April
7, 2014
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 14
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Before we start today's
proceedings, I want to welcome some special guests to our gallery.
Today we have with us thirty-one Level II students from Botwood
Collegiate, together with their teachers: Darryl Chippett and Todd Andrews.
They are also with some representatives from the Community Youth Network
staff: Colleen Hayter, Darlene Rice, and Jeff Pope.
Welcome to the House of
Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
Statements by Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we will have members' statements from the
Member for the District of Exploits, the Member for the District of Fortune Bay
Cape La Hune; the Member for the District of Baie Verte Springdale; the
Member for the District of St. John's Centre; the Member for the District of
Lake Melville; and the Member for the District of Harbour Grace.
The hon. the Member for the
District of Exploits.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Shane Pope, a
Level II student of Botwood Collegiate, has been volunteering at the Botwood
Boys and Girls Club for over four years; however, he would have never imagined
it would turn into a national experience.
Because of his dedication to
the club, Shane was selected to attend this year's biannual conference in
Kamloops, British Columbia. In
December, he was very surprised to receive an e-mail stating he was selected to
serve on the National Youth Council.
In his words, he said, I was so excited; you'd think I had won a million
dollars.
Mr. Speaker, Shane will
serve on the Boys and Girls Club National Council for a two-year term.
Shane will now play a role in planning the 2015 conference, and will get
to travel to participate in national meetings.
Shane is in the gallery
today with the delegation, and I ask all members of this House to join me in
recognizing Shane's dedication to the youth network and his appointment to the
National Youth Council.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape la
Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in this hon. House
today to throw a bouquet to the South Coast International Women's Day Committee.
Since 2009, this group of women have inspired and united residents in the
cause to end violence against women and to advance gender equality.
Thank you to all the
committee members who, from its inception, have made invaluable contributions to
help raise awareness of the tragedies of domestic violence and to help celebrate
the accomplishments of gender equity; members Vivian House, Rhonda MacDonald,
Louise Bennett, Carolynn Fowlow, Melita Collier, Tracie Carter, Sandra Dominie,
Mildred Skinner, Catherine Bourden, Marie Bungay, Mandy McGrath, and Megan Stone
have shown great resourcefulness and spirit in establishing this committee.
At its fifth annual sold-out
gala event, I had the opportunity to commend these women for making such
important contributions to advancing the status of women in this Province,
including promoting women's opportunities in non-traditional occupations and
instilling the message that violence prevention is everyone's responsibility.
I ask that all members of
this hon. House join me to congratulate and thank the South Coast International
Women's Day Committee and encourage them to keep up the fabulous work.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.
MR. POLLARD:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in this hon. House
today to recognize a person who devoted countless hours to the youth of his
community. Born on July 10, 1948, to
Aubrey and Phyllis Harris, Clifford Harris spent twenty-eight years as a
volunteer with the 837 Northeast Air Cadet Squadron in Springdale.
Many of the budding youth of
this squadron went on to become very successful in their chosen careers, upon
which Cliff had a huge impact. In
addition to sixteen years as a volunteer firefighter, Clifford spent time with
the Royal Canadian Legion, with the Masons, and helped out with Scouts Canada.
Big or small, Cliff was willing to offer his time, talent, and energy to
any group who were in need.
Recognizing his outstanding
contributions to his community in 2012, Cliff was the proud recipient of the
Queen's Diamond Jubilee award and also was named Springdale citizen of the year.
Not only is Cliff considered
a tremendous volunteer, but he is also seen as a hero.
On two different occasions he rescued two young lives for which the
families will be forever grateful.
I invite all colleagues in
this hon. House to help me send accolades to Clifford Harris an outstanding
community volunteer.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Excuse me.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Lake Melville.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to recognize
the fifth Canadian Rangers Patrol Group and their participation in Exercise
Northern Sojourn.
Between February 3 and March
9, approximately 1,200 Canadian and American soldiers as well as Canadian
Rangers participated in activities that were designed to teach troops essential
combat skills in Canada's north.
During this operation, the
Canadian Rangers were an integral part to assisting and teaching soldiers how to
survive in arctic conditions.
Rangers taught skills such as how to chop firewood and catch their own meals,
things that are a way of life to many Labradorians but were certainly new, Mr.
Speaker, to many of the soldiers.
The Rangers helped ensure
that many of these soldiers who attended the exercise left with a greater
knowledge of how to travel, survive, and enjoy, Mr. Speaker, the northern
wilderness during this exercise.
I ask all hon. members of
this House to join me in recognizing the great work of the fifth Canadian
Rangers Patrol Group and their participation in Exercise Northern Sojourn.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour
Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this
hon. House today to congratulate the Lady Sentinels Basketball Team of Carbonear
Collegiate who won the School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador 4A Tier 2
Provincial Basketball Championship on the weekend of March 13-15 in Deer Lake.
This marked the first time
that a Carbonear Collegiate basketball team participated in a SSNL provincial
tournament since 2010. The Lady
Sentinels were among the youngest team to enter the tournament, but intimidation
never set in, as they defeated Stephenville in a final score of 54-36.
The victory marked the first
provincial title for the school since 2011, but I can assure this House it
certainly will not be their last.
Members of the Lady
Sentinels team included: Morgan Clarke, Chelsea Walsh, Emily Kennedy, Chelsey
Parsons, Stephanie Slade, Mallory Gillespie, Devon Nicholson, Arianna Lee,
Jasmine Slade, Meghan Lehr, Najaula Sparkes, Brianna Roberts, and Michaela Case.
They were accompanied by Coach, Ed Jarvis, and Manager, Kerrilynn
Maloney.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.
members to join me in congratulating the Lady Sentinels of Carbonear Collegiate
on winning the SSNL 4A Tier 2 Provincial Basketball Championship.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am juggling a lot here
today.
Today is Resiliency Day at
Booth Memorial it is a good thing a personal development day to help
students learn to deal with stress and anxiety perhaps I should have gone
there today.
Thanks to a grant from the
Community Addictions Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Fund of the
Department of Health and Community Services, students are attending sessions on
Relationships and Restorative Justice; Building Emotional Muscle; Time
Management; Yoga and Meditation; Mindfulness and Happiness; and Team Building
and Tai Chi.
Sessions have been running
throughout the entire regular school day.
We spoke with people there earlier today and they were really impressed
with how well it was going.
Teacher/librarian Michelle
Hounsell gets the credit for taking the lead on this unique event, but the whole
school got involved along with outside participants.
Sessions are being conducted by teaching staff, the Newfoundland and
Labrador Sexual Health Centre (Planned Parenthood), Thrive both of these
non-profits are in St. John's Centre and the City of St. John's, with
nutrition breaks from Kids Eat Smart.
Thanks to Booth and Michelle
Hounsell for taking on this initiative which will benefit the students who are
participating for the rest of their time in school and probably their whole
lives.
Bravo to Booth and all those
involved.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and
Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FRENCH:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to pay
tribute to Dr. Priscilla Renouf, an internationally celebrated archaeologist who
passed away last Friday. I know I
echo the sentiments of the archaeology community in our Province, and indeed the
world, when I say that her passing is both a great personal and professional
loss.
While Dr. Renouf made
groundbreaking discoveries in Southern Labrador, much of her life's work was
conducted on the Northern Peninsula, particularly in Port au Choix.
At this location, she uncovered and reconstructed human presence in the
area dating back 5,500 years. Her
work unearthed evidence of four Aboriginal cultures, occupation of the area in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Europeans, as well as the current
settlement. Throughout her work in
this region of our Province, Mr. Speaker, she brought global attention to her
discoveries, and helped explain the significance of these finds in the context
of similar work around the world.
Mr. Speaker, Dr. Renouf was
a renowned scholar who served as the Canada Research Chair of North Atlantic
Archaeology. In 2010, she received
the highest academic honour in Canada by being elected as a fellow of the Royal
Society of Canada. She was also the
recipient of the President's Award for Outstanding Research; member of the
Canadian Museum of Civilization Board of Trustees; co-founder of LINK, an
international program of interdisciplinary research; executive member of the
North Atlantic Biocultural Organization; author of many academic papers; and
also the first Board Chair of The Rooms.
Her expertise was regularly sought for national and international
speaking opportunities.
There is a deep connection
to our own Provincial Archaeology Office, Mr. Speaker, as all of our provincial
archaeologists were taught and mentored by Dr. Renouf.
Undoubtedly, her legacy will live on in these many individuals who strive
to tell the story of our beginnings on a daily basis.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.
colleagues to join me in offering heart felt condolences to Dr. Renouf's family,
her co-workers at Memorial University, and all colleagues in the archaeology
community. She will be remembered as
a major influence in the archaeology world and her work in our Province will
remain a monumental contribution in understanding our own history here in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the minister
for the advance copy of his statement, and also join government and all Members
of the House of Assembly in paying tribute to Dr. Renouf.
Dr. Renouf will have a
lasting legacy in our Province for her work with Memorial University and the
many discoveries, of course, on the Northern Peninsula.
I can remember many, many years ago making the first trip up to the
Northern Peninsula and actually visiting those areas.
She was an internationally
acclaimed scholar, as we all know, and focused her research really on how
prehistoric people adapted to the changing environment in the North Atlantic.
Her research helped provide a context for understanding more recent North
Atlantic settlements.
For years, Dr. Renouf has
focused on research in Port au Choix, and I know that she has developed a deep
connection with many people in that area.
I know that Dr. Renouf has made many connections to people throughout the
Province, and I acknowledge her connection with the staff at her own Provincial
Archaeology Office. Even within our
own Opposition office, we have two members who are actually previous students of
Dr. Renouf. The MHA for St. Barbe,
when we chatted about this earlier, talked about the remarkable work that she
has done.
I offer my condolences to
the family and friends. Her work, I
am sure, will live on as the Province has lost one of its most esteemed
educators.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for the
advance copy of his statement. I,
too, would like to express my sadness on the passing of Dr. Priscilla Renouf.
Dr. Renouf was not only a world-renowned archaeologist and leader in her
field, but also a leader among her colleagues and students at Memorial
University.
We were lucky to have an
academic archaeologist of her calibre active in academic and community
archaeology, a key figure in building the MUN archaeology program into one of
the best in the world, coming straight from the community of Newfoundland and
Labrador. She was a gifted educator
who not only imparted knowledge to her students, but also knew how to get the
best out of them and help them excel in their careers, which I have heard from
many of them, Mr. Speaker.
Her contribution to this
Province's archaeological knowledge and high standards of practice will be
remembered. I give my sincere and
deepest condolences to her family and her friends.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family
Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased to rise today
in this hon. House to provide an update on the Supporting Youth with Transitions
pilot program. This program provides
young people who are receiving services under the Department of Child, Youth and
Family Services with the opportunity to avail of additional supports as they
prepare for adulthood.
In spring 2013, our
government invested $401,600 to expand Supporting Youth with Transitions
Province-wide in order to provide more youth with hands-on interventions and
supports that will help empower them to live independently as adults.
Our government recognizes
the unique challenges faced by youth, and that is why five life skills
co-ordinators have been hired to assist the department's social workers in
carrying out that program.
Mr. Speaker, these
co-ordinators are located in Clarenville, Gander, Whitbourne, Stephenville, and
Happy Valley-Goose Bay. They work
directly with youth to identify and address their life skills needs.
These necessary life skills include a variety of areas such as daily
living and self-care, relationships and communication, housing choices and
financial management, as well as career and education planning.
Supporting Youth with
Transitions is also being offered in metro region through Choices for Youth,
which is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides a wide
range of services including housing, employment, and educational opportunities
for youth.
Mr. Speaker, since the
implementation of the expanded pilot program in October 2013, we are already
seeing the positive impacts it is having on the seventy-five youth currently
accessing this program. These youth
have completed life skills assessments in order to develop plans to help achieve
their goals. To date, the program is
seeing increased family reconnections, and educational and employment engagement
for participating youth.
This is evidence, Mr.
Speaker, that we are achieving our overall goal of Supporting Youth with
Transitions by ensuring that everyone involved is working together to meet the
needs of young people and to help them successfully transition to the next phase
of their lives.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an
advance copy of his statement.
Mr. Speaker, the fire on
Springdale Street that cost a man his life illustrated for this Province a
worst-case scenario of not properly supporting youth at risk.
One of the recommendations from the Child and Youth Advocate in her
report SIXTEEN was to conduct life skills assessments.
So we are glad to see this recommendation being implemented.
One of the shortcomings
identified by the advocate in her report on the fire was the monthly allowance
for rent for a client of the youth services program.
At $500 per month, these youth at risk are severely restricted in choice
as to where they can live. This
inadequate funding in a city where rent is at $900 per month means youth, like
John, end up in bedsitters and boarding houses.
One of the advocate's
recommendations was to provide sufficient funding for safe and affordable
housing options. We look forward in
the spirit of accountability, to the minister indicating to the public which
recommendations of this report they intend to implement.
This pilot program, however, is an encouraging step forward.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an
advance copy of his statement.
Supporting Youth with
Transitions pilot project sounds like a great initiative.
The more concrete assistance we can give marginalized youth the better;
but, Mr. Speaker, where is the transition plan to ensure the safety of the
children the minister is uprooting and moving in his new level four residential
care initiative?
Two weeks ago, out of the
blue, some of our most vulnerable children in care were told they would be moved
from their current stable group homes where some have lived for years to a
private sector provider. No one has
told them exactly when they are moving, where they are moving, and who will be
looking after them.
In Estimates, I asked the
minister what his transition protocol and plan was for these children, and he
did not have one. These youth who
need desperately stability will be moved in forty-five days and there is no
plan. Many are afraid and confused.
This is a serious situation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to
highlight our government's investment to secure the future of our forest
industry in the western region and the entire Province for the benefit of
residents and communities.
In February, I was delighted
to join the Premier in Corner Brook to announce details of a loan agreement for
up to $110 million and a power assets and water rights purchase agreement
between the provincial government and Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited.
By investing in the pulp and
paper mill, government is reaching out to the entire forest industry and
supporting 5,500 people who are employed, particularly in the Province's rural
communities in harvesting, sawmilling, and value-added enterprises.
Corner Brook Pulp and Paper
Limited is one of the largest private employers in the Province and is a strong
contributor to the provincial economy.
Along with its suppliers, it contributes $124 million annually to the
gross domestic product.
With this loan, Corner Brook
Pulp and Paper Limited will be able to carry out capital projects that will
reduce costs, improve productivity, and increase the paper mill's
competitiveness on the global newsprint market.
The loan is secured by a mortgage and company hydro assets, including the
Deer Lake Power Plant and Watson's Brook Power Plant.
The provincial government will purchase the power assets, water rights,
and all related rights to the power assets for the people of the Province if the
mill closes.
These agreements are the
result of dedicated work by people in several provincial government departments
who are to be commended for their efforts.
They have worked closely with staff at Kruger Incorporated, the parent
company of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited, who are equally enthusiastic
about the long-term viability of the Corner Brook operation.
Mr. Speaker, our continued
investment in Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited is great news for the forest
industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.
These agreements will ensure the benefits from our renewable resources
will continue well into the future.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the minister
for the advance copy of his statement.
Of course, the $110 million
loan agreement with Kruger was something that the Official Opposition and at
the meeting, I understand our Member for Bay of Islands was at that announcement
as well.
Fifty-five hundred jobs in
the forestry industry, many of them in rural areas of our Province, is what this
loan was all about, supporting the forestry industry in general, let alone the
$124 million gross domestic product that it means to our Province in GDP.
It is important also because it is a renewable resource.
Managing our forestry
industry in the Province right now really needs a Province-wide strategy, one
where we can see the pulp and paper industry, one where we can see our sawmill
industry, and indeed our pellet plant industry that could be working as an
integrated system. Right now this is
currently not happening. We know we
have a major sawmill in the Province right now that will not be able to operate
twelve months of the year simply because of wood supply.
A management strategy for
the provincial resource is indeed something we need to secure.
Right now we are not able to supply our local customers.
So, Mr. Speaker, we have made a major investment in a pellet plant right
now that is not producing any jobs but is something we really need to continue
to work with because there is a significant opportunity to make sure that that
plant can provide jobs in rural areas of our Province.
Right now in my own
district, as an example, we have a pressure treatment plant that is actually
importing wood from New Brunswick to make sure that the operation is continuing.
In this day and age when we have seen the closure of two pulp and paper
mills and some sawmills in our Province, there should be enough wood supply, if
managed properly in our Province, to make sure that we have viable industries
here.
I do want to thank the
staff, both at Natural Resources and with Kruger for the hard work that they
have done in putting this together.
I think it will go a long way in providing a viable future for the forestry
industry in the Province.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an
advance copy of his statement. This
is good information about the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper if not exactly news;
we have known these details for a while.
I have confidence that the
workers at Corner Brook Pulp and Paper will make the facility a success with
their incomparable skill and hard work.
It would be great to get statements from this minister regarding other
parts of this Province's forestry sector.
Could the minister report
about the Northern Peninsula with over $9 million invested in forestry products
and things apparently at a standstill?
Could we get a statement about the very expensive expropriation of
Abitibi-Bowater's central assets and timber rights?
What plans have government for this resource?
We have heard little on the plans for the timber and a lot on what will
be the huge upcoming expense of remediating the mill site by this government.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Let us have some more statements about
the realities.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Question Period.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Last week the federal
government made massive cuts to the shrimp quotas in our Province.
These cuts were expected for months and they are devastating to our
offshore operators and could affect up to 2,200 plant workers.
In response to this the minister said that we will ask the feds to
revisit the decision.
I ask the Premier: Aside
from asking the feds for these cuts to be revisited, what is your plan to fight
for the workers in the forestry industry?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in the fishing
industry we have been advocating against LIFO since 2010.
It is very clear on record in regard to this is very inhibited to the
inshore sector.
In 1996 when temporary
access for the inshore fleet was given to this resource, then in 1997 the
licences were confirmed and they were made permanent stakeholders in the
industry, we were quite clear that they were investing in the industry; they
were stakeholders. We have advocated
that LIFO needs to be removed.
The sustainability of the
resource, not pit one sector against another to make sure that the inshore fleet
we recognize the science cuts need to be made.
We are saying let us take those cuts, distribute them equally to both
sectors so that the inshore fleet can continue what it needs to do in terms of
rural Newfoundland and those jobs that were mentioned in terms of processing
harvesters and all those support companies.
It is very important.
We told the federal government we want them changed and we expect them
changed, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Indeed that was meant to be
the forestry sector the fisheries sector.
I thank the minister for responding.
