March 19, 2015 HOUSE
OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 64
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Today we are pleased to welcome to the public gallery a group of
students from St. Bonaventure's College, Careers Class, with their
teacher, Mr. David Martino.
Welcome to the House of Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
I understand you
have a young lady in your group by the name of Jane, whose proud father
sits as the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
Statements by
Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we have
members' statements from the Members for the District of Port de Grave,
from the District of Labrador West, from the District of The Straits
White Bay North, from the District of St. John's East, from the District
of Exploits, and from the District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.
MR. LITTLEJOHN:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to recognize and congratulate Dylan Bradbury, a
sixteen-year-old resident of Shearstown.
Dylan is legally blind, but this has not stopped him from
participating in his favourite sport: hockey.
Dylan was the only athlete selected from this Province to
recently play in the 2015 Courage Cup at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
Dylan got this opportunity when Courage Canada came to St. John's to
seek out potential players for a camp in British Columbia.
Dylan attended this camp with a dozen other players to hone his
hockey skills. From this
camp, Dylan was selected to Team Atlantic to compete in the 2015 Courage
Cup.
Dylan says playing blind hockey is different.
Players follow the sound of the puck on the ice and in the air.
On faceoffs, players shoot the puck to the other end of the ice
and the goalie relies on hearing the puck, with the top half of his net
covered, and there are no slapshots.
I ask all hon. members to make some noise for this courageous and
determined young man to play the game he loves: hockey.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for the District of Labrador West.
MR. MCGRATH:
Mr. Speaker, I
stand in this hon. House today to congratulate and recognize a Labrador
City Winter Carnival Committee on another successful event.
This year's carnival, chaired by Labrador City Recreation
Director Evelyn Ryan, along with a committee of eighteen dedicated
volunteers, provided the citizens of Labrador West with ten days of
fun-filled events and showed the meaning of true family and community
spirit.
From March 6-15, over seventy-five events were available, starting with
a night of performance by some very talented high school students from
Menihek High. During the
week, young ambassadors showcased their talents and in the end Bradley
Leonard and Keisha Ryan were crowned as teen ambassadors and both
received a $1,000 scholarship for further education.
During the past year, seven families competed in many different
challenges hoping to be crowned Labrador City's first royal family.
The winners are Jennifer and Michael Byrne and their daughter,
Ellysa.
Labrador City's winter carnival started in 1962 and fifty-three years
later, it is still going strong.
It is a way to celebrate the long winter, welcome the upcoming
spring, and bring families and the community together.
I ask all members to join me in congratulating Labrador City on another
successful carnival.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to recognize the spirit of a fighting Newfoundlander.
Gavin 'Guv'Nor' Tucker, a twenty-eight-year-old Ship Cove native, on
February 28 won MMA Featherweight title in an Extreme Cage Combat in
Halifax, Nova Scotia taking his record to 8-0.
It was a long journey as just two weeks from the title fight in
2013, he got injured. He
remained focused on the future, trained hard, and was ready for his next
fight. Tucker hopes his
performance will enable him to be the first Newfoundlander to fight in a
UFC match-up.
Coming from a tiny rural community on the Great Northern Peninsula,
Tucker's opportunities for intense training was limited, but his
determination aided in his success.
He also showcased his talents as a musician, being heavily
involved with the Stephenville Festival it was his love for music that
initially brought him to the mainland.
Tucker is an example of how people from small places can make big things
happen, but their hearts are never far from home.
He was quoted after his significant win, The only thing I can
think about is getting a trip back to good old Newfoundland.
I ask all hon. members to congratulate Newfoundland's own MMA
Featherweight champion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for the District of St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
There are many fine high schools in the Province, but I will confess to
a little bias by saying the finest is probably Gonzaga High School in
St. John's East, of which I am a proud alumnus.
Today I rise in this House to congratulate Darcy Taylor, a Grade 12
French immersion student at Gonzaga, who has been selected as one of
just thirty Canadian Loran Scholars for 2015.
Mr. Speaker, 3,800 people applied for the award this year; fewer than 1
per cent passed through the rigorous selection process.
Their applications are screened, and that is followed by two
separate interviews. They
are assessed based on character, commitment to service and leadership
potential as well as academic achievements.
Darcy, for example, is involved in several fundraising activities as
well as sports. He
represented this Province as a tennis player at the Canada Summer Games.
In addition to the Loran Scholarship, valued at up to $100,000, Mr.
Speaker, Darcy has also been offered a $24,000 award by the University
of Ottawa and $78,000 by Queen's University.
It is quite remarkable.
So far, he has been offered in excess of $208,000 in
scholarships.
I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating Mr. Darcy Taylor, an
outstanding Grade 12 student at Gonzaga High School and a future leader
in this Province.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for the District of Exploits.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Mr. Speaker, on
September 27, the Botwood Collegiate Warriors Girls Softball team
competed in the Girls 4A Regional Softball Championships, hosted by
Lewisporte Collegiate.
The Warriors opened the tournament with a win against Exploits Valley
High Eagles and after the round robin the Warriors went on to face the
host team in the finals.
The Warriors took to the field with determination in the championship
game against the host team, Lewisporte Collegiate Lynx, and defeated the
host team 10-4 in the final to claim the regional banner sorry, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the girls attribute their win to their experience of
playing together as a team for a number of years and to their coaches
Jerry Woolridge, Denise Woolridge, and teacher sponsor Shawn Reddick.
I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating the Botwood
Collegiate Warriors on winning the 4A Regional Softball Championships.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for the District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.
I was delighted to hear this year that the Newfoundland and Labrador
Folk Festival will be returning to its traditional home in Bannerman
Park, one of the jewels of my district of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
Bannerman Park has always been special to many of us, for the Folk
Festival and many other reasons.
Earlier this month, archivist Larry Dohey informed us that
Bannerman Park was redesigned in 1891 by Johnny Burke, the Bard of
Prescott Street and famous for wiring songs like The Kelligrews
Soiree.
Bannerman Park has been used by the public since at least 1864, making
it the oldest and most historic park in the Province.
The City of St. John's created and worked with the Bannerman Park
Foundation to restore this Victorian gem and how successful they have
been!
The Park is popular year-round.
In the summer, you will see swimming, softball, slacklining, and
splashing. In the winter,
now, The Loop is a huge attraction for outdoor skaters.
I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating the City of St.
John's, the Bannerman Park Foundation, and all the hundreds of
volunteers and donors who contributed to revitalizing Bannerman Park and
restoring it for future generations.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by
Ministers.
Statements by
Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. KENT:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I am pleased to rise in this hon. House to provide an update on our
Province's Cancer Control Policy Framework.
Over the past decade cancer control has seen a total investment
of more than $172 million and we continue to work to honour our
commitment to enhance prevention and screening, as well as diagnosis,
treatment and support.
Cancer touches all of us at some point in our lives, if
not directly as a patient, then as a relative or friend of someone with
cancer. The impacts of this
disease are multiple and far-reaching, affecting people of all ages.
Our department works closely with the Department of Seniors,
Wellness and Social Development and other government departments,
regional health authorities, school districts, and community partners to
implement programs and policies aimed at cancer prevention including
smoking cessation and other healthy living initiatives.
Mr. Speaker, the provincial government has achieved a
number of important goals to date with respect to cancer prevention and
screening in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In 2011, we introduced a ban on smoking in vehicles with a
passenger present who is under the age of sixteen.
Between 2013 and 2014 we brought in further changes to more
closely regulate tanning bed facilities, to cover the cost of smoking
cessation medications for people with low income, and to expand the
Province's Colon Cancer Screening Program.
The provincial government has also made achievements in
recent years with respect to diagnosis, treatment, and support of those
with cancer, as well as their families and support networks.
In 2011, we launched the Cancer Patient Navigator Program to
provide support to patients and their families by helping them access a
variety of medical and community services in a timely and efficient
manner. In 2012, we
supported the launch of the Cancer
Transitions: Moving Beyond Treatment program, which provides
invaluable support to cancer survivors and empowers them as they
transition from active treatment to post-treatment.
Mr. Speaker, tele-oncology has also seen increased
uptake in recent years as cancer specialists have offered patient
consultations through Telehealth.
Finally, we have made strategic investments in reducing endoscopy
wait times and wait-lists to ensure residents can more quickly and
easily access these diagnostic services.
We continue to strive for increased awareness and
cancer prevention, while at the same time working as a government to
find new ways to mitigate risks and provide timely diagnosis,
appropriate treatment, and support.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the minister for an advance copy of his
statement. I would like to
begin by recognizing the work of health care professionals working in
cancer care. Living on the
West Coast, I, like many on this side, have many people who have to
travel back and forth to St. John's for treatment, and they always
comment on the compassionate care that they receive.
Telehealth is something that we could certainly do a
little more of. Again, it is
something that has a huge impact on those who have to travel for care.
We were once a leader in Telehealth; it is something we need to
utilize more, given just our geographic spread and the impact it would
have on those who are forced to travel for care.
I am very proud of the work that our caucus has done,
especially our leader, and the Member for Bay of Islands on pressing the
need for radiation services on the West Coast to enhance access to
diagnosis and treatment.
This government gave many excuses in refusing to do it, but once they
finally commissioned the report, they realized the need was there.
We should also thank the health care committee in Corner Brook
for the work that they did advocating for this.
Again, the minister's opening statement was on the
money spent on cancer control but not on the outcomes.
The Conference Board of Canada talks about the D-minus ranking.
We have the highest incidence of cancer in the country, the
poorest outcome in lifestyle factors.
We should be talking about the outcomes, not just on the money.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his
statement. Yes, we have made
good progress in providing support for cancer prevention and support,
but since not all treatment can be available everywhere, and people
understand that, people need adequate financial support to travel for
treatment. Although medical
travel grants have expanded, there are still barriers such as the need
to pay upfront, the lack of coverage for shorter distances, and the need
for more accommodation coverage, which is very stressful.
We hear from families who are suffering a lot of stress
because of these barriers, trying to come up with the money for travel
for treatment. I ask the
minister to put that on his list.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Our government recognizes the importance of ensuring
that children and youth in Newfoundland and Labrador have an opportunity
to grow, thrive, and succeed in a safe and nurturing environment.
In fact, our Premier has made public safety and protection,
particularly that of children, among his highest priorities.
On an ongoing basis, we continue to reinforce and
enhance the child protection system in our Province, investing more than
$140 million in the past year alone.
An important element of this work is the vital role that foster
families play in providing a positive and supportive environment for
children and youth in care.
Fostering provides temporary and sometimes longer-term care for children
and youth who are unable to live with their own families.
Foster parents are key members of a team dedicated to helping
children and youth through difficult situations by offering supportive
and caring environments.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, it is critical that our
government and community partners continue to raise awareness of the
significant need for additional foster families in the Province.
To this end, we launched a targeted foster family recruitment
campaign in 2012. I am
pleased to report that since its launch, the
Foster a Future campaign has helped to create approximately 115 new
foster families, who have opened their hearts and homes to approximately
175 children and youth in care.
We must continue to raise awareness of this important
issue, Mr. Speaker, as there is still a critical shortage of foster
homes in our Province. We
have children and youth in our Province who have complex needs and
require caring families while they are unable to live at home; others
need foster families who share their Aboriginal culture; and some need
foster placements a little closer to their home communities.
The decision to become a foster family is a significant
one. There are numerous ways
families interested in fostering can help, even if it is just for a
short period
of time. I encourage anyone
who is considering opening their home to become a foster family to
contact my department or the Newfoundland and Labrador Foster Families
Association.
It is only by continuing to raise awareness that our government and
community at large can ensure we have a loving foster family for every
child and youth who need one, perhaps at the most vulnerable period in
their lives.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
I am pleased to take this opportunity in the House of Assembly to
recognize the critical role that foster families play in helping meet
the needs of some of our most vulnerable children.
Opening their homes and hearts to children is kind and commendable.
More foster families mean fewer children in Alternate Living
Arrangements. ALAs are less
than ideal environments for children.
Providing stable nurturing home environments for these children
is a critical piece in child protection.
Mr. Speaker, the Foster a Future
campaign has been a great success.
I extend my sincere thanks to any foster parents who have already
accepted the challenge and made the commitment to foster vulnerable
children. Further, since
they already fully understand fostering, I would ask them to spread the
word about the rewards of fostering so we can engage more families in
fostering.
Finally, anyone interested in learning more about fostering call the
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services or your Member of the
House of Assembly. Any one
of us will help you get involved.
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.
I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
I want to thank the additional 115 foster families who have
opened their homes to the children of Newfoundland and Labrador since
the campaign began in 2012.
I want to thank the staff of CYFS and the foster care association who
are part of the success of this campaign.
Bravo to them, Mr. Speaker.
We know there is a need for more social workers to provide more support
to the generous foster families and to ensure the continuity of care for
our children in care. We owe
it to the foster families and to our children.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in this hon. House to speak to
the Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs review of the
current Lands Act and associated service delivery model.
The Lands Act guides the management and allocation of the Province's
Crown lands. A comprehensive
review of the Lands Act and its service delivery model is required to
ensure it is relevant, and it is the most effective way to manage,
administer, utilize, and protect our Crown lands for the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Some of the specific areas we are looking to address through this review
include: ways to make the act clear and concise so it is well understood
by those who use it and can be interpreted and applied consistently;
internal business processes and policies to determine their necessity
and if changes are required to improve timelines; internal referral and
consultation processes; as well as current technology used to support
the operations of the act.
An independent review committee has been established of three
individuals who are educated, experienced and knowledgeable in the areas
of law, policy and business process review.
An advisory committee supporting the review committee by
providing input and information sharing throughout the process.
We are pleased to have the Law Society of Newfoundland and
Labrador as a key partner in this review given the significant
interaction their membership has with this legislation in their
day-to-day work.
The consultation process is about to begin and the locations of the
eight consultation sessions throughout the Province can be found on the
department's website. The
page also outlines the various ways interested parties can get involved
and submit their feedback, including through online and written
submissions. The Terms of
Reference for the review can also be found on the department's website.
I encourage all residents to either participate in the in-person
sessions or provide a written or online submission.
When consultations are completed, a What We Heard document will be
released on the Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs
website.
The provincial government is committed to its focus on listening,
collaborating and innovation.
This review demonstrates this commitment and will lead to
practical and informed recommendations to ensure the Lands Act aligns
with best practices to better meet the needs of residents and
shareholders of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I thank the minister for the advance copy.
When I saw the Lands Act review, I was happy for two reasons.
First, it is going to save the taxpayers money by having Don
Downer, who wasted over half a million dollars in a Land Use Advisory
Committee which had no role out in Corner Brook, just because he was on
the payroll, Mr. Speaker. So
I assume he is gone now and this here has meaning.
Mr. Speaker, I compliment the minister on putting this forward.
It is something we all asked for, for a number of years.
We desperately need the inventory for Crown lands across the
Province. Mr. Speaker, MNL
has been asking for this for a number of years for Crown lands within
their town as an economic generator that they could use in their towns.
I compliment the minister for initiating this.
Having affordable Crown lands within municipal boundaries, Mr. Speaker,
is something that is going to benefit all of the Province.
With this comprehensive review, I just ask that when the report
is completed that the government will follow and act upon the
recommendations of the report because it is better for all the Province.
I say great job to the minister because it is well needed.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement here today.
Mr. Speaker, I hope the government hears from and, more
importantly, listens to the many interest groups on the issue of the
Lands Act. We will be
listening to these groups express their views on the need for better
protection of valued lands, particularly traditional rights-of-way,
ecologically sensitive areas, the protection of coastal trails, and the
important issue of land use within municipalities.
We look forward to hearing the outcomes, Mr. Speaker.
Again, we would like to thank the government for opening up the
consultations when it comes to the Lands Act.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Oral Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
It has been almost a year ago since the news broke of a potential deal
with Rentech to develop timber resources in Central Newfoundland and the
Northern Peninsula. We have
heard very little since and there is nothing in the minister's mandate
letter on this potential development.
I ask the Premier: People in Central Newfoundland are finding it odd
that we have not heard anything in months and there is nothing in the
minister's mandate letter; so why didn't you include finalizing a deal
with our timber resources as part of the minister's mandate?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Minister Responsible for the
Forestry and Agrifoods Agency.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker,
discussions have been ongoing with Rentech in the last number of months,
over the last fourteen or fifteen months.
They continue. It is
a very sensitive negotiation that is taking place for Central
Newfoundland, as well as the Northern Peninsula, Mr. Speaker.
We are looking very closely at those negotiations and hopefully
we can finalize a deal in the not too distant future.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
The question, I guess, directed to the Premier, was more about him
mandating his current minister to deal with that, just as he did in
other mandate letters on issues affecting the various departments.
In the mandate letter for the Department of Justice several
infrastructure initiatives are mentioned, but missing from the mandate
for the Department of Health and Community Services and the Department
of Transportation and Works is anything on the new hospital for Corner
Brook or the new Waterford Hospital.
I ask the Premier: Since infrastructure developments like courthouses
and new penitentiaries are mentioned, why did you leave out the
development of these hospitals out of the mandate letter to your
Minister of Health and Community Services?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I am glad the member opposite is asking this question and I am glad he
has taken the time to review the mandate letters, which have been made
available publicly for the first time in history of Newfoundland and
Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Made available
online to the public and listed under all of the minister's websites, if
anybody is interesting in looking through them.
Mr. Speaker, mandate letters, in many ways, are based on discussions of
priorities, concerns, issues, and matters that have been discussed
between myself and directly with ministers.
They are, in no way, all-encompassing of the roles and
responsibilities that are placed upon ministers.
They highlight some general overview and, as well, some specific
projects that I, as Premier, wish for those ministers to look at.
In reality, Mr. Speaker, they are in no way encompassing of all
responsibilities placed upon them.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
When you review the mandate letters and we have taken our time to
review all of them, I say to the Premier one of the things that is
missing, and since the Premier brought it up about various discussions
and it being a priority, will you please clarify then why such a
priority for the people in Western Newfoundland and Labrador and why the
Waterford Hospital it being a priority for everyone that I am talking
to and all the members opposite that has gotten up and spoke on this
issue. Why are they such a
glaring absence from those mandate letters?
Why are they not there?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I can tell the member opposite that infrastructure, and certainly health
care infrastructure, is very important to us as a government.
We have had many successes in projects that we have undertaken as
a government major projects, like Corner Brook.
I am on the record very clearly with where I stand and the commitment we
have for the people of Western Newfoundland and the commitment that we
have made for a hospital for Corner Brook.
So, Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt about that.
Again, infrastructure is important.
These mandate letters are not exhaustive lists of
responsibilities, Mr. Speaker.
They vary from minister to minister depending on discussions and
priorities and, in some cases, a change in focus for those departments
from when I took over, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
It is very clear that to the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, you
will see clearly in that mandate letter that infrastructure is mentioned
but is absent from the Minister of Health and Community Services.
The Premier and the Minister of Natural Resources have said they will
not be bound by the mandate letter ordering a deal with Statoil by the
end of this year.
I ask the Premier again: Why did you mandate a deal with Statoil for
this year, 2015, if you had no intention on following through on that
directive?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
It is amazing to sit over here I have to be honest and to look at
the spin that quite often is put on comments by members opposite.
It is certainly interesting to watch for sure, I can tell you,
Mr. Speaker.
What I said here yesterday to this House was that if the deal is not a
good deal for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, mandate letter or no
mandate letter, it will not be a deal that we are going to support, I
can tell you that, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, what
is important is that we pursue our discussions with Statoil.
What Statoil discovered off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in
2013 was the largest oil find in the world in 2013.
It was the largest find that Statoil ever had outside of Norway,
Mr. Speaker. I can tell you
they have a solid foothold here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
They are taking a long-term view, Mr. Speaker, and they are going
to be a partner with the Province and this government for years to come.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I can certainly say to the Premier and all members opposite, this is not
spin, this is a very critical deal and important to the future of all
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
To weaken a negotiation on that by clearly saying that you want a
deal by 2015 is not the right place to be, I say to the Premier.
The Premier's mandate letters were only written three months ago, but
now we understand that ministers and even the Premier are not following
through on those directives, the words have just been spoken.
I ask the Premier: What is really the point of those mandate letters?
Are they just a PR exercise?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, mandate letters are a part of a course of business.
I can tell you now that there has been a change in the roles and
responsibilities for several ministers and ministers in my government
have now accepted additional responsibilities.
For most all the ministers of my government, they have accepted
those additional responsibilities.
Mr. Speaker, in the weeks to follow I can tell you the mandate letters
there will be new mandate letters issued that will reflect those new
additional responsibilities.
That is an ongoing process.
When you assign ministers their roles and responsibilities we are going
to do that.
I will tell you what is important to us.
