April 14. 2005 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLV No. 11


The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

I do believe the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi was standing.

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

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

Yesterday, after Question Period, I asked for the tabling of a letter by the Premier to Mr. McCurdy, which he cited during Question Period, and we did have an undertaking from the Government House Leader to provide the letter before the close of business yesterday. Unfortunately, it seems he had to leave the House a few minutes before the House did close. The Acting Government House Leader did not have any knowledge of what was going on, so I wonder if the Government House Leader can tell us today, or can table the letter from the Premier to Mr. McCurdy so we can see what the nature of the request was?

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

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I did have to leave the House about 4:50 p.m. I had an unexpected personal message that I had to deal with, but in the Order Paper today, under Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given, I will be happy to table the letter. I have it with me and I will table it at that point under the Order Paper in which the Standing Orders call for it.

MR. SPEAKER: It is not a point of order; however, I do believe there has been an understanding between two hon. members.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: the hon. the Member for the District of Topsail, the hon. the Member for the District of Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune, the hon. the Member for the District of Port au Port, the hon. the Member for the District of Grand Bank, and the hon. the Member for the District of Grand Falls-Buchans.

The hon. the Member for the District of Topsail.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, today I am very proud to recognize a group of young individuals from my district who recently received national recognition for their athletic achievements in boxing.

Five young boxers, ages four to sixteen, from the Conception Bay South Boxing Club, recently represented our Province of Newfoundland and Labrador at the Cadet Canadian National Championships in Prince George, British Columbia, April 1 to April 3. They combined to take home four medals from this prestigious event.

Mr. Colin Morgan won gold in the forty-three kilogram category, and Michelle Benson took top honours in the fifty-three kilogram weight class. Colin also earned a gold medal in the forty-one kilogram exhibition competition. Michelle Rideout won bronze in her class of fifty kilograms, while Megan Dawe captured a bronze medal as well.

The team also earned the "most disciplined" award for the championships. This is a most impressive award because it not only demonstrate their character in the ring, but also the discipline displayed in all their other activities. I believe this achievement also recognizes the important role of their coaching staff, Mr. Doug Fowler, Mr. Todd Rideout, and another accomplished boxer, Mr. Donnie Hunt, in teaching boxing in the ring and behaviour when out of the ring. Interesting also is that Colin and Robert Morgan are twins, and obviously share the same interests. I am also very pleased to inform this House that Megan Dawe is the first female ever to win the gold medal for Newfoundland and Labrador at the Junior Cadet National Competition which was held in British Columbia.

I ask all members of this House to join me today in congratulating those tremendous young athletes from my district for this outstanding achievement in boxing, and the contribution they have made to our Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today I rise to congratulate the Fortune Bay North Family Resource Centre, located in Belleoram, for celebrating their tenth anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, just over ten years ago, funding from the federal government was obtained through the Community Action Program for Children to create the Family Resource Centre. The centre is physically located in Belleoram, but covers a large geographical area in Fortune Bay that is made up of nine small rural communities. Since the establishment of the centre, it has become a focal point for the many residents it serves.

The facility consists of a meeting room for parents and children, play area, program room, clothing exchange program, toy library, book bag library, and an information and resource lending room. The centre is also home to the Healthy Baby Club for the region.

Mr. Speaker, it is a place where children and parents can meet, get information, or just sit and relax without the interruption of normal day life. Parents network and support each other, and children socialize and learn about the value of good healthy eating. Parents and staff work together to promote an overall healthy lifestyle. The centre employs four full-time staff, one part-time staff and two casual staff. Their dedication to the programs and services they offer has been outstanding.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate the Executive Director, Mr. Cyril Brown, and his staff for their commitment and dedication, and wish them continued success in the future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port au Port.

MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate fifteen Enterprise Education students from the Stephenville High School who were chosen to represent this Province at the Eighth Annual National Young Entrepreneur Conference and Business Competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. This is being held at the present time from April 13 to April 15.

The competition hosts 750 students, teachers and youth leaders who come to participate in the entrepreneurship classes and competition over a three-day period.

At the conference, adults and young entrepreneurs share their secrets and stories of success; youth run businesses compete for prizes, cash and scholarships; break out sessions are conducted to provide hands on assistance in starting and running a business; and students and teachers leave the conference inspired, motivated and energized.

The institute has provided young people ages eight to eighteen with the assistance for starting business since 1995. Young people start businesses, earn money and contribute to their community. The institute helps ventures get started and expand, with the intention that they will have economic impact, as well as affect the lifelong skills of the young people.

Enterprise Education, Mr. Speaker, is very important to the young people of Stephenville High School. It also represents a vehicle by which rural areas of this Province can easily be sustained through the creativity and determination of entrepreneurs who create, not only opportunities for themselves, but also for others.

During their time at the conference the students will be promoting the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Stephenville, Port au Port, Bay St. George area as a great place to operate a business, to invest, to visit, and to raise a family.

I congratulate the fifteen students involved, Mr. Speaker, their teacher, Shawn Bradbury and the conference organizers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, today I congratulate students from two schools in the District of Grand Bank, John Burke High School and Lake Academy.

Students from those schools are recognized for their efforts in their Market Your Thoughts competition, which is a business essay competition sponsored by the Y Enterprise Centre in partnership with the Department of Education. There were 854 entries received from throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Rebecca Stuckey of John Burke High School in Grand Bank is both the district and provincial winner at the Grade 8 level. Kurt Warren was named the Grade 9 level winner at the district level. Four other students from John Burke High School, Kristin Francis, Bradley Caines, Bradley Symes and Philip Hillier placed among the top 100. Students placing in the top 100 from Lake Academy in Fortune were: Adam Piercey, Jennifer Lake, Kerri-Lynn Rose, Michael Pittman, Brian Keeping, Tyler Coady and Stacey Matchem.

The competition was designed for students in Grades 7 to 9 in the Province. It was developed to introduce intermediate students to the many business opportunities that can be created by young people and encourage them to think seriously about a future as entrepreneurs. Students are required to write a 600 to 1,000 word essay describing a business idea or opportunity they believe could work in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating all students in the Province who participated in this particular competition and commend the Y Enterprise Centre and the Department of Education on this most worthwhile initiative.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate a very much admired constituent of mine, ninety-one year old Mary McCormick, who was named an Honourary Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Drama Society, during the Fifty-fifth Annual Provincial Drama Festival recently held in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Mr. Speaker, Mary McCormick has had a lifetime involvement in local and provincial drama. As a young girl growing up in Grand Falls-Windsor, and even now, her stage presence has captured the attention of the many audiences who have had the privilege to see her preform. She has a tremendous ability to transform herself into the character she is playing, a rare talent that has brought her success over the years.

Mary did not limit her acting abilities to just theater. She was also a member of the cast of Up At Hours, a television series with acclaimed actor, Gordon Pinsent. Her countless hours and enthusiasm has helped establish and maintain an interest in drama for people of all ages and it is hoped that she will continue to be involved well into the future.

Mr. Speaker, I would like all members to join with me in congratulating Ms Mary McCormick on being recognized for her lifetime contribution to drama.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In recognition of National Organ Donor and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, I rise today to bring your attention to an issue that touches thousands of Canadians every year, an issue that may indeed touch many of us, our friends, our families and loved ones here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This coming week, Mr. Speaker, is Canada's National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week. It is a time which gives us the opportunity to bring the issue of organ and tissue donation to the forefront, and a chance to increase awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation in our Province.

Although in Canada we have some of the best transplant technology in the world, some of the most highly skilled surgeons, and some of the most prestigious transplant hospitals, there are never enough organs. Research shows that only about fifteen out of every one million Canadians are organ donors - putting us as a country in the bottom half of all of the countries in the western world where transplants are performed. Mr. Speaker, this is not good enough.

Recently in our local news we heard a very touching story about a mother who donated part of her liver to her ailing son. She saved his life, but if she was not a match for her son, he would have had to look elsewhere and hope another donor could be found. Some children and adults wait years and years for an organ only to eventually die because there wasn't one.

According to Health Canada, there are currently 3,987 Canadians waiting for organ transplants and thousands more are in need of tissues. Unfortunately, while almost 2,000 transplants were preformed in Canada last year, nearly 150 Canadians die every year while waiting for a suitable donor organ. Here at home we have forty-eight people waiting for kidney transplants and six who need new livers. Yet, indicators show that the number of donors in Newfoundland and Labrador decreases every year. In Atlantic Canada our rate of donation is lower than in most parts of the country.

Statistics indicate that anywhere from 20 per cent to 30 per cent of people currently waiting for organs will die before a suitable organ becomes available.

I urge the residents of this Province to sign their driver's licences or fill out organ donor cards agreeing to donate their organs in the event of death. It is equally important to make your wishes known to your loved ones. A decision to become an organ donor could truly mean giving the gift of life.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We, on this side of the House, also want to join with the minister and his government today in recognizing National Organ Donor and Tissue Donation Awareness Week.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to join him in encouraging people in Newfoundland and Labrador to become organ donors, to sign their driver's licences as well when they renew it. Mr. Speaker, we have all heard the stories right throughout our Province, the desperate need that families and individuals are waiting in day after day so that they, too, may have a new lease on life. Actually, it was just yesterday I was reading an article in The Northern Pen about a fellow in Port Saunders, Brent Gould, who just donated a kidney to his father so that he would have that opportunity to be able to carry on. Of course, like a lot of people who donate, you have to wait a certain period of time to find out if it was successful. The operation for them was successful, and I certainly want to wish them well.

I think it is important that there be more awareness drawn to this particular issue, to knowing that you can give the gift of life and you can do it very freely and very unselfishly. I want to encourage people to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

This is a very important program, Mr. Speaker, there is no question about that. The key to having more people lies in education, awareness and promotion of this program. Mr. Speaker, I think people have good intentions of becoming organ donors. For your driver's license, as an example, once every five years, people have intentions but don't get around to doing it. I would like to see a much more aggressive program in place, I say to the minister, even through the Department of Health. It could be a project for summer employment for students, to have a kit to go around their communities and meet with people, have pamphlets and other information available, and have cards with them that people can sign.

I am very sure and certain, Mr. Speaker, that the people of this Province would, indeed, become members of the organ donor program if it was put in front of them in a manner such as that. I don't think people are not donors by choice, it is more by default. I think with a program like this we would certainly generate it.

I want to say one other thing if I could, Mr. Speaker. I am not questioning the research that the minister has quoted, but it certainly seems to me -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's time has expired.

MR. COLLINS: By leave, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: By leave?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MR. COLLINS: I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, that the research shows, according to the statement, fifteen out of one million Canadians. That means there will be only 450 approximately in the country, and our rates are lower than that with a half a million population. It means we would have approximately five donors in this Province. I am not sure whether or not that is correct, Mr. Speaker. If it is, it certainly demonstrates how far we have to go and how much work is required to bring up these numbers. I just wondered if these facts are indeed correct as stated here.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Statements by Ministers? Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in an article in The Western Star, and it is dated August 23, 2003, the Premier told fish plant workers that the crab industry needed more balance - his words - because there was too much power in the hands of a few processing companies. His exact quote was as follows: It is the top boys who are pulling the strings, a handful of companies that are running the whole show on the resource side, and the last thing in the world they want in there as Premier is me because I am serious.

I ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker: What has changed since he made those comments? Why has he now taken a stand exactly the opposite of what he told the plant workers, and put even more power in the hands of the top boys and the processors, to the detriment of the fish harvesters?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier's comments certainly have been addressed over the past year and a half since we became the government. As the Leader of the Opposition might know - he certainly heard me say it enough over the past while - under the previous regime, under the previous approach to fisheries management, Mr. Speaker, under the previous -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. TAYLOR: Under the previous regime and the previous approach to fisheries management in this Province, four companies controlled over 50 per cent of the crab production in this Province. That is way that it was going, and that level of corporate concentration was continuing to grow, Mr. Speaker. That is why, when rolling out our proposed pilot project on raw material sharing, we suggested that there needed to be a cap put on the corporate concentration, on control of ownership in the industry and, Mr. Speaker, that is something that we are serious about doing and we will continue to pursue as time goes on.

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, he might remember in the fall sitting of the House of Assembly when we introduced the Fish Inspection Act, and the added authority and regulatory power that was given to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the government at that time to be able to control the kind of activities that we saw in the past.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, whenever an issue is discussed in Cabinet that could create a potential conflict of interest for a minister, that particular minister is normally expected to excuse himself or herself from the discussion.

The Premier and the Minister of Fisheries have both stated publicly that the decision to implement production quotas was a decision of the full Cabinet. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Finance: Did you personally take part in these discussion at the Cabinet table, or did you excuse yourself because of a potential conflict of interest?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am here in this House going on fifteen years, and any decisions I have ever made have been without any bias. I have two family members who are harvesters in the industry, who are opposed to the stand that government have taken, and I have brothers in the industry, some as owners and some as employees of companies in the industry. I have people on both sides of this. Any decision I make has been done in an unbiased manner. Any decision I have made, I try to make in my life in an unbiased manner. I make and support decisions that I feel are best decisions here.

I contribute around the Cabinet table, and what goes on around the Cabinet table. He knows what goes on around the Cabinet table is a secret, and what is left at the Cabinet Table. I speak out where I have to. I have spoken in public on this issue in front of 200 people to 300 people up in my district three weeks ago, and I have never been shy to voice my opinion on matters.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A lot of words. Maybe let me ask again: Did you participate in this decision, yes or no?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Mr. Speaker, I answered the question. I reiterated that to him. If he wants me to sing it for him, I just can't sing. It is not one of my abilities.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will assume, then - I do not want to put words in his mouth - that the answer is yes.

Mr. Speaker, now that there have been quota cuts in the crab sector, and the Premier is intent on moving forward with a production quota system, I ask the Minister of Fisheries: Does he know yet what this year's quota will be for the newly announced licence for St. Anthony? If so, could he please advise the House how that particular decision was arrived at?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, I do not know the number for St. Anthony. I do not know the number for any other processing facility in this Province. What we said when we rolled out our pilot project in the press conference on March 4 is that we would generate numbers for the various processing facilities that were active in the Province, and that we would generate a 90 per cent number, a number that was based on 90 per cent of the previous three year average. That will be provided to the various processing facilities and they would then use that number to go and make their case to the arbitrator.

As well, all processing facilities in the Province, in trying to determine what the numbers will be, will be based on an arbitrated settlement at some point in the very near future, and at that point they have their number, they have their 90 per cent number. Nobody in the industry today has their final number.

AN HON. MEMBER: They do have it.

MR. TAYLOR: You are absolutely wrong. You know nothing what you are (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, there is some real confusion, because the Premier says go fish. The system says we will tell you where you have to sell it, and he is trying to make us believe that even the processors themselves do not know how much they are going to get. Then he says, in answer to an aside, that they know 90 per cent of what they are going to get.

Let me ask him again, with respect to another operation: If they do know 90 per cent of what they are going to get, could he tell us and tell this House about an operation at Beothic Fish in New-West-Valley? What is the 90 per cent number that they know they have so far for this year, and how does it compare to last year's quota?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am not going to stand in this House, or anywhere else, and say what anybody's number is. That is proprietary information. He knows, Mr. Speaker -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

A question has been asked by the Leader of the Opposition. The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture was giving an answer. I ask the House for their co-operation.

The Chair recognizes the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a former Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Member for Twillingate & Fogo knows full well that you do not disclose the numbers, the production numbers, or any numbers like that related to an individual operation. That was the policy when he was the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture; it is the policy when I am the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

As for matters related to disclosure of sales, invoices and what have you, that information will be disclosed to an independent auditing firm, Mr. Speaker. That is how that will be dealt with. We said that on March 4, and we are saying it again today.

Mr. Speaker, I have to correct an assertion by the Leader of the Opposition. There is no requirement under the raw material sharing system for anybody to sell to anybody. Under the system, people can sell to whomever they like.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, the employees of the fish plant in Fortune are living in fear, facing an uncertain future, because FPI is not living up to the commitment it gave to the union and to the employees. In return for their support for the company's proposal to sell off 40 per cent of their marketing division, the company promised work that has not materialized. Given that the company cannot be trusted, I ask the Premier: What is the status of FPI's request to the government to allow the company to sell one of its most lucrative divisions?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the company and the FFAW are both aware that government will sit down with FPI to see if the outstanding issues related to their income trust transaction proposal can be dealt with. If those issues can be dealt with in a satisfactory manner, we have indicated to both parties that we will be prepared to bring a resolution, or amendments to the FPI Act, or whatever is required, to the House of Assembly for a free, open debate and vote.

That, Mr. Speaker, is the status of it. That was the status of it the last time the question was asked. It remains the status. As soon as we can conclude some discussions with FPI on this matter, we will inform everybody in this Legislature and a free vote will ensue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, now that the minister has acknowledged that they are, in fact, in discussions with FPI, I guess my question is: What has the government asked of FPI in return for proceeding with the plan to sell off 40 per cent of the marketing division?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member for Grand Bank need not put words in my mouth. I did not say there were discussions ongoing. I said that we told FPI and we told the FFAW that we were prepared, and we are prepared, to sit down and discuss the outstanding issues as it relates to the income trust transaction. If we can conclude something that resembles a satisfactory arrangement, we will bring it to the House. If we cannot, we will not.

