land.

On a smaller point: When I was on council four or five years ago, I had people in the St. John's area, in the Goulds and Kilbride, all over the place, approach me about the dumping of garbage. I convened a meeting with the proper people, got the police involved and St. John's officials and workers and so on at the city, and we were trying to see what we could do about it. We set up a program. St. John's Clean and Beautiful administered that program. I went to different departments of this government, and Minister Rideout was very helpful at the time. You got us some money for cleaning up highways. Between the jigs and the reels, that first year we picked up 7,200 bags of garbage. We took 100 truckloads of garbage out of the woods and nearly 100 car wrecks; gave employment to seventeen students and two adults besides. That program continued for five years with the help of government. If you average about 8,000 bags of garbage coming out of the woods for five years and on the sides of the streets and so on, you can imagine what a mess there would be today if it had not been picked up.

Now, there were a lot of other things that we were able to do with the co-operation of this government. I will not get into those, but I want to mention that the district I represent, Kilbride, still has a lot of needs. The Goulds needs a new sewer system, and Minister Byrne is aware of that. That is about $23 million. The present pumping system in the Goulds is not able to handle any new developments or any new infrastructure extensions. There has to be a replacement for that system.

There are many roads in the area that need to be upgraded. We need to upgrade Brookfield Road and Southside Road, and Doolings Line needs work on it for safety reasons. We have other roads that need work on them. The main roads in the Goulds and Kilbride are just still rural in nature, even though the places are urban.

In my district, as the Minister of Education is aware, there are many people looking for a high school for the west end. We are working on that. Southlands needs a recreation centre, a community centre. A lot of these needs, I do not know if they are going to go to Mount Pearl for that but -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DINN: I don't mind him now. Yes, but they will soon be all in St. John's, right?

AN HON. MEMBER: Wishful thinking.

MR. DINN: Anyway, I feel with all the needs in my area, you are going to hear from me, I will tell you that. I will be always fighting for my district. I work co-operatively with my colleague who represents a part of my district, MHA Keith Hutchings. We work closely together all the time. I have to say, coming to this place, being new, I want to thank every one of you for all your help. All my colleagues have been very helpful, and I appreciate it very much.

I do feel comfortable, with this government and being a part of this government, that we will eventually get around to the needs of my district. We will eventually solve a lot of the problems in this Province and we are going to make this a have Province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.

MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to take my allotted time this afternoon to speak to Bill 71. Before I do that, I would like to congratulate the two members this afternoon who gave their maiden speeches. I remember what it was like the first day I came here and gave my maiden speech. It seems like a long time ago now, 1999, but nevertheless we have come a long way since then. I wish the members well and every success in their roles; not too much success now after October 9. Nevertheless, you did a great job, both of you, and I congratulate both of you for doing that.

Mr. Chair, I would like to speak today to Bill 71, and Bill 71, for the public out there, is a bill to give Interim Supply to the government; which means, basically, to pay the public service up until the budget, and carry out the necessary expenses of the government until the budget is brought forward and passed in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Chair, we have had, I guess, over the years in this Province a rocky pass, a rough pass. It has not been easy, I guess from the time our forefathers came here to this Province and started to eke out an existence, but I think that we have to look at the bigger picture, where we are going or where we are tying to get, because if we do not have a plan we will never get there. We will never solve the problems that are facing this Province. In some cases the problems are moving targets, and it is difficult, and we have to look at the opportunities that you have and the spirit of co-operation that you must have with other people. We have to look at the spirit of co-operation with the businesses that want to come to this Province and set up here and create meaningful employment for our people.

No matter what government thinks, or what efforts they take, as long as we have this Community Enhancement Program or job enhancement program we are not being fair to our people. We have to get beyond and grow beyond that. As important as that is, that $7 an hour or $8 an hour, whatever it is in some communities - because it is different rates in different districts, as I found out this past year - it is not fair to somebody to come off 400 or 420 hours of work and to find out that they are going to get $100 a week unemployment insurance to carry them through that particular winter. It is not fair to somebody who is out there looking at wanting to build a house, looking at trying to raise a family.

The challenges that exist in this Province, they have not changed a lot in the past 500 years. We still have people struggling, and a lot of people are scratching their heads and saying: How come I can't avail of the fortunes, of all of the things that I hear about, about this great oil industry, about this great Lower Churchill, about all of the manufacturing that we are supposed to be getting?

Still, when I go home this afternoon, to go back to my district, I will still meet people who will come up to me and say: Do you know where I can get a job? - and say that in all sincerity. Others will come up and say: George, I am waiting now for a call to go to Alberta.

That is sad. It is sad for all of us, not only that side of the House or this side of the House. It is sad for all of us, the whole forty-eight elected members who are here.

You can look at St. John's and see the hustle and bustle, superstores in different parts of the city, with main roads whizzing back and forth. People can whiz back and forth to who has the best deal. Does Stavanger have the best deal today, or is it Kelsey, or do we go to Mt. Pearl?

What about the people out there in rural Newfoundland, in the rural communities? They do not have that opportunity, to be able to zoom past, to have a husband and wife working. In many communities - and I look at the rural members opposite, as well as the members on this side of the House, and look at the number of people out there who are saddled with one income. They do not have the luxury of a second income coming to their home. Mr. Chairman, you can relate to that, because I know your communities, where you come from.

There is a tremendous challenge to making things right in this Province. We can point our fingers back and forth across this House all we want. We have done it for the last fifty years and we will probably be doing it for the next fifty years, but the pointing will stop when somebody comes up with an idea that we can all jump on to in a conciliatory mode and not an aggressive fashion, and find some meaningful work and keep our people here.

It saddened me last fall when I saw 9,000 people lined up, that picture in the paper. I think that was one of the most horrible things. It equates to me any disaster that has ever happened in the history of this Province, to see all of those people lined up trying to leave our fair Province to go and make a living for their families on the mainland.

You know, I remember 1992, in Carbonear, when the moratorium hit. We lost our fish plant in Carbonear. We lost the one in the neighbouring community of Harbour Grace. The two of them closed down; but, to add insult to injury, another blow came. M. A. Powell Limited closed, close to 400 people out of work. Then, shortly after that, Saunders and Howell closed, a company that was renowned in its craftsmanship. We look around this building here. Saunders and Howell built these desks. They did these chairs, and all the mouldings and everything here in this building, and that company is no longer in existence. Mr. Chairman, there are skilled craftsmen and tradespeople who have gone out of this Province and many of them will never come back. They will never come back. We look around and we still see people looking for that opportunity somewhere else, because they know it is not here. They know it is not here.

Over the past number of years we have lost Abitibi in Stephenville. Harbour Breton - I hear my colleagues talk about the number of people leaving these communities - Fortune, Marystown, no activity in Bull Arm, no activity whatsoever in Bull Arm.

Mr. Chairman, collectively there has to be a way between this Province and the federal government and the business sector to improve the odds of our people in this Province. We just do not have - I do not have - the stomach to watch what is happening in this Province, to keep seeing our people going to the airport. It is a big statement, you know, when Air Canada responds to a need to have a flight seven days a week leave Torbay Airport at 7:15; it is called the Fort McMurray Special. It stops in Toronto for twenty minutes to pick up fuel, to continue on to Fort McMurray.

You go out to the airport and you look at the Northern Alberta airline out there, who is chartering people to and from this Province. Granted, you can say, yes, but they are coming home, but what about the impact that is having on the families that are left home here for three weeks and six weeks with a parent - and in some instances there are two parents gone, because they have sought out that opportunity - and children living with grandparents and aunts and uncles while their parents are flying back and forth to Alberta to bring home some income for them?

Mr. Chairman, that is not acceptable. There should be, with the oil off our shores, a way - and not be condemned for saying that there should be a deal. I do not care who you are or what you are - and I have been through difficult situations in my own life - there has always been a way to resolve, to find a resolution to a problem. If the government has a problem with an oil company, or some other person, or if there are personalities involved, or whatever there may be, I think that all parties should be big enough to sit down for the sake of its own people and look at the bigger picture, and not say that I am going to be the saviour of rural Newfoundland while all our people are leaving here in droves.

Mr. Chairman, there was a strategic plan put in place and I thought, well, I will get to have a look at it and hopefully there is something in there that is going to stem that flow. I look at the strategic plan, and the title is: Regional Diversification and Industry Growth, and the outcome should be to diversify and strengthen regional economies.

In many parts of this Province there is no regional economy at all, when you look at communities, as a member stated here today, that have cleaned themselves out by 50 per cent of the population.

Internal and external partnerships, it says here, in the strategic plan. Co-ordination of public investments, well, that is in the branch or divisional work plans. Expansion and diversification of existing businesses, that is in the strategic plan. Co-ordinated labour and market policy and development, that is in the branch and divisional work plans. Strategic industry development, strategic plan.