When these mandate letters were issued
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
PREMIER DAVIS:
We put these
available for public consumption, Mr. Speaker.
It is the first time in the history of our Province that we want
to make these available, reflective of conversations.
They have an overview I invite people to look at them, an
overview of roles and responsibilities.
Again I have to reiterate, they are certainly not an exhaustive
list of those responsibilities.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Mr.
Speaker, in her Status of Recommendations report last month, the Child
and Youth Advocate expressed concern that as of November 2014 the
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services had no plan to develop a
policy requiring every child be critically observed during every home
visit.
I ask the minister: Has he since directed such policy be developed as
recommended?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I am happy to have the member weigh in on this because I know when the
Advocate came forward with her recommendations and the great news that
it was, he was nowhere to be found.
I am glad he is weighing in now.
There were 179 recommendations brought forward, ninety-nine of which
were CYFS. I am happy to say
and report to the House that eighty-eight have been fully completed, ten
are under development, and one I can talk a little bit about in a
supplementary question, if he wishes.
With regard to the question he had put forward, I am happy to say we are
working with the Advocate.
That is actually one of the ten that is under development now.
I think we have come to a place and I should know very shortly
whether it satisfies her needs as well.
I think it was just a matter of semantics and language and I
think we have gotten by that.
Anyway, I will be happy to report when we finalize it.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Mr.
Speaker, this department and this minister has delayed and deferred and
ignored recommendations for years now.
The Advocate said it was obvious that if the children in two of
her investigations had been critically observed during every home visit,
identification of abuse would have occurred earlier and the children
would have been removed earlier.
In one of those cases, turning a blind eye, several children
suffered thirteen years of abuse in the family home while Child, Youth
and Family Services was involved.
I ask the minister: Will he get moving on this recommendation so he can
rescue abused children earlier?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
Once again, I thank the member for bringing it up and talking about the
progress we have made in the department.
I think it is important at this point to talk about why the
department was created. We
talk about a number of studies and the cases that were in the past, and
certainly that is something we have reflected on.
That is where those recommendations were born out of.
It is because of those very recommendations, in part, that this
department was formed. So,
many of those efficiencies have been dealt with.
There are a couple, like I said, that we are working on.
The one in particular you have mentioned, I think we have come to
a resolution, but once I can confirm with the Advocate I will be
meeting with her actually next week, our quarterly meeting.
I will discuss that with her then, and if it satisfies her I
would be happy to report to the House and the member that that
recommendation is satisfied.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, last
September the school board changed the promised new school for Torbay
from a Grade 5-7 school to a 5-8 school, effectively adding a fourth
grade of students and classrooms.
Parents in the Torbay area are left wondering what this will mean
for their children.
Will the minister responsible say which communities are being affected
by this decision, and how this changes the plan for the new Torbay
school?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS SULLIVAN:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the goal always, with the Department of Education and Early
Childhood Development, is to ensure that adequate education and adequate
school facilities is provided to all of our students.
In Torbay there was a recognized need, and the need was for a Grade 5-7
school, Mr. Speaker. That is
what we are proceeding with, and that is what we have guaranteed to the
people of that area. The
exact communities he is asking about, I can certainly get and provide
for the House.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Well, Mr.
Speaker, despite this government's board deciding the change, the new
Torbay school from a 5-7 to a 5-8 school last September they made that
decision the tender was still issued months later for the construction
of a 5-7 school anyways.
This government's record of building schools too small is bad enough
already, now they are planning to squeeze an extra grade of students
into a school that was built for three grades.
I ask the minister: Why can't you get new school construction right?
Does the left hand, the government, know what the right hand, the
school board, is doing with our education system?
Do you know?
It does not sound like it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS SULLIVAN:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in response to his first question in terms of the
communities, it would be Torbay, Pouch Cove, Bauline, and Flatrock.
The decision was made around a 5-7 school, and that is exactly
what it is that we are tendering for and will be constructing in that
area, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS SULLIVAN:
Mr. Speaker, in
terms of the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing; I can tell
you that my colleague in the Department of Transportation and Works and
I work collaboratively on all of these schools.
We have 261 schools in the Province, Mr. Speaker, for which we
provide oversight and for which we ensure the best education for our
students as possible.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr.
Speaker, the Manolis L sank in 1985 near Change Islands with 500,000 litres of
oil and fuel, and has been leaking since 2012.
In two years, the provincial department has confirmed writing
only four letters.
I ask the minister: Have you met with or spoken to the federal minister
since your last telephone call made December 16, 2014?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Thank you for the question.
Mr. Speaker, everybody in this Province is onside.
The Manolis L either
has to go or the oil has to come out of that ship.
We all agree.
Everybody in the Province is onside.
The Opposition is onside, our federal politicians are onside.
We are onside over here, Mr. Speaker.
I have spoken to Minister Shea; I spoke to her just before Christmas.
Her tone had changed in terms of how they are going to go about
with the future plans for the Manolis L. It sounds
like now they are talking about a long-term plan.
It is exactly what we have asked for.
I have asked her for timelines around that, Mr. Speaker.
She was not ready to offer that up, but, Mr. Speaker, we are
going to continue to put her feet to the fire.
I suggest that we are going to hear something in the coming
weeks. It is an election
year for them as well. So I
think, Mr. Speaker, we should hear some good news.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr.
Speaker, I would say months of not taking any follow-up call or action
shows gross negligence in this matter.
The Manolis L bunker
fuel must be removed immediately to avoid ongoing environmental and
economic damage due to chronic leaks, and potentially a catastrophic oil
spill if the wreck breaks up.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. MITCHELMORE:
The lack
of action shown by this government is gross negligence and bad
management.
I ask the minister: What is your plan to ensure that the Canadian Coast
Guard is held accountable and that the oil is removed?
Because your current action is pitiful at best.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, everybody knows what needs to be done here.
We all get that, we understand that.
The federal government has taken responsibility for this.
They have said overtly that it is their responsibility.
We know that, and you know that as well.
I did not see you in Twillingate when we had a protest march.
Myself and the minister next to me were in Twillingate a month
ago
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
in the dead cold of winter.
Mr. Speaker, we are working with the people of the communities.
We are working with the people of the region.
We are working with the concerned citizens committee.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, we
will do everything we can
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. CRUMMELL:
to keep the federal government to their responsibilities, and make
sure they take care of their responsibilities just like they should.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I say to the Minister of Environment, I did not see anybody from the
government at the meeting that the
Manolis L committee had in St. John's.
We were there and the NDP were there, but there was nobody from
the government.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. LANE:
They did not even
know what was going on.
Mr. Speaker, last year we found out Service Newfoundland and Labrador
was not collecting all audited statements for funeral homes engaged in
selling prepaid funerals as required by legislation.
We have now learned that government amended its insurance
legislation so that agents no longer have to submit audits of their
trust accounts. The
Insurance Brokers Association of Newfoundland and Labrador feels this is
a step backwards in protecting consumers.
I ask the minister: Why are audits no longer required of insurance
agents?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Service NL.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker,
Service NL, our officials in our department, we think we do a very good
job of protecting consumers in this Province.
We have oversight in all our departments and all areas of our
commerce in this Province.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at the prepaid funerals, when we realized
there were some funeral homes that were not in compliance, we put their
feet to the fire as well. We
are now close to 100 per cent compliance there.
When it comes to the situation that you are talking about there, the
oversight we are providing at our level within government, we are making
sure that they are doing all the right things.
There are audited statements that are followed up on.
Mr. Speaker, we are doing the right work at the right time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Mr. Speaker, I had a
meeting with the insurance brokers and that is not what they are telling
me.
Mr. Speaker, Service NL held public consultations for amending the
Residential Tenancies Act.
It also held consultations for a statutory review on workers'
compensation.
I ask the minister: Why did you amend the key section of your insurance
legislation without consulting key industry stakeholders?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I thank my colleague for the question.
With regard to consultation, obviously we know how seriously we
take consultation as a regular part of practice for us.
With regard to the statutory review, we take the recommendations very
seriously, the consultations that went forward with that.
In the very near future, we are going to be coming forward with
an action plan, and that obviously will be borne out of that statutory
review and the consultations being part of that.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
The long-term care facility being built in Carbonear has had significant
cracking in the concrete.
When myself and the member for the area met with two officials at the
site, we were told that the top layer of wire mesh was not installed in
the floor. However, a
spokesperson for the Department of Transportation has said it is not
accurate to say that the top layer of wire mesh was missing.
I ask the minister: Why would the company say the wire mesh was missing,
but government say it is not?
Who is right? How did
you miss this?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I thank the hon. member for that question.
Obviously, our oversight on any project is to make sure that the
people get what it is that they pay for.
In this case, our individuals, our consultants, on site noticed
that there was a hairline fracture in the flooring.
That was not acceptable to us.
We wanted to make sure that product was done to our specifications.
We went back to the contractor and said that this has to be
repaired. As part of the
repair process, the skewing is done, the repairs were made and I know
you went on site and you saw it when it was skewed out, which was great
for me, because I knew they took the due diligence to do it properly.
It is a norm in the curing of concrete that you will have hairline
fractures. That has been
since rectified. The
contract was being done up to spec.
Our engineers and our consultants were quite happy that the job
was being done right
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. BRAZIL:
and has been
rectified, and that contract is moving forward.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
The reality, Mr.
Speaker, is the wire mesh missing their department said that was not
the case, which was not accurate.
Mr. Speaker, there were obviously issues with the wire mesh.
There were issues with the drywall, Mr. Speaker, that was
installed and had to be removed because it was put in place before the
roof was on or the windows were in and guess what?
It rained; the drywall got wet.
Mr. Speaker, with a government office on site to oversee the
construction of this facility, I ask the minister: How is this bad
management happening?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we hire very due diligent individuals.
Our own staff and our civil servants were very proud of the
qualifications they have and the great work that they do to make sure
and to ensure that the taxpayers' money is protected, and that is what
has happened in this case.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Mr. Speaker, this
is a prime example on how the officials in my department and the
consultants that we have in place did their job, to ensure that what was
not up to spec got repaired and got put back the way it was supposed to
be as part of the contract.
Drywall, that is the contractor's responsibility.
Our responsibility is to ensure that the contract is done to our
specification. If the
drywall gets wet, it is told to be replaced, brought up to our
specifications, at the cost of the contractor not the taxpayers, 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, government just released the seafood industry in review for
2014. Rather than seeing our
fishing industry grow, as it should, it has taken a nose dive in value
by 13.1 per cent, a loss of $150 million.
I ask the minister: What
is your plan to correct this serious decline and
mismanagement?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, we
all know the total value of the fishery in the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador and how important the fishery is to all of the rural
communities, and we saw there here on the floor of the House in the
debate that we had yesterday.
I can tell you that the problems that we had last year, the difficulties
we had last year in some of the fisheries and the total value was a
decrease of less than $1 billion, but keep in mind and I spoke to
this, this morning that the total value of money that went into the
harvesters pockets last year was more than it was in 2013.
The total value that went to the processors was down, but the
total value in the pocket of the harvesters in the Province went way up,
Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, what
the minister said that time is about as clear as mud.
Mr. Speaker, since the RMNS fiasco this government has absolutely no
interest in the wild industry, especially on marketing or diversifying
the fishery.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, the
2014 review also showed job losses in the fishing industry and are down
by close to 5 per cent.
I ask the minister: What are you planning to do to stop job losses,
missed opportunities, and properly manage and grow our fishery?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely
appalling to hear a member from the opposite side say that the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not interested in the fishery
of the Province. The
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in the last number of years,
more so than anyone sitting on the other side, has invested heavily in
the fisheries of this Province, wild fisheries and aquaculture
fisheries, Mr. Speaker.
We cannot help if in the aquaculture industry last year that there were
some diseases.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. GRANTER:
We have invested
heavily in the fishery. We
are looking forward to more investments in the fishery, to look at the
CETA fund. That is where our
fishery is. The fishery of
the future is bright for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. GRANTER:
It is appalling
it is absolutely appalling that you would say, Mr. Speaker, that the
fishery of the Province is not a priority for the people of Newfoundland
and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Conception Bay South.
MR. HILLIER:
It is the same
bay, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Provincial Wellness Plan, Phase 1, is dated 2006-2008.
Seven years later, in his mandate letter, the minister is tasked
with developing Phase 2.
I ask the minister: Why has it taken seven years to begin Phase 2 of the
Provincial Wellness Plan, and when can we expect to see it implemented?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, all
we have to do is to take a look at one thing, in particular: This year,
the Premier set up a new department.
I will outline to the member: Seniors, Wellness and Social
Development. Very keen on
that is the whole wellness component.
If you look at what we have done, Mr. Speaker, over the course of the
last number of years around smoking cessation, the programs that we put
in the schools and so on and so forth, we have made tremendous advances.
The development of this plan is underway, Mr. Speaker.
When it is near completion, I will announce it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday the Premier gave examples of where private business has done,
in his words, a very good job at providing services and programs to the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I ask the Premier: Does he really believe that a privatized child care
program is working for the parents and children of this Province in the
face of blatant evidence to the contrary?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, I am
not sure if the member opposite is trying to suggest that private child
care operators are not providing a good service to the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Is the member opposite trying to suggest that hard-working
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who work careers in childcare, Mr.
Speaker, in Newfoundland and Labrador are not providing good service to
the children of Newfoundland and Labrador?
Is she trying to suggest that the training and benefits that are being
provided to some of those workers now, with investments by this
government so they can be better trained and better qualified to deliver
services to the children of Newfoundland and Labrador is she
suggesting they are not providing a good service, Mr. Speaker?
I ask the member is that what she is trying to suggest, that private
business operators, child care operators in this Province, are not
providing good service to the people of the Province?
Outrageous, Mr. Speaker, terrible.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.
He can try to sell that to the parents who are giving up jobs because
they cannot afford child care.
So, let's try another one.
Can the Premier show evidence that a privatized home care program is
working for seniors and other people with home care needs?
Let him try that one.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Yes, Mr. Speaker,
I certainly can. She only
needs to go down the road to Chancellor Park where private operators are
providing quality services to long-term patients in Newfoundland and
Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
PREMIER DAVIS:
She only needs to
speak to operators throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker,
who provide quality services in personal care homes in this Province to
the people of our Province.
If she wants to talk about quality child care, we have a ten-year plan
on child care in this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
PREMIER DAVIS:
It is about
quality, it is about sufficiency of spaces, Mr. Speaker, and it is about
affordability. We have
invested heavily in child care in this Province.
Just a couple of years ago we were investing $26 million a year.
This year, Mr. Speaker, we are up to $42 million and our goal is
to reach $56 million a year by the end of our ten-year strategy.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
That is
investment in the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
That is investment in the future of this Province, Mr. Speaker.
We stand by working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you.
If he is being so generous, maybe he can give me more time now.
I ask him another one: Where is the Premier's evidence that privatized
ambulances
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
work for the people who need them and the emergency workers who staff
them? Where is that
evidence?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, I
caught a bit of her preamble and then I did not catch the rest of her
question. I can tell you
that we are investing heavily in child care.
The facts are clear.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
PREMIER DAVIS:
We established in
2012, Caring for our Future.
It is a ten-year plan for child care in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, a decade ago there were about 4,600 regulated child
care spaces in this Province.
Today there are about 7,800, a significant increase.
We have provided opportunities for workers who have careers in child
care to expand their own training, Mr. Speaker, so they can go back to
school and they can become better educated and better skilled so we can
provide better services to those children.
We are supporting that.
We are investing in that.
We are also investing in family care homes, over 150 new homes now with
over 800 family care spaces in our Province, Mr. Speaker.
We are making progress in child care.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
The fracking review panel has not announced its schedule for public
consultations yet. I wonder
if the minister can update the House as regards to what is going to be
happening.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Yes, Mr. Speaker,
as we know, we have an independent panel put in place to do a review of
the fracking, particularly on the West Coast of the Province.
It is an independent panel.
I know the panel have met and I expect them to have a website up
and running real soon.
It is my understanding that they will give a ninety-day notice of when
their consultations will begin.
I assume they are waiting until the spring, Mr. Speaker, so
everybody can have a chance.
I think it is important that I reiterate that.
When the panel do start and consultations begin, everyone out
there who has a view on fracking will be given an opportunity to have
input and an opportunity to share their views with the panel.
From our perspective as a government, that is really important
that people be given that chance to have their input.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The time for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Notices of Motion.
Answers to Question for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned
residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS many parents have expressed concern about the impact of
overcrowding at Beachy Cove Elementary on the student's mental and
physical well-being; and
WHEREAS many parents have questioned the impact of major space
restrictions at Beachy Cove Elementary
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I ask all members for their co-operation, please.
The Member for St. John's North to continue.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
and the ability of the school to continue delivering quality
curriculum to their growing student population; and
WHEREAS many parents have expressed concern about government's prolonged
timelines to plan, tender, and construct the approved intermediate Grade
5-9 school in Portugal Cove-St. Phillips;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon
the House of Assembly to urge government to provide all necessary
resources in Budget 2015 and beyond to have the Portugal Cove-St.
Phillips intermediate Grade 5-9 school constructed, commissioned, and
operational for students in September 2016.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, myself and the Minister of Transportation and Works
attended a meeting last night in Portugal Cove-St. Phillips where
parents discussed a number of issues related to the delay in
constructing the new school.
The new school was promised about four years ago.
Over that period of time, instead of building a new school, they
have almost built a new school within a school because there are almost
a dozen temporary or new classrooms after being added to Beachy Cove
Elementary over that period of time to accommodate the growing school
population. That school was
designed to accommodate somewhere in the order of 400-odd students; now
they are approaching 700-plus.
Last night, some of the stories we heard from there were just absolutely
mind blowing, the things that are going on in the school.
For example, thirty-four students in a class with two teachers
and no windows, in a temporary classroom cut out of a cafeteria.
Other stories about, if this school and the minister said he was
hopefully optimistic that the school would be ready for September 2016.
The school council people who were there said if that is not
ready for 2016, they are going to lose their learning resources centre
and their computer labs.
They are going to lose the library, basically, which is the heart of the
school. It is one of the few
places they have to have professional development, or if the public
health nurse is coming in, or they are doing some other sort of
co-curricular or outside of curriculum activity.
That is the only space they have now, because the cafeteria is
classrooms. All they have is
the gym. We heard all kinds
of stories about that.
I would say in Question Period today I really was not very impressed
with the responses. In
September of last year the school board decided to change that Torbay
school to a 5-8 school, and they do not seem to know that.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I remind the member his time has expired.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.
To the House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS Newfoundland and Labrador has the greatest percentage of the
workforce earning the provincial minimum wage in Canada, with women,
youth and those from rural areas making up a disproportionate number of
these workers; and
WHEREAS there has been no increase in the minimum wage since 2010, which
has had detrimental impacts on the purchasing power of the most
vulnerable members of the provincial workforce; and
WHEREAS minimum wage earners do not earn enough money for the
necessities of life, and even full-time minimum wage earners barely meet
the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) of $19,496 a person; and
WHEREAS government ignored the recommendations of its own 2012 Minimum
Wage Review Committee for an immediate increase to reflect the cost of
living, and annual adjustments in line with the consumer price index,
and instead legislated a twenty-five cent increase in October 2014, and
a twenty-five cent increase in October 2015, with no indexing; and
WHEREAS other provinces and territories have been raising their minimum
wages, leaving Newfoundland and Labrador on the low end;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon
the House of Assembly to urge government to implement the
recommendations of the 2012 Minimum Wage Review Committee and legislate
an immediate increase in the minimum wage to reflect the loss of
purchasing power since 2010, and an annual adjustment beginning in 2015
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I ask all members again, please, if you have to have private
conversations take it outside the Chamber.
The Speaker is having difficulty hearing the person who is
talking.
The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi to continue.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS government ignored the recommendations of its
own 2012 Minimum Wage Review Committee for an immediate increase to
reflect the cost of living, and annual adjustments in line with the
Consumer Price Index, and instead legislated a twenty-five cent increase
in October 2014, and a twenty-five cent increase in October 2015, with
no indexing; and
WHEREAS other provinces and territories have been
raising their minimum wages, leaving Newfoundland and Labrador on the
low end;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge government to implement
the recommendations of the 2012 Minimum Wage Review Committee and
legislate an immediate increase in the minimum wage to reflect the loss
of purchasing power since 2010, and an annual adjustment beginning in
2015 to reflect the cost of living index.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, people have been speaking out to us about
the minimum wage issue for a long time.
I think the last WHEREAS here is extremely important and that is
WHEREAS other provinces and territories have been raising their minimum
wages, leaving us far behind.
We were leaders when changes were made back from
2008-2010 where over a two-year period the minimum wage was brought up
significantly. Now, Mr.