In the press release on
Saturday, the provincial government said that they are currently analyzing the
anticipated impacts and will be meeting with the industry leaders in the coming
days to determine the best ways to address this challenge, with this issue being
raised by people in the industry for months.
I ask the Premier: These
cuts were expected for some time, so why did you wait until last weekend before
even thinking about the best ways to address this challenge?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, over the past
number of months, I and my officials have met with the inshore shrimp fleet and
the FFAW fishers, certainly a broad spectrum in terms of the industry and who
was involved. We followed this and,
as I said, advocated and argued that this is not fair.
It is not fair for the inshore sector.
It needs to be changed as we move forward.
Again, we have been quite
clear on this. It is needs to be
changed. It is not reflective of how
the industry needs to move forward.
This inshore fleet, 250 harvesters, have invested.
Everybody in the federal government has supported rationalization.
They have gone out and bought out enterprises.
They have invested heavily.
They need this resource and access to it to run their operations and their
enterprises.
Again, I would say we met
with industry. Since 2010 we have
been on record as saying that LIFO needs to change.
We have met with industry over the last year.
We are meeting now with industry over the next couple days to see how we
move forward and what the particular effects will be of this in different
communities.
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.
It seems like a lot of
meetings, but in 2006 the federal government had been promising joint management
for our fisheries. They specifically
said they would work with interested provinces for a system of increased
provincial management; however, eight years later there is still no joint
fisheries management in our Province.
I ask the Premier: Why has
your government not moved forward with the feds on this commitment that was made
by the Conservative government?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of joint management I
have been public in the new year in regard to joint management.
I announced this morning when I was at the Marine Institute that we will
move forward now and make recommendations to the federal government in regard to
looking at joint management.
Mr. Speaker, because of the
investments we have made since 2010 in regard to the Centre for Fisheries
Ecosystems Research, we invested $13 million.
We could have waited. Where
we saw the federal government back out of science and not putting research where
they should have, we stepped in and put that money in so we could build the
expertise and knowledge of this Province for ecosystem research so we can build
our fishing industry.
This morning I announced
again we will be reinvesting another $5 million to continue that work, to work
with the science we have built here in the Province, the inventory of science.
The scientists right now are up to well over twenty-five grad students
and scientists who are involved in the fishery in this Province.
We have that inventory built and we look to the federal government to
joint manage because we need to be (inaudible)
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.
It seems that you have
invested a lot of money and you are really not talking to the feds.
They have encouraged you, if you are interested to do that, since 2006.
As you said, in 2010 the provincial government launched its own fisheries
research initiative and to date has spent $13 million on that.
The results are indicating that cod is making a comeback, and we know
that cod is a predator of shrimp.
I ask the Premier: Is this
research being shared with the federal government, and was it taken into
consideration before those recent cuts were made?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Mr. Speaker, the ecosystem research has been done
since 2010. In terms of
consultations with DFA and DFO, we provide all the information we have available
to DFO. Certainly, we believe it is
second to none. The scientific
community we built and the inventory we built is second to none.
The work we are doing on cod is done nowhere else in the world, I
understand, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the type of satellite tracking and the
types of things we are doing.
An assessment this morning,
a briefing with Dr. Rose and his group of scientists, indicates in areas of the
Province we are seeing good science in regard to cod in terms of the return of
that species. It looks good, but
again we need to protect that resource as we move forward.
That is why we want to be at the table, that we have the science, we have
the expertise, we have the industry, and we want to be there with the federal
government in joint management of that resource, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, the minister is saying
they want to be there and we know that they were encouraged to be there since
2006.
I ask the minister: Why
aren't you there?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Mr. Speaker, joint management is something that
is arranged between the federal government and the Province.
We have been there; we want to be there.
The federal government, it is under their jurisdiction right now.
We are trying to manage a fishery where we have control of the
processing. We do not have control
over the licensing, the quota allocations, all of those things.
We have put programs in
place to build this. I do not know
where the hon. member is to. We just
announced under CETA $120 million with $280 million leveraged from the federal
government that we want to build this fishery and continue to grow.
We believe in the fishery, we believe in rural Newfoundland and Labrador,
and we are going to continue to work and make sure we are at the table to grow
this industry as we know it can be in this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
You believe in the fishery.
You were encouraged to be there in 2006, if you were interested.
It has not happened, and now you say you want to be there, I say, Mr.
Speaker.
These cuts will affect the
viability of processing plants in our Province and will put 2,200 jobs in
jeopardy. These cuts also will
affect the sustainability of many of our rural communities.
I ask the Premier: In the
past you have used a temporary one-year fisheries adjustment program for plant
closures; what are you prepared to do for the long-term viability of rural
communities in Newfoundland and Labrador?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There is one thing we are
going to do I am not sure of the hon. members on the other side, because they
seem confused in terms of international trade deals and what that is going to
mean in terms of markets and certainly access to bringing down quotas, bringing
down tariffs, and certainly in the EU.
Secondary processing; right now there are limits on what we can send in,
for example, to the EU in regard to secondary processing.
When CETA is signed and
formalized, those will come down. We
can do primary branding right here in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, in rural
communities so we can drive activity in our processing facilities in
Newfoundland and Labrador, selling it to one of the largest markets in the
world.
We believe in free market,
we believe in free trade, and we believe in building our industry.
That is why we negotiated the $400 million fund.
That is why we are investing $120 million in the fund.
I do not know where the hon. member is.
Let him stand up and say they agree with it or not.
We do, and we are going to build a fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What a difference a month
makes for this so-called open and accountable government.
On March 5, the Minister of Transportation and Works announced early
tenders in order to take advantage of the full construction season.
At that time he announced approximately thirty-three kilometres of
roadwork for the Bay d'Espoir Highway.
The tender document, Mr. Speaker, tells a much different story.
I ask the minister: Why
don't you tell the House how much of the thirty-three kilometres in that tender
is actually going to be funded in this year's Budget?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, since early
January, when I announced that the government had pre-committed $30 million
towards different tenders throughout the Province, my department has been very
busy getting those tenders ready. I
did go to the Bay d'Espoir Highway and I did announce that we would be doing
thirty-three kilometres in the Bay d'Espoir Highway.
I also announced that it was a multi-year project, as many of the other
projects we are doing throughout the year.
What we are doing, Mr.
Speaker, instead of making promises, we are actually making realities.
What we are doing is we are saying there is certain work that needs to be
done. Over the next couple of years
we are going to get the tenders out so that the contractors in the Province can
actually schedule the work over the multi-year projects and make sure that the
work gets done.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do not recall the
announcement saying that the thirty-three kilometres was multi-year.
I will say it started out in the tender they were going to fund $5
million of it and cut it back to $3.6 million.
Mr. Speaker, getting
roadwork tenders out early sounds good until you read the fine print.
For example, in the major tender announced for the Bay d'Espoir Highway
they are only allowing the contractor to do $3.6 million, which is 20 per cent
of the work on that tender.
I ask the minister: Why are
you leading the people of the Province to believe that there is much more
roadwork in the Budget than will actually get done this year?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the
member across the way should spend some of his time being out to the
announcements and then he would know what was actually being announced.
What we are doing, Mr.
Speaker, is we are setting up our programs in our tenders this year.
The contractors have been asking for this for a long time so that we set
up programs and tenders that they can actually go out and schedule the work to
get it done.
When it comes to
Transportation and Works and it comes to rebuilding, resurfacing highways, you
cannot just go in, in a lot of cases, and repave, what we call levelling.
Quite often the highway or the roads you are talking about have to be
rebuilt, and that cannot all be done overnight.
What we are doing, Mr. Speaker, is identifying the work that needs to be
done, we put it out to tender, and quite often it starts at one point and will
finish at another.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, announcing early tenders is one
thing that is new for this Province, but what is also new is telling contractors
they can only do 20 per cent of the work in the tender.
Mr. Speaker, it is nothing
more than political posturing. You
are trying to get political points, I say to the minister, by announcing
thirty-three kilometres of roadwork this year, in a tender this year, but only
allowing 20 per cent of the work to be done this year.
I ask the minister: Why are
you playing politics with road repairs in this Province?
Is it because next year is an election year?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad to realize that
the member across the way realizes next year is an election year because we
realized that on this side in 2011, that there was an election coming up.
We have been working towards that and it is called governing, Mr.
Speaker. That is what we do on this
side of the House.
Since we announced the $30
million pre-commitment in Transportation and Works I have been very busy, and I
compliment the staff in my department for the hard work they have done getting
these tenders put together. I have
been all over the Province in the last six weeks, Mr. Speaker, announcing
different projects. It is a year to
year process of building and restructuring the highway system.
We have over 10,000 kilometres in this Province and we continue to keep
doing the job we are doing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Mr. Speaker, in his recent review of Eastern
Health, the Auditor General pointed out there was a lack of monitoring of final
tender cost compared to the original awarded cost.
I ask the minister: How can
you be assured that taxpayers' dollars are spent properly without the
implementation of internal controls as outlined in the Public Tender Act?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Service NL.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, we accept what the Auditor General
had to say in his report. In that
particular instance, we agreed with what the Auditor General had pointed out.
There is remedial action that was taken, Mr. Speaker.
The process is working. We
make sure that when purchases are made and they do not go to tender, we make
sure they are done for the right reasons.
If they are not done for the right reasons, Mr. Speaker, we go in and we
find out what went wrong.
We need to do some remedial
work on occasion, Mr. Speaker. It is
a rare occurrence. Less than almost
1 per cent, Mr. Speaker, less than 2 per cent, closer to 1 per cent of all the
tenders that are out there end up being untendered, and they are for exceptions,
usually. This one here did not fall
under that exception, and we went in there and did the remedial work.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for
Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
I would say to the minister, that based on the
Auditor General's report, there is a lot more work to be done.
Mr. Speaker, in his review,
the Auditor General also found that current controls are not adequate to prevent
or detect fraud or error in areas of purchasing.
This is very troubling, to say the least, to the taxpayer who is
ultimately on the hook for any cost resulting from this financial mismanagement.
I therefore ask the
minister: What does he intend to do to straighten out this mess?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Service NL.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to procurement, we are
doing very good work protecting the taxpayers' dollars.
We have a department GPA who make sure that all entities are following
the legislation and regulations we have in place.
We make sure that our forensic audits go into places to check and make
sure that entities and government departments are making the right decisions and
going through the right processes when they are procuring on behalf of their
departments and entities, Mr. Speaker.
There is good work getting
done there. Is there room for
improvement, Mr. Speaker? Yes there
is, and we are working towards improving the system.
We are about protecting the taxpayers' dollars every single day, day in,
day out, and our civil servants are doing good work, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, in response to concerns about
incidents of bullying and other inappropriate behaviours in schools, government
released a revised Safe and Caring Schools Policy late last year.
The school year is melting away now with the winter snow, and we have yet
to hear of any progress on implementing these policies to try and stamp out
bullying.
I ask the Minister of
Education: What has your department done to see that the new Safe and Caring
Schools Policy is in place for this coming September?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, one of the things we certainly did
in this Budget was we identified three units that are going to continue the work
that has gone on. We did a review,
Mr. Speaker, brought forward the new process, put in place protocols for schools
and administrators to use.
Mr. Speaker, our support
again this year in this Budget shows our commitment to Safe and Caring Schools
in this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Well, Mr. Speaker, it is teachers and
administrators who do this work, not units.
The teacher professional development allocation in Budget 2014 has been
cut by almost $1 million. The
minister is clearly telling teachers and administrators that he wants them to
take on extra responsibilities without adding any additional training or
resources.
I ask the minister: How many
schools and how many teachers have received professional development training to
deal with those inclined to bullying?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, I am going to commend the teachers,
the students, and the larger community for the work that they have done in this
Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, we are not asking teachers and
administrators to take on additional work.
We are asking them to do it in a different way.
The safe and caring schools itinerant teachers who are out there will
work with the schools, the school communities, and the staff to make sure that
is carried out in a way right now, teachers and administration are actually
doing that work. We are very proud
of the work that they have done.
This will improve the overall system, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, this morning the Diabetes Association released the health
charter for diabetes patients. We
have about 58,000 people living with diabetes in our Province and another 88,000
at risk of developing it.
I ask the minister: How many
people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last month?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Finance.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS JOHNSON:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I can certainly get him that
information. I do not have it here
with me at the moment, but what I can do is tell him, as a government, what we
have done for diabetes and what we have done to address diabetes and to prevent
diabetes, Mr. Speaker.
We have provided nearly $20
million since 2010 for diabetes medications.
We have covered fifteen different medications for people on the
Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program.
Mr. Speaker, we are the only government, the best in Canada, to provide
insulin pumps for people up to age twenty-five.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS JOHNSON:
We offer diabetes clinics.
We include programming to promote healthy eating, physical activity, and
living smoke-free, Mr. Speaker. That
is what we are doing about diabetes.
I will certainly get him the numbers tomorrow.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The minister will not get me
the numbers tomorrow because the department does not have them.
You will not be able to provide the accurate numbers because the
government does not have a diabetes patient registry.
The registry is necessary to track diabetes diagnoses and manage the
resources needed to care for these patients.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. A. PARSONS:
I ask the minister: Why has your government failed to follow the AG's
2011 recommendation and implement a diabetes registry?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Finance.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS JOHNSON:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Our record, when it comes to
diabetes and preventative care around diabetes is a solid one.
We certainly appreciate the recommendations from the AG report and I am
sure that the Minister of Health and the department is following up.
I did intend to try to get
those numbers; I do not understand why you would ask a question if you already
knew the answer. So given that, Mr.
Speaker, I guess he does not want the information.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, the minister can talk about this government's commitment to
diabetes. We have the highest
population in Canada of people living with diabetes, a number that is going to
grow to one in six in 2024. The
question I asked was about a diabetes registry so that we could work with
practitioners to track the number of people living with diabetes.
I ask again: Why have we not
followed the AG's recommendation and put in place a diabetes registry?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Finance.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS JOHNSON:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as a
department, the Department of Health certainly speaks to stakeholders, speaks to
people in the diabetes industry, and speaks to people involved in the health
care system on a daily basis. If
there is something that is in the AG's report, I have no doubt that the Minister
of Health and the excellent officials that work in that department are working
on this because if there is something we can do to make people's lives better
when it comes to diabetes, we would certainly be committed to that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay
North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr. Speaker, government abandoned its own Youth Retention and Attraction
Strategy. Five years ago, the former
Premier said this strategy marks the beginning of a new era and reflects the
commitment to ensuring the Province can navigate toward prosperity and
self-reliance.
Mr. Speaker, with public
debt soaring by billions and out-migration of youth at its highest level since
2008, I ask the minister: Will he revisit why this strategy has failed?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the
minister opposite and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that the Youth
Retention and Attraction Strategy has been an overwhelming success.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Of the forty-one initiatives, Mr. Speaker, most
are completed and most are ongoing.
They have been incorporated into the work of various government departments.
In fact, what came out of the Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy is
now informing other strategies within our government, like our immigration work,
our Population Growth Strategy, our Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Our Youth Retention and
Attraction Strategy was a three-year initiative.
It has had great impact and much of the work is ongoing, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay
North, for a very quick question, no preamble.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr. Speaker, the Youth Advisory Committee is supposed to provide policy
MR. SPEAKER:
Your question, please.
Directly to your question.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
when will the minister table the report; the last one has been 2011?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs, for a
quick response.
MR. KENT:
Mr. Speaker, the Office of Public Engagement is
engaging more young people in this Province than ever before through forums in
every corner of the Province, our work with youth is making a big difference.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
A federal government
investigation has suspended the licence of a company in Labrador City allowing
them to bring in temporary foreign workers.
I ask the Premier: Does the
Province have a current record of the number and places of work of temporary
foreign workers in this Province?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
is a federal program. It is the
responsibility of the federal government to ensure that all employers follow the
rules and follow the program.
We have about 3,000
temporary foreign workers in our Province at this particular time.
We get that information from the Citizenship and Immigration Canada
files. Our responsibility is to make
sure under the program that before temporary foreign workers are used that all
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have an opportunity for a job, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The company in question was
suspended or its licence was suspended after allegations that twenty-six
temporary foreign workers were living in one house owned by the company.
I ask the minister: What
measures has government taken to monitor the living and working conditions of
temporary foreign workers in this Province?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, as I just outlined, this is a
federal program and a responsibility of the federal government.
They have to make sure that all employers follow the rules, all the rules
of the program.
As well, we are engaged in
regard to following that program. I
have personally met with the minister responsible in Ottawa.
We discussed the Temporary Foreign Worker Program at that particular
time, but again it is the responsibility of the federal government.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask the Premier then: Why
isn't this government taking the lead of other provinces such as Alberta,
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia that has legislation regulating migrant
workers?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As my colleague has just
mentioned, this particular program is indeed a responsibility of the federal
government; however, we do have labour standards in this Province that I am
responsible for as the Minister Responsible for Labour.
We take accusations such as the member presents on this floor of the
House very seriously, and we follow up on all allegations that are presented.
I will let the member know
that temporary foreign workers have the same rights in this Province as any
worker from Newfoundland and Labrador who might be a permanent resident of this
Province. Any time an allegation is
made through Labour Standards that there has been a violation or some ill
treatment of any nature whatsoever, we follow up on every single one of those
investigations.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I point out that a report
card done by the UFCW has us showing very, very low when it comes to protection
of these workers.
I ask the Premier: Will he
see that the Labour Standards Act is amended to add provisions for the
protection of temporary foreign workers, as happens in other provinces?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Mr. Speaker, we review our labour legislation
very regularly, the same as we do with all legislation in the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador. If we
find there is an opportunity or a need to amend the legislation then we are
certainly open to that. With respect
to the issue at hand today and the allegations the member is sharing on this
House floor today, there is nothing in the legislation that does not give us the
ability to follow up on any suggestion that workers are being ill-treated and
that is being done.
I reassure members of this
House, that if there is any allegation or suggestion by a worker that their
rights are being violated under the Labour Standards Act, if they are working in
the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, whether they are from here or whether
they are permanent residents or not, they have the same rights as
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and it will be investigated.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Residential Tenancy Act
consultations were completed in 2012.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the
minister: When is he going to release the report with all of its
recommendations?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Service NL.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, there has been a great body of work
done with regard to that legislative review.
We have had some consultations.
That is online, what we heard.
That is available for the public to see.
We are also looking at other jurisdictions and seeing what they are doing
with regard to how they are progressing in the future, Mr. Speaker.
We are also looking at
minimal housing standards, and that is being looked at as well in other
jurisdictions. I know that has been
in the media for the last little as well.
