April
1, 2014
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 11
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Statements by Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we will have members' statements from the
Member for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair; the Member for the
District of Bonavista North; the Member for the District of Torngat Mountains;
the Member for the District of Exploits; the Member for the District of Humber
West; and the Member for the District of Harbour Main.
The hon. the Member for the
District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this
hon. House today to recognize a young lady from Red Bay, Labrador, who at the
age of fourteen is already a volunteer extraordinaire in her community.
Michelle Brown attends
Basque Memorial All Grade School in Red Bay, where she volunteers with
anti-violence activities, Kids Eat Smart program, Junior Achievement, DARE
program, seniors' groups, and the Red Bay Recreation Committee.
She also participates in sports and has attended sports camps for soccer
and volleyball.
Now that Red Bay is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and a preferred destination for cruise ships, Michelle is
very active on the Stakeholder Committee and is part of the welcome committee
for cruise ships. Most recently, she
is sitting on the Red Bay Come Home Year Committee.
She also appeared on the Land and
Sea episode on Red Bay this past weekend.
Michelle has volunteered
with the Janeway since the age of seven, raising over $10,000 since that time.
She has participated in Shave for the Brave in 2013.
Michelle attended the 2011 Regional Youth Leadership Conference and the
Forum for Young Canadians in Ottawa in 2014.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.
members to join me in recognizing Michelle Brown a young lady who is already
making a huge difference in her community.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Bonavista North.
MR. CROSS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is indeed a privilege to
take my place today.
Robert Tulk, Bobby, was
born in 1945 at Dover, but most recognize him as a long-time resident of
Newtown, Bonavista Bay.
Bobby endured a very painful
school experience. Due to a hearing
impairment, his enunciation was affected and he was a target of many an insult.
Even though he left school at Grade 8, books and reading were a daily
passion. After a lengthy experience
as a fisherman, Bob took the moratorium in stride and enrolled in the FFAW
sponsored school at Templeman and, in his fifth decade, he resumed a love affair
with reading and gained confidence finally in his own writing ability.
The opportunity arose for
him to become the community correspondent for the Gander Beacon.
The news from New-Wes-Valley became a growing column, which spawned into
his weekly mini rant on topics of the global village which he called Too
Foolish To Talk About. He also
published two volumes of Tales from the
Kittiwake Coast.
Bob never owned a car, and
rode his thumb everywhere he needed to travel on shore.
On March 13, he hitched his final ride through the pearly gates.
Please join me in a collective condolence to his family.
Rest in peace, Robert Tulk.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to
congratulate several young people from my district who recently attended the
Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games in Clarenville.
Amanda Dyson, Taylor Jacque,
Dylan Anderson and Sydney Ford from Nunatsiavut displayed their talents in
badminton and came home with the gold.
Erin Gear, Eric O'Brien, and William Forsey from Labrador were part of
the badminton team as well.
Kirsten Dicker, Sophie
Jararuse, Louisa Lampe, and Natasha Pilgrim from Nain won gold in the table
tennis competition.
Mr. Speaker, these young
athletes were part of the Labrador team that garnished the highest number of
medals for a region at the Winter Games.
In the past, athletes from
the North Coast of Labrador were often overlooked because of logistics and were
considered to be non-competitive.
Mr. Speaker, we have proven them wrong on many occasions.
Nunatsiavut athletes can compete with the best and they look forward to
participating in the provincial and national events.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.
members to join me in congratulating the athletes from Nunatsiavut and the rest
of Labrador on their tremendous success at the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter
Games and wish them every success in the future.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Exploits.
MR. FORSEY:
Mr. Speaker, during February 13-15, Bishop's
Falls hosted the Junior Provincial Broomball Championships.
The tournament featured players aged twenty and under.
On Saturday morning, Bishop's Falls defeated St. Anthony by a score of
one to nothing; this advanced Bishop's Falls to the finals against Corner Brook.
Mr. Speaker, in the
championship game the Bishop's Falls boys put up a strong effort and won the
2014 Junior Provincial Championships by another close score of one to nothing,
holding onto the title for the second year in a row.
Bishop's Falls captain,
Tyler Tremblett, was awarded the team MVP; top defenceman Kevin Rose, top
goaltender; Jeff Thornhill, MVP of the playoffs.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all
members of this House to join me in congratulating Bishop's Falls on winning the
Junior Provincial Championships.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Humber West.
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, I stand in this hon. House to
congratulate Dean Kean and Pat Fewer on their most recent recognition last fall
by the Corner Brook West Sports Club.
The West Side Sports Club has had a long history of community sport
involvement and at this year's award ceremony recognized these two strong
supporters.
Dean, who is a member of the
executive as well as a member of the Corner Brook West Side Monarchs Senior
Men's Broomball Team, was awarded the Crown of Achievement Award which is
presented to a person or a group who has made outstanding contributions through
service or otherwise during the past year or number of years.
Pat, who is a member of the
West Side Monarchs Senior Men's Soccer Team, was awarded the Terry King Award,
presented in memory of the former monarchs athlete to a person who exemplifies
the combination of sportsmanship, leadership, dedication and effort while
participating on the field of play.
I ask all hon. members to
join with me in congratulating Mr. Dean Kean and Mr. Pat Fewer on their recent
recognition by the Corner Brook West Side Sports Club.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.
MR. HEDDERSON:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to
congratulate forty-three brave souls who participated in the Holyrood Crystal
Carnival Dip on Maloneys Beach on Saturday, March 22, 2014.
Mayor Gary Goobie kicked off
the event, thanking the volunteers for not only taking up the challenge, but
doing it for a good cause. All
proceeds from the event were donated to Heavenly Creatures, a registered charity
dedicated to the care and protection of Newfoundland and Labrador animals.
The chair, Ms Jessica Rendell, accepted a cheque for $10,883.70.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HEDDERSON:
She thanked the town for organizing the event,
indicating all proceeds would be used to further the aims of her organization.
Mr. Speaker, it was a sight
to see as forty-three scantily attired individuals lined the shore, eagerly
awaiting the count down. At the
count of ten, a stampede ensued and all hurriedly did the customary dip into the
cold waters of the North Atlantic. I
am happy to report all survived, and none the worse for the experience.
Mr. Speaker, I will say that
I am so glad the hon. members will rise and congratulate all members and the
Town of Holyrood for supporting this event in aid of Heavenly Creatures.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Service NL.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, that is a hard act to follow.
I do rise today to recognize
April as Records and Information Management Month in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Effective and proper information management and protection is critically
important to organizations large and small.
It is particularly important for governments because of the types of
information they collect and create.
It also supports our government initiative by making information more readily
available to anyone wishing to see it or to use it.
Guided by the Management of
Information Act and related policy and guidelines issued by the Office of the
Chief Information Officer, public sector information management professionals
play an important role in managing and protecting provincial government
information. This includes the
personal information of citizens collected to provide services to them, as well
as the records that document and inform the business and policies of government.
As Records and Information
Management Month is recognized here and around the world, it is a good time for
all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to think and learn more about managing and
protecting information, both in the workplace and at home.
Some general measures include: understanding the legal requirements
around managing information; setting up a filing system for paper and electronic
records and avoiding keeping duplicate records; completing regular back-ups of
electronic records, and, where appropriate, securely destroying both paper and
electronic records.
It is also a good time to be
mindful of cyber-threats that might jeopardize information.
For example, never reveal usernames or passwords; avoid sending
confidential information via e-mail where possible; be extra vigilant when
viewing unsolicited or suspicious e-mail and never click on unrecognizable or
unfamiliar links or attachments; lock computers and other electronic devices
when not in use; and, ensure that up-to-date security software is installed on
such devices.
In this digital age, the
practice of information management and protection continues to evolve in the
face of expanding mobile technology and social media, as well as more persistent
and sophisticated online threats.
Our government will continue
to review new developments and best practices to stay on the leading edge in
managing and protecting information.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First of all, I would like
to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to
congratulate all of our public employees working at information management and
record keeping during Records and Information Management Month.
I concur with the minister that this is a great time to bring attention
to the issue of cyber-threats to private information and to ensure that public
institutions, private entities, and people in general are taking the necessary
precautions to protect their private information online.
I note, the minister
indicates in the release that effective and proper information management and
protection support their so-called Open Government Initiative by making
information more readily available to anyone wishing to use it.
As my colleague for The
Straits White Bay North indicated the other day, it is not just important for
government to release information but to release accurate information, which is
not necessarily the case on the government's current Web site.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would also like to thank
the minister for the advance copy of his statement.
Just reading his statement
today, I was wondering about the handling of government information, the way it
has been going. I know the general
public has been susceptible in other areas too.
I know some of the health agencies, for example, had leakages of personal
information over the last couple of years.
I would also like to point out too that Bill 29, that deals with
information people should have readily access to, needs to be dealt with by this
government. I know it is going to be
reviewed by government.
We also have to remember
that in the pursuit of protecting information, sometimes we can become a little
bit overzealous, such as, what I believe what we believe is what we saw in
Bill 29. Hopefully this will be
addressed by government and people will also at the same time be able to avail
of information that they should be privy to.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Municipal and
Intergovernmental Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased to rise today
in this hon. House to provide an update on our Hazardous Material Response
Training program.
As our Province continues to
attract new and diverse industries, it is important for the safety of our
residents that our firefighters are prepared to respond to any type of emergency
situation that they may face, including those involving hazardous materials.
Risks include ammonia leaks, chlorine leaks, and mercury spills.
Mr. Speaker, since 2002, the
provincial government has supported a Hazardous Material Response program in
this Province, involving nine fire departments from the following communities:
Channel-Port aux Basques, Clarenville, Conception Bay South, Corner Brook,
Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Labrador City, Marystown, and St. Anthony.
There is also response capacity elsewhere in the Province, including the
St. John's Regional Fire Department, and Serco Facilities Management at 5 Wing
Goose Bay.
In the fiscal year just
ended, Fire and Emergency Services Newfoundland and Labrador committed $62,000
for a ten-day Hazardous Material Technician course that took place in Grand
Falls-Windsor in March of this year that would be last month.
Firefighters from seven communities participated in the course, which
trained eleven new technicians and updated skills for six existing technicians.
Mr. Speaker, participants
were trained in a number of areas, including: scene management; chemical and
physical properties; container identification; personal protective equipment;
and, decontamination of hazardous materials.
These training areas equipped participants with the knowledge and skills
to deal with a host of potential hazardous material situations which they could
face.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard
from the participating fire departments that were seeking predictable, annual
funding support for hazardous materials training.
This government has listened, and through
Budget 2014: Shared Prosperity, Fair
Society, Balanced Outlook, we have responded.
The provincial government is
allocating $120,000 annually, beginning in this fiscal year, to provide
hazardous materials response training to support the fire departments that
manage this necessary program. This
funding will support the ongoing training requirements for these departments,
and will help address their occupational health and safety needs.
In February of this year
also 2014 officials from Fire and Emergency Services Newfoundland and Labrador
participated in an orientation seminar and tabletop exercise in Ottawa,
alongside emergency management representatives from other provinces and
territories. During this session,
each province and territory provided an update on chemical, biological,
radiological- nuclear, and explosive capabilities.
From this discussion, it was clear that Newfoundland and Labrador ranked
highly in capabilities and preparedness when compared with our provincial and
territorial counterparts, and for this we should be very proud.
Mr. Speaker, providing fire
protection and emergency services is a top priority for this government, and
through the financial commitments made in Budget 2014 we will continue our work
to protect and safeguard the residents of this Province.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of
Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for the
advance copy of his statement. We, too,
on this side would like to recognize mostly the volunteers, Mr. Speaker, I might
add. I do not think the word
volunteer was in the minister's statement.
Most of those individuals, some paid, but most of those individuals who
are going through this training are volunteers in our Province.
I must recognize the volunteerism by the people in departments to make
their towns safe.
To the government, I think
we as a government have downloaded, and rightly so at times, because these
people act very professionally, these fire departments, to help in any situation
we can to protect all residents across Newfoundland and Labrador.
This is one step that is being done that was asked for.
I must note that taking the garbage from Corner Brook now and Port aux
Basques out to Central, we are going to need more of this here because there is
going to be more hazardous waste travelling across this Province without proper
consultation and without a proper plan in place for this, Mr. Speaker.
To all the volunteers who
are keeping our towns safe through this program thank you very much.
To all the other firefighters, from
Corner Brook, Gander, and all the other places, thank you very much.
Government, it is a great first step to help in training of this.
We must continue this training because they are keeping our residents and
our people safe, and I think we should continue to support them in any way
possible.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would also like to thank
the minister for the advance copy of his statement.
At the same time when he is talking about hazardous materials training,
the first thing that came to mind, of course, was the volunteer firefighter out
there who is handling and sometimes is probably the first responder at some of
these sites wherever a spill occurs of hazardous material.
One thing that occurred to
me, and it is question again that I will ask the minister in Estimates later on
this evening, is about the training for some of these volunteer firefighters who
are out there responding. Sometimes
we have trouble getting the volunteer firefighters to a course.
Sometimes I think government should have the consideration, too, of
bringing the course to some of the volunteer firefighters.
We know sometimes they do a job for absolutely nothing and they deserve
our undying gratitude when it comes to that, so hopefully government will
consider that.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Oral Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday, the Premier said
the Muskrat Falls Project will pay $3 billion in dividends to the Province in
the year 2040 that is one year but Nalcor's own documents to the PUB show a
profit of $517 million in the year 2040.
I ask the Premier: Will you
please clarify the difference of the $2.5 billion that was presented yesterday?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I became aware last night
that there was an error in my comments.
I was answering a question on borrowing and we talked about the $1
billion. You had asked me what we
were borrowing the money for and I said that part of it was to pay off two debt
issues that were coming due that had been taken out years ago.
I also talked about half a billion dollars, $551 million in
infrastructure investment, and I also started to talk about the investment in
Nalcor for oil and gas and Muskrat Falls.
The figures I was referring
to were for all of Nalcor. I
inadvertently used the word Muskrat Falls, but it is all of Nalcor.
I talked about how the investment that is being made in a company that is
owned by the people of Newfoundland will pay dividends and create wealth for the
people in the future.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I accept the apology from
the Premier that in fact the numbers were wrong, but these are the same people
we depend on to make big budget commitments.
Mr. Speaker, accurate information from any government is important.
This is one of the reasons why we have asked for the oversight committee
on the Muskrat Falls Project to include the AG.
I ask the Premier: Will you
revisit this as well and bring the AG into the oversight process for Nalcor?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
First of all, the half-a-billion-dollar figure was right.
It is actually $450 million in 2019.