Speaker, we have six provinces that are ahead of us in the line-up.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I remind the member her speaking time has expired.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I
will have to bring this in again.
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 most communities in the District of Cartwright
L'Anse au Clair do not have adequate broadband service; and
WHEREAS residents, businesses, students, nurses, and
teachers rely heavily on the Internet to conduct their work and cannot
afford to wait until 2017 to access a potential plan in partnership with
the Muskrat Falls development; and
WHEREAS there are a number of world-class tourism sites
in the region, including an UNESCO site at Red Bay, Battle Harbour
Historic Site, and the Mealy Mountains National Park;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador to work with the appropriate agencies to
provide adequate broadband service to communities along the Labrador
coast.
Mr. Speaker, what is happening right now in my area in
a part of my district, I feel, is that a lack of sufficient access to
communities in my district has contributed to a digital divide that is
exasperating a lot of the inequities between the rural and the urban.
I am going to put it that way.
I will give some credit, Mr. Speaker.
I have been petitioning for
improvements to broadband in my district from my first day in the House
and we have seen improvements.
I believe by mid-April from Red Bay to L'Anse au Clair we are
going to see some improvements and that area is going to be open to
sales. That is half of my
district. However, we have some
very, very serious issues going on down in southeast, in the area, St.
Lewis, Mary's Harbour, Charlottetown, Port Hope Simpson, Pinsent Arm.
So I am going to urge the government because, right
now, people cannot carry out their basic daily activity.
Businesses are suffering because of it.
Professionals are suffering because of it.
We see the government, Mr. Speaker, departments like Service NL,
Motor Vehicle Registration, we see fishermen have to renew their
licences online, we see things like BizPal being promoted; yet we have
rural communities that are far from government services that have not
been given the infrastructure that they need to keep up with the times.
Mr. Speaker, sometimes, yes, you have an area of vast geography
and a sparse population, but we can look at many other successful models
in other countries where this was overcome.
I am urging government to work with the service
provider, to work with the federal government, to connect the
communities in southeast Labrador.
Right now there are a lot of disgruntled people.
I know there are petitions out; they are circulating.
They have contacted lawyers to see if they would have a case to
sue the service provider. It
is very sad, Mr. Speaker.
I hope the government will continue to work with us in
this area and that we will see improvement to the speed and that we will
be able to open up this handful of communities to sales again.
I will continue to petition for the same.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Humber East.
MR. FLYNN:
A petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned
humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the 2009 Throne Speech clearly states that the
government has provided free textbooks to students; and
WHEREAS this is an investment in education; and
WHEREAS unfortunately, students attending independently
funded schools have been deprived of equal access to this assistance;
and
WHEREAS the Department of Education is perceived to
show discrimination towards parents who exercise a choice of schooling
for their child; and
WHEREAS all schools operate under the guidelines of the
Schools Act;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the government,
beginning immediately, to ask the Department of Education to provide
free textbooks to all students who attend any schools that follow the
requirements of the Schools Act, 1997 (amended) Chapter S-12.2.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I am asking that the minister get involved
in this. The Premiers, both
now, have promised to the people of the independently funded schools
that these textbooks will be provided free.
I am asking that the minister stop discrimination and provide
these textbooks free to the people in the independently funded schools.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have a petition today on health care in St. George's
and surrounding area.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the
undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS there is not a permanent doctor in the Town of
St. George's; and
WHEREAS this absence of a permanent doctor is seriously
compromising the health care of people who live in the town and
surrounding area causing them undue hardship; and
WHEREAS the absence of a doctor or nurse practitioner
in the area leaves seniors and others without a consistency and quality
of care, which is necessary for their continued good health;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador to take action which will result in a
permanent doctor or other arrangements to improve the health care
services in St. George's and surrounding area.
Mr. Speaker, this is a serious situation that has gone
on for a long time in St. George's.
St. George's lost its doctor in December, but other communities
in the area such as Jeffrey's, the Jeffrey's clinic, and the communities
served by the Jeffery's clinic lost their doctor over a year ago.
So this is a serious situation that is developing in the area.
Lots of people are suffering because of the unavailability of a
doctor.
I have talked to officials at Western Health.
I have talked to the minister.
He is aware of the situation there and the urgency of the matter.
It is important to note that the people in the area are
concerned that they do not have a continuity of care.
They had some locums who come to the area on a periodic basis,
but they have not had a continuity of care that allows them to have good
health and good service at the clinic there in St. George's.
It is important to note that the people are not
requesting new positions.
These are positions that have been budgeted for in the area.
These are positions that have been in place for a number of
years. So this is not a new
position that people are looking for.
It is the filling of an existing position.
It is a recruitment issue that the people want dealt with as soon
as possible.
Some of the concerns that have been raised: people who
have to have prescriptions filled; people who need to get testing back
or be sent for tests are having trouble getting
those things done because of the unavailability of a doctor in a
reasonable time.
What has happened is they have had to travel long distances, sometimes
in inclement weather, wait in a waiting room for sometimes all day to
get service.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I
look forward to this problem being dealt with soon.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I have a petition. To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS the Applied Behaviour Analysis, ABA program for children with
autism, is funded by the Department of Health and Community Services;
and
WHEREAS the program was introduced in 1999 and is in serious need of
revision; and
WHEREAS with the advances made in early diagnosis of autism, the number
of high functioning children being diagnosed with autism has drastically
increased; and
WHEREAS the current ABA program does not take into account that children
on the autism spectrum are involved in many educational, recreational
and social activities outside of the home; and
WHEREAS the current ABA program requires that the therapist be
accompanied at all times by another adult which is not only inconvenient
but can be quite costly when a parent is unable to be that second adult
due to work or other obligations; and
WHEREAS the current ABA program ends at Grade 3 but autism is a lifelong
social disorder;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon
the House to urge the government to implement a review of the ABA
program with considerations given to alternate programming options, and
to extend autism programming beyond Grade 3.
Mr. Speaker, I have entered this petition in the House before, and I
have done so after meeting with parents in the Autism Involves Me aim
group out in Port aux Basques.
They represent the Southwest Coast, but I have taken the
opportunity to meet with members of the Autism Society, to meet with
FEAT group, again, generally just to get calls from parents with
children with autism all over this Province.
The fact is that ABA is a great program, but it is in serious need of
revision. It was done in
1999; it is now 2015. The
numbers since then, the increase in diagnosis has skyrocketed.
I believe right now the number is one in sixty-eight.
That is a huge change even from just five years ago.
These parents are looking for help.
We are looking for a review of the program.
The program works, but right now it stops at Grade 3.
The problem with autism being on the spectrum is that it does not
stop at Grade 3. It is a
lifelong disorder. We need
to work with parents and work with children to make this happen.
Again, the first start is to review it.
It is a good start but we need to make sure this happens.
I have had ministers on the other side talk about how much money we have
invested but they are not talking about outcomes, and that is the
problem. They try to throw
money at a problem money is good, money is necessary, but you have to
talk about the outcomes here.
That is the important part.
I am calling on government to heed what these parents are saying.
They are trying to talk; they are just hoping that you are
listening.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned
residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court provided a comprehensive
approach to domestic violence in a court setting that fully understood
and dealt with the complex issues of domestic violence; and
WHEREAS domestic violence continues to be one of the most serious issues
facing our Province today, and the cost of the impact of domestic
violence is great both economically and in human suffering; and
WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed
by all aspects of the justice system including the police, the courts,
prosecutors, defence counsel, Child, Youth and Family Services, as well
as victims, offenders, community agencies and women's groups; and
WHEREAS the recidivism rate for offenders going through the court was 10
per cent compared to 40 per cent for those who did not; and
WHEREAS the budget for the court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire
budget of the Department of Justice;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon
the House of Assembly to urge government to reinstate the Family
Violence Intervention Court.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, we know, everyone in this House has acknowledged, that
family violence is one of the major societal problems in our Province
today. Every member of this
House, I am sure, takes it very seriously and wants to see an end to
family violence.
Wouldn't it be great, Mr. Speaker, at this point if we did not need a
Family Violence Intervention Court?
The hard reality is that we do need a Family Violence
Intervention Court.
It is a curious thing at this point in our history to know that the
police have endorsed the Family Violence Intervention Court.
Prosecutors have endorsed the Family Violence Intervention Court.
Defence lawyers have supported the Family Violence Intervention
Court. Even the judiciary,
Mr. Speaker, has endorsed the Family Violence Intervention Court.
Social workers have endorsed the Family Violence Intervention
Court. Child, Youth and
Family Services have endorsed the court.
Victims of domestic violence have endorsed the court.
Mr. Speaker, the government knows how effective this court was in
addressing the root causes of domestic violence, which is what we all
want to do. We want to
address those root causes.
The research on the court has shown that the recidivism rate has dropped
drastically, which means in cases in families where there has been
domestic violence, that because of the programs through the court, the
repeat of that violence has been minimized by the effectiveness of the
court and its programs.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
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 on average, there are over 700 moose-vehicle accidents in the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador each year; and
WHEREAS approximately 10 per cent of those accidents result in serious
injury or fatality; and
WHEREAS moose-vehicle accident mitigation measures like moose fencing,
brush cutting, and hunting quotas have reduced accidents in other
provinces, in particular, New Brunswick;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon
the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador to increase moose-vehicle accident mitigation measures,
including moose fencing, brush cutting, and increasing quotas, and to
provide financial assistance to those most seriously injured as a result
of said collisions.
As is duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I brought this here earlier in the week.
I am going to continue to bring it here.
This particular gentleman worked with the Wildlife Division.
He was a wildlife officer, a very young man, and his standard of
life is certainly after changing.
Right now he is a paraplegic.
Mr. Speaker, we have to continue on here and we need to really seriously
take a look at what we are doing.
I am not sure exactly what the sum of money was we spent on this
moose lighting on the Trans-Canada and down across the Island, but it
certainly did not work. We
need to look at other avenues where we can do it, probably more so the
most heavily populated areas in moose sightings, or something like that,
to make a start on it. Then
continue something each year to make sure that this kind of thing we
do whatever we can here on this end to make sure that we bring down the
numbers on that.
Now, I am of the understanding there has been fifteen accidents right
now in the park already this year, over in the park there.
So it is certainly something we should look at and do something
with. Of course, all those
victims I do know there have been a number of deaths, too.
I can go back and think of a couple there from our area.
Actually, one of them was an MP at one point in time or other.
He ran into one there in Clarenville.
So it is a serious issue, and it affects each and every one of us who
sits in this hon. House, Mr. Speaker.
It affects every one of us and it is happening in our communities
all across the Province, and I think that this government should take an
initiative to start doing something with it and start doing it now.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Orders of the
Day.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Deputy House Leader.
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 1, Committee of Supply.
MR. SPEAKER:
The motion is
that the House do now resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to
consider Bill 44, Interim Supply, and that I do now leave the Chair.
All those in favour, 'aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those
against, 'nay'.
Carried.
On motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole,
Mr. Speaker left the Chair.
Committee of the
Whole
CHAIR (Littlejohn):
Order,
please!
We are considering the related resolution in Bill 44, An Act For
Granting To Her Majesty Certain Sums Of Money For Defraying Certain
Expenses Of The Public Service For The Financial Year Ending March 31,
2016 And For Other Purposes Relating To The Public Service.
The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you
very much, Mr. Chair.
It is indeed a privilege to get up here today and represent the
beautiful District of Cape St. Francis.
Mr. Chair, this session of the House is a session that I really
enjoy. We have a lot of
money bills that are on the go and it gives us an opportunity to talk
about so many different things related to our district and related to
government in general. It is
an opportunity once we do Interim Supply, we do the Budget, and the
Thorne Speech, it gives us all a chance to really be able to get up and
express ourselves and let the people out there know what we do as MHAs,
know what our concerns are, and where our priorities are to.
Interim Supply is a big bill, there is no doubt about it.
When you are talking about granting funds of $2.7 billion, it is
a lot of money. I know it is
very important to the people, but it is important too that we pass this
bill and make sure that monies go forward to the different departments.
Mr. Chair, this session, I am going to just try to talk a little bit on
different topics and today is a great day to talk on a topic because
there was a question already asked in Question Period today that I was
very interested in it was from the Member for St. John's North and
it had to do with education.
That is where I would like to go today about education because, as an
MHA, I like to focus on a couple of different groups of people.
Now, I represent everybody; but, to me, I think our youth, our
young people, are a major concern for me.
I know that every opportunity I get to visit a school or
whatever, I take it. Also
our seniors if a senior calls me to complain about home repair
programs and stuff like that, I like to visit their houses and help them
fill out the application if that is what needs to be done.
I take great pride in that as an MHA.
I just want to talk about education today.
The member brought up a question about the school in Torbay.
I have to say it is probably the number one priority for me since
I have been elected. It is
probably the biggest file I have had since I have been elected because
it is a huge concern. My
area is a very fast-growing area.
We have come so far in education in the District of Cape St.
Francis that it is unbelievable.
Yet, our growth is high and the concerns down there I am not
saying we have all the problems fixed, but we are after fixing an awful
lot of problems when it comes to education in Cape St. Francis.
Mr. Chair, I just want to go back because the tender went out on our new
school that we are going to have there.
It is a Grade 5, 6, and 7 school.
I have to give credit to the school councils in the area.
We had a focus group first when we started and we came together
with three school councils; one from Holy Trinity Elementary, one from
Holy Trinity High, and the other one from Cape St. Francis Elementary.
We got together. We
set up a committee. We went
to the school board. We did
all the consultations and presented our case.
The school board did agree that, yes, they definitely do need a
new school in the area.
We wanted to do it in a way that K-4 would be at Cape St. Francis and
K-4 would be at Holy Trinity Elementary, and we did not want to take too
much out of the high school because a lot of times the principals were
all involved. The curriculum
they could have in their school is based sometimes on the population of
the students. So we were
worried about the high school, which was really 7-12, and the concern
was that we did not want to take too many students because there are
different courses that could be offered because of the number of
students. That was very
important. That is the
reason why it is a Grade 5, 6, and 7.
I wanted to let the member across the way know that.
Again, the tender is after being called.
It closed only the other day.
I really look forward to, hopefully in the next week or so,
talking to the school councils and doing some kind of announcement on
that new school because it is needed in the area, there is no doubt
about it.
I have to go back because there are a lot of times people will say,
well, it is very poor planning in the area.
Mr. Chair, I was the Mayor of the Town of Flatrock in 2005 when
the former MHA, Mr. Byrne, was here.
He was so proud to get the new school for Torbay.
At that time, there were 563 children at Holy Trinity Elementary.
As the Mayor of the Town of Flatrock, you look at all your growth
in your town and everything else; we never anticipated the growth that
went ahead.
The school was planned in 2005.
At the time, the housing starts, when I was the Mayor of
Flatrock, were like eight, seven a year for the three years.
Then all of a sudden in 2008 we jumped from seven in 2007 to
about thirty-five the next year.
The growth is just unbelievable.
The Town of Torbay in the last four years has grown by 20 per
cent. I do not know if
someone did not predict it or whatever, but when you look at an area
where the growth is like that, you are looking at young families coming
in, young families and young children, and that is why the growth in the
school.
I really have to thank the Department of Education and the school board;
they have done a fantastic job in the area.
People, I laugh when I went to trade school, we used to go out
to the portable classrooms and you put your coat on before you went out
there because they were cold and the windows were open, but these new
modular classrooms that they built in the schools there are four now
at Holy Trinity Elementary and one at Cape St. Francis they are great
classrooms, I have to say, and the parents are very, very pleased with
them.
Mr. Chair, I just want to say that the growth in the area and what is
happening there, we are very, very lucky with the investments that this
government has made in education since 2003.
I go back to 2003 and I am not blaming any government.
There were different circumstances in the 1990s than what were in
the 2000s, different circumstances altogether.
The money was not there like it was there for the last ten years;
I am not blaming that at all.
In 2003, there were a number of schools in this Province that the
biggest issue was mould.
When you listen to Open Line shows in 2003 and 2004, it was about our
education. It was about
people calling in with mouldy schools, leaky windows, roofs where the
water was running in, and there were buckets on the floor.
We saw it all the time.
That was the number one conversation.
We do not hear that any more.
I am going to give a real good example now of that too, Mr. Chair.
In the Town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, there is a gem.
There is a beautiful little school down there.
There are 263 children there this year.
I have to say, the people in the community are so proud of their
school and the support that they get from the parents and everybody
else. It is a great little
school, but in 2003-2004 that school even thought about shutting down
because there were so many issues with it.
This government invested a million dollars in putting a new roof on the
school, new windows, new siding
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Hear,
hear!
When you walk inside that school today, it is an absolutely beautiful
school. The teachers are so proud
of it. The parents, they
just love the school. Like I
said, it is a fantastic school, but it was a great investment to make.
Since 2004, there have been 1,900 repairs or maintenance to schools in
this Province 1,900, $236 million.
That is just in maintenance and repairs of schools.
That does not include the fourteen new schools that have been
built since, nor does it include eight schools that are also in
planning.
I know the hon. Member for Virginia Waters got up the other day and she
was wondering what we did with our money.
Well, I can tell you what has been done with money in my
district. In my district,
there has been a huge investment in schools.
There is a million dollars invested in St. Francis of Assisi for
repairs. There were also a
bunch of other repairs that were done.
A new parking lot was paved down there.
Holy Trinity Elementary, a $15 million school that was built and opened
in 2011. That is not a
waste. Granted, the
population has gone up and there are issues there, but there are four
new modular classrooms that were put on there for a cost.
We also have another great school in my district.
Cape St. Francis just had a modular classroom.
I am hoping now, Mr. Chair, in the near future, that the tender
comes out and we will have another school.
It will address the needs of the growing population because we
are seeing now that the K-5 has stabilized.
The growth is not going up like it was.
The numbers are there, and they have a great idea of what we need
in the area. The new school
is going to have about 450 children in it to about 500, and that will
elevate all of what is happening in the area.
Mr. Chair, I want to talk about some other things too.
As a parent growing up and having two children who were going to
school and I was a single parent, Mr. Chair.
The biggest thing I think that this government has done for
education and I heard the minister the other day talk about his life
as a principal of a school and how they had to address the needs of some
of the parents who were coming through who could not afford to go to
school.
I tell you, Mr. Chair, I am not ashamed of it, I was one of those
parents who had a hard time.
The day two of mine came home with their list I was worried because I
wanted to know how I was going to pay for those books.
Before then, I was after talking to my friends or someone else
who had a child in the grade before to try to work on getting books for
them.
I remember one time there was a scientific calculator that came home,
and it was $120 for the calculator.
I was trying to figure out where I was going to get the money for
it. Do you know what?
Parents today then the Member for Virginia Waters is wondering
where the money has gone to.
I would like to tell her, talk to all the parents who now today do not
need to worry about when they come home from school to see that they get
free books in the school.
Mr. Chair, I can go on talking about education for a long while.
I am hoping they are going to give me an opportunity to speak
again because I want to talk about seniors, I want to talk about
municipalities, I want to talk about a lot
CHAIR:
I remind the hon.
member his time has expired.
MR. K. PARSONS:
All right,
Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
I am happy to stand and speak to this bill.
I find all this very interesting.
The member who spoke just then, the Member for Cape St. Francis,
talked about the Torbay school that is going to be constructed, well,
sometime between now and 2017 or something like that.
In 2011, the former Eastern School District decided that they needed to
have
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. KIRBY:
a Grades 5-7 school in Torbay
to serve the surrounding communities.
Last September, according to the September 19 minutes of the
Executive Committee of the Newfoundland and Labrador English School
District, they changed the designation of that school from Grades 5-7 to
Grades 5-8. I do not know if
they unchanged that decision since then, but I am surprised to hear that
from the member.
MR. K. PARSONS:
A point of
order, Mr. Chair.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Cape St. Francis on a point of order.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Yes, I
would like to just address the member's statement there that time.
It was always considered to be a 5-7 school.
I think there was some consideration given, too, that it could go
to Grade 8. When they looked
at the curriculum that was there, they decided to go from 5-7.
CHAIR:
There is no point of
order.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Okay.
CHAIR:
Thank you.
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Chair, I just
want to clarify, because the Executive Committee of the Newfoundland and
Labrador English School District has redesignated that school.
The tender, I understand, is soon going to be issued for that, or
it is going to be awarded.
They issued it in January for a 5-7 school.
Months after the board changed it from a 5-7 to a 5-8 school, the
government went ahead and issued the tender for the smaller school, not
the larger one that the board has changed it to.
I hear what the member is saying, but the member over there is
not deciding what kids in what grades and what ages are going to go to
that new school. The
Newfoundland and Labrador English School District is going to do that
because they are going to designate the catchment areas for that school
and it is going to have Grades 5-8.