What is missing here, with all the Xs on this first page of this plan, is what is in the operational plan. Nothing. Nothing! After four years of people expecting - and I have to say this, I too thought maybe a change in government might bring something, because with that there was $2 billion came to this Province a couple of years ago. I thought that somewhere along the line that something would change. Well, it has not. I will still face a weekend when I go back to my district of people saying to me: I have to go away if I do not find work.

On the next page of this plan, the title is Innovation. The outcome of it is stated, an innovative culture. Well I thought we have always had an innovative culture because we have survived here now for over 500 years. The components of the title of that innovation sector, guess where they are? Research and development; commercialization, skills and training, technology infrastructure, and innovative culture; all in the strategic plan, not into the operational sector yet. It still has not gotten there.

I look down at the next section, small and medium-sized enterprise business supports, financing in the strategic plan; business networks, strategic plan - nothing in the operational plan.

Now I will tell you, I had a call from a constituent of mine a few weeks ago and he expressed his frustration with trying to start a small manufacturing business in my district.

CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace that his time for speaking has elapsed.

MR. SWEENEY: Just to conclude, Mr. Chair?

CHAIR: Does the hon. member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

CHAIR: The hon. member by leave.

MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Seeing I was on a point that I just wanted to bring up, and I promised the person I would. Anyway, I said: Listen, I understand your frustrations and there is a lot of red tape in government. I have always said red tape and government is the same thing, no matter who is in there. I have said that a lifetime.

I sent him off to the Department of Business and I said: Call the minister and I am sure he will set you straight. Anyway, he called me back a couple of days later and he said: No, no luck. He said: He does not deal with small businesses, he only deals with big businesses. I said: Well, call him back again and try to explain to him what you are trying to do, that you are trying to grow a little business into a big business. I thought that might help. Nevertheless, the individual is still out there - and I am hoping to see him this weekend and spend some time and see if there some way I can do some work with him to try to get him straightened away.

If we are going to change, we can go about whatever we want but we have to be able to be friendly to our people, try to keep them home and encourage them to do what they can.

Mr. Chair, I understand there is more time on this and I am on leave, so I will come back at another time and finish this.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

MS WHALEN: Mr. Chair, it is my pleasure today to stand here in the House of Assembly and speak on the Intern Supply bill.

The amount of funding being asked for by my department, $10 million, $55,400 is being asked for the operational costs for the next three months.

I have been very privileged to be the Minister of Government Services for the past three years. I have had an excellent staff, a very dedicated staff to their work. Much of what this department does has a direct impact on the general public and involves directly dealing with the general public, whether it be through the Motor Registration Division, the Government Service Centres, Trade Practices Division, Vital Statistics and Occupation Health and Safety, just to name a few.

Our lines of business run right through each of our three divisions. We are responsible for the enforcement of legislative requirements in all mandated aspects of public health and safety, occupational health and safety, environmental protection, provincially regulated financial services and consumer protection.

We are a department which provides a large number of licenses, permits, inspections and registration services throughout the Province. I will only name a few because the amount of work we conduct in this aspect of our mandate is massive, up to 2.5 million transactions a year. If someone is looking for a drivers license, a vehicle registration, birth or marriage certificates, they visit us. We are commonly referred to as the face of government.

This Intern Supply money will be used to continue fulfilling our responsibility for inspections around public safety activity, such as elevating devices, food establishments, waste disposal systems and work places. This department will also continue to work on the regulation of provincial financial services activities, such as insurance and securities; as well, the Registry of Deeds, companies, lobbyists and others that fall under my department.

Mr. Chairman, my department is also mandated to provide conflict resolution services for such disputes as residential, landlord tenancy, occupational health and safety complaints, compliance orders and suspensions of drivers licences. The funds will also be used to provide printing services through the Office of the Queen's Printer, which provides provincial government legislation and reports to the public for purchase. As well, the Government Purchasing Agency falls under my responsibility. These funds will be used to help them with their operational obligations.

As you can see, Mr. Chairman, we are an extremely busy department which has a daily impact into the lives of every Newfoundlander and Labradorian. Since 2003, when we formed the provincial government, the Department of Government Services has initiated a number of improvements which have directly improved the lives of our residents. Most notably, we legislated auto insurance reform measures that provided consumers with an average savings of 20 per cent on their auto insurance bills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: Key reforms included the registration of underwriting guidelines, a new rate setting process and a new requirement for insurance companies to complete a Point of Claim Disclosure Form which ensures that consumers are fully aware of their rights when they are making a claim.

Last summer, we released the Public Utilities Board report into homeowner, commercial and marine insurance and committed, at that time, to release the principles for the sale of insurance. This consumer protection document ensures that insurance companies and brokers provide disclosure to consumers about the details of the insurance products which consumers buy. We are beginning to work with various groups, most notably the volunteer sector, to determine next steps needed to address these concerns.

Mr. Chairman, I am extremely proud of the work we have been doing in our Occupational, Health and Safety division. We have enhanced enforcement of OHS legislation so that there is a stepped up effort for a zero tolerance approach. This has resulted in 100 per cent successful prosecution. Over the last ten years we have not lost a court case.

Other initiatives include ATV legislation in May of 2005 to improve safety, and launching an ATV safety awareness campaign in cooperation with the RNC and the RCMP to raise awareness of the safe practices.

During last year's Budget Speech, Mr. Chairman, we announced that we would reopen the Port aux Basques and Foxtrap weigh scales to enhance the protection of our Province's highways. Five positions were created to operate these scales.

I am proud of the advancements that we have made to offer consumer-friendly services. To that end, we have implemented a new state-of-the-art computer system to improve services at the Registry of Deeds and Companies, demonstrating government's commitment to making dealing with the government easier.

We have worked co-operatively with the other Canadian provinces to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of a passport system for security regulations in Canada. The passport system allows businesses to deal only with the regulator in their principal jurisdiction, providing a single window of access to capital markets in ten Canadian Provinces and Territories.

We constructed the Petroleum Products Pricing Commission to bring fuel price regulations under the Public Utilities Board. We also introduced the Government Purchasing Agency Act in the House of Assembly in the fall of 2004. This was part of the Blue Book initiative for accountability and transparency.

Mr. Chairman, these are just a few examples of what we have done for our residents, and this great work will continue in 2007-2008, and this is just from my department. I know other departments have been extremely productive and have made serious improvements to this Province.

Mr. Chairman, I would also like to say that I am very privileged and proud to represent the District of Conception Bay East & Bell Island, and just recently won the nomination to represent the district in the upcoming election.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: This government have invested substantial dollars in infrastructure, and my district has benefited, Mr. Chairman, from water and sewer projects, from road construction and paving, and repairs to the dock in Portugal Cove. I would like to thank my hon. colleague, the Minister of Transportation and Works, for the recent announcement of two new ferries and the reduction in ferry rates.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: I would like to thank my hon. colleague, the Minister of Education, who had just recently made an announcement of a new extension into one of the schools in my district.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: I have to say, Mr. Chairman, with the bringing down of the federal budget this past week, I was very disappointed. I will also say that when Mr. Harper came here as the Leader of the Opposition, I was one of three ministers who supported the Prime Minister when he was looking to become the Prime Minister. I have to say that I am very disappointed that he would be a man who would break his word.

I came from a home of six young girls and a boy, my father raised, and we were all told that we were to be a woman of our word or a man of our word. I was disappointed to see that the Prime Minister could easily push us aside for votes, to buy votes in Upper Canada. I urge all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to stand up and send a strong message to our Prime Minister, that we will not be traded for a few votes.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: I am delighted to serve under a Premier who is strong, who will stand up and be counted for principle, and a man of his word, when he led this government to negotiate a deal with the Prime Minister of Canada, who was Paul Martin at the time. We were lucky to have a Premier of that caliber to stand up and not take no for an answer.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: I will tell you, the next time that I put my faith in the Prime Minister of Canada, I will make sure that he will be a man of his word. When he put it in writing to the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, he also vetted verbally to us that he would protect everybody in this Canada. All we ask for, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, is a fair deal.

On that note, Mr. Chairman, I will say that I am glad to be able to rise today and to support the Interim Supply bill. As I mentioned earlier, this will help my department by providing operational costs so that we can continue to offer the most valuable services to our public.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR (Collins): The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate an opportunity to have a few words again on this Interim Supply bill.

It is nice to hear the Minister of Government Services say she is going to support the Interim Supply bill. I guess, at the end of the day, most of us here will. I would think it would probably be unanimous. It might be unanimous. That is a real stroke of information, because really the basics of Interim Supply, of course, we all realize that we live in a Province where we have to pay bills. We have people who we pay money to, actually. For example, there may be persons who get social assistance cheques from time to time; they need to be paid. That is what we are doing here, to basically pass a bill which says that the ongoing business of government, the cheque paying and so on, will be done. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that we are going to vote for this. I do not think there is anybody, of the forty-eight members in this House, who would vote against it. Why would you? It is a process we go through. It is no great piece of legislation. In fact, the figures that are here, we do not even know what the ultimate budget is going to be. We just pick a figure out of the hat and say, here is it, $1,666,230,000.