The figure was right. It is
coming from Nalcor. If I said
Muskrat Falls that was through inadvertence.
The other night when you
were being interviewed here you referred to the Finance Minister as Tom
Marshall. We all make mistakes.
The numbers are right.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
I do not know how you could have mixed the two of us up.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to
the AG, the AG is an independent officer of this House.
As government, we do not order the AG what to do.
I have a great respect for the AG.
I know him; I have great respect for him and his predecessor.
The AG is welcome to go into any government office and any Crown
corporation, including Nalcor, anytime he wishes to do so.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We all know that the AG can
go into Nalcor; we all know how the reporting process works when the AG goes
into Nalcor on his own. What we are
asking for is to include the AG as part of the oversight process so that we do
get his impact in what is happening in the external oversight, I say, Mr.
Premier.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of
Health is saying the former Abitibi mill will be torn down this year and that
the tender for the work will be released soon; but when we asked the Minister of
Transportation and Works yesterday, he was noncommittal.
I ask the minister: Will the
former Abitibi mill be demolished this year and, if so, at what cost?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated
yesterday, there are several projects that are the property of the government
that are being considered for demolition, the Grand Falls Abitibi mill being one
of those. We prioritize those.
The mill is on the top of the priority.
I am very surprised.
Yesterday I did not get into it deep, but I am surprised that someone
with such a strong business background would not know the difference, that you
cannot release prices when something is going to be tendered until after it is
tendered. It would defeat the
purpose of the tendering process.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Absolutely, I say to the minister, but you have
to know that you are out there on record as saying you would expect this cost to
be $100 million. That is the number
that has been out there for quite some time, which includes the environmental
impact.
Environmental costs at this
site have been estimated, as I said, to be about $100 million because of the
government's botched expropriation of the Abitibi mill.
The taxpayers of this Province are certainly on the hook, so we need to
know the timeline for this. People
in Central Newfoundland the minister is on record for this.
Is this something that will
be done this year, I say to the minister?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated
before, right now we are in the process of talking with different companies and
organizations that have shown a great interest in the Abitibi mill.
We have narrowed it down now to two or three possible prospects, and we
are going through the process of dealing with them.
As soon as we make our decisions, then we will start the process.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In November, the Minister of
Natural Resources said that Harvest Energy was in phase two of selling the
refinery in Come By Chance. In
January, it was revealed that a Swiss group is considering buying the facility,
but no details have been released.
I ask the minister: What is
the status of the takeover of the Come By Chance refinery?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from
the hon. member. We are not in a
position to reveal any details, other than to say the company continues to work
with other proponents who have an interest in the refinery.
We are optimistic we will see some conclusion soon.
Suffice it to say there are no details available as to the negotiations
between the owners of the refinery and interested parties.
Outside of that, we are not in a position to make information public.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, according to
The Telegram newspaper, the government
provided $10,000 to the School Bus Operators Association so they could hire the
past-president of the PC Party to lobby government about their concerns.
I ask the Minister of
Education: When you approved the $10,000 grant, did you know that the consultant
hired by the association had such close ties to the PC Party?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, I guess the question would be is Mr.
Lundrigan qualified?
Mr. Speaker, we have been
working with the School Bus Operators Association certainly since I have come
into this department in two-and-a-half years, and I know that ministers previous
have been trying to find a solution.
I make no apologies in providing support to see if we can find a solution to
this annual problem.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, all this seems very suspicious.
A former PC Party president hired on the advice of a senior PC Cabinet
minister to lobby his own government, all through the use of public funds
provided by the Minister of Education.
I ask the minister: How do
you justify using your department's funds to pay a high-level PC Party member to
lobby you about school transportation?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, anyone who has followed the busing
situation over the past number of years knows that every September we have this
annual problem. Usually it starts in
around the spring. I have met
personally with this association on numerous occasions.
Mr. Speaker, it was up to
the association who they hired. I believe
the total amount they invested was $36,000, so they put $26,000 into it
themselves. We offered up a support
to see if we could find a solution to this.
Who they chose as their consultant was entirely up to them.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, the school bus operators have
serious concerns about government's school transportation policies.
When they asked how they could raise their concerns, it was suggested
that the operators pay $100 per ticket for five-minute meetings with Cabinet
ministers at a PC Party fundraiser.
I ask the Premier: How does
paying for access to Cabinet ministers square with your idea of open government,
or is it open wallet?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, absolutely untrue.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, I have been to political events, I
have been to other events when people have come up and raised concerns of their
various associations. They ask, can
we get a meeting with you? They will
preliminarily discuss their item then we set up a meeting afterwards.
I can outline for the hon.
member a list of things that we have tried to do with this association over the
number of years, Mr. Speaker. They
have asked us to extend their contracts by five years, and we did.
When fuel prices were rising, we put in an escalator clause to help
offset the cost of that.
Documentation was always an
issue for these operators. Through
working with them we found solutions to that.
Mr. Speaker, we are working to find a solution.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, when I asked
the minister last week to leverage some financial flexibility to the English
school board to develop more suitable options for the Mount Pearl school system
than the ones promised he refused, saying he did not want to interfere.
I ask the minister: Since
you were willing to interfere and hand-pick the board, can you now provide the
financial support needed to arrive at options that better suit the Mount Pearl
school community?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, the board is going through a
process. They have met with the
parents. There is a meeting that is
coming up; they will again discuss with the parent community what are the best
options to go forward. They will lay
them on the table before the board.
Mr. Speaker, we have not
interfered with a process previous and we will not.
We are not putting limitations on the district.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Mr. Speaker, I am not asking him to interfere
with the process. I am asking for
some financial flexibility which they do not have.
At the same time the minister refused to provide financial support to the
Mount Pearl school system; ironically he listed all the money he put into
schools in other communities, which are all good investments.
Mr. Speaker, will he now
provide that same level of support to the Mount Pearl school system so they too
can have the benefit of more suitable options than the ones on the table?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, in all of the schools that we have
constructed and all the major renovations that we have carried out, it went
through a process. This is going
through the same process, nothing different.
The board is meeting with
the parent community. They will lay
out the plan, a vote will be taken.
Mr. Speaker, as I have said to him I do not know if the man is just not getting
it or whatnot, we have not placed limitations on the board.
They will roll out their plan.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. JACKMAN:
Hopefully, one day, Mr. Speaker I thought he
understood it on this side, but, hopefully, now that he has crossed the floor he
will come to understand that on the other side as well.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, government's ambulance review was released in 2013.
Centralized dispatch is a critical component to improving service
delivery and it will cost roughly $5 million.
The consultant said that central dispatch should be up and running in
spring 2015 and that this was a very doable timeline.
I ask the minister: Given
you have only budgeted $400,000 towards central dispatch this year, will
dispatch be up and running in spring 2015?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Health and Community
Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS SULLIVAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, central
dispatch is in fact central to all that we will do in terms of providing a more
efficient ambulance service here in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We have budgeted money in this Budget to start the study and do the
preliminary work on that.
Until the study is done, it
is premature to say exactly when we will have things up and running.
We understand the importance of it, and we are working forward to ensure
that we can do that as quickly as we can.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, they just paid consultants who said this could be done in
spring 2015 and what the cost was.
I ask the minister again,
can you confirm: Will this be done in spring 2015 like your consultant said it
should be?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Health and Community
Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS SULLIVAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, once again I
will tell the member opposite, we understand the importance of this, we are
working towards that. When we nail
down an exact date then we will have them asking questions of us as soon as they
get the chance next year.
Our plan is to do this as
efficiently, as effectively, and as quickly as we possibly can.
Our job is not to rush it so that we meet a target date.
Our job is to do it right and make sure we have the best central dispatch
that we can possibly afford the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, that is what we will work toward.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Mr. Speaker, we acknowledge that the
administration of justice in Canada's North is challenging, which is why it
requires additional resources to function properly.
The justice system in Labrador is on the verge of collapse because the
necessary resources are not in place.
I ask the Attorney General:
When will you finally take responsibility as the Attorney General for the
collapse of the justice system in Labrador?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. F. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With respect to investments
in the Labrador justice system, this government has made significant investments
in the justice system in Labrador in recent years.
As a matter of fact, there have been no cuts, which have been suggested,
Mr. Speaker, to the Crown Prosecutor's Office.
We added one in Budget 2013.
There have been no recent cuts in Legal Aid.
We have made significant investments in a new Supreme Courthouse,
renovations to the Wabush courthouse, twenty new policing positions in Labrador,
a provincial court judge in Wabush, upgrades to video-conferencing equipment,
and permanent Aboriginal court clerks.
We have continued to invest and we will continue to do so, to make sure
everybody has reasonable access to justice in Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
A clean courthouse, Mr. Speaker, and no action.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday in
the House, the Attorney General stated,
the criminal litigation process is the
responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
I remind the Attorney General that he is responsible for the Director of
Public Prosecutions. Justice in
Labrador is collapsing under this government's watch.
I ask the Attorney General:
Why is he washing his hands of the justice system in Labrador and blaming
somebody else for the mess?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. F. COLLINS:
Mr. Speaker, there is a set of parameters and protocols that governs
criminal litigation. It is governed
by the parameters of the Criminal Code of Canada.
It is governed by the parameters of recent case law.
It is governed by the particular circumstances of individual cases and
presentations made by the parties in court.
The judge makes the decision based on all of this consideration.
That is something that is set.
The same protocols are followed in Labrador as it is in Newfoundland and
as it is in every other province in Canada.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au
Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this year's
budget for Advanced Education and Skills quoted numbers from Budget 2013 that do
not match up with the actual budget for 2013.
In fact, completely different numbers are stated for 2013 than were
actually budgeted last year. In
Estimates yesterday, when asked the minister said he changed the numbers from
last year because of departmental reorganization.
I ask the minister: Will you
table an Estimates document that actually reveals how almost $1 billion in
taxpayers' money was spent?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, with a budget of about $1.5 billion,
including Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, we try to get every dollar we
possibly can out the doors of Advanced Education and Skills to support our
students in this Province, to support the most vulnerable in our Province, and
to support people in this Province in each and every way they want to avail of
the services within Advanced Education and Skills.
I explained to the hon.
member yesterday in Estimates that, yes, we did have to make an adjustment in
regard to this year's Estimates. The
simple fact is we reorganized the department.
We collapsed certain divisions, three into one, two into one, whatever it
may be, and it is reflected in the estimate, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au
Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Mr. Speaker, we are just looking to get a copy of
those Estimates tabled.
Mr. Speaker, three years ago
the Department of Advanced Education and Skills released a report that
anticipated 70,000 job openings in the Province by 2020.
Last year, the ADM for Workforce Development and Immigration stated those
numbers are now outdated. In
Estimates yesterday, the minister was unable to say when those numbers would be
revised.
I ask the minister: When
will you release updated labour market information so employers and students can
better plan for their future?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, we support people in this Province
who want to avail of the great opportunity that this government has created, the
economy that this government has created.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, we will continue to do so.
As I explained to the hon.
member yesterday in Estimates, that 70,000 job openings by 2020 is actually a
moving target. That is over a period
of time. We are not going to see
70,000 jobs in 2020, Mr. Speaker. We
are going to see that over the next five or six years when we bring things to
fruition, such as Alderon, the Alderon investment in Lab West, such as Muskrat
Falls and all the other big items we have in the hopper, Mr. Speaker, that the
people of this Province can avail of, and have meaningful lives.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for St.
John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in April, 2012,
government introduced a strategy to improve accessibility called: Access.
Inclusion.
Equality. This strategy was
to guide departments across government to prevent and remove barriers.
One of the concepts outlined in the strategy was to promote a design of
visit ability, including a barrier free entrance, wider doorways and accessible
washrooms.
I ask the minister:
Considering the strategy is two years old, how many housing units have been
renovated since the strategy was introduced to make them more accessible?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Nine million dollars' worth, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Maybe I am not great at math, Mr. Speaker, but I
will ask the minister again.
How many housing units were
refurbished, renovated, to make them more accessible?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Nine million dollars' worth, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Now, Mr. Speaker, the minister can play cute if
he wants, but the people of this Province who need accessible housing units are
watching today. The people of this
Province who need accessible housing units are not impressed with that type of
answer.
I will ask him again: How
many housing units have been renovated or remodeled to make them more accessible
since this strategy was put in place?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, playing cute.
I take exception to the hon. member referring to me as playing cute in
this House today because he certainly played cute yesterday using a constituent
for his own means in regard to political means in this House, Mr. Speaker, when
I was absolutely trying to help that particular person.
I will answer his question,
Mr. Speaker. We have a little over a
thousand units in this Province that support seniors, in regard to having
disabilities alone within our inventory in Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, I
say to the hon. member.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. member for a quick question without any
preamble.
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, I asked the minister responsible how
many housing units have been renovated since this strategy was implemented to
make them more accessible.
I will ask him: How many
housing units
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I asked the member to be
very quick.
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills for his response, very quickly, please.
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, we continue to support seniors and
people with disabilities in this Province.
As a matter of fact, I referenced in Estimates yesterday, $600,000 in
regard to accessibility in regard to vehicles; $200,000 of that also as well,
Mr. Speaker
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the
Third Party.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
In today's media, the
Minister of Education says he is grappling for a solution regarding school bus
contracts and is willing to sit with anyone who can show him how to make it
work.
I ask the minister: Why not
put effort into coming up with a solution rather than contributing money to a
lobbying process forced on the School Bus Operators Association?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, as I said previous, I believe I have
met with this group more than I have met with any group since I have come into
government, and that is about trying to find a solution to this annual problem.
We have sat with them, we have found solutions to many of the issues,
but, Mr. Speaker, the one that we are grappling with is the requirement seeking
more money. This is a tendering
process, Mr. Speaker. We cannot
simply open up tenders after the fact.
Mr. Speaker, as I have said,
and I said in The Telegram, I am more
than willing to sit with anyone, and if we can come up with a solution here I am
more than willing to support that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask the minister: Does he
think that encouraging operators to buy $100 a plate dinner tickets to get a
chance to talk to politicians is an open and transparent process?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Minister of
Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, it is up to individuals what tickets
they buy and what events they go to.
Mr. Speaker, I have been to numerous events where people have approached and
discussed certain issues and we have set up meetings afterwards.
I will do this with this group, as I have done with many other groups.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I say to the minister, the
group was advised to buy the tickets and go to that dinner.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the
Premier noted he expects the Muskrat Falls
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
hydro project to return half a billion dollars
a year to the Province in 2019 and by 2041, $3 billion a year.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the
Premier: Can he show us documentation that backs up his statement?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Mr. Speaker, this government under the leadership of Premier Williams
and Premier Dunderdale set out a strategy, set out a plan, to bring wealth to
the people of this Province. It is
being done through a vehicle called the Newfoundland and Labrador energy
(inaudible)
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
PREMIER MARSHALL:
I am delighted you asked, because it is time you learned.