Basically, you are going to be trying to shove four grade levels into a
school that was tendered.
Well, if the tender is issued for 5-7, it is one grade level less than
what the board decided last September 19 for that school to be
designated as. That is what
I understand. Unless the
Newfoundland and Labrador English School District has subsequently made
a different decision, then that is a problem because you are trying to
put additional grade levels into a school that is going to be built too
small.
Now, it is interesting because at the same meeting on September 19,
2014, the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District also decided
that they had a problem with Holy Family School out in Paradise.
At the same meeting they made that decision that they would
potentially bus kids from Holy Family out to the Newfoundland School for
the Deaf.
Now, if the member is not aware of that decision, I am not surprised
because parents of kids who go to Holy Family Elementary never found out
about the board's decision until January, when one of their children
came home from school and said, mommy and daddy, guess what?
I am going to be taking the bus into St. John's now for
forty-five minutes to school, that is what somebody said.
I think at least the Department of Education and Early Childhood
Development, somebody there should read the minutes of the school board
that they appointed several years ago.
This is symptomatic of a larger problem that we have around
school planning.
Out in Paradise, it is projected to have a student population going up
somewhere around 1,000 students, I believe, in a school that was built
for several hundred fewer students than that.
One of the options they are talking about, which makes no sense
to me, is to bring in no less than four portable classrooms and some
sort of, I do not know, I will call it a portable toilet room.
It is like a washroom on wheels.
They do not have enough washroom space for a school with that
many students, so they are going to try and have a portable washroom as
well. I do not know how any
of this is going to work.
The other option to that is they are talking about busing kids from
Grade 2 to Grade 6 into St. John's in the former location of the
Newfoundland School for the Deaf.
That is really not a reasonable option either.
I had a gentleman call me the other day and said: I have one
child who is in Grade 2, and another child is in Grade 1, one is going
to be going one way and one is going to be going the other way; how am I
going to deal with child care in that instance?
That is going to be a real problem.
It is going to put a real burden on parents, and it is
symptomatic of the larger problem that we have had.
Basically, if you paint a line from Mount Pearl over to Torbay,
school planning on the Northeast Avalon has been, for lack of a better
term, a shemozzle for a good while now, and largely under this
government's watch.
I presented a petition on behalf of the parents out in Portugal Cove-St.
Phillips, and like I said, in that school, in Beachy Cove Elementary
there, they were promised a school four years ago four years ago.
The Minister of Transportation and Works said last night that he
was hopefully optimistic that that school would open in September 2016.
Now, my colleague, the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, was
supposed to have a school, a new school that was promised to be open in
Charlottetown in September 2014.
Do you know how many students, Mr. Chair, are going to school at
that school right now? None,
no students in that that was supposed to open last September.
Like I said in the debate, Beachy Cove Elementary has had eleven
temporary, reconfigured, modular, portable, all of these sorts of
classrooms
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. KIRBY:
There is one
classroom out there they call the hallway, it is so narrow.
Parents were saying last night, and I cannot corroborate this,
but parents were saying, basically they had to move the students from
side to side because they get a sore neck because they are leaned
against the wall one way or the other.
That is how narrow they have them jammed into that space.
Thirty-four students with two teachers trying to do French in a
cafeteria classroom with no windows.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. KIRBY:
You have to
question the air quality too, with no windows.
The cafeteria was never meant to be occupied all day long like
that.
All kinds of these situations existing in Paradise, in Portugal Cove-St.
Phillips, and now government is going to do the same thing all over
again when it issues this tender for a 5-7 school in Torbay, where the
board decided last September they are going to put an extra grade level
and nobody over there knows anything about it.
They are saying oh, you are wrong, you are wrong.
It is written right there.
In the minutes of the board, September 19, 2014, they said the decision
we made the former school district, the Eastern School District, made
a decision to have a 5-7 school.
Now we are going to change that decision.
We are going to change it to a 5-8 school.
What did the Minister of Transportation and Works do?
He went and issued a tender call for a 5-7 school.
Now soon, he is going to award that tender for a 5-7 school and
then they will have Grade 8 show up.
Where are they going to go?
Mr. Chair, unfortunately, do you know where they are going to go?
They are going to go in portables, in modulars.
They are going to cut the cafeteria up.
In Portugal Cove-St. Phillips if the minister's hopeful
optimism does not work out, because I am sure the Member for Cartwright
L'Anse au Clair was hopefully optimistic that government would keep
its commitment to open that school in Charlottetown in 2014.
If there is not much to that hopeful optimism, then they are
going to lose their learning resources and computer lab out in Portugal
Cove-St. Phillips at Beachy Cove and they will have thirteen temporary
classrooms in that school.
Kids out in Torbay, in Pouch Cove, in communities all along there, they
can look forward to having that from day one when they put all of these
Grade 8's in a school that was never designed to accommodate them.
That is unfortunate.
How much consultation was there with parents about changing that school
from a 5-7 to a 5-8? There
clearly was no consultation with the member from the area.
That shocks me. I do
not even know if there was any consultation with the Minister of
Education because she is sort of shaking her head, I do not know.
None of that makes any sense to me.
You cannot continue to make these mistakes over and over and over again:
Paradise, Portugal Cove-St. Philips, now Torbay.
We have had all kinds of problems with Carbonear, when they moved
into that school.
Practically the next day they brought in portable classrooms to
accommodate the number of students who were there and they said, well,
we cannot project the population growth.
I tell you what, the guy who used to sit in that seat over there, the
former Premier of the Province, Danny Williams, he had no problem
projecting the population growth on the Northeast Avalon, so much that
he is building a subdivision the size of Gander or something out on the
outskirts of Mount Pearl.
Now, he has no problem figuring out how many people are moving in this
area. He never told the rest
of you before he left?
It makes no sense to me. You
cannot continue to build schools too small.
It creates too many problems and it has a long-term impact on
educational outcomes and the curriculum.
That is the facts, folks, and we have to change this way.
We have to change this; this is not working.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Cape St. Francis.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you
very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, I had to listen to that for about ten minutes and it almost
made me sick just to listen because he has no idea what he is talking
about. When you talk about
consultation, I can tell you that the school councils in my area were
involved right from day one.
The parents in my area and parents were so involved in what happened.
We decided to get a group together right at the start of this when there
were problems coming. As
soon as the school was built down in Torbay, yes, we understood there
were going to be problems with issues with the number of Kindergartens
that were coming in and down the road, there was going to be a major
issue and there was going to need modular classrooms.
The school councils are the people who put their proposal
together to the school board for a 5, 6, and 7 school.
The high school down at Holy Trinity High right now is not at full
capacity, and that has Grade 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, the reason being
that they wanted a 5, 6, 7 and not a Grade 8 for a larger school.
They wanted to keep the students down to about 500 which would
be, right now today if it opened tomorrow, I think it is about 440
students.
MR. JOYCE:
Is the school
board wrong?
MR. K. PARSONS:
I do not
know if the school board is wrong or not, but I tell you the parents and
the school council are getting what they asked for.
The parents in the area and the school councils asked for a 5-7
school and that is what is going to be built in Torbay.
In Torbay, Mr. Chair, it is going to address three schools, three areas
that we have problems with right now.
It is the K-6 school that is in Pouch Cove, a K-6 school that is
at Holy Trinity Elementary, and the high school itself.
Because as the students come from 5, 6, and 7 the increased
numbers are going to be in the high school.
They have looked at all this, and the parents and the school councils
are in full agreement with the type of school that is getting built.
They are very happy that it will be built, and it will take care
of a lot of the issues in the area.
Mr. Chair, I just want to talk about another thing too.
I looked into investments that we have made in schools in my
area. I have been fortunate
over the last couple of years that we have received some grants from the
Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development.
They got different grants and each school got $20,000 to improve
their resources, like laptops and iPads and everything else.
These schools are just so happy with those grants.
That is something that I would like to thank the government for,
the investments.
I talked to a teacher who just retired last year.
She told me she was twenty-eight years a teacher and she never,
ever saw investments in schools like she has seen in the last number of
years.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
When I
walk into classrooms today and I can remember walking in.
I went down last week.
Like I told you, I was down with a Grade 5 class.
They had two students did an interview and then teachers asked me
to stay around. Then all the
students had a chance to ask some questions and we got talking about
everything.
To look up and I think they are called SMART Boards or whiteboards or
something like that. All the
classrooms with the technology that they have today, I am very proud of
those investments. I think
the money that this government spent on education, last year I think the
budget was $1.2 billion; I think it is a very good investment in our
children. I think that we
have to continue it.
In my district, sure, there are issues and it is issues with population
growth, but we are addressing those issues.
In 2003 the issues were completely different.
They were mould and leaky windows and leaky roofs and everything
else. This government, like
I said, has done 1,900 repairs and maintenance to different parts of the
school, major projects that have been done to our educational
facilities. I am very proud
of that for this government.
I am very proud that we do the job we do.
Education is a very important part of all of us here in this thing.
We want to make sure that the children today get the best
possible education that they can, and they are.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for St. John's North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
I am happy to respond to those comments from the Member for Cape St.
Francis. Look, I understand,
this is an issue that is close to him.
It is his district; of course he is concerned.
He is concerned now that the Newfoundland and Labrador English
School District decided last September that they are going to send an
extra grade level into the school that parents were under the
understanding was going to be 5-7.
Of course he is concerned.
We are all concerned about that.
He says he does not know if the school board look, go onto the school
board website, look at the executive minutes of September 19.
It says the former Eastern School District in 2011 made a
decision to construct a 5-7 school in the Town of Torbay.
We are changing that now to a 5-8 school.
That was in September.
Then in January, I understand it, the Department of
Transportation and Works went ahead anyway and issued a tender for a 5-7
school.
The member is right, the parents are going to get what they asked for.
They are going to get a 5-7 school, but it is going to have Grade
8s in it too. It is going to
be too small, okay, unless they build it.
He said it made him sick to sit there and listen to me.
Now, that is fine, but do you know what?
If he wants to see sick, go out for a month in a school that was
constructed for 400 students; go in a windowless classroom in a school
that has 700-odd students in it and sit there with that lack of air
circulation and all of that; eat your lunch at your desk; watch movies
for gym because you do not have any gym class; be crammed up in a room
that was never constructed for that.
Go out to Paradise, go to Holy Family Elementary.
Go to school there for a week and see how sick you feel after
that, because it makes me sick.
Parents think it is unsanitary for children.
Kids with all sorts of anxiety problems and everything, they
cannot go to the washroom; lineups for the washroom.
All the horror stories that I have heard from parents in
Paradise.
I say to the member, I have been to all of the meetings when it comes to
this stuff here on the Northeast Avalon.
I have been to those meetings and I heard firsthand.
I have a notebook here full of the notes that I made of what
people said. I am not making
this up. These are the
facts.
Then he talks about consultation; they were not consulted with.
Okay, he was not consulted with, clearly, on this decision to
change it from 5-7 to 5-8. I
do not know if the Minister of Education was.
I guess the Minister of Transportation was not consulted because
he issued a tender for something other than what the school board is
planning to deliver.
The Minister of Transportation and Works came out to the school meeting
in Portugal Cove-St. Phillips last night and he rolled out the plan for
the school. He rolled out
the plan for the new school.
Somebody said to me, no one consulted any of us.
The architects are out there and they are drawing all of this up.
No one talked to a single parent, no focus group, no survey, no
consultation whatsoever.
This government has a whole department dedicated to public engagement.
No parents who have kids at Beachy Cove Elementary, or are going
to have kids at this school, were consulted on that plan, not that I
understand. None of the
people who were there last night were consulted on that plan.
That was the consultation: Here is the plan, look at it.
There you go. I do
not know.
We have not seen the tender call, despite four years ago this government
promising people in Portugal Cove-St. Phillips that they would get a new
school. Four years have gone
by, and the minister said: Oh, these school developments, all this
process has four stages.
They said: Well, how come it did not happen in four stages over there?
He said they did the four stages all at once.
Why didn't they do the four stages all at once in Portugal
Cove-St. Phillips?
I was out at that meeting in Paradise the other night.
You talk about trying to get yourself out of trouble, which I
believe that is where this government is on this issue, because as I
have said, I am not making any of this up.
It is all there in black and white for people to read.
We were at that meeting.
There were probably a couple of hundred parents there who are very
divided on whether their Grade 2 to Grade 6 kids should spend forty-five
minutes on a bus to go into St. John's now.
All these people bought their homes in Paradise, many of them, so
their kids could walk to school.
Now they have been told that their kids are going to be bused.
People are talking about selling their homes out there.
People are irate.
Then the other option is have four more portable classrooms jammed into
this space with some sort of washroom on wheels set up to accommodate
kids going to the washroom and so on during the school day.
So we are sitting there, and the meeting was scheduled to begin
you cannot make this stuff up, Mr. Chair, you cannot make this stuff up.
The meeting was scheduled to begin at 6:30, and I have the press
release right here. At 6:20,
the Minister of Transportation and Works issues a press release saying:
tender awarded for the new school in Paradise.
Ten minutes before the meeting was going to be begin, and not an MHA
from the government side at that meeting ten minutes.
I went up and showed it to the trustees, and people just like
Newfoundlanders say, you have to laugh, because what is the alternative?
I went over to the mayor and I showed other people and said,
look. The meeting is going
to begin in five minutes and they just issued a tender for the new
school, more or less trying to back your way out of a problem.
There is no way of backing your way out of that problem.
The minister, as well intentioned as he may be, he can be as hopefully
optimistic as he likes about that school being constructed and open
there by Octagon Pond for September 2016.
All you have to do is talk to the Member for Cartwright L'Anse
au Clair, she will tell you, because no one is in that school yet, the
one that was promised for Charlottetown.
Talk to the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace, he will tell
you, because they built that school way too small.
That is a new school full of portable classrooms, basically.
It is absolutely incredible what has been going on.
I know the Member for Cape St. Francis wants to serve his constituents
well, but he is not serving his constituents very well by getting up
there and advocating what the Minister of Transportation and Works has
done, because what he has done is wrong.
The school board decided to change that school in Torbay from a
5-7 school you can almost say it right along with me over there, I
have said it so many times here today change it to a 5-8 school.
They made that decision months before the Department of
Transportation and Works issued a tender for a school that is too small.
They must be tired of hearing people over here saying stop building
schools too small. They must
be tired of hearing school councils say stop building schools too small.
They must be tired of hearing teachers say stop building schools
too small. They must be
tired of hearing students say stop building schools too small, and
parents saying stop building schools too small, because that is what you
are doing. You cannot
continue to do it.
You cannot say, yes, now they are going to get what they asked for, and
we have changed the rules all of a sudden.
The board is going to send an extra grade level there.
So we are going to build another school too small and they are
getting what they deserve.
I would not do that to my constituents.
I would not say that to my constituents, you are getting what you
deserve. Those parents do
not deserve that. Those kids
deserve a good education.
Those people work hard; they pay taxes in this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. KIRBY:
They deserve to
get a decent education, and that is not what they are going to get by
doing this. It is the wrong
decision, and if the minister is going to award that tender I would say
take it back. Take it back,
because I am going to say there might be a legal challenge, who knows,
and you continue to fool this up.
You continue to fool these tenders up.
Do you know what is going to happen if you continue to fool up
these tenders?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. KIRBY:
Do you know what
is going to happen? Then
there are going to be further delays, and there goes your hopeful
optimism. There goes hopeful
optimism, because you have to issue the other point about all of this,
it is this government's appointed school board trustees who made that
decision. The member over
there appointed all those people.
So there is no communication at all no communication at all, it
seems.
I do not know what to say about it.
It is very frustrating.
I apologize again to the Member for Cape St. Francis if he feels
ill about this, but I am telling you, talk to those parents about this.
Talk to those parents, because they are sick with worry.
They are sick with worry about what the long-term impact on their
kids is going to be, jamming them all in these spaces that are too small
to accommodate the number of kids that the Newfoundland and Labrador
English School District is deciding to send to those schools.
The member over there does not decide that.
The Minister of Transportation and Works does not decide that.
The Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development does
not decide that. The school
board has decided to add an extra grade level to that school, so it is
just as well to build a school that is big enough to accommodate Grade
8's out in Torbay.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Minister
of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
I had the opportunity to listen to my colleague from the Opposition here
who would be the critic for closing schools.
That is all I heard from that rant for the last ten minutes.
This Administration is about opening schools.
It is about offering better quality education.
It is about working with the stakeholders.
Contrary to what the hon. member has said over there, we work with the
stakeholders. We work with
municipal councils. We are
working with the school district.
We are identifying.
That is why we have built twenty-four schools in our Administration
twenty-four. We have
repaired fifty-six other schools.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
That is how we
give back to the taxpayers of this Province.
That is how we improve education, Mr. Chair.
It is what we do.
Let's look at where we are.
Right now this is an immediate what we are doing under new schools.
In Paradise, you are right, a tender is out, a tender is awarded
and ready to go. A
contractor is ready to do their job. In
Torbay a contract is ready to go, tenders are closed, and ready to go to
market. The town is engaged,
citizens are engaged, and the school council is engaged, another part of
our process.
In CBS the tender is out.
The hon. member asked about that a couple of months ago.
The CBS tender is out.
The site is done, bought, paid for, and ready to go.
Grubbing will be done soon.
It is all done, Mr. Chair, and ready to go.
In Portugal Cove-St. Phillips, the design is done.
The community saw it, had engineers last night.
The citizens looked at it.
They all love it.
They think it is wonderful because it reflects the input they have had
over the last number of years when we have been looking at it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
The town is
engaged with it, Mr. Chair.
I have been to twenty-seven different meetings with the people of
Portugal Cove-St. Phillips regarding the school needs, including going
and lobbying the school district to change the configuration of the
school district itself and how many grades would be in that.
It was very successful.
I give credit to the citizens; I give credit to the town council that
takes a real leadership role in this.
We were very successful.
Now we are going to the fact that we have land already purchased.
With money that was paid to the town, we are going to reinvest
back into other amenities for students in that area.
They have invested $4 million around that particular school.
It is another positive investment there.
There are new schools here in St. John's.
Have you seen the west end school?
It is state of the art, second to none in this Province.
AN HON. MEMBER:
When is it
opening?
MR. BRAZIL:
It will open in
September.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Six years
wait.
MR. BRAZIL:
No, September,
ready for the students in September.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) Labrador too.
MR. BRAZIL:
Schools in
Labrador I have not even gotten to Labrador yet.
The money we put in Labrador and the other parts of the Province
is equal to everywhere else because we take care of people and students
in every part of this Province.
In the old says what I can remember do not forget, I was a civil
servant. I worked for the
Department of Education, in a Liberal Administration.
I can remember having to deal with mould in schools.
I cannot remember new schools.
I cannot remember going and cutting a lot of ribbons in those
days. I remember a lot of
schools being closed. That I
can remember in the old days.
We have gone beyond that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
We talk about
quality of education. We
talk about safety for our children.
That is what this is about.
We talk about new programs and services.
Do not forget, we are the same ones who brought in all these
extra services when it comes to free education, free books in schools,
courtesy busing, all the other services within the school system itself.
All of the programs and services that we have came through this
Administration, Mr. Chair.
Let's look at what we have done: Gander, a new school; Charlottetown,
our member there from Labrador.
AN HON. MEMBER:
When is
that one opening?
MR. BRAZIL:
Oh, very soon.
It will open very soon.
That is up to the school district.
We just build them.
It is up to the school district to decide when they want to move in.
We have a working relationship in that we build the school, we
tell them as I mentioned earlier in an answer to your critic for my
department, we make sure the school is up to par.
Once I am comfortable with that, my officials come to me, we will
sign off, then we pass it over to the school district.
The school district then decides when the best time to move
students into that school is.
Sometimes it is right at the beginning of the school year.
Sometimes it is after the Christmas break.
Sometimes it is after the Easter break.
They are the three normal times that you move kids into a school.
The school district will do that.
That is a replacement of a school, a commitment this government
made because it was identified that the school had been dilapidated up
there was not up to par. We
wanted to make sure the students had quality education in a quality
school, and we have delivered it.
We will get a chance for the students to be in that in the near
future, Mr. Chair. We have
done that. We have managed
to pass it around.
Let's just talk about investments since 2004 in education.
In Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, $12.1 million in the K-12 system;
$1.6 million allocated in fiscal 2014-2015 to do some additional stuff.
That is Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
I just want to show how this is diversified, how we spread it
around. It is not based on
geography. It is not based
on what your political affiliation is or who represents you.
Do you know what it is based on?
The need of the students of this Province, Mr. Chair.