So, we are still moving forward.
There is still some work to do, Mr. Speaker, and when we are ready we
certainly will be bringing it to the floor of the House.
I am looking forward to that day, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, we are in the middle of a housing
crisis and we need the recommendations from that consultation, which were
completed a year and a half ago.
Mr. Speaker, the
Newfoundland and Labrador housing and homelessness research report was completed
in October, 2013.
I ask the minister: When is
he going to release that?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
That report was only shared
with me recently. It is under
review, and I should have that released within the next couple of weeks or so,
Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When is he going
to develop an overall comprehensive housing policy to address the growing
housing crisis, one that would include such initiatives as tax initiatives for
builders and the use of surplus provincial properties, including land, buildings
and more, a real comprehensive housing policy for the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing is
engaged for a number of years now in regard to affordable housing in
Newfoundland and Labrador. We
address that issue under a various number of programs.
Number one, the IAH program, which has built a number of units right
across Newfoundland and Labrador, over 100 units that are all in the affordable
housing portfolio; as well as the Provincial Home Repair Program, the Home
Modification Program, and all those particular programs.
We continue to invest over a
lot of programs in areas that would make affordable housing accessible to the
people of the Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre for a
very quick question.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When will he take
leadership and freeze all surplus provincial properties until he comes up with a
housing policy to address the growing housing crisis?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and
Skills for a quick response.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, I am shocked to hear the hon. member
is against development in Newfoundland and Labrador and free enterprise.
I will be quite honest with you.
Through Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, we have invested heavily over
the last number of years in regard to the most vulnerable people in our
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The time for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by
Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Notices of Motion.
Notices of Motion
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I move the following private
member's resolution:
BE IT RESOLVED that this
hon. House supports the government's decision to introduce full-day
kindergarten.
This is seconded by the
Member for Port de Grave.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I serve notice that the
motion just presented to the House by the Member for Terra Nova will be the
private member's motion to be debated this coming Wednesday, Private Members'
Day.
MR. SPEAKER:
Answers to Questions for which Notice has been
Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
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 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
rabbits, moose, ducks, loons, 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-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
dump sites in the area;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to intercede in the matter and advise
Eastern Waste Management to withdraw this proposal and find a more suitable
location for this waste recovery facility.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will every pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is, yes,
another petition. I have had
several. I have several more to
come. This time we have people from
Carbonear, Blaketown, South Dildo, Whitbourne area, Long Cove, and so on.
This is in addition to the many people who actually own properties in
Peak Pond-Reids Pond.
Like I said, we are also
seeing people from the general area who have a number of concerns about this
particular site. Mr. Speaker, as is
indicated in this petition, there are certainly much more suitable sites
available to Eastern Waste Management, particularly former dump sites in the
area, former industrial sites where this could go.
It makes no sense whatsoever to destroy a beautiful pristine area, such
as what has been chosen here, when there are other sites that could be used
which are much more suitable.
Again, on behalf of the
residents, cabin owners of this particular area
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. LANE:
as well as other people in that general area, I
present this petition once again today, and I will keep doing so until the
government intercedes and withdraws this application and finds a more suitable
location.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 provincial funding
and support for an arm's-length advocacy group is needed in order to promote,
protect, and ensure full citizenship rights for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians
with disabilities; and
WHEREAS the Coalition of
Persons with Disabilities (COD-NL) has advocated for persons with disabilities
in Newfoundland and Labrador for nearly thirty-five years; and
WHEREAS people with
disabilities across the Province rely on COD-NL to navigate and access support
services, educate the public, and provide outreach; and
WHEREAS long-term
sustainable funding for COD-NL should be a key building block in the Province's
strategy for the inclusion of persons with disabilities; and
WHEREAS federal and
provincial funding cuts continue to threaten COD-NL's capacity to provide
important advocacy, public education, and outreach activities;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge
government to reinstate funding cut from the Coalition of Persons with
Disabilities, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 2013 and provide a long-term
sustainable funding arrangement for COD-NL.
As in duty bound your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I think
sometimes because COD-NL is headquartered here in the City of St. John's, in the
capital, people often think that this issue is an issue that does not affect all
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I
think the fact that we have petitioners here from Norris Point and Rocky Harbour
up on the Great Northern Peninsula, really is indicative of the fact that COD-NL
is an organization that serves people throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and
provides an important service, an advocacy service, an education service that
everyone in the Province can benefit from.
Recently, there was a press
release that went out which indicated government was partnering with COD-NL on a
particular initiative. I think that
is a good thing. I think when the
private sector, when other organizations in the public sector can partner with
COD-NL and avail of the information they have, the advocacy services they have,
their long history of advocacy for persons with disabilities in the Province,
that is a positive thing.
I think we really need to go
back and look at what government decided to do with respect to their funding
last year and how all of that really rolls up against what is going on the
federal side because the federal government wants to wash their hands of
organizations like COD-NL and we really need to see what the impact of that is
going to be.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of
Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I stand here today, again,
Mr. Speaker, to present a petition on behalf of the people of Western
Newfoundland and Labrador.
WHEREAS we wish to raise
concern regarding the recent delay of the construction of the new hospital in
Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;
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 to and in
a timely manner as originally announced without further delays or changes.
Mr. Speaker, this is
probably about ten or fifteen petitions I have presented, and I will be
presenting more in the near future.
I have over 4,000 names of people on petitions, Mr. Speaker, who signed the
petitions to get the hospital in Corner Brook.
Stop with the promises and start with the construction, to ensure we have
the proper information and that we make a decision.
I was asked to inform the
Member for Humber West and the Member for Humber East, who is the Premier, there
will be a meeting on April 24 of the health care action committee.
They will show up and show support for this action committee, Mr.
Speaker. I know members opposite on
this side will be attending the meeting.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned
before, and the people of Western Newfoundland who I am speaking to, is that the
Premier committed $500,000 to do a study.
We are not sure what the study is for.
We are not sure what new information will be found.
We assume and I as a
person from the West Coast as an ordinary citizen, I assume the information that
the Department of Health and Community Services is presenting to the people in
Western Newfoundland is accurate. It
is true. It is information that you
can say we went out and we did our review, we did our studies.
We had professionals.
I ask again, and I asked the
government, Mr. Speaker, and a lot of people are saying: What is this $500,000
for? It is the information that the
Department of Health is giving out and trying to get to the action committee,
getting to the city council, getting to private groups in closed meetings, I
might add, will not have a public meeting.
It is disgraceful, Mr. Speaker.
People are asking, what is
the $500,000 for? Will we ever get a
copy of the terms of reference? Will
we ever get the results of it? Mr.
Speaker, once again, $500,000 to find information that the Minister of Health is
already telling people in Corner Brook.
The question is, is the information accurate?
If you are spending $500,000 to seek out the information, why was there
ever a decision made not to put a radiation unit, not to put a PET scanner there
until we have the full information?
Mr. Speaker, I just want to
thank you again for the opportunity. I
will be presenting more. April 24,
to the Members for Humber East and Humber West.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
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 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, here I am once
again standing up to speak on behalf of people across the Province who are still
mystified as to why the Family Violence Intervention Court has been closed.
It is interesting to hear my colleague, the member, talk about the
$500,000 that all of a sudden has appeared to do the study on the Corner Brook
hospital and whether or not radiation services are needed.
I spent a lot of time this
weekend knocking on doors, and I do not know how many people said to me: Keep up
the work on the Family Violence Intervention Court, it is such an important
program. Keep pushing and keep
fighting for it on our behalf. These
are people who worked in the court.
These are people who work in the area of violence against women and children,
who know how effective this program was, who know how effective the court
actually was.
Mr. Speaker, in a press
release issued by the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, the former
one who is now our Minister of Finance, issued it on November 20, 2013.
She said, The Provincial Government remains firmly committed to
preventing violence against those most at risk of experiencing violence,
including women, children and families.
She ends up by saying, All
individuals in our province must remain strongly committed to preventing
violence and creating a society where all residents can live, work and learn in
communities where violence is considered unacceptable.
Mr. Speaker, that is exactly
the type of work that the Family Violence Intervention Court has been doing.
It took a while for all the stakeholders to buy into the court, to
realize how the court worked, and they did and the court was working.
Mr. Speaker, the court needs to be reinstated, that is all there is to
it.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.
MR. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 we wish to raise
concern regarding the recent delay on the construction of the new hospital in
Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;
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 to and in
a timely manner as originally announced without further delay or changes.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is a
petition from a number of people generally in the Corner Brook area, the
Pinchgut Lake area, and the Massey Drive area.
They also want me to advise the Minister of Health and her Parliamentary
Secretary, the Member for Terra Nova, there is a meeting on April 24 and they
would really like for both of those members to attend to become fully apprised
of all the concerns surrounding the delays in the hospital.
Mr. Speaker, health care
consumes the largest percentage of our Budget in this Province and in every
province of Canada. For sure that
demonstrates health care is extremely important.
Health care is one of the most important items a government can manage
and can provide to its residents and to its citizens.
Part of health care is a hospital.
Mr. Speaker, I remember when
the old Western Memorial Hospital was being built.
I used to walk right past the construction site on my way to junior high
school. That was over forty years
ago. That hospital is used up and it
stood the test of time. A
determination has been made, shared in and agreement upon by government, that a
new hospital is required.
Mr. Speaker, how complicated
can it be to build a hospital? A
hospital is not a new invention.
They have been around for thousands of years.
Hospitals are being built all over North America.
We know the population. The
government claims the population is not expanding; consequently, it should be
fairly easy to get a precise number of people who would use the hospital because
the hospital has been there for a long time.
Why the delay?
Why the delay in this hospital?
The government acknowledges it is needed.
It has committed and committed and committed.
I think I could go nineteen times, if
The Telegram is accurate.
Nineteen times there has been an announcement, I think I read in the
newspaper, regarding this hospital over the years.
How complicated can it be?
Mr. Speaker, the government
really needs to leave the drawing board and get into the workplace.
Let us get moving on this hospital.
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 the current road
conditions of Route 437 are deplorable; and
WHEREAS Route 437 to Ship
Cove and Cape Onion was first paved in 1990-1991 and is now riddled with
potholes, cracks, bumps, and erosion, similarly the road the Raleigh is in poor
condition; and
WHEREAS business operations
will suffer in these communities that include Pistolet Bay Provincial Park,
Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve, Tickle Inn, Raleigh Historical Society Fishing
Village, carving shop, boat tour, restaurant, cottages, convenience, gas
station, walking trails, museum, and numerous fishing enterprises, among other
natural attractions; and
WHEREAS it is the
government's obligation to provide basic infrastructure to all Newfoundlanders
and Labradorians; and
WHEREAS an improved paved
road would enhance local business, fish processing operations and tourism, which
is vital to the health of the communities affected;
We, the undersigned,
petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to allocate funds to
resurface Route 437.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is a first
time I presented such a petition on behalf residents, basically, in Raleigh,
Ship Cove, and Cape Onion. I have
had the opportunity to meet with the local service district there in Ship Cove,
and also the Town of Raleigh.
Certainly, driving over road, especially to Ship Cove, it is a continuous bump
drive, bump; drive, bump; drive, bump; and that is a regular process.
In the community itself you could almost get lost in the pot holes that
are there.
Mr. Speaker, it has been
close to twenty-five years, and maybe it is time that there is some maintenance
work directed towards Route 437. On
behalf of the petitioners, I present this petition.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 until 2013, calcium
was applied to provincially owned gravel roads in and around communities to
suppress dust; and
WHEREAS dust suppression is
very helpful for residents experiencing health conditions like asthma and
allergies; and
WHEREAS the cost of
administrating the calcium program is very affordable to government; and
WHEREAS dust suppression is
an effective way of improving safety for the travelling public;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, beginning in 2014, to reinstate the
calcium application program on provincially owned gravel roads in and around
communities.
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, while I was
home on the weekend, that is a petition that was handed to me by the residents.
I stood a number of times last fall on the calcium issue, and I will
continue, because now we are into spring and we are soon going to have the dust
problem again.
Mr. Speaker, every day
people get up on petitions, and lots of times we are petitioning on the same
things: cell service, broadband, and bad roads seems to be a problem everywhere.
Mr. Speaker, I do not hear any of the other forty-seven members in this
House calling for dust control. So
that just tells me how bad the conditions are in the district that I represent.
It is really, really infuriating.
I have met with the minister a number of times.
We have ferry issues that cannot be fixed overnight.
We have been struggling with that all of this year; it has been a
terrible year. We have an atrocious
road that we drive on. The pavement
was announced. We still have five or
six years.
Calcium went in through the
main road on each of the communities and it made a huge difference to the
quality of life for those residents, Mr. Speaker.
My colleague for Burgeo La Poile has been talking about diabetes today.
I have had many seniors say to me last summer: My dear, I cannot get out
for a walk any more. Just such a
small thing that would have such far-reaching benefits, it would help with
supporting this healthy living, increase the quality of life.
Mr. Speaker, the Budget came
down, it talked about shared prosperity and a fair society.
I can tell you when I have to stand here and ask for a little bit of
money to be put back to keep the dust down, we do not care if it is calcium, we
do not care what it is as long as we have the dust control.
There are a lot of people in my district who do not feel that we live in
a fair society, I can tell you that.
I urge the minister to do
the right thing. A couple of things I
have heard him say, one was that it could be an environmental issue.
That is why I say look at something else.
Most recently I heard that perhaps the truck is no longer able to
accommodate what they need to put the calcium out.
If there is a will, my grandmother used to say, there is a way.
I urge the minister
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Time has expired.
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:
WHEREAS residents of the
Southwest Coast must travel the TCH between Channel-Port aux Basques and Corner
Brook for work, medical, educational, and social reasons; and
WHEREAS the Marine Atlantic
ferries dock at Channel-Port aux Basques at various hours on a daily basis
resulting in extremely high volume of commercial and residential travellers
using this section of the TCH; and
WHEREAS the world-renowned
Wreckhouse area is situate along this section of the TCH; and
WHEREAS the government
initiated the twenty-four hour snow clearing project in 2008 that excluded the
section between Channel-Port aux Basques and Stephenville;
WHEREUPON the undersigned,
your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the
government to include the section of the TCH from Channel-Port aux Basques to
Stephenville in the twenty-four hour snow clearing project.
Mr. Speaker, obviously this
is a petition I have entered on numerous occasions in this House.
I will continue to do so until government makes the right decision;
however, I stand today with a letter of support that I received from the
Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association that has written to the minister and
indicated their support for this initiative.
I have a letter here that was sent to the minister and I was cc'ed on.
The Atlantic Provinces
Trucking Association represents the commercial trucking industry in Atlantic
Canada with over 325 members from all four provinces.
This is a group that represents just about all the commercial traffic,
which makes up a large portion of the vehicles coming off the ferry and
travelling across and back and forth this Province.
For this group to indicate their support for this was seen to give it
some more strength. I am glad to
hear they have supported our call to include this section of the roadway.
Again, I am not speaking
just on behalf of my constituents. I
am speaking on behalf of constituents in the district next to me.
I am speaking on behalf of the truckers who are going across this road.
They should have the same service they get elsewhere when they are going
across this Province.
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy
to stand here today and enter this again.
I look forward to continuing to call to make the right decision here when
it comes to twenty-four hour snow clearing.
Thank you.
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, Mr. Speaker, I
go to Order 2, third reading of a bill.
I move, seconded by the Minister of Environment and Conservation, that
Bill 3, An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009, be now read the third
time.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that the said bill be
now read a third time.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
CLERK:
A bill, An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009.
(Bill 3)
MR. SPEAKER:
This bill is now read a third time and it is
ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.
On motion, a bill, An Act
To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009, read a third time, ordered passed and
its title be as on the Order Paper.
(Bill 3)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Now I would like to move to
Order 3, third reading. I move,
seconded by the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, that Bill 10, An Act
To Amend The Buildings Accessibility Act, be now read the third time.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that the bill now be
read a third time.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
CLERK:
A bill, An Act To Amend The Buildings Accessibility Act.
(Bill 10)
MR. SPEAKER:
This bill is now read a third time and it is
ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.
On motion, a bill, An Act
To Amend The Buildings Accessibility Act, read a third time, ordered passed and
its title be as on the Order Paper.
(Bill 10)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this point, I would like
to call from the Order Paper Motion 1.
I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board, that the House approves in general the budgetary policy of the
government, the Budget Speech.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I am happy to be able to
rise at last in my turn to address the Budget for 2014-2015, a Budget that came
into the House, I think, on March 27.
I find it extremely interesting that in this year's Budget, in the Budget
Speech, and in comments that have been made by the minister and by the Premier
since the Budget was first brought down, that the government has chosen to use
the language of social justice. I
noticed they have even put out definitions of social justice in the speech
itself, if I remember correctly, in the Speech from the Throne and in comments
that have been made here in the House.
It is a very important
concept. It is certainly one which I
have believed all my life, the concept of social justice; but the term is not
something that one can put on and taken off at will.
One year a Budget is a Budget based on social justice and another year a
Budget is based on tearing apart the programs and the very structure of what our
society, our community, may be built on.
Last year, Mr. Speaker, we
had a Budget that was pretty brutal.
It was a Budget that took away jobs from people in this Province, that took away
programs that people in the Province had been depending on, that took away
structures even that communities have been depending on for years; and did it at
a time, not when we were a Province in dire straits, not when we were a Province
who did not know where the next cent was coming from, but a Province that now
has an $8 billion Budget, a Province that has money has we have never had it
before in terms of revenue.
It was at a time like that,
that the government brought in a Budget that really made people suffer, and
people are still suffering from that Budget, Mr. Speaker.
Yet, this government can turn around this year and say oh, this year we
believe in social justice, and this year we have a Budget that is going to be a
Budget that will cause equality for people. This year is a year that we are
going to show people that we care.
So we are supposed to forget and people are supposed to forget that they did not
care last year but they are caring this year.
Was it social justice to
have all of those layoffs, Mr. Speaker?
All the layoffs that happened, we are told in excess of 1,500 people lost
their jobs, and we found out that many of the decisions that were made by this
government in that Budget were decisions not based on solid analysis, not based
on a reality inside of the departments.
We did not have departments that were swollen with numbers of people
lying around doing nothing. They
certainly found that out in the Sheriff's Office, Mr. Speaker.
This government this year in its Budget tried to undo what it did last
year, which was almost destroy the whole structure of the Sheriff's Office and
the role that it plays in our justice system if we want to use the word
justice.