At this point, Mr. Speaker, there had been a meeting quite some time ago with the board of FPI when those issues were discussed. Have there been any negotiations on it? No, Mr. Speaker, there have not.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, it is a little worrisome that the minister cannot tell us what, in fact, they expect to get in return from FPI for the granting of such a proposal. Obviously, nothing, which is really concerning to the people not only in Fortune but in other communities.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot stress enough the fear that exists in the eight communities which have residents who work at FPI's fish plant in Fortune. A concerned citizens committee has been formed. The union and other concerned have been trying for months to get a meeting with the Premier. The Premier may not be personally aware of this, but I am going to ask now if he will meet with the concerned citizens committee within the next week. Time is of the essence.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what we are asking of FPI, what we might be able to ring out of FPI, what we might be able to gain from FPI for the people of the Province over and above the protection that might have been there before or might not have been there before under the FPI Act, will all become abundantly clear to everybody when the resolution, or the amendments, or whatever it is, is tabled here in this House.

Mr. Speaker, nothing will go forward with FPI until it is tabled in this House so that all forty-eight members have the opportunity to vote on it and the public of the Province can be informed of exactly what has been proposed and what has been negotiated, and what the people's representatives are prepared to support.

That, Mr. Speaker, is the status of it. That is what we are prepared to do, and that is what we are going to do.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. ANDERSEN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transportation and Works told this House there would be no closures on maintenance depots in this Province. The minister is now closing thirteen depots and he is laying off approximately 125 people for at least the summer months. Can the minister tell the House who is going to do the maintenance on our highways once he guts the department?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, and Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me correct the hon. member. I do not think that I told the House there would not be any rationalization of depots in this Province. I never did say that to the House. I said last year - as a matter of fact, this initiative was announced in the Budget last year, part of it was implemented last year, and the other part is going to be implemented this year.

Now, we are in the process of finalizing the rationalization of the maintenance division in our department. We do intend to winterize, in other words, ‘seasonalize', thirteen further depots. Seventeen were ‘seasonalized,' by the way, Mr. Speaker, when the hon. members opposite were the government. So, we intend to move in that regard. We also intend - we have approval to take the dollars that we realized from that rationalization and put it into maintenance, so that we have more money in maintenance and we can do a better job on maintaining the highways in the Province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. ANDERSEN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is ironic, because about this time last year I asked the minister the same question about closing depots, to which - it is in Hansard - he replied: He will not close any.

Mr. Speaker, not only is the minister laying off workers in thirteen depots he is closing, but government is also handing out pink slips to veteran employees at the remaining sites. To take an example, can the minister tell the House how he expects six employees in Victoria Cove to service several hundred kilometres of highway in Gander Bay, New World Island and Twillingate Island?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, and Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I told the hon. gentleman last year - he is correct - that we were not closing depots. We are not closing depots. We are rationalizing depots, we are winterizing depots, we are going to use them when we need them most, which is in the winter months. If the hon. member does not like that, Mr. Speaker, that is too bad.

The fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, we had the deputy minister -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

A question has been asked and an answer is being given. I ask the minister to complete his answer.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that the deputy minister, the assistant deputy minister, and the regional director met on this issue in Corner Brook last week. A formula has been devised. It is not going to be one person per 100 kilometres of road. It is not going to be anything like the earthquake that the hon. gentleman is talking about. It is going to be reasonable, it is going to be rational and it is going to deliver a better maintenance highway system in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. ANDERSEN: Mr. Speaker, I must say that when the minister started to rant and rave, I thought for a while I was at the Heritage Dog Team race on the North Coast of Labrador because he made more noise than thirteen mutts and seven dog teams put together.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ANDERSEN: Mr. Speaker, every time the minister hands out a pink slip or closes a depot he states that changes will improve our highways. When will the minister come clean with the public and admit that he is cutting the maintenance capacity of his department by laying off unionized workers and closing depots, and that he intends to contract out services?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, and Minister Responsible for Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I am so hurt by the body blow, the massive body blow that just came from the Member for Torngat Mountains that I can hardly rise to my feet. I am shivering in the timbers over here.

Mr. Speaker, I have been in this House longer than anybody else. I know one way to give an answer. I know one way to give a speech, and that is what dad used to say: Tommy boy, get up and heave it out of you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I am asking members on both sides for their co-operation. The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

For the fourth day in a row fish harvesters have protested in this House because this minister and his government is trying to ram down their throats a production quota system totally contrary to what he said last year. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the minister met with officials of the FFAW to talk about this issue. Did he tell them that he was relenting and that he was willing to develop a system based on consultation and with the support of the fish harvesters or did he confirm that he still wants to ram this down their throats against their will?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we met, as everybody knows, with representatives of the FFAW yesterday. We had a good discussion on the issue of Raw Material Sharing. We had a good discussion of possible options for moving forward. Mr. Speaker, we met for an hour to an hour and a half. There was no conclusion at the end. We agreed that we would reflect on the discussion and that we would endeavour to try and maintain lines of communication in the interest of finding a way of getting harvesters back on the water and processing workers back in the plants.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am surprised to hear those comments, because I heard the minister this morning on CBC Radio and he sounded like he was content to have the crab fishery closed for another several weeks.

I want to know, Mr. Speaker, whether he thinks he can starve the fish harvesters into submission on this thing and actually do what he says he wasn't going to do last year, to ram this down their throats against their will. Does he still plan to implement this production quota system against the wishes of the fish harvesters, against the wishes of the majority of people in Newfoundland and Labrador, and, according to this letter I got, against the wishes of PC Association presidents who think that he is about to create another ten to twenty Harbour Bretons over the next five years in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we had a good discussion with representatives of the FFAW yesterday. I don't know what interview he was listening to, or what radio he was listening to this morning. He certainly wasn't listening to the one that I was on. I said that we are interested in trying to find a way of getting harvesters back on the water and processing workers back in the plants.

Mr. Speaker, it is in everybody's interest in this Province to have the crab fishery going as soon as possible. It is our interest, it is in the Opposition's interest, it is in the interest of the people in the gallery. Mr. Speaker, that is something that we are endeavoring to do. As for the details of how that gets done, I will report that to the House as soon as the matter has been concluded.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this question was asked yesterday in the Estimates Committee, and I want to raise it again. I want clarification.

In this current Budget, government allocated $14.7 million for White Paper initiatives for post-secondary education. It is clear that Cabinet has already made decisions in order to arrive at this figure, $14.7 million, even though the minister stated yesterday that the study is before the Cabinet and no decisions have been made.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Education assure this hon. House that the campuses in Carbonear, Stephenville, St. Anthony, Seal Cove and Bonavista will not be closed?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, again to remind the hon. member on the other side that this government made a commitment: a commitment to look at the public post-secondary system in Newfoundland and Labrador. There is a paper that is before Cabinet right now. It is going through the process, and in due time the directions, decisions, that come out of that will be released not only to the hon. member but to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We got no assurance from that answer, and do you know something? This government made assurances to the people in the gallery and that is the reason why they are here today, because that commitment was broken.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Do you know something? This minister knows the answer but he is not concerned about rural communities.

The College of the North Atlantic has been hiring -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS THISTLE: Mr. Speaker -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the College of the North Atlantic has been hiring -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I am asking members to my right, and members to my left, for their co-operation. A question has been asked by the hon. Member for Grand Falls-Buchans. She has the floor, and I ask all members to recognize her right to pose her question to this House.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The College of the North Atlantic has been hiring high-level positions, like the Director of Alumni Affairs, and placing them in St. John's instead of the headquarters in Stephenville. Why is this college placing their executive positions in St. John's, instead of placing these positions in Stephenville? Mr. Speaker, will the headquarters in Stephenville be a headquarters in name only? That is what we want to find out here today.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague on the other side brings up commitment but she forgets to mention to the House that we made a commitment, for example, on a tuition freeze that we have delivered on and that we will continue to deliver on with regard to this commitment of this government!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the minister that he committed, as well, to a cancer clinic for Grand Falls. We haven't seen that yet, have we?

 

Mr. Speaker, my questions are also for the Minister of Education.

The Director of Education for the Central school board is talking about the need to offer bursaries to children who live in the more remote and isolated areas of that region so that they can leave home to attend schools in a larger urban area. I ask the minister: Is this his government's plan for revitalizing rural Newfoundland and Labrador, to have their children move away from the small communities to attend school in the larger urban areas, or is the Minister of Education now the minister responsible for resettlement?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, bursaries have been offered in this Province for as long as I can remember, to address the needs of the learners out there, to make sure that they get a quality education. If you are suggesting that we should give up that program, come out and say so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: I say to the minister, what I am suggesting is that you put more teachers in rural Newfoundland so that the children do not have to leave!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education is out and about talking about new courses in culture and music. He is also talking about capping class sizes in elementary and primary grades to twenty-three. Could the minister explain to the people of the Province how he intends to do this when he is going to eliminate another 145 teaching positions from the schools this year?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Again, I say to the hon. member, perhaps another lesson. We understand fully - at least this government understands fully - that if we are going to move forward in some areas of education we have to target certain initiatives that are going to get the biggest effect. I can tell you right now that I do not make any apologies whatsoever to you or anybody else for putting teachers in the primary grades in an area where it is going to make the most difference.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman was an educator himself but I am glad, I am certain, he did not teach math, because he is talking about putting additional teachers in the system when 145 are coming out this year.

Mr. Speaker, in the Estimates Committee yesterday -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: - the minister stated that he was working -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for your protection against those opposite.

Mr. Speaker, in the Estimates Committee yesterday, the minister stated that he was working with the Labrador School Board in an effort to re-offer French Immersion to the schools in Western Labrador.

Can the minister tell the people of that area how this can be achieved when he confirmed to me as well yesterday that he is eliminating teachers from that very area?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, again in reference to the French Immersion program that is currently into effect in Labrador, and throughout the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we certainly recognize the importance of French Immersion.

With regard to that particular file, we have been working very, very closely with the school board to bring resolve to that particular issue, not only in Labrador West but also in Labrador East. I fully expect in the near future that a decision will be made, Mr. Speaker, on that particular program and we certainly hope that it will move forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There has been a litany of problems identified in the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment since this new minister took over the department. We have heard of walls falling down, software problems, and inadequate staffing levels.

I ask the minister: Can she give this House an update on the problems encountered with the software problems they were encountering, and how the level of staffing has improved over the last report we received?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, since I took over this department in November, 2003, we have been implementing the new service delivery system that the members opposite did not have the courage to continue and roll out the plans that they had developed initially.

Mr. Speaker, there is a new computerized pay system going in, and it is rolling out. It will be completed in the West Coast very shortly. It is started here on the Avalon right now.

Mr. Speaker, with regard to other problems, there was a building that was demolished downtown which was next door to the office. Mr. Speaker, that was not a government building. It was not our building. We had Occupational Health and Safety monitor the situation for us.

Mr. Speaker, the problems, the quality of service within that department are very important to me and I monitor them as much as I can. Mr. Speaker, every client of HRLE demands nothing but the highest quality service that we can provide, and that is what we will provide.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The time allocated for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

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

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As per the request made by the hon. Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi yesterday, I did give an undertaking that I would get this letter written from the Premier to the President of the FFAW. I do have it and I wish to table it today for all members in the House.

MR. SPEAKER: Further tabling of documents.

The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment.

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table for your information today the 2003-04 Annual Report for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. Copies have been provided for distribution through the Clerk.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further tabling of documents.

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

I, today, present another petition on behalf of the fish harvesters of this Province in the following communities: Port de Grave, Cupids, North River, Coley's Point, Clarke's Beach, Holyrood, Chapel Cove, Harbour Main.

Mr. Speaker, this petition is asking this hon. House of Assembly to ask government to only impose production quotas if it is agreed upon by the FFAW and the processors of this Province as was outlined in the Dunne report.

We have heard the Premier and the Minister of Fisheries and others in this House say that they are carrying out the wishes that was in the Dunne report. Mr. Speaker, that is not correct. The Minister of Fisheries and the Premier of this Province, they did not listen to the plant workers, they did not listen to the harvesters. If you read the Dunne report there are even processors who disagree with this production.

[Disturbance in the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I wish to inform visitors in the gallery that it is a long standing parliamentary tradition, in all Parliaments under the British commonwealth system, that members who are visitors in the galleries are not to participate or to demonstrate for or against anything that is said on the floor of the House. I ask them for their co-operation and to permit the Member for Port de Grave to continue with his petition.

The hon. the member.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It has also been said that this production quota, when it is implemented, will improve the fishing industry in this Province. I say what is being done, and we have witnessed it so far, it is putting the industry of this Province into one major tailspin.

I have heard people recently saying: What are the fishermen complaining about? I say, Mr. Speaker, those people have not been involved probably. I came from a family where the major breadwinner was a fish harvester. I can tell you, that is back a few years ago, but he was owned lock, stock and barrel by the merchants of this Province and those people do not want to return to that, not in one inkling.

I have to say that the Premier always gets up and talks about a promise is a promise, when he refers to the Prime Minister of this country. I say to the Premier and to the Minister of Fisheries: A promise is a promise what was in writing to the FFAW, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BUTLER: Something else, Mr. Speaker. This week I was informed - I do not know if it was during the by-election or during the election in the District of Port de Grave, and the now Premier of the day went to the wharf in Port de Grave campaigning. He said they were trying to make inroads in the good Liberal district, and this prominent fisherman, who was also involved politically, said to him: Sir, listen, we don't trust you. We are very concerned that you are going to bring in production quotas. And the Premier of the day, when he was running and trying to get the votes and win this government, he turned around and said to the fishermen on the wharf in Port de Grave: Not under my watch. Mr. Speaker, how can you trust a man who was out telling people that one day and doing something else now?

Mr. Speaker, he talks about the members opposite going out and consulting with their constituents. I venture to say that he did not listen to the Member for Harbour Main-Whitbourne, or the District of Trinity-Bay de Verde, Conception Bay South, Placentia-St. Mary's, Burin-Placentia West, Ferryland, Bonavista North and South, St. Barbe and others. I challenge all the hon. members opposite (inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

MR. BUTLER: By leave, Mr. Speaker.

[Disturbance in the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the security to escort the gentleman out of the gallery.

[Disturbance in the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Again I remind visitors in the gallery that they are not to participate in the proceedings, and I also, as I have done on other days, ask them to respect the traditions of this House, the traditions of Parliament. Should the disturbance continue, the Chair has no alternative but to ask those people who are causing disruptions in the gallery to leave this gallery and to leave this House for the afternoon.

The hon. member's time has expired. He has asked for leave to continue. Is there leave being granted?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MR. BUTLER: Just to clue up, Mr. Speaker.

I challenge all members opposite to please stand by their constituents. They are getting the same message I am getting, and give a message loud and clear to the Premier because he is not listening.

I will conclude by saying this, that I am so uptight about this and listening to what the people around this Province are saying, I have to say when the Minister of Education yesterday announced $60,000 to send the e-waste out of this Province, I think the first thing to go on the first load travelling out should be the information that the Minister of Fisheries has in implementing production quotas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ANDERSEN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise again today, as I have done so many times in this House, to present a petition on behalf of the most important people of all in Labrador, and that is our youth. Today's petition is signed by the students from the beautiful Town of Makkovik, Mr. Speaker, my home town.

Again, Mr. Speaker, let me say how disappointed, and perhaps I can use the word disgusted, I was, along with the people in Labrador, when this year's Budget came down and there was no auditorium, no money allotted for an auditorium to serve all of the young people in Labrador, and to know that $45 million was handed over to pay off The Rooms. The grand opening, I understand from the minister, is the last week in June, to cut the ribbon. They paid off a mortgage, $45 million in this year's Budget, before they even cut the ribbon. They turned around to the youth in Labrador and said: You people don't count.

Mr. Speaker, I am coming to a point where I am starting to believe, with this government, it is not a question of the auditorium in Labrador being a necessity, but I am beginning to think along with a lot of people in Labrador, especially the youth, that the reason they are not getting the auditorium - and the answer is this, Mr. Speaker, I hope it is not true - is because of where they live.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad they gave over $1 million for some sports organization in St. John's. Let there be no mistake, The Rooms will do this Province good, all of this Province, but to turn around and know that there are people out there who need health care in different parts of this Province and that the youth in Labrador once again had the back turned on them by the Premier who campaigned and said that Labrador deserves better than what they had in the past.

Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be part of a government that builds schools on the North Coast of Labrador. Many people, many organizations on the Island, would not even consider that to be a good storage shed. Anyone who travelled to the North Coast saw it - but to come again in this year's Budget and to hear once again that they have to wait. With the construction season so short in Labrador, a week before the Premier and his colleagues cut the ribbon and burn the mortgage where they pay $45 million in this year's Budget, a week before they cut the ribbon and clap their hands to celebrate, the students of Labrador, all across Labrador, will be walking out, knowing full well that, with the short construction season, next year there will be no auditorium for them to go and do what -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time for his petition has expired.

MR. ANDERSEN: By leave, just to clue up, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: Has leave been granted just to clue up, a few concluding comments?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MR. ANDERSEN: For such an injustice that was done to the youth in Labrador, I will rise again tomorrow, I will rise again next week and in weeks to come, and ask the Premier to live - I heard his ministers say they made commitments. I say to them, Mr. Speaker, live up to your commitment and give the children in Labrador what every other child across this Province takes for granted. Do the right thing, and do it now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition as well from fish harvesters on the Burin Peninsula, namely the communities of Petit Forte, South East Bight, Marystown, St. Lawrence and so on. I had the opportunity three weeks ago to attend a meeting in Marystown where there were representatives of all the communities on the Burin Peninsula and, to a man and woman in that meeting, they were all opposed to production quotas.