That company, Nalcor, has
invested in oil and gas, where it is in our interest to do so.
It has also invested in electricity and it has invested in Muskrat Falls.
That investment will pay off.
You cannot get anything out until you put it in, and like the oil companies and
the electrical monopolies that make a lot of money, it is time the people of
Newfoundland who own the assets, who own the water, who own the power, who own
the oil and gas, it is time they got wealth out of it, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I ask the Premier: Will his
new oversight committee of bureaucrats have access to the information so that
they can determine what we are going to get from it?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, one thing I
have learned since I have been in this House is that the more information we
give to the people of the Province, they will be able to tell us better what
they want and that will help us make better decisions.
I want more information to go to the people of the Province, they own the
assets, they own the water, they own the power, they own the oil and gas, they
own the trees, and they own the land.
It is their assets; they should know what is going on.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Will the Premier ignore Bill
29 so that the people of the Province and the committee reviewing the work will
get the information they need?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Mr. Speaker, the ATIPP legislation was brought in when the members
opposite were in office. They did
not proclaim it. They did not have
to live under it. They brought it in
and kind of left it there.
We proclaimed it and we have
lived under that legislation. It
called for a statutory review after five years.
A statutory review took place; recommendations were made with Bill 29.
People have concerns about Bill 29 so we have established a blue-ribbon
panel to go out and tell us, to do the research, go ask whatever they want to do
and then come and tell us. I am not
going to prejudge what they are going to say, but maybe they are not going to
say revoke it. Maybe they will say
there are some good things in it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What is this government's
plan for the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council?
It has been long enough now; the committee has not met since 2006?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Environment and
Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS SHEA:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, one of the
priorities that I had when I became Minister of Environment was to ensure that
the WERAC was activated. There had
been a number of people who sent in their names in interest or referrals came
in, and I felt at that time there was not sufficient youth representation on
WERAC.
We have since gone out and
solicited people who may be interested to put their names forward.
Mr. Speaker, I would think probably in the next couple of weeks we will
be able to announce the new appointees to the WERAC.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Mr. Speaker, I have it on good authority that the
WERAC, if it was in place, that it would be issuing an opinion on the Big
Triangle Pond project.
What is the minister using
to get an opinion as to whether this project of exploration, or any other,
should be going ahead?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Environment and
Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS SHEA:
Mr. Speaker, the environmental assessment process
allows public input into any of the decisions that lead into an environmental
assessment. Whether an individual in
Newfoundland and Labrador, which there would only be eleven on WERAC, but there
are 500,000 others, along with those eleven, who can provide input through the
public consultation process for an environmental assessment.
So, Mr. Speaker, no one person has to be a member of any committee.
We certainly welcome submissions from anybody in this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. East, for a quite
question without preamble.
MR. MURPHY:
Mr. Speaker, in the Budget they announced $2
million for the clearing of brush.
Are they still intent on using chemicals at the roadside for brush clearing?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works, for a quick response.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the $2 million
that is put aside for brush clearing will be used for brush clearing.
Then it will be decided, through another
department, whether or not they will use chemicals.
MR. SPEAKER:
The time for Question Period has expired.
Present Report by Standing
and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Notices of Motion.
Answers to Questions for
which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS autism spectrum
disorder has been estimated to occur in as many as one in eighty-eight children;
and
WHEREAS individualized and
intensive early interventions are important for improving outcomes for children
with autism; and
WHEREAS long wait-lists are
forcing many parents to wait up to two years before their children receive
needed pediatric assessments and diagnostic services; and
WHEREAS the Intensive
Applied Behavioural Analysis Program is not available for children after Grade
3, while research supports the use of applied behavioural analysis throughout
the lifespan; and
WHEREAS a co-ordinated
multi-agency approach among key government departments and agencies is need to
ensure that individuals with autism spectrum disorder are provided with services
that will promote independent living; and
WHEREAS a comprehensive
Province-wide strategy for autism spectrum disorder will decrease the lifetime
costs of treating and providing services for persons with autism;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to develop a
comprehensive Province-wide strategy for autism spectrum disorder in
consultation with parents, advocates, educators, health care providers, and
experts in the autism community.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this petition,
it looks like we have petitioners from around Labrador City on this particular
one and I note that this petition, I have presented it on a number of
occasions before, it continues to come in and people are interested in a more
co-ordinated way of dealing with the issues associated with autism.
It is interesting that the prevalence in here says one in eighty-eight
children, but I think the Centre for Disease Control in the United States
actually said last week that the prevalence is actually higher than that.
I know government did
provide a couple of things in the Budget this year there was not a lot.
I know they talked about hiring another developmental pediatrician who
could do diagnoses and help shorten the waitlist, but the proof is in the
pudding. That is going to take some
time to do, and we will have to wait and see if there is any evidence that the
wait-list will actually be reduced.
I also note that tomorrow is
World Autism Awareness Day, and there will be a demonstration here in front of
the Confederation Building prior to us taking our seats here in the House of
Assembly tomorrow to bring attention to this particular issue.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of
Islands.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again I present a petition
to this House on behalf of the residents of Western Newfoundland:
WHEREAS we wish to raise
concerns regarding the recent delays of the construction of the new hospital in
Corner Brook, Newfoundland;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to commit to the planning and
construction of a new hospital in Corner Brook as previously committed and in a
timely manner as originally announced without further delay or changes.
Mr. Speaker, once again, I
have petitions from people from all over, from Lark Harbour, Pasadena, and in
the Corner Brook area. This is a
petition I have been presenting for a while, and I presented one yesterday.
I heard some disturbing
comments from the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health.
I do not know if she is speaking on behalf of the Minister of Health, Mr.
Speaker. After I presented the
petition yesterday and I challenged the people to come out to the meeting, I was
being called a fool.
Mr. Speaker, I take those
comments rather personally. When the
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health is calling me a fool for
presenting petitions on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, I
take it rather personally.
Mr. Speaker, I find it
insulting to the people of Western Newfoundland that I cannot stand in this
House and I have yet to see the Member for Humber West or the Member for
Humber East presenting these petitions also on their behalf.
Yet this government and this Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of
Health who we had a meeting planned with the oncologists.
We had meetings with oncologists from all across Canada.
The only one that was cancelled was through the minister's department,
through the minister's office somehow.
She is saying she had nothing to do with it.
It was here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Here we have a minister's
office cancelling meetings they were not even invited to and were not notified
of. Now we have the minister's
Parliamentary Assistant calling me a fool for presenting petitions?
That just shows how insulting it is, Mr. Speaker, to the people of
Western Newfoundland. I find it
insulting when we are trying to get information for those people.
I find it rather insulting and I take it personally.
Like I said before, if the
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Member for Terra Nova
wants to come out and tell the people of Western Newfoundland I am a fool, there
is a meeting on April 24. Here is
your opportunity. Hide behind the
minister, but if you want to call me a fool for doing this on behalf of the
people of Western Newfoundland and Labrador come out and say it to their face.
If not, sit down and give them the proper information, Mr. Speaker,
because this is a very serious issue.
I do not care who calls me a fool, I will stand there every day and
present the information, Mr. Speaker, until I get the right answers.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Your time has expired.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS with the passage of
Bill 29, the Access To Information and Protection of Privacy (Amendment) Act,
the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has weakened citizen's access to
information and has reduced government transparency; and
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador has moved towards greater secrecy and less openness;
and
WHEREAS the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador is breaking its own commitment for greater
transparency, accountability and freedom of information, which it said at one
time was the hallmark of its government;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to repeal the passage of Bill 29.
And as in duty bound, your
petitioners -
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The Speaker has recognized
the Member for St. John's Centre to present a petition.
While other members want to carry on a conversation across the floor of
the House, I would ask them to take their conversation outside.
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
To finish up this petition:
WHEREAS the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to repeal the passage of Bill 29
And as in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I have stood up
in this House on numerous occasions since Bill 29 was first passed in this
House, and one wonders does Bill 29 affect the lives of the people of our
Province. Does Bill 29 affect how we
govern as legislators in this House?
I would say absolutely.
Since Bill 29 the democratic
deficit that this government faces has increased.
It has increased because we do not have all-party standing committees.
Because we do not have all-party standing committees, a place where
information is given, citizens and experts can testify, members of all three
parties are there to look at specific issues that really affect people's lives,
then that information is public.
How this government is
operating, Mr. Speaker, is that any kind of information and it is all about
government listening. This
government says they are open and transparent and that they want to listen.
They are talking over every single word I say right now.
This is about the lives of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador
We cannot get information.
For instance, we cannot get information on why the Minister of Justice
closed the Family Violence Intervention Court.
There was a report done, but if we had all-party standing committees we
would know on what basis decisions were made.
We would have the information; we would be listening to the people of the
Province. We would be listening to
experts on issues that affect the very lives of the people of the Province.
For that reason, Mr. Speaker, I ask that this government repeal Bill 29.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A petition to the House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS there are many
individuals within our Province who have mobility issues; and
WHEREAS it is extremely
important as an inclusive society to ensure appropriate access to both public
and private facilities and institutions; and
WHEREAS a key component in
the provision of access for a person with mobility issues is the provision of
regulated blue zones; and
WHEREAS our provincial
government implemented new blue zone regulations two years ago but has failed to
adequately enforce them; and
WHEREAS this failure of our
government to adequately enforce blue zone regulations has resulted in continued
denial of appropriate access for persons with disabilities to many public and
private facilities;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to start enforcing its blue zone
regulations in order to provide appropriate access for persons with mobility
issues;
And as in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, we presented
this now a number of times. We will
continue to do so. All you have to
do now is look outside today, on a stormy day, a wintery day, and in particular
it really drives home the point behind the petition, the point behind the
legislation really, when it was drafted and passed unanimously in this House of
Assembly.
If you were a person today
with a disability and you went looking for the blue zone you would not be able
to find it because it would be covered in snow.
You, as the individual looking for the blue zone could not find it.
You, as an individual who does not require a blue zone could possibly end
up parking in the blue zone because they cannot see it, it is covered in snow.
Hence, the reason why the regulation was put in place that for every blue
zone there would be permanent signage put in place.
Mr. Speaker, there are
numerous properties throughout the Province, certainly throughout this region,
the city, and the general area that are not in compliance.
We are asking the minister to take further action to bring us in
compliance with our own legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I do not even see any major cost to it.
I am sure it is not even going to interfere with the Minister of
Finance's billion-dollar shopping spree.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au
Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Strait of Belle
Isle is a very important transportation link between Labrador and the Island of
Newfoundland; and
WHEREAS both commercial and
residential traffic is continuously increasing because of the opening of the
Trans-Labrador Highway and increased development in Labrador; and
WHEREAS the existing ferry
service can no longer effectively handle the traffic; and
WHEREAS there have been many
interruptions in the ferry service, especially during the 2014 winter seasons;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to complete a comprehensive feasibility
study for a fixed link across the Strait of Belle Isle that would include a
geological assessment and a full cost analysis.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, Tom Kierans, I
think he lived to be 100, and right up until the day he died he advocated very,
very strongly for a fixed link across the Strait of Belle Isle.
This year we have had a
really, really difficult year with ferries, where in January, February and March
people have been disrupted. They
have been out of pocket hundreds and thousands of dollars because of the ferry
woes.
We look at Norway and we see
that they have over 900 tunnels. We
are spending millions of dollars, Mr. Speaker, in ferries.
The ice is unprecedented. How
long are we going to continue? This
is impacting tourism, it is impacting medical, and it is impacting businesses.
I know the minister stood
the other day and said we have an Air Foodlift Subsidy.
By the time I got back to my office, I had a call from a businessman who
runs a bakery flour is one of the examples. Flour
is very essential in a business like a bakery, yet that is not included in the
Air Foodlift Subsidy.
So all of the stuff, Mr.
Speaker, is just a band-aid solution; it is not getting at the problem.
We have $1 billion that is going in a subsea cable across the Strait of
Belle Isle and because there was no vision and no planning, sadly that is not
running through a tunnel when it could be.
It is time, Mr. Speaker, to
get at these figures.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS DEMPSTER:
We have a prefeasibility study eight years ago;
those figures are now dated. It is time
for us to look at this once and for all and see.
People are telling us it is going to cost less than $500 million.
Let's have a look at that and let's see.
Somebody mentioned today
that I am not smiling enough here in the House.
I can tell you, I am not here to play house and smile; we have big
issues. The people elected me to try
to get to the bottom and to try to be instrumental in bringing some positive
change, especially to Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, but it very, very difficult,
the travel arrangement that we have right now.
I drove over a mud highway to fly in here on Sunday and when I got to
Goose Bay, I could not even get out of vehicle (inaudible)
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The member's time has
expired.
The hon. the Member for St.
Barbe.
MR. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, to the hon. House of Assembly of the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of
the undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS there is no
cellphone service in the Town of Trout River, which is an enclave in the
community in Gros Morne National Park; and
WHEREAS visitors to Gros
Morne National Park, more than 100,000 annually, expect to communicate by
cellphone when they visit the park; and
WHEREAS cellphone service
has become a very important aspect of everyday living for residents; and
WHEREAS cellphone service is
an essential safety tool for visitors and residents; and
WHEREAS cellphone service is
essential for business development;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to partner with the private sector to
extend cellphone coverage throughout Gros Morne National Park and the enclave
community of Trout River.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I was in Trout
River on Saturday for most of the afternoon and one of the serious issues for
people in a community that is not as remote as it is isolated it is isolated
because you have to go through Trout River Gulch from the Woody Point area.
The signs say when the lights are flashing the road is closed, and the
road is closed in this kind of weather fairly often.
The snow level immediately
inland from Trout River is measured by the roadside markers; the snow is higher
than the markers. In fact, I would
suspect that Transportation and Works may have to invest in twelve-foot markers
next year because the snow is up past the eight-foot markers.
So if you cannot find an eight-foot tall marker, then you know there is a
fair bit of snow in that area.
Mr. Speaker, in meeting with
constituents in Trout River on Saturday afternoon, I found myself in a situation
of running late for appointments on other side into the Bonne Bay area.
When you are sitting in the home of a constituent, somebody who is on
Income Support and it is no disgrace to be on Income Support; it is fortunate
that they have Income Support to look after them.
How do I say to them I would like to use your telephone to make a long
distance call so that I can tell other people that I am going to be late because
I have a cellphone, a government-issued cellphone, sitting here that I cannot
use, and I would expect this person on Income Support to support my telephone
call to say I am late for an appointment?