The same way, Mr. Speaker,
with the Department of Justice, with the Crown prosecutors; again, we were not
talking about a system that was swollen with people with nothing to do.
What did they have to do days after the Budget came down last year?
They had to reverse decisions, decisions that were not based on analysis,
that were not based on reality, that were knee-jerk reactions, and they had to
turn them around.
It was a Budget last year
that did not care about the impact on young workers in the public service
sector, young workers who lost their jobs because of the layoffs.
We have now, Mr. Speaker, a public service sector that has a real
disruption in the continuity of the public service sector, a disruption in the
knowledge that exists in the public service sector because of the loss of the
jobs last year.
Was that social justice, Mr.
Speaker? Was that an act that really
was for the good of people in the public service sector?
Was it a decision that was good for the people in the community?
No, Mr. Speaker, it was not.
Let us look at another
decision in last year's Budget, and that was the decision to privatize Adult
Basic Education. Was that social
justice, Mr. Speaker, when we had communities that had wonderful centres in them
that were based in the community who were offering the ABE program, who were
offering employment programs, who knew closely the people in their community who
were vulnerable, who needed literacy programs, who had disabilities, who had
lost jobs in their communities and the centres in those communities were able to
work with people to ensure that they could get the education that they need to
better themselves to move forward?
Those communities lost those
centres. Those communities lost
their programs, whether the programs were being offered from the not-for-profit
community groups or being offered by our public college system, these were
programs that were rooted in the community.
Was that social justice, Mr.
Speaker, taking that program away from the communities of rural Newfoundland and
Labrador, taking that program away from people who needed it most?
So much for social justice in last year's Budget, Mr. Speaker, but this
year they can say: Oh, now we believe in social justice.
Wonderful!
The school board
reorganization, Mr. Speaker, no discussion, no debate.
None of us even knew there was an inkling this was coming.
All of a sudden in last year's Budget, we have this big decision for one
school board without any sense of what that is going to mean for people who are
at the heart of that school board.
We were already having decisions being made that were not good decisions for
individual communities.
People on the tip of the
Northern Peninsula were thinking that the board in Corner Brook really did not
understand what it meant for them to lose a school up on the tip of the Northern
Peninsula and the school board in Corner Brook did not.
What is going to happen now when we have one school board down here on
the Avalon Peninsula in charge of everything under English language education in
this Province? Where is the social
justice there, Mr. Speaker?
Are we seeing that there is
equity in our system here in this Province?
Are we seeing really that people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador have
equal access, have equal opportunities, that people in, for example, St. John's
or Corner Brook have? Is that social
justice? No, Mr. Speaker.
What social justice means is nobody being left behind and programs being
planned in a way that those most in need get what they need in order to bring
them up to a level of what maybe another community has that they do not have.
That is social justice, Mr. Speaker, not making these blanket decisions
that take things away from people.
Let's look at another one,
Mr. Speaker, the Family Violence Intervention Court.
Was it social justice to close down that court?
I do not think so, Mr. Speaker.
Once again, it was a program that was essential for a smaller group of
people in our community, smaller in one way, not so small in another.
This was a program, Mr.
Speaker, that was devoted to helping families in which there was violence, most
often violence by men against their wives or their partners and/or their
children. It was an intervention
court that was going to benefit everybody, and it did.
It benefited, in most cases, the mother and her children and it also
benefited the abuser.
It was a court that was
proven it was working. There was a
report done that, as far as we know because we only have copies of it, we do
not have anything official from this government and from what was told us by
everybody who was part of that program, it was working and it was proven to be
something that could lower domestic violence in our Province.
It was a program that was so
good that Nova Scotia, for example, Mr. Speaker, decided it was a real model and
they have started family intervention courts based on the model we used to have
here. This government dares to say
that it believes in social justice.
This year they think they
can take a few things and throw them into the basket, and say: We believe in
social justice. We believe in social
justice because this year we are going to start reducing the small business tax,
which the NDP had in its platform in 2011.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS MICHAEL:
We will start reducing that tax.
We are going to bring it down 1 per cent.
That is social justice.
They also have brought in,
Mr. Speaker well, they brought this in before.
You have a small increase every year for Income Support rates, and they
are saying that is social justice because we have a small increase based on the
cost of living. This is social
justice; aren't we wonderful?
Well, when they had a report
put in their hands some years ago, a report that said the Income Support has to
bring people up to a level where they are no longer living in poverty and then
every year after that you do a cost-of-living increase, they forgot that first
recommendation, Mr. Speaker. They
took a level of Income Support that is a poverty level and every year they do a
bit of an increase on that poverty level.
Because that poverty level began where it began, you can do your little
increases every year, it is still always going to be a poverty-level existence.
That is social justice, Mr. Speaker.
I cannot believe they have the gall to even use the terminology.
The same way with testing
newborn children for cystic fibrosis, they called this social justice.
It is, but there are so many other things they do not do for people when
it comes to our health care system.
What is wrong with their picture of social justice is that they do not
understand that it is a mentality.
It is the way you look at every decision that you make.
It is not cherry-picking. It
is not choosing something here and choosing something there and saying oh, we
know the NDP is calling for this and people seem to be responding positively.
Let's put that in this year.
Let's put that in because it looks like that is what people want.
Let's put in full-day kindergarten, but forget about an early childhood
strategy plan. That is what they
miss, is the broad picture. They are
not saying, for example, let's look at child care.
They are not giving us what they have always said they were going to give
us, an early childhood education plan.
Then you would see a child care program.
Then you would see full-day kindergarten part of a full vision that
starts with the child at six months and brings a child right up to Grade 12.
Early childhood education is
not just having all-day kindergarten, but they cherry-pick.
They cherry-picked. They
chose that one because it was always in their plan.
They have been planning it for years.
I know the department has plans on the board and have had that plan there
for a long time.
They finally decide, okay,
let's do it now. We are ready to do
it now. Not because they should be
doing it, not because this is a piece of early childhood education, but how are
we going to have things in the Budget that is going to get us re-elected in the
general election. That is their
social justice. That is what social
justice is to them. How are we going
to get ourselves re-elected?
The same way with the
student loan system. I am delighted
we have the all-day kindergarten. I
still think we could have started some of that in September of this year.
I have spoken to experts and those in the know who say we could have
started that in some of the schools this year.
I am also delighted the student loan system has changed and that we have
grants, which is something we as a party have been calling for more than ten
years, Mr. Speaker.
Again, they cherry-pick.
They say, oh, this one is going to be good.
We are going to get the young people on this.
The people in post-secondary education are going to love this.
We are going to get our votes from them, Mr. Speaker.
They have the gall to do it and not recognize that they are not the only
people in the Province who have stood for this.
They have no idea of what it
means when they say they believe in social justice.
They believe in doing what is going to get them elected, Mr. Speaker.
That is what they believe in: what is going to get them elected.
If they had a real vision for social justice, then we would not see what
is happening in this Province right now.
The rich are getting richer,
the poor are getting poorer, and they do not want to hear it.
They use statistics to try to deny the reality of what is going in this
Province. The gap between rich and
poor is growing. That is the
reality.
There is an interesting
comment from a report entitled, Inequality Rising Faster than Ever, and this
comes from an internationally renowned organization, the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD.
The OECD says, We're not experiencing a recession for the rich, only a
recession for the rest. That was an
interesting comment when they made it, and that is what is going on in this
Province right now in turning it around.
We are not experiencing growth for everybody.
We are experiencing growth for the rich; we are not experiencing it for
the rest. That is the message, Mr.
Speaker, that I keep getting.
If we really believe in
social justice, then we do our planning based on the rest of us, the rest of the
people, those for whom the economic system is not working, and we do not do it
by a tidbit here and a tidbit there.
We put programs in place, plans in place, that show we really understand how to
make our economic system work for everybody so that nobody gets left behind, Mr.
Speaker. We have people right, left,
and centre in this Province being left behind.
Senior citizens who cannot afford to both pay for their food, heat their
homes, and pay for their medication.
Senior citizens chewing ice cubes when they are hungry to fool their stomachs.
That is the kind of thing we have going on.
We have people in this
Province who cannot find places to live who, on a regular basis, in the night,
on weekends, during our workdays, at all times, making phone calls to us because
they do not have adequate housing.
They call us crying. I cannot
understand how they can continue talking the way they are, Mr. Speaker, on the
other side of the House; because if we are getting these phone calls from
people, surely they are getting them as well.
So, do they not hear those pleas when people call on the phone and cry
because they literally do not know what they are going to do?
Like the mother of an
autistic child who had to give up her home and move in with her parents because
she could not afford to be able to take care of her child.
She could not afford to take care of her child; her housing was too
expensive. She had to give up her
home and move in with her parents in order to take care of an autistic child.
That is social justice, Mr. Speaker?
They keep denying the reality of what we see in this Province.
They keep acting as if what we are seeing, they do not see, but they have
a way of being able to close their eyes to it.
I cannot close my eyes to
the reality of what I see. If you
believe in social justice, you cannot close your eyes to the reality of what you
see. If you believe in social
justice, you have to recognize everything that is going on in society and you
say: How do we put something in place that takes care of everybody?
That the rest of us are taken care of, that they are not people left
behind, that there are not people going to bed at night hungry because they
cannot afford to buy food and heat their homes at the same time.
That is why there is not a community in this Province now where you go
where you cannot find food banks; some smaller, some larger depending on the
community. They are everywhere in
our Province, Mr. Speaker, because everywhere in our Province people are being
left behind.
Mr. Speaker, this is my
first opportunity to speak to the Budget.
I am delighted to have had this first opportunity, and I look forward to
my other opportunities as the debate continues.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
The hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour
Grace.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is a
tremendous honour to take my place in this House of Assembly as the Member for
the great District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the hon. members of this House
and address the constituents who, through their efforts, have brought me here
today.
I will take a moment to
offer thanks and best wishes to my predecessors, the former Members of Carbonear
Harbour Grace: Mr. Jerome Kennedy, as well as Mr. Art Reid and Mr. George
Sweeney. I would also like to
acknowledge Mr. George Clarke, a native from Crockers Cove, Carbonear who served
in this Legislature for sixteen years.
He was one of the longest-serving Speakers of the House, having served in
that position for ten years.
Public service is no small
feat and those who take on these rewarding yet challenging roles should be
commended, no matter what political corner they chose to do their jobs.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to
express my deepest appreciation for the support, kindness, and trust shown
during my recent election. I thank
all those who assisted, have brought me here today, particularly the dedicated
campaign team of volunteers, including my family and friends.
For the ultimate vote of
confidence in my by-election of November 26, 2013, I offer profound thanks to
the people of the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
Let there be no mistake, their vote created a
strong bond between the people of the district and myself, and I intend to
honour it each and every day while I am given this duty to represent them in
government and in this Legislature.
Mr. Speaker, the people and
the communities of the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace are very near and
dear to my heart and soul. I have
served them as a councillor, deputy mayor, and the Mayor of the community of
Carbonear for many years. I intend,
with the best of my intentions and good will, to serve their purpose and their
platform the people's purpose and platform hopefully, for many years to
come.
The District of Carbonear
Harbour Grace is a mixture of towns, communities, and bays that are bound
together by many shared links, issues, and values.
Our past reaches back some 500 years when our Island was known as land of
the fish and cod was truly king, and even currency.
Our region had thriving
fishing communities even before settlements and livyers set up full-time
residence. Our rich story includes
the legacy of sailors and pirates like Peter Easton and the Irish princess he
allegedly rescued by the name of Sheila NaGeira.
Since then, we have had many other brave daredevils and pioneers, some
infamous, some not recognized, and some very famous like Amelia Earhart, an
American aviator pioneer who, as many of you will know, was the first female
pilot to fly solo across the North Atlantic.
In the district, we have
borne witness to colonies being established, wars upon our shores, international
ports of trade created, violent political and religious riots taking place, and
the Royal Canadian Navy operations carried out.
Yet, the communities in the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace are
still standing to tell the tale and what a fantastic tale of history we have
for the residents and tourists who visit our communities.
In addition to the above
historical notables, we have historic places still standing, like the Harbour
Grace Courthouse, which was constructed in 1830.
Three of the oldest stone churches in the Province are also within our
district: St. Paul's Anglican Church, Immaculate Conception in Harbour Grace,
and St. Patrick's in Carbonear. We
have the historic Mosquito wooden schoolhouse in Bristol's Hope, one of the last
of its kind.
Historic Carbonear Island
serves as a strategic place and a chapter in our provincial history.
During the Battle of Carbonear in which the French led the attack on the
community, the residents retreated to the island.
They were successful in defending the island from capture.
It became known for a time as the Gibraltar of Newfoundland.
Centuries later, in 1992 and
in 2012, Carbonear hosted the summer games.
As a result, the district can now boast about rubberized walking tracks,
excellent ball fields, and tennis courts.
There is also an outdoor concert venue known as Paddy's Garden, as well
as a downtown heritage area.
This is not a well-known
fact, Mr. Speaker, but there was a prisoner-of-war camp built during the Second
World War in Victoria. It was the
only prisoner-of-war camp built in Newfoundland and Labrador, but it was never
occupied because when the United States came into the war, they did not want
prisoners near their bases in the Province.
Today, a unique and early heritage park sits on that same site, completed
with a period saltbox house, a general store, a period church, a forge, and a
water-operated sawmill. Victoria is
also home to the second-oldest power plant built in 1904.
It is still operating today as efficiently as it was when it was built.
I want to thank my wife
Beverly, my three children, and seven grandchildren who stood by me and
supported me throughout my campaign, and continue that support.
I would also like to thank my brother and four sisters who stood by me.
As well, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my late parents who taught me the
values of life and never missed an opportunity to help and support my fellow
citizens, which is the very reason I offer myself for public life and why I am
here today.
Mr. Speaker, it has been
over three months since I officially assumed the role of MHA for the District of
Carbonear Harbour Grace on December 11, 2013.
We all come to our seats through different paths, some as lawyers, some
as teachers, and many of us from a variety of other lines of work.
By trade and true grit, I am a fisherman, a fish harvester, an
entrepreneur as they would like to call us now, and very proud to call myself
one.
As we row the great and
mighty ship called Newfoundland and Labrador, we will each have different lights
to guide us. My guiding force will
be the people of the district who I have the pleasure to represent, their
issues, their concerns, their worries, their challenges, and most importantly,
their solutions, as well as their visions and hope for the future.
Mr. Speaker, this is a people's government and a people's house, and we
must be vigilant in being responsive to this very simple truth.
Mr. Speaker, as I have
stated, I have been a municipal leader for over twenty years.
During that time, I have become personally familiar with the challenges
facing municipalities as I have seen it first-hand and the difficulties and joys
of running a community. I want to
continue to fight for infrastructure such as clean and safe drinking water,
proper water and sewer, as well as safe highways and roads.
I will also press for better education and facilities, including
post-secondary education, as well as shorter wait times and more efficient
delivery in our health care system.
I remain firm in my deep
belief in both rural Newfoundland and Labrador and in the fishery.
As a fisherman and a vessel owner, there are many rough waters to
navigate. I still stand ready to
fight tooth and nail for our small rural communities.
This can only occur if we are vigilant, if we have enough people fighting
the good fight, if we have leaders who control our resources willing to listen
and be committed.
We cannot again allow greed
to govern how we harvest our resources.
It must be done for the benefit of all and not just a few.
It must be done sustainably, sensibly, and it must be done in
collaboration with all stakeholders.
Mr. Speaker, I am a firm
believer in joint management of our fisheries with all stakeholders, and
especially with the federal government.
As a Province, we have been seeking joint management since Newfoundland
joined Confederation sixty-five years ago.
Now is the time to have that conversation again, but we must make this a
means to an end to finally get the respect we all deserve when it comes to our
fishery resources.
Incredibly, our fishery is
managed by people thousands of miles away.
People who may not be familiar with our fishing communities, people who
have not walked on our wharves or even had a regular conversation with our
fishermen. As well intentioned as
they may be, these people cannot do the job.
Let us draw ourselves a map
of a path we wish to travel. It must
begin now, it must be a priority, and it must begin with us.
Effective management of our fisheries resource should be left in the
hands of those who are most familiar with the daily operations and what the
fishery really means to the people on the front lines.
While there may be a
collaborative role by our federal counterparts, the reality is and the real
answer needs to come from those who are closest to the resource.
Joint management of fisheries and aquaculture is a key to ensuring
longevity and future growth.
Mr. Speaker, I may be only
in this role officially for four months but I have been familiar with the issues
affecting the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace my entire life.
Carbonear is my home, and for the past twenty years I have taken every
phone call, read every letter, and spoke to as many people as I can in the
region on what bothers them.
This is a flourishing and
successful region. For everything
that represents a challenge, there are also many things that can speak of
success of a district. Mr. Speaker,
the district boasts a modern, regional hospital; long-term health care
facilities; modern schools; modern shopping facilities; great recreational and
sporting facilities, such as the swimming pool in Carbonear and the stadium in
Harbour Grace. This area is commonly
referred to as the Hub of the Bay.
In Harbour Grace is a plane
called the Spirit of Harbour Grace.
This tourist attraction stands in recognition of contribution of the town
to early flight. I think it also
could very well symbolize the tremendous spirit of bravery and endurance not
just within the people and the communities, bays, and inlets of the District of
Carbonear Harbour Grace, but in the whole of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador.
I am humbled today that
those same people have put their faith in me in conveying the spirit and the
wishes of the people in the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.
This is a commitment I promise to keep, a pledge that I make today to
those who elected me and to all people of the Province.
Mr. Speaker, I am known,
among many infamous deeds, as being the last person to lock the doors of the
Carbonear train station when it went out of service.
One thing I can promise you: I will not be locking any doors on democracy
or on my constituents; their needs are my needs.
I intend to be part of a team that reopens a new way forward to our
Province.
Mr. Speaker, achievement is
only possible where there is action.
We have to be agents of change that we would like to see in our districts, our
Province, our country and indeed this world.
That is why I am here in the people's House.
I have pledged to the people of the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace
that there will be change in how we are represented.
I do not take their support for granted; they have given me their
confidence, and I respectfully seek to deliver on everything I have committed
to.
Mr. Speaker, as every member
in this House today can attest, we are all given a great privilege of standing
in this Legislature to reach each and every resident of our Province.
As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we are strong, confident, and
fearless people.
It is my honour to be
entrusted with the concerns and triumphs of residents in the District of
Carbonear Harbour Grace. It is a
responsibility I do not take lightly.
I want to light some fires to start change in my district in the fishery
and in the Province as a whole, because as Martin Luther King Junior once said,
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for
the privilege of addressing this House today.