What they are asking for in this petition is that the government remove production quotas from the table, not implement it this year, and only implement it when it is agreed to by the FFAW.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier talked, and says he is all over this file. He talked about consultations.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: He talked about, Mr. Dunne went around the Province and consulted with everybody, and he was following through on the recommendation of Eric Dunne in the Dunne report.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I say nothing could be further from the truth because what Eric Dunne said in his recommendation to the Premier and to the Minister of Fisheries is that you would only proceed with production quotas if and when it was agreed to by the FFAW. Anyone who wants to read that, it is on page 162 of the Dunne report under Recommendation 9.12.

I say, the Premier stood in this House the last four days talking about, he is on top of this and he knows all about this issue and he is willing to sit down and discuss this with the FFAW to come to some resolution. Mr. Speaker, the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi stood in the House yesterday when the Premier stood in the House yesterday and said: I just sent off a letter to Earle McCurdy, the head of the FFAW, concerning this and we are working on it.

Well, we asked them to table that and it was tabled. Let me read it for the people of this Province, Mr. Speaker, the correspondence he was having, and leaving everyone with the hope that something was going to happen to break this impasse. Let me read it to you, Mr. Speaker.

It reads, "Dear Mr. McCurdy: Your letter of March 23rd , 2005 was forwarded to my attention, however I was out of the Province until April 3rd. " - I might add, on holidays. Here is what he says, "As I have indicated publicly on several occasions, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture is available to meet with you at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, Danny Williams."

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: Now, Mr. Speaker, I certainly left this House yesterday afternoon thinking that maybe there was some movement toward a resolve between what is happening in the fishing industry because it is so important to the people of this Province and it is so very important to the harvesters, especially those who need to get their crab ashore before it gets too late in the season and we get into a soft shell problem, Mr. Speaker. To be led to believe yesterday by the Premier of this Province that we were at least moving in that direction, and to read then in this letter and to listen to him on the 5:00 o'clock news yesterday afternoon: Yes, I have instructed my minister to talk with the FFAW if they want to talk, but I am not backing down on my stand. We are still proceeding with production quotas.

Being so entrenched as what he is, Mr. Speaker, the Premier -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted to make some concluding comments.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the harvesters in this Province, I beg of the Premier to take the production quotas off the table until it has been discussed with the FFAW and until the FFAW agrees with it, and allow the harvesters in this Province to get back on the water, where they want to be and where they should be at this time, and allow fish plant workers to go back into the plant where they want to be so that they can feed their families.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

[Applause from the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

[Comments from the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I appeal again to the visitors in the public galleries to respect the traditions of the House. They are not to participate or to show approval or disapproval for anything that is said on the floor of the House. I ask them to discontinue the disorder, and also remind them that, if we need to, we will have to clear the galleries. I do not wish to do that, but I will not have any choice. This Parliament must function, and must function appropriately.

Further petitions.

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

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

MR. RIDEOUT: Motion 1, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Motion 1, the Budget debate.

The hon. the Member for Gander.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, unlike the hon. Member for Grand Falls-Buchans, it gives me great pleasure to stand in this House today in support of the Budget, and speak in support of that Budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, it is something, I might say, that I did not think was possible, a Budget of this category to be presented at this particular time based on the financial situation that we were in, in this Province, based on the financial situation that was presented to us by an outside, independent, chartered accountant firm in Pricewaterhouse, Mr. Speaker.

Being in business for thirty years, I did not think for a minute that we would be in this position today, as we projected last year that we would not. The foundation of this Budget was laid out last year on the presenting of the 2004-2005 Budget, a little over a year ago today. I tell you now, Mr. Speaker, that we took to heart, as any businessperson, any person out there with a grain of sense would take to heart, the financial advice that was given to us by Pricewaterhouse at that particular time.

In last year's Budget, Mr. Speaker, this government outlined a number of commitments, three major ones in particular: balance our Budget on a cash basis in four years, Mr. Speaker, just in four years -

[Comments from the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the gentleman who is making the interruption if he would leave the gallery.

[Applause from the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Gander.

MR. O'BRIEN: The second one, Mr. Speaker, was to ensure that our health and education systems meet the needs of Newfoundland and Labrador for the long term. The third was to expand the economy and create jobs, Mr. Speaker.

Those were the three major commitments that we made in that Budget. Those were the three major commitments that we lived up to, Mr. Speaker, not that the hon. Member for Twillingate lived up to his commitments, I can say that.

MR. REID: Yes, I did.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. O'BRIEN: Well, Mr. Speaker, I am very, very happy to be a part of government that is on this path to achieving all those goals. I might say, also, that not only are we on the path, we are far ahead of what we projected last year. With careful monitoring and control of expenditures and with new resources, it resulted in a deficit of 2004-2005 now being $473 million, not the $840 million as projected. That is very significant in a very short period of time.

The cash shortfall, which is even more important to any government, any business that you might have out there, is now projected not to be $362 million but now it is $14 million. Instead of the $362 million, it is now $14 million. In 2005-2006, we project that the deficit is $492 million and not the $792 million that we had previously projected, based on all the information that was given to us by PriceWaterhouse. The cash shortfall attached to that should be around $62 million instead of the $320 million as forecast last year.

Now, Mr. Speaker, as I said, I did not expect or think that it was possible that we would be in this position today. I did not think - so based on thirty years of experience, based on the finances of this Province -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. O'BRIEN: - based on what was left to us to follow. That is a fact, Mr. Speaker. I would not want, as a business person, to walk into a business and face what we faced last year. But I will tell you something, with the leadership, tough decisions by Cabinet and responsible fiscal management, we have done it. We are on that path. We are on the path to a bright future for Newfoundland and Labrador. I think it has become a common practice here in this House to quote members from the media, editorial pieces and whatnot. I will talk just a little bit on leadership, and I will quote the article which was April 7 in the Express. The person who is writing this is Chris Westcott. I think he has been quoted before. I think he has actually been quoted before.

AN HON. MEMBER: Craig.

MR. O'BRIEN: Craig Westcott. Thank you, I say to the hon. member of the Opposition.

He was a teacher at one time and he orated very well in this House of Assembly. I have watched him in this House many, many times and I look at him. Now, I would not want to dot all the ways he handles himself in this House but I certainly watch him when he is speaking, Mr. Speaker. When Craig is talking in this article, he is talking about the past. He is talking about past leaders leading us in the wrong path. He talked about before Confederation. He talked about Sir Richard Squires. He talked about past premiers of this wonderful land of ours. A bluff such as Tobin, he says, and Joey, and so forth. He also goes on to say that the odd one came along like Moores or Wells, and they led us into a new path, a new path for a brighter future, but then some of the other ones came along and led us in the wrong path again. He says, "But Williams is a different beast altogether. I guess after the run we've had..." - and he talks about the run -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind members, and it has happened on a couple of occasions this afternoon, when reference is made to any member of the House, in any context, when referring to the portfolio, or referring to the district that the member represents, we should always avoid using first names when referring to members of this hon. House. I am asking all members for their co-operation in that regard.

The hon. the Member for Gander.

MR. O'BRIEN: I apologize for that, Mr. Speaker.

I will it read again, Mr. Speaker, because I cannot quote off the top of my head this article. He says, "But Williams is a different beast altogether. I guess after the run we've had, we're due a good one." He is talking about the past, even though he points out Moores and Wells as very, very good Premiers.

He says, "But more than all that is his canny appreciation of what things like the Lower Churchill and the Hebron oil field are really worth. Grimes, apparently, was willing to give away the shop to Hydro Quebec for a Lower Churchill deal. He is of the old school that thinks the outside world is doing us a favour when it comes in and "develops" our resources." I quote that because it has become a common thing here to quote articles in the paper, editorials and what not, and we rely on their credence and their wisdom.

You know, with the enhancement of the Atlantic Accord and our offshore, our mining, our retail sector, coupled with careful planning, Mr. Speaker - and that is the word, careful planning - I can only see a bright future for Newfoundland and Labrador. That is a fact, we are on the road to a bright future.

As to education and health, Mr. Speaker, $23.2 million invested to reduce patient wait times. This was not only a priority for this government, but also a priority for Health Canada. Based on the extra monies now that we are getting from health in regards to health from the federal government, we have also decided to follow their directive in regards to their priorities, and one of them being, the top one, being wait times. The investment will deliver 43,444 more procedures across this Province - in Gander, in Grand Falls-Windsor, in Corner Brook, to all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

It seems to me that my hon. colleagues in the Opposition's answer to the problem in health care is throw bricks and mortar at them. In thirty years of business, I have been standing behind a counter thirty years, patients - 200 and 300 prescriptions a year, so that is a lot of people - coming from rural Newfoundland, not only Gander because most of my business came from New-Wes-Valley down in Twillingate area and what not. They all came into my store to shop. Each and every one of them were saying various, various times and all they talked about was accessing health care. That does not mean just bricks and mortar. That means the delivery of diagnostic servicing, doctors, specialists and what not. That is what they mean, in a reasonable period of time, in a reasonable distance.

Yesterday, it was private member's resolution day, and I was listening to the hon. the Member for Grand Bank talking about the steel in Grand Bank being referred to as a gazebo, I believe. Well, I have been checking Hansard now for a number of days and I cannot find anywhere that any hon. member on the opposite side got up and spoke about the steel in Gander. The steel in Gander that stood there for just about three to four years. We had to get a consultant in to determine if the steel was any good because it was so rusted by the time it was decided. Even the mayor of the day, of Gander, had to go up and chain themselves to the steel to get that project to go forward.

We are going to be a responsible government. We are going to look at things. We are going to look at priorities. We are going to look at where and when to deliver services to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole. That is exactly what we are going to do. We all stand here and we all have our thoughts about our own districts and what not. At the caucus table, I have seen the Member for Windsor-Springdale, I have seen the Member for St. Barbe, I have seen the Member for Terra Nova, I have seen them all at the caucus table talking about their districts. That is a fact. The hon. members know full well, across the way, that is where we talk at the caucus table because they did the same. They did the same when they were in Cabinet, they did the same when they were in the caucus, they did the same when they were backbenchers, as well as myself, and that is what we do. We go to the different departments, we go to the different ministers, and we talk to them in regard to what we need for our district. Then it comes down to priorities.

That is what we do, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what we do. We go there and, yes, we all understand there is only so much money to go around, Mr. Speaker. There is not very much money to go around. Yes, we do have the Atlantic Accord. We do have that. We have extra health money from the federal government, but we cannot spend it all in one place. Unlike the members of the Opposition, we do not throw it at bricks and mortar, Mr. Speaker; we throw it at diagnostic services, diagnostic services and location of health services for this Province, for all of Newfoundland and Labrador.

That is exactly what we do, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what we do, and they cannot take it. That is why they are shouting and all that kind of stuff, because the truth hurts, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. O'BRIEN: We are on the right direction, the right direction for this Province. We are not going to stand up here and say we do everything right - we do not - but we are going to try it and we are going to keep this Province of ours on a path to economic success and a bright future, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what we are going to do; no more to it than that.

We see things also in the health budget, and I will just finish off on that. We see $14.5 million to enhance care for seniors, Mr. Speaker: people who put us here, people who made me successful in business, people who shopped at my store, people from rural Newfoundland and Labrador who came in and made me a successful businessman as well. I tell you, it is about time that we started to invest in what got us here in the first place. Twenty-five new drugs through the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program, twenty-five new drugs that, when I was a pharmacist, Mr. Speaker, were not covered under the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. O'BRIEN: Were not covered, I say, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes that there will be some interaction across the Chamber from time to time; however, the Chair is having difficulty being able to hear the hon. member. I ask members on my right and on my left for their co-operation.

The Chair recognizes the Member for Gander, who I do believe has about another seven minutes left to address the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. O'BRIEN: By leave, I need an hour and a half.

Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the things that we are doing as a government, a government that will provide and bring quality health care to all of Newfoundland and Labrador. We cannot do it all at once, but we will do it in a very strategic plan, Mr. Speaker.

Education, $4.5 million to redeploy teachers to reduce class sizes and capitalize on our culture, our music and our history, Mr. Speaker, very, very important. Yes, there are layoffs and redundant jobs out there. Yes, there are, absolutely there are, no doubt about it, but in the meantime we have to -

[Disturbance in the gallery]

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair is attempting to be very tolerant and understanding of the visitors in the gallery; however, it appears to the Chair that people who are visitors in the gallery do not want to co-operate with the Speaker and with the House. I therefore inform visitors that if there are further interruptions the Chair will have no other choice but to close the galleries and to ask visitors to leave the galleries.

The hon. the Member for Gander.

MR. O'BRIEN: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Twenty-six million for school infrastructure. As you know, Mr. Speaker, Nova Central School District has already released their action plan to implement -

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

MR. SPEAKER: A point or order has been raised by the hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Any time that I might take from the speaker's time, by all means, no problem, it should be restored to him.

I just raise a question at this point pursuant to Standing Order 23 because we have had incidents in the last few days where Your Honour has ordered that the galleries be cleared. I would just like some point of clarification before you might find yourself in a situation where a ruling is made.

It says, "Any stranger admitted into any part of the House or gallery, who misconducts himself or herself, or who does not withdraw when strangers are directed to withdraw, while the House, or any Committee of the Whole House, is sitting, shall be taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms and no person so taken into custody shall be discharged without a special order of the House."

I would just like some clarification as to how that rule would be applied, because we have had incidents here where many people in this gallery - we could have 100 people here today, for example, and not 100 people are necessarily obstructing the happenings of this House. Yet, the orders are made carte blanche that everybody be taken out.

I do not think that is the import and the intent of Standing Order 23. I just point that out in the interest of the people who are in the gallery who are not causing any disturbance. I would submit that under that Standing Order 23 there is no authority to remove a person who is acting lawful and abiding within the gallery to be ordered out.

MR. SPEAKER: To the point of order, the hon. the Acting Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I think the actions of yourself today on behalf of all hon. members answers the query that has been put forth by the hon. Opposition House Leader. When Your Honour was able to differentiate and make certain that one individual or two individuals - I think in this case today it was one - Your Honour asked that individual to leave the gallery and the individual did. If Your Honour is not able to make a differentiation that it is one, two, three, half a dozen, or it could be many, I guess we are in the hands of Your Honour and your discretion. I think how it has transpired in my time here is that Your Honour does the best you can, in your discretion, to make a decision whether it is one offender, whether there are many or whatever the case might be.

MR. SPEAKER: To the point of order, the Chair is always anxious to have visitors in the gallery. This is the public Chambers. It is the House of Assembly. It is called the people's House for a very good reason. In all of the British parliamentary democracies, visitors are welcome to the galleries. That is part of the Westminister model of Parliament. It is part of the traditions that we have. It is part of the things that we hold dear. So, therefore, when visitors are in the gallery they must respect the traditions of Parliament. The people who speak in Parliament are the duly elected members and speakers in the Chambers are restricted to those members.

In regard to the point raised by the hon. the Opposition House Leader, when the Chair asks for co-operation, the Chair has to be bound by a number of things. First of all, it would be my desire that I would never, ever have to ask visitors to leave the public galleries. However, the traditions of this House are that the Chair will give a first warning, the Chair will give a second warning, and then in the third warning the Chair will exercise an option, and that is to tell the people, who are visitors, that they should co-operate with the Speaker, co-operate with the House, co-operate with the traditions and that we would not have to ask people to leave.

However, when you look at our Standing Orders, we have to look Standing Order 1.(2). It says: "In all cases not provided for in these Standing Orders or by sessional or other orders of the House, the Speaker shall be guided by the following in the order in which they are stated: (a) the usages, customs and precedents of this House." It has been the custom in this House for many, many years, since Confederation and prior to that, that if the Speaker feels that members who are visitors in the gallery are not going to obey the Speaker and take direction from the Speaker, the Speaker cannot differentiate in most cases.

So, what we have done over the last number of years, Speakers before me have always said they would ask visitors to leave in the galleries and then they would say to them: if you wish to come back in after order has been restored, then you have that choice. That is what we have done in the last number of days and that is what I will do today because that has been the tradition of this House. However, if order continues to be not recognized by the visitors in the gallery, Parliament must function. That is the important thing we have to put to this particular institution. Parliament must function, therefore the Speaker has no choice, in some cases, other than to have the galleries emptied to make sure that Parliament can function. In some cases, on the second time, the tradition in this House is that the doors be locked for the balance of the day.

I am asking members, who are visitors in the gallery, to be co-operative. It is not my interest to have visitors leave the gallery, but if I have no other choice, I have no other choice. Parliament must function.

The hon. the Member for Gander.

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, as I said, the Nova Central School District has released their action plan to implement the 2005 framework document in regards to restructuring schools. This document is well planned out by that board. I have reviewed it in full since it has been released and what I can see through it, is that more important than having our resources diluted into just infrastructure, we are going to be able, in regards to that whole region, be able to provide quality education that is now being diluted in regards to infrastructure being everywhere. That is very, very important and I think the people of Newfoundland clearly understands what it means to a government in regards to accessing and delivering programs in regards to the declining population. They clearly understand that we cannot, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, have a school, a hospital, or a government service in their backyard. All Newfoundlanders and Labradorians want, I believe at this particular time, is be able to access programs and services, regardless of which department that it is in, in a reasonable period of time, at a reasonable distance, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the future of our success in Newfoundland and Labrador rests on strategic investments that grow the economy for the long term. I must first - we have to identify opportunities. That is exactly what we have to do, as I did for thirty years in business. I always sat each day, or whenever I could, and I identified opportunities. Also, as a government, we have to build on our strengths, Mr. Speaker, that have been there since the beginning of time, since the 1600s, and we develop them and develop them and develop them. Now, we are getting to that point that we have to capitalize certain ones of them. With the direction -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's time has expired.