The need of the communities telling us there is a challenge
there, particularly in areas where there is growth because we have such
a robust economy here and because we have been doing so many things to
encourage families to stay in their home communities and raise their
children and get a better quality of education.
We have delivered on that in Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
The District of St. John's East, $8.5 million that we have put into that
district. Again, spreading
it around. When people need
it, it is identified, and we do our job.
We meet with our school councils and work very closely with the
school district to make sure the proper facilities are done.
St. John's Centre, $25.5 million and it changes around because some
schools have different demands.
Some schools have a different catchment area.
So we want to make sure that the quality of the school also
represents the sizing.
Contrary to what my colleague had said earlier, we take into account
live births. We take into
account forecasting what the needs will be, and that is what we do.
That is why we build the schools that we do that are appropriate
for the population.
The District of Humber Valley, $6.5 million do you see it?
We are all over the Province right now.
We are spreading in all geographic areas and all political
genres. Let's look at here:
Virginia Waters, $18.5 million, an investment by this Administration.
These are only since 2004.
If I went back prior to 2004, we would probably be in the
hundreds of thousands, maximum.
We are into the millions in each of these districts.
The District of St. Barbe my good friend for St. Barbe $16 million;
great schools up in your area, a great education system up there,
spreading it around to make sure everybody has a quality of education.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. BRAZIL:
There is more
coming.
Let's just talk about the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair,
$32.7 million the winner, jackpot, deserving to the people up there
and we delivered on that.
What an investment in education, what an investment.
The District of Torngat Mountains, $3.5 million everybody gets their
fair share because everybody deserves it.
The taxpayers get the service they deserve; that is what this
Administration is all about.
We give back to the taxpayers.
It is their money, we want to make sure it is going to help the
next generation, and that is why we invest in education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
My good friend
for Bay of Islands, $7.9 million you have done all right.
MR. JOYCE:
For what?
MR. BRAZIL:
For what?
For the people, for the children, for the future, that is what we
have invested in, that is what we did it for: $7.9 million for the
people of the great District of Bay of Islands and for the young people
there, their parents and their future, that is what this is about.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
The District of
St. John's North, $7.1 million spread it around.
Mr. Critic there, $7.1 million, a good investment and more to
come in that district, Mr. Chair.
We have been doing great investments for everybody in this
Province. It shows our
investment here.
The District of Mount Pearl South, $5 million, and more in the works;
engaging of the citizens, engaging of the school board, all about
serving the people in that district also.
Let's talk The Straits White Bay North, $24.1 million; you have done
all right. Good job.
The people up there deserve it, the students deserve it, and that
is why we have a good quality of education right across this great
Province of ours, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
St. John's South,
$4.1 million; not as big a demand there, Mr. Chair.
They have had good infrastructure there and it is a different
growth area there. The
outlining areas are also a feeder system there; $4.1 million, still
investing in education for everybody in this Province, Mr. Chair.
My good friend for Burgeo La Poile did all right, $4 million.
You have been good.
You had a decent school there before; $4 million we put into your school
system and another $100,000 this year in just doing some base repairs
there. We have invested for
everybody here.
St. George's Stephenville East, $5.7 million we are investing.
Everybody gets their fair share, because education is that
important to us. The future
is that important. The
economic growth that we have had, we have spread it around.
People deserve that.
That is how we have done it.
The District of Carbonear Harbour Grace we have not left anybody
else out doing pretty good also, $25.1 million.
Everybody is doing extremely well here.
The District of Conception Bay South, after announcing a new
school this is what we have already invested prior to that $12.1
million prior to that one. I
am afraid to add what will be on that, because you might have won the
jackpot on this one another $12.1 million.
Humber East, a great investment there too, $23.7 million again,
spreading it around. Every
region gets their fair share, and deservedly so.
We have done this across this great Province of ours, Mr. Chair.
We have invested over a billion dollars in our infrastructure for
education, because the people of Newfoundland and Labrador deserve it.
The future of Newfoundland and Labrador is dependent on our
education system, particularly on our primary and secondary education
system, Mr. Chair.
Your Finance critic asked the other day what we have done with our $20
billion over the last ten years.
Well, there is a billion dollars of it directly gone back in to
making sure the young people of this Province have the proper education
and are in a good, safe environment.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
It is interesting to hear some of the numbers that government is putting
out. They are putting it out
for the basic infrastructure, I guess you could say, they are putting it
out for maintenance
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. MURPHY:
Yes, I think that
everybody in this House would recognize that government did have a big
problem when it was first elected in 2003 when it came to maintenance.
They have a good team of workers in the various school boards
around the Province under the CUPE banner who worked diligently and did
very hard work over the last couple of years to bring things up to
scratch, and sometimes they still struggle with it.
Hats go off to the CUPE workers who are out there, the school
board employees out there who are doing the upkeep on these schools.
I have to say, on a personal basis, and I will make no argument
on it that while there are still maintenance issues with the schools, it
is not as bad as what it was in 2003.
I will commend the government on that
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. MURPHY:
but and I
will say this while they are doing pretty good, they are not doing too
bad on some of the maintenance programs, I think there are still issues
out there, and government has to recognize that.
More importantly than that, Mr. Chair, it is the services that
are needed within the school.
We heard earlier and I have to recognize the Member for Burgeo La
Poile when he got up and spoke about autism issues.
Autism is a big challenge and going to be a bigger challenge for
some of the schools that are in my district particularly.
I can think of one school right off the bat that is going to be
dealing with six kids with autism in a Kindergarten English class next
year.
It is more important at the same time while government is investing in
the infrastructure of schools, that are sorely needed in some areas of
this Province, that they also invest in the important personnel and
support infrastructure that is required within some of these schools
because that is what makes a school.
It is okay to build a school for educational purposes, but it is
just a building if it does not have the proper supports within it to
maintain the educational system.
I will point that out to government.
Hopefully, you will keep that in mind when this next Budget comes
down because I think it is going to be a grave concern amongst some of
the parents out there who are dealing with struggles such as autism.
It is not the only thing that is out there that some of the
parents are dealing with; we know of others.
Mr. Chair, I am more than pleased to stand up and talk to this
particular issue on Bill 44 when it comes to Interim Supply.
As the Member for Cape St. Francis has said, it gives us an
opportunity to get up not only and talk about what is happening in our
districts, but what is happening in the Province as well.
I just gave a sampling of what is happening in the district.
It is not the only issue that is there.
We are also going to be dealing with, for example, when it comes
to schools, some of the schools in our area are probably going to have
to look at some further expansion.
I can think of one school there that is obviously going to have
an issue next year. We also
have condominium developments, for example, that are happening in the
District of St. John's East.
There is probably going to be more kids in the neighbourhoods there, and
we do know that the City of St. John's is growing as well and a lot of
people are moving into St. John's East.
So, I would expect that government would be addressing the future
needs of some of these schools and looking at the plans too for the
expansion possibly of some of these schools.
Mr. Chair, when it comes to Bill 44, some people may call it a waste of
time; I do not. I am not
agreeable with the term.
Some people may seem to want to get on with it and pass $2.7 billion of
taxpayers' money. It is very
important, yes, and we will have that discussion of course as the time
goes by until it comes time for the passing of the legislation.
Mr. Chair, there are other matters out there and I think this gives an
opportunity to give a chat as regards to where the Province has been in
the past, particularly when it comes to the revenues that it has taken
in, what it has done with the money, and what are we going to do in the
future. Because we really,
really do not have a plan yet, even though government is talking about
putting in a five-year plan.
One of the things that I want to talk about is what has happened over
the past. I think that it is
pretty apparent what has happened over the last couple of years.
When it comes to the revenue end of things, we have gotten
royalties in, for example, from oil.
We have seen it go into the coffers and then we have seen it pour
right back out again without having necessarily saved a big lot of money
in the jar for the future for future planning.
We did see government put $2.3 billion in a kitty that ended up being
spent on Muskrat Falls. The
debate is done on it, the project has gone ahead, and it is probably too
late to stop. Could
government have done something better with the $2.3 billion and then
waited in the future for example?
Could they have spent more time putting more money away for
example? Did they see this
coming down the pipeline that the price of oil would crash?
I do not know. I knew
that there was going to be some sort of a decline in the price of oil,
but I did not imagine that it would crash the way it did.
I knew that there was going to be something happening out there when it
came to US domestic, but at the same time maybe our expectations were a
little bit too high. Maybe
we had blinkers on and refused to see the change that was happening in
the world around us, be it if it was the advancement of the countries of
the world getting into more home retrofit and energy savings programs, I
do not know. Maybe it was
the simple fact that we overproduced and over pumped oil out of the
ground that it ended up in the glut situation we are.
Maybe consumers are more conscience and they are conserving a
little bit more. That is a
good thing in some ways that we are conserving in all sorts of ways.
Mr. Chair, still I keep coming back to value added.
We do not have any refining of that product, the sales offshore.
We do not have that refinery that would produce it.
We do not have those good, solid jobs that were in refining.
We know that in the oil industry right now, while they are not
making money off a barrel of oil, they are making a fortune because they
had to force out to refine it, some companies out there.
That is what makes it great that North Atlantic is out there,
that these jobs are solid now because of the acquisition price for the
barrel of crude oil. So we
have that end of things.
We can talk about the fishery if we wanted to.
We know that there are some companies out there that are
exporting to China. Far be
it from me to say anything about which workforce is doing it, but what I
am talking about here, Mr. Chair, the simple fact is that because the
resource itself is not being processed in the Province, the government
does not make a cent in income tax revenue or the generation of jobs
because it is sailing away from us.
It is going away somewhere else.
It is going away to China to be processed.
We see some resources that are processed here but we have also seen
plant closures, and that is an important point for rural Newfoundland
and Labrador, Mr. Chair. If
we see fish plants closing up in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, we are
exporting people shortly after that.
We are seeing municipalities ending up in financial trouble and
having to go out and get monies elsewhere, and not having the tax base
or the people in residences and then having to end up with the challenge
of maintaining infrastructure, because the people have gone away.
Mr. Chair, it is more important than ever, that if government is
going to be looking at job creation that they look to these means.
I will touch on shipbuilding, because the Minister of Transportation and
Works was on his feet the other day talking about the Damen Shipyards
new boat that is going to be coming to the Province in the next little
while. It is going to cost
us an extra $25 million in tariffs to the federal government, but at the
same time, like I just said, Mr. Chair, it is being built in Romania.
We did not have the foresight to look at a shipbuilding industry
in this Province, a means to keep people here in Newfoundland and
Labrador and a means for government to increase its tax base as well and
generate revenue from other sources.
What I am saying, Mr. Chair, is that my interpretation is this, over the
last couple of years we have become resource dependent.
That has created jobs.
Yes, that is a good thing, but it has not created a full
potential of what we have from our resources that could have been
generating more revenue for government.
At the same time, supporting the people of the Province, keeping
them here, building even more new schools because families are growing
here, making available better health care, because we are not going to
have to worry about cost, for example, generation.
I will leave that thought with government.
I will have more to say on this in the future, Mr. Chair.
There is going to be plenty of time to talk about this.
I think we should be rethinking things at the same time.
We have issues in this Province and big challenges in this
Province that government is going to have to bring forward their ideas
for, and we are going to be faced with no choice but to challenge them
on it.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS PERRY:
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is certainly a pleasure for me to rise in this hon. House today and
speak to Bill 44. This is
actually a very important bill in the House of Assembly.
For the purposes of our listening audience, Mr. Chair, I would
like to explain a little bit about what Interim Supply actually is.
Every spring, of course, when the House reconvenes, there is always an
Interim Supply bill. It is a
main Supply bill which is used because our Budget, which we put in place
every year, runs until March 31.
A new Budget always begins on April 1.
The process, of course, is usually such that the Budget does not get
passed until about May or June, so we need an Interim Supply to ensure
that cheques can continue to be paid to our health care workers, to our
families who need support, to our people who require cancer treatments,
to our public servants. It
authorizes the advance of approximately one-quarter of the amount of
funding to be contained in the main Estimates and it permits government
to cover the needs of the public service from the end of the fiscal
year, which is March 31, until the main Budget is passed.
That is what we are doing here today, Mr. Chair.
In such a bill we are given latitude, and that is why you hear
many of the speakers here today talking on a number of topics.
We can speak to things that are important in our district, to
things that are important to us in governance.
I would like to focus today, Mr. Chair, on what politics means to me, I
guess, in a way. I came to
politics in 2007, and I came into politics on the back of the Green
report, the infamous Green report.
As a result, I have deeply ingrained values of integrity, and
what happens in this House to me matters.
I heard my colleague earlier from Cape St. Francis stand up and say how
upset he was to have to sit here and listen to some of the rhetoric.
When you are generally committed about people of the Province,
the rhetoric is hard to listen to sometimes.
I certainly am a strong believer in focusing on governance and
pure action.
We are at a time in our Province right now, we are at a time in our
country and in our globe right now, where we are facing challenging
times. The price of oil is
impacting everybody, everywhere.
We are seeing job losses in Newfoundland and Labrador, sure.
We are seeing them in Nova Scotia, we are seeing them in PEI, we
are seeing them in Ontario, we are seeing them in Alberta, in far larger
numbers I would argue than what we are seeing here in Newfoundland and
Labrador.
I would argue, in fact, that given the policies and the superb
management in place by the PC Government of Newfoundland and Labrador,
we are in a position to ride this storm once again, like we did in 2007
and 2008. We rode it out
better than the rest of the country, Mr. Chair, and we are going to do
it again.
Looking forward, Mr. Chair, I have every confidence that our policies
will offer the best positioning for our Province to continue growing in
the future. We have to
navigate through some rough times, as do every other jurisdiction in the
world. Are we going to do it
successfully? Absolutely.
Are we going to do it with Progressive Conservative values?
I strongly believe we are.
I frequently get asked, Mr. Chair: So, Tracey, the election is coming up
again, are you going to be running again in 2015?
To that I say, absolutely!
I feel that I have a responsibility to the people of Newfoundland
and Labrador to ensure that honesty and integrity remain as paramount
values in managing our Province.
They did not exist prior to 2003, as we all know from the Green
report.
Based on some of the rhetoric I hear sometimes, I greatly fear that if
our government were not in place we would see them disappear again, and
we plan on staying around for a long time.
We know that we offer the people of the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador a very clear option for a progressive governance that
results in sustainability and better times.
As we heard the Minister of Transportation and Works elaborate on
earlier, the investments made by this government never the likes of
which have been seen before in Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MS PERRY:
I have to say, Mr.
Chair, I am getting some heckling across the way.
I do actually feel sorry for the Leader of the Opposition, he has
such a mixture of NDP thinkers and Tory thinkers that I have no idea how
he is going to form a Liberal platform for his election platform.
Anyway, I am sure he will struggle through it.
Mr. Chair, I would like to touch on something else today.
We had some fabulous news this morning.
It was great to see in the new Angus Reid poll that our Premier
has gone up by seven points.
The Angus Reid poll reports people in Newfoundland and Labrador are
warming up to Premier Paul Davis, and why are they?
Because they see he is a man of vision.
They see he is a man of honour.
They see he is a man of integrity.
He is willing to sit back and take a look.
All we have to do is just look at the reform we are bringing in
in ATIPPA.
We have a new leader who said: Do you know what?
The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are saying to us they
want to take a second look, and I, as Premier, I am taking a second
look. What did he do?
Not only did he fix it, he made it the best piece of legislation
that we are going to see anywhere on the globe.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS PERRY:
According to the
Centre of Law and Democracy, we are going to be leaders in this area as
well as we are in many other areas in the Province.
I am really proud of the work our government has done to improve the
economy in our Province and social programs in our Province.
I will be a little bit biased and focus once again on my district
and aquaculture, because the investments we have made in aquaculture
have enabled an entire rural, remote district of Newfoundland and
Labrador to thrive and prosper.
We see housing starts.
We see the need for new schools because we are continuing to have
children. We have a need for
more improved, better roads because we have increased traffic on the
roads and people are still living in rural, remote Newfoundland and
Labrador. Opportunities
unlike we have ever seen before, and sustainable opportunities at that,
Mr. Chair.
There was questioning again today about the drop in
aquaculture for last year.
Let's look at BC when they had the avian bird flu.
Was there a call to shut down the industry?
Absolutely not. When
there is a crisis in farmed food, you do not throw the industry away.
I greatly fear that a Liberal government would do
exactly that to aquaculture.
The industry is one where you are growing food and there will be tough
years, just like there is going to be tough years when there is a drop
with growing wheat. You have
to stay the course.
I absolutely believe that the aquaculture industry in
Newfoundland and Labrador will, I think, quadruple in size by the time
we reach our maximum capacity.
Our government is certainly committed to standing behind the
people to see that happen, Mr. Chair.
I do not know if I have said this already in my speech
but I had a really interesting conversation with someone.
They said the best thing a politician can do is speak the truth
and speak from the heart.
That is what I like to do, Mr. Chair, when I get up in the House, and
like my colleagues frustrated to no end at some of the incredulous spin
that happens here sometimes.
In our new leader, Premier Paul Davis, we have a man
who is going to ensure that the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador
and the people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador are the very
first priority over and above everything else.
I believe, Mr. Chair, that as more people get to know our
Premier, they are all going to feel much like we do here on our side of
the House.
What an incredible, intelligent man who is willing to
do whatever it takes to make sure that the people of this Province are
in a good position to ride the storm that is ahead for the next year or
two and to be leaders in this country.
That is the vision we have, Mr. Chair, for Newfoundland and
Labrador. That is the vision
we are going to deliver.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have sat around for the last couple of days, Tuesday
and most of today, and I have listened to all the members opposite talk
about how they have squandered the $20 million.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Billion.
MR. HILLIER:
Billion, I am sorry billion?
I thought it was only $20 million, but it is billion.
Obviously, Mr. Chair, they all have the same writer.
Eventually when they tell the story twenty-eight times,
they will tend to believe it.
Nobody else will believe it, but they will believe their own
stories after twenty-eight times telling it, Mr. Chair.
I set out to start talking about schools, not knowing
that everybody else in the room was going to talk about schools before I
got a chance, but we go back to Tuesday when the Minister of Seniors,
Wellness and Social Development talked about the fact that and listed
all the schools that have been built under that $20 billion.
Then the member opposite this afternoon talked about the same
schools that have been built.
There are four of those schools that have not been built, and
they have been still wasting the $20 billion.
Mr. Chair, I want to go back a little bit to when this
Province was very, very young.
We go back to 1949, we became part of Confederation.
Over the next ten years we struggled with taking our place in
Canada. In 1954 the first
regional high school was built at Foxtrap: Queen Elizabeth Regional High
School. Between 1958 and
1962, Mr. Chair, there were six new high schools built in St. John's:
Gonzaga, Holy Heart, Brother Rice, Booth Memorial, Prince of Wales
MR. F. COLLINS:
Bishops College.
MR. HILLIER:
Bishops College. Thank you
very much. Thank you, Felix.
Bishops College I knew there was another one.
Six brand new high schools.
Just imagine the building boom
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. HILLIER:
There was just so much of it.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. HILLIER:
Yes, just like the Finance Minister six, Mr. Chair.
Imagine the building boom in St. John's between 1958
and 1962. Not only did they
build six new high schools, they threw in a university besides.
Mr. Chair, there was not a cent of oil money that went into it.
So, it is not only this party that can build schools, in the
1950s the party of the day built schools and did not waste any oil
money.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HILLIER:
Mr. Chair, the reason I want to go back to the schools and I know
education is the big piece, but these schools were built as a result of
our baby boom, and we understand the concept of a baby boom and the
increased population of children in the late 1950s.
Well, Mr. Chair, that same group of children in the 1950s are the
people now that we are trying to deal with as seniors, and the issues
that we have to deal with in health and housing and so on.
Mr. Chair, sixty years ago, we knew that we were going
to have an aging issue.
Through the 1980s and 1990s I taught social studies in one of those high
schools, and one of the things we talked about was population pyramids.
Now, those who do not know, a population pyramid is simply two
bar graphs showing male, female population and the percentages of
population in each of the age groups.
Students in Newfoundland in the 1980s and 1990s learned
about the issues that we were going to have to face in 2015 with an
aging population. I know
they did because I was one of the teachers who taught it.
Mr. Chair, we have known for sixty years that we have
an aging population. We have
known for sixty years that our population would decline as a result of
that aging population. We
have known for sixty years the impact on our health care system.
Mr. Chair, we have known for sixty years that the fewer people
who we have in our workforce would not be able to support the aging
population that we have. We have
known for sixty years.
Our Minister of Health, our Minister of Transportation,
our Minister of Municipal Affairs, our Minister of Child, Youth and
Family Services all attended high school in the 1980s and 1990s, they
were all faced with that population pyramid.