I look forward, in the years ahead, as we work together for the people
who have put faith and trust into us.
Indeed, I dedicate this speech to the warm and wonderful people in the
District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for
Bonavista South.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a privilege and I am
delighted to be able to rise in this House today to speak on Budget 2014.
I would like to commend the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace on his
maiden speech. I would like to say
that all members in the House of Assembly are here to work hard and to act on
behalf of our constituents and the people of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador.
At this time, I feel it is
fitting to actually have some discussions around and talk around the issue of
health care services in Budget 2014.
It is very important. A $3 billion
investment advances health care for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Accessible health care remains a priority for the provincial Government
of Newfoundland and Labrador. With
an investment of $3 billion in Budget 2014, this is certainly going to help
ensure better, improved health care and better value for Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians.
We are listening to the
people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and focusing on areas we
know will mean the most to them and their families.
This government continues to provide accessible health care for families
and communities throughout the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Budget 2014 is all about shared prosperity, fair society, and a balanced
approach. This government recognizes
that and will continue to focus our attention on being fair to all people of the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In the recent Budget, there
was an announcement that was very important to the District of Bonavista South
and important to communities on the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula: a $1.5
million investment for dialysis.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLE:
I can say that with all certainty based on the
fact that I have attended a number of functions in the District of Bonavista
South the past couple of weekends.
Everywhere I go, people are actually talking about the importance of these
dialysis services to the communities on the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula.
I would like to take the
opportunity to commend the Minister of Finance, Premier Marshall, the Cabinet
ministers, the Department of Health and Community Services, and community groups
and organizations in the Bonavista area who actually lobbied government on
numerous occasions for this important service.
I commend the dialysis
committee, community councils, and leaders in the communities as well.
This was a joint effort by all people involved.
Everybody is to be commended on doing such an outstanding job.
This government, in particular, and Cabinet listened to the people in
that part of the region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Again, I send out my gratitude to all people involved.
It was a joint effort and we did listen to the people and we will listen
to the people in the future.
This service will provide a
better quality of life to people who are affected by dialysis.
This service will allow people to stay closer to home to have an
important service like this. This
service was a number one priority for the people in the District of Bonavista
South. This government listened loud
and clear and acted on the request of the people of the District of Bonavista
South, Mr. Speaker.
As we continue to focus our
attention on the needs of the people in health care and the people who are
working in health care, we did make a number of investments, and we do recognize
the importance of all people who work in health care.
This government recognized that nurses are important members of the
health care professional team in hospitals, health care centres, and communities
throughout this Province. That is
why 32 per cent of the number of new health and community services positions
added in Budget 2014 is nursing positions, Mr. Speaker.
There is an investment of
approximately millions of dollars that was invested in relation to putting
professional people into our health care systems in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Accessible health care remains a priority for the provincial government;
2014 will definitely ensure better health care services, better value for
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. We
will continue to listen to what the people of our Province are saying in
relation to such important issues as health care.
In relation to the
announcement of $500,000 towards the Bonavista Peninsula Health Centre to ensure
that there will be improvements made to our local health care centre.
That was another great announcement made in this Budget, Mr. Speaker.
This provincial government
is providing significant funding for long-term care and community support
services with an investment of $61 million in new funding.
This year, a total of $695 million will be invested for the provision of
long-term care and community services.
That is a substantial amount of money, $695 million.
Improving cancer treatment
and care is a priority for this government; $24 million to enhance the care and
treatment of people with cancer.
Bringing the total investment to $172 million in cancer treatment and prevention
since 2004; $7.1 million for coverage of new drug therapies under the
Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program, including drugs to assist
in the treatment of cancer.
Budget 2014 provides
investments to increase access and enhance long-term care, cancer treatment, and
seniors programming, which provides significant infrastructure investment into
the health care system. Investments
will increase to access diagnostic and treatment services for children with
autism and other developmental conditions, such as increased dialysis capacity;
$695 million is allocated in Budget 2014 to provide vital programming in
long-term care and community services.
Budget 2014 includes over
$189 million in infrastructure; $119 million for continuing construction and
redevelopment; $50.5 million for new equipment; and, $20 million for repairs and
renovations. This government
continues to invest in the needs of the people of the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador. We are committed to
all parts of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the urban areas, the
rural areas, the major cities.
We are committed to
Newfoundland and Labrador because this is a large geographical Province and we
know the needs of the people all across this wonderful Province, and we will
continue to listen to what the people are saying in the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador. I will continue to say
that because the Opposition does not always listen.
I will continue to preach and put the positive message out there about
what this government continues to do on behalf of the people of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
The people in my district
are listening and really appreciate what this government is doing to the rural
communities and the people who are affected in my district.
They commend me on a number of bases.
They have talked to me, they are listening.
They are paying attention to what this government is doing and they will
continue to support a government that is going to provide and help out the
people in the rural parts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The people are listening, they will continue to listen, and we are
listening. Collaboratively, we can
make a difference in the future needs of the people of this great Province.
Currently, we have 6,340
registered nurses in our Province.
An increase from previous years, from 2,421.
There are licensed practical nurses who are in health care providing a
great service as well, and their numbers are equivalent.
We have, as a government, recognized the significant contributions of all
of our professional people in health care, and we will continue to do that as a
government.
The Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador is committed to supporting important social programs,
strong communities, and the health and well-being of children, family and
seniors. This government supports
and helps people, the less vulnerable populations in our society, seniors and
individuals with low incomes.
Budget 2014 includes
approximately $170 million for the Poverty Reduction Strategy to support the
provincial government's long-term approach to the prevention, reduction and
alleviation of poverty. This brings
the total investment to reduce poverty to $1 billion since 2006.
I commend the people who work in Advanced Education and Skills, all
department officials, and the Minister responsible for Advanced Education and
Skills. They are doing such an
outstanding job.
The Department of Finance
announced Budget 2014 with an increase to all senior benefits.
The maximum payment seniors will receive in 2014 will be the highest ever
at $1,036, up from $971 in 2013.
Effective for the 2014 taxation year, the low-income tax reduction, income
thresholds will be increased eliminating the provincial income tax for
individuals with a net income up to $18,547 and for families with net income of
up to $31,362. This is a major
improvement, Mr. Speaker, and certainly will assist a large number of people in
the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This government also
supports affordable housing and will address homelessness.
Budget 2014 includes investments to support affordable housing through
the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. The provincial government
will again partner with the Government of Canada to extend the investments in
the affordable housing agreement for an unprecedented amount for the next five
years.
That amount, a $68 million
agreement, also extends the Provincial Home Repair Program and assists 2,100
households with low incomes to repair their homes.
There is $12 million over three years to extend the Residential Energy
Efficiency Program to assist up to 1,000 low-income owners per year with energy
retrofits. That will significantly
improve affordability by reducing heating costs.
There is $1 million to increase the Rent Supplement Program, bringing the
current $8 million annual allocation up to $9 million.
The program supports
individuals and families on low incomes and it will definitely help pay the
portion of their rent that exceeds 25 per cent of their net household income
directly to their landlord and assist Newfoundland and Labrador Housing to
address its application list.
Five hundred thousand
dollars in additional funding for the Supportive Living Program, for a total
annual investment of $5.3 million to address homelessness, Mr. Speaker.
Nine million dollars over three years to extend the Home Modification
Program to provide financial assistance to homeowners with disabilities or
seniors with low to moderate incomes who require accessibility changes to their
residence.
Those announcements that I
am speaking on here today are announcements that affect and improve the quality
of life of all seniors, and all people who meet the criteria right across the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In my district in particular, there are people who talk to me on a
regular basis and actually inquire about some of those programs.
We put the information out there as the elected officials, and these
people apply for those programs, and I must say, they are delighted in relation
to what this government continues to do to improve the quality of life of the
people of this great Province.
This government also
supports persons with disabilities.
Budget 2014 will include $12.6 million to advance inclusion and support
employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, Mr. Speaker.
Now, this was a very important announcement, very important and will help
a lot of people with disabilities.
This government, again, is listening to different groups, different
organizations, and we will continue to listen to the people of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
This government supports
health and wellness. Budget 2014
health announcements the provincial government is committed to improving the
health and wellness of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, Mr. Speaker.
Budget 2014 invests $7.1 million to provide coverage for new therapies
under the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program, bringing the
total investment in the program to $147 million.
AN HON. MEMBER:
How much?
MR. LITTLE:
One hundred and forty-seven million dollars, Mr.
Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLE:
Six point seven million dollars for the
continuation of the Adult Dental Program, including increasing the cap for basic
dental services from $150 to $200, Mr. Speaker.
An investment of $700,000 to extend drug card access from six months to
one year for people living with low income under the Foundation Plan of the
Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program.
Mr. Speaker, I can stand in
this House with all certainty and speak on behalf of the people of the District
of Bonavista South and the great people of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador, and I can say that this government continues to listen to the people
of Newfoundland and Labrador. We
will act on what we commit to. This
government has done this in the past and will continue to do this in the future.
I would like to commend all
of my colleagues on this side of the House today, Mr. Speaker, who are doing
such an outstanding job.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLE:
Also, I have to say that every department
official and every minister in Cabinet of this government, every time I actually
went and had a discussion I always got treated with respect.
I must commend the people who actually lead this Province in positions.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I remind the member his time
for speaking has expired.
MR. LITTLE:
I would like to speak a little bit more in the
future.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La
Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is certainly a pleasure
for me to rise here today and speak on Budget 2014.
I, too, would like to commend the member opposite on his maiden speech
here in the House today. It is a
great privilege for us all to be here, Mr. Speaker, and advocate on behalf of
the needs of our constituents.
That is why for me, in
particular, Budget 2014 is an outstanding Budget because we have delivered on
our commitment to the people of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune for road repairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, I have had a lot of
challenges in my district and continue to have challenges in my district.
Roads, in particular, have been one of the biggest.
The political life of all of my successors is going to be so much easier
because I am going to have the big part the bulk of the work is going to be
done before I leave my post, I can assure you.
Thirty-six kilometres of
paving, Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely astounding.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Never before have we seen that kind of an
investment, Mr. Speaker, in roads.
The people have asked for this commitment and we have delivered on this
commitment. Certainly there are no
limitations on what is going to be done.
The successful contractor will move the process along accordingly.
We are going to see significant improvements throughout my entire region.
This winter has been a hard
one for the Province as a whole. I
read on Twitter sometimes about even here in the district of St. John's how many
potholes people are encountering on a daily basis, and my district is no
different. As a government, we are
committed to do what we can in our rural districts, Mr. Speaker, and we are
going to see improvements, I can assure you, this summer.
Mr. Speaker, because this
roads announcement is so significant so, so important the likes of which we
have never seen before, I would particularly like to take the time to thank the
current minister and previous ministers
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
who
certainly have tolerated a lot from me in terms of my advocating and lobbying on
behalf of the districts. In
particular, I want to thank those residents at home who have supported me, who
understand how challenging it is, and who understand that announcements like
this do not happen overnight.
I worked very closely in
particular with the Joint Mayors Committee.
For a number of years we have identified the section of road that is
being done as being a priority. Over
the course of this winter, new priorities are being added.
Mr. Speaker, I assure my residents that those priorities will be
addressed in time as well.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
I certainly do not intend to give up until we
have it all done.
Mr. Speaker, another great
announcement I was very fortunate to deliver to my constituents was made on
Friday past: $4 million for broadband.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
This broadband investment, Mr. Speaker, is going
to improve our Internet service throughout the entire District of Fortune Bay
Cape La Hune from Bay d'Espoir to the Connaigre Peninsula to Fortune Bay North
Shore. Every part of my district is
going to see improved broadband access.
We are going to have more customers being able to come online.
Right now, and for the last
year or two, actually, Aliant has not been able to take on any new customers;
the line was full and massive congestion.
We have aquaculture companies whose parents companies are in Nova Scotia.
They are doing business in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and the
ability to upload and download files in real time was a real challenge for us.
Mr. Speaker, as of mid-July this summer, all of those problems will be
alleviated for the people in Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Mr. Speaker, we are a government that is indeed
listening to the people. It takes
time. As all members opposite and
anyone who is in a position of responsible governance realizes, you cannot do
everything overnight. Rome was not built
in a day.
The call for screening for
cystic fibrosis is one that has been heard by our government, Mr. Speaker.
I am so very pleased this screening will now be taking place and that
announcement has been made. We have
delivered for the people of the Province as a whole in this regard.
Another very, very important
initiative, Mr. Speaker, in terms of health care, one that particularly affects
people and rural remote residents like mine is that of the Medical
Transportation Assistance Program. I
still find there are people who are not really aware of this program.
I try to promote it as much as possible.
Anyone I know in the region who is travelling for a medical assistance,
we certainly try to get the message out that this program is available.
It is a big help.
It is never easy when you
are suffering from any kind of illness, Mr. Speaker, be it kidney failure, be it
heart failure, be it cancer, or be it an illness with your child.
The financial strife, the financial burden that comes with that is
something we are trying to ease in terms of rural residents in particular.
Unlike people here in town who have their home they can go back to every
night, we have to leave home, Mr. Speaker, for specialized services.
I am so very pleased we have made significant improvements in that
program this year. We introduced the
program. We brought the program in,
and we are continuing to make it better.
In particular I would like
to highlight, the monthly accommodation contribution has increased in Budget
2014 from $1,500 to $3,000. We have
doubled it, Mr. Speaker. We have
also reduced the rate. Prior to
2014, in order to qualify for this program you needed to be driving a total of
2,500 kilometres per year to access specialized services, which in our case, in
Fortune Bay Cape La Hune, it is only two and half trips to St. John's.
I am very pleased to announce, or to reiterate I guess it was announced
in the Budget Speech this rate has been reduced from 2,500 kilometres down to
1,500 kilometres.
Now, Mr. Speaker, after just
one trip to St. John's and one or two trips to Grand Falls, you will be able to
qualify for assistance under the Medical Transportation Assistance Program, in
the case of my District of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
I am sure on the West Coast that will probably be met within just one
trip. It is really going to enhance
the ability of rural residents to get to their specialists and receive the
services they so desperately need.
In addition to that, with
this program, the mileage rate previously at sixteen cents per kilometre has
been increased to twenty cents per kilometre in Budget 2014.
Once costs for the patient exceeds $3,000, Mr. Speaker, we are committing
to pay 75 per cent of these expenses.
So it is really going to make a difference in the lives of our people who
have to travel for specialized services.
Another benefit I see in
particular that is going to help people like single parents, young mothers,
people who are on Income Support who really want and are able to transition to
the workforce but sometimes there are challenges with that, Mr. Speaker.
The cost of transitioning to the workforce, especially if you have a
medical ailment, losing that drug card is a big fear.
A few years ago a very good
friend of mine had a darling little boy.
She was in a position, she was on Income Support and she could not go to
work because of medical issues.
Financially, she would have been worse off had she gone to work.
A program like what we have done this year in Budget 2014 would have
enabled her that opportunity, Mr. Speaker.
Because now, instead of a six-month period, if there is someone who is on
low income wanting to move into the workforce, the benefits of that drug card
are going to be extended to one full year, which is really going to enable
people to get on their feet.
These are the types of
measures that impact in the day to day lives of the average person of
Newfoundland and Labrador. We are
making a difference, Mr. Speaker, where it counts.
Some of the other things I
would like to highlight before I run out of time, is our investments, Mr.
Speaker, in water. When I came into
office six years ago
MR. KENT:
Here, here!
MS PERRY:
Yes, Municipal Affairs has been a wonderful
supporter to rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
Since my term in office, we
have seen significant improvements in water in the Belleoram area.
There are portable water dispensing units throughout most of my
communities. The Harbour Breton
project has been completed. St.
Alban's is now working toward Phase III of its water project.
So, we are going to have significantly improved water systems, and the
quality of our drinking water has improved significantly over the last five
years.
MR. KENT:
More to come.
MS PERRY:
And more to come, Mr. Speaker.
Before I wrap up today, I
want to talk a little bit about the negativity these days.
It astounds me that anyone could be at all upset with an announcement
like thirty-six kilometres for roads.
My goodness, what a fabulous announcement.
I am going to tell you, Mr. Speaker, the difference between our side of
the House and the other side of the House is optimism and confidence versus
negativity.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Let's take a look, Mr. Speaker, at what is
happening right here in Newfoundland and Labrador today.
We are leading the country for the first time in our history.
The highest wages in the country, second only to Alberta.
Whoever would have thought
Newfoundland and Labrador would have the second-highest average income in
Canada? It is unbelievable, Mr.
Speaker, and it has happened because of the leadership, the vision, the
governance, and the measures and policies put in place by the Progressive
Conservative government over the last few years.
Taxes, Mr. Speaker, have
never been lower. We are receiving
unprecedented benefits from our natural resources.
We are leaders in the country in our poverty reduction initiatives.
Student grants and tuition; we have frozen tuition for years.
In terms of the student loans, in this year's Budget we are converting
them back to grants, the provincial portion.
What a difference that is
going to make for the children of Newfoundland and Labrador to be able to access
post-secondary education. They will
not be leaving, Mr. Speaker, university with as high a burden as they otherwise
would have. That happened because of
the Progressive Conservative government.
We have high credit ratings,
Mr. Speaker, enabling us to pay lower interest on the debt and put more money
back into programs and services for the people of this Province.
When you talk about wanting change, I scratch my head and I say change to
what? We have never been doing
better.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
I remember the days of the doom and gloom and
they were not so very long ago. I
remember the mass exodus and the brain drain.
I remember the higher taxes.
I remember that there were no increases to minimum wage, Mr. Speaker.
I remember the low credit ratings, and I remember the have not status
that we had as a Province. Those are
days I certainly do not want to see again.
The only change I want to
see, Mr. Speaker, is continued growth and prosperity.
That will be delivered by the Progressive Conservative Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador and the leadership, the vision, and the policies that
we have in place.
I am honoured to have a few
moments to stand up here and speak to the amendment on today's Budget.
I am even more honoured to be working for the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador, and in particular the people of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune, as we work
together to tackle the challenges ahead of us.
I know that with your continued support and our commitment to work
together that we will deliver and things will continue to improve.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is certainly a pleasure
to rise and address this year's Budget.
First of all, Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Member for
Carbonear Harbour Grace
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. EDMUNDS:
on the delivery of his maiden speech and truly a representative of the people
who he represents.
I would also like to take
this opportunity to wish the volunteers in our Province all the success as we
move into Volunteer Week for the tremendous job they have done in the past, are
doing, and certainly will continue to do.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to
talk about a couple of issues in this year's Budget.