That is the type of obstacle
that the people in Trout River face on a daily basis.
When 911 becomes widespread through the Province, they will be left
behind. They certainly feel like
they are being left behind, and this petition is on their behalf.
I did ask them to get more petitions when
I was there.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have a petition.
To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS hundreds of
residents of the Southwest Coast of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador,
including residents of Margaree, Fox Roost, Isle aux Morts, Burnt Islands, Rose
Blanche-Harbour Le Cou, Diamond Cove, and La Poile use Route 470 on a regular
basis for work, medical, educational, and social reasons; and
WHEREAS there is no
cellphone coverage on Route 470; and
WHEREAS residents and users
of Route 470 require cellphone coverage to ensure their safety and communication
abilities; and
WHEREAS the Department of
IBRD announced significant funding to improve broadband services in rural
Newfoundland and Labrador; and
WHEREAS the residents and
users of Route 470 feel that the department should also invest in cellphone
coverage for rural Newfoundland and Labrador;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
government to support the users of Route 470 in their request to obtain
cellphone coverage along Route 470.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is a
petition I have presented before on numerous occasions, but I felt today I had
to put it in again. I just received
a Facebook message, actually, from a constituent in Rose Blanche who told me
about the night of March 26. This is
a citizen who lives in Rose Blanche, but he spent the night of March 26 sleeping
in his truck that was blocked in by snow on Route 470.
Now, it would have been
fine, but the fact is we know plows cannot get back and forth.
The weather has been unusually bad.
He could not make a phone call and he was stuck there in that truck all
night. God forbid if there was an
emergency situation and this person had a health issue.
Thankfully, he did not. He
made it home okay, but I am coming back to the same story here.
This is not just a want any
more; this is a need. We have people
who are being trapped and the next thing you know I am going to be presenting
this petition and talking about someone who has lost their life because they
could not access this cellphone that should be natural.
Now, we all have them.
They should be able to be used everywhere.
I have asked for information
on this repeatedly. I have received
none. People want service; they need
it. If not, we are going to have
something terrible happen. Thank God
this individual from Rose Blanche made it out safe.
I say this today: I have
roadways in my district that are blocked in with snow.
We have people who cannot get back and forth.
There is not enough equipment on the roads to take care of this snow.
We have people with emergency situations that cannot get to the hospital.
I have people who are losing days of work because they cannot get over
this road. Again, all of that pales
in comparison to the person who gets stuck and cannot use their phone to call.
If an emergency comes up, somebody is going to be liable for it.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay
North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS Labrador-Grenfell
Health employs a nurse practitioner at St. Anthony able to take appointments and
operate a full scope of practice for which nurse practitioners are licensed to
operate; and
WHEREAS Western Health at
Port Saunders and Norris Point on the Great Northern Peninsula has similar nurse
practitioner practices; and
WHEREAS nurse practitioners
have advanced education and training beyond the Registered Nurse level and
provide comprehensive care ranging from health promotion and prevention to
diagnosis and treatment, including ordering diagnostic tests, prescribing
pharmaceuticals, and performing procedures within a legislated scope of
practice; and
WHEREAS nurse practitioners
are alleviating physician shortages in rural areas across Canada and
Newfoundland and Labrador by operating clinical practices in collaboration with
physicians and other health practitioners, leading to better access to service
and shorter wait times;
WHEREAS residents from
Eddies Cove East to Reefs Harbour deserve to have regular nurse practitioner
clinics that is available to other residents of the Great Northern Peninsula;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge
government to ensure that a nurse practitioner clinical practice be established
at the Strait of Belle Isle Health Centre to be fully integrated with clinical
practices of physicians.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, we see that our
health care budget is just shy of $3 billion in this Province, in Newfoundland
and Labrador, and we have at the Strait of Belle Isle Health Centre in Flower's
Cove a nurse practitioner that can certainly practice the full scope, and there
are many instances where there is not a full complement of physicians.
To have better health outcomes we could have a regular nurse practitioner
clinic operating Monday to Friday, and this would help provide a better
continuity of care to those who are utilizing the service at the Strait of Belle
Isle Health Centre.
We have this established in
St. Anthony. It is established in
Port Saunders, and other areas. This
is a great opportunity for the Minister of Health and Community Services to look
at implementing nurse practitioner clinics at Labrador-Grenfell Health at the
Strait of Belle Isle Health Centre.
It will save money, and it will improve health outcomes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I have a
petition. To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS there is a waste
recovery facility being proposed by Eastern Waste Management in the Peak Pond
Reids Pond area; and
WHEREAS such a site will
drastically impact the pond and general area in a negative way from an
environmental perspective; and
WHEREAS there are many
species of wildlife that will be negatively impacted by such a site, such as
moose, rabbit, loons, ducks, Canada geese, et cetera; and
WHEREAS such a site will
result in litter and strong odours in the general area; and
WHEREAS there are a
significant number of cabins and permanent homes in the Peak Pond and Reids Pond
area which will be negatively impacted by this site; and
WHEREAS Eastern Waste
Management has many sites available to them for such a facility, including
former dumpsites in the area;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to intercede in this matter and advise
Eastern Waste Management to withdraw the proposal and find a more suitable
location for this waste recovery facility.
As in duty bound your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, there is a
concern with this site because the site is approximately 100 feet from a pond.
The site not only with concerns of leachate from the site getting into
the pond, Mr. Speaker, but because of permanent residents and cabin owners in
the area we are asking that government and Eastern Waste Management look for an
area that is more suitable, that is not in very close proximity to cabin owners,
the homeowners in the area.
Mr. Speaker, we are
concerned because this facility will attract rodents.
It will attract other animals.
It will attract nuisance animals to the area.
There are children who use that pond and families who use that pond for
recreational purposes, Mr. Speaker.
There are children and families in the area who would be negatively impacted by
rodents and nuisance animals in that particular area, not to mention the odour
that may come from that facility which would have a negative impact on the
enjoyment of those who are living in the area and those who have recreational
cottages in the area.
Mr. Speaker, I ask
government to reconsider and to intercede, and ask Eastern Waste Management to
reconsider this particular proposal and to look for an area this is a much
needed proposal, but it is not needed in this particular area.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of
Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,
the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS the Family Violence
Intervention Court provided a comprehensive approach to domestic violence in a
court setting that fully understood and dealt with the complex issues of
domestic violence; and
WHEREAS domestic violence
continues to be one of the most serious issues facing our Province today and the
cost of the impact of domestic violence is great both economically and in human
suffering; and
WHEREAS the Family Violence
Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed by all aspects of the justice
system including the police, the courts, prosecutors, defence counsel, Child,
Youth and Family Services, as well as victims, offenders, community agencies and
women's groups; and
WHEREAS the recidivism rate
for offenders going through the court was 10 per cent compared to 40 per cent
for those who did not; and
WHEREAS the budget for the
court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire budget of the Department of Justice;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge
government to reinstate the Family Violence Intervention Court.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this particular
part of the petition I have been presenting, I do not know how many times.
I am sure I can almost repeat it in my
sleep. I know the members across the
floor have heard me stand and present this on behalf of the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador several times.
Perhaps they even could repeat it in their sleep.
This is signed by folks from Norris Point, from Baie Verte, from
Peterview, and from St. John's.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I
stood up and I presented this same petition again.
What I said was that it was a mystery because so many people I encounter
keep wondering. They shake their
head and they wonder: Why was this court closed?
Why was it cut when it was so effective and was such an effective tool in
the area of domestic violence?
Last week, the Minister of
Justice said in a press conference that perhaps the decision was not made in the
best interest of the courts. I
raised this in the House and he said I was wrong, that he had not said that,
when in fact I have testimony here that is what he did say.
This past week, there was a
continuing education session that was sponsored by the Law Society of
Newfoundland and Labrador. The
participants there, from judges to lawyers, were talking about this court and
how important it is. Mr. Speaker, it
is a mystery.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Orders of the Day.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First of all, I want to do
something upfront I forgot yesterday.
I just remind members of the House that tomorrow, Wednesday, April 2, the
Social Services Committee for Estimates will meet here in the House at 9:00 a.m.
to review the Estimates of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.
Also, the Government
Services Estimates Committee will meet tomorrow in the House at 5:30 to review
the Estimates of the Department of Finance and Treasury Board.
This afternoon, the Social
Services Committee will review the Estimates of the Department of Municipal and
Intergovernmental Affairs, commencing 6:00 p.m. right here in the House.
Right now, Mr. Speaker, I
would like to call from the Order Paper Motion 7.
I move, seconded by the Minister of Environment and Conservation, the
following resolution:
WHEREAS subsection 20(7) of
the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act provides
that a change to the level of amounts of allowances and resources provided to
members not be made except in accordance with a rule that has been first laid
before the House of Assembly and adopted by resolution of the House; and
WHEREAS an amendment to the
Members' Resources and Allowances Rules, which would change the level of the
amounts of allowances and resources has been laid before the House by the
Speaker;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED
that this hon. House of Assembly adopt the amendment to the Members' Resources
and Allowances Rules, as approved by the Management Commission of this House on
March 13, 2014 and tabled by the Speaker of this House on March 31, 2014.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader, to the
motion.
MR. KING:
Yes, I will speak to the motion, Mr. Speaker, for
a few moments. I want to thank you
very much.
Just to give a little bit of
context to those who are following the debate either here or at home, Mr.
Speaker, the House of Assembly Management Commission is a group or a committee,
if you will, that is represented by all three parties in the Legislature here:
the government, the Progressive Conservative Party; the Opposition Liberal
Party, the Official Opposition; and the New Democratic Party.
The Management Commission
has a broad range of responsibilities, but in effect it is about running the
affairs of the House. So, it would
deal with members' benefits and allowances, policies, procedures, regulations,
those kinds of things that affect all members of this House and the House of
Assembly itself.
With respect to the
resolution today, an issue was brought before the Management Commission.
Just by way of some process background, the Management Commission would
have had an issue presented to it; the issue today in particular, of course, is
on travel allocations per district.
That would have been debated at the Management Commission meeting.
For the benefit again of the people who are paying attention to the
debate, it would have been debated, a decision would have been made by the
Management Commission, and the process requires that the decision, the document
if you will, be tabled here in the House of Assembly as you did on March 31.
It also requires a full
debate in the House of Assembly and support of this entire House before the
change that the Management Commission is recommending can actually be
implemented. That is why we are in
this particular debate today.
I want to just share some of
that by way of process. What we are
talking about today is a small piece of the Members' Resources and Allowances
Rules. In particular, it is Schedule
A which talks about the intra-constituency allowances of members.
That schedule, Mr. Speaker, essentially lays out a dollar figure of what
each member of this particular House of Assembly is allocated.
It also talks about, under section 38, further details on eligible
expenses; for example, what members can claim for travel allowances, for living
allowances, and any other pertinent allowances that members are allowed to claim
as part of their daily work on behalf of the people of the Province and the
people of their district when they are travelling within their own particular
district. It also makes reference to
the ability of a member to claim some outside of district travel if it is for
business related to representing a constituent in some manner or another, or
constituency business.
The resolution that we are
bringing forward today basically deals, in particular, with the dollar value
the budget total, I should say, for each of the forty-eight districts in the
Province. I want to say again, just
to be clear, what we are doing is we are realigning some of the allocations for
some of the districts. So, in some
districts that I will present to you in a moment, there will be a reduction in
their budget; in some other districts, there will be an increase.
That is a result of a piece of research that we had conducted by staff
here from the House of Assembly who looked at the past number of years and the
trends, and how much of the budget allocation members were spending over the
past number of years.
What it revealed, Mr.
Speaker, is in some cases there are a number of districts here, based on the
kilometres that members have to travel, that really maxed out the budget and
members were really being challenged to live within the budget and still serve
the needs of their constituents; while, at the same time, there are other
districts within the Province where there was an extremely high dollar figure
attached to the budget, and at no time were members able or showing that they
were spending even close to, in some cases, 50 per cent or 60 per cent of the
budget.
The changes we are making
today, they are a budgetary decision with respect to allocations per district,
but it is all within the overall budget that is allocated within the House of
Assembly. So, in other words, there
is no increase in the overall travel budget for members; it is just a
rearranging of the allocation per district within the global budget, Mr.
Speaker. I want to just make sure
that people understand that. There
is no budget increase here in the big budget of members' travel; it is just a
reallocation. So we are seeing some
districts reduced in their travel allowances, and others increased.
Specifically, for the
record, there is a document I do not think I need to table it, I think it is
probably already with the Clerk; but for the benefit of anyone who want to see
it, the document is a public document.
The affected districts that we are going to discuss and vote on today are
as follows: Baie Verte Springdale district will see an increase of $1,800 in
the budget; the District of Grand Falls-Windsor Green Bay South will see an
increase of $700; the District of Terra Nova will be increased by $2,500; and
The Straits White Bay North will be increased by $2,500.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, there are four districts: the District of
Conception Bay South, Humber West, Kilbride, and Labrador West will all be
decreased by $1,100.
Mr. Speaker, as I said a few
moments ago, what we are talking about is a global budget dollar amount that is
attached to members' travel, that has not changed if memory serves me, it is
has not changed for the seven years I have been here.
I think when the budget was set, probably with the Green report, if I am
not mistaken, that budget has not changed.
What we are doing is we are essentially moving money around within that
budget to help members who require extra travel assistance to better serve their
constituents, recognizing, in other areas where there are reductions, members
have not been using even close to the full amount of the budgetary allocation.
So, Mr. Speaker, with that,
on behalf of the members of our party and members of government, I am very
pleased to stand in support of this motion and urge my colleagues, as well, to
vote in favour of the motion.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the member opposite
for his opening commentary on this resolution.
To provide some backdrop, I guess, I am speaking as the Opposition House
Leader; I have only been here since the October 2011 election.
I know the member opposite has been here longer, and I under the Leader
of the Third Party have been here and is going to speak to this she may have a
better understanding or grasp of the entire time.
What I can say is that it
seems to be a very simple notion, in that since the time the Green report came
out and we looked at the allocations of travel that were allotted to each
member, what we now have and I guess I have to give credit here to the staff
who did the analysis of over seven years' time of travel patterns what we
realized is that the allocation may not be realistic with what people are
actually travelling; and that could be due to travel habits, that could be due
to actual size of districts, roadway, et cetera.
So what we had is we had
certain members who were going over 80 per cent of their travel budget.
Some people were actually hitting 100 per cent and some people, I know,
actually exceeding the amount of actual travel and going into their own pocket
to do the travel necessary with the job.