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: By leave, I believe. Is there leave? A minute to make some concluding comments.

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, I have a lot more to say, so I will invite the hon. members across the way to invite me back and I will clearly and gladly give some enlightenment on the future for Newfoundland and Labrador, it being a bright future.

I have too much here to go on, so I will conclude now, but I tell you, in all honesty, I will gladly come back another day and speak in regards to what I see and where we should go in regard to this beautiful Province of ours. We will see a brighter future and we will see a long-term plan in place for our future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo, on a point of order.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I didn't want to interrupt the Member from Gander when he made the remark early in his speech, but I took this opportunity now to do it. Early in his speech he indicated across the floor that I didn't live up to my commitments. I say, Mr. Speaker, I am not the type of politician - and you can check with my constituency - who gets out during an election and makes a lot of commitments to people. As I say, I cannot make commitments during an election if I don't know I can live up to them.

Mr. Speaker, I challenge the member opposite to stand now and tell me about a commitment that I broke to the people on Fogo Island or Twillingate Island or New World Island or Change Islands. I made some commitments to the people after I was elected, during a term. One of them was to build a brand new hospital for the people of Fogo Island. Mr. Speaker, we built that hospital. It was his Premier who went out there during the last election and said, we will open it, and turned around after and closed half of it.

Mr. Speaker, I will quickly clue up. When I was Minister of Fisheries I made a commitment to the fish harvesters of this Province that I would never implement plant production quotas unless they agreed to it. I honoured that commitment and I still honour it today, more than I can say for the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

To the point of order, there is no point of order. It may be a disagreement between two hon. members as to certain facts, but there is no point of order.

The hon. the member, I do believe, seeking the floor would be the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape La Hune.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have an opportunity to speak in the Budget debate. Obviously it can be wide-ranging, some of the topics that you want to speak on.

I want to touch first of all on the situation that has been involved with the fishery in the last number of days. I can remember - probably I am older than many of the people in this Legislature - as a young boy, growing up in Seal Cove in Fortune Bay, just small community, a fishing community, and remembering when my grandfather and my dad and my grandparents on both sides, my mom's side and my dad's side, went to fish. I heard a number of stories, and I witnessed it for myself. I witnessed the fact that my grandparents and my father, and many other people in the community that I represent now, when they went fishing, they gave their life's work for it and they worked hard. They cured fish, and they cured it in the best way that they knew how. As far as they were concerned, it was a number one fish that they could produce.

When they went to the fish merchant - and they had no choice because it was only just one buyer for them, take it or leave it - when they went there, they would take the fish, the big codfish, the state cod, and they would take it together and they would say: Uncle Bert, that is West Indian. That is the worst type of fish that you could cure. He knew the difference, but he had no choice. He had to take it.

I can remember also my grandfather, on my mom's side, telling me of going to Garland's at the end of the year. There was a big number of them, and my mom was the second oldest of the family. She left school when she was in Grade 1, illiterate, and could not read and write because she had to help my grandmother and my grandfather with the other children in the family. That is what it was about. I heard her tell stories when, in the spring of the year, they had no molasses in the barrel. She had to take a little bit of water and put in it and swish it back and forth so that when they put it in the buns it could be coloured.

That is the type of life they had. My grandfather would fish all year. Then he would go to Gaultois, to Garland's, and went into the store and said in front of the people: How did I do this year? He knew he had done well. He knew he had probably caught a couple of hundred quintals of fish. He would say: Uncle Ted, you have not even broken even. I am not sure if I can give you any supplies for the winter or not.

That was the situation that they endured. Now, we will probably never revert to that again. I do not think we ever will, but do you know what? For the fish harvesters in the Province, they know the situation and they do not want to revert to it. They can see concentration of the fishing industry into three or four people's hands. They can dictate to them where they can go, what they can catch, almost, and how they can produce it. They do not want that. These are free enterprisers. Some of these people, I would think, have probably spent $1 million or owe the banks $1 million for enterprises. If the system goes through the way that it is, they will probably have to declare bankruptcy and will not be able to make a living in the way that has been with them over all these years. I can understand the frustration. We have been there. We have done that.

I want to use one more example before I talk about some things in the Budget. My mom said to me only recently - she is still alive but has a lot of pain through arthritis - do you know what she said? It is probably because of all of the things that I did when I was a young girl, when I brought kelp on my back and the water would fall down over my back and over my legs, because that is the way we did our ground. That is the way it was about. Do you know what she said to me? She said, I can remember you did not have a playpen. Your playpen was in a salt fish box in the stage. When you were hungry and cried, that is where I nursed you. Do you know what? That is the reason why, when I was a very young fellow, I had aspirations to get elected. Do you know what? The people in my area gave me that opportunity, and for five times I have been here and I have worked for them.

Today, as I speak, my heart is torn and I feel bad for the people of Harbour Breton, the people who have stood by me for the last sixteen years, the people who had a good lifestyle and all of a sudden it was just taken out under their feet like a rug, people who had good homes, good cars, and all of a sudden saw it disappear. Young people who are fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years of age, going to school in the morning and knew that they had Internet and they had cable. When they came back in the afternoon, the cable was gone and the Internet was gone. It is not a luxury; it is essential. It is part of their tools. Can you imagine the frustration?

I can sympathize with people in other parts of my district, like in Ramea, the situation up there, where there is not a thing (inaudible), and I am sure in the area of the Member for Port aux Basques, and the same thing for Burgeo, that they are talking about, and in Gaultois, the situation, and we can go on.

I talked about the Budget there some other times ago, and was talking about choices, and I was somewhat criticized by the Member for Bonavista North who said we made choices that were not in the best interest of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Probably we did. None of us are perfect. I am sure that when the government that is there, when you reflect back a year from now and look at some of the decisions you made, you will say we could have done better. Hindsight is twenty, twenty. There is nobody perfect. We all make mistakes, but we strive to do what is best.

One of the things that I really thought was going to happen this year was a cancer clinic for Grand Falls-Windsor. It was not for Grand Falls-Windsor. It was for Bay d'Espoir. It was for Harbour Breton. It was Baie Verte. It was for Springdale. It was for Lewisporte and Botwood, Point Leamington and Leading Tickles, and everywhere in between. I tell you, when I looked at the picture from the CBC, I was hurt because there were two people that I knew. One of them was Larry Warford, a guy from Point Leamington who was there when I taught there for twenty years. He was a good friend of mine. Here he was in a little room, shown on the CBC and CTV, very sick with cancer, and they were all cuddled together in one little room with no privacy, and had to use a five gallon bucket either to puke or to do something else.

This the Twentieth Century, and we had an opportunity, when we paid for The Rooms, The Rooms that was built under this Administration, and it was paid for, $65 million lock, stock and barrel - great, if you could do it, but at what expense? The people in Grand Falls-Windsor and the central area of the Province do not have the opportunity to have good decent hospital facilities like they deserve. It is not what they want; it is what they need. That is the situation. That is one of the things that we thought would happen.

You make a choice. I said it in the House before, like the rugby situation in St. John's, and the government committed $1.3 million to do a new recreation facility and primarily to do rugby. I bet if you ask 90 per cent of Newfoundlanders outside of the city what is rugby they could not tell you. It is for a certain class of people, and yet at the same time allow the people in Central Newfoundland, in Grand Falls-Windsor, to endure that humiliating situation. The other guy that I knew in there was Tony Hurley. I met Tony when I was Minister of Municipal Affairs. He owned the Badger Training Academy. Here he was, I could not believe it, how the cancer had really gripped him, gotten hold of him, and here he was in that situation too. That is what makes it different. When you come into the House, you look at the situations that are there and you make decisions accordingly. Some of them are right and some of them are wrong, probably, as everybody sees it, but, as you make it as a minister, you are aware of it and hopefully do it.

One of the other things - and the Member for Torngat Mountains talked about it today - is the omissions, when he talked about an auditorium for Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Do you know what? When I was the Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Member for Torngat Mountains and the Minister of Labrador, at that time, and also the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair came, along with the Mayor from Happy Valley-Goose Bay and all the other ones, and said: Look, we need an auditorium so that we can do some things in Labrador. I thought it was a good idea. We put the money aside to appoint $4 million to do it. It wasn't done because they thought that this decision, that I made, was a political decision. It was a political decision. Sure it was, because as government you make it, but I thought it was a good one and it was the right one to do. Today it is still not done. We can keep on going down the list on some other things as well.

When I talked about the cancer clinic, as I said, in Grand Falls-Windsor. Talk about the health care. I must take some issue, even though I do not represent the Burin Peninsula. I did at one time, and the people of Terrenceville and Bay L'Argent and so on. I have a lot of relatives in Grand Bank because the people from Seal Cove, where I grew up, a lot of them during the 1960s, when they resettled, went to Grand Bank to live. I have relatives there now who needs care. That nursing home in Grand Bank was Level I and Level II. That is what it was built for. Now, we see that Level III and Level IV is needed, but they cannot do it. They cannot put the (inaudible) these people and put them in the bathtub because it was not constructed to look after Level III and Level IV. That is what they are looking for, a new particular facility and they are looking for a clinic.

I know about a cottage hospital. One of the things that I am so proud of and the people who sent me here are proud of, too, we had a cottage hospital in Harbour Breton that was built in the 1930s. As a boy, I went there in 1955 when I had an accident and fell down and broke my arm playing soccer. Do you know what? I remember one day after I was elected, there was a twelve-year-old boy who was in one bed and there was a guy next to him, not even a curtain between them, in his late eighties and did not have much time to live in this life, and I said that is not right. I came here and I convinced my colleagues that we should build a new facility in Harbour Breton, and we did and we are proud of it. Do you know what? That is the type of thing that you do because you have compassion for people, decisions that you made are the right ones and we made that. The people in that area today are very, very happy of it.

What I also see, Mr. Speaker, in the Budget here -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. LANGDON: Yes, there were some good things. I have to admit that, if I did not I would not be honest. A lot of good things in the Budget. A lot of money put into health care, and I agree with it. It is good. It is needed, but there are other things here.

Getting back to the Burin Peninsula. I live in an area down in the Bay d'Espoir area, we are three hours drive from Grand Falls. We are an isolated community. That is why when I had an opportunity to ask for and did receive - my colleagues, I convinced them that we should modernize the clinic in St. Alban's. It was not a lot of money, it was $200,000. I had the Deputy Minister of Health down there at the time because I was cognizant that it was a building that needed to be repaired. I talked to the mayor again this morning about it because we live so far. It is the same thing with the Burin Peninsula. I remember - and I am sure members who are representing there now realize - in the wintertime with all the whiteouts and so on, and the weather conditions, there are days you cannot get off the Burin Peninsula. Why would you need a CAT Scan or a dialysis there? Because of the geographics.

I heard the Minister of Finance say this morning: but you can't very well do that because there are not enough people on the Burin Peninsula to do it, when there are more people in St. John's and you have to have a greater wait time than you do on the Burin Peninsula. Do you know what? There is a facility in Burin and a hospital that should have all those things in it. What is wrong if there is a waiting period in St. John's, if somebody from here has to go to Burin? It is only (inaudible) way around, what the people up there are doing now.

AN HON. MEMBER: What is the difference?

MR. LANGDON: What is the difference if you have to wait a little longer?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible) travel from St. John's to go to Burin.

MR. LANGDON: Because this Province is made up of geographical areas, and it is more than St. John's and it is more than the ribbon community.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about this too, because when I got elected here first and we formed the government, many of the people criticized the fact that Clyde Wells hired, who is now the Deputy Minister of Rural Development over here, Dr. Doug House. They pooh-poohed him, and said: You are taking away all of the responsibilities from the department. And he is going to destroy rural Newfoundland.

I did not get an answer, but I am sure that our researchers can give me speeches by many of the guys who were there at the time. Get rid of him! When Brian Tobin came here, he did get rid of him. Guess what? Who brought him back? This government did. What do you think his aim is? I tell you what his aim is, it is to build urban areas and to build Corner Brook and St. John's and what is called the ribbon community, the Trans-Canada Highway. If you can drive to Grand Falls, if you can drive to Gander, if you can drive to Clarenville, then that is alright, but any of the outlining communities where you cannot commute, I wonder what is their future. It is a very serious thing for us to consider and we have to consider that, if we do not, than obviously we are not up to the task that we are asked to do.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize that just twenty-three months ago the people of Newfoundland and Labrador decided they wanted change. That is the democratic progress, and everyday that the present government is there - and I probably will never be in the situation where I will be a minister again, but who knows? - the thing is, I want to assure you that everyday you are there is one day less, because that is how the system works. That is the democratic process. We don't have a monopoly of government for life. People change their minds and they make decisions. Mr. Speaker, some of the decisions that this government makes are probably decisions that I wouldn't make, but that is democracy. They have made the choices, they live with them, and they have to justify them.

Another thing that is really dear to me is a teacher; teacher cuts. I grew up, as a small fellow, as I said, in Fortune Bay schools and I couldn't even go to university when I graduated, because I didn't have French or Latin. I had to find a way to do it, and eventually I did. The first year I taught Kindergarten, 1, 2 and 3. Now, we talk about teacher cuts. I think about the school where I taught in Port Leamington. We are asking teachers to do the same thing now. It is a different world. Just think about what happened even in the last Budget. The Premier and the government decided that they were going to put seventy-five teachers in to bring the class size in Kindergarten down to less than thirty-five. Now, how many of those teachers are outside the Avalon. There is no Kindergarten in the district that I represent more than thirty-five, and I doubt there is either one in Grand Falls or either one on the Burin Peninsula. They all came here.

Where do you think the other 145 teachers are who came out of the schools? They didn't come out here. Where did they come out? They came out of rural Newfoundland. As a result of that, do you know what the situation is? You cannot offer the top academic program. You cannot offer chemistry, you cannot offer physics, you cannot offer honours math, you cannot offer advanced writing, because the teacher numbers are just not there to do it. Talk about teaching music and so on, when you cannot even do the core curriculum. These are the types of things that I am sure the people in the rural parts of the Province are thinking about as we speak.

One of the other things, too, Mr. Speaker, as I said is public safety. I talked yesterday, in Public Accounts, to the minister about it. As a person who drives over the highway a lot - all of us do. The Member for Baie Verte, I am sure he will have to agree with what I am saying, and so will the Member for Terra Nova. We talked about it yesterday. You come into St. John's on a very nice sunny day, you look ahead, and you can see ruts in the road that deep. When it comes rain they are full of water, and then what happens? Your car will fishtail. We have had a number of accidents. I said to the minister, she was correct, it didn't happen over the last twenty-six months. The last twenty-six months helped to make it even worse than what it was before.

One of the things that I think could have been corrected - and I asked the minister if she would talk to her colleagues about it, and probably she will in the future - is to reactive that inspection station out in Foxtrap. You know what, you can leave here and if it is foggy in Goobies you don't even have to stop. You can leave here, you can load your truck down, you can put on it whatever you can get, and what happens? What suffers? It is the highway that suffers. At the end of the day it is going to cost much more money than it did before, to enable it to be made safe and so on, to recap it again. It is a real serious problem.

We recognize today the number of dollars - and every dollar is very important. If we probably were to invest and to have that happen then we might be able to save $1 million or $2 million on recap and be able to do it somewhere else.

Mr. Speaker, those are some of the things that I wanted to say. I also wanted to say to my colleague, my good friend, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, I have seen many of the things - you have carried on some of the things that I started, only started, and enhanced and made better, and that is the Multi-Year Capital Works Program for many of the municipalities. There were municipalities, when I was there, that did not want to participate, like Corner Brook. Corner Brook never wanted to participate in a Multi-Year Capital Works Program for the number of years that I was minister, two or three. They have this year. Mount Pearl never did want to participate into a Multi-Year Capital Works apart from the town hall, city hall. Every year they wanted to do their own thing.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. LANGDON: I will come to that another day.

Here is the situation that I see happening. Probably it is not true. Probably in my situation - I will just talk to the minister as a point of caution. Many of the larger communities are getting Multi-Year Capital Works - a good thing - but I am wondering, because the amounts are larger than normal, what does it mean for many of the small rural communities? Are they able to obtain the funds if that particular thing happens?

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will conclude and hopefully somebody else will continue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. J. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to take this opportunity to say a few words on the Budget 2005. As the previous speaker said in his passionate speech, as he usually gives, it can be pretty broad ranging. I will try not to go too far off the course, Mr. Speaker.

I have to say this: I find it more than passing strange that all the woes of the world have happened in the past eighteen months, nineteen months, since we became elected as the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Anybody in their right mind would have to question that.

If you listen to the speeches that are given on the other side of the House, the comments and the questions that have been made from the other side of the House these past few days, we are the worse thing since - I will not start comparing ourselves to certain individuals in history, but it is unbelievable the attitude from the other side of the House of Assembly.

The speaker who was just up talked about the Grand Falls clinic - and we all know it is needed, and wanted, and certainly understand that. He talked about the auditorium in Labrador, as did the Member for Torngat Mountains when he was up on a petition today. I am going to address that now shortly with respect to the comments that he made. He talked about teacher cuts. The former speaker talked about teacher cuts. There was neither Administration in the history of this Province that cut the amount of teachers out of the system as the previous Administration. We are still following their formula, that they put in place, and we are cutting that in half. We are reducing the amount that should be going out according to their formula, and they are criticizing us for that. So, you have to wonder where they are coming from on some of these issues, other than playing pure, raw politics.

The Member for Torngat Mountains was up on a petition today. He made a comment that he has to wonder - they did not get the auditorium because of where they live. Now, you talk about trying to be inciteful and divisive in this House of Assembly, when you want to sit back and look at what was done in Labrador, and you compare in the Budget of this year what had been done previously.