I have skipped through the Budget presentation and there are issues that
certainly pertain to my district as well as districts throughout the Province.
I noticed early on in the Budget Speech this government talked about
search and rescue and putting funding into search and rescue over the next five
years.
In the very second paragraph
after that, Mr. Speaker, they talk about rural broadband initiatives.
It certainly is good to see and it is good to hear we have 95 per cent
coverage throughout our Province, but I would like to know what part of the
Province falls under the 5 per cent that does not have it, outside of probably
the Southern Labrador coast and the Northern Labrador coast for sure.
Mr. Speaker, I would also
like to tie in the trans-Labrador trails.
Over the last ten days, I have driven 1,200 kilometres between Goose Bay,
North West River, Postville, Makkovik, and Hopedale by snowmobile.
Some of it was on a groomed trail; some of it was not.
I think the major reason was there was not enough snow to groom a portion
of the trail. I was driving on a
trail over sea ice and across portages that were marked by reflectors and trees.
I think in the last fifteen years, we have just started to get into
marked trails.
Last Sunday night, Mr.
Speaker, I drove back from Hopedale to Makkovik and it was in a blizzard.
I would like to think I am an experienced snowmobiler, especially up in
my area. I have been doing it for
almost forty years. Last Sunday when
I left Hopedale, I travelled along the trans-Labrador trail and it was at night,
it was dark, and it was stormy.
Every so often I would see a reflection on a post stuck up in the snow on the
bay. I just shut down everything I
had and tried to follow that, Mr. Speaker.
There were times when I thought: What if I was not experienced?
What if I did not know how to get around?
So it was always a comfort when I looked at it from the perspective, to
see a reflection come out of nowhere 500 yards ahead of you, but there were also
times when I drove as much as a mile or a mile-and-a-half before I saw another
reflector.
I guess the point I am
trying to make is that there has been a lot done over the last fifteen years in
terms of trail marking; there is still a lot that could be done.
I do not think in any time in the near future will this government even
think about building a road up to Northern Labrador.
I do not think it is even in the plan or even in their dream.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. EDMUNDS:
I think, for that matter, as my colleague just
mentioned, nor will there be a power line going up there.
I am going back to my first
point, Mr. Speaker, on search and rescue initiatives and broadband initiatives.
When you set up a tower for broadband, it has a radius; it can be as high
as a forty-mile radius. On the North
Coast of Labrador the furthest distance between two communities, I think it is
about seventy miles.
Having said that, we are
still subject to what Mother Nature can throw at us, more so up there than
anywhere else in this Province. When
it comes to increasing and applying technology, government sponsored and
developed, it seems that the further North you go the less involved this
government is; but we are hopeful and we will remain hopeful.
The reason I am tying in
search and rescue with broadband is because cellphone service could save lives.
I have heard petition after petition after petition in this House of
Assembly and have actually delivered a few myself in the past on how much of
a comfort communication would be and how much more comfortable people would feel
if they had that extra piece of communication, Mr. Speaker.
I know it was a little over
two years ago, we had a young fellow go missing.
It was three days, Mr. Speaker, before we found his body.
This incident went national; it went international.
We all reference the Burton Winters tragedy.
I will point out and I have pointed out
many times before, and I will point it out again tonight: I was actually engaged
in the search. It is certainly not
the best chapter of my life and it is not something that I would wish on anyone
to have to go through.
I think the thing that
disturbed me the most, Mr. Speaker, out of that whole ordeal is that when we
were going through young Burton's clothing and his belongings, I hauled out a
BlackBerry that is exactly like this one here exactly like the one I have in
my hand, Mr. Speaker, and I could talk to anybody from here.
Mr. Speaker, young Burton
was six miles from Makkovik six miles and he could not get out of the jam he
was in because it took three strong men to dislodge his snowmobile from where it
was jammed. He could not have done
it himself; but, Mr. Speaker, I turned on the BlackBerry and it was actually
powered up. Young Burton could have
made a phone call. He could have
made a phone call and within minutes minutes we could have been there.
We could have been there to the exact spot where his skidoo was found.
We have had incidents since
then where people have been broke down and not everyone can afford to buy a
satellite telephone. Not everyone
can afford to buy a SPOT, Mr. Speaker.
That is an opportunity for improvement in search and rescue right there,
plus I think with the development and with technology it is a good idea.
This government pats itself on the back for delivering broadband to 95
per cent of the Province, Mr. Speaker.
I would love to see the day when they can stand up and say 100 per cent,
but I do not think I am going to.
Time is going to run out.
We talk about broadband
initiatives and what it would take.
I actually took it upon myself, Mr. Speaker, to make a call to Bell Aliant and
to ask them what initiatives they have had, what partnerships have they
discussed with the government of our Province.
I was very surprised that there was no dialogue.
I stand to be corrected, but this is what I was told by officials at Bell
Aliant, that there was no dialogue with this government across the way to even
discuss broadband or even Internet on the North Coast.
In many areas of our Province, Internet access is maxed out.
You cannot do it, you cannot put any more new entries on.
I was glad last summer when the government announced $24 million or $25
million to bring FibreOP to Muskrat Falls.
It was wonderful, Mr. Speaker.
I was also glad to hear the businesses in Upper Lake Melville would
benefit.
Mr. Speaker, I took it upon
myself this past week to write a letter to Bell Aliant, and a copy to ministers.
The Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs, the Minister of Tourism,
Culture and Recreation, and to Bell Aliant to try and initiate a dialogue.
Something that should have been done.
If there is no initial discussion, Mr. Speaker, it is not going to go
anywhere.
I am hopeful that there will
be a dialogue. I will ensure that
there is a dialogue. That the people
in Northern Labrador, and Southern Labrador, and other areas in the Province can
benefit from what this government is boasting about.
So, Mr. Speaker, that is how I would like to tie in broadband and search
and rescue.
The other issue I would like
to touch on, Mr. Speaker, is one that I have been asking questions about, and
that is justice in Labrador. Justice
is on the verge of collapse. I think
there is no other word to describe it.
I printed off the latest court docket, Mr. Speaker.
It was twenty-eight pages long.
Now, you may ask or question the fact that there is a lot of crime up
there. No, Mr. Speaker, that is not
the case.
The reason the court docket
is twenty-eight pages long is because of cases that have been postponed, and
charges have been put off. It is
creating a mess. You wonder why
Crown attorneys are leaving, well if you dig not very deeply you will find they
are leaving because of lack of resources, they are overworked, and nothing is
being done to address the issue.
Now, there was a time when
justice was a very serious word in anyone's vocabulary.
When you mentioned justice you were serious and you were focused.
It is not the case now, Mr. Speaker.
Justice is becoming a joke, and that is not something we would like to
hear.
There are serious charges
that have been put off, Mr. Speaker.
I think there were forty-two sexual assault charges or sexual interference
forty-two charges. If you look at
the individual cases of serious charges, you will find there are 225 failures to
comply or breach of undertaking charges that are attached to those initial
charges that are serious.
Mr. Speaker, the thing that
bothers me the most is the chronology of how an assault charge is laid and how a
breach of undertaking is applied. In
individual cases, you have up to fifteen breaches of undertaking.
The thing that bothers me the most is in between those breaches of
undertaking there is another sexual assault charge laid or another assault
charge laid.
Now, I am not a lawyer, but
I think a breach of undertaking is considered a serious offence and is
punishable by fourteen days in jail.
These are being thrown out, Mr. Speaker.
I think the correct term that is being used up there now is: in the
interest of the court's time. Given
the length of the docket and given the number of breaches, the court does not
have any time. Why does the court
not have time? Because they do not
have the resources.
Mr. Speaker, in the
Department of Justice Annual Report last year, Goal 1, and I quote, By March
31, 2014, the Department of Justice will have implemented initiatives to enhance
public trust and confidence. Now,
they have not met that mark. If they
did, I would not be bringing up the justice issues back in Labrador.
Goal 2, Mr. Speaker, on the
very next page, or a couple of pages, I am sorry.
By March 31, 2014, the Department of Justice will have enhanced its
responsiveness to clients' diverse needs and interests.
Clearly, that did not happen.
As a matter of fact, it has only gotten worse.
I have always taken the
position of the victims, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to crime.
The reason I do that is because I have had e-mails from victims.
I have inbox messages from victims.
They are living, in some cases, next door to the person who committed the
crime against them next door to where the crime was committed.
When this person is not
making an appearance in court or it is being thrown out or postponed, Mr.
Speaker, imagine the stress level.
Especially in a sexual assault case where the person who committed the offence
is awaiting trial for as long as three years in one particular case; three years
waiting to go to court on a sexual assault charge.
Living in a community that is very, very small, less than 500 people, Mr.
Speaker, does nothing to help the victims.
How can you talk about justice initiatives a year ago and what you are
going to do, and have the situation that we have here today?
Along with sexual assault
charges, we have over seventy assault charges or resisting arrest; seventy
charges that are waiting for court appearances.
I would just like to bring up one example.
Last year in the community of Hopedale a house was burnt to the ground.
It was through arson, Mr. Speaker.
It was an arson that was committed.
It has been almost ten months since that incident happened.
The person who was accused has been on the docket four times in the last
ten months, Mr. Speaker. He is
actually not even on the docket this time around.
If you are going to take
justice seriously, you need facts and you need examples.
I remember the Minister of Justice on previous occasions told me he
needed examples, Mr. Speaker. When
the court docket is twenty-eight pages long, how many more examples do you need?
How many more examples do you need before justice will be taken
seriously?
It is good to see some
initiatives, Mr. Speaker, crime prevention.
I talked to the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services on the
situation in Natuashish. I have also
talked to members of the Band Council.
There is forward movement and that is encouraging because at the end of
the day we all want to be on the same page and to reduce Child, Youth and Family
Services incidents, hopefully, to zero.
I did notice in the Budget
that there was funding for an additional five police officers.
Some of the most frustrated people in the justice system, Mr. Speaker,
are the police officers. The amount
of leg work they do to get a court case on the table, to have it rejected,
thrown out, postponed is not a very comforting thought to us, and it certainly
makes their workload much more difficult.
I do have some other issues
that I do want to address later on as we address the Budget, Mr. Speaker.
With that, I will take my place.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):
The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family
Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you for the
opportunity to have a few minutes this afternoon to enter in a debate on the
Budget debate. It is my pleasure to
have this chance to stand up. My
focus this afternoon, Mr. Speaker, will be talking about some of the initiatives
in my Department of Child, Youth and Family Services and providing some
background.
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker,
there is no way I could include all of the work, all of the lines of business
that takes place in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services in a
twenty-minute period. I will engage
in some of those topics this afternoon.
I hope and look forward to other opportunities as the Budget goes through
its different sessions of the House, its different sittings of the House, and
different days of debate and opportunities to rise and discuss other aspects of
work that are occurring in the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.
Mr. Speaker, the department
was formed in 2009. It was this
government that made that decision after having a very in-depth and
comprehensive report carried out in 2008.
There was a significant piece of work done and study about the services
that were being provided to children, youth, and families throughout
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Prior to 2009 and up to
and including 2009, but prior to the decision of government to create its own
stand-alone line department, the provision of services, child, youth, and family
services, child protection, matters related to child care, matters pertaining to
child protection, placements for children as well was
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Prior to 2009 it was
delivered through the various regional health authorities throughout the
Province. It was done by each
individual health authority under their particular program base and how they
operated within their own umbrella.
In 2009, this government
identified with the absolute need to form a separate line department.
We have to make sure that we are providing the best services possible to
our most vulnerable citizens, the children, youth, and families who need the
supports of Child, Youth and Family Services, need the supports from government
to ensure the best interests of those children.
That was announced and
rolled out and began in 2009; it started as a very small department.
It was essentially a planning department at that point in time.
It was known back then that it was going to take a significant amount of
time. We knew, and it was said, that
once the department began to evolve and become a department, a functioning,
operating department, that it could take likely five years.
I remember the minister of
the day at the time talking that this is a big piece of work and it is going to
take at least five years to implement.
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, through that process, as new policies were
developed, there was work done on new legislation.
The Children and Youth Care and Protection Act was implemented in 2011.
We did a new piece of legislation last fall in the Adoption Act, 2013.
We are also working towards a new piece of legislation dealing with child
care. We have gone to consultations
a number of times, Mr. Speaker, and our work is underway on the child care act
and regulations and we continue to do that.
There was the development of
a new training unit in 2011, reflective of the need to ensure that our
employees, our front-line staff in the department, had the best opportunity to
keep current with best practices, best clinical practices, and to ensure that
the training continues so that they could be best positioned to do their job
well. We also developed in July 2011
a quality unit. A quality unit,
mixed with the organizational model that we currently have in the department,
worked together to ensure that we continue to make improvements in the quality
of work that is done by our front-line employees.
Then there was the
transitioning of the delivery of service.
So social workers, child protection workers prior to 2009 were actually
working in the health authorities, working for the health authorities under the
direction of health authorities. In
March 2011, the first region came in, being Western.
They left the health authorities and the staff transitioned into the
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.
This was done in a step-by-step progress.
It was later that year, in July 2011, that the Central Region became part
of the department. In the fall of
that year, Eastern became part of the department.
Then later in 2011, metro became part of the department.
Then it was not until 2012 that the Labrador services became part of
Child, Youth and Family Services.
Mr. Speaker, I can tell you
it is a significant piece of work.
It is a significant department. The
work they do is very important. I
know members in the House, on both sides of the House, have commented many time
on the important work that is done in the provision of services.
It was a significant piece of work to transition those employees from one
employer, being Eastern Health, Western Health, Labrador-Grenfell Health, and
Central Health into one department, the Department of Child, Youth and Family
Services.
There has been an ongoing
development of policies, procedures, ongoing training delivered primarily
through our training unit ongoing development of their skills and
understanding of the difference in how the departments would operate.
Mr. Speaker, there have been a number of things that were done that way.
We have also done other
pieces of work as a new department.
We have also carried out and implemented new pieces of work.
One of the very important ones was the release of Caring for our Future,
a ten-year strategy that was released just over a year ago.
It focuses on the position of the
department relating to child care in 2012 and sets out a ten-year plan.
The strategy is based on three pillars, Mr. Speaker.
It is based on quality, the quality of delivery of child care services in
the Province; it is based on sufficiency, ensuring that there are adequately
enough child care spaces in Newfoundland and Labrador; and on affordability.
Because as you build quality and you build sufficiency, we also have to
make our efforts to ensure that child care is affordable.
There are a number of things
that have done as part of that ten-year strategy.
It is available; it is a public document.
You can find it on our Web site, and it is a very informative document
especially for parents and families who have young children who require child
care services. They can see that we
are making a very concerted effort and focus over the next ten years to continue
to enhance those services.
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker,
that since 2003 there has been a significant increase in the number of child
care spaces in Newfoundland and Labrador.
It has gone from approximately 4,600.
As of December 2013, there are approximately 7,800 spaces, which are
ahead of our target under the ten-year strategy, but it has been a significant
piece of work and significant progress has been made.
The other things that we are
doing as part of our child care strategy is we are building wraparound supports
to the child care industry and to people who work within the child care
industry, and also, to families of children who want to avail of child care,
such as the early childhood educators.
Early childhood educators are people who work in our child care centres.
We encourage them to improve and advance their training.
For many years, several years, there was a supplement offered to persons
who worked in child care centres.
There was a supplement to child care operators who used to receive $6,660 each
year, provided to them on a quarterly basis as a supplement to their income
received from their employer. We
increased that last year to $10,000, and for Level I early childhood educators
working in a homeroom we have increased that from $3,300 to $6,600 a year.
Again, that paid out quarterly.
That helps to encourage people to consider a career in child care in
Newfoundland and Labrador and also to obtain their necessary qualifications and
education. I am going to talk later
about that. I know in later debates
I will be talking about that as well.
Also, Mr. Speaker, at the
end of December and the end of 2013 there were more than 2,300 children in
Newfoundland and Labrador whose families took advantage of the child care
subsidy. We subsidized the cost of
child care to those families who are eligible to receive it.
Over $15 million this year will assist and support families in
Newfoundland and Labrador in being able to avail of child care.
As well, there is a child
care operating grant program, Mr. Speaker, and this is a new one announced in
this year's Budget; $9.7 million for a child care operating grant program.
That will be implemented this year.
The focus of this particular grant, this new voluntary operating grant
program, is to provide funding to eligible child care centres that set their
rates at the provincial subsidy rate and also meet our criteria.
If they do that, if they provide regulated child care opportunities
throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and they charge the provincial subsidized
rates, then this year we are going to implement an operating grant program to
assist those operators to ensure they can continue to provide services that
include the three pillars of our focus of our strategy and include quality,
sufficiency, and affordability.
Mr. Speaker, there are big
pieces of work going on in child care.
We are continuing to make advancements.
We recognized very early through preparation of the ten-year strategy
that you could not do this overnight.
It was impossible to do this overnight.
We have to continue to do it piece by piece by piece.
We work towards enhancing child care opportunities in Newfoundland and
Labrador and we do it through a well-planned, well-strategized means so we can
continue to grow, and we are on track.
Mr. Speaker, not to get off into the topic of full-day kindergarten because it
is not my intention to go down the road and have a discussion about that today,
but we also know, through implementation of full-day kindergarten, those
children who now require half-day spaces and actually in most places occupy a
space for a full day because they go mornings, afternoons, and a combination of
as those children move into full-day kindergarten in 2016, we know that will
open up spaces for younger children throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
I know in speaking to many
parents who were very excited about the announcement in the Budget of full-day
kindergarten in 2016, our understanding, especially those who have younger
children, is they will be able to avail of and attend full-day kindergarten.
It is also a full year then, Mr. Speaker, that parents do not have to pay
for child care. It is a full year
earlier that they do not have to pay for full-time child care for their
children.
Mr. Speaker, I want to move
on to our Continuum of Care. There
has been some discussion about this publicly recently.
We announced in May that we were entering into new contracts for Level 4
services. I just want to, in the
time I have remaining, talk about that a little bit.
As I talked about earlier, I explained how, before the department was
developed, the provision of services was being administered through individual
health authorities throughout the Province.
That includes our Continuum of Care or foster care throughout
Newfoundland and Labrador.
As a new department, we have
developed what we refer to as the level system, a four-level system.
Level 1 is referred to as kinship homes, which is the home of a person
who is a near relative or a person who is a significant other or significantly
known to a child. This is for those
circumstances, these very difficult circumstances and very necessary
circumstances, where a child can no longer stay in their home and we are
required to find an out-of-home placement.