Again, we have gone back and we have a great record of this, done by the
staff, and I appreciate that, to show that in certain cases we needed to
increase the allowance that was provided to these members.
The Government House Leader
stated that it is the Districts of Baie Verte Springdale, The Straits White
Bay North, Grand Falls -Windsor Green Bay South, and Terra Nova.
Just to give you an idea, I know the monetary amount was there, but for
instance, Baie Verte Springdale had an allocation of 15,000 kilometers; now it
is 20,000. If you look at the chart,
every year prior to that the member for that district was hitting that mark.
On the flip side of that, you had districts where due to size of roads
and maybe if there is a Cabinet minister there, et cetera they were not coming
anywhere near close to the allocation.
What we have done here, there have been requests to increase certain and
in return we are going to decrease certain districts.
The part that I really think
is important to get out there is twofold.
Number one, since the Green report we are doing this on camera, here in
the House of Assembly. It is all
recorded. It shows the openness and
transparency that I think is incumbent on us and necessary since the release of
the Green report. Anybody who can
watch this despair we need to show integrity.
It was a tough time. I do not need
to get into that, but going forward we need to show the decisions that are made:
How do we get there? We are showing
this.
I would say to people out
there, if they ever have questions on expenditures and expenses, everything is
online. You can look at how I
travel, where I travel, when I travel, and the cost for said travel.
We need to put that out there so the public can be maintained, that the
integrity is there and people can see, look, everything is happening for a
reason and it is above board is the main thing. I
want to put that out there that these changes are happening on the record as it
should be.
The second part; and I
thought this was very important. We
talk about expenditures and how much money is spent.
The big thing to me, too, was that should the district allowances be
adjusted as outlined and it is being proposed here there would be a net
budgetary impact of $3,100 which can be absorbed within existing budgetary
allocations. To me that is important
here.
For the amount that it is
increasing, there is almost an equivalent decrease, therefore it is not costing
taxpayers any more than was already allocated, and I think taxpayers want to
know that. It is not a case of
people getting extra money to travel, it is a case of taking these allowances
that are put out there and making sure they are accurate, which we have been
able to do through tracking this over seven years.
I want to make sure that is out there.
It is something we all go
through. I do not think it can be
sometimes I think you have to be in this job to really realize the amount of
travel that goes into it and how important it is for people, especially outside.
It is important in the capital region but take anybody who services a
rural district or has to travel a lot.
Travel is a part of the job.
You have to do it. It is necessary
to do it, so therefore we have to have something that is reasonable and makes
sense.
This might be something that
comes up again down the road as new members come in, as districts may be
realigned in the future. These
things need to be changed. Chief
Green came in and made his allocations but we have now had the benefit of time
and experience to show if there is necessary changes.
When it comes to making
claims, all this travel is reasonable.
It is necessary, and is proven to be necessary.
We all go through a very rigorous claims process in putting this forward.
Everything is checked, double-checked, and triple checked to make sure it
falls within the guidelines that Chief Justice Green laid out.
So I think that it is important that this be on the record.
I think the member opposite
laid out why we are doing this. I
think I have added a little bit to that. I
do not think I need to go on any further.
Obviously, we as the Official Opposition will be joining in supporting
this resolution that needs to be made.
I think it is going to help us do a better job, and at the same time do a
better job of representing people in this Province without there being extra
expenditure of funds, which is obviously very important to taxpayers in this
Province.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad to have the
opportunity to stand today and to make some comments with regard to the
resolution that is before the House.
I am not going to repeat everything that has been said by my two colleagues.
I am sure people have been listening to them as well.
When people go to Hansard, if they want to check on this they will be
able to read everything that was said prior to what I say.
So I will not do a lot of repetition, but I do think it is important to
repeat what the role of the House Management Commission is.
It is a serious
responsibility that members of the House Management Commission hold, because
they are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the process that we went
through beginning in 2006, when Chief Justice Green first took on the role of
Commissioner to study the whole situation of members' salaries and
disbursements, et cetera, at a time when we had been through a very rough time
here in this Province with regard to what turned out to be, in some cases,
actually illegal use of public funds.
That process which began with Chief Justice Green continued over the year
and a half and resulted in a wonderful piece of legislation which is the House
of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act.
First of all, it is the
House Management Commission that has the responsibility to study on a regular
basis the disbursements that happen in this House, to study those disbursements
and to monitor them according to the regulations that come out of the
legislation. The legislation itself
is very descriptive and prescriptive, but besides the prescriptions that are in
the legislation, there are other regulations as well that this House has
approved. The House Management
Commission has the job to make sure that we are living up to the regulations,
living up to the prescriptions of the legislation; yet, even with the work of
the Commission, everything still has to come back to this House for final
approval.
The work we did with regard
to the intra-constituency allowances and the work that was done by the House
management staff, because they did the bulk of the work in figuring out how much
was being spent in the various districts and if there were any anomalies or
something that did not look logical to do that work and then to bring it to
the House Management Commission.
We then took that
information, analyzed it, and discussed in an open process, open to the public
and with cameras on us so that everybody could access the information we were
looking at. If anybody to this day
wants to, they can go and find those reports as well, the reports of our
meetings. We then took in that open
process the information that was prepared for us by the staff and came to the
conclusion that the recommendations they were making were very logical.
I think it is very important
we know that Commissioner Green understood the report he would make and
recommendations he would make back in 2007, the spirit of them would be
maintained but there might be, over the years, details that would have to
change. For example, changing the
actual amount of the allowances under the intra-constituency travel.
It is our responsibility to continually monitor to keep things up to date
so the MHAs can do their work, and do the work their constituents expect of
them.
I really liked the process
that the staff used to try to determine whether or not there were sufficient
monies allowed in each district. In
actual fact, what they found was that the kilometrage was not always correct,
adjusting for correct kilometrage, and also using logic.
For example, the one I am going to pick and I hope my colleague from
the District of Kilbride will not mind my picking on his.
The District of Kilbride,
which is within the City of St. John's, in actual fact, had a larger amount of
money allowed for it than the other districts within the capital city.
When you looked at the travel that was done by the member for that area,
it was the same as what was happening in the other districts in the capital city
area. So it did not make sense that
the District of Kilbride had more money attached to it than the others.
That was the kind of thing
we did. As I said, it was openly
discussed in the Commission. We are
now openly discussing it here again today.
I am sure that the public listening to us will understand why we are
agreeing to these changes for the districts that have been outlined by the
Government House Leader and the Opposition House Leader, and will also
understand that in making these changes we are not in any way changing the
overall budget line. We are just
reassembling the money throughout the districts where changes needed to happen.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I
will take my seat and will look forward to voting for this resolution.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
You have all heard the
motion.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
On motion, resolution
carried.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time I would like to
call from the Order Paper under second reading, Order 5, second reading of a
bill, An Act To Repeal The Printing Services Act, Bill 5.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and
Labrador.
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for
Cape St. Francis, that Bill 5, An Act To Repeal The Printing Services Act, now
be given a second reading.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that Bill 5, An Act To
Repeal The Printing Services Act, be now read a second time.
Motion, second reading of a
bill, An Act To Repeal The Printing Services Act.
(Bill 5)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and
Labrador.
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in terms of
legislation Service NL is responsible for approximately 180 statues and
regulations, standards, and codes of practice.
When it comes to legislation, our department has one of the most
extensive portfolios in all of government.
As such, we are continually reviewing, updating, and performing general
housekeeping measures to ensure our legislation is current and meets the needs
of our citizens. As part of this
ongoing review, it was discovered that the Printing Services Act was still on
the books but it is outdated and no longer required.
Mr. Speaker, Service
Newfoundland and Labrador is responsible for the Office of the Queen's Printer
and the Printing and Micrographic Services division, which handles printing
services for the provincial government.
The functions and responsibilities of the Queen's Printer and division
are outlined under the Works, Services and Transportation Act including the
requirements to publish the Newfoundland and Labrador Gazette, official
government reports and other documents, legislation and regulations, other
orders and anything else directed by government.
Mr. Speaker, these functions
continue on a daily basis and we are very proud and appreciative of the high
quality and efficient work that our staff at Printing and Micrographic Services
and the Office of the Queen's Printer do to support this essential work,
especially their support of the work of this House.
The Printing Services Act,
on the other hand, was created in 1996 for a very specific purpose; that being
to facilitate a potential agreement for the provision of printing, microfilming,
and electronic services for government by the private sector.
It is my understanding that this legislation was created to specifically
exempt any potential agreement with Kodak Canada Incorporated for these services
from the provisions of the Public Tender Act, provided the agreement was entered
into within thirty days.
Mr. Speaker, I understand
that this measure was undertaken as a result of a proposal brought forward by
the private sector to establish a document imaging centre that they had
indicated had the potential to offer substantial savings to government and bring
new business to the Province, which could in turn have had a positive impact on
the local printing industry. It was
this latter potential benefit on local industry, which I am again given to
understand because it was 1996, under the Liberal Administration almost twenty
years ago that was the rationale for seeking an exemption from the Public
Tender Act.
Mr. Speaker, I also
understand that for a number of reasons the agreement did not come into fruition
and the thirty-day expiry date outlining the Printing Services Act passed and,
as such, the act is defunct and needs to be repealed.
Again, this is very much a housekeeping matter.
It is something that in our research we found was still on the books and
it is just a simple procedure here today, Mr. Speaker, to repeal the act.
As such, Mr. Speaker, I
propose that the Printing Services Act be repealed.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am not going to be very
long in my comments. I think the
minister explained that it is simply a piece of housekeeping really to remove
this act which is no longer applicable.
I would note, though, before I sit down that exemptions from the Public
Tender Act certainly is something that has continued on in recent times through
this government, as we have seen by the AG's report with Eastern Health and so
on. Certainly, that is something
that we want to see remedied for sure.
With that said, Mr. Speaker,
I will take my place and we certainly support this piece of legislation.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the
minister for giving me the opportunity to get up today and say a few words on
Bill 5.
Mr. Speaker, this bill,
Printing Services Act, was introduced back in 1996 and basically it was with a
company called Kodak to have them come in and do special services at the Queen's
Printer. Back in 1996, I had the
opportunity I used to work with a company similar to Kodak, called Cannon, and
did a lot of work at the Queen's Printer.
Back then what used to happen were the companies used to come in and they
would offer services that would take care of everything you were doing in
whatever it was, microfilms, printing, or whatever needed to be done at the
time. They would come in and they
would offer the complete services and take over.
I guess that is the reason government looked at a company like Kodak to
come in and take over that.
Mr. Speaker, I had the
opportunity to work with a lot of people down in the Queen's Printer and I am
sure today the same expertise and the same quality is there.
I know Mr. Tucker was the person in charge back in 1996 and I used to
spend a lot of time in there. I was
the one who used to come in and take care of all of the colour machines that
were down at the Queen's Printer.
The one thing that amazed me
the most was how dedicated these people were.
There were documents that had to be out the next day and there would be
no doubt that you would see the people working down in the Queen's Printer
office until 12:00 o'clock, 1:00 o'clock some nights, and even all night long
just to make sure the documents got out the next day.
Mr. Speaker, like I said, they would be there until late in the mornings
making sure everything got out and everything got out on time.
Their quality and the quality of work they did were amazing.
We have some great public
employees here in government.
Sometimes it is nice to be able to get up and recognize them.
Today I am really happy to be able to get up and speak a little bit on
this bill and recognize our workers down in the Queen's Printer.
I know there are a few of them still down there; Judy, Don, Arlene, and
the whole lot of them are still down there working.
I used to be always amazed with their quality of work and their
dedication to this government. I
think today is an opportunity for me just to get up and say what I saw and the
quality of their work.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes
to printing services, microfilms, and stuff like this, like I said, back in 1996
there were a lot of companies out there that basically offered this service.
I think whatever happened at the day, Kodak must have fallen through
because it was only thirty days they had to do this agreement.
Again, all we are doing is
just taking this bill off the table altogether and repealing it.
I will be fully supportive of this bill.
It gives me the opportunity just to get up here today and to thank the
people who are down in the Queen's Printer for the great job they do, the hard
work they do, the dedication they have, and the quality of work they do, Mr.
Speaker.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a pleasure to rise in
the House today to have a few words to say on this bill.
At the same time, to the minister, I would like to thank his staff for
the briefing on this bill and what the purpose of this bill is.
As was said at the briefing, we did not get enough time to pour up a
coffee on this one. Recognizing it
for what it is, it is the repeal of a bill, but it did have a few questions for
me. I thought this was kind of
interesting at this particular time, because, Mr. Speaker, I said to myself,
government back in 1996 saw fit to entertain a proposal by a private company
in this particular case Kodak. I am
still doing some research on this one by the way.
I have asked staff to look
this one up, about the actual process of how Kodak ended up being a supplier of
a service to government when there were so many other companies out there, just
for argument sake, to see if everything was done properly when it comes to
procurement. Because at that time I
can particularly note three other manufacturers of paper products, for example,
and microfilming. I can think of
Polaroid, I can think of Minolta, I can think of Fuji that was out there in the
markets as well.
I do not know, while one
would be happy in seeing the repeal of this act, that is one of the things I had
noted. Then I came upon this one.
I will ask the minister again about the new procurement act we are
still waiting for it and hopefully, Mr. Speaker, I can see where there are
times when government will take a proposal, for example, for something that
would be unsolicited by government in an attempt for a company to go ahead and
pursue the sale up, a particular service or a product.
It may be good for the
taxpayer, it may be good for the consumer out there, but at the same time, what
is going to happen in the procurement process in the future?
Government may be able to save themselves in a process like this, where
they entertained the Kodak company at the time and we know what happened to
Kodak of course, with modern changing times I guess and with the changes to the
Internet and the printing industry and everything, it has found itself in some
severe difficulties.
What is going to happen to
the new procurement act, and when are we going to see that?
Because at the same time, while one company might entertain something for
the sale of a particular item, a service, hopefully government will be able to
look at other companies out there that are also offering that same service.
While we agree with the act
itself, with this one being repealed, it still brings a number of questions as
regards to the advent of the new act, to the new procurement act.
Hopefully, we will see that one coming up shortly.
That is about all I have to say on this one.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
If the hon. the Minister of Service NL speaks now he will close the debate.
The hon. the Minister of
Service NL.
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First of all, I would like
to thank my colleague from Cape St. Francis for his very kind words for the
people who work in the Queen's Printer's office.
Thank you very much for that.
I am sure they appreciate that. I
would certainly like to thank the Member for St. John's East.
I would just like to say a
few words about the public tendering process and the new public procurement act
we are working on, and working very diligently on, Mr. Speaker.