We cannot be all things to all people in eighteen months. We brought down a Budget here in which there are so many positive things but, no, that crowd on the other side cannot look at those. They cannot talk about anything positive in the Budget, but only try and dig up the things that are negative.

The Member for Torngat Mountains, when he was on his feet talking about the auditorium, did not go so far as to say we had thirteen ministers and the Premier in Labrador, probably the first time - I will not say in history, but in a long, long time - that we had that many ministers in Labrador to show the interest that we have in Labrador, met with the mayors of all around Labrador, brought them in to a meeting, and paid to bring them in so we could meet directly with them, so we could hear their concerns. No, again they have to go back - did not get the auditorium.

We have the Minister of Tourism in Ottawa since, trying to raise funds to work on getting the auditorium for Labrador; but, no, do not mention that. Do not look at any co-operation on this. Just try and be divisive as much as you can.

Where is the co-operation, I say to members on the other side of the House? We are all supposed to be here to work together for the betterment of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We see them on their feet every day on that side of the House, up trying to be very inciteful with the questions they ask, trying to play to the galleries, playing to the galleries.

AN HON. MEMBER: Inciteful is not a word. Inciteful is (inaudible).

MR. J. BYRNE: Yes, I say to the former, former Premier.

The Member for Grand Bank was up saying today that we are not as good on this side of the House as when they were there. Well, I say to her: What is she doing on that side of the House? She was one of the ones who tried to leave, to get out of this House of Assembly, as did the Member for Torngat Mountains, as did the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, and tried to get elected in Labrador for the Liberal nomination, Mr. Speaker.

The Member for Exploits over there gets pretty upset, you know, but he can get up there - and here is an individual, Mr. Speaker, when he is on his feet, is a pro at this: leaving things out, omissions, leaving half sentences out, and these types of things. He tries to be the expert in the field, but he is far from it. That is why he is sitting on this side of the House, and I expect he is going to be there for a long, long time to come.

Now, Mr. Speaker, last night - you want to talk about the Budget - I met with two ministers and six MHAs in Mount Pearl, and met with a number of mayors and councillors from all over the Avalon Peninsula, at the request of the Federation of Municipalities. At that meeting they brought up a number of issues. They brought up issues with respect to the roads in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. They brought up other issues with respect to the ferries in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. They said: Look, we know it is eighteen months in but we do not want to hear that the government has to deal with the past.

Mr. Speaker, I said to them at that point in time, the reality of the situation is this: We have the previous Administration who spent nothing, basically, on roads in the Province with respect to maintenance in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with class A gravel for the shoulders of the road. Therefore, the road has deteriorated over the past ten or twelve years, big time, Mr. Speaker. They did not put any money into schools over the years, and now we see the situation within the schools of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The structures, the buildings themselves, is something that we have to deal with, and we are dealing with. They are in a mess, make no mistake about that. The thing is, Mr. Speaker, we cannot, as has been said, be all things to all people in eighteen months, but we are working towards it.

We have a Budget that was brought down here, Mr. Speaker - another thing that was mentioned last night was snow clearing in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Now, we were elected eighteen months ago. In November we took over the government, so the first winter was set. This past winter, again across this Province we had snow clearing equipment that is anywhere from fifteen, twenty, thirty, thirty-five, forty years old, that is falling apart. We had another problem with respect to the snow clearing, and Occupational Health and Safety required us to take certain vehicles off the road because of the location of the plows, and the wings caused a problem for safety problems. That caused problems with respect to the number of vehicles that could be on the road. Therefore, yes, with some of the snow clearing there were problems created and it was a bit slow, but we have the minister working on that. He is on top of it. We are looking at new equipment for next year but, then again, we have to work with what we have and the amount of money we have.

We have a Budget this year - we have turned a corner, Mr. Speaker, as far as I am concerned. We have turned -

MR. GRIMES: (Inaudible).

MR. J. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, there you go. The Leader of the Opposition said: Should we have spent more money when we were there? Well, I say to the Leader of the Opposition, you should have spent the money more wisely. We did not have to get into the situations, and we can go on and on and on about how you misspent, how you took care of your buddies, how you spent money on hospitals and we are still being sued, how you fired everybody when you came in and you are still paying out the -

MR. GRIMES: (Inaudible).

MR. J. BYRNE: Oh, yes, you are. You are. Talk about Trans City, Sir. Talk about Trans City. Talk about some of the contracts you ordered. Let's talk about it. Do you want to go down that road? There are lots of them out there, I say to the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. J. BYRNE: So, it all well and good to get up and be holier than thou and try to say that we are the culprits over here when you guys created the problem.

MR. GRIMES: You were doing alright for awhile when you were talking about facts.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

MR. J. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now, Mr. Speaker, let's talk about the good things that are in this Budget, or some of the good things.

AN HON. MEMBER: You hit a nerve.

MR. J. BYRNE: Yes, I should say I hit a nerve on that side that time, Mr. Speaker, when we talked about how they took care of their buddies big time, I say that to the Leader of the Opposition, and it has been proven over and over and over again. That is why we are in the mess we are in today, that we are trying to work our way out of it and, thank God, we are on this side of the House and not you.

They talked about commitment on that side of the House earlier today. Talked about commitment. The only commitment that I ever saw on that side of the House was to their political buddies and making sure that the Province went in the hole further and further.

In the last election, Mr. Speaker, aside from the Budget - now we are talking September, October - those guys promised an extra $85 million when we were looking at a $500 million, $600 million and $700 million deficit and they were trying to buy the election. People wised up, I say to the Leader of the Opposition. They wised up and they know now what they are going to get here is going to be a good planned approach, which we are going to be strategically utilizing -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. J. BYRNE: - any money that we receive in this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Now, let's look at some of the good things, Mr. Speaker, in the Budget. Let's talk about roads, and I do not want to preempt the Minister of Transportation and Works when he gets up, but we have the $21 million that was allocated previously, I think, or for road work within the Province, all across this Province, anywhere from $3 million to $4 million would have come out of that for engineering. Last year I think we went to $30 million, and now this year we are up to $33 million. There is a $3 million carryover but there is $33 million on road work this year. Now, that is over a 50 per cent jump in one year. So, we are working on the problems, Mr. Speaker.

Let us look at Municipal and Provincial Affairs, $83 million under three programs for Capital Works for municipalities in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. We have more money coming under the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, $84 million to be spent in five years. We have the gas tax coming, $82 million to be spent in five years. In the next five years we have upwards of $500 million to spent in this Province on Capital Works for municipalities.

The previous speaker was on his feet and he had a concern. I understand he is concerned because I find him to be a decent, concerned individual. He is a former minister. He asked a question. I think the question was, Mr. Speaker, the Multi-Year Capital Works Program -

MR. ANDERSEN: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. J. BYRNE: I say to the Member for Torngat Mountains, relax. You will have your opportunity go get on your feet. You will have your twenty minutes to get up, I say to the Member for Torngat Mountains. Then again, Mr. Speaker, it seems that we hit a nerve again. It is no trouble to hit a nerve. What is he saying now, Mr. Speaker?

MR. ANDERSEN: (Inaudible) put your money where your mouth is.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. J. BYRNE: Put your money where your mouth is, he said. Well, let me say to the Member for Torngat Mountains, we have done that. We have shown it in the Budget here and I will refer to some of it now shortly.

Mr. Speaker, I will address the concern of the former Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune, when he was talking about the multi-year program. He was concerned that the larger municipalities are taking a bigger chunk of the money. That would leave less for the rural communities. I say to the member, last year we put $9 million, extended a program that they started which was supposed to have ended last year for debt relief of the municipalities. Many of the municipalities, even when we were paying as much as 80 per cent or 90 cent of the cost of putting in water and sewer projects or road work within these communities, they could not take advantage of it. So, we extended that program so they could take advantage of it.

And, as he well knows, Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest problems that we have in this Province with the municipalities is that the debt servicing ratio is anywhere from 30 per cent, 40 per cent, 50 per cent. That is something that we are working with the municipalities, with the Federation of Municipalities, to try and get that down to below 30 per cent. Basically, some of those towns, Mr. Speaker, if they take in $1 they have to take anywhere from fifty cents, forty cents, sixty cents to pay on their debt. So, how can they operate? How can they take advantage of these programs? We are trying to come up with a program - through the Federation of Municipalities and the municipalities themselves - to work with them to try and find a way that we can get more revenues to the municipalities, more ways for them to get revenues and not to be solely dependent upon the provincial government for their money.

Mr. Speaker, while I am on the topic, before I get too far, with respect to Labrador. I have to say, I was really kind of disappointed when I heard the member up on his feet today talking about - when he said about putting our money where our mouth is.

Just look, Mr. Speaker, right in the Budget Highlights. We will talk about Labrador: aside from the major issues of the millions and millions of new dollars going into health care, which benefits all people of the Province, both the Island of Newfoundland and Labrador, benefits to all of them. Aside from that, let's look at some of the money that has gone into Labrador this year. Forty million dollars is provided for continued work on Phase III of the Trans Labrador Highway, including carryover work from 2004-2005; $2.97 million provided for refits to the MV Sir Robert Bond and MV Northern Ranger, which are part of the Labrador Marine Service.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. J. BYRNE: Let's keep going, so that the Member for Torngat can understand that we are being very fair all over the Island. By the way, while I say this, Mr. Speaker, we, as a government, are not the same sort of government that they are, that you get money based on where you live. That is far gone. That is history, from our perspective, Mr. Speaker, but that was the previous Administration. That was their attitude, not ours.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. J. BYRNE: Improvements to the Municipal Infrastructure Program; up in Labrador now, Mr. Speaker, a multi-year program - you have Happy Valley-Goose Bay, you have Labrador City, you have Wabush. When we were up there we were very, very thankful and appreciative of the money that we are allocating for the multi-year program in those three towns, something that they never had before and he is complaining about us being unfair to his colleagues in Labrador.

Natural Resources, $7.3 million is allocated for silviculture initiatives in Wooddale Provincial Tree Nursery and Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Let's keep going. Let's talk about Labrador. Funding of approximately $367,800 has been allocated for the Mealy Mountain caribou monitoring program in Labrador. Now, these are some of the things that we are talking about funding which they have not gotten before.

Let's keep going. Two hundred thousand dollars is provided to begin the planning and development of conceptual drawings for a new long-term care facility in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Mr. Speaker, when we were up there the Premier and the ministers - and we had a meeting with the mayors. One of the local mayors there, when he was asked, if it came down to a choice which would he take? Obviously, and I agree with the man, that it would be the long-term care facility. We were there, and we have the Minister of Tourism and Culture still working on the auditorium for Happy Valley-Goose Bay, something that he is quite concerned about on that side, as are we all, Mr. Speaker.

Now, the other positive things in the Budget, Mr. Speaker. I talked about some of the positive things with respect to health care, and I will just run down through a few of them so people will start to understand, and maybe the members on the other side will start to absorb, some of the positive initiatives that have been put forward in this Budget.

Twenty million dollars for stabilization funding for the health authorities, to help out with their budget targets; $2.6 million for a second MRI unit in St. John's, something that was desperately needed, make no mistake about that. I had a number of MRIs myself, Mr. Speaker. I understand first-hand the importance of MRIs and diagnostic equipment in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. We had $2 million to replace CT scanners; $1.3 million for new ultrasound equipment in Carbonear, Corner Brook, St. John's and Labrador, I say to the Member for Torngat Mountains; $6.2 million for nuclear medicine gamma cameras, mammography units and other diagnostic equipment, and the list goes on and on.

They will get up and say this is a bad Budget. How can they have the face, the gall, the audacity, to get up and say something like that when they, on that side of the House of Assembly, know full well that this Budget is probably the best Budget that has come down in many, many years. It is certainly the best Budget that I have seen in the twelve years that I have been here, personally.

Mr. Speaker, we will go on with some of the other issues. Health care - $7 million is budgeted to expand the provincial drug program, twenty-five new drugs. The Member for Gander spoke about that a few minutes ago. He is in that profession and he certainly would know full well the benefits of this new money for the recipients within the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. One million dollars is devoted to implement initiatives consistent with the advice of the OxyContin Task Force, and the list goes on and on.

I know my time is getting short -

AN HON. MEMBER: A great initiative.

MR. J. BYRNE: So it is a great initiative.

Another one I want to talk about is education. We know, and I mentioned earlier, about the condition of the schools in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we are starting to address it. We cannot do it all overnight, and most people do not expect it to be done overnight, but we are getting there.

There is one thing, Mr. Speaker -

MR. REID: Take your time, Jack.

MR. J. BYRNE: I shall, I say to the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.

Again, to say a few words on education, one thing that I have seen, and have had a lot of discussion about over the past number of years on this issue, is the busing in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. When I say busing, I am talking about the buses themselves, the condition of the buses, the contractors having to bid on contracts for a time frame of one year. It is something on which I had discussions with the new Minister of Education and the previous Minister of Education, that we want to come up with a program whereby the contractors can get more long-term contracts, thereby allowing them to go out and purchase newer buses.

As a matter of fact, we have $3 million allocated to begin to reduce the age of school buses in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As a matter of fact, we are purchasing fifty-three brand new buses for the education system, to transport our children to and from school.

For many years we made the case when we were on that side of the House, but we were never listened to, with respect to these very issues. They will get up and criticize us for not doing something in eighteen months, and they were there for fourteen years.

AN HON. MEMBER: Sixteen.

MR. J. BYRNE: Almost sixteen years. I stand to be corrected. I thank you for that, I say to the Leader of the Opposition, sixteen years.

The Leader of the Opposition, by the way, was the Minister of Education once. I think when he was the Minister of Education he sat in this very seat here, I do believe, because I had to cross the House many times, working - I was going to say working with, but I cannot use that. I cannot say that. I can say trying to convince the former Minister of Education, the former, former, former, former Minister of Education, the Leader of the Opposition, to fund some money in my district for a new school.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs that his time has expired.

MR. J. BYRNE: It cannot be already, Mr. Speaker.

By leave, just to clue up?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the member, by leave.

MR. J. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, see how smooth and how slick the Leader of the Opposition is? He thought then, and he gave me leave to continue, because he thought I was getting to the point where I was going to give him a compliment for putting a school in my district. That is why he is giving me leave, but I am not going to do that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. J. BYRNE: I want to say there are so many things that I could say about this Budget but we do not have the time to get into it. Maybe in Committee I will get an opportunity to continue and say a few more positive words about this Budget, to try to enlighten the people of the Province and to try to dispel some of the negativity coming from that side of the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS FOOTE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am going to speak to the Budget, obviously, but, having listened to the previous two speakers on the government side speak from both sides of their mouth, I am sure if they had a third side they would have spoken from that.

It is ironic that you sit and listen to them and they preach about what a positive, positive budget this was and how it is probably the best budget ever and they cannot remember a better budget. It sounds like the Premier, who I heard on Open Line one night talking about when he was flying back and he had to reread his Budget document again and he was so amazed at how good it was - supposedly, this is the man who wrote the Budget - he was so amazed at how good his Budget was that he had to reread it again and call in to the Open Line show because he couldn't understand how the people in the Province weren't -

AN HON. MEMBER: He never!

MS FOOTE: Oh, yes. He couldn't understand how the people in the Province weren't singing his praises and the praises of the government. Lo and behold, the next morning we had four of the members opposite calling in talking about the Budget. I remember the Member for Trinity North and the Member for Gander calling in and praising the Budget. Obviously, they got their marching orders from the Premier.

The Premier could not believe there wasn't an outpouring of support from the public in Newfoundland and Labrador for this wonderful Budget. That should have told him all he needed to know, when he had to get his own members on to praise up the Budget document.

Mr. Speaker, let me say, that when I look at this Budget what I see is an assault on rural Newfoundland and Labrador; no more than that. You can talk about all the wonderful initiatives, but at the end of the day talk to people who don't live along the Trans-Canada Highway, talk to people who live in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, talk to people on the Burin Peninsula, on the Bonavista Peninsula, on the Great Northern Peninsula, and you will soon find out that they don't consider this to be the best budget ever produced by a government.

In fact, a lot of them are starting to wonder if they will even have a future in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, if it will even continue to exist. There are people now who are wondering where they are going to live. Can you imagine? People who have grown up in communities, spent all of their lives there, working there, are now having to wonder whether or not they will have a job or whether they will have to sell their homes. I doubt if they will be able to sell their homes because there is nothing there. If they have to leave because there is no employment, then clearly there won't be anyone moving there to look for employment and therefore to purchase a home.

It is a sad day in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Every day you hear of cuts being made by this government and impacting on rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Then, we have the minister of innovation, trade and rural destruction, as the Leader of the Opposition likes to call her, talking about a plan, the great plan to revitalize rural Newfoundland and Labrador. You know, the irony in all of that is that when they were campaigning to get elected one of the things they talked about was their vision, the new approach to revitalizing the rural areas of our Province. Today, a year and a half later, there is no plan. I do not know what happened to that vision, because they convinced the people of this Province that they had a vision, that they had a plan.

I guess it is a lot like the plan the Premier talks about, when he says he has a plan to help the plant workers if the fish harvesters do not go back to work. The plan! When we asked him about the details of the plan - he is going to make sure the plant workers are taken care of - he is going to cross that bridge when he comes to it. I think that bridge has already been crossed. We have fish harvesters who are not out on the ocean for one very good reason. We have a government trying to tell them what to do. These are entrepreneurs. These are business people. These are independent business people and they do not need a government to tell them what to do. I am sure the Premier, who used to be a business person, would not want a government telling him what to do. They have quotas, quotas that were given to them by the federal government, and we have a provincial government trying to tell them who they should sell their fish to. There is something wrong with that picture when you have a government trying to interfere in the lives of their people. That is exactly what this government is doing with the fish harvesters.