It is how we refer to it quite normally as an out-of-home placement, but
it is those circumstances where for one of any number of reasons and, Mr.
Speaker, there could be hundreds of thousands of reasons why a child or children
can no longer stay in their home, sometimes for a short period of time, it could
be for a longer period of time, and it could become a permanent requirement that
those children cannot stay in their homes.
Level 1 would be the kinship
option, and that would be the first sought-after option, that a child be placed
in a home where they are familiar with the family they are going to live with,
if it is a relative, a near relative, or someone who is a significant other or
well known to the family.
Level 2 is what we would
call a regular foster home. They are
people from throughout the Province, throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, who
agree to take children and youth into their homes who require an out-of-home
placement. They are all over
Newfoundland and Labrador. I have
had the privilege since I have been in this department, Mr. Speaker, to meet
many of them. I could spend a full
afternoon talking about programs and assistance supports for all the levels of
foster care. It is not my intention
to do that today, only to make an overview and talk about Level 4.
They are the foster people in the Province who care for children when we
need a home for those children to go to.
Then Level 3 is specialized
foster care and specialized foster homes.
Level 3 is a work in progress.
We, in coming weeks, will begin training Level 3 foster parents,
specialized parents. Those are
circumstances where the needs of a child or needs of a youth require that the
foster parents have a higher level of understanding and training education.
We provide that for them as a specialized foster home.
We are looking forward to begin rolling out the training for specialized
foster homes in the coming weeks.
That brings us to Level 4.
Level 4 is staffed residential settings.
Level 4, Mr. Speaker, is for circumstances where children have the most
complex personal needs, they have complex social needs, they have complex
emotional needs, they have developmental complexities and needs, and also
complex developmental needs, or a combination of.
These are where the Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 are not a fit or an
option for those children.
Level 4 is broken out into
different categories. We have group
homes. Group homes are a group home
setting where staff works in a home.
The children and youth live in the home, and staff works in the home.
Again, they are for the most complex needs, social needs, emotional
behaviour, and developmental needs.
We also have individual
living arrangements. Mr. Speaker,
this is where a child or youth's needs are extraordinary.
There is no other way to describe it only extraordinary.
They have extraordinary medical needs, extraordinary emotional needs, and
extraordinary behavioural needs, and other options of foster care are not an
option in those particular cases.
Then we also have EPH or
emergency placement homes. Those are
twenty-four-hour emergency placements where we can house children.
There are staff placements for a short period of time or a short to
medium period of time either for an emergency placement, or to enable us to
conduct an assessment of their needs, and sometimes in transitions.
Mr. Speaker, what happened
recently and what happened prior was the health authorities had outside services
providing the services of staffed residential homes.
There were profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Most of them were unionized.
Their employees in the cases where they are unionized are covered under NAPE
contracts, contracts of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and
Private Employees. They have
contracts through them. Some were
for profit and some were not for profit.
In 2010, before all the
health authorities came in, the Auditor General reported that Eastern Health
needs to go through a competitive process.
The Auditor General recommended that Eastern Health should go through a
competitive process. We know why the
Auditor General makes those recommendations.
We know it is because it is a service being provided by government.
It is being provided through taxpayers' dollars, and the service needs to
be the best quality available. The
provision of services needs to be the best quality available and we should do
that through a competitive process.
A year ago, early 2013, the
department was in consultation with all the service providers and invited
proposals from them. NAPE was
notified and aware of the process we were going through.
Since that time there has been a competitive process underway, and in
March we reached the conclusion and awarded contracts on this competitive
process. The contracts have been
awarded, I say, Mr. Speaker. The
service providers who now have contracts with the Department of Child, Youth and
Family Services are the same service providers who were providing before, but
there are service providers who will no longer be providing services to the
department.
I also would like to point
out that these for-profit and not-for-profit agencies are stand-alone groups.
Some are voluntary boards that were formed years ago for a different
purpose, and then evolution began to take what is now our staffed residential
placements or Level 4 care. There
are for-profit businesses as well that were developed to provide staffed
residential placements.
Mr. Speaker, interestingly
enough, in some of the rural homes that were board operated, where employees
were covered under a NAPE agreement, the new provider, which happens to be a
for-profit provider, their employees are also covered under an agreement by
NAPE, separate from the other ones as well.
They are still stand-alone outside of government.
We went through the competitive process, we sought out the opportunities
to provide the best services we could to children and youth, and that resulted
in the awarding of the contracts that we awarded in March and are working
towards transitioning.
I would also like to very
quickly point out in the few seconds I have left that I know the member opposite
has talked about not having a transition plan.
I would just like to point out to the House, Mr. Speaker, to clarify that
each individual child's needs are individual needs.
They are unique to themselves.
I can tell you there has been an individual placement plan for each
individual child. So this is not
where we go out and say we are going to do all this for all these children and
all-encompassing; every child is going to be dealt with in the same manner.
Each individual child is being dealt with individually, and that is in
their best interests.
I thank you, Mr. Speaker,
for the opportunity and I look forward to the future.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I am happy to rise in this
House and to speak for the first time on
Budget 2014: Shared Prosperity, Fair Society, Balanced Outlook.
I would also like to commend
the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace for his initial speech here today.
It is good to have him in the House with all of us here.
Mr. Speaker, our work here
in the House is to manage the resources and to make legislation that enables all
of our citizens to thrive, to thrive in this prosperity that government so often
talks about. At one point the
Premier said we were in a golden age.
I think that is pretty hopeful.
Those are pretty positive and optimistic words.
I would like to talk a
little bit about what that means.
What does it mean for a society, a community, and a people to thrive, to live in
a golden age, and to live in a time of prosperity?
What does that mean? What do
we need as a healthy, functioning society so that everybody can thrive, so that
everybody can do their best, so that everybody can fully participate in the
prosperity, so that everybody can be a fully participating member of our
society, so that they can continue to help build that prosperity, and so that
they can continue to care well for their families, their neighbours, and the
people who are in their community?
I would also think that a
measure of a thriving, prosperous society is one where people do not have to
scramble, where they do not have to try and figure out how to cope and how to
make it. I would think in some ways
it would be a society where we know there is a security, that there is food
security, that there is income security
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS ROGERS:
that there is shelter security, that people are
healthy, and when they are not healthy that they have access to full medical
treatment that is top of the line.
Those are the kinds of images that conjure up in my mind, Mr. Speaker, when we
know we are in a thriving, prosperous society where not only is no one left
behind but everybody gets to participate; that a society runs smoothly, that we
know how to take care of our challenges, we know how to take care of people who
are somehow vulnerable, and we know how to take care of people who are not
participating as fully as they would like to.
Our job, I know it is not
really easy, but if we were to boil it down to what people really need, we all
need a job. We all need some
meaningful work to do. Sometimes
that is paid work; sometimes it is not paid work.
We all need a place to live, we all need a home, and we all need somebody
to love or who will love us, whether that is family, a partner, or a community.
Those are basically the three things that we need: we need community, we
need work, and we need a safe and secure place to live.
Then our role as legislators
is to ensure we manage the resources that belong to the people.
I know that is not simple. It
is easy to talk about it in simplistic manners, but in fact I know how complex
that is. I know how complex it is
for the Minister of Natural Resources to ensure we get the best possible deal we
possibly can for our natural resources, particularly for those that are
non-renewable because of the very fact they are not renewable.
I know what a great responsibility that is.
What a great responsibility
it is for ministers who have portfolios taking care of some of the big-ticket
items that affect the future of our Province and that affect the economic
viability of our Province. Always in
their work there must be the guiding principle of the future for our citizens,
the present time for our citizens, and what each citizen needs in order to be
able to thrive. Also, what are our
measures to ensure we have a prosperous society and we have a prosperous
community where everybody does thrive, where everyone is functioning, and where
everyone can participate to the best of their ability?
I would like to look at the
whole issue, then, where everybody needs a job.
A job means that you feel you are fully participating in society.
Again, Mr. Speaker, sometimes it is not a paid-work job but it is work
you might do as a volunteer or someway that you have the right, the ability, and
the opportunity to participate in society.
We have some problems in the
area of jobs in our Province. We
know that maybe there are more jobs and, yes, there are more high-paying jobs
than there used to be, but there are also way more low-paying jobs than there
used to be. We have more and more
people working in lower-paying jobs in the service sector and in the retail
sector, and a lot of those are minimum-wage jobs without any security and
without any benefits. So, in fact,
just throwing around numbers saying there are more jobs and there are more
high-paying jobs, does not give us the real picture of really the division, that
division of labour and that division of income.
Because the last Budget was a brutal budget for many people, a Budget
that really impacted the lives of many people; people who are still trying to
recover from it.
For instance, we know we
lost upwards of 2,000 public sector jobs, not absolute 2,000 layoffs.
We had about 1,500 layoffs, but we also lost jobs through attrition,
through retirement. Those were 2,000
jobs that were spread out over the Province.
They were jobs that were well paying, that we had assumed were secure,
that had good pension benefits, and good health and medical benefits.
Those were jobs that
therefore had an impact, not only on the immediate individual who had those
jobs, but the communities in which they lived and their families.
We are still seeing the ripple effect of that.
We are still seeing how those ripples are spreading out in their
communities, whether it is in disposable income, whether it is in whether or not
children are able to avail of dance lessons or whether people are able to take
holidays. We still see the ripple
effects of that, and this Budget has done nothing to affect that.
This Budget has done nothing
to address the large hole in our economy because of the loss of 2,000 public
sector jobs. The result of that,
also, is in the services that are delivered to the people of the Province.
We have seen where there have been cutbacks in services.
We have seen, for instance,
in the Department of AES where we see people have to wait six to eight weeks.
For people who are newly applying for income support, they may have to
wait up to six to eight weeks for an initial cheque.
For many of us in the House, if we did not have our income for six to
eight weeks some of us would really feel it, but we are not in that really,
really bottom of the income level that a lot of these people are.
Many of these people are
living from, not only from cheque to cheque, but their cheques do not stretch
out. They do not make it to the next
run. They have to use food banks or
somehow be creative enough to find a way to make it from that cheque to the next
cheque. These are real hardships.
Mr. Speaker, that again is not a picture that I conjure up when I think
of a prosperous society.
I would also like to say in
this Budget there were public sector jobs lost.
We know there were at least forty-four public sector jobs that were
involved in group homes in Burin, Stephenville, and Grand Falls-Windsor.
These were jobs that their contract was negotiated for them on behalf of
Treasury Board. They belonged to the
public sector pension plan. They
belonged to the public sector health plan.
They had rights to succession.
They are much different than the unionized workers, for instance, who
work on behalf of Blue sky.
These are a different category of worker.
They are true, public sector jobs.
Mr. Speaker, those are gone.
Those are forty-four jobs that are gone as a result of this Budget.
They, again, were well-paying jobs with benefits.
It affects not only the people who have lost those jobs; it affects their
families and it affects their communities.
Those jobs are being replaced.
Right now, the company who is filling those jobs, who have a contract to
care for our very vulnerable people, are offering jobs at about $13 an hour.
Mr. Speaker, what we are
talking about are amongst the most vulnerable children and youth in the Province
of Newfoundland and Labrador, ones with very, very complex needs.
One of the things that are so important to these youth is to have
stability. What is happening is that
some of these kids have been living in these group homes for years, with the
same staff for years. They were told
two weeks ago today that their home was being dismantled and they are moving,
but nobody could tell them exactly where they are going to go, exactly when they
were going to go, and exactly who was going to be taking care of them.
Imagine any of us here in
this House if we were told that within ninety days, out of the blue this was
not gradual sixty days, pardon me, because the staff were told ninety days.
Within sixty days you are going to be moving and you are going to be
living somewhere else. We cannot
tell you where you are going to be living.
We cannot tell who you are going to be living with.
We cannot tell you who is going to be taking care of you.
That kind of instability is so damaging and particularly damaging to
these particular vulnerable youth.
For some people maybe it is
not a big deal, but this is a real serious issue where there is no comprehensive
rollout plan. These children have
not been told in two weeks where they are going.
It would be great to hear what the plan is, if the houses are bought and
set up, and if the kids know where they are moving to.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MS ROGERS:
The Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services
is standing up and saying: Yes, they have been told.
I am being told otherwise.
Maybe the information I have is wrong.
If the minister can tell us exactly where these children are going to be
living in forty-five days from now, because they are not going to be living
where they are living now. Maybe the
minister can tell us exactly where they are going to live.
I do not think he knows exactly where they are going to live.
I do not think he has that information.
There has not been a
comprehensive plan, an actual protocol for the rollout of this new initiative.
Mr. Speaker, when I asked the minister in Estimates what the protocol and
the rollout plan was, he did not have one.
Do you know what? They do not
have one.
In fact, what they have done
is they are releasing these children into the hands of a for-profit, private
organization that presently is trying to hire staff.
They have forty-five days, Mr. Speaker, before these kids have to be
moved. They are going to hire staff
at $13 an hour. They want staff who
are experienced, and staff who have training.
They are going to hire them, they are going to train them, they are going
to set-up a House, and they are going to move these kids within forty-five days.
They knew for years that they were going to do this.
What is the plan?
This is not the way to take care of our most vulnerable youth in the
Province. That I know that for
sure I know.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk a little bit
more about jobs. After jobs I would
like to talk a little bit about the whole issue of it is important for everybody
to be able to have access to a job of some sort, but it is also important for
everybody to have a safe, secure place to live.
We do know that housing is one of the key determinants of poverty in
Newfoundland and Labrador, but I will get to that.
There have been some really
good items in this new Budget. I was
really happy to see some of the new items in this Budget that were rolled out.
There are things we have been pushing for years, and I am really happy to
see them. The fact that there is a
continued freeze on tuition is really important.
We know what a burden a student loan can be.
The fact that loans will eventually be moved to grants is a great
initiative. I am so proud that is
one of the initiatives of this Budget.
Let's take a look at young
teachers in our Province. Many young
teachers are still substitute teachers.
Unfortunately, they did not have the access to grants in the same way.
Many of them are carrying large student loans, but what they are doing is
substitute hours.
There has been a change now.
They have to have so many hours of substitute hours before they are even
eligible to apply for a permanent job.
I do not know if most people know that.
The number of hours has been changed, so it could take up to fifteen
years before a young person who is carrying also a student loan for their
education so that they could educate our children let's not forget what this
is all about. These are people who
have gone to school, taken on student debt so that they, in turn, could educate
our youth; it is a noble, noble, noble profession.
It can take up to fifteen years now to get the hours in order to be
eligible to apply for a permanent job.
That means we have these young working families who have no stability.
They do not have a stable job.
They do not have a job with all the benefits that teachers should be able
to have access to, because the job that they are doing is so incredibly
important.
What does that mean for
those families? They cannot buy a
house, so they are not building up family equity.
Maybe they are drowning in debt.
Many of them have said I cannot afford to have a child because I cannot
afford the child care. I do not have
a permanent job; I do not know where it is going.
I spoke to a young couple
yesterday, Mr. Speaker. The woman in
the couple is a permanent teacher.
Her partner, her husband, it is going to take him up to fifteen years before he
can even apply for a permanent job.
So he has said after all these years of learning to be a teacher so he can
educate our children and amassing student debt, he has to give up.
He cannot pursue this any longer.
There is no security of job for him whatsoever, so he is going to have to
try to do something else. This is
someone who has been educated, a young man who had such a passion who was
willing to educate our children; he has had to give up.
He said I cannot do it.
He is not the first one I
have heard that story from. We have
all heard that story. We have all
heard the story of our young people who are so passionate about educating our
children who have to give up on education because they cannot get access to any
kind of job security.
Then I would like to look at
the whole issue of child care. I
think it is a very important issue.
It is also one of the determinants of whether or not families can fully
participate in the workforce. I think that some of the initiatives that have
been announced in this Budget are very good, but it is not enough.
How many people, when I hear their stories, say: Look at Quebec; why
can't we do what Quebec has?
Quebec has a fully
integrated, comprehensive, publicly funded child care program that is integrated
into their Early Childhood Education Program.
It makes sense. People say:
Why can't we have that? I say why
can't we have that? It is a great
investment; it is not a waste of money.
It is a sign, again, of a fully prosperous, thriving society when we can
educate our youth, educate our children, and take good care of our children so
their parents can participate fully in the workforce.
I think that would be the sign of a thriving an absolute thriving
province, a province that is in its golden age.
That would be a sign.
I do not know why we cannot.
Does it come down simply to political will?
We know it is a great investment.
All the research has shown that is a great investment.
As it stands now, the eligibility ceilings for assistance for child care
are so high and they have not kept up to the modern family's cost of living.
I will get to housing when I stand up next, but the fact that we see the
cost of living and the cost of food who can go to a grocery store week to week
and not see the cost of food going up?
The child care initiatives
we see now are not really responding to the reality of young working families'
lives. Also, when we look at single
moms who are trying to enter the workforce, many people say either they cannot
afford to work because child care is so expensive or, even more desperate than
that, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that people are saying they cannot afford to have
children. That is not the picture of
a thriving, prosperous society that is in no way the picture of a thriving,
prosperous society.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I look forward to standing again and talking about housing.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and
Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it gives me
great honour to be able to stand up today and talk to Budget 2014.
What I am going to try to focus on is the fair society part of the
Budget. In my department, with
Transportation and Works, and certainly as the Minister Responsible for Labrador
and Aboriginal Affairs, I guess my department touches every district within the
Province. You will soon find out
during Budget process who your real friends are and who your enemies may be.
It was an education within
itself, going through Budget as the Minister of Transportation and Works,
because there is so much to go around.
As you hear quite often from all sides of the House, there is so much
work to be done. As a government, we
try to prioritize. With the
allocated Budget you have, you try to make sure that you spread that funding
around to best suit the residents of the Province throughout Newfoundland and
Labrador. That is what we as a
government have done.
I certainly appreciate how
important it is to have a well-developed infrastructure in Transportation and
Works, and how important it is to have good roads to travel on, good highways to
travel on. I understand how
important it is the ferry system within our Province.
A large portion of our Province is an island within itself, and then off
that island we also have smaller islands that have populations on them.
Then you get into what we know as the Big Land, Labrador, and of course
the southern section of Labrador is very dependent upon a ferry system also.
So I understand all of that
and I understand how important it is and how critical it is to all of these
communities to have a good infrastructure in place so that the Province as a
whole within itself can be a viable Province.
When you think about it, Mr.
Speaker, we are a Province of just over half a million people, and we are quite
large, geographically; the Province is quite large.