We are getting very close to being able to bring it to the floor of the
House. We have had a (inaudible)
experience under the strategic procurement project where we used new processes
to make sure the taxpayers' dollars are being used more wisely in public
procurement. We are taking those
learnings and incorporating it into the new act.
It is a Blue Book commitment
that we made, Mr. Speaker, and within our term we said we would bring it to the
floor of the House. I am confident
in standing up here today and saying that we will be bringing this to the floor
of the House in the future, so you can mark that down.
Mr. Speaker, I would just
like to reference something the Member for Mount Pearl South referred to in
terms of this piece of legislation that came into place was unique and it is
an interesting piece of legislation.
We are not sure why exactly, what happened.
I think we will probably have to go back through Hansard to see exactly
what happened here. There were
questions that were raised, but that was twenty years ago under another
Administration.
With regard to public tender
exceptions, Mr. Speaker, that the Member for Mount Pearl South referenced.
He mentioned the Auditor General has mentioned a couple of times in his
reports about exceptions and he has called them out, but the reality of the
situation is this, public tender exceptions are rarely used, Mr. Speaker.
The AG report clearly shows that tender exceptions account for less than
2 per cent of the annual expenditures.
These exceptions, Mr. Speaker, are only done under very strict situations
and conditions. It is outlined in
the Public Tender Act.
The Public Tender Act is a
good act, Mr. Speaker. It was good
for its time, but the advancement of procurement in this Province is what the
new procurement act is going to be all about, and we certainly look forward to
putting that to the floor of the House.
The strict condition that we
want to reference is due to sole-sourcing, where there is a pressing emergency.
That happens on occasion, Mr. Speaker, when we have a hurricane and we
have to put a bridge in, or we need a piece of equipment that only one vender
can provide to the government. That
does happen on occasion. It
represents less than 2 per cent of our purchasing.
Mr. Speaker, there is
nothing untoward going on with our procurement in our government right now.
I know for sure that when we bring this new act to the floor of the House
it will be a solid piece of legislation.
It is going to be well researched.
It will be a benefit to all in the Province, Mr. Speaker, and certainly
for the taxpayers. I look forward to
the day when we do bring that into the House of Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, the repeal of
this act is pretty straightforward.
I will just leave it with my colleagues in the House to approve it.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Is it the pleasure of the
House that the said bill be now read a second time?
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
CLERK:
A bill, An Act To Repeal The Printing Services Act.
(Bill 5)
MR. SPEAKER:
This bill has now been read a second time.
When shall the bill be
referred to a Committee of the Whole House?
MR. KING:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
On motion, a bill, An Act
To Repeal The Printing Services Act, read a second time, ordered referred to a
Committee of the Whole presently, by leave.
(Bill 5)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time I move,
seconded by the Minister of Environment and Conservation, that the House resolve
itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider Bill 5, An Act To Repeal The
Printing Services Act.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that I do now leave the
Chair for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider
the said bill.
Is it the pleasure of the
House to adopt the motion?
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
On motion, that the House
resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr. Speaker left the Chair.
Committee of the Whole
CHAIR (Littlejohn):
Order, please!
We are now considering Bill
5, An Act To Repeal The Printing Services Act.
A bill, An Act To Repeal
The Printing Services Act. (Bill 5)
CHAIR:
The Clerk.
CLERK:
Clause 1.
CHAIR:
Shall clause 1 carry?
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
On motion, clause 1 carried.
CLERK:
Be it enacted by the Lieutenant Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative
session convened as follows.
CHAIR:
Shall the enacting clause carry?
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
On motion, enacting clause
carried.
CLERK:
A bill, An Act To Repeal The Printing Services Act.
CHAIR:
Shall the title carry?
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
On motion, title carried.
CHAIR:
Shall I report the bill without amendment?
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
Motion, that the Committee
report having passed the bill without amendment, carried.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I move that the Committee
rise and report Bill 5 without amendment.
CHAIR:
It is moved by the hon. Government House Leader that we rise and report the bill
without amendment.
On motion, that the
Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, Mr. Speaker returned
to the Chair.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Port
de Grave.
MR. LITTLEJOHN:
Mr. Speaker, the Committee of the Whole have considered the matters to
them referred and have directed me to report Bill 5 without amendment.
MR. SPEAKER:
The Chair of the Committee of the Whole reports
that the Committee have considered the matters to them referred and have
directed him to report Bill 5 without amendment.
When shall the report be
received?
MR. KING:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
When shall the said bill be
read a third time?
MR. KING:
Tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
Tomorrow.
On motion, report received
and adopted. Bill ordered read a
third time on tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time I would like to
call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, to move that the House approves in general
the budgetary policy of the government, the Budget speech.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is my privilege to stand
again and to speak to the Budget speak, actually, to the non-confidence motion
that we tabled yesterday. The reason
why we did this is because going through the Budget process, as I mentioned
yesterday in my first opportunity to speak to the Budget, there were some
concerns for us as the Official Opposition about presenting a fiscally
responsible program and the non-confidence motion, as it reads,
present a
fiscally responsible program which addresses the immediate economic problems of
rural areas of our Province as well as the serious social needs that exist in
this Province and its failure to create a climate of sustainable economic growth
within the Province.
Mr. Speaker, the reason why
we say that is we see now, over ten years, where there has been an opportunity
to use the oil royalty money we had.
When you go back into the 1980s and the development of an oil industry in our
Province, one of the things that we were looking forward to is that we would
actually use the royalty money to create an economic program throughout the
Province so that the wealth would be distributed for all people, all
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
That would be done by
economic development in all regions of our Province.
If you look around the Province right now, Mr. Speaker, you really do not
need to go very far to understand that this is not what is occurring in our
Province right now. We have many
areas of our Province most of them being very rural by nature that right now
are living in very economically depressed times, I say, Mr. Speaker.
I know in my own district,
as an example, just in the last three or four years we have seen the closure of
fish processing plants right now, and we have many people out of work.
In order for those people to go to work, what they have to do is look for
work outside of the Province, usually, and those people would actually go to
Labrador, or to Alberta.
There has been some success
with some people finding work within other regions of the Province, and I
mention Labrador as an example, but we know that those megaprojects will not
last. The whole idea behind the oil
royalty money was diversifying the economy.
When you look back over the last ten years of this government, we do not
see any action when it comes to putting the economic development in process.
If we go back to 2003 and we remember the original Tory platform they ran
the election on in 2003, then there was a lot of talk about creating industry
around our Province so that we would have economic development, so it would
produce wealth, not only for this generation but for generations to come.
How was that supposed to
occur? When we heard, certainly,
there were departments, if you remember the Department of Business was
something that was put in place at that particular time.
The focus there was to help develop businesses in all areas of the
Province, in all regions of the Province.
Well, Mr. Speaker, we know what happened to that.
That was not a successful department.
As a matter of fact, when you look back at the history of that
department, really the only jobs that were created in any substantive way were
within the department itself. The
previous Premier, Premier Dunderdale, she saw fit that the department was not
delivering what it was intended to do, and indeed what they did is they walked
away from the department.
That Department of Business
no longer exists. In actual fact,
what it has become, it has become absorbed within the Department of Innovation,
Business and Rural Development. You
look at that particular department, and when you look back even over the last
few years and the number of budget allocations that we have seen within that
department and how much of that money they have been able to put out the door to
create economic development around our Province, it has not occurred.
Even today, when you look at
the current minister of that department, that is just seen by this particular
government right now as really a half-time position, as that is a minister who
is sharing the responsibilities within that department with Tourism, Culture and
Recreation.
Mr. Speaker, there has been
no real focus on diversifying our economy, and the whole idea there was to
create the wealth that we have had from our oil royalty money to actually share
that with people all across our Province so that we can create business.
People always ask: Well,
where are the opportunities within our government?
When you look for that, as I mentioned yesterday in this very House,
there has been really four core areas and there will be others, opportunities,
as they become available to us. Fogo
Island is a perfect example of that, I say.
It is very unique by nature, but what they have been able to do is
through tourism and through development within the island they have been able to
create a lot of activity there. For
people in the Province who have not had the opportunity to visit there, you
would see what an individual group can do when they are focused on putting
development within the Province.
That is not something that is easily duplicated, I say, Mr. Speaker.
So when you look around the
Province, you look at the four key areas that we can actually build on one
being forestry, of course; agriculture being another one; tourism being another
one; mining, of course, in many areas of the Province; and there are others.
So how did this government actually respond to make all of that happen
based on the commitments that were made in 2003 in growing this economy so that
we could actually generate revenue for future generations using the oil royalty
money, knowing that it would not last forever?
It is no different than mining royalties.
Once you take it out of the ground, once you pump the oil, you cannot do
it twice. Once it is out, it is gone
forever. We know now, just looking
at the amount of oil that we have had produced offshore already, that the
reserves are dropping, and they are dropping fast.
So, where are the
opportunities? I will give you an
example around forestry, and even in my own district, Mr. Speaker.
I grew up in a family and that was their job.
They were foresters; they were loggers.
I have many memories of being a young boy watching my father go to work
in the morning, as they would take a bus to go into what we would call then the
woods. This is where they made
their living. What is happening
today, of course, this whole industry has evolved to the point right now we are
down to one newsprint mill. We have
seen two close up, which is in our Province one in Stephenville and one in
Grand Falls-Windsor. We know now,
Mr. Speaker, that it is a very different industry right now.
So how do you fix that
problem around forestry? Well, as I
said yesterday, Mr. Speaker, and I will continue to say this, we actually need a
provincial strategy on forestry so that we can actually integrate that industry
so that it is just not focused on newsprint, just not focused on sawmills, just
not focused on pellet plants.
Everything needs to be integrated so that we can create an industry here that
once again can be viable, and I really believe that it can be.
As it exists right now, I know in some cases we are still actually
importing wood to use at some of our plants when we have vast forestry resources
within our Province. As the Premier
mentioned today, this is a resource that is owned by the people of the Province.
The neat thing about that
resource, I say, Mr. Speaker, it is renewable.
When you manage it right, it is a renewable resource.
When you put the business foundation in place so that those businesses
can grow and you can actually export lumber, you can actually use it for your
local and domestic needs but right now it is underdeveloped.
It is an industry that is vastly underdeveloped.
Mr. Speaker, there are
others. I talked about agriculture.
This is a Province right now where we really cannot even feed ourselves.
We still import about 95 per cent of the food we eat.
Yet when you look back to 2003, you would see that there was quite a lot
of chat, quite a lot of talk, about developing an agriculture industry within
our Province that we would be able to at least reach targets that, as a
Province, we would be able to feed ourselves.
In this particular case, we have not reached those targets either.
Mr. Speaker, one that really
stands out to me when you look back at the commitments and the strategy as part
of the Blueprint of 2003 was: How do we create a shipbuilding industry within
our Province? What has occurred
since then? Just last year, we have
seen the Minister of Transportation and Works as they go out and they make
announcements to actually see vessels built in all aspects of those vessels
outside of our Province.
Here we are a Province that
has been surrounded by water, a seafaring people who have a living off the sea,
yet we are at a time in our life when we cannot even build a vessel here, those
vessels that are required to transport residents to and from islands like Bell
Island, like in Fogo Island, Change Islands.
Here we are today sitting on a huge asset on the Burin Peninsula, and
down there we cannot use that to create an industry within our Province.
We do not have the ability to work with business, create that
partnership, and create an industry in our Province that could actually provide
employment.
This is the ferry system
that we are talking about here right now; it needs to be supported.
This is really what integration and business is all about.
When you actually see a need within your Province, it is money that you
are actually going to spend, so you spend it and you spend it right here
creating jobs for people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This is an industry in itself.
Once you get used to doing that, Mr. Speaker, what happens is that people
from all over the world would look at Newfoundland and Labrador as a place to go
and that they would actually come here and see their own needs developed.
Mr. Speaker, there are so
many examples as you drive around the Province.
The one thing that is missing is that you have to reach out to the
people. The ideas across
Newfoundland and Labrador, they are there.
When you talk to our community leaders, to our business leaders, they
have the ideas that are in place. I
have talked to many, many people if it is from the forestry industry, if it is
from the mining industry, if it is from people that are in agriculture, tourism
operators, they are very keenly interested in making sure that they are a part.
Right now they feel that
they are disengaged and there is no one reaching out and looking to them.
Many of our chambers of commerce across our Island right now, they feel
that there is a disconnect and there is no one listening to the ideas to
actually create and develop an economy in our Province.
That was very obvious when you look back at the disbanding of the Rural
Economic Development Boards last year.
Just last year alone, when you look at as we were getting closer and
closer and closer to the reserves of our oil being depleted, and here we are in
a situation when the Rural Economic Development Boards no longer exist in this
Province, I say, Mr. Speaker. People
in those areas are really finding the impact of that.
Yesterday I talked a lot
about numbers and the impact on our Budget.
I just want to go back to that for a minute.
Putting the Budget together is indeed a lengthy process and all the
departments being involved in this and putting together this year and we have
a Budget this year in 2014-2015, the Budget outlook for 2014-2015 is revenue of
$7.3 billion. This year we are
forecasting a deficit for $537 million.
So here we are with a $7 billion Budget, a billion dollar loan in place,
and deficit this year, at some of the best of times, we were lead to believe in
our Province, of $537 million. Next
year what we already know is that we will be borrowing again.
Even though the amount is not known; what we do know is that we will be
borrowing again next year. So next
year's Budget will be another year of borrowing for our Province.
It is fine for the minister
to say that we are not borrowing to meet operational needs; but when you look at
where we have come in the last ten years, with oil royalty money, the money that
has been available, over $18 billion in oil royalties, and here we are borrowing
for those investments. We have been
saying for a number of years if we have to set aside so much of our oil royalty
money so that the money is available to actually produce economic development so
that revenues could be generated, but here we are ten years later still
borrowing to do that.
This is not what was
discussed when you look at the discussion that was occurring around the
Province. This is not what we were
expecting in 2014. When you look at
it I actually did a table that we used.
When you look at the amount of oil and I want to just speak to this
again because yesterday one thing I did not talk about is where we are with the
amount of reserves that we have had in our Province.
We know now that these reserves will come to an end, simply because they
are a non-renewable resource.
In 1997, we had about 1.3
million barrels of oil that was pumped out for the full year.
When you look at 1997 that continued to grow.
We peaked at 2007; that was at 134 million barrels, Mr. Speaker.
Now this year, we are anticipated to be somewhere around 86 million
barrels. You know that this is actually
starting to fall off; therefore, the oil royalties that are connected to that
will obviously fall off as well. The
opportunity that we have to create economic development using that oil royalty
money will soon come to an end.