We have seen it time and time again, a government, a right wing government, that is so connected to business, that right wing agenda, no social conscience, cuddling up, cozying up to big corporations. I have seen it in my own district. I have seen it with respect to FPI. Here we have a company that cannot be trusted. It is obvious they cannot be trusted. We have a fish plant in Fortune, and the employees there come from eight different communities. They were asked to vote on a proposal, a proposal that would guarantee them employment if, in return, FPI could sell off 40 per cent of its most lucrative marketing division, sell it off with government's concurrence. The government would have to come to the House and make that possible with legislation.

Do you know what has happened? Even though the employees at that Fortune fish plant voted 92 per cent in favour of that proposal, the work that was promised by FPI has not materialized. Today, they are never going to get enough work to even qualify for EI. I can tell you that all of the employees at that fish plant, they don't just want enough work to qualify for EI. These are hardworking independent people. They would love to be able to work fifty-two weeks of the year. As I stand here today, talking to you, out of the 350 employees at Fortune fish plant, only thirty-nine have qualified for their EI.

What will happen to those rural communities, those eight communities that I talked about, if those people who are used to having an income will no longer have one? They cannot hang around waiting for something to happen. Jobs are non-existent. You have FPI that has already made it clear that, in their mind, there are too many processing plants in the Province. So it was Harbour Breton first, now it is Fortune. My fear is that you are going to see Marystown next.

We need a government that is going to stand up to corporations like FPI and say: You cannot do this. You cannot do this to Newfoundland and Labrador. Our Province is all about rural Newfoundland and Labrador. It is not about St. John's, it is not about Corner Brook, wonderful cities, but it is about rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

When people come here to visit, we talk about our tourism industry and the money that we are putting into marketing our tourism industry. The government says that it has increased, in this Budget, the amount of money that it is going to use to market our Province. Well, what are you going to market? What are you going to market? There will not be any rural Newfoundland and Labrador to market if you do not change your approach. If you do not show that you believe in rural Newfoundland and Labrador as well as the urban areas, then there will not be tourists coming here. I think it is a sad situation when we have as many members opposite as we do representing rural parts of this Province but yet you are not at that Cabinet Table where the serious decisions are made with respect to our Province, and decisions that affect your municipalities in your districts.

We talk about the Budget. I want to talk about what is not in the Budget. Yes, you did wonderful things in terms of shortening the waiting lists for cardiac surgery, good initiative; another MRI; good initiative; and other diagnostic medical equipment. Somehow you are neglecting, you are failing to recognize, those areas of the Province that really do not have ready access to diagnostic equipment.

I want to talk about the Burin Peninsula some more for obvious reasons. If you live in Fortune and you have to drive to Clarenville to access a CAT scan you are talking about four and a half hours; the same if you live in St. Lawrence. Now, for those of you who are not familiar with the Burin Peninsula, during the winter there are days on end when you cannot get off the Burin Peninsula. The roads are treacherous. The snow is such that at times the highways, the depots, cannot even get their plows through. What happens when you have an accident? If you have to, as the Minister of Health and Community Services says - and that has been agreed with by the Member for Burin-Placentia West - go to Clarenville. What happens if you cannot get off the Burin Peninsula to go to Clarenville? It has happened. It has happened where we have had a young woman who was in a vehicle accident who ended up with swelling on the brain and the doctor did not really know what to do because he did not want to take a chance on doing surgery not knowing what he was going to be facing. They could not take a chance on transporting her by ambulance, she needed to be stabilized. They tried to airlift but the airstrip in Winterland was fogged in. Isn't that enough to convince those of you who are making the decisions that we need to take care of our people no matter where they live in Newfoundland and Labrador? The CAT scan was already approved and it was approved by the same medical professionals who are now advising the government about what should be done and where equipment should be placed.

I heard the Member for Burin-Placentia West said, I am not going to be political about decisions. We are going to listen to the medical professionals and they are going to tell us what we should be doing. Well, for his information, it is those same medical professionals who have already approved a CAT scan for the Burin Peninsula. It is those same medical professionals who agreed that we should replace the cottage hospital in Grand Bank, those same medical professionals who looked at the Blue Crest seniors manor and determined that needs to be replaced because it is now caring for individuals who require Level III and Level IV care, and not for those for whom it was built, and that was anyone who required Level I and Level II care.

So, here we have facility - it is not a bad facility, if you want to talk about whether it is clean, but it is just not built to accommodate the needs of the people who are now being cared for. It is not appropriate not only for the residents but for the employees, for the staff who work very hard, who know what is required to deliver appropriate care for those people but who just do not have the facility in which to do it. That has to be so frustrating for those people who care for their patients but who have to do it against all odds.

When I look at the cottage hospital, and when I go into that hospital, it reminds me again of just how unsafe it must be, when you go in there looking for health care, hoping you are going to get quality health care, and not quite sure when you leave if you have - and not because of the professionals who work there. We have very dedicated doctors, nurses, technicians and nursing assistants, but it is because of the condition of the facility.

The Member for Gander stood up and said, you know, we can't go putting our money into brick and mortar. You can't put money into bricks and mortar. I do not think he said that when the Gander hospital was under construction. He was a businessman in Gander at the time. I am sure he didn't say: No, no, no, we shouldn't build the new hospital in Gander.

Here we have a Budget that could have had a surplus of $103 million, plenty of money to continue building the clinic in Grand Bank, in replacing the Blue Crest. Let me say again, I am talking about replacing. These are not new services. Contrary to what the Member for Burin-Placentia West has said, that there will be three hospitals, there are not three hospitals. There is the hospital in Burin which serves as the regional health care center, and rightly so. The previous government continued to make sure, working with the health care foundation, the volunteers who fundraise, that there were several pieces of diagnostic medical equipment that went there, and the CAT scan should go there. We have these volunteers who are only too eager to fundraise to help pay for it. It is the people on the Burin Peninsula who are putting their money up front and saying to the government: Work with us, come to the table. That is the right place for it, in the Burin regional health care centre.

In Grand Bank, we are just looking to replace what already exists, an outdated clinic. It is not a hospital. It has holding beds. The condition is that you can stay there overnight. If you need to get to Burin, transported by ambulance, it is a place to stabilize a patient. If you have someone having a heart attack, it is important to be able to stabilize that individual before transporting them by ambulance to the centre in Burin.

So, again, I say to the Member for Burin-Placentia West, please, when you speak about this issue, tell the truth. You say you do not play politics. Well, what you have been doing today and yesterday was playing politics of the worst kind, misrepresenting the position, leading people to believe that the situation is something other than what it is.

We have a wonderful facility in St. Lawrence but, again, when we talk about hospitals, we are not talking of anything in St. Lawrence or Grand Bank like we have in Burin, and certainly nothing in Burin like we have in St. John's or in Gander or in Corner Brook. So, the only thing I would ask is for the Member for Burin-Placentia West, who represents part of the area, the Burin Peninsula, to please make sure that when you are talking about need, talk about facts.

We have a Budget here that could easily, easily, have funded a CT scanner. We have a Budget here that could easily have continued with the health care facility in Grand Bank. We have a Budget here that could easily have put a dialysis unit on the Burin Peninsula.

I do not know how many of you watched CBC last night and saw Deanne Fleet's story on the number of people who are having to move from the Burin Peninsula to receive dialysis services. There is always this magic number that you have to have. I think the reporter concluded that if the magic number is ten, which is what the health care professionals are saying, I think they had counted up to nine. I think the conclusion was that, I am sure if we looked hard enough we would find the tenth one requiring dialysis services. Still you had the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board getting on the Open Line show this morning and saying there were errors in the statement in the reported story. No compassion, no understanding, no acknowledgments that this is a serious situation for these families.

Again, the Member for Gander talked about: we do not need to put more money into bricks and mortar. Well, why is it, if that is the case, that the government made a decision to put $40 million into paying off The Rooms? Bricks and mortar, a cultural centre in St. John's. A wonderful facility, not yet open because the government opposite decided to postpone it for a year. I think it will open this coming June. But even before it is open, they made a conscious decision to pay off the mortgage. Absolutely unnecessary, not called for, money that could have been used to alleviate some of the hardships being faced by the very people they represent. I say they represent because they are the government, and when you are the government you are supposed to represent all of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

How did they spend the other part of the surplus? The took it and paid off the Education Investment Corporation. That is the money that would have been borrowed to build new schools in our Province, schools that were badly needed. It was a right thing to do to build those schools, and that was done by the previous Administration, a lot of the new schools.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the Member for Grand Bank that her time has expired.

MS FOOTE: Leave, Mr. Speaker, please?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank, by leave.

MS FOOTE: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think the important thing here, in what we are asking, is for the government to acknowledge that they still have an opportunity to do the right thing. The right thing would be to recognize that there are hardships being faced by people in this Province; by our seniors, by our youth, by our parents, by children. We really need to reach out to these people and show that you have a social conscience, because when I look at this Budget there is no indication that there is even a modicum of social conscience in the government.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting when I listened to the Opposition and what they talk about in terms of what we should be doing and what we did not do. It is very interesting, as I said, because, of course, Mr. Speaker, I was not always a politician and I certainly have not always sat here in this seat. In fact, for the most part of my life, obviously, I have spent in the private sector. Do you know what? Believe it or not, there were a lot of times when I wanted something from the previous government that I could not get. There were a lot of times when our district needed things from the previous government that we could not get. There were a lot of times when I would drive to Gander Hospital, to drive my wife to work and look at that big structure that was left there for months and months and months. There was nothing done, years and years actually. It was not finished and it was not finished. I say, Mr. Speaker, it is so interesting to listen to people talk about all the bad and all the negative and all the things you should do rather than the things that you do.

Mr. Speaker, I am not going to focus too much today on the issue of what the other side has said. Actually, we were in a conversation, a colleague of mine, just a few moments ago and we were talking about the speech made by the hon. Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune. We were talking about his charismatic way of speaking. They were likening it to probably his background and where he came from in terms of the church that he came from. Then they talked to me about the church that I came from and they figured I was going to preach a sermon, but I am not here to preach a sermon today, Mr. Speaker. I am here to talk about the good things in this Budget because, do you know what, there actually are good things in this Budget, and I am sure the people of Newfoundland and Labrador have seen good things in this Budget.

In fact, in my district as I travelled around I had a number of people come to me and say: Do you know what? Thanks for doing this or thanks for doing that. Thank you for this part of the Budget. I appreciate that. Of course, Mr. Speaker, I am happy that this year's Budget is not exactly what it was last year. Last year we were faced with making choices that were very difficult, there is no question about that. I would be the first one to admit that we did things last year that was not what you would want to go out in your district and say we are proud of, but we had to do things in order to make hard decisions so that things could be better today.

Again, as I said, I am very proud of what we did. When I look at the accomplishments that we have already taken on, it is absolutely amazing. Budget 2005 demonstrates that we have made significant progress to turn the Province around financially. It is astounding to see our deficit reduced from $840 million to $473 million in one year. We didn't think that was going to happen. When we voted our budget last year and times were so difficult, do you know what, we didn't know it was going to happen as soon. We didn't realize that things were going to turn around as well, and they certainly did. Our cash shortfall went from $362 million to $14 million, Mr. Speaker. That is a significant, positive piece of news, and I am very proud to be part of a government that made these things happen. We are definitely proud of our accomplishments, Mr. Speaker.

The question is: Does that mean, now, that our Province is in this great financial position, everything is all fixed, we have lots of money, let's go out and spend? Absolutely not. We haven't come that far yet, Mr. Speaker. We have made significant improvements here, we have come a long way, but we are not there yet. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Therefore, in this Budget, I am sure that what has happened is we have put together a Budget that touches the important things, the most important things right now, and we look forward to, in the future, being able to do even better things.

There is no doubt, Mr. Speaker, that the reason we are seeing such a positive balance sheet within government compared to what it was last year is because of a few major shifts. First of all, of course, our offshore royalties are higher, we have had additional equalization revenue, we have had extended health care transfers, and, of course, the new Atlantic Accord. The projections for 2006-2007 show that we will no longer have a cash shortfall, and that is a positive thing.

Again, I feel so proud that in one year we could turn this around, and this government could turn this around. As I said before, it doesn't mean that everything is fixed, it doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but it certainly means that we are on the right track, and I am so happy that we are on the right track. I would encourage members on the opposite side, even though I know they have a job to do, and I realize that, but I would encourage them today to look at the positive things in this Budget. I would encourage the people of Newfoundland and Labrador to look at the positive things in this Budget, because there are many positive things.

A balanced budget means that we are able to do more things with our social programs. You know, you cannot continue to borrow to pay bills. I remember a particular business that I looked at one time, looked at purchasing, and the balance sheet actually looked pretty good. You know, the outside of it looked pretty good. When you started to go down through all the list, it didn't look too bad. As you looked more and more into that balance sheet you started to see that there was a lot of money owed on Visas, there was a lot of money owed on operating, and so on and so forth. Really, when you look at that, they were borrowing money from their operating to pay the bills all the time. It was a good lesson for me in what we have been doing- well, I should say what the previous government had been doing, and the previous governments, I might add, had been doing. They had been borrowing and borrowing and borrowing to pay the bills, to buy the bread and milk. We decided right from the start that we couldn't do that, this government could no longer sustain that kind of financial burden.

I am very happy that, of course, as I said, we started to turn things around. We are doing some wonderful things, and we are ready to start investing in our future. The Budget, first of all, addresses our culture, and that is a positive thing as well. I remember a sermon - for the Member for Trinity North, who wondered if I was going to preach a sermon - I remember a sermon that I heard one time, and it talked about where you were going. The sermon said: You cannot plan on where you are going until you find out where you came from.

That is important. It was so funny because I remember, as the Budget was being read out, I think that very thought was made and I think that very thing was said, that you do not know where you are going unless you know where you came from.

Government will provide approximately $9 million over the next three years to implement Cultural Connections, a comprehensive sustainable fine arts and cultural strategy in our schools. What better place to put it than in our schools, where our kids are, so they can learn about our culture.

There is a $2.4 million allocation to support the growth of cultural industries, including funding for the Cultural Economic Development Program, the Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, among others.

Another $2.29 million is allocated for the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation, and $900,000 is earmarked for the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. Other expenditures include $6 million in operational funding provided for The Rooms.

Some people may think that The Rooms is not important. I remember last year - this is the thing, I cannot help but laugh at this - when our government decided to make a decision that we could not afford to finish The Rooms last year; we could not afford to take that money and put it into The Rooms last year, I remember the members opposite - as my daughter would say - flipped out. They could not believe it. We were not going to put the money into The Rooms. They could not believe it, and now this year we announced we were going to put the money into The Rooms and what happens? They flip out. So, you try to do what you try to do and yet you still see that people are not happy in whatever you do.

It is a good initiative to see that we are investing into our future. It is a good initiative to see we are investing into our culture, and I am proud of that culture that I belong to. It is so important to enhance our cultural heritage, of course.

We are also investing in economical initiatives. I believe that it is very important to foster economic growth within this Province. The fact of the matter is, being a small businessperson myself over the past number of years, I realize the economic impact that business has on the rural economy, and certainly not only the rural economy but the urban economy as well.

As of December 31, 2003, there were 17,192 businesses in this Province. Do you know what? Ninety-six per cent of those businesses had fifty employees or less. Now, what does that tell us? That tells us that we need to strategically invest money into small and medium sized businesses in this Province, because do you know why? They obviously employee more people than any other business. They employ more people than all of the bigger areas in itself, and that is what we need to do. We need to continue to invest money into business.

We are establishing a $10 million revolving fund to provide loans and equity investment to small and medium sized businesses. We are also doubling the budget for the Businesses and Market Development Program from $500,000 to $1 million. We are doubling that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: That is positive news. We are seeing so much positive news.

We have also established a $5 million Regional/Sectorial Diversification Fund which will address the present funding gaps of sector organizations, economic development groups and community-based organizations involved in economic development.

Madam Speaker, I go throughout my district and I go to a number of these different community groups, community-based organizations, economic development groups, and they find it very difficult to deal with what they have to deal with, with not enough money. I feel proud today to know that we are starting to put more money back where the people are. It is a positive initiative and it will get people working, and that is what we are about. This government is about economic development. This government is about trying to get this Province on the right track so, at the end of the day, we will be able to put more and more money into social programs, and it is important.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Madam Speaker, we cannot go out there and put money into social programs that we do not have, and we realize that today on this side of government. We would love to put more out there. We would love to do more and more, but the fact of the matter is that we are doing this today because this is the right thing to do. We know that economic development means that we will have more money in the future for health care, we will have more money in the future for social programs, and that is what we are about and I am pleased with that.

Through the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, we are creating a new Community Enhancement Program budget which provides $2.5 million in this program, which will help low income residents and will highlight employment projects which have an economic development or community infrastructure objective.

Madam Speaker, I just want to say today that I have heard so many people talk about rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and how we are trying to disintegrate rural Newfoundland and Labrador, but this is a positive thing right here. This is for rural Newfoundland and Labrador. How do I know that? I know it because we had another program that was something like this, that we would do in the fall of the year, and it would provide employment for people in the rural areas. Not only would it provide employment, but it would also give funds to fire halls, for instance, when they needed renovations done on their fire halls, to all kinds of issues like seniors' complexes, where they wanted a little big of extra money for their seniors' clubs, where they get together and have recreation programs, and this was all included in that program. This is about rural Newfoundland and Labrador, Madam Speaker, $4.2 million for community enhancement in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. That is positive.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: We realize today, Madam Speaker, that these things are great initiatives. We realize, as I said before, so many people would like to see so much more, but we are moving in the right direction. That is what pleases me about this government; we are moving in the right direction.