Anyway, I would like to come back to the point I was on yesterday, because this is money as well, big money, big-time money, when we talk about our relationship with the federal government again. It is very, very important that people understand in the public because, you see, the Premier of this Province would have our believe, and have the people of this Province believe, that he knows all. In fact, he would have you believe that, because you stand on one issue in a certain way, you must stand on every other issue in the same way, but life does not work like that, far from it.

For example, I agree with the stance of the people of this Province that Mr. Harper, Prime Minister Harper now, should stick with his commitment - a done deal, put it in writing, get on with it and keep your commitment, Prime Minister Harper. That is on that position. Every Newfoundlander and Labradorian, I think, will be on side with that, but that does not mean you cannot disagree with the Premier, you cannot disagree with this government, on some of the other things they are doing. In fact, we have an obligation, as a responsible Opposition, to disagree, particularly if it is a constructive criticism.

I will give you an example of something that has happened with this government in the last twenty-four hours, that we woke someone up who was asleep at the switch. Yeah, a Minister of the Crown, just image, asleep at the switch, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Environment, two ministers of the Crown who did not know - one hand did not know what the other one was doing. I will tell you what it is about. It is about the oil tank piece.

The Department of Environment put a policy in place some years ago and said you must replace your oil tanks within a certain time frame. That was coming under the Department of Environment. The Department of Finance, due to probing and prodding from the Opposition, said we will put an assistance program in place so that those persons who need assistance, we will give you a few bucks to help you with your oil tank replacement, so that is the program.

Back in January, the Minister of Environment comes out and says we are going to extend that from the end of March 2007 to the end of March 2009. A good idea, to extend it. The Minister of Environment, after being told that over and over and over again, finally agreed to extend it, but there was one problem. They did not extend the assistance program. The Minister of Finance fell asleep at the switch. You extended a program for people to replace it, but you did not extend the assistance program that went with it.

I am very pleased to say, thanks to this Opposition MHA's inquiries with the Department of Finance, that the Minister of Finance has now finally woken up and finally agreed and issued a press release yesterday saying that he is going to do just that. I put out a press release today thanking him for doing that and thanking him for waking up. It goes to show that this all-knowing government are not on top of everything. That is just one example. That is just one program where two Ministers of the Crown did not know what the other one was doing, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Environment. That is only two and that is only one small example.

There are a lot of other files, I would suggest, in this government where people do not know what is going on with them, even the minister sometimes. I gave an example of that yesterday. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, here is the person - just so everybody understands, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs is the individual who sort of liaises between the provincial government and the federal government to make sure that every file you have on the go between the two levels of government gets the proper detailed attention that it needs and gets moved along in the appropriate departments and so on.

I asked a question here yesterday of the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs about Prime Minister Harper's letter of commitment on defence spending. What do I get? A dead silence. He did not have a clue what I was talking about. Now this minister, unlike the Minister of Finance, for example, who has just currently been put in the position a couple of months ago, this Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs has been on the file, has been on that job and been in that department for over a year, I believe, well over a year. I asked him about the unmanned vehicle program that was in Prime Minister Harper's letter. He never had the foggiest. He did not have a clue. What is Parsons talking about over there, unmanned vehicles? What is he talking about? He never had a clue, and it was evident. I had seventeen e-mails today from people wondering, was the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs awake yesterday when I asked a question. They could not believe it, and they are from all over this Province. This man who is in charge of this file did not know about this commitment by Harper.

Then there was the other piece - and I am sure the Member here from St. John's North and the newly elected Member for Kilbride, you are going to want to take up the cause on this one, the Member for St. John's Center, even the Member for St. John's East, who is the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs - and that concerns the international peacekeeping force that the federal government committed to in that same letter, Prime Minister Harper committed to; 500 jobs. I would think now 500 federal paying jobs might be pretty good to the Avalon region. No, sir, the minister never had a clue what I was talking about. He did not have the foggiest idea what I was talking about, and that is the problem. You cannot pretend to know everything, and the Premier cannot pretend to know everything and that his government knows everything, when we have obvious, definite proof that there are files and you are not even aware of what is in them; do not know what is in them.

That is like my question, again. Dr. Feelgood, I called him yesterday. Yes, that was a great response to Dr. Fitzgerald. No offence to the individual, I say to the Member for St. John's North. I am talking about the position that the person fills. The Member for St. John's East came off here yesterday saying: Oh, yes, he picks us up at the airport and he shuffles us around. Oh, yes, no question about it. Well, that is a pretty expensive limousine service; a pretty expensive limousine service paying out to the tune of half a million bucks a year. It would be interesting to find out what he does in all of his time up there and what he spends his time doing. I do not know. What we get when we inquire is that: Well, he can't talk to the press. Somebody told him: No, no, you knock on doors, you wine and you dine, but dare you explain anything to the press about what you are doing. It is strictly confidential. Well, that is pretty good, and this is from an open and accountable and transparent government. Yes, that was in their Blue Book, too, folks, about openness and transparency.

The other files we are talking about, FPI. My, oh my, oh my! We heard the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture out there saying: There will be no deal on FPI unless the Province gets the quotas. There is only one little problem, boys, nobody has talked to the federal Minister of Fisheries. It is questionable now whether they are going to get to talk to him because this is the guy, the same Minister of Fisheries federally, who they have been bashing all week, or the Premier has been bashing all week, in saying: I'm going out and taking your job when the next election comes up. I am going to campaign against you. That is pretty good.

I note with interest, again, the Minister of Government Services talking about she supported Stephen Harper when he was the Leader of the Opposition; disappointed that he did not keep his commitment now. She had worked for him and supported him, her and a couple of other ministers and so on over there. I am just curious. I wonder, would she prefer, in the next federal election, to be campaigning with Mr. Walter Noel or Mr. Paul Antle? I wonder which one she is going to be going door-to-door with and knocking on doors. That is going to be a pretty neat situation. We will have Liberal MHAs and Tory provincial government ministers crawling over each other trying to get to the doors in support of Mr. Antle or Ms Coady, or whoever is running for the Liberals. I would look forward to seeing that. That is a great situation. I will really look forward to it.

CHAIR: The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

CHAIR: By leave.

MR. PARSONS: No, that is fine, I will come back. I have about fifteen other issues. I would like to talk about certain files that have been neglected by the government. I would like to do it in a proper manner rather than take fifteen seconds to clue up.

Thank you.

CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Bonavista South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FITZGERALD: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I am certainly happy to take part in the Interim Supply debate here today. This is probably number fourteen or fifteen for me that I have taken part in and it has not been much different, I say to members present of the debate, than when you are allowed to talk on a money bill, that you bring up all the issues that you want to refer to, district issues or personal issues or any other issue.

Mr. Chair, before I get into what I want to talk about, I want to congratulate the Member for Ferryland who gave his maiden speech here today. Congratulations! The Member for Kilbride gave his maiden speech here but made many speeches in another forum. I congratulate the Member for Port au Port on getting elected to the House, and he will make a big contribution I am sure. Another gentleman waiting down there bitting at the bit to be able to come here and sit down, the Member for Labrador West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FITZGERALD: I also want to say congratulations to another colleague who sits on the other side of the House, the hon. Member for Humber Valley.

When the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune got up to speak, he started talking about remembering his maiden speech. It is almost like going to a funeral when the clergy will say, remember your soul, and you are being confronted with where you are going. I say to him, he reminded me, in his wisdom, of my maiden speech.

I remember coming here in 1993, and at that particular time, if I recall, the government brought in a Budget and did not debate it, but went to the election. I say to my hon. colleague, the Minister of Municipal Affairs; he was part of the same election. If I recall, that is what happened. So after the 1993 election we came back and we sat here in the House to debate the Budget that was brought down prior to the election.

I remember sitting over there, the second seat from where the Leader of the Opposition is sitting now, and Mr. Len Simms was the Leader of the Opposition at that time. I remember getting up to give my maiden speech. Here I was, a young fellow from Bonavista South, expected to look across here and see people like Ed Roberts and Clyde Wells, and I was supposed to look at them and tell them that what they were doing was wrong and I knew what was right. A pretty intimidating responsibility.

Then, Mr. Chairman, sitting right in front of me was the Ambassador of Fisheries Conservation.

AN HON. MEMBER: His Excellency.

MR. FITZGERALD: His Excellency, Loyola Sullivan.

Loyola got up to speak before I did. I will never forget it. He got up and his comment was: Mr. Speaker, this is a great debate here today.