We know now that we have
Hebron and the first oil will be late, if it stays on schedule; it will be
around 2017, Mr. Speaker. We have
one more opportunity starting in 2017 when we will see the volume will actually
pick up again, but that is only for a small period of time.
Not like we have seen here in the last ten years.
We only get these opportunities, they obviously do not occur we cannot
expect this to happen.
I know there are a lot of
people around the Province and you kind of forget the fact that this is
happening and you almost live with the expectation of thinking that this indeed
will have to happen, that more oil will be found.
Mr. Speaker, when you make decisions for the future, when you make
decisions for the next generation of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, you need
to know with certainty where we will be.
You need to know the facts on where we will be before you go out and you
start borrowing, and borrowing, and borrowing again.
Before you put programs in place you have to know that they are
sustainable. We found out even last
year with our Adult Dental Program as an example.
These are programs that were put in place but there was no sustainability
attached them to them I say.
That is the oil royalty, the
money that we are talking about, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time around the economic indicators of where
we are in our Province. These are
very important. I would say for
anybody who is watching, anybody who is listening to this, if they want to know
what I am talking about here, all you need to do is go online and look at the
Budget document of 2014 and look at The Economy 2014 booklet.
This is information that is put out there by government as part of the
overall Budget documents. There is
some real good information in it.
When I talk about the key
economic indicators we face in our Province, it is not me as the Leader of the
Liberal Party or the Official Opposition as I am standing up and saying this.
This is what the economists are saying.
These are the people this government would have used to put the Budget
document together. This is their
information. This is their research
that I am talking about here, Mr. Speaker.
When I say the labour force
is falling in our Province, this is not the Official Opposition saying this.
This is the people who did the research for this government.
When I talk about the employment rates increasing in our Province, Mr.
Speaker, this is not me saying this.
This is this government saying this.
When I talk about housing
starts, how they have reached their peak and that they will continue to fall
from around thirty housing starts in 2012 we were at 3,800, almost 3,900 last
year. They will fall off to just
over 2,100 housing starts in our Province in just a few years.
You will see that this is a tremendous decrease.
This is where you stimulate your economy.
This is a business in itself, just in real estate I say, Mr. Speaker.
When you look at the trends
and you look at your own documents and you see housing starts falling off, you
see unemployment rates climbing in the Province, when you see GDP falling and
we have been so accustomed because of oil, because of the work that has been
done with developing this industry back in the 1990s and as far back as 1985,
you will see that we cannot depend on this and we are missing the opportunity if
we do not get this right. Not only
will we find that the economic trends are falling, Mr. Speaker, but we also know
that our population is falling.
These are all key economic
indicators when you look at the future, when you look at making a commitment,
when you look at borrowing, and you are looking at making a sustainable economy
and a sustainable Province. When you
look at all those issues you have to face, you would want those to be looking
more positive.
In this particular case,
what we have seen as a result of this year's Budget is debt is increasing and
key economic indicators are actually going and trending the other way, I say,
Mr. Speaker. Here we are once again
not having any vision for the Province and not having any ideas for the
Province, except for just cashing the cheque of oil royalties.
Yes, let's use that $2 billion.
We are getting used to having this around, but when you look at what the
future holds for the industry you know it is going in the other direction.
You look at the reaction
from the Budget. You say: How do we
fix this? There must be more oil out
there. There has to be more
opportunity in this whole area off Newfoundland and Labrador, including gas and
oil opportunities within Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, I hope there is. I
really hope there is because we need this.
We have become accustomed to having this kind of wealth and this kind of
oil royalty money around, but it just will not happen on its own.
It needs to be fostered. It
needs to be facilitated.
The responsibility for that
comes from government. You have to
put in measures that you would actually encourage not only business but industry
and people who are interested in finding those oil reserves offshore in
Newfoundland and Labrador. They have
to be encouraged to come here.
When you look at the level
of activity that happens offshore Newfoundland and Labrador and you compare that
to other jurisdictions that have been very successful over the years, areas like
the North Sea, Mr. Speaker, where the whole oil industry has been when you
look at it, they almost mirror each other in its age.
Back in the late 1970s, I think it was, when we saw the oil industries in
the North Sea and we saw it in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, very similar,
I would say, but the advancement in the North Sea is very different than what we
have seen here in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.
That is as a result, I
believe, Mr. Speaker, of companies being encouraged to come in.
There has been a fair amount of research that has been done, a fair
amount of exploration that has been done, yet offshore Newfoundland and Labrador
is quite different. We have to find
a way to make that happen, to encourage those companies to be here and make sure
they do the exploration. Give them
the information they need so when this happens you will see positive results and
positive outcomes.
Now, Mr. Speaker, we have
talked a lot, of course, about oil royalties and the impact that would have on
our Province. That goes without
saying. Anybody who has been around
our Province over the last number of years knows very well the impact that is
having.
Mr. Speaker, I want to speak
just for a few more minutes again on the demographics.
When I talk about what is happening in rural Newfoundland and Labrador,
you can see there is a huge demographic shift within our Province, not only in
terms of numbers but also the age of people who are living there.
If you travel to any area of rural
Newfoundland and Labrador right now you will find not only do we have shrinking
numbers but the ages in most of our rural communities now are older.
We really want to thank the
seniors and we want to thank them for the work they have done over many, many
years in keeping our Province going.
They have been significant contributors. I
know in my own family, the great job they have done in making sure they took
part, did their part in contributing to our society and to our Province and to
our communities. When you look at
the volunteer groups right now that we still have in our Province, it is no
problem to see that many of those people are still heavily engaged and still
doing their part in keeping our Province alive and well, Mr. Speaker.
When you look at the
population numbers within our Province and you look at what is happening with
the demographic shift, you cannot ignore the fact that right now the Northeast
Avalon is seeing quite an impact from what is happening around the oil industry.
Even though it only represents 3 per cent of the total employment within
our Province, what is happening as a result of the economic activity that comes
along with all of that, we are seeing that in the Northeast Avalon.
This is coming, Mr. Speaker, where we are watching other areas of our
Province seeing population declines.
I mentioned the shipbuilding
industry or the opportunity to build ferries within our own Province, that this
would actually occur on the Burin Peninsula.
One of the areas that have seen significant population losses by 11.3 per
cent is the Burin Peninsula. In
2003, Mr. Speaker, 23,880 people.
According to the census information we have here from Statistics Canada, 23,880
people were living on the Burin Peninsula in 2003.
In 2013, we have 21,187. That
is an 11.3 per cent decline just in that ten-year period.
When you look at the
opportunity we have had in communities like Marystown if indeed this
government was able to work with the local business groups, work with the
industry stakeholders on the Peninsula, can you imagine what could have happened
if we could have put an industry in place where the ferries that are now going
to be built offshore, not built even in Canada at all, but built outside of our
country, outside of our Province, the real impact that would have had on those
communities on the Burin Peninsula?
That is just an example, Mr.
Speaker. It is an example of a
commitment that was made in 2003, but has not been followed through.
As a result, without some kind of stimulus or something happening in an
area like the Burin Peninsula, we will continue to see population decline.
We have seen a decline on
the South Coast of our Province, Mr. Speaker, of 15.4 per cent in 2003, 18,000,
almost 19,000, people down to 16,000; that is a decline of 15.4 per cent, and
there you go. It is a government
that has actually made the commitment to actually put in rural programs, and
what we have seen is quite the opposite with the disbandment of our Rural
Economic Development Boards. There
is really no way to bring it back without that kind of community engagement and
without that kind of business engagement within our Province.
That is very obvious when
you look at the recent numbers on February of 2014, when you look at the labour
force survey that was done in January, and when you look at the unemployment
rates that we have in our Province.
Mr. Speaker, overall we see an unemployment rate of around 12 per cent 12 per
cent overall in the Province and this has been a steady number and one that
has been forecast. As I said, it
expected to increase over the next three years.
When you look at this, it really goes to show.
When you look at 12 per cent overall for the Province, and less than 7
per cent, around 6 per cent, within the St. John's area, you can imagine how
high this number is in many areas of rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
My colleague from The
Straits White Bay North often talks about having access, and the MHA for
Burgeo La Poile, they talk about having rural broadband and cellphones.
I can give you an example of where in my own situation, in my own
district, we were actually looking to recruit a health care professional to a
community in our area. The person
came in to supply what was a need, a very big need, I would say, Mr. Speaker, in
the district, in that community.
When he came in, we did the tour of the area.
He loved the area and he loved the people, but he had two children.
When he walked into the
accommodations that were put aside, that were put in place for him, he went
looking and said: Okay, so where is my high-speed Internet?
It was not available, I say, Mr. Speaker.
He could not use his cellphone and it was impossible for him to raise, in
his mind because he had come from a lifestyle where this was really basic in
his life. It was something that was
very common for them. His family
really could not live without it and they decided to move elsewhere.
Just today, from petitions
in this House of Assembly, the Member for St. Barbe raised the point of people
living in the community of Trout River, which still does not have cellphone
service. Here we are essentially in
one of the very busiest tourist areas in our Province in the beautiful Bonne Bay
area, in Trout River where you cannot use a cellphone, I say, Mr. Speaker, and
it is 2014. We see this throughout
the Province. I have heard it from
ambulance drivers and I have heard it from people who are emergency responders
that, indeed, having cellphone coverage across our Province is something that
would be extremely important to them.
Without it, people find it very difficult to actually live in those
communities.
Mr. Speaker, as most people
know, my district is Humber Valley.
Being home on the weekend I can tell you there is an awful lot of snow in this
area right now. I can tell you I was
speaking with many of the snowmobilers on the weekend.
April is the new February in some cases.
There is just as much snow on the West Coast of Newfoundland and
Labrador, and outside today we would say the same for here.
Speaking to people with the
Snowmobile Federation, once again this is an issue.
I can remember back in 2007 when I first came into the House of Assembly,
one of the first questions I asked the minister at that time was: How do you
support this industry? In certain
areas of our Province there is a significant opportunity around this.
They have a budget of around
$900,000 a year. When you look at it
compared to many industries, it is not a big number but, Mr. Speaker, $900,000.
What I look at there is the opportunity we have in our Province to do
that. This whole federation operates
with about twenty groomers. They
have some paid operators right now.
I was asking some people who
are closely involved with this: What do you use?
Where are your expenses? If
you are only generating $900,000 a year, well, first of all there is about
$150,000 of it that goes to fuel.
The groomers themselves, the twenty groomers they have, are all now reaching to
the point where they are eleven to eighteen years old.
When you talk about
developing an industry, you have to look at the infrastructure, no different
than our communities, as I mentioned yesterday.
They own much of the infrastructure around our Province in terms of water
and sewer and community infrastructure.
That is aging as well. We
look back to the AG report in January 2014 and they talked about aging
infrastructure, only what he was raising was the number of bridges we have in
our Province that are really getting very poor and in disrepair.
The fix for that was estimated to be $800 million.
When you look at all of
those infrastructure problems, we have to find ways we can actually create
revenue so we can solve those problems.
I mentioned this at a function I attended on the weekend, speaking to a
group when people talk about ideas.
There is no silver bullet here; there is no one idea that will actually solve
these problems. There will be
multiple ideas and in one area the idea will be different.
The opportunity will be
different. The opportunity will be
different in Western Newfoundland.
There will be opportunities in Labrador that are very different than Western
Newfoundland. The opportunities in
Central will be different as they will be in Eastern Newfoundland.
Then we will find areas around all our unique areas where there will be
opportunities that will develop because you have creative people, people who
have come together in co-operation, and you will see new businesses and unique
businesses because Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are very creative.
They are very industrious and they will come up with those ideas.
The snowmobile industry is
one that is more provincial in scope; as I say, Mr. Speaker, $900,000 a year and
twenty groomers. Right now we are
into paid operators, but over 60 per cent of the people who are involved in the
snowmobile industry in our Province are still volunteers, I say.
What do we need to do? What
is the ask? What is it this group
needs to actually be a sustainable industry within our Province and so they can
attract tourists to the local areas?
We cannot be only focused on
people coming from other provinces and people coming from outside.
People are not going to leave areas like New Brunswick and Quebec where
we have fully developed snowmobile industries and come to Newfoundland and
Labrador unless they know there is certainty here that the experience will be
great. Right now, unfortunately, I
say, Mr. Speaker, the experience would not be that because already we are into a
situation where they are actually reducing the grooming time.
Here we are with some of the best snowmobiling conditions we have had in
many, many years.
So, Mr. Speaker, what is
required here to make this industry work is a commitment from government.
It will take core funding, and it will take a commitment to long-term
core funding to make this work. Many
MHAs that we have sitting in this House, I know, given the opportunity to speak,
will speak to great opportunities that they see within their own areas, within
their own regions, where this could actually develop into an industry.
The reason why I say it
would have to be long term, because what we will do is challenge business to
actually grow up and develop around this industry.
So if someone is going to make an investment close to a snowmobile trail,
they need to know that this is an investment that is made for the long haul, and
this is something that if I make the investment next year, well, government will
continue to support this for years not just a year, not just come in with a
band-aid approach, stick a band aid on what is a problem and say, okay, next
year we do not know if that is going to be there or not.
It has to be long term, I say, Mr. Speaker.
This year, there is about
12,500 passes that have been sold, Mr. Speaker.
That number, when you look at the number of snowmobilers that we have in
our Province right now, is very, very low.
When you look at the tourism numbers that we have seen in the economy,
the 2014 report that I mentioned yesterday, when for the first time since the
mid-1980s we have seen less than 100,000 people who have come into our Province
by automobile, by vehicle less than 100,000 people.
The first time since the mid-1980s, I say, Mr. Speaker, that we have seen
our tourism numbers so low.
This is something when you
think about it, and then you look at the actions of last year, the marketing
program and the cut in the marketing budget.
When you market things, when you advertise Newfoundland and Labrador, we
are all very, very proud when we sit, no matter where it is, and we see the ads
about Newfoundland and Labrador, when they come up, it makes us all proud.
The whole idea there of course is to attract people to our Province.
What did you do last year?
You actually cut core funding from the marketing.
This year's Budget brings it back to where we were last year, I say, Mr.
Speaker.
So, these are examples of
where you are developing programs and developing industries and finding new and
creative ways to generate revenue so that we can indeed pay for the many social
programs, many of the commitments.
So when I talk about making a commitment and making it sustainable, these are
the things that I am talking about.
In my capacity, I will say,
I get an opportunity to meet many, many people as I travel the Province, and one
of the things that I have been able to do and this goes back to tourism; it
goes back to just a way of life, just living.