They all knew what our Newfoundland population was going to look
like and now, Mr. Chair
MR. BRAZIL:
A point of order, Mr. Chair.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, on a point of order.
MR. BRAZIL:
Mr. Chair, I appreciate and I am flattered.
I did not go to high school in the 1980s and 1990s; mine was in
the 1970s. I do appreciate
that, though.
Thank you very much for that.
CHAIR:
There is no point of order.
The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.
MR. HILLIER:
I apologize to the member opposite; he has an excuse for the mistakes
that he has made.
Mr. Chair, we have known for sixty years that we were
going to have a problem with our aging population.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. HILLIER:
We have ministers opposite who learned that in high school; yet, all of
a sudden it is oh, gee, we have an aging population.
What are we going to do about it?
That is where we sit today.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. HILLIER:
Practising for Opposition are you?
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. HILLIER:
Mr. Chair, a couple of quick points.
Currently, one in six Newfoundlanders is over sixty-five years.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. HILLIER:
By 2025, that number will be one in four.
We spend the most in health care of all provinces; $7,000 per
person, 35 per cent of our population.
Eighty-five percent of our seniors have
one or more chronic
diseases: arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease.
Mr. Chair, I speak with seniors on a daily basis.
I speak with seniors when I come out of church.
I speak with seniors at the supermarket.
I speak with seniors at the gas station.
They want to know: Rex, what are you going to do for us?
What are you going to do for us seniors?
Sometime ago, about two weeks ago, I decided to sit down with the
seniors in my community. We
sat down with the seniors group at Worsley Park, the over-fifty club.
First of all, there was a little bit of suspicion that an MHA
would come in and sit down and talk to them and ask them how they felt,
what their issues were. When
I told them, I said look, we are trying to put together a policy for
Opposition, for our party; and in order to know what the stakeholders in
this Province want, what the seniors in this Province want, we need to
sit down and talk to seniors.
I said to them, last fall I ran in a by-election and in knocking on the
doors in the by-election there were a lot of seniors who wanted to talk
to me about issues that I did not understand, and I made a commitment
for them then to sit down and talk to them and find out in detail what
their issues were.
Mr. Chair, that is what we did for a full afternoon.
Our seniors had a bunch of concerns.
They talked quietly.
Some talked more animatedly about where they these are the people who
grew this Province. These
are the people who were in high school in 1958 and 1960.
These were the people that we knew then were going to get old,
were going to age, and we were going to have to look after them.
They are saying to me: What are you going to do for me?
They are concerned about health care.
They are concerned about access to prescription medication.
They are concerned about housing.
They are concerned about recreation opportunities.
They are concerned about long-term care.
Mr. Chair, that group of people should be able to go into their
retirement, go into their golden years, without those concerns.
I say, what are seniors' issues in this Province should be the
issues of every single one of us in this Province.
Thank you very much.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Labrador West.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
It certainly gives me great pleasure to stand here and talk for ten
minutes or so on the Interim Supply.
I thought that the Minister of Finance gave a great preamble as
to what Interim Supply is all about in asking for that $2.7 billion to
continue the economic future of the Province.
We will all get an opportunity, several opportunities for some of us, to
stand up and talk about different things.
Most of us are going to talk about our districts.
I have noticed Tuesday and today, there has been some lively
debate here today mostly on education.
I am going to touch on a little bit of education, but I am not
going to focus on education.
I think there has been enough talk about it for today on both sides.
It is very interesting to see I have listened to members on both sides
of the House talking. If
there is one thing I can say when I stand here on my feet and I say that
I am going to work on something, as the MHA it is something that I
probably worked on in my district long before I was an MHA.
I am going to use the hospital in Labrador West as a prime
example. I stood up and I am
sure
MR. JOYCE:
(Inaudible).
MR. MCGRATH:
The Member for Bay of Islands is
heckling over there now. He
will have his opportunity to get up and have a few words, I am sure,
when he gets his hospital.
In 2006, I stood on my feet in a gravel pit and I said I actually
emceed two rallies to this government, to the Progressive Conservative
government. I emceed two
rallies, but I said I would do it in a way that I was not going to be
yelling, screaming, bawling, and putting down a government.
I was going to go ahead and I was going to debate with the
government.
At that time, the Minister of Health came into the district and he
debated with us. In 2006
when I stood in that gravel pit on the back of a pickup truck and I
asked government on behalf of the people of Labrador West to listen to
what we were saying and why we were saying it, government listened.
I was very proud last month, with the Minister of Health and with the
Premier of today, to stand up and officially open a $90 million facility
in Labrador West. I feel
that I accomplished something, not just as an MHA but as a citizen of
Labrador West. I think that
is what is very important.
When we sit here as MHAs, we have to remember that we are also citizens
of the districts that we represent.
We were put here in the House of Assembly to represent those
people. It does not matter
if you sit in the Opposition, if you sit in government, or if you sit in
the Third Party, it is important that you represent.
Some of the debate I will call it, for lack of a better word that I have
listened to today, I do not think was good representation to the people
in their districts. I heard
one member stand up and say how this government has squandered $20
billion. I will challenge
that member and if that member would like for me to sit down and give
up the rest of time, I can do that.
I challenge that member to stand up and explain to the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador how $20 billion was squandered.
I just gave an example of a $90 million facility in my district.
I can guarantee you, that is not money squandered.
Next to that $90 million facility we also have a $22 million
facility
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR (Pollard):
Order,
please!
MR. MCGRATH:
which is the
new College of the North Atlantic.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Start
adding it up.
MR. MCGRATH:
That was all
added up I hear the member opposite there heckling me now.
The Minister of Transportation and Works stood up and very
adequately talked about some of the monies that was spent in the
Opposition districts. I
remember a year ago when I stood up and did the exact same thing, so
this government has not squandered the money.
This government has looked at forty-eight districts throughout
this Province and I think spent very wisely.
When you go back to 2003 and I am not saying which government it was;
it is not necessary. In
2003, when this present government took over, they took over a major
problem. You do not hear
people talking about mould in schools today because there were new
facilities built. On top of
new facilities being built, there was also money invested in present
infrastructure.
Again, I will go back to my district.
In my district I had two schools close down, but they also said
before the schools that we are using now get into the condition where we
have to close those also, let's fix them and we invested in the
infrastructure that was still investable.
That is where your $20 billion has gone.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. MCGRATH:
This government
will continue to invest like that, but now we have built an
infrastructure. Over the
last decade, you have seen a new infrastructure built.
You have seen it in the education system, you have seen it in the
roads system, you have seen it in the transportation system, you see it
in your bridges, and you see it in your health care system.
You are going to run out of fingers because obviously you could
not get further than five when you were saying six.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. MCGRATH:
So, let's be
careful here.
I just want to say that as an MHA here I think it is very important that
you represent your district.
I was on one of the Open Line shows just last night.
I heard a caller on the Open Line show talk about the
transportation system between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Labrador West.
He talked about a lack of services, from the patrolling with the
enforcement, from our police officers, our RCMP, our RNC.
He talked about a lack of the with the inspectors on the weigh
scales.
I felt compelled, and I had to go on, and I knew the Minister of
Transportation and Works was in a meeting and time was running out.
I was not going to say anything outside my realm, but on behalf
of Labrador West and the road between Labrador West and Happy
Valley-Goose Bay, I had to get on and I had to give kudos.
Number one, to the RNC; number two, to the RCMP; number three, to
the inspectors, because I drive that road on a regular basis.
What a lot of people in the Province do not realize is that between
Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Labrador West you have 655 kilometres of
highway that this government has built 650 kilometres of highway that
this government built.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
I know for a
fact, because I deal with them on a daily basis, the RNC themselves have
put programs in place where they go out and patrol that highway, not on
a daily basis but on a shift basis.
There are two twelve-hour shifts a day.
I know the RNC, between Churchill Falls and Labrador West, they
patrol that so the whole highway is covered.
I also know that the RCMP, between Churchill Falls and Happy
Valley-Goose Bay, do the exact same thing.
I felt compelled, that I had to get on and say the system in my
district, and certainly my colleagues district, is well patrolled and
well taken care of.
The weigh scales; the inspectors always carry portable scales with them
also. The biggest complaint
I hear from a lot of the transport operators in my district is that it
is too strict. Because one
time they could leave Labrador City and they could be overweight, and
they could have faults there, not any more.
This government has made sure that infrastructure is there and
that the human resources are there to use the infrastructure, and I am
very proud to be a part of that.
Another couple of things I heard people talk about was housing.
I am going to run out of time, but I want to talk about I made
a list as I was listening to some of the different speakers, and I have
single-parent housing there.
I know before I was elected, and certainly since I have been elected, I
have been working on single-parent housing.
I remember in my district, which was considered one of the
lucrative districts again, I heard it last night about the booming
economy. I can guarantee you
the economy is not booming in Labrador West today.
I can guarantee you that.
The economy in Labrador West is not booming.
We are in a rut right now in Labrador West.
I do not care what anyone else said, but I can guarantee you, I
am living it every day. The
rut that we are in now, I saw it 1982, I saw it in 1986, I saw it 1992,
and 1996. I know we are
going to get through it, but there was a lot of pressure on me, as an
MHA, to build new Newfoundland and Labrador Housing.
We are not going to need it, but right now I am proud to say that
I did just get funding for a $1.5 million complex for single-parent
housing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. MCGRATH:
That was done in
consultation with the people on the ground.
That was a need that was there.
I know in my district for sure there is lots of consultation
done, and we will continue to consult, and we will continue to work with
the population, and we will continue to build a better future for the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Chair.
I am very happy to stand today to speak to Bill 44, An Act For Granting
To Her Majesty Certain Sums Of Money For Defraying Certain Expenses Of
The Public Service For The Financial Year Ending March 31, 2016 And For
Other Purposes Relating To The Public Service.
Mr. Chair, what an important job we have.
Each and every one of us in this House of Assembly, we are tasked
by the people we represent to ensure that their well-being, to ensure
that decisions that are made in this House are for the betterment of all
our citizens, and for the betterment of our Province, of our
communities. It is about
taking care of the needs of our people that they are experiencing
presently, but it is also about planning for our future.
I am very happy, again, to be able to be part of that decision making
here in this House, to talk about the issues that affect the lives of
the people in our Province, to talk about how we see the future.
Really, our role as legislators is to look at, what are our
resources? How can we best
use them? What does the
future look like for us? How
can we develop our resources and maximize our resources?
So, it is a big responsibility every time that we come in this
House of Assembly. It is a
big responsibility that is on our shoulders, that has been placed there
by the people of our districts who are saying we entrust that
responsibility to you, and we entrust that you will be part of making
good decisions.
Mr. Chair, the Premier on a number of occasions has warned the people of
the Province and has warned all of us here in the House of Assembly that
everything is on the table.
When he says that, it is a bit scary.
I am hearing from people I am sure that we are all hearing from
people in our districts. We
are hearing from people who are working in non-profit organizations.
We are hearing from our public servants, people who have
dedicated their working lives to taking care of the needs of the
Province. We are hearing
from them that they are worried.
They are worried about whether or not they are going to have jobs
after this next Budget comes down.
We are hearing from non-profit organizations.
They are worried about whether they will have the money to be
able to do the work that they so desperately do on behalf of the people
of the Province. We know
that because of Budget 2013, many of those groups that are doing
life-saving work many of them that are doing work taking care of
people who have really complex needs, many of them that are doing the
kind of work that has helped prevent crisis and prevent problems, they
got cut pretty bad in 2013.
Their budgets got reduced a lot in 2013, so they know they are already
working with bare bone budgets.
We are talking about non-profit organizations that are working in the
field of mental health, that are working in youth services, and that are
working with seniors. The
Seniors Resource Centre in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador,
their budget was so drastically cut.
They are doing incredible work with seniors in our Province, and
the women's centres, the eight status of women council and women centres
across the Province.
When the Premier says everything is on the table, I feel that he has
done a great disservice to the Province because he has created an
atmosphere of fear. He has
created an atmosphere of instability.
I would like to say and I know we are saying this in our caucus
that not everything should be on the table.
That is not the role of government to say everything is on the
table. There are some things
that should not be on the table, and I would like to talk a little bit
about that.
Now when we know that there are economic challenges and there are,
because of the price of oil and because this government has basically
not diversified the economy enough and has been so reliant on oil which
affects everybody in our Province.
Now is not the time to panic.
We are all in this boat together.
The Premier must not his role is not to make people feel that
they are even more precarious.
His role is not to make people feel afraid.
His role should be a steady hand on the tiller saying that we are
going to navigate our way through this, but that is not the message he
is giving. That is not the
message he is giving at all.
The message he is giving is everything is on the table, everybody should
be worried and, boy, tough times are going to get even tougher.
That is not leadership, Mr. Chair.
I would like to say that there are some issues, there are some programs,
and there are some services to the people of the Province that
definitely should not be on the table.
In tough economic times, they are services that actually should
not be reduced, but, in fact, they should be strengthened because we
have to weather the storm, if in fact, the storm is as bad as government
makes it out to be, which it might very well be because of the drop in
the price of oil.
On February 26, the eight status of women councils across the Province
wrote a letter to the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women who
was the minister at the time, she no longer is because of persistent
rumors they had been hearing that their budgets were going to be
reduced. So they wrote the
Minister Responsible for the Status of Women outlining why there was no
room to cut, and why they were doing such incredible work on very low
budgets. They said that the
status of women councils and women's centres provide women-centred
supports and service throughout this Province and have done so for four
decades.
I can remember, Mr. Chair, over thirty years ago I worked at a women's
centre in St. John's. I
worked at the St. John's Status of Women Council at that women's centre
and boy, we did a lot of really important work.
It was at a time before we had our transition house.
We had just started the rape crisis centre.
We were working with women who were victims of domestic abuse,
but there was no transition house at the time.
Out of our women's centre we did start our transition house.
We worked with women who were victims of sexual assault and of incest
when there were not that many services available and when those issues
were not out there on the public agenda.
They were not in newspapers.
They were not on radios.
They were not on TV news programs.
So we were doing the work that nobody else was doing.
Thank God there is more awareness now and there are programs that
address some of those issues.
Nobody has reassured these women's centres.
Their fiscal year ends March 31, which is only less than two
weeks from now. I have
spoken to some of the executive directors of women's centres in
different parts of the Province.
I spoke with them today.
They do not know A, how much money they are getting and when they
will get it. Their fiscal
year ends in less than two weeks.
They do not know if they are going to have enough money to run
the programs that they are running now.
They do not know if their budgets will be enough in order to keep
all the staff they have on now.
The current Minister Responsible for the Status of Women is saying that
this is fear mongering. Mr.
Chair, we did not start this, the Premier started this.
Then the fact that nobody on government's side has assured these
women's centres that the funding they have come to expect will be
renewed to the same amounts come April 1.
They do not know that.
They have asked.
I have written the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, the
previous one. I have asked.
I have asked three questions in the House.
Nobody is assuring these women's centres which are doing such
incredible work. We know
with economic downturns that women are more negatively affected and
disproportionately affected than anyone in the community; women and
their children.
Mr. Chair, someone on government side has to assure the people who are
working so hard in women's centres across the Province because I am sure
every member on this side of the House wants to know it too for the
women's centres in their districts.
Somebody has to assure them the money that they have come to rely
on not out of charity but because they are providing such life and
death services to the people in their communities.
Someone has to assure them the $127,000 they have been getting
for five years although they were supposed to be getting increases,
but they have not had an increase since 2011.
Someone has to assure them that money is coming.
I would hope, Mr. Chair, that the MHAs on government side will press
government to do that.
CHAIR (Littlejohn):
I remind
the hon. member that her time has expired.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Baie Verte Springdale.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. POLLARD:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
It is certainly an honour and a privilege for me to stand and speak to
Bill 44, Interim Supply. I
am humbled and privileged again on behalf of the constituents of Baie
Verte Springdale and of course the people of the Province to speak to
Interim Supply.
I have been here now over seven years.
I have witnessed every MHA articulate the issues concerned.
I have utmost respect for every member here.
They work hard. That
was the way we were raised, Mr. Chair.
Our parents taught us a strong work ethic and to do our very
best. I have seen every MHA
up close and they do work hard I am sure.
Although sometimes we get razed about it by our friends in the
general public, but all the MHAs in here, I am sure, do their very best.
I want to point that out first of all.
I want to go back to 2003, Mr. Chair, if I could, when we assumed
office. We were on the brink
or the precipice of bankruptcy at the time, therefore, tough decisions
had to be made. A sound,
solid policy had to be made at that particular time.
That is how we overcame that hurdle.
At that particular time we also cast a vision.
That vision was based upon four main principles, if you will, Mr.
Chair. They were: decrease
debt; decrease taxes; increase infrastructure spending; and have a
sound, solid, fiscal management plan.
Mr. Chair, over the course of the past ten years or so since we have
been in office, we have put $744 million back into the pockets of
ordinary Newfoundlanders and Labradorians by reducing taxes and reducing
fees. We have reduced debt
to about $4 billion. We have
spent about $6 billion in public infrastructure on schools, long-term
care facilities, bridges, ferries, you name it, water bombers, long-term
care facilities like I said earlier, and the list can go on.
That is money well spent I am sure.
We spent $16.7 million on a K-12 school in Baie Verte.
With respect to solid fiscal management, Mr. Chair, we have been a model
really for the rest of Canada, which was pointed out by the former
Governor of Canada at the time, Mr. Mark Carney.
It was also pointed out and our work was applauded by the bond
rating agencies. As a
result, we have been given a super credit rating, the highest in our
history and, of course, we have become a have Province.
Recently, with the Hamilton Bulldogs we have become a Hab
Province much to the Leafs' chagrin
In 2003, Mr. Chair, let's review a moment.
We overcame hurdle number one.
That was near bankruptcy.
Then, in 2008, we overcame or weathered hurdle number two, the
economic tsunami at that particular time.
That was another hurdle.
Now we are facing hurdle number three right now.
You say, well, what is that hurdle number three?
Well, it is the sudden nosedive in the oil prices that reduces
funds in our coffers, which in turn potentially could limit or cramp our
ability to offer programs and services.
Mr. Chair, I am confident that with the right balance and the right
approach we will overcome and wrestle this giant to the ground as well,
and we will overcome that hurdle as well, that hurdle number three.
Nobody in the world could predict this sudden nosedive, just like
they could not predict the sudden nosedive of the Maple Leafs.
Well, I do not know, Mr. Chair, I guess we could all predict the
sudden nosedive of the Leafs but I digress, Mr. Chair.
As an avid Leaf fan, I digress.
With respect to oil prices with the five minutes I have left, let us
talk about this. How did we
arrive to where we are today when it comes to oil prices?
I do not expect to overtake the Member for St. John's East; I
respect your knowledge on this, sir.
Now, a few years ago our global demand was surging for oil, no question.
China's economy was booming; there was a big demand for oil.
There was not enough oil being produced at that particular time
to keep up with demand. So
we saw around 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 the oil price was running over $100
a barrel at that particular time.
So, what was the result of that?
Many energy corporations found it very profitable to start
extracting expensive oil at that particular time in difficult places,
and they drilled in difficult places because they could afford to do it,
because the price was so high.
Around five years ago, well, we know what happened in the United States.
New technology came about, new techniques like fracking and
horizontal drilling got oil from the shale formations.
We know what happened today, such as North Dakota or Texas, the
high oil prices enabled these companies to make a profit to invest in
these very expensive projects but the price was so high they could do
it. So this led to a boom in
oil production in the United States and, of course, could probably have
the potential to make the United States energy independent.
So, the United States suddenly added about 4 million barrels of
oil per day to the global market from 2008 on, Mr. Chair.
So, at first, along with the increases in Canada and Russia, these
increases had very minimal impact at that particular time.
Mr. Chair, you might ask the question: Well, why was this so?
Why did they have such a minimal impact? Because there were
geopolitical conflicts going on in key regions such as in Iraq, there
was a mess. Libya was not
producing because there was a civil war going on.
In Iran the oil sanctions were crippling their economy by the
United States and Europe at that particular time.
These conflicts took about 3 million barrels per day off the
market. They produced below
capacity at that particular time: Libya and Iran.
What happened after that, Mr. Chair, around the fall of 2014?
Things changed. There
was a sudden change in the geopolitical scene.
In that region, Libya, all of a sudden, increased their
production because things settled down, politically.
Then we had the demand in Asia and Europe; the demand for oil was
decreasing. China, their
economy was slowing; Japan was slowing; and Germany was slowing.
This combination of weakening demand and a rising supply, a glut in the
oil production, caused the oil to drop and drop and drop to $115 a
barrel, $100, $90, $80, $70, $60, $50.
I do not know what it is today, probably the low fifties.