I said: My God, I don't even know what kind of language they speak in here - totally, totally, out of my element.

To see members like the Member for Ferryland and the Member for Kilbride get up and conduct themselves in the way, and bring forward the issues and talk about their district, Mr. Chairman, it is a credit. It is a credit to politics, it is a credit to the profession, and certainly a credit to the people who are here.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FITZGERALD: Mr. Chairman, the Member for Kilbride talked about agriculture, talked about agrifoods. I am going to touch on that, too, because a lot of people relate rural Newfoundland, especially the District of Bonavista South, to strictly a fishing district, and it is. That is the predominant profession that happens there, and that is the employer, or the first resort, I should say; but, Mr. Chairman, we also have a very active agricultural industry happening in Bonavista South. In fact, Mr. Chairman, I have two brothers who are involved in the dairy business. One brother just invested in excess of $2 million to build a new modern dairy barn. My other brother has just doubled the size of his herd, taking advantage, I say to the hon. Member for Kilbride, of the industrial milk quota that has doubled, or will double, the production of milk here in this Province. Mr. Chairman, another good initiative and another promotion by this government to bring about the land consolidation plan that the member referred to, and with that came an investment of $10 million over a five year period to buy back granted land to allow those farmers to be able to get more involved in growing hay in order to support their business and make it make less costly to attend to, rather than to bring everything that they bring into this Province. Mr. Chairman, that is certainly a positive thing.

The old fish plant down in Charleston, a place where I worked, fed my family, made a living for myself, Mr. Chairman, is now turned into a feed kitchen for the fur farming industry. Not a whole lot of activity there, but a gentleman from Denmark came over here and invested his money, turned that plant into a feed kitchen, and today, Mr. Chairman, he has a mink farm in Harcourt that, I do not know, I would say there are at least 20,000 or 25,000 mink on that farm. As we speak today, the footings are going in, in the community of Lethbridge in my district, Mr. Chairman, where this particular individual, with three other partners, will raise in excess of 78,000 mink a year. It is a big business and, Mr. Chairman, as a result of that, you will see twenty or thirty people go to work on that farm and within that fish plant that had its doors closed and nobody working.

Are there challenges in Bonavista South? Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. The fishing industry continues to be a challenge, when you look at the crab plant in Bonavista and you look at the shrimp plant in Port Union and when you look at the plant in Plate Cove West. I have three fish plants, Mr. Chairman. When you look at those three plants, there are many, many challenges. As we are going through the uncertainty of what will happen to Fishery Products International, with that uncertainty is the uncertainty of about 250 families in Port Union, Catalina, known as Trinity Bay North, and the uncertainty of another 200-plus families in Bonavista, Mr. Chairman, proud people who always made their living from the fishery. Today they find themselves, a lot of them, with twenty-five and thirty years seniority, unable to get enough work to qualify for EI. Not because they want to get laid off, not because they do not want to work, Mr. Chairman, trained professional fish processors unable to get a job. Hopefully, some alternatives will be offered.

The farming industry, the fur farming industry, Mr. Chairman, is one opportunity. While it is not happening on the tip of the Peninsula, it is happening in the district, Mr. Chairman. There is another initiative that is happening in Port Union, another initiative where a company is looking at bottling water, have come forward and have written a cheque for $25,000 to help purchase a building, the Coaker Foundation that I referred to in a statement that I made here in the House earlier, where they have gone out and they have renovated, reconstructed the Fishermen's Advocate Building and are now looking at completing the outside of the old Fishermen's Union Trading Company so that this company can come forward and bottle good, clean water in order to respond to a market. With that, Mr. Chair, could come twenty-five or thirty jobs. Every job is important.

Mr. Chair, the other thing I would like to refer to is the Electoral Boundaries. That debate took place earlier and we all did not have a change to speak, but, Mr. Chair, I would just like to echo my comments. I am not against the Electoral Boundaries Commission Report, Mr. Chair, it was a good report with the mandate that they were given.

The District of Bonavista South will be reconfigured but just by allowing one community to be coming out of the district and going into my colleague's district, the District for Terra Nova. I can assure you that they will be well represented by that colleagues. Mr. Chair, a lot of people in Bloomfield are a bit concerned, but the only reason they are concerned is that they are right at the end of the district. Prior to 1996, when the last commission took place and the number of seats went from fifty-two to forty-eight, the community of Bloomfield was taken from Terra Nova and put with the District of Bonavista South. Now they find themselves, ten years later, being taken from Bonavista South and put back into the District of Terra Nova. The only concern they have is, they would like to be somewhere to be able to stay there. They are sick and tired of being jerked around from one district to another, and you can't blame them. You form friendships with people, you form associations with people, you become comfortable working with people, and then all of a sudden they have to make another shift.

Mr. Chair, I would certainly, publically, like to thank the people from the Community of Bloomfield who have supported me in a big way in the three elections that they have been part of the District of Bonavista South. I would like to sincerely thank them and to say to them, publically right now, that I do not think they have any fear about receiving good representation from my colleague, the Member for Terra Nova. There has been a long standing association, even though the community was in Bonavista South, and Musgrave Town, the community where I lived, was in the District of Terra Nova. It is almost like sister communities. Somebody once said: When somebody gets cut in Musgrave Town the people in Bloomfield bleed. That is how close they are. It is an old saying, somebody gets cut in one community and the people in the other community bleed, because they -

CHAIR: I remind the hon. member that his time has expired.

MR. FITZGERALD: - all feel a part of each other, they are all a part of a family, they all share services and they all, Mr. Chair, attend the same institutions, the same schools, share the waste disposal site, share the same churches and just live in a community that is only separated by a sign.

I say to you, Mr. Chairman, that those people will be well served.

CHAIR: The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. FITZGERALD: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I understand there are other people who want to speak. We can speak as often as we want to, in ten minute intervals, and I thank you for allowing me to speak here today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BYRNE: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I rise today to talk about the Interim Supply bill, and because it is a money bill, as others have said before me, you can talk about practically anything, but I want to talk about the economy of the Province.

I was just listening to my colleague, the Member for Bonavista South, talk about how great things are on the Bonavista Peninsula. I hear differently from people down there, but I cannot complain too much about my hon. colleague over there for Bonavista because I am on record over the last four years of probably five or six times saying that he should be the Minister of Fisheries. The Premier and the Leader of his Party obviously had different ideas about that. I thought he knew a fair bit about fisheries and he got along well with the people who work in that industry. Unfortunately, I guess his worth is not recognized by the Leader of the Party and the Premier of the Province.

Mr. Chair, in listening to government members opposite over the past couple of days, each and every one of them rises and talks about how great things are and what a great future this Province has and what great things are happening in the Province. I wonder sometimes, as I sit here and listen attentively, which province they are talking about, or which parts of our Province are they talking about. I represent, I guess, one of the more rural areas in the Province, Twillingate & Fogo, soon to be called the Isles of Notre Dame, a rural district composed of four islands that depend solely on the fishery, and I do not see that shine down there.

In fact, what I have seen over the last three years - there was some hope for the future there three short years ago, but what I have seen in recent years is a population decrease and more and more people leaving on a daily basis looking for employment out West. Now I know we have always had an out-migration problem. In fact, three of my family, three of six of us, have been living on the Mainland for twenty or thirty years. I know when I taught school on New World Island that the youth of that area who went off and got educated left the general area to find employment elsewhere. What I have found in the last couple of years, in particular, is that people are leaving in numbers, the likes of which has never been seen, and it is no longer the youth.

In fact, last year I had a gentleman from the Twillingate area of my district who was sixty-four years old, an individual who fished all his life and built up an enterprise that was worth a fair amount of money, who could not make a living in the fishery any more. He told me there wasn't any point in trying to sell his enterprise. Because he had thought that once he retired from fishing when he became sixty-five he would have something to pass down to his son who also helped him in the fishery, but he said it is practically worthless.

Mr. Chair, when I think about what is happening in my district and other districts similar to mine in the Province, I wonder where all this rosy outlook of the members opposite is coming from. In the few minutes that I have left - and I know I only have ten minutes, but I will get the opportunity to rise again on a number of occasions. I notice that the Member for Baie Verte is over there laughing away. Maybe the Member for Baie Verte will not laugh; maybe he has not heard the news. I have received an e-mail this week saying that the plant in Little Bay Islands will not be opening this year, and that the people on that island have no source of employment or income. Maybe he thinks that is something to laugh about, but I do not. I guess they know what the member thinks about it, because that is the reason they e-mailed me.