You look at the tax base that would come in from our population and I
hear some of the members opposite that would compare us to provinces such as
Quebec, when it comes to our education system.
It is very difficult to compare our Province with a small population and
the geographic size we have to a province like Quebec, which is still fairly
large, of course, when it comes to their population base and the tax base they
have coming in. It is much larger
than that of Newfoundland and Labrador.
So, I do not think that is comparing apples with apples.
One of the things that I
heard as I was travelling throughout the Province and in many of the
municipalities and communities that I went into, as well as from a lot of the
MHAs over the past couple of months, especially during the Budget process, was
the needs of their municipalities. I
am just going to focus on this particular winter.
This winter has been a very
different winter. It is not the
first time that I have said that in the House of Assembly.
I have found that this winter reminded me as what I refer to and as what
I have heard a lot of constituents throughout the Province refer to this winter
as an old-fashioned winter.
Certainly, when I saw pictures down in Burgeo La Poile last week when you had
twenty-foot embankments on the highways and I have to compliment the media
when they did clipping of my department, the Department of Transportation and
Works, and what a fantastic job they were doing, not just in clearing the roads
but in the safety aspect of it.
You could see two pieces of
equipment that were coming together in that area where you had twenty foot
embankments of snow on each side of you in heavy drifting.
Those workers were out there making sure at all times that any emergency
vehicle that needed to get through if there was an emergency, the Department
of Transportation and Works at that time led them through with a convoy to make
sure they did get to where they needed to go.
I have to compliment my staff within the department for doing that.
In the time that I have, I
want to focus on transportation. I
want to focus on the road structure we have.
We have about 10,000 kilometres of highways, roads, side roads, and trunk
roads that we are responsible for in the Province.
You heard me talk about the harsh winter we had, you could be driving up
a street anywhere in the Province we have the complaints coming in from
everywhere. At one point you could
drive down the street in the morning and there was not a pothole there, and
because of the inclement weather we have had this season, when you went home
that evening there was a pothole developing.
I spent quite a bit of time
with my senior officials. We take a
pothole for granted and we take the repair of a pothole for granted.
I asked my senior officials to sit down with me and explain to me how a
pothole develops so quickly. Like I
said, there were days when you drive I know one day I was driving down Higgins
Line here in the metro and there was not a pothole there.
I know last night when I
went home that pothole has now gone from a small little pothole in the road on
Higgins Line to about three feet wide now and maybe four feet long.
I asked my senior staff to explain to me how that happens.
It is amazing how it can happen and how quickly it can happen.
It is all throughout the Province.
Just recently, this past
weekend in Labrador, I had a gentleman from the South Coast of Labrador who sent
me pictures through Facebook. He was
commenting on some of the potholes and the ruts in the road this spring.
He even went so far as to name two of the potholes.
He named one of them McGrath's lake and he named the other PC pond.
They are substantial dips in the road.
Again, I went to my senior
officials and the first thing I have to do is get a sign made with McGrath's
lake on it and get that done of course.
It is not every day you get a lake named after you, supposing it is in
the middle of the Trans-Labrador Highway.
I have to get some signage put on that on the South Coast of Labrador.
Then I asked my senior
official: Is there anything we can do about this immediately to get this fixed?
I was on the phone this morning with some of the operators who are
responsible for grading it. They
said you are in the middle of a spring thaw.
You are actually at the beginning of a spring thaw.
Believe me, it has been a long awaited spring thaw we have waited on this
year.
They said you are still
dealing with a frozen gravel road.
This road is still under construction, this section of the Trans-Labrador
Highway. Like any gravel road when
it freezes, during the spring thaw you get very quickly on the top it becomes
thawed out, and you are going to get ruts and it is going to become slippery.
This operator explained to me that if we go in now and we grade that off
until we get back down to the frozen ground, all you are doing is making more
mud. You are making a small problem
bigger.
I empathize with the
constituents in the Province who have to deal with situations like that.
I understand where they are coming from but I ask them to be patient.
If I get time I am going to talk about some of the investments this
government has made in the Trans-Labrador Highway.
I will say that it is over half a billion dollars already spent on the
Trans-Labrador Highway. That is a
significant piece of infrastructure.
One of the largest projects ever taken on by the Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador. I think it is important we
realize that it is not built overnight.
It has been a long time coming but you see progress now all the time.
I ask the people on the
South Coast to bear with us while we are constructing, still building, that new
highway there. During the thaw
season it is going to be difficult.
It is going to be hard to get through that, but this government is working on
that.
I think some of the other
things I would like to touch on before I get into where we are spending some of
the money, some of the infrastructure that we have been building.
I will start in the furthest district west in the Province, my own
District of Labrador West.
Hopefully, this year as a matter of fact, I know this year, hopefully, within
the next month or two months
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. MCGRATH:
The furthest district west, Sir.
I am not quite sure on that one, it is probably yours.
Anyway, we have a new
hospital opening up in my district.
This is a piece of infrastructure in a very busy industrial area, district in
the Province, and we have a $100 million state-of-the-art medical facility that
will be opening this year. I have
had the pleasure of touring the industry two or three times now during the
progress of it being constructed. I
am really excited, as are the people in my district, to have this open.
Just a couple of years ago
we had a brand new College of the North Atlantic that opened right next door to
that hospital in my district. With
the idling of Wabush mines, our present Premier, Premier Marshall, was very
quick; within twenty-four hours Premier Marshall was on the ground in my
district with me and the Minister of Natural Resources.
We spoke to the people and we asked the people, what is it we can do now
to alleviate some of these problems?
Premier Marshall very
quickly realized he had to put a minister in charge of that bridging process, in
charge of overseeing the transition period while the mine was going into the
idle position, and getting the next steps in place.
I am very pleased to say the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills,
with myself and several other ministers, within six days was back on the ground
in Labrador West and we have been very active ever since building relationships
with the leaders in the community to make sure that those bridges are being
built and the structure in place.
For example, the minister
was in my district just this past Thursday and announced more programs going
into the College of the North Atlantic.
These programs that are being announced now are programs that are needed
by the residents in Labrador West for what the industry is supplying.
The industry has needs. We
are supplying a particular type of industry, and you have needs and programs
within that college system. That is
what the Advanced Education and Skills Department is now focusing on, making
sure that rather than my constituents having to leave the area to do the blocks
as was said before.
I was at a resident's home
on Friday evening, and there were ten or twelve constituents around.
One of the young gentlemen who were there in that particular home that
evening thanked me. He said: You
know, minister, I am about to go now and do my final block, my fourth block as
an electrician. He has a young
three-year-old son, newly married in the last three years.
He said it is a pleasure and a relief to be able to stay home for those
six weeks and do his final block in his own home.
He does not have to pay for his mortgage in Labrador West and then
accommodations outside in St. John's in order to do that last block.
He does not have to have two vehicles on the go.
He does not have to buy two lots of groceries.
All of this adds up, not to
mention the emotional strain that has when you are away from your family,
especially a young family, because not always can your spouse or your children
travel with you when you have to move for those six weeks.
Although it may seem like a small thing to some people, to young families
who are trying to increase their education and better their education through
skilled trades, that is a big benefit right now to be able to get that benefit
right at home in Labrador West. In
listening to the general public, these are the types of things this government,
right now, is advancing forward to make sure the residents throughout the
Province are better taken care of.
Mr. Speaker, I am running
low on time and I just want to touch base on some of the things throughout my
department, throughout Transportation and Works.
As I said, this Budget process is a difficult process to go through.
At the end of the day, when the Budget was delivered, I was very pleased
with some of the things that happened within my department that I was able to
advocate for on behalf of all the residents, all the constituents, of the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, this year our
government is putting $81 million into upgrades and enhancements to the
provincial road-funding structure.
That is the largest amount of money that has been invested in the roads program
since Igor. That is a significant
amount of money. We would like to be
able to put in more. I would love to
be able to say to every MHA: You give me a list of what you want done, and I am
going to guarantee you I will get it done.
Unfortunately, it does not work that way.
Although $81 million sounds
like a lot of money, you take that $81 million and that covers, believe it or
not, about one-tenth of the requests I have had from MHAs this year to get the
work done in the Province. I have
requests of a little over $800 million and I have $81 million to work with.
Although $81 million sounds like a lot of money, when you start spreading
it out over the needs of the Province and people say, well, my needs are my
priority. Everyone has their own
priorities, so it is very difficult to be able to decide where that is going.
Another thing we are doing
on top of that $81 million, Mr. Speaker, is we are taking another $76.3 million
this year to continue work on the widening and upgrading of the Trans-Labrador
Highway. The Trans-Labrador Highway
for me is an important piece of work because I remember back in the early 1980s
when I was advocating as a young man in Labrador West to have that highway
developed and to consider developing that highway.
I remember back in the early 1980s when you could only drive nineteen
kilometres.
When this highway is
finished, you are going to be able to drive close to 1,200 kilometres on a
paved, upgraded, state-of-the-art highway.
So that is another $76.3 million that will be spent this year on
upgrading and widening of Phases II and III of the Trans-Labrador Highway.
Also on top of that, Mr.
Speaker, we are going to take another $7.3 million to complete Phase I of the
Trans-Labrador Highway between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Labrador West.
So, at the end of this summer, you will actually be able to leave
Labrador City-Wabush and drive to Happy Valley-Goose Bay; and for a lot of
people out there who are listening and maybe some people in this House who
do not understand how large an area that is, you are actually driving 700
kilometres to drive from Labrador City to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
That will be completely upgraded and paved at the end of this summer.
I think that shows exactly what this government is doing.
As many of you who are
listening today have heard me announce, we are putting another $71 million into
ferry vessel replacements and ongoing maintenance.
We have tenders out there right now.
We have two ferries that are being constructed.
One is for is the Fogo Island run; the other is for Bell Island.
They will be sister ships state-of-the-art ferries, long waited for.
The other thing, we are
taking $10 million and we have realized if you are going to bring in new
ferries, sometimes you have to improve your dock structure.
We are going to be spending another $10 million on the dock
infrastructure in Portugal Cove and Bell Island to match these ferries.
So these are huge, huge investments that this government has already
announced.
I am also very proud to say,
Mr. Speaker, that earlier, or very late in 2013, because I did promise the hon.
Member for Torngat Mountains that I would have it announced before the end of
December, and I think I delivered on that promise.
I think it was December 13 or 14 that I announced the tender for a
fifteen-year project for two new ferries: one for the Strait of Belle Isle,
going from St. Barbe or Corner Brook to Blanc Sablon, and the other one for the
North Coast of Labrador.
Certainly both of those
ferries need to be replaced. Not
only are we putting in two new ferries up there, we also have, during part of
that RFP, that RFP is going to provide new passenger service, new freight
service, and new vehicle service to both the Straits and the North Coast of
Labrador. I think I can speak for
all members of Labrador, that when those ships are in place, we will all feel a
lot better. So, I am really pleased
with that.
Mr. Speaker, I am running
out of time. Another couple of big
projects that we have made huge investments in: $28.5 million into the new lift
bridge in Placentia and the Sir Robert Bond Bridge, which in the next very short
order I will be going out to Central Newfoundland again to make an announcement
as to when that tender will be released on the Sir Robert Bond Bridge.
Also, Mr. Speaker, $27.7
million to manage 620 pieces I think it is a very good way to end off of
heavy equipment for maintaining our roads, whether it be in the summer or in the
winter. All of that equipment is
maintained, kept in very good shape by the employees in my department.
I commend them for that.
Mr. Speaker, I am running
out of time. I look forward to being
able to stand again and speak on this Budget.
I think it is a great Budget and I think everybody in Newfoundland and
Labrador will prosper.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Verge): Order, please!
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to
rise today and I am going to be speaking for a few minutes in support of the
non-confidence motion. As a member
representing rural, all of the communities in my district are rural, I cannot
speak with any confidence to the Budget that was brought down, Mr. Speaker.
The Member for Baie Verte
Springdale talked about the Budget with a big heart.
He referenced many times last week when he was up: the Budget with the
big heart. I could not help but
think it is a heart that is ready for surgery, Mr. Speaker.
It seems like it has a lot of blockages in my mind, especially when it
comes to resources, money flowing into the needs in Labrador.
If it is a Budget with a big heart I think it is a heart that needs a
surgery, I might say to the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.
Mr. Speaker, I was looking
up some things before I came down today and from first oil to, I think it was
last year, $17 billion in revenue from oil alone $17 billion, Mr. Speaker,
from first oil to last year in revenue and we are just talking oil.
Yet, I just listened to my colleague across the way talk about the
roadwork. He is talking about the
roadwork, but we had to wait a decade before the pavement was announced for my
area.
I drove home again on the
weekend, Mr. Speaker, and I did not know what my husband meant when he said try
to keep her on the high points when you are driving, because he did not want me
to tear the bottom out of our machine.
I soon found out it was
absolutely atrocious; the trenches were this deep.
When people stand up and talk about bad roads, I think it is all
relevant. I have to smile because I
would encourage anybody to come into my area and look at what we are driving on
and compare it to any other part of the Province, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot stand
today without mentioning Muskrat Falls.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS DEMPSTER:
I was not going to mention Muskrat today because it is a sore spot.
Members across the way asked me many times: Where do you stand on it?
I think the project has gone too far now that you are not going to cancel
it anyway. I am still fighting for
people in my district to get some benefits from this mega industrial project
that is going ahead, $8 billion, $9 billion, Mr. Speaker.
As I was about to stand just
another example of a typical day for me, an e-mail comes in from an apprentice
ironworker, with a lot of hours. I
was co-ordinating some things with the union; we got him into Bull Arm.
He was there six hours and was laid off.
Now he is trying to get into Muskrat Falls.
These are some of the issues, Mr. Speaker, that we are dealing with in
Labrador.
I remember the Member for
Terra Nova last fall was saying every time I rise I am talking doom and gloom.
The road was bad at that time, too.
My response to him then: It is hard to see the sunshine when you have
about three inches of mud on your windshield.
A lot of times we do talk doom and gloom because the people of Cartwright
L'Anse au Clair, a beautiful part of the Province, elect you to be a voice.
You have a job to stand in your place and to raise the issues.
There was a gentleman in
L'Anse-au-Loup who said to me the last time I was home he patted me on the
back and he said: You keep standing up, my dear, and raising the issues and
eventually you might shame them into giving you something better, when you talk
about all the resources that are coming out of Labrador through Voisey's Bay,
through IOC, through Muskrat Falls, and through the oil basins that are off the
shores of Labrador. I will continue
to do that. I will continue to
educate the people in this Legislature, Mr. Speaker, on the issues and the
quality of life that we have right now and how much things could be improved
upon.
Mr. Speaker, the member
across the way was just talking about roads.
While I was home on Saturday I had a chance to go out to watch a number
of dog teams, the big regional dog team race.
After the races I had a little ride on the komatik myself.
When I came back I joked with someone and said that is the smoothest ride
I have had in a long time on a komatik.
Hundreds of years what we have been using and it is smoother than what we
are driving on the road. I say it is
shameful; it is pathetic. You cannot
help but smile.
I stood today and I
presented a petition, Mr. Speaker, looking for calcium for our roads.
I do not hear the other members in this House looking for calcium,
looking for a form of dust control.
Can you imagine? It is just unheard
of
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MS DEMPSTER:
Well, I do not hear you speaking out for your
members, but I am.
There was not very much in
Budget 2014 that I could find for Labrador, but one of the things I did see is
that they are going to be doing some renovations at Point Amour.
I am pleased to see that.
They are going to put some money into renovating the tallest lighthouse in
Atlantic Canada that happens to be in my district, yet the tourist is going to
drive through we all know what the wind blows like in the Labrador Straits.
They are going to drive through a sandstorm to get out there.
I think the total budget in
the Province on calcium was $700,000.
I said to a member across the way last week: It is a nominal amount of
money. His response to me was: It is
all nominal. No, it is not all
nominal. When you look at the
90-10s, Mr. Speaker, in my district alone the needs for basic, basic
infrastructure, it is $5 million or $6 million.
We are still trying to catch up with the rest of the Province with water
and sewer and things like that. In
each of the communities it is about a million dollars, or some might be looking
for $1.5 million.
When I say nominal if you
can, for $700,000, put the calcium on the roads or something we do not care
what it is to keep the dust down around the Province then it was money well
spent, Mr. Speaker. We are trying to
entice people into the region; we are trying to invite tourists in, in the
summertime, to generate some revenue into the economy.
Mr. Speaker, $2 million in
this year's Budget for brush cutting.
I believe it was back in 2006 or 2007 that my district received the last
of the brush cutting money, and that was on the St. Lewis Access.
When you are driving, Mr. Speaker, it is a very serious hazard.
Last summer, a number of times I contacted the minister into the fall
with the growth right out on the road and now we certainly have an increase in
moose. Almost every time I am
driving on my road, I am seeing at least a couple of moose.
Years ago, that was unheard of.
Yet, we see that we have not been getting any of the brush cutting money.
Of the $2 million, I will certainly be after the minister looking for
some of that brush cutting money to come back.
I know the pavement is
announced and members across the way love to say she is getting pavement; they
are getting pavement. Mr. Speaker, I
have to say again we are not getting anything that the rest of the Province does
not have. I was out in Burin last
fall, beautiful little communities, I was in Parkers Cove and Rushoon, and you
go up the back alleys and if it is wide enough for a footpath, it is paved.
I could not believe it. That
is good for them, but what we are looking for is just to catch up, Mr. Speaker.
The thirty-five year old
pavement in the Labrador Straits, Route 510, seventy-six kilometres, is still
not on the radar to get redone.
Again, just as I was about to stand, I had an e-mail come in of another
accident, just today. The last time
I spoke about the thirty-five-year-old pavement and the danger, people in the
House laughed; it was funny. I
called it the dalmatian highway. We
had four accidents that week and again today.
How long is this going to continue, Mr. Speaker, before somebody starts
to take it serious?
Now, Mr. Speaker, given the
time of day, I still have lots and I very much look forward to standing again
and continuing to raise some of the pressing issues in my district, but given
the time of day, right now I will adjourn.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The Member for Cartwright
L'Anse au Clair, are you adjourning debate?
MS DEMPSTER:
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Okay.
Let the record show that the
Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair has eleven minutes and fifteen seconds
left when we call the Budget again.
The hon. the Government
House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I move, seconded by the
Minister of Environment and Conservation, that the House do now adjourn.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that this House do now
adjourn.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
This House now stands
adjourned until tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
On motion, the House at its
rising adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m.