I always look forward to going to the Combined Councils of Labrador.
That is a group that, for the third consecutive year, I have had the
opportunity to go and participate in those meetings.
This year the meetings were in L'Anse au Clair.
We had our MP for Labrador there, our MHA for Cartwright L'Anse au
Clair, and our MHA for Torngat Mountains, all in attendance, as were some
government MHAs too.
Mr. Speaker, it is always
interesting when you sit and you meet with this group of people, highly engaged,
very concerned about the issues that they have to face in Labrador and, of
course, the ferry system was front and centre when we met there this year.
Those meetings were on February 19-22, and I can tell you people were
very concerned about the future of the ferry and freight service, not only on
the North Coast but also when you look at just getting from St. Barbe to Blanc
Sablon.
So when you look at what
they have to overcome, living in that area, I would say that it is time now,
they feel, with all the development that we have seen coming out of Labrador
that it is actually time that there be something given back.
A ferry system, a means of transportation, in 2014 is not a luxury; that
is something that is very basic.
People who live in that area expect it.
That is their road. That is their
highway, I say, Mr. Speaker, right now.
When you have it, when there is no set schedule, right now it is very
difficult.
When you look at a ferry
schedule that has been in place and one of the things that came up at those
meetings, and people were concerned about, is the schedule being twenty years
old. When you look at all the
activity that has happened, a schedule that is as old as that, it needs to be
adjusted; it needs attention. All
they are asking for is people to pay attention, and some of it does not require
a lot of money when you look at things like that.
The group from NML did a presentation up there; we were glad to see that
they were there to support the Combined Councils of Labrador.
I will say that it says a
lot for the people who live in the area because the day that we were there, we
were on our way to Red Bay, we were going to do a tour of Red Bay, and in the
afternoon we had been watching what was the Olympic gold medal game for female
hockey just a little anecdote, just a little story, it tells a lot about the
people who live in that area, but indeed you could apply similar examples
throughout the Province.
We were almost in
L'Anse-au-Loup. When we had left
L'Anse au Clair the score was 2-nothing at the time.
Going into L'Anse-au-Loup the Canadian female hockey team had put on
quite the show and of course tied the game and the game had gone into overtime.
I can remember saying to the people we were travelling with: I do not
care where, we have to stop this right now; we have to find somebody who is
watching this game.
Mr. Speaker, we pulled in,
got to a phone, and we called some people we knew there.
Sure enough, with warm Labrador hospitality, we walked in the door and
finished watching the Olympic female hockey team win gold medal right in
L'Anse-au-Loup in someone's house.
That was completely unexpected, I would say.
Mr. Speaker, I have about
twenty minutes and there are so many things I wanted to talk about.
One thing when you think about 2014 and you think about living in a
Province, one of the things we all take often, I think and I just picked my
glass up there without even thinking about this is about safe drinking water
in our Province. Just think, as of
March 7, 2014, and I can remember talking about this last year around Budget
time, there are 218 boil water advisories in 156 communities in our area in
2014, 218 boil water advisories.
In this Province, it has
been ongoing. It comes up at every
single MNL meeting that I attend. It
comes up at the Combined Councils of Labrador.
Nowhere do you go around our Province and this issue is not raised.
When you think about it, 218 boil water advisories in 2014 in
Newfoundland and Labrador at what is supposed to be some of the best times in
our Province, Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe that number still exists.
Mr. Speaker, when you talk
about negotiations, when you talk about engagements, and when you talk about
connecting with people and opening up the dialogue so that people feel engaged,
I have been saying for quite some time people understand decisions when they are
given the information. Sometimes
every decision you make may not be as popular as you would like.
Sometimes tough decisions do have to be made, but Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians, when you show them the information, they are reasonable.
This is a government, I will
say, Mr. Speaker, that we all know, given their own history around Bill 29 and
what that has become, they do not really like sharing information.
They really do not like going out there and having engagements with
people so that information is shared so that the proper decisions get made.
In the amount of time I have
left, Mr. Speaker, I do want to touch on health care, but one thing before I
move on from that, I wanted to mention some things about Labrador.
People have asked me questions when it comes to Lab West.
We were in Lab West and spoke to many of the individuals who were
impacted with the closure of Wabush Mines at the time.
This is one of the reasons
why we had supported the development of the third line going into Lab West, and
many people of the Province have looked at us.
Economic development is certainly a centrepiece for the way we want to
manage government, with the support of people in our Province, is that we would
use the resources we have, not only to put the primary industries in place but
we would use it to create secondary industries as well.
You need not look any further than Lab West for the opportunities around
that.
It is no different than a
previous Liberal Administration, when you look at the smelter that is now soon
to be finished in Long Harbour. When
you see that that will be successful, and it will be successful not from the ore
that comes from the ground, Mr. Speaker, because that can only be taken out
once, but it will be successful and will have a long history because it will be
a situation where secondary processing, one of the few industries in our
Province, in my recollection where you can actually see where you use a natural
resource, where you use a mine and you will generate secondary processing around
it creating hundreds and hundreds of jobs and millions and millions of dollars'
worth of value to our economy, Mr. Speaker.
We always need to look for
those opportunities, wherever they exist, to make sure we can leverage whatever
opportunity we have from the people's resource, from the natural resources we
have in our Province, whether it is forestry, mining, the fishery, or if it is
our oil industry, we have to make sure we look for all the opportunities around
secondary processing wherever they exist.
All of this can only happen when people feel engaged.
When people feel they are part, that they can actually have some say in
their future.
Mr. Speaker, you need not
look any further than in this session of the House of Assembly, one of the
first questions we asked was around the bargaining with NLTA.
We have many people in this House right now who, being a teacher, being
part of NLTA, that association, they have been part of it for many, many years.
What are they saying, Mr. Speaker, about the way this government is
listening to them?
On January 24, 2014, the
negotiating team said this: This is the seventh set of proposals and
unfortunately at this time five representatives began expressing concerns about
the contract language upon which agreement had been previously reached.
What you are seeing here is when you get at the negotiating table and
this can be very tough, Mr. Speaker, from time to time certain things get put
on the table. It goes through
tremendous discussion. Then when you
reach an agreement on that, there is an expectation that you do not have to go
back there.
In this particular case,
what the NLTA are saying, what the teachers are saying is this was a situation
they felt was off the table, and indeed was put back on the table.
That is not good negotiations, Mr. Speaker.
Professionals, when they go at that table, expect to know that when they
reach an agreement on something, that this is not something that would have to
be revisited.
When you look at openness
and transparency, Mr. Speaker, within our government, I believe right now that
is an expectation. Often when people
say: Well, to be honest, there is an expectation that if you are going to speak
you should be honest. There is an
expectation when it comes to any government that openness and transparency
should be an obvious part of that.
That is one of the reasons we have been calling when you look at the oversight
on the largest project in the history of this Province, Mr. Speaker, that being
Muskrat Falls, indeed, there needs to be some external oversight in that.
From my own experience
around business, my own experience around associations, no matter what it is, no
one minds that level of oversight, because what happens is all of us will
benefit from that. It is a project,
and in this particular case the Muskrat Falls Project, as it evolves, as it
develops, as it continues to be constructed down there, Mr. Speaker, external
oversight cannot be seen as a bad thing.
As I said in the past,
oversight is just not about a committee or a group of individuals getting
together and collecting reports, collecting information, gathering research, it
is what you do when you get that.
That is what oversight is all about, how you respond to any specific situation
as it evolves. We all will benefit
as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, Mr. Speaker.
If indeed something comes up, something on polls that need to be dealt
with, we have the experience and we have the people who are part of that
oversight, who are in a position with their own experience to deal with that
situation.
In this particular case, a
bureaucratic oversight committee that reports to Cabinet is really not the type
of oversight that a project like this deserves.
This is the largest expenditure in the history of our Province.
External, independent oversight is not something that you would not
expect on this particular project.
This is the reason why we
have put two solutions to this; one, bring in the AG.
The ministers and the Premier keep saying the AG can go in.
Under section 16 of the Auditor General Act, the Premier can ask the AG
to go in and provide that necessary oversight as they can the PUB as well, Mr.
Speaker. This is not something that
would be unexpected within our Province.
It is something that I believe would add to the overall oversight of this
project.
We would encourage and we
would make sure that the project gets on schedule and it gets on budget, which
is certainly first and foremost in the people's minds right now, Mr. Speaker.
If not, any cost overruns on this, some future generation will pay for
this. The cost will be higher and
will be absorbed by them.
Mr. Speaker, in the few
minutes that I have left I want to talk about there are so many things within
health that I wanted to talk about today.
One, being the ambulances, one being ultrasounds in Western Newfoundland.
Some of the economic indicators, or the health indicators we are seeing
and the impact that will have on the future of Newfoundland and Labrador if we
do not begin to see strategic investments within our Province.
Mr. Speaker, with the few
minutes that I have left here I want to talk a little bit about two things.
One being diabetes and I will talk a little bit about smoking cessation
as well. Diabetes right now in our
Province, Mr. Speaker, if there is an opportunity that we could have to make a
strategic investment in the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and their health
care needs, it would be in diabetes.
What is happening within our Province right now is that we have the highest
rates of anywhere in the country, I say.
This is where you get the
connection between the economics of health care and providing health care.
With intervention as a government, you can make a difference.
When you look at the statistics right now, we have the highest prevalence
of diabetes of anywhere in Canada.
The impact this would have not just on our workforce, but on productivity at
work, on lifestyle, and just getting to and from appointments, I say, Mr.
Speaker. The number of people with
diabetes in Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to rise from around 55,000 in
2013 to 98,000 in 2033. This is from
the Canadian Diabetes Association, I will say.
When you look at a situation
that affects our health care needs anywhere in our Province right now, diabetes
without a registry, for instance, in our Province right now, we need a registry
so we know where people who live with diabetes are living so we can encourage
them, contact them, and we can actually work with them to prevent this from
happening. There are so many things,
if it comes to access to drugs, access to things like insulin pumps, and on and
on it goes.
We can be proud of some of
the economic indicators. In 2013, we
would lead the country in some, but this is not an area that we can be proud of.
This is an area we need to address.
When I talk about economic indicators from an economic point of view, if
we do not diversify the economy, these are areas that we will have less money so
we can invest in programs like diabetes.
It goes hand in hand, I say, Mr. Speaker.
What we do know is all the
indicators around diabetes is that we are indeed reaching a tipping point and
for the money we will have to spend on diabetes if we do not curb the growth.
I am not even suggesting we could
actually do anything to reverse it; we cannot.
Simply, a lot of it has to do with lifestyle, and we have so many people
now who are predisposed to diabetes, Mr. Speaker.
We have to find a way to curb it.
The only way to do that is to make the strategic investments.
Smoking cessation, Mr.
Speaker, is another example of that in Newfoundland and Labrador.
When you look at the health indicators we have in our Province I will
just go through these with the rate of heart attacks, I would say, and per
100,000, these numbers are, it would be 205 in Canada; in Newfoundland and
Labrador, 292. We have the highest
rate of all provinces. Stroke as an
example: per 100,000, it is 121; Newfoundland and Labrador, 137.
That is Newfoundland, as well as PEI, at the highest of all provinces.
PEI is at 144. So you can
tell, and the list goes on and on.
High blood pressure is
another example: 17.1 per cent at the Canadian rate; Newfoundland and Labrador
is 24.2 per cent and again, Mr. Speaker, the highest rate in Canada.
When you look at where you want to lead the country, these are not the
areas that you want to lead the country.
When you look at the adult
body mass, and this goes to obesity, it is 51.2 per cent in Canada; 63.4 per
cent, again, another area where we lead the country.
When you look at smoking, as a Province we are still extremely high.
This is one of the reasons why the smoking cessation program we have seen
put in place will impact low-income earners, Mr. Speaker.
We have to take those things seriously.
The list goes on and on again.
Mr. Speaker, I will go back
to diabetes: 6.4 per cent of our population of Canada; and in Newfoundland and
Labrador it is 8.3 per cent. These
are startling numbers, numbers that have an impact not only on the lifestyles
and the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, but it is having a tremendous
impact on the financial situation within our Province.
When you look at where we go in the future, making adjustments and how we
spend our money more wisely, strategic investments in health care is certainly
one of the ways we do it.
Mr. Speaker, as I finish up
today, I talked a lot about the economy, I talked a lot about the economic
indicators, and I talked a lot about how we used oil royalties over the last ten
years to diversify our economy and to grow other industries within our Province,
if it is around forestry, if it is around shipbuilding, if it is around
agriculture, or if it is around the fishery.
The history of this government has been dismal in creating more revenue
outside of oil royalties, which was really something that was inherited,
groundwork and work that was done by previous Administrations over many, many
years.
If we are to continue to
make decisions by government that will be sustainable, we are not interested in
passing on more debt to the next generation, Mr. Speaker.
That is not why I got involved in politics.
We want to make sure the Administrations we serve under will pass the
keys over to the next generation of Newfoundland and Labradorians, that this
Province is indeed a better place to live, the debt is lower, the programs that
we put in place are indeed are sustainable, and there are vibrant industries
that are developing in all regions of the Province.
That can only happen with
engaging people. That can only
happen with networking with people.
There are people out there who are ready to get engaged.
There are people out there who are hoping, who want to be part of the
discussion and who want to be part of the dialogue, I say, Mr. Speaker.
All we have to do is reach out.
The ideas are out there.
The ideas just need to be mined within Newfoundlanders and Labradorians
so in the future the next generation of Newfoundland and Labrador will indeed
have the experience of staying home if they so choose.
That would be their choice.
Right now, Mr. Speaker, in many areas of our Province they do not have that
choice. Making wise investments and
making sure we continue to work with our community leaders and continue to work
with our associations throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, we can generate and
we can create an economy that is vibrant and create revenue so we can then make
sure the social programs we depend on are there and that they are sustainable.
With that said, Mr. Speaker,
I will close my session in this hour of debate.
I look forward to participating in other opportunities within the Budget
debate in the days and weeks ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am not actually standing
to speak. We have been advised that
the intention is to close down the building here at 4:30 o'clock.
Apparently, Metrobus is coming off the road and people are concerned; a
number of employees of the House have to get home.
With the consent of the other two parties, I am going to make a motion
that the House do now adjourn before 4:30 o'clock so people can get comfortably
on their way and get home in the bad weather.
With that being said, I
move, seconded by the Minister of Education, that the House do now adjourn.
MR. SPEAKER:
It has been moved and seconded that this House do
now adjourn.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
The House stands adjourned
until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, being Private Members' Day.
On motion, the House at its
rising adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m.