Let's go around the Province and look at what has happened to the economy in various areas of this Province over the last three years. When the members opposite stand and talk about what a great track record they have, maybe they should do some thinking and wonder who they are talking about in their districts. Let's start with what has closed in this Province in the last three years since this government took power. Number one was the Stephenville mill. The Premier went to Stephenville in 2003 and said: The Stephenville mill will not close under my watch; take it to the bank. What is happening in Stephenville today? The mill closed and laid off 301 employees who worked directly in the mill and another 600 who worked indirectly in the town surrounding the Stephenville mill.

Let's go to Harbour Breton and see what happened there. A plant, two-and-one-half years ago that employed 350 people, today may be employing fifty or sixty, and these people do not get a full week's work even when the plant is open. They do not even make up a full weeks work even when the plant is open. Then the Premier stands on his feet in the House of Assembly in front of the media and talks about: Look at what we have done for Harbour Breton. Yes, look at what we have done for Harbour Breton. By pussyfooting around with FPI and allowing his corporate cousins to do exactly what they want with that company, he allowed John Risley and gang, the Board of Directors of FPI, to go in and close down the plant and throw 350 people to the wind. Then he brags about the fact that Bill Barry, using his own money, went into Harbour Breton and is managing to employ forty, fifty or sixty people on a temporary basis. I applaud Mr. Barry for that. I have stood in this House many times and criticized Mr. Barry, but I have to give him his due in Harbour Breton. Nobody else wanted to go in there. The Premier and his government, those opposite, let FPI slink out of there. He let them slink out of there without a word, except there is nothing we can do about it. We have an act in this House of Assembly that governs it, so that is a great achievement. That is a great achievement that you can chalk up on your positive side, 350 jobs exchanged for fifty temporary ones, I say.

Let's leave Harbour Breton and come along. We talked about Stephenville. We will not get into Ramea and Burgeo where there is nothing happening down there either, but let's leave Harbour Breton and go to Fortune, another plant that employed over 300 people; another community that this government turned its back on; another community that is seeing out-migration the likes of which they have never seen before, because they always had a plant in Fortune. In most of it's history it worked year-round. Today, there is nobody working in that plant.

Then the Premier gets up here today and reads a letter from one of his friends down in Fortune, or in Grand Bank, and talks about: Oh, everything is rosy down here, Mr. Premier. Merry Christmas! By the way, he said in his letter, the fish plant workers in Marystown wish you a Merry Christmas. Well, I would challenge the Premier to go down and meet with the 600 people who used to work, or the 650 people who used to work in the Marystown plant, and let's see how many of them actually signed their names on that letter wishing him a Merry Christmas.

Mr. Chair, there it is, Stephenville, Harbour Breton, Fortune, Marystown, closed and you do not hear a sound from this government about it. Closed. All you hear is about what great things this government is doing.

Let's go up to the Northern Peninsula, an area of the Province that has been decimated, absolutely decimated by out-migration. My colleague from Grand Bank quoted today, Bird Cove, 50 per cent of its population gone in the last few years; 50 per cent. Even the mayor, probably one of the most outspoken spokes-people in this Province - it is too bad, as I said before, we do not have more people like Augustine Rumbolt living in this Province because she was certainly heard. She certainly had her community and her region of the Northern Peninsula at heart. When was the last time we heard of her? The last time I heard of her was on a call to the Fisheries Broadcast from Fort McMurray. The time before that I heard her was on CBC radio when she left the Province heading for Port aux Basques to go out west where she thanked the Premier of this Province for forcing her out of the Province; thanked him personally.

Let's talk about the great things that are happening. I have not heard the Member for St. Barbe up today talking about the wonderful things that are happening in his district. Englee has been up there struggling for the past few years even to get a meeting with their own member, to try and get their plant open in the district, but to no avail. He has done absolutely nothing for them up there.

Let's talk about what is happening in Goose Bay. All I have heard from the crowd opposite in the last three years is what they are going to do for Goose Bay. Well, I can tell you what they have done for Goose Bay; absolutely nothing.

The Minister of Transportation and Works gets up into a rant and a blow all the time about what a great government they are. They have not done a thing. Up until this week they had all of their goose eggs put in the one basket with the great Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada and the commitment that they gave, 650 troops on the ground. That was last February. That commitment was actually given last December, fourteen or fifteen months ago. What are we seeing in regard to that?

Then the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs has the gall yesterday to stand up and say, oh, yes, that file, we are all over that file and that is progressing nicely, when we hear the base commander giving a report fourteen months after these troops are supposed to be up there. What did the base commander say? Oh, yes, we are actively involved. We are looking for office space now in Goose Bay. Like you could not find any. Has anyone been to Goose Bay from that side of the House?

CHAIR: The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. REID: By leave, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR: By leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: Yes.

MR. REID: Then the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Member for St. John's East, stands yesterday: he has no problem with the federal minister or the Prime Minister of the country's commitment. All I can say is, I guess Stephen Harper could go at least three or four more years without doing anything in Goose Bay and you will still get up and say that you and him are all over the file.

Now, Mr. Chair, these are the towns that have been decimated since this group opposite came to power: Stephenville, Harbour Breton, Fortune, Marystown, Englee and Goose Bay. When I get up again, because my time is out, I will talk about the other communities that are experiencing difficulty in this Province so that maybe some of the members opposite can get up and talk about all the great things that are happening in their districts. Obviously, it is just like I keep saying here, it is like the tale of two cities. For some reason there is an imaginary area in this Province that is doing quite well and you think that it is happening everywhere, because I have travelled this Province, north, south, east and west, in the past year, I do not see the promise out there, I do not see the prosperity out there, I do not see the glowing reports coming from the people who live in that area that the members opposite speak about.

Mr. Chair, I know my time is up and I will sit down. We will get an opportunity later today, or again on Monday, to continue with this. I do not like to be negative, but if someone doesn't stand and tell the truth - and the unfortunate thing about it is all the while the members opposite are saying that things are rosy, their constituents are leaving in the planeload by the day. Their own relatives are leaving. Yet, they still stand, because the Premier tells them that everything is rosy. They have to repeat it or else they will feel the wrath of Danny, like Fabian Manning did and that Stephen Harper is going to and Loyola Hearn. I pity the Member for Topsail who said that she may be considering a run at federal politics. She does not even have her name on the nomination papers yet and the Premier is already committed to doing a number on her, but that is another story for another day, Mr. Chair, and I will be back with those stories.

Thank you.

CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Gander.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: It certainly is a pleasure to get up here today and talk about Bill 71, Interim Supply to carry on the business of the government after March 31. I would be remiss if I did not talk about the rant that I just heard in regards to Newfoundland and Labrador, and rural Newfoundland. Certainly, I heard something he said about glowing. Well the only glowing thing that I have seen in the last few weeks is the glowing results of rural Newfoundland, and Newfoundland and Labrador, expressing their opinion in the polls, and the polls show exactly what they did.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: I, too, travel this Province extensively. As a matter of fact, I have given somewhere around seventeen or nineteen speeches in various parts of this Province over the last few months or so, and certainly I have enjoyed each and every one of them. I have talked to many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians across this land and in the full Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. I get some great comments in regards of this government and what this government is doing, not only for here in the City of St. John's, but in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Then he talks about turning our backs, just like we turned our backs on everything in Newfoundland and Labrador and turned our backs on Stephenville, turned our backs on Harbour Breton, turned our backs on the Burin Peninsula. All I have heard from those three particular areas is glowing responses about how we have tried for the people of those particular areas.

The action committee group are solid behind the government. We are solid behind the action committee group in Stephenville. We are endeavoring and trying to diversify the industries, and diversify the economy in that area of the Province. Certainly, I have a number of files in my department that are in certain stages of development. It is too early to say if they will come to fruition or not, but certainly we are working with that action committee.

Harbour Breton, the same, we worked hard. We never turned our back, not once. Not once. Not once did we turn our back. As a matter of fact, we work the file, work the file, work the file, until we see some results.

The Burin Peninsula, let's take the Burin Peninsula. As a matter of fact, it is one of the brightest, brightest areas that we have in Newfoundland and Labrador at this particular time. As a matter of fact, yes, absolutely, and we are not going to deny that there are not challenges in Newfoundland and Labrador, there are not challenges in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. We are not going to deny that, absolutely. That has been here since the beginning of time, challenges. Challenges have been here since the beginning of time. Beyond 1949 they have been there and certainly you, as a government, when you were over here, experienced challenges, but the problem was that you could not actually handle the challenge.

We are showing, because we have grown the economy - I cannot remember the exact terminology that was used on it today, but we came home with two, and that was $2 billion to grow the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador and allow this government to diversify that economy -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: - and certainly to go out, from the Department of Business perspective, and attract business and investment to this Province.

Now I will go back to the Burin Peninsula, to a number of items down on the Burin Peninsula in regard to opportunity and things that are happening there, the investment in the aquaculture industry. Cooke Aquaculture, I see 200 jobs, $150-odd million investment in the industry, you know, good things to come.