Let's go back to OPEC. What
role do the OPEC countries have on this, the twelve countries?
OPEC produces about 40 per cent of the world's oil, Mr. Chair.
Historically, OPEC could increase or could influence oil prices
by two ways: increase production or decrease production.
If they increase production, they would lower prices of oil.
If they decrease production, they would increase the price.
Everybody was waiting with bated breath, Mr. Chair.
November 27 was the big date.
In a place called Vienna everybody was waiting.
All over the world the big oil countries that depend on oil were
waiting for that decision by OPEC.
Countries need a high price to make their economy sustainable.
Even in the cartel, even OPEC like Venezuela, Libya, Iran, Iraq,
they need $100 or more to carry on their activities so they would not go
bankrupt. Qatar, UAE, or
Saudi Arabia of course, the big one, they disagreed.
So Saudi Arabia said no, we are not going to cut production.
We are going to do nothing.
We are just going to stay the same.
Saudi Arabia opposed production.
What was the result of that, Mr. Chair?
OPEC could not agree so production was unchanged and so prices
continue to fall nosedived, just like the Leafs.
What is the impact, Mr. Chair?
Some US producers may go bankrupt, probably that is what OPEC
wanted, go bankrupt. The
result of that would be the oil prices will after a while stabilize and
OPEC will maintain its share of a market; they want about 40 per cent of
the market.
Now, Mr. Chair, it is anyone's guess to where the oil will go, where it
will bottom out and stabilize; but let's make this point clear: no
action of this government precipitated this nosedive in oil prices; no
inane or vacuous actions by this government precipitated this nosedive
in oil prices. This is a
result of OPEC's action or inaction.
We have no control over the rise and fall of global oil prices
just like we have no control over the weather.
CHAIR:
I remind the hon.
member his time has expired.
MR. POLLARD:
Thank you very
much and have a nice evening.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
It is my pleasure this afternoon to rise ad speak on Bill 44.
That is a bit of a hard act to follow.
First of all, Mr. Chair, I want to speak briefly about
yesterday's PMR. Being the
Member for Trinity Bay de Verde the shellfish industry is very, very
important to the people of the district and the entire Bay de Verde
Peninsula, no different than it is the entire Province.
I congratulate the member yesterday on his PMR and the unanimous support
of this House. Our leader
back last year, Mr. Chair, was the first person to call for the
All-Party Committee, and it is great to see that the All-Party Committee
has reconvened. It is time
that we as politicians from Newfoundland and Labrador ensure that the
Harper government's feet are held to the fire and LIFO becomes
adjacency, which should have happened a long time ago.
This issue is way too important to be drawn on party lines.
Mr. Chair, I want to talk about something else, and it is the economy
and look back at the numbers that the government likes to talk about
when they took power in 2003, about the fact of the debt or deficit that
they inherited. If you move
forward to today, nothing has changed.
We are going to have the same
AN HON. MEMBER:
It has
gotten worse.
MR. CROCKER:
Yes, in actual
fact, public debt will rise to the highest it has ever been in this
Province.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. CROCKER:
It is true.
Mr. Chair, when you look back at this government's plan, we look at the
10-Year Stability Plan that was done just two years ago and this
government was looking at $103 oil, and we have always bid on the high
side of oil and that causes a lot of the issues we have today.
Twenty billion dollars later, the government talks about
infrastructure investments.
Well, Mr. Chair, there are still a lot of infrastructure investments
needed in this Province.
Long before the decrease in the price of oil, Mr. Chair, we had debt and
deficits. Of the Budgets
that this government has brought in, of the thirteen Budgets, seven of
which have had deficits; only six surpluses in their time in power, and
that is with $20 billion in oil revenue.
That is the thirteen Budgets, Mr. Chair.
If you take out the Atlantic Accord, this government has only
ever recorded three surpluses.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. CROCKER:
I remind the
member, my favourite number is number seven.
A lack of long-term planning, and now the government finds itself in a
position where they want to put money away for a rainy day.
We had an opportunity to create a rainy day fund, Mr. Chair, and
we did not do it. Now the
money is not there. We are
at oil at $55 a barrel today, and our opportunity to create a rainy day
fund is not in the foreseeable future.
The government itself is predicting five years of deficits, to go
along with the other seven years of deficits that this government has
had.
Mr. Chair, when you talk about money and money wasted in our Province,
we do not have to look too far.
Some of these numbers are not huge, but let's just put some in
perspective. The review of
Bill 29 cost the taxpayers of this Province $1 million, Mr. Chair.
This Party led a filibuster that lasted for days, the longest one
in history, against Bill 29, telling the government at the time that it
was not going to work.
Mr. Chair, for six years I drove in over the Trans-Canada Highway every
day and reminded of waste every time I pass by the moose warning system.
That the only thing that was ever permanent with the moose
warning system was the out of order sign.
Thankfully, now the signs have been replaced; but, Mr. Chair, the
people of the Province will remember the money that was wasted into this
moose warning system.
Mr. Chair, you go back to last year with the bungling of the Humber
Valley deal and the money that cost the taxpayers of this Province, and
the small businesses in our Province that were left being told by the
government to go to Small Claims Court.
Well, I come from a small business background and it is not that
easy to go to Small Claims Court, and you will probably never get your
money regardless.
Mr. Chair, when we look at a lot of talk this afternoon about schools,
one thing that was not mentioned about the schools in our Province is
that $1 million a year that government continues to pay to keep schools
that have closed the heat on, the phone lines still in place, snow
clearing on the parking lot.
There is a case in my district, Mr. Chair, where there is a school that
has been closed for two years and the bell still rings.
That is a fact.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) once and see if you got them all (inaudible).
MR. CROCKER:
Yes, the bell
worked, I say to the member.
Abitibi, Mr. Chair, we got ourselves a mill one afternoon here in the
House of Assembly that is going to cost the taxpayers and the future
taxpayers of this Province forever and a day.
The government's failed population strategy is another waste of
public taxpayer's money.
Mr. Chair, we failed to diversify the economy.
We had an opportunity, we had $20 billion, and we did not do it.
Look no further than the department which I am critic for, the
Department of Business and look at the Business Development Corporation.
I asked the minister back on Tuesday about how much taxpayer's
money has been written off, and the minister did not have a number.
He could not tell us how many jobs have been created by the
Business Development Corporation.
Mr. Chair, we look through other opportunities that this government has
missed in my own district, and come back to 911 for a minute actually.
The idea of 911 is a very good idea, but we do not have the basic
infrastructure. In the
District of Trinity Bay de Verde, it is not much good to have 911
because we do not have cellphone coverage.
Without cellphone coverage, the basic principle of 911 does not
work. We are all in our
houses, we have land lines, sure, but we are just going to call our
regular fire department numbers, our ambulance numbers.
Mr. Chair, 911 is important when you are on the Heart's Content Barrens
or the New Harbour Barrens and you have an accident or you come upon an
accident; 911 is no good. So
the seventy-five cents that every phone owner in the District of Trinity
Bay de Verde has to pay today on their line is useless, unless you are
stood up in your kitchen.
Mr. Chair, government always goes back to the fact that cellphone
coverage is a federal issue.
Yes, well it is a federal issue, but there are lots of investments that
could be made by government.
Government can become a partner of the companies to ensure that as we
move forward there are new technologies that we need to explore to find
a way to build a stronger cellphone system throughout our Province.
Mr. Chair, 911 will not work if you cannot get a signal.
Mr. Chair, if you look at other issues in our Province with broadband
and as we go forward things that could have been done.
The environmental liabilities that we have had, the coastal
management problems that we have had.
The ten-year stability plan back two years ago, that is totally
out the window now.
The government talks about finally bringing in a five-year budgetary
plan. Where was that
thirteen years ago when we had an opportunity with $20 billion to plan?
We did not plan, Mr. Chair, we did not plan.
AN HON. MEMBER:
They did
not.
MR. CROCKER:
I am sorry, you
are right. They did not
plan.
We look at the Muskrat Falls Project, Mr. Chair, and even reports today
that there are more issues daily with the Muskrat Falls Project.
We looked at our leader yesterday, asking questions of the
government on Muskrat Falls and its oversight and overruns, but no
answers, Mr. Chair.
Again, we go back to the issues with the government and the Premier's
mandate letters, mandating that ministers make deals by the end of the
year. We look at the mandate
letter for the Minister Responsible for the Department of Business, no
mention of trade, Mr. Chair; no mention of trade in the mandate letter
to the minister. In a
situation with a low US dollar, it is a good time for us to be looking
for trade opportunities, but, Mr. Chair, we are not doing it.
We are not doing it.
Anyway, Mr. Chair, my time has expired, but I appreciate the opportunity
to speak to the bill this afternoon.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Attorney
General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. F. COLLINS:
Thank you,
Mr. Chair.
It is a pleasure today to have an opportunity to offer some comments on
the debate in Bill 44. A
bill for Interim Supply for approximately $2.8 billion to tie this
government over until our new Budget is approved.
Of course, an Interim Supply bill gives you an opportunity to speak on
any number of issues, and usually the field is wide open to what you
want to talk about. It is
interesting today that most of the debate has been taken up on
education, and it is a very interesting debate and very spirited debate
today. It is fun to be
involved in it.
Sometimes in these kinds of debates people will talk about their
districts, and the ministers might want to talk about things that are
going on in their departments.
Today, as I said, it was education.
I was trying to think of what I might talk about.
I cannot talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs because it will
offend my good friend from Baie Verte Springdale.
I do want to talk today about the fiscal position that we are in in this
Province and our five-year plan to do something about it.
Now lots of times when people write papers or make speeches, they
start off with a quote from some esteemed writer or thinker or person in
the world that says a quote, that they use that quote for a focus and a
theme of their speech.
Well, I am going to use a quote today from an esteemed member from the
other side over there, the Member for Bay of Islands, who stated I
think it was yesterday or the day before talking about the fiscal
position of the Province. He
said: I will tell you what we would do.
We would not have gotten ourselves into this mess.
Now, that can put you in a lot of directions in a speech or a paper.
As a matter of fact, I really struggled how to narrow it down to
one direction. We would not
have gotten ourselves into this mess, he said.
My response probably should have been: Where were you in 2003?
How do you rationalize 2003?
Anyway, let my talk about the fiscal position we are in.
In ten minutes, you do not have much time to speak seven
minutes left. There is no
doubt, Mr. Chair, we are in a difficult position in this Province today,
fiscally. Who would have
thought what happened to the oil price?
Nobody predicted that.
Nobody knew that was going to happen, and I am saying nobody
this side of the House or that side of the House knew that was going
to happen. Nobody in this
Province knew that was going to happen.
Despite what they say, nobody could have prepared us for that.
No one was prepared for it.
We were not prepared for it, the Opposition was not prepared for
it, nobody was prepared for it.
We took advice from the best experts in the world on determining
oil prices, and we have to continue to do that.
We have to; it is our only option.
People understand that.
People get that.
What happened was completely unpredictable, not only in our Province
Alberta, every country that depends on oil revenues experienced that.
The impact has been tremendous all over the world, and we have
seen it every day. Projects
were placed on hold. Look at
what is happening in Alberta, thousands of people being laid off.
I understand the other day a company laid off a thousand people,
left them in the camps and they had to find their own way home.
Hundreds of Newfoundlanders returning home with no jobs.
Mr. Chair, in my own district in Argentia
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. F. COLLINS:
the
Husky development project, West White Rose Extension, the wellhead
platform has been deferred because of oil prices.
It is important for my district.
We were so happy to go out there a couple of years ago with the
Minister of Natural Resources his first day on the job, actually, as
minister along with the Premier, and made that announcement and how
important it was to the district.
Well, that is on hold now, and that impacts my district.
Hopefully we will see the oil prices coming back.
All the indicators are that they will, and we will continue the
resumption of that work and the economic prosperity for my region.
What is happening fiscally in this Province, I equate it with a
correction in the markets, the stock markets.
You get a bullish market to go up and up and up over the years,
and then all of a sudden they have to draw back because it gets too hot,
and it pulls back, the prices drop down, a bit of a correction, and we
are going through a correction in this Province now with regard to our
fiscal situation.
Mr. Chair, we take comfort from the fact that our economy is very strong
in this Province. It will
stay strong because our natural resources, including oil, and the
seismic studies that have been done off our shores indicate that our
future is very bright. So we
can take comfort from that.
We will be in a great position to rebound and rebound we will, make no
mistake about it.
We are not in the situation we were in 2003.
It was interesting to hear the previous speaker say nothing has
changed, Mr. Chair, since 2003.
My God, I know he is young, that is probably why he cannot
remember much about 2003. To
say nothing has changed since 2003 is a bit of a stretch.
We remember when we took over the bankrupt Province.
The Province was bankrupt financed and bankrupt from an
infrastructure perspective.
We took that Province by the bootstraps, Mr. Chair, and we jerked it up
to a position we are in today.
We literally took it by the bootstraps and brought it to a place
where we are today where our economy is strong, we are a have Province
leading the country still in so many ways, and produced a group of
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians proud to call themselves
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
This government did that in ten short years.
The transformation in ten short years has been amazing, what we
have done.
I hear the people on the other side talking about how we squandered the
money. Well the Minister of
Transportation talked today about how we squandered it in Liberal
districts. I do not see him
going back to the district and saying we should not have spent that
money, look at the money they squandered in my district.
I do not hear any Liberal members saying that, look at the money
squandered in my district.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. F. COLLINS:
Look at
the money they squandered in my district; I do not hear them saying
that. We invested billions.
Yes, we spent billions and we spent billions and invested
billions in infrastructure.
We had to. We had to rebuild
this Province and rebuild it we did.
You do not hear today anybody complaining about mould in schools.
You heard it in 2003 and you heard it for several years after.
You do not hear it today.
We spent it on social services.
We spent millions and the Minister of Transportation outlined it
today what we spent just in education alone.
We had to. Then
people have the nerve to say you did not save any money for a rainy day.
I say, Mr. Chair, 2003 was a bloody rainy day.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. F. COLLINS:
As a
matter of fact, it was pouring in 2003.
We spent money to end that rainy day.
When the Member for Bay of Islands can say we would not have
gotten ourselves into that mess, boy, you can go a long ways with that.
Can you imagine that?
We would not have gotten ourselves into this mess.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. F. COLLINS:
Mr. Chair,
having said all of that, we happened to develop a plan.
This Premier, this Finance Minister, this Cabinet developed a
plan going forward over five years to get us through those difficult
years and the people of the Province expect no less.
This is an election year.
We have an election year Budget, but it is going to be a
different kind of an election year Budget.
It is going to be a Budget that shows fiscal responsibility
because that is what the people want.
We will show, Mr. Chair, we are the party to do that.
We will show a plan, we will show leadership, we will show
responsibility, we will show vision, we will show that we are the party
to bring this Province through the next five years, unlike the Liberals,
who have no plan. They have
no plan. Nothing, no plan,
zero, zilch, not one iota of an initiative have they come up with if
they take over government.
Mr. Chair, they are saying leave it to us.
Just leave it to us.
We are going to care of it.
Leave it to us; we will make things right.
Well, I talked to people in my district, Mr. Chair, and they get it that
we have transformed the Province over the last ten years.
They get that we have rebuilt this Province.
They get that we have to do a plan to correct, to draw back, to
develop a sound plan to move forward to get them over the next five
years; they get that.
Our Premier is showing the leadership in that, Mr. Chair.
Our government is going to show the leadership in that.
It is evident by what is happening in the polls in the last
couple of days. They are a
little bit worried about that over there, but it is happening.
We are going to move forward with a plan that is going to get
this Province through the next five years.
It is going to be difficult for some people.
It is going to be bad news for some people, but it is going to
show responsibility. Mr.
Chair, we are the party to do that.
To say that nothing has changed in ten years, eleven years is
irresponsible. When you see
what we have done to rebuild this Province and to say nothing has
changed, that is a bit of a stretch.
To say that we would not have gotten ourselves into this mess
where were we in 2003? We got ourselves out of the mess.
We rebuilt this Province and we made it a place for
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians proud to call their own and proud to
say they are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you very
much, Mr. Chair.
Again, it is a pleasure to stand, and I have to say I had a little chat
with the hon. Member for Baie Verte Springdale and quite a nice
gentleman. I tell you, he
has some of his facts straight, but he still does not sound a bit like
George Murphy.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. MURPHY:
He has shown the
interest in oil and his message on oil was pretty good.
He has some of the messages that are out there in the markets and
that.
We had a little talk about opportunities too.
Of course everybody knows that we as members will get together
with another member of the House and talk about constituency issues that
need dealing with by ministers and everything.
We had a little chat.
We talk about opportunities too that are available in this Province.
I am optimistic that this government or any government is going
to do things right by the people.
They are not going to go ahead and do something off the cuff that
would be totally off the wall.
Then again, dot, dot, dot.
We got into talking about opportunities.
One of the things we talked about, Mr. Chair, was the offshore.
We hear in the House that government is indeed talking to Statoil
because they think there is an opportunity there.
I believe that there is also an opportunity there.
Back in the early 1990s when this government was trying to develop the
offshore they came upon the Hibernia Project.
It took a lot of gumption.
It took a lot of get up and go to get a deal done, to get that
first platform out there, to kick-start Newfoundland and Labrador's
offshore.
At the time, Mr. Chair, I think the dollar amount somebody can correct
me if I am wrong on this one, but the dollar amount was somewhere around
$16 a barrel at the wellhead to make the project work.
There was a lot of opposition to that.
I think it was $16 a barrel.
Maybe the Minister of Natural Resources can stand on his feet
later and reference what that cost.
Today, geared to inflation it is a little less than $24 a barrel.
What does that tell you?
There is opportunity there.
We have to be optimistic that a deal will be done to promote the
offshore and to be able to draw on more oil resources.
We have to be optimistic based on that simple fact.
We are competitive still, I believe that.
At the same time as that, if oil prices, for example, are going
to stay low and government is going to depend on those resources, it is
obviously not enough oil revenue there to cover off the expenses that
are going to be needed in the future for the government to be looking
after things like education.
We have heard a lot about education today including what is happening in
my district.
We are not going to have a lot of revenue to be dealing with an aging
population. Those numbers
are forecast to increase. I
think by the year 2026 I think the last statistic and I could be wrong
on this one about 30 per cent of our population, or 40 per cent of our
population, somewhere around there, is going to be aged sixty-five and
over. We have an older
population. We have a
declining birth rate. We
have to do more to promote that.
How do we do that?
Like I said, I think that the answer has to be a bigger focus on value
added. That could be
refining. That could be
shipbuilding. We have to
look at who we are and get back to who we are: fishers, processing and
fish plants; supporting municipalities that way, their own revenue;
supporting a population; supporting the schools that are in the smaller
communities; supporting the small businesses that depend on the bigger
businesses; supporting those businesses that are keeping the money
rolling; keep generating taxation so that we can keep programs and
everything like that on the go.
The previous speaker stood up the Member for Placentia St. Mary's
got up and he spoke about how nobody could predict this.
Well there were two interesting predictions that were out there
and we talked about those during the Muskrat Falls debate.
I know I did.
There was a gentleman by the name of Leo
Maugeri who came
out he is a brilliant economist by the way.
He used to work for a rather large Italian energy firm, E-N-I, or
Eni as some people would call it.
I guess you could say he is an instructor or teacher, if you
will, a professor down at the Kennedy School of Government which is part
of Harvard University I believe it is, if I got the title right.
He predicted, at that particular time that the price of oil had a really
good chance of dropping down to $50 a barrel.
His main number that he was kicking around was between $70 and
$75 a barrel. Hansard will
show we talked about that during the debate.
We asked the Minister of Natural Resources at the time about
that, if they were concerned about it, and there was no concern.
We have since run into another report from PIRA that was out in
2012 which called for a pretty good chance of oil slipping down to $50 a
barrel.
There were some predictions that were out there.
Some of the predictions that were used in government's own Budget
books and everything had people from some of the various energy
forecasting companies Bloomberg and that sort of thing I believe,
including Wade Locke all predicting oil at around $100 a barrel.
I cannot fault government for that because the majority of
reports out there at the time were saying $100 a barrel.
There were some futuristic thinkers out there who did call for
the possibility of a collapse.
I wonder if government at that particular time considered those, if they
had read those reports. If
they had said to themselves back then when the money was rolling, what
if? What if the price of a
barrel of oil collapsed?
What would we do? I do not
know if that question was asked.
I really do not know.
That might be something that was carried out under the guise of Cabinet
meetings and that sort of thing.
Maybe there are some notes that we will get some time in the
future that might talk about that.
I do not know.
Mr. Chair, what can they do now?