The Premier has put in place, under the direction of the Innovation, Trade and Rural Development Department, a Red Tape Reduction Task Force to identify and reduce regulatory demands of government on business. I am very pleased, Madam Speaker, to actually be chairing this particular initiative. We realize that government does impede business. Does it try to do it? No, no, I do not think any government ever went out there and said: How can we try to put barriers up to try and slow down business? No government has ever done that, Madam Speaker, that was not the thing.

AN HON. MEMBER: There might have been one.

MR. ORAM: My hon. colleague says there might have been one, but I do not think any government out there actually wants to try to slow business down; but, because government has that ability to provide and to continue to create more and more regulations, they just keep piling up.

I likened it this morning to a meeting I was into. It is like your computer, you know; you keep putting programs on your computer and the computer gets loaded down and loaded down and loaded down. You do not intentionally try to slow down your computer; it is just that you get all these things on your computer and before you know it you say: Oh, goodness, my computer is really slow.

We realize today that the red tape that is involved in government slows down government, slows down the process for business people. It slows down the process for individuals, even, and there are so many regulations that are out there. We realize the importance of this, and we are up to trying to make a change here. We want to identify these regulations that are probably old and not important any more.

Having said that, we are going to be very careful to make sure that safety is still of the utmost concern in this government. We are not going to throw away safety for what we see as regulations. We realize that some regulations have to be in place, but we also realize that regulations sometimes, as I said before, slow down business, and we want to look at that. We want to count those regulations and we want to change them. We want to take away regulations that are not necessary, and this is a good initiative on behalf of this government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

AN HON. MEMBER: What colour was that tape? Red tape was it?

MR. ORAM: It was red tape, that is right.

This Budget also recognizes the importance of our renewable and non-renewable resources. If you look at our Budget, you will realize in our Budget that government continues its commitment to strategically invest and build capacity for sustained growth in the agricultural and agrifoods sector with $10.1 million in federal and provincial funding under the Agricultural Policy Framework Agreement. There is an additional $3.5 million for the first year of a five year program to support long-term consolidation and development of farmland throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Madam Speaker, I can attest to this because I live in a district and I am the MHA of a district where we have a lot of farming. We have dairy farms, we have egg farms - I will call it poultry farms - and those farms today look to our government for leadership. I am pleased to say today that I can go to my district and say look what we have offered here. We have a plan in place that is going to help the agricultural industry in this Province and that is a positive thing.

Everything that I have read -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: There is a funny thing about it, what I am finding strange is everything I have read in this Budget so far is good. I cannot believe it because I have sat here now for a number of hours and I have listened to the negative talk about how this is terrible and how this is bad. Yet, there is so much good. Could it be better? Absolutely. Yes. I would love to be able to call every person in my district tomorrow and say: Do you know what? We have $100,000 check going to everybody because we have so much money. That would be wonderful but we cannot do that.

I would also like to call the people of my hometown that I live in, Glovertown, and say: Do you know what Mayor Saunders, I have the money approved for a new hospital in Glovertown. I would love to have it. We have to drive a distance for the hospital now, not very long, mind you. I would love to be able to say, we have money now for a hospital in Glovertown. I know that is not being realistic. What we are doing here is a realistic plan that will help this Province and that is a positive thing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Agriculture plays such an important role in this Province, and we are providing $7.3 million to support silviculture initiatives at various locations in the Province. There is also a $300,000 allocation for new incentives that will focus on supporting the manufacture of value-added wood products. Again, wood products - the forestry industry in my district is a large industry. Forestry has had a tough time lately. I can tell you that right now. In fact, during the campaign, and even since the campaign, I met with forestry people, people who own sawmills and things like that. They had a major concern about Workers' Compensation. It was tough. We know what it is. People who have been in business know what it is to find it tough with the Workers' Compensation premiums and so on and so forth. Do you know what? I was so proud and pleased to be able to announce and to be able to tell the people that we put new measures in place where now people can pay out their payroll deduction in nine equal installments with no interest. What did we do before? We had to pay 9.25 per cent on top of that amount of money upfront. It was very difficult. This government did not fix every problem that we have in Workers' Compensation but it is moving forward. It is a positive thing, a positive step.

When I met with these people from the forestry industry they said: Do you know, Paul, one of our biggest concerns is this: We cannot afford the Workers' Compensation issue. We cannot afford to be paying interest. We cannot afford to be doing this. We cannot afford it. We have addressed this today, and I am so proud that we have.

In Budget 2005, the allocation for the Inland Fisheries Enforcement Program has been increased to $800,000. I heard somebody across the way a little while ago talking about the fact that: Are you waiting for the feds to come across? Well, do you know what? Last year the Premier took an initiative and said, enough is enough, we cannot allow our salmon program to be lost, we cannot allow our salmon to be wiped out, so I am going to announce this much in the Budget. This year we have gone further with that again, of course, and now we have announced $800,000 to help protect our Atlantic salmon stocks and other fish species.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: This government has a plan, and that is the reason I am a part of this government. It has a plan, and I am proud to be a part of it.

On the energy side, government is investing $900,000 to strategically position the energy sector to maximize benefits for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. This includes funding to develop a comprehensive provincial Energy Plan over the next twelve months. We have so much potential in our oil and gas industry, it is unbelievable. Of course, now with our new - and one old fellow in my district said: Now that we have our newfound wealth, we have even more reason to want to develop our oil and gas sector. There are so many promising things that are happening and there have been so many announcements made, and every time I speak to the minister there is something new happening, there is something positive happening in our gas sector. Of course, another positive thing is the fact that we are doing very, very well with the taxes on the gas and oil. Not as good for the consumer, of course, at this point, but we are going to be addressing that as time goes on, and I am sure that people will be very happy with what happens.

The fact of the matter is that we have a bright future. My kids, I say to them: Do you know what, girls? All along I was always concerned about the fact that my two daughters would end up leaving this Province because there would never be a future here, but when I see things like this, I actually get excited about it, because I realize that there is actually a future in this Province for my two girls.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: My two kids will have the opportunity, and their children will have the opportunity, to be able to stay in this Province. That is what we are all about. We are about trying to develop a future for our children. Do you know what? I really do not mind having a bit of a tough -

MADAM SPEAKER (S. Osborne): Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member for Terra Nova that his speaking time has expired.

MR. ORAM: By leave, just to clue up, Madam Speaker.

MADAM SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MADAM SPEAKER: By leave.

MR. ORAM: I just want to clue up by saying this, that my children have the opportunity to stay in this Province, and I am so proud that they will. Do you know what I am even prouder of? I am proud that I will play a role in that. I am proud that we will play a role in that. Today there is renewed hope.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Today, Madam Speaker, there is renewed hope for this Province, for the people of this Province, and for the young people of this Province.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I would just like to rise and add a few comments on the Budget.

I say to the Member for Terra Nova, what a great speech, but I have to ask you one question. If everything is so good, why did the Minister of Finance stand up and say our economy is down by $64 million, if we have all the plans that are coming through for rural Newfoundland and Labrador? The information you are passing on is just not true. The Minister of Finance, in his financial update, said the economy, the provincial revenue, is down of $64 million. You can stand up and try to make it as rosy as you like.

Why didn't you tell the fishermen who were in the gallery today that, your kids can find a living in rural Newfoundland and Labrador? I didn't hear that speech when they were in the gallery, because they will not be able to. You paint a fine rosy picture, but the reality is just not factual.

I say to the member, get outside St. John's, go into rural Newfoundland and Labrador, go back to your own district, meet with the fishermen, find out the facts, and stop reading stuff that has been hand given to you, force-fed to you. That is what I say to the member.

Madam Speaker, we are talking about the great deficit that the government portrayed, the great deficit, and here we took $44 million and paid off The Rooms in St. John's; $44 million. We had a cash surplus of $103 million and what did this government do? Go out and borrow another $7 million to try to say, we have a deficit. If you had a surplus, come out and say it, be fair about it, say, we have a cash surplus but here is what we are doing.

We had the amendment to the Budget. Just a few things, Madam Speaker. The Grand Falls-Windsor cancer clinic: That is a promise that the Premier made during the election. He stood up and promised to do it. He had $44 million. He could have not paid off The Rooms and did it. He made that promise. Here is the great leader who stood up in Grand Falls-Gander that is going to serve all of Central Newfoundland, the Connaigre Peninsula, and he said: We will do it. Instead of doing it in this Budget, instead of paying off The Rooms $44 million, he could have paid $41 million and done the cancer clinic; his personal commitment, his word.

How many members opposite and how many people in Newfoundland and Labrador during the debate of the Atlantic Accord, said, a promise is a promise? How many people heard it? We all heard it. He even went so far as to say if the Prime Minister didn't deliver on his promise, he should resign. That was the Premier. Here is the cancer clinic, the Grand Bank health care facility - the Premier stood up down there, he stood up and said: This facility will be finished in Grand Bank. This is the Premier of the Province who has given all of this hope, who stood up during an election and promised to have it done. He took $44 million and paid off The Rooms instead of doing this.

The scanner for the Burin Peninsula, he promised to do it. I look at the auditorium for Labrador, in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, he promised to do it. This Premier stood up during the election and promised to do it. Instead of taking $3 million - well, he would not need $3 million because the minister knows there is a certain amount of federal funds already available for the auditorium in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, but yet flying off to Ottawa to say, we are going to get funds, and we already had the funds committed. Here is the Premier who stood up during the election and said, we are going to do it, and turned around and did not do it. This is the kind of thing and why people are talking about credibility for the Premier. I say to the Member for Terra Nova, this is why, at times, we have to sit down and say: Are the facts the facts or is this some kind of propaganda that is being put out? I know it is, Madam Speaker, because I know personally, out in Corner Brook.

The Member for Gander got up and said: We will not just throw money at the issues. We will not do that, that is not our style. We are not like you guys, we would not do that. The people agreed to that when the Premier said, we will not waste money, we will not give it to our friends. They won the election on that promise.

I ask the members opposite: How many stood up when the Premier walked out in Corner Brook on a Thursday morning and gave $150,000 to the VON to do a study on palliative care? The former Minister of Health and Community Services - give her credit, she had principle - she resigned. The Deputy Minister, because she did not toe the line, she got released, fired, whatever you want to call it. She is not with the department anymore. How many members of you stood up and said, Premier, you cannot do that? You are breaking the Financial Administration Act. You are supposed to go to tender. How many people opposite, besides the former Minister of Health and Community Services - I am sure the Member for Humber East - well, he may be aware of it now because I said it enough times - was not aware of it.

There are already two forms of palliative care programs in Corner Brook. There is the End of Life that was offered by community health Western. It is the End of Life palliative care program and there is already a palliative care program at Western Memorial Regional Hospital. Yet not one person over there said a word. Give the former Minister of Health and Community Services credit. She had principle. She stood up on it and she resigned because the Premier did not want - how many people stood up and said, Premier you are doing wrong? - did not want a protest at his golf tournament. Did not want a protest! I was out there. I knew what was happening that morning. I knew exactly what was happening. I knew what was happening that morning.

I ask the Member for Gander: Why didn't you stand up and say, Premier I am going to make a commitment, we are not going to waste any money? How about the $200,000 make feel good, because we got the Atlantic Accord, given to one of his Tory buddies? Oh, yes, I broke the Public Tendering Act. I am sorry about that, I will not do it anymore. He did it two months earlier that caused the minister to resign. How many people over there said, oh we cannot throw money after that?

How many people saw the comments of the Minister of Justice and the Member for Humber East in The Western Star? He went out and announced $400,000 for a study for a new courthouse for Corner Brook; $400,000. Everybody said: What a great initiative, we need it. His next sentence: It will not be built for the next ten or twenty years though; ten to twenty years. How many structures do we have now that in twenty years time will be outdated? How many members opposite stood up and said: Oh, no, you cannot do that, that is a waste of money?

It is just political opportunity and they are out in Western Newfoundland - as I always said, it is great to be in Corner Brook because I hear so many different things said in Corner Brook that are actually done, Madam Speaker. When you are in Corner Brook- The Minister of Finance and Treasury Board, did he stand up and object and say, Premier, you cannot go out and spend $150,000 on the VON project because it is against the Financial Administration Act? No he never. Did he say, you cannot give out the $200,000 for the ads, the feel good, to his Tory friends? No, he never. What did he do? He signed a cheque and released the money to go ahead and do it. This is the same member, the Member for Ferryland, who stood over here 100 times and said: We would never do, we cannot do it. If you want to talk about political opportunist, ask me. I am in Corner Brook and I see it all of the time.

I just mentioned, Madam Speaker, about the Atlantic Accord, and the Premier said: A promise is a promise. If a man cannot keep his promise, he should resign. That is what he said about the Prime Minister of Canada. Lets look at Corner Brook. Again, I know the members opposite are not allowed to speak up. I know the Member for Humber East, the Minister of Justice, is not allowed to speak up. Let's look at some promises that were made out in Corner Brook. Let's look at the long-term care facility. This Premier, the Member for Humber East, the Minister of Justice, committed to the people in Corner Brook, Western Newfoundland and Labrador, that the long-term care facility would be built in four years. I say to the Member for Humber East, I have your election brochure, and I will show it to you if you cannot remember.

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

MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

MR. T. MARSHALL: Madam Speaker, the Member of the House of Assembly for Humber West and myself indicated to the people of Corner Brook that we would build the long-term care

facility in Corner Brook within our first mandate. Please quote us correctly.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. JOYCE: There is no point of order, as usual; no point of order.

I will show the Member for Humber East. I will bring over the brochure where you said we will have it built in four years. If you cannot remember, if you will not stand up against the Premier, I will do it. I will do it if you are not allowed to it. I will show you your own brochure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Let me tell you, if you cannot remember it, I will show it to you - if you want to say to the people out there now: Oh, I did not say that.

MR. T. MARSHALL: On a point of order.

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

MR. T. MARSHALL: We would have built that long-term care facility when it should have been built, eight years ago.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. MARSHALL: Madam Speaker, this government will build the long-term care facility in Corner Brook and keep its words to the people of Western Newfoundland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Madam Speaker, I am sorry to make the great genius a bit sore in his seat there. I am sorry about that. The light bulb must have went off somewhere.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. JOYCE: Madam Speaker, during the election, I was very honest to the people in Corner Brook. I said, the only way to get it built in that period of time was through public-private partnership. I said it. We started the process. The Member for Humber East and the Premier stood up and said: We will have it built in four years. Trust me. The people in Corner Brook always thought that the day after election they were going to start the construction of the building, that they were going to do it.

Now, the Member for Humber East can stand up, as a lawyer, with his legal wiggle words, but the truth is the truth. I challenge the member to go out to Corner Brook and tell Israel Hann you did not tell the committee you will have it built in four years. Here is your opportunity. Phone Israel Hann right now and say: We did not commit it. You cannot do it, I say to the Member for Humber East. You cannot do it because it is just not true, I can assure you that. Just get on the long-term care facility, Madam Speaker.

Here is what Israel Hann said after the last Budget. Israel Hann is the chairman of the long-term care facility in Corner Brook. These are not my words. These are the words of Israel Hann. He is the chairperson of the long-term care facility. The same one that the minister from Humber East and the Premier had - so, we are going to start this. They had him - he even put a PC sign on his lawn. That is how dedicated he was. He told me, he said: Ed, we are getting the long-term care facility. What can I do? I said: Israel, it will not be done but if you really feel it is going to be done, that is all I can say. Power to you for you and your commitment. That is what I said to Israel Hann.

Here is what Israel Hann said in The Western Star in Corner Brook after the election: Israel Hann said the biggest commitment to the proposed long-term care facility in Corner Brook is woefully inadequate. That is what he said. You cannot build a facility for 250 people, 270 people in a year-and-a-half or so. He said: (inaudible) knows what is going on. There is $2.7 million being spent this year. I was expecting between $5 million and $10 million to lay the groundwork and have the water and sewer work done in Corner Brook. That is what Israel Hann said. I asked the Minister of Justice: Is Israel Hann telling the truth?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. JOYCE: Is Israel Hann telling the truth? You are standing up. If you want to, stand up. Is Israel Hann telling the truth?

MR. T. MARSHALL: A point of order, Madam Speaker.

MADAM SPEAKER: On a point of order, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

MR. T. MARSHALL: Madam Speaker, the hon. the Member for Bay of Islands has indicated that he has referred to Mr. Israel Hann of Corner Brook, the chair of the long-term care committee, who said he wanted to see the site preparation work done this year. Madam Speaker, tenders for the site preparation work will be called in August, then the work will be done. The site preparation work, the water and sewer, it will be done before the December of this year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Just in response to the point raised - not the point of order - by the Member for Humber East. We are most interested in hearing his responses. Everybody in here will have an opportunity to respond, it is a Budget Debate. I will ask the hon. minister, rather than being constantly popping to his feet and disrupting the Member for Bay of Islands, that he should have the courtesy - he will get an opportunity to respond, like everybody in here, and I would ask him that in due respect for the Member for Bay of Islands, rather than be panic-buttoned approach to this thing, why doesn't he just hold his place and he will get due opportunity. Stay tuned, minister. You will get an opportunity to respond to anything that the hon. the Member for Bay of Islands says.

Thank you.

MR. T. MARSHALL: A point of order, Madam Speaker.