If you listen to the hon. member there yapping at me as I am speaking, he thinks that everything, as soon as you put the $5 million, as soon as you put the $10 million, into the pot, then you start to see the fruits of the labour. That all takes time. That all takes time before it comes to fruition. I see it time and time again.

As a matter of fact, it was only a couple of weeks or so ago that I was listening to VOCM and the other media outlets and they were talking about and doing interviews on Duck Pond and on the Baie Verte Peninsula. They were talking about how Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, skilled labour, was moving back to the Province to take part in those jobs that were developed in the Duck Pond and the Baie Verte area. These are all successes. These are all successes, but they are afraid to talk about successes. They are afraid to talk about how the net debt, as a percentage of GDP, has steadily declined since we took government. Steadily declined. As a matter of fact, the best rating this Province has ever had is right now in our history.

They reference the paper today, a fictional person, a fictional person making a comment about the business climate in Newfoundland and Labrador. A fictional person. I travel this land, I travel Canada, I travel internationally. As a matter of fact, I just came back from an international trip, and I met at the highest levels of government, businesses and trading companies, and all I heard, and all that was expressed, was the interest of investing in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the opportunities that were here, and that is exactly what was here.

Now, during my time here today as well, I have to talk about the Department of Business. I heard one of the hon. members across the way talking about the Department of Business and our business plan. She was referencing a number of the items in that business plan, one being the business attraction strategy, another one being the tax incentive review, another one being the Red Tape Reduction Committee initiative, and the band, so let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it. Let's talk about business. Let's talk about it. It just so happens that this particular member has two very prominent business people in this Province from her family, two. Two very, very prominent, very prominent. One of them, in particular, is a very, very good friend of mine. One of them also is an internationally renowned business person. So, let's talk about the business attraction strategy and how important it is that we can continue to work, the Department of Business, with this Intern Supply.

The business attraction strategy - and I must say right up front that if you do not have a strategy then you are not going anywhere.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. O'BRIEN: That is exactly right, you are not going anywhere. You do not where you are going, and that is what happened on the other side for fifteen years. They did not grow the economy, they did not have any revenues, and what happened in 1996? Six million dollars into roads and transportation, $6 million. That is the reason why, because you did not have the revenues.

The business attraction strategy, first off, you have to identify the areas of Newfoundland and Labrador in which you have the most opportunities. The second thing you have to do under the business attraction strategy is identify growth areas and growth industries in the world. Then you have to marry those two together and you have to map out a strategy in regard to going after those growth areas and see if we can attract some of those business opportunities back to Newfoundland and Labrador.

CHAIR: Can we have some order, please?

Order, please!

MR. O'BRIEN: I will say this, that most companies in Newfoundland and Labrador, including the two that I have referenced, always have a business attraction strategy. They are always trying to expand their businesses. They certainly have a strategy in that regard, and they have been very successful, but God forbid if they had listened to the hon. member.

The tax incentive review, very, very important. It is very important to identify all the tax incentives that we have.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Could we have some order, please? We cannot hear the speaker.

The hon. the Member for Gander.

MR. O'BRIEN: Thank you for your protection, Mr. Chair.

Now, let's talk about the tax incentive review, and how important it is in regard to attracting business and investment to this Province. First off, we have to identify all the different tax incentives that we have, and programs that we have currently in government. We have to go through them, we have to look at them and we have to analyze them.

The second thing we have to do is look at tax incentives that are offered in other regions, both nationally and internationally. Then we have to analyze those and see what they are offering and what they are successful at, and what makes a certain business move into a certain region or jurisdiction.

Certainly, then we have to look at the international side of the market, particularly to the identified markets that we are going to go after that have been identified under the business attraction strategy. Then we have to look at these. Then we have to come back and formulate a strategy based on all that research to know full well what we are going to offer these businesses coming into Newfoundland and Labrador, that they will come, that they will be attracted here because we are the best.

That is exactly what you have to do, and I am sure that is important to both of those individuals as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: The red tape reduction initiative, a great initiative that was chaired by my colleague, Paul Oram, and certainly the hon. member, now the minister, Shawn Skinner, was a part of it, and also -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. O'BRIEN: Oh, I am sorry. I should know better.

AN HON. MEMBER: The Member for Terra Nova.

MR. O'BRIEN: Anyway, he got his plug in anyway.

The hon. members did a great job in regard to that RT reduction initiative and it is certainly important. I have always said in regard to my speeches across the Province that RTR is more than just eliminating legislation, and prohibitive pieces of legislation, clauses and that kind of stuff, and red tape for the public. It is more about streamlining government services to the public and to the business community and creating a friendly environment for business, and (inaudible) -

CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that his time has expired.

MR. O'BRIEN: - moving into the Province and coming into this Province to invest.

CHAIR: The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. O'BRIEN: By leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: Yes.

CHAIR: By leave, the hon. Member for Gander.

MR. O'BRIEN: That is very important. Now in the meantime I am going to have a chance to come back later too and talk about the brand and talk about my district that it has been such an honour to represent. I have a full page to talk about in regards to my district as well that I made a few notes where I would not forget things. I put out a brochure just recently, and to be honest with you I had to cut it down because it just became too costly because of all the things that were in there that this government did for my district. We will talk about that when I get a chance again.

Thank you.

CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: I appreciate an opportunity to have another few words on Interim Supply.

In my comments earlier this afternoon, we were talking about the confrontational attitude that this Premier has brought to federal provincial relations. It was the topic yesterday here in the House of Assembly in question period. All the media has obviously taken note of it. The Telegram has commented on it. I understand national media have commented on it. The panels on televisions have commented on it, that this confrontational approach has led to the Premier being persona non grata in Ottawa. He is not welcome. There are doors not opening; just not opening, folks. We can say what we like as a Province and as a people, but that is a fact right now. That is a fact and it is a sad fact, when the Premier of our Province cannot go to Ottawa and expect to have any doors open, and the people do not want to deal with him.

We have to continue to move forward. As much as we might disagree with somebody on a certain file and if we did not get our own way, we just cannot close the doors and take this aggressive, confrontational attitude to the point where it obstructs the business of the Province. That is the situation we find ourselves in.

We also asked questions today, and the media and the public of this Province are aware of it again, that the confrontational attitude just does not exist with respect to a relationship with the federal government. It exists with respect to business. We have a Premier, for example, who instead of - it is one thing for negotiations to be off the rails with ExxonMobil, that is fine, but you do not have to get nasty with the President of ExxonMobil. It is one thing for negotiations to go off the rails with Abitibi in terms of the mill. You can have your strong differences and disagreements and finally agree to disagree and walk away, but you do not have to chastise and get personal and nasty with the President of Abitibi. There is no need of it. You do not have to be telling the chairperson of any company - we all have our differences with Mr. Risley, for example, and FPI. A lot of us disagree with what Mr. Risley does, but we do not have to be saying he needs a fastball up the side of the head, that kind of locker room type jargon. It is not becoming of the Premier.

We saw there again today - and you talk about attitudes and why the people of this Province are taking a look at this Premier and saying, you may have a lot of good ideas, you may be trying to do the best that you can for this Province, but style and approach is important.

We had a question today from the Leader of the Opposition of the Premier about a quote that was in The Telegram from some unnamed executive who is involved in the oil and gas industry in this Province. The comment was: The executive also levelled criticism at Premier Danny Williams saying he has set back the Province's offshore industry by twenty-five years. As far as everyone is concerned, globally, we are not open for business. No one wants to deal with him, said the executive.

Now, I will explain -

MR. DENINE: (Inaudible).

MR. PARSONS: If the Member for Mount Pearl could be quite for a second, I will gladly explain where I am coming from here.

First of all, the Premier's reaction to that was that this person was a gutless coward. Now that is what the Premier of our Province said about some businessman in our Province today in this House simply because the individual would not put his name in The Telegram. Now folks, just get this, that is exactly the fear mentality, that it exactly the bullying attitude, that we have to avoid. We have to avoid that kind of thing.

There are all kinds of ways for the Premier of this Province to make his point known about this individual, but a lot of times it is as much about how something is done, and how you say it, that leads to the resolution of issues or non-resolution of them. The point I am trying to make is not that the Premier cannot take or shouldn't take a hardline from time to time, no one disagrees with that. Whatever is in the best interest of this Province, if you have to take a hardline, fine, but quite often it is the style and the rhetoric that one uses that takes you further afield than you ever need to be. It taints the relationship to the point where the parties get visceral after that and they do not ever want to come back to the table.