I have no other choice but to reinforce what I believe government
can do. I would seriously
hope that they would take it into consideration to keep the money going
in the Province, to keep it circulating; to keep social organizations,
for example, from generating their own revenue; for construction
companies, for example, in a downturn in the real estate industry, to
keep them going so that homeowners at the same time may be able to
participate in doing home retrofits to bring up the value of their
homes.
Put people to work. Simple
nuts and bolt work. Simple
construction work, for example.
Investing in home retrofits keeps the construction company going
and allows for the consumer to save on costs for the heat.
It allows the consumer to maintain the value of their home and
increase it at the same time.
There is nothing wrong with that.
It is a plus for government.
It might also save some oil generation and possibly save some oil
generated out in Holyrood because God only knows how long we are going
to need that before it breaks down again.
They might be able to take some of the money, the taxation that
is brought over and put it into Nalcor so that they can upkeep the
Holyrood plant and put in the proper investments for some proper
generation.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) stay open now?
MR. MURPHY:
Mr. Chair, it is
obvious that we are going to need it in the future.
According to Nalcor's own documents we have to have Holyrood as a
backup in the future. It is
going to be there and the Natural Resources Minister should know that.
In the plans for Muskrat Falls we had to have an anchor for
generation. We know it still
has to be there. We cannot
say we are getting rid of it.
Right now as it stands we are not going to have any other choice
but to keep it.
Mr. Chair, the other thing I wanted to talk about too as regards to
keeping money circulating for example look at what government did when
it comes to the electronic products recycling.
They decided to put a surcharge on, charge people for it, and
then leave the people to bring it to a depot instead.
What they could have done was put a bit of a rebate on it.
Sure, a $10 fee, but allow the consumer at the same time to get
the $10 back when they turned in the product.
We did not do that.
We allowed urban mining to happen, sure, and a major corporation to
benefit, but at the same time, we already had companies here too.
I can think of one company right here operating in St. John's
that was more than willing to pick up your electronics, to have that
piece of electronics turned over to them so that they could take it and
they could generate revenue from it.
Do you know what? We did not
go there. We have probably a
dozen jobs for this person who still has his company on the go, but this
could have been Island wide.
We could have social organizations, Mr. Chair, that could have been
using this as fundraising initiatives, for example, so that they could
have revenue too. Instead,
where do they get it? Like I
said it was an opportunity lost, but it is not too late.
I urge government at the same time to go back and look at where we can
keep the money turning over in this Province and keeping it here,
creating green jobs and creating more opportunities.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Minister
of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you,
Mr. Chair.
I am the Minister Responsible for Workplace Health, Safety and
Compensation Commission.
Mr. Chair, I am a bit shocked to hear the member from the NDP pleading
that we keep Holyrood open and saying it is going to need to stay open.
That is somewhat frightening.
I have not read his book, but apparently it is in his book that
he has written.
Just so the member is aware, Nalcor has said quite clearly that there
would obviously be a transition period.
That is where the Holyrood Generating Station would stay open for
that amount of time, perhaps two or three years.
It is not being kept open indefinitely.
That is not part of the plan, it never was the plan, and
certainly will not become the plan.
I have a few things to talk about today, but I also want to touch on I
was out in the district last week and I was attending some function at
Anthony Paddon school in Musgravetown.
I left the school; I had a great time down there at the school.
I was listening to a call-in show on the way home.
The Liberal Member for St. John's North was on the show.
He was talking about the school system, the deficiencies, the
lack of investment, yada, yada, yada, all the same things we hear day in
and day out.
There was a point where the host had asked the member, he said, so what
do we do? Do we just simply
go out and close rural schools, schools in rural Newfoundland?
It kind of caught him off guard.
I do not want to quote the member, but I feel quite comfortable
in paraphrasing him when he said, well, perhaps that is something we
have to look at.
As a rural MHA and someone who represents rural areas and certainly has
rural schools in his district, that really struck home.
You have a member from St. John's who obviously has no idea
outside the Overpass what exists or how the school system works or
anything of that nature, and that is fine.
MR. KIRBY:
A point of order,
Mr. Chair.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for St. John's North on a point of order.
MR. KIRBY:
Perhaps the
minister could table a transcript of that because I do not remember
saying anything about us closing rural schools.
CHAIR:
There is no point of
order.
The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
MR. S. COLLINS:
There
isn't, Mr. Chair. Perhaps
the member would travel outside the Overpass so we would not have to
have these arguments.
Whatever the case, as opposed to him thinking he knows what he is
talking about I am going to explain to him that the schools out in rural
Newfoundland are just as important as those in metro.
I can tell you the work that has been done in those schools in
rural Newfoundland has been tremendous over the last number of years.
When I hear comments from the Liberal Education critic simply saying,
well let's try to fix metro's issues by closing schools in rural
Newfoundland, that sends a shiver down my spine.
Because, Mr. Chair, it is not that long ago when the Liberals
were in power and that is exactly what they did do.
They did close schools out in rural Newfoundland.
So, I want to make sure the people understand that it is alright for him
to represent his constituents, but when he stands in the House of
Assembly as an Education critic, he is representing the entire Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. S. COLLINS:
I can tell
you, a big part of this Province is rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
That is what I am here to certainly be an advocate for, and it
worries me when I hear statements such as that coming out of the
Education critic's mouth.
Now, if I may get a little bit more lighthearted, Mr. Chair.
This past weekend, March 14, I was in Gambo for the 47th
Anniversary Charter Night of the Lions Club there.
Of course, I do not have to tell anybody in this House of
Assembly how great our Lions Clubs are, not only in this Province, but
nationally, of course, and across the world in the work they do.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
It is
funny, when I got the invite saying we want you to come to our 47th
anniversary, I said, absolutely, I will be there as I always do to any
invite I get. So, I called
my wife and I said, Sam, we are going to need a babysitter for Saturday
night. She said, oh my
goodness, you remembered. I
said, remembered what? She
said, our wedding anniversary.
So I said, well no, I did not remember, but I said we are going
to the anniversary of the Lions Club on our anniversary.
Anyway, I am happy to say we are still married today.
She did attend with me, and I was happy to celebrate, actually,
with the King Lion, Gus Greene, who many people know here.
Gus has been involved with the Lions Club provincially for years.
Gus and his wife, Flo, actually celebrated their 47th wedding
anniversary at the same time.
It was a great event. It is
nice to recognize our service groups, particularly the Lions Club on all
the great work they do. It
is also nice to recognize our spouses, and it is also great to remember
our anniversaries. So let
that be a lesson to everyone.
I will say publicly, I am sorry for missing that one, Mr. Chair.
As many of you know, it is National Social Work Month, and I read a
ministerial statement just a couple of days ago.
It was the following day actually, it was yesterday that I went
out and visited with staff in the metro region at the Bell building.
They had a little meet and greet set up there, and they have some
events going on for recognition week.
It is so important that we recognize social workers.
As I had said in the statement, they carry out some of the most
important work in the Province.
The work they undertake is done in some very challenging
situations, and not easy circumstances, I can assure you.
It has only been a short time since I have been Minister of Child, Youth
and Family Services, but certainly I have gained a new appreciation, or
a better appreciation for the work that our social workers do.
So, it is always nice to understand what they do, but appreciate
it as well.
I do not know if people get the full scope of what social workers do.
There are over 1,500 registered in the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador. Obviously, a
good portion of those work in the Department of CYFS.
Just in the Department of CYFS, you have over 5,000 children and
youth receiving protection intervention services 5,000 children and
youth. You also have 1,000
children and youth who are in care.
These numbers are approximate, of course, they move somewhat from
time to time.
You have 6,000 children and youth being serviced by some of the greatest
professionals you could ever meet.
It is nice to go out and meet these folks face to face.
I have had an opportunity as minister even though I have only
been here a short time, I have gone out to visit a lot of our regional
offices and speak to the social workers.
Not only to hear about all the great things that are happening in
the department, and I get up every day and talk about them, but also
about the challenges, because there are challenges.
By the very nature of the beast of the work they do, there are
going to be challenges and there always will be.
I want to make sure I am a minister who is supportive of that and
someone who responds to it.
I think we have made great progress.
When I am out in the offices, whether it is out in Deer Lake or Corner
Brook a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to
Labrador. We talk about
challenges. It is always
nice when you read something or if you have someone brief you, but when
you experience it firsthand, Mr. Chair, I would argue you get a far
greater appreciation. I will
admit, I have a far greater appreciate for the work that our social
workers do in Labrador.
I had an opportunity to visit Happy Valley-Goose Bay
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. S. COLLINS:
I will get
to the mitts in a second.
I travelled to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, to Sheshatshiu, to Natuashish,
and Nain. I met with all of
the staff in all of those communities.
While in both the Innu communities, I met with the leadership
there from the Innu leadership and discussed some issues.
We have done some great things in the department, particularly as of
late, with regard to the Aboriginal groups, both the NG and the Innu.
We have developed MOUs, and they are up for review.
I am hoping to have some news on that review that we have done
with those current MOUs very soon.
What we have seen is by collaborating with the Aboriginal groups, we
have gotten much better results.
We understand the cultural differences.
I cannot speak for what happened ten or twenty years ago,
whatever the case is, but we must do better.
I think we have been doing better.
It is through that collaboration and that co-operation with the
Aboriginal groups, we have seen some huge returns on that.
I am not talking dollars and cents.
I am talking about outcomes, tangible outcomes where we are
talking about the care of children and youth.
I want to talk a little bit about Labrador, if I can.
I only have a couple of minutes left.
As I said, Labrador obviously has some unique challenges.
One being its remoteness, and trying to get in and out.
I joined the Member for Torngat Mountains on the way down from
Nain. He got on a plane with
me and we sat side by side.
The plane is so small you sit side by side with everyone, I suppose.
I just want to talk about some of the things we have done, because we
have been innovative and we have done quite a few things.
Some of the things we have done, we talked specifically about
Budget 2014 because there was an allocation of $190 million to enhance
services within CYFS, and a good portion of that was in Labrador.
You have a couple of things going on there.
Things that I saw that are paying dividends in the communities,
particularly, as I had said, in the ones that I visited: Sheshatshiu,
Natuashish, and Nain. I hope
to get up to the other communities in due course as well, but what we
have up there now, we have mentoring teams.
We have turnover in the department.
A lot of that is due to the fact that we have younger employees,
many of whom are females, so you have maternity leaves that happen
perhaps in our department more than any other.
You have young workers just getting into the workforce that then
go on to do other things. So
with that turnover, you have to have the support in place.
One of the things that we put in place to try to help with that is a
mentoring team. What you
have is you have lifetime social workers who have been in practice for
years and years and bringing that skill and that experience with them,
they will go in from time to time and work on the ground with the social
workers in these remote communities, and it has been great.
We have obviously heard from the mentoring group, they think
things are going well; but, more importantly, we have heard from social
workers on the ground and they say that support has just been fantastic
and it has been priceless.
We are continuing to do that, and we are going to look at expanding that
as well perhaps.
Another big part is we talk about remoteness, but we have also had a
fly-in, fly-out service into Natuashish.
Recruitment is hard in any part of the Province for some
positions, but it is particularly hard when you get into coastal
Labrador and remote communities in Labrador.
What we have had now is a fly-in, fly-out service in Natuashish
where we have workers go in for two weeks, come out for two weeks.
That again has been absolutely fantastic.
While it has been challenging to recruit full-time social
workers, if we allow them to come in and come out, we have had good
uptake on that and the results have been very good.
We have also had things like new community service workers, where they
would be local people, they would have a firm understanding of the
language and the local culture and they would work hand in hand with our
officials.
There is a bunch of things going on in Labrador, as there is in the
entire department, but I just wanted to highlight a few of those.
Hopefully I will get an opportunity to have another word again.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
I am thrilled to stand today to speak for the first time in debate since
this session opened, and I thank the House for the opportunity.
I do want to take a moment, as a parent, and to echo the feelings
of many of the members of the House in saying that I am thinking about
the family of the Member for Bonavista North on the passing of his son.
Certainly I know we are all, in this House, keeping him and his
family in our hearts as they go through their grief journey.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Chair, I
listened to the debate this afternoon and we have talked about schools
and education and all kinds of great issues, and I think one of the
things that I would like to start the conversation back to is around the
area of fiscal responsibility. Quite
frankly, I do not believe that the people of the Province have
confidence in this government any more.
I think they do not have the confidence for this government to
actually lead and manage through what is a crisis in our economy.
People of the Province are feeling the changes in the economy.
We have had sixteen months of consecutive job losses.
That is about 10,000 jobs in the last two years.
That is contrary to this government's forecasted job growth in
the last two Budget documents.
People are losing their jobs, they are worried about making mortgage
payments, they are worried about retirement income, and they are worried
about the future. Mr. Chair,
effective governments, smart governments, plan for the future and they
anticipated the unexpected.
If you are planning for the best and worst case scenarios, then you are
planning for the possibility that oil prices, the Canadian dollar, and
production are going to be impacting your budget.
Mr. Chair, let's be clear; this problem that the people of the Province
are facing, they are facing because this government put them in that
position. This government
well before oil prices changed, when oil prices were over $100,
forecasted a $600 million deficit.
That certainly does not speak to strong fiscal management.
In the last thirteen years, if you take the Atlantic Accord money out,
this government has ran eight out of thirteen deficits.
The five more that they are forecasting, if my math is correct,
brings them up to thirteen deficits in fifteen years.
I think the people of the Province are very concerned about that.
Mr. Chair, when members opposite spoke about schools and they spoke ad
nauseam about the investments that they have made, what is interesting
is I thought my experience as a business person would be my most
important skill that I brought into this House.
Quite frankly, what I am realizing is that it is my skills as a
parent that are my most important skills here.
It is time to take the credit card away from this government so
they can no longer waste taxpayers' money
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS C. BENNETT:
and not make
sure it ends in programs and services that are in the best interests of
the people of the Province.
When a minister stands in this House and lists the long list of
buildings they have built without having a conversation about the
educational outcomes, people in the Province know the difference.
There are less than 50 per cent of our graduating students 50 per cent
of our graduating students who do not meet the entrance requirements
for MUN. How is that
possible in an education system that this government touts as being so
important?
MS SULLIVAN:
A point of order,
Mr. Chair.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Minister
of Education, on a point of order.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MS SULLIVAN:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
Mr. Chair, I am proud to say that we have had a 93 per cent to a 95 per
cent in the last three or four years of graduation rates in this
Province, and the highest percentage ever of honours graduations.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
There is no point of
order.
The hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Chair, I am
so happy that the Minister of Education stood up and mentioned that
number, because in my district there is a community centre, as there are
community centres in many of our districts on both sides of this House,
and I can tell you that the graduation rate for the children that are in
those communities is nowhere near the number she pontificates about on
that side of the House.
There have been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids who have not
been able to make it through the education system in Newfoundland and
Labrador and end up finding a job.
Mr. Chair, this discussion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MS C. BENNETT:
This debate is
going to be about not only the fiscal responsibility and accountability
of this government, but about the decisions they make that are going to
impact our economy. Our
Province is on the verge of facing not just a fiscal crisis that they
created, but an economic one as well one which will have very serious
implications and significant economic impacts.
As I mentioned early, job losses are multiplying, with the closure of
Wabush Mines in Labrador, the shutdown of the aquaculture plant in
Harbour Breton, and the loss of retail service and restaurants
throughout St John's. The
real impacts of our economy have not even begun to begun to show
themselves yet. When the
slowdown in Alberta, one of the largest slowdowns that that province has
ever faces, results in here is a fact eight weekly chartered flights
taking Newfoundlanders and Labradorians out of their Province to go work
in Western Canada, eight flights cancelled on a weekly basis where do
you think those Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are today?
They are in this Province trying to find work.
Mr. Chair, quite frankly, people do not have the confidence in this
government. People in the
Province are feeling the effect of change, and they want to understand
why this government has got them to this position.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) Muskrat Falls.
MR. C. BENNETT:
I hear a
member on the opposite side of the House heckling me about Muskrat
Falls. I am really glad that
they give me that opportunity to talk about it, because one of the
problems that this government had is they made an extremely expensive
commitment on behalf of the people of the Province and did not do their
homework to make sure they had the money to pay for the investment.
Now, because they did not make the tough decisions yesterday,
they expect the people of the Province to think that now their crisis is
everybody else's crisis.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MS C. BENNETT:
People are very
concerned about what is going to happen in this Budget.
They are very concerned about whether this government is going to
show leadership, whether they are going to show politics, whether they
are going to show the same priorities that they have shown for the last
number of years, which is putting, quite frankly, Mr. Chair, their own
political survival ahead of the needs of the people of the Province.
Low oil prices are a significant concern, and, Mr. Chair, members on the
opposite side of the House can make excuses and can pontificate about
the things that they see are right, but when are they going to accept
accountability for the things that have not gone right?
The Auditor General has repeatedly recognized that spending is an issue
with this government. More
importantly, not just spending, financial management, accountability to
every single penny. I look
forward, Mr. Chair, to continuing to talk about the importance of good
financial management.
People of the Province elect members of this House of Assembly to come
in here and steward not only government policy but also steward the
investments that are made on behalf of the people of the Province, and
they expect us to do that in the context of always making tomorrow
better. Quite frankly, I
think it is difficult for anybody to listen to the conversation that
goes on in this House about what happened yesterday when people today in
our Province are scared, are afraid, and are worried about the decisions
this government is going to make.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Minister
of Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
I know that we are getting near the end of the day, but I do want to
take a couple of minutes. I
cannot let the member opposite stand and make the comments that she made
without challenging her.
She talked about us standing and talking about the last ten years since
we have been in power. We
are proud of the last ten years.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
If you ask any
Newfoundlander and Labradorian today, are you better off today than you
were ten years ago? The
answer would be yes.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Why?
Because of the significant investments we have made in the
economy of Newfoundland and Labrador; because of the kind of leadership
we provided and the kind of decisions that we have made in the interest
of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
I want to assure the member opposite, and all people in Newfoundland and
Labrador, that this government in this budgetary process will be making
decisions that will be in the long-term best interest of Newfoundlanders
and Labradorians.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Unlike members
opposite who are standing in their place
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. WISEMAN:
walking around the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador pretending
that they are in government.
They are suggesting in their smug arrogance that we are the government
in waiting and we have all the answers, but they have not shared it with
anybody in Newfoundland and Labrador.
They have not shared their vision at all with anybody in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
Order, please!
MR. WISEMAN:
I want to remind
the member opposite, that the reason she could not find anybody to work
at her restaurants in Newfoundland and Labrador is because they are all
employed because of the vibrant economy.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
So when we start
talking about next year's Budget, I want to assure her and all people in
this Province that whatever we do, as we have done in the past, will
always be in the best interest of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
MS C. BENNETT:
A point of order.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Member
for Virginia Waters on a point of order.
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Chair, I
remind the member opposite that there is absolutely no value in talking
about yesterday, when people are worried about today and tomorrow.
CHAIR:
There is no point of
order.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the Minister
of Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
The reason the
member opposite does not want to talk about the past is because she is
afraid we will go back to the last time the Liberals were in power and
the mess they made.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
No one will want
to go back that far, when they left us on the brink of bankruptcy.
Make no wonder she does not want to go back in history because
the last ten years is the only part that she could boast about as a
resident of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Chair, we are about to adjourn for the day, but I just want to leave
on this parting note: To remind people again, that as we have done in
the last ten years and we will continue to do, we will make decisions in
the best interest of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
That is what you will see in this year's Budget, and that is what you
will see in the plan for the next five years.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear,
hear!
CHAIR:
The hon. the
Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Mr. Chair, I move the
Committee rise, report progress, and ask leave to sit again.
CHAIR:
The motion is that
the Committee rise, report progress, and ask leave to sit again.
Is it the pleasure of the Committee to adopt the motion?
All those in favour, 'aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against,
'nay'.
Carried.
On motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit
again, Mr. Speaker returned to the Chair.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
The hon.
the Member for Port de Grave.
MR. LITTLEJOHN:
Mr.
Speaker, the Committee of Supply have considered the matters to them
referred and have directed me to report progress and ask leave to sit
again.
MR. SPEAKER:
The Chair of the
Committee of Whole has reported that the Committee have considered the
matters to them referred, ask to report progress and ask leave to sit
again.
When shall the Committee have leave to sit again?
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Tomorrow, Mr.
Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Tomorrow.
On motion, report received and adopted.
Committee ordered to sit again on tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the
Deputy Government House Leader.
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Mr. Speaker, I
move, seconded by the Minister of Natural Resources, that the House do
now adjourn.
MR. SPEAKER:
The motion is
that this House do now adjourn.
All those in favour, 'aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those
against, 'nay'.
Carried.
This House remains adjourned until Monday at 1:30 o'clock.
On motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow, Monday, at
1:30 p.m.