MADAM SPEAKER: On a point of order, the hon. the Minister of Justice.

MR. T. MARSHALL: I do not understand the hon. Opposition House Leader, who is sitting next to the hon. Member for Bay of Islands. The hon. Member for Bay of Islands invited me to stand up and make the comments that I made. I was happy to do so!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: I do not wish to prolong this thing, but the Minister of Justice knows full well that he was invited to stand up and respond after the Member for Bay of Islands speaks. The Minister of Justice, I would submit, should - he does not get to his feet very often in this House, but it seems that somebody has struck him here today and he is a little bit upset with some of the information he is hearing. I would suggest he go prepare and he will get his opportunity to respond.

MADAM SPEAKER: There is no point order.

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Madam Speaker, I apologize to the Member for Humber East. I am sorry that I hit a sore spot, because I can tell you that you promised to have that facility built in four years. You can stand up here and say what you like. I will show you the brochure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

It is extremely difficult for the Chair to hear the Member for Bay of Islands. I ask that you keep the noise down.

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Madam Speaker, I will just say - because he is supposed to be the Minister for Corner Brook. I will even show you in The Western Star, you were going to name the site location by the end of February.

You talk about Corner Brook, this is the same member who was out in Corner Brook and said: We are putting seventy-five new teaching positions back in the system; seventy-five new. Well, I ask you, if you are such a great light bulb, if you are such a great genius, why are we losing forty-five teachers in District 3 alone, if there are seventy-five new put back? You are supposed to be representing Corner Brook. His quote: There are seventy-five new teachers put back in the school system. Why are there forty-five taken out of District 3? Why? Just explain to me, why? You cannot do it because your statements are just not true. They are just not true and you know they are not true.

Madam Speaker, I look at the Sacred Heart school is going to lose two positions. J.J. Curling is going to lose one -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

It is becoming increasingly difficult to hear the Member for Bay of Islands. I ask that you please keep the noise down or take your conversations outside the House.

Thank you.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I am sorry to hit such sore points, but the truth is the truth and I cannot help it if they cannot handle it. I just cannot help it.

Here is the Member for Humber East out there praising up the Budget, seventy-five new teaching positions, and here are forty-five positions gone from District 3. Forty-five from District 3 alone and he is out there talking about how we are putting all of these new teachers back in. It is amazing how you can take a spin and go out and say something with no facts to back it up. Then I am being called, when I straightened out the facts and I give - good, bad or indifferent, I am being called negative.

I challenge the Member for Humber East to go out to Corner Brook and say: I did not promise, or the Premier did not promise, to have that built in four years. I challenge you to do it. I challenge you. You want to stand up and be the big hero here in this House and stand up like a lightbulb going on and off saying, that is not right. Go out to Corner Brook in public, in the media. I will get the media to call you, and say: No, we didn't promise that. I challenge you to do it. You cannot do it. You cannot do it, I say to the Member for Humber East. You just cannot do it.

Then we look at the Hay report, Madam Speaker. We look at the Hay report in Corner Brook. Here we have - and I give some of the members credit that they got closing of the clinics taken out of the Hay report. I will give some of the members credit. I think the Member for Port au Port was out in Stephenville when he said: Anything to do with finances, just finances not medical, we can take care of because we have the money. I think that is what the member said. That is what I read in The Western Star. If it is not correct, that is what I read in The Western Star. That is the article. But I will tell you, one of the recommendations, 172. They are very proud of the Hay report, very proud of it. The Hay report, recommendation 172. There are about thirty-five, right now, long-term care patients in acute care beds.

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member for Bay of Islands that his speaking time has expired.

MR. JOYCE: Just to clue up, Madam Speaker?

AN HON. MEMBER: No, sit down.

MR. JOYCE: I will be back to have a few words on the Budget. I say to the Member for Humber East, let's have a public meeting out in Corner Brook and let's stand on the long-term care facility to see if you said it was going to be built - and take the Premier with you. Show him where Humber West is at.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, and Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SHELLEY: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I am delighted to get up and have a few words on this Budget debate today, and especially, Madam Speaker, to be inspired by the Member for Bay of Islands. It is amazing what a difference a year-and-a-half can make. Eighteen months this government has been in office, and to hear some of the comments from across the floor today, especially from the Member for the Bay of Islands, who I know very well, it is funny how the memories are short. It is funny now, when we talk about The Rooms - something that they built, basically - and the first thing they talked about in the Budget is that we are going to pay for it. Yes, The Rooms is built. It will be an icon for this Province. It will help our cultural industries move forward, and it will be a lot of things down the road. What we realized, as a government, to start off, is that we have to realize it is still debt. It is debt on top of debt.

There is a time when we have to look at what we are doing. Are we going to keep building on that, or are we going to finally get control of a credit card that is out of control? That is what a lot of people have said to us. When is the debt going to stop? We are going to start addressing things, issues, as they come on to us, Madam Speaker.

There are a lot of things that we have to be reminded of, I guess, as I speak to the members opposite. I know, because I have spent many hours over there, in Opposition. Yes, there is a job to be critical, and there is a constructive way to do that, I say to members opposite, especially the Member for Bay of Islands.

He also knows that a lot of times they tend to forget how we got here in the first place. The fact of the matter is, this particular Budget, and what we have done, sets out a plan for the long term. It has vision. It is not from April to April. As I have said many times across the floor on the opposite side, when you look at one April we will skate until we get to the next April and we will take it from there. What we are trying to do is look at the longer term, look at investments, as, for example, in the department that I am delighted to be a part of, the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. We saw the investments. I believe when you spend money smartly it is for the long term; it carries us into the future. We are not just looking at next April, for our next Budget Speech from the Minister of Finance. We are looking at the year after that and the year after that so that, in the long run, we look at a Budget that is set for the future of Newfoundland and Labrador, not for one term, short-term gains so that we can have political advantages. We are looking at long term.

When it comes to Tourism, Culture and Recreation, we look at this Budget and culture. Who could argue that this Province, and the pride of everybody in it, from the Arts Council who saw increases right on through education in our schools and our youth - everything in culture is an investment because it means, down the road, investments for this Province.

On that point alone, Madam Speaker, I have to address some of the comments made by my friend from Torngat today, when he talked about the Mealy Mountain auditorium. I say to my colleague, and I have said to him many, many times over and over and over, that was a serious consideration for this year's Budget. I have had many conversations since, with people in Labrador. I know how passionate they have been about this particular issue. Madam Speaker, I can tell the member that this file is open. We are looking at options, but we are going to deal with the federal government. I have spoken to five different ministers on this particular case, Madam Speaker, and they are ready to talk to us because they realize, too, how important this is for the people of Labrador and for the youth of Labrador, I say to the member. We all realize that, but we have to do it right. What we said no to, as a government, was the $4.1 million escalated price because of the price of steel, with a $300,000 involvement by the federal government. That is what this government said no to. We did not say no to the youth of Labrador, or to that auditorium. Now what we will look at is all the options, which we laid out on the table.

I have a good dialogue going with the people in Labrador to look at different options, and also the involvement of the federal government. I think that is called co-operation. That is where you work together and, at the end of the day, hopefully find a solution that is going to benefit all of Newfoundland and Labrador, especially Labrador, when it comes to a performing arts theater.

I will be up there very soon again to meet for the second time with the group, and I am certainly going to be continuing discussions with federal ministers who have said that their door is open for discussions with them.

That is the way we approach those issues, I say to my hon. colleague. He knows that. We will work with our federal counterparts, as well as the people in Labrador, all across Labrador, who are passionate about this issue; but when we do it, I say to the member, we will do it right and we will do it for the long term. I think he understands that and he knows that very well. Madam Speaker, that is one of the issues I noted today, and made a few notes on when the member was up presenting his petition today, so I wanted to make a comment on that.

When we get back to tourism, culture and recreation in this Province, in that particular department, the fact of the matter is, tourism is a growing industry in this Province. I think that every Newfoundlander and Labradorian, when you attach culture to that, our identity as a people in this Province, you see people throughout, from all over Newfoundland and Labrador, being creative, wanting to get involved in the industry, and that has a lot of people proud of where they live.

As we do our surveys throughout the Province, Madam Speaker, and we hear from visitors who come to see this Province - yes, they love the scenery; yes, they love all the activities they can take part in - most of all, always number one have been the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. That is our biggest selling item in this Province when we talk about tourism, the people here. So, as we get the people of Newfoundland and Labrador creative and thinking positively, which is what we have done to invest in culture in the Province, we get a growing industry. That is what it means to invest in the long term again, not from year to year, as I spoke about earlier.

Madam Speaker, I want to take a few minutes today, because when we stand in our places in this Assembly, especially on the Budget Speech, you have a wide range in which you can talk about different subjects, and certainly about your own district. I want to tie tourism to some of the issues in my district at the present time.

To give an example of how long-term things, long-term planning, works much better, Madam Speaker - the roads in my district. I have had more calls about roads in my district, and every member in this House knows how often I have spoken about roads in my particular district, and the condition of gravel roads. I think we have the most gravel roads left in the Province and also some of the oldest pavement in the Province.

I said time after time, 800 kilometres of road - I do not know if that is the latest number but I am sure the Minister of Transportation and Works will tell me - but there are approximately 800 kilometres of gravel road still in this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, not counting the Labrador Highway. We still have over 2,000 kilometres of pavement that is either twenty-five years or older, which means, Madam Speaker, it needs to be replaced.

We have a huge problem, I say to the Member for Bay of Islands. He said: No, there is not a rosy picture all over Newfoundland and Labrador. I agree. Madam Speaker, what he has to remember is that we have a year-and-a-half in government. This road situation did not happen in the last year-and-a-half. This is something that was put on the back burner over and over and over. What did this government do? Last year, increased it from $21 million to $30 million. This year, I think, it is at $33 million with the carry-overs, $33 million in roads this year in this Province.

Madam Speaker, I do hope that, as we do go down the road and as we can see what is happening with the roads in this Province, and the huge problem that it really is, the reality of the problem, that it is so huge a problem - if we took the entire $2 billion from the Atlantic Accord, I do not know if we could live up to what we need done with roads in this Province. The fact of the matter is, it is a huge problem throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

As the Member for the District of Baie Verte, Madam Speaker, I can tell the people in my district that myself and the minister, who is also a former member of the district, had some long conversations over the last couple of months, and even the last couple of days, because we are getting close to, of course, announcing our roads budget for this year. I know, with my colleague, that the roads in the Baie Verte District will certainly be duly noted. I can say that from some long conversations. Of course, he has known it for years anyway. I am hoping this year, again, like last year by the way, Madam Speaker, when I did get a fair share - not enough. There is a lot of demand in my district for roads but it is something we are addressing.

To give you an example, the year previous to last year, my last year in Opposition, $200,000 in road work for my district, for a district that needs so much. Last year, Madam Speaker, for my first year in government, we had $2.2 million. That is ten times the amount, and that is not enough. That is what kind of demand we have out there. This year I am hoping to get my fair share again and I am sure I will and we will do some more work. The truth is, Madam Speaker, that we realize the enormity of the problem especially when it comes to roads and that there is a lot of work to do. I am going to continue to make sure I make representation on behalf of the people in my district.

I spoke to a young student yesterday, a Grade 11 student from Harbour Round, and she told me about the bus ride she had. I told her: I know that road. I know that four kilometres back into the pavement, but before they have to go around Brent Cove and there is more gravel roads again, so it is tough on the students. She is trying to do exams now and she told me how tough it is to get on that bus everyday and what they have to go through. I understand that. The people in Burlington, Smith's Harbour and Middle Arm had a protest a few days ago, and certainly they sent their message loud and clear that they are tired to seeing gravel roads.

Yes, Madam Speaker, there are a lot of problems in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, a lot things to address. In a year-and-a-half we are not going to address them all, but we are going to show the commitment, like we did last year and we are showing again this year, that we understand there is a problem there and we are going to start to address it. Hopefully, next year, if we keep improving the fiscal situation of the Province, which is what our plan is, to improve that fiscal situation, especially the budget and the deficit problems we have, that we can add more money to things like infrastructure and roads and so on. I am going to make sure that we get our fair share for my district. That is what long-term planning means. That is what it means, having a vision and addressing those needs.

The same thing on infrastructure, and my colleague with municipal affairs - we have been dealing with that for the last three months. I am sure the minister is tired of me down in his office, but like all members, on both sides of the House, I go to speak to the minister responsible to let him know what the district situation is like. I have to say, I want to thank my colleague today for responding. I just released a couple of days ago - I do not even think it is made public yet - that just over $3 million of infrastructure will be in the Baie Verte district this year for some fourteen communities to address water and sewer needs and so on throughout the Province, especially water and sewer problems.

Madam Speaker, we are getting there. We are going to take one bit at a time and we are going to keep moving forward. We will not be moving backward, which is what the previous administration was doing when they kept putting us further and further in debt. We are going to try to handle the debt, but at the same time address things like roads, things like water and sewer and so on. That is why they are so important.

To relate, by the way, Madam Speaker - and somebody mentioned this to me today - how important, to get back to roads for a second, good transportation is for tourism especially. I know in my district there are so many beautiful places that tourists want to visit, but of course when you go down a road that is gravel and you have a trailer with you or you are driving a large vehicle, any type of vehicle that you are using for holiday purposes, it is tough when you look down and you see a gravel road and potholes. You are not going down to see what the beauty is in those rural communities. That is what many people say is the most beautiful part of our province, the rural areas.

Those are the kinds of things that relate to tourism. As we grow tourism, we improve our infrastructure in roads, in water and sewer, and that means a vision into the future. Those are the things that we have to address over time.

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to work with the ministers and the government on a vision that looks forward to rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Are there problems in rural Newfoundland and Labrador? Absolutely. Can they be addressed overnight? Absolutely not. The Premier has said that on many, many occasions. We have all said it. We are a year-and-a-half in the government now. It is going to take time to get there, but as time goes - even with this year's Budget, Madam Speaker, it is just an example of what we are going to see in the future of this government as we proceed with trying to get a fiscal hold on this Province and trying to get it back on the right track.

I think we are starting to get on the right track. There is a lot of work left to be done, but certainly through departments like mine, Tourism, Culture and Recreation, we can invest in tourism and that means an investment in this Province. As many people have said before, when you invest $1 million this year in addition to the marketing budget, that means $10 back on every $1 invested in marketing in this Province for tourism.

Last year, when we saw other provinces throughout the country with problems with tourism, we still had a growth. So, in a tough year when we saw increased gas prices, we saw the American election which affected even this Province and so on, we still had an increase in tourism in this Province, and we have to build on that. That is what we have to build on, our marketing and our product development.

There is so much throughout this Province. When people are proud - and that is why we invest in culture - when people are proud of their culture and proud of their province, they are creative and they invest in this Province. That is why, as the government, we will take that direction. We will look into the long term, not jump from Budget to Budget and take it from there.

I am delighted to speak for a few minutes on this Budget and say that, yes, there are things to be done. The list is long, in Labrador especially. I want to take a couple of minutes on that. I will be in Labrador next week, taking on my new portfolio of Labrador Affairs also, which is a very demanding. There are a lot of issues in that particular part of the Province. I have worked with a lot of groups in my last two or three weeks, since becoming the new Minister for Labrador Affairs. I am willing to sit down and work with them, roll up your sleeves and get to work at the issues.

The issues are many, but there are also so many opportunities in Labrador for all of this Province. I think that if we just take them one at a time and you roll up your sleeves, you sit down with the groups, the people who want to be co-operative, the people who want to be positive about moving forward, I think that is how you achieve things. I am certainly willing to do that with the groups I am dealing with in Labrador now. I look forward to that, especially, by the way, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to tourism. Destination Labrador, we just announced again another good news story - Destination Labrador. Our involvement, our investment in Destination Labrador will move forward now and we will see a great strategy for tourism in Labrador, which I think is the last frontier for tourism in this Province, and you are going to see great improvements when it comes to Labrador and tourism.

Mr. Speaker, you could go a long ways and keep naming out and listing out initiatives that this government has taken on, to move forward into the future. I think we will take them one step at a time and, as we get our fiscal house in order as we are now doing - and by the way, Mr. Speaker, I think a long ways in one and a half years is what we have come with getting our fiscal house in order. Now we are going to move on to initiatives that are positive, and take those challenges and turn them into opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador. I think that is what the people of the Province are looking for.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. GRIMES: Just a quick point of order on procedure, Mr. Speaker, because I do understand we are about to adjourn for the rest of the week.

I am just asking if all members are aware that we should be, and are we, still following Standing Order 7(6)? I could read it, Mr. Speaker, if you like. It says, "When the House adjourns the Members shall keep their seats until the Speaker has left the Chair."

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

MR. E. BYRNE: Your point is?

MR. GRIMES: Are we following that procedure?

MR. E. BYRNE: It is incumbent upon all hon. members, I say to the Leader of the Opposition, to follow Standing Orders, and when we do not it is incumbent upon the Speaker to advise us when we do not. We always look forward to, I guess, the direction of the Chair.

Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I do now move that the House adjourn until 1:30 p.m. on the upcoming Monday.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

To the point of order, members will know that when the Speaker and the House Officers enter the Chambers all members should be standing under the direction of the Sergeant-at-Arms; however, the point has been made - and it is self-explanatory - with Standing Order 7.(6), "When the House adjourns the Members shall keep their seats until the Speaker has left the Chair." It is self-explanatory.

The motion is made that this House do now adjourn until Monday at 1:30 of the clock in the afternoon.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

Carried.

This House now stands adjourned until Monday at 1:30 of the clock in the afternoon.

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