That is what we are suggesting. It is fine to stand up for this Province. This Premier does not have a monopoly on wanting to look after the best interests of this Province. Every single person in this House wants to see this Province achieve it maximum, everybody, but you do not need to have the Premier of the Province, when some person expresses their opinion - and they are afraid to put their name to it. Let's call a spade a spade, I say to the Member for Mount Pearl. That is why the person who put the quote in the paper did not want his or her name there, they are afraid to put their name there. They are strictly, simply afraid, and we have seen why they are afraid. Because the minute you say anything that is contrary to what the Premier wants to do you get attacked, folks. You get attacked! You do not need to be up here because a gentleman expresses an opinion that is contrary to the Premier and calling him a gutless coward. It is absolutely unnecessary. You do not need to be saying we are going to give somebody a fast ball up the side of the head. That is the point that we are trying to make, that you can be as strong, as adamant, as vehement as you want in the defence of, and in the promotion of, what is in the best interests of this Province, but it is the style that has as much to do with this as anything.

We do not need our health care files, I say to the Minister of Health, being put off the rails for some reason that is totally unrelated to health care files, because somebody in Ottawa is upset that this gentleman does this kind of stuff. We just do not need it. The Minister of Health has to go back and negotiate with Mr. Clement, the Federal Minister of Health.

What kind of reception do we get and our ministers get when they go off to Ottawa? The first reaction that comes out of somebody, if you do not like it, is that you are gutless and you are a coward. That is all we are saying. The Premier is the first one to play spin ball, looks up to the Leader of the Opposition today and says: Oh well, obviously you are not out for the best interest of this Province. What a crock! The Premier knows the difference of that, but he has to be a good listener. He is going to carry the ball at the end of the day. He is the Premier and he should carry the ball, but there is nothing wrong with being open and listening. I was always told that the smartest person was the person who listened and had the ability to listen as opposed to talking. I feel that is what we are seeing here. We are seeing a lot of talking and sometimes some very crude, some very crass, some very unnecessary talking.

Sometimes a little bit of diplomacy helps. Diplomacy is not a sign of weakness. Diplomacy is never a sign of weakness. There is nothing that says because you are diplomatic you cannot put your position forth and fight for it vehemently. That does not mean you are weak. It does not mean you are weak at all, but when your language and your style becomes offensive to the person you are dealing with, all of a sudden we are missing the point and we are wrapped up in personalities. That is everything we have seen from this Premier on files, major files, folks, files that mean billions of dollars to this Province. We get sometimes, a lot of times, the locker room jock type of reaction. That is not necessary.

The Premier brought to the table, to this Province when he got into politics, a lot of credentials, folks; a lot of credentials. The man is a Rhodes Scholar. The man did well in business, but for God's sake do not let what are very good and capable tools that you bring to the game be lost sight of simply because of the style that you use. People do not like a bully, folks. You all remember the story that used to be in the old comic books years ago, the guy who walked on the beach. It is only so long that you are going to kick sand in the other fellow's face. Eventually, it is going to stop, and we are seeing that it is stopping in some areas. It is stopping now.

The federal Minister of Fisheries, for example, was not going to take any more sand in his face, folks. Fabian Manning was not taking any more sand in his face, or Loyola Sullivan or Norm Doyle. They are not bad people because they stood up for what they wanted to stand up for. They had their reasons. Whether they are right or they are wrong, they have their reasons but they do not deserve to be attacked over it. Nobody deserves to be attacked.

I guess it is going to look good now when a federal election comes, when the Premier is down in Ferryland, it is going to look some cute now when the Member for Ferryland - I would put money on it right here, right now, that the newly elected Member for Ferryland, there is no way he is not going to support Loyola Hearn. Not on your life! Not on your life! And he knows why.

CHAIR (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

I remind the hon. Opposition House Leader that his time for speaking has lapsed.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I will certainly resume my comments on Monday when we are back here again.

Thank you very much.

CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It is certainly good to get up and say a few words here this evening after listening to the comments from across the way, Mr. Chair, and I have to address it first.

The Opposition likes to continually attack our Leader, and it is unfortunate because what we are talking about here now is an issue with the federal budget. It is certainly not about Premier Williams. It is about a promise not kept and we have no choice. We are not going to sit idly by and roll over and take everything, regardless if it is big oil, if it is the federal government. We have to stand up and fight for what we believe in, and that is something that our Premier is doing. I am proud to say that I stand on this side of the House and will stand with him shoulder to shoulder to keep doing that. It is not about the Premier, it is not about bullying, it is about fighting for our rights. It is something that we have been lacking for years and years and years. It is time, and if you look to the general population, if you go around the Province, or if you go to people in your district and you ask them what they would like to see, I can tell you right now that the vast majority of them, 80 per cent to 90 per cent of them at the very least, as the polls say, support the style of this government and the style of the leadership of this Party.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, we are not fighting for something that was not committed to us. This is not new ground to us. This is something that was told to us. It was committed to us in a number of letters. It was written to our Premier on two occasions. It was written to the then Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, head of the federation. All of these places, all of these people were committed to the 100 per cent removal of natural resources. That is why, today, the people of this Province are as upset as they are.

This is going to have a significant impact on the finances of this Province. To say that there will be no impact is not accurate. We will be at a loss of millions and millions and millions of dollars. Mr. Chair, as time goes on, we are looking at billions of dollars that will be lost in the coffers of this Province. That is something that this Premier has to stand up and fight for. That is why we elected him, and certainly, that is why we will continue to fight. But, regardless of who it is, it is time, it is long overdue that we get our fair share in this Province. I am delighted that we have taken the stand that we have currently taken with the federal government.

Mr. Chair, they talk about this government and the fact that we have done nothing and we have no interest in rural Newfoundland and nothing has happened. Well, very recently, a couple of days ago, I attended a press conference as Parliamentary Secretary to Minister Skinner, the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, and a significant announcement was made and something that probably was not covered like it should have been. It was titled: Diversity, Opportunity and Growth. It was announced, an immigration policy for this Province, something that is very much needed. Most other parts of the country do have an immigration strategy.

I believe Manitoba has had the biggest success in attracting immigrants to their area. They set very modest goals, but by putting the finances and the staff in place, were not only able to attract immigrants but were also able to keep them in their Province.

Mr. Chair, it pays dividends. We do not have to look far in our own Province for the advantage of having immigrants move into our Province and move into rural Newfoundland. There are some great success stories, and I touched on them a little yesterday. There are some great success stories in our Province. They are not here, Mr. Chair, to take jobs from Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. That is the mindset that we have to get rid of, because that is not the case at all. We want to attract entrepreneurs into this Province to create jobs. I guess there is no other better view than to see. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. All we have to look at, in Minister Hedderson's district, is Rodriguez Winery in Markland; marketed worldwide. They employ numerous people. They pick local berries. It is a local product that they have developed right here, and they market it all over the world.

Superior Gloves, Mr. Chair, in Point Leamington, creates locate employment, and they boast that one of their customers is Toyota. We know Toyota is seen all over the world. They are a huge company with thousands and thousands of employees. Here is a small community, like Point Leamington, employing local people with decent jobs, decent paying jobs, Mr. Chair, and manufacturing a product that is sold worldwide.

As well, Mr. Chair, we see the Kodiak boot factory in Harbour Grace, the member opposite's district. Terra Nova shoes is certainly a very popular brand, and it is worn by the Canadian Military, a very significant customer as well. We are proud to say that people here in Newfoundland are able to make a contribution, and make a contribution to the military efforts around the globe.

Mink farmers, Mr. Chair: I believe the hon. member knows quite well the advantage of having mink farmers from Denmark employing local people year round. In rural Newfoundland where the jobs are needed most, it is certainly good to see, and I will certainly take my hat off to it.

Mr. Chair, there have been a lot of good initiatives happening here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Unfortunately, sometimes the Opposition does not like to admit to it, but there is quite a bit that has happened here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our last budget, Mr. Chair, spoke to poverty reduction, which is a key initiative for this government. It is heralded across the country; you talk to anybody. Since I have gone to work with Minister Skinner I have talked to a number of people on a number of different social issues and they boast about the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the initiatives they have taken on poverty reduction. Of course, nothing is move evident than our expanded drug coverage. The expanded drug coverage that we have put into place this year is phenomenal, Mr. Chairman. It will see some extra 97,000 people covered under the new Prescription Drug Program, a phenomenal effort by this government. We will see co-rates between 20 per cent and 70 per cent, depending on your income, and an investment of $32.8 million annually. That is something that this government has done to reduce poverty throughout this Province.

Eliminating school fees, something the crowd opposite talked about for many, many years but was not achieved until this group formed the government. That is $6.3 million to increase structural grants to school boards, another initiative, Mr. Chairman. Besides the reduction and elimination of school fees, we will also see that.

Mr. Chairman, when I was going around knocking on doors in the by-election and again in the general election, unfortunately I ran into a number of people on social services and income support. One of the things they talked about to me as I sat at their kitchen tables and talked to them on their doorsteps was the rates. You know, it is amazing how these people are surviving on the income that they get. I said at that time to these people that one of the things I would bring to the table when I sat on the government side and sitting around the caucus table was the increase of income support rates. I, like many others on this side of the House, see the need for an increase. I am proud to say that we had a 5 per cent increase in income support rates in the last number of months. We still have a ways to go, but, let me tell you, that was the first time in a long, long time that people on income support saw any increase whatsoever. I am certainly glad to say that this government took the initiative to make that happen.

Mr. Chairman, like I said, I just wanted to stand today and point that out, because we listen too much about the negative things, that nothing is happening in this Province, and I say that nothing is further from the truth. This government is taking the bull by the horns. It is making a difference and will continue to make a difference, regardless of who we have to fight with or who we do not have to fight with to get what the people of this Province so rightly deserve.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

A little while ago, I got up and talked about the devastation that is happening in some of our communities, and I said I would go back to that, but I want to raise another issue because, since then, I received another call from my district - my office received another call from my district - and it concerns health care in the district.

It is no laughing matter, I say to the Member for Terra Nova. He knows something about health care. I think he runs a couple of seniors' homes, and that is one of the issues I want to talk about.

Mr. Chairman, it concerns the health care facility, the brand new facility that we committed to and built, the Liberal government committed to and built. It was a twenty-bed facility, ten beds of which were supposed to be for chronic care and ten for acute care. Unfortunately for the people of Fogo Island, the opening date was supposed to be in August and it was delayed until November 2003. At that time, when the new government came over, they only saw fit to open ten beds. Since then they have opened four more, but, unfortunately, it still does not and it cannot accommodate the people on Fogo Island.

We decided that it was going to be ten beds for chronic care so that the elderly people did not have to leave Fogo Island to go somewhere else to die. These people did not want that to happen because they knew the undue stress and the undue hardship that it would place on the relatives left behind to have to leave the Island to go and visit them.

Let me tell you three things that happened on Fogo Island this week, I say to the Minister of Health, and maybe you can check and get some of the details for me, for when we come back here on Monday. The first thing is that, even though there are four empty rooms out there - or there are supposed to be, by the way. All of those rooms had beds in them when we built that hospital. There were supposed to be twenty beds in twenty rooms, or at least twenty beds there, ten of which were supposed to be chronic care and ten acute care.

Earlier this week, an individual had to go to the hospital for an emergency, in the evening, one day this week. That individual was put into a room with another individual. Unfortunately, one was a man and one was a woman. Now, the minister might think that is acceptable but the individuals in the room did not think it was acceptable, especially when there were empty rooms in that facility.

I do not think, Mr. Chairman, that two ill people - not young, by the way - should be forced to share the same room when they are of the opposite sex, and share the same washroom and everything else, especially in light of the fact that there are rooms. In fact, Mr. Chairman, if what I have been told by one of these individuals is true, a doctor came to see one of those individuals and said - when he came to see the individual, he asked one of the employees there, a nurse, or whomever else was looking after these individuals: Why have you got these two individuals in the same room?

Do you know what the response was? Because we have been given orders out of Gander that we are not allowed to put them in a room across the hall.

That is not acceptable. That is not acceptable, Mr. Minister, I say. The other thing, after doing some checking on this, I discovered, not only are they not allowed to put them in the room but there was, recently, an individual who had to be shipped to Gander because they could not use one of these vacant rooms - taken off the Island and shipped to Gander. It is bad enough to get ill, but you do not need that added stress.

I will tell you another example. There was another example of an individual who was put in the hair salon in the hospital, on a stretcher, because they were not allowed to use one of those vacant rooms. If you can put someone on a bed, or on a stretcher, and move them into the hair salon that they have there for the seniors, then why can't they push them into one of those vacant rooms?

That is not acceptable, Minister, especially in light that the Premier gave the people of Fogo Island the commitment during the election that he was going to open the hospital, but he was a little too cute by half, or the people of Fogo Island trusted him too much, because all he opened originally were ten of the twenty beds in that facility. That is one example, or I should say three relating to one incident.

There was another incident the other night where a lady, who either had a brain aneurism or a hemorrhage of the brain, arrived at the Fogo Island Hospital somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00. They realized immediately what her problem was and called an air ambulance, between 9:00 and 9:30.

Fogo Island, by the way, has a runway, a paved runway, for that purpose, no problem to land there. You can land any of those planes, air ambulance, or any of those operated by Provincial Airlines, on Fogo Island. In fact, what happened - there is a remote switch that planes can push so that the lights come on, on the runway. I have seen it happen. I have seen planes land there.

That individual with the brain aneurism arrived at the hospital; the air ambulance was called somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30, and guess what time that air ambulance showed up on Fogo Island? Two o'clock. Two o'clock, Mr. Chairman. That was between four-and-a-half and five hours for a plane to come from either Gander or St. John's.

That is not acceptable, because there is nowhere in this Province that you cannot fly in five hours. You could leave Torbay right now, today, and you would be in Nain in less than five hours.

As far as I know, when I was talking to the family of that individual, she was still unconscious yesterday in St. John's. That is not acceptable. The reason given was, they had to fill out the paperwork. That is the reason I was given, they had to fill out paperwork. Now, if filling out paperwork is more important than saving someone's life, boy, we are living in a sad situation in this Province.

MR. PARSONS: So much for the red tape committee.

MR. REID: So much for the red tape committee that was headed up by the Member for Gander. So much for the red tape committee, when you have to wait five hours in a situation like that, a life-threatening situation like that, to have an air ambulance arrive.

I can tell you one thing, Mr. Chairman, if you left Torbay in a plane today, in less than twenty minutes you would be on Fogo Island, in less than twenty minutes. That is how long it takes to fly from Fogo Island to St. John's, or vice versa, so there is no reason in this world that plane could not have been there in less than an hour-and-a-half.

MR. O'BRIEN: (Inaudible).

MR. REID: Okay, the Member for Gander wants to argue with me. He is going to tell me that the trip from Fogo to St. John's is more than twenty minutes. Maybe when I sit down he can get up and tell me it is going to take twenty-three minutes.

Don't you be so childish, boy! Have some respect for people who are ill in this Province. You should be ashamed of yourself to sit there and laugh today. The Minister of Business from Gander laughed because a woman the other night, who had a brain haemorrhage, had to wait five hours to get a plane to land on Fogo Island, and you have the gall to stand over there today and laugh? You should be ashamed to sit in this House, I say to the member opposite. You should be -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. REID: Get on to a serious issue he tells me. Do you hear him, minister? Do you hear him, Minister of Health? Get on with a serious issue. I just cannot believe that an individual who was a pharmacist all of his life is talking like that, get on to a serious issue, when an individual who had a brain haemorrhage had to wait five hours for a plane. Get on to a serious issue!. Well, minister, I say to you, I just hope that no one in your family or yourself have to witness something like that. I really and truly do not. You should be ashamed of yourself.

The last one, Mr. Chair, a call I just received a few minutes ago concerned a senior citizen who is dying of cancer in Grand Falls hospital and he wants to return to Fogo Island to be put in one of those chronic care beds that you have not opened. The reason he wants to do it is not for his own benefit, but he realizes the stress and the strain that it is putting on his family who live on Fogo Island, who have to take a ferry. If they visit him in Grand Falls they are probably going to have to spend a night in a hotel. He wants to return to Fogo Island to spend his last few days in the surroundings of his family and his friends. I ask you minister, if you would look at these three issues, and for goodness sake and for God's sake, do not sit around the table with the Minister of Business, the Member for Gander and discuss this issue because I know what the results will be. I would certainly appreciate it, and I can give you more details of the individuals involved. They did not want their names mentioned here today but if you need the names of the people, I would gladly give them to you.

Thank you.

CHAIR: The hon. Acting Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am sure this debate will continue again on Monday.

At this time, Mr. Chairman, I ask, in view of the hour, that the Committee rise, report progress and seek leave to sit again.

CHAIR: The motion is that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, ‘nay'.

Motion carried.

On motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, Mr. Speaker returned to the Chair.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bonavista South and Deputy Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Bonavista South and Deputy Speaker.

MR. FITZGERALD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Committee of Supply have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to report progress and ask leave to sit again.

MR. SPEAKER: The Chairperson of the Committee of Supply reports that the Committee have considered the matters to them referred and ask leave to sit again.

When shall this Committee sit again?

AN HON. MEMBER: On Monday.

MR. SPEAKER: On Monday.

The hon. the Acting Government House Leader.

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Mr. Speaker, at this time I move that the House adjourn until Monday, March 26 at 1:30 in the afternoon.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that this House do now adjourn until Monday, March 26 at 1:30 in the afternoon.

All those in favour, ‘Aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, ‘nay'.

The motion is carried.

This House now stands adjourned until Monday, March 26 at 1:30 in the afternoon.

On motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow, Monday, March 26 at 1:30 p.m.