May
25, 2015
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 19
The
House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
I
would like to welcome all members back to another week of orderly debate in
the House of Assembly.
Today I would like to recognize and welcome representatives from the
Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador, along with Executive Director,
Darren Feltham.
Welcome to the House of Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
I would also like to
recognize and welcome Early Childhood Educators: Mary Walsh, Joanne Morris,
Gail Brinston, Valerie Collins, and Helen Sinclair.
Welcome to the House of Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
Statements by
Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we will hear
members' statements from Members representing the Districts of St. George's
Stephenville East, Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, Carbonear Harbour Grace,
Humber East, Virginia Waters, and St. Barbe.
The
hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
rise today to make the House aware of an important project being undertaken
by Writer Director Michael Fenwick and a team of film students at the
College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville.
The
important project they are working on is to bring the story of the life of
legendary Newfoundland musician Emile Benoit to the screen.
Students and instructors of the Film and Video Production Program at
the College of the North Atlantic have held a casting call for people to
help create the history by becoming part of the short film about Emile
Benoit.
Emile Benoit was the talented French-Newfoundland fiddler from Black Duck
Brook known for his unique style of fiddling, along with his wit and charm.
The crew has been chosen, script written, all characters are
established, and a number of lead roles and extras have been selected.
I
would like the House to join with me in recognizing the important work of
program instructors Peter Buckle, Keith Bonnell, Michael Fenwick, the
students involved, and all those who have come forward to participate as
cast members. I look forward to
the film, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
One
of the most prestigious awards Canada offers to its young people is the Duke
of Edinburgh's International Award.
Established in Canada in 1963, the tri-level non-competitive program
encourages youth to set and achieve goals in the areas of community service,
skills, fitness, and adventure.
Anyone who has been involved with a Duke of Edinburgh achiever can sing the
praises of the program and tell you stories of how any given individual has
learned new skills, made a difference in the community, or achieved an
athletic goal they once thought impossible.
Of
particular note is the COSTA initiative, which opens the Duke of Edinburgh
Program to students with intellectual and physical disabilities.
Last
Thursday, youthful achievers from all over the Province congregated at the
CLB Armory to receive their Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh's Award from
Governor General David Johnston.
Eleven of them live in my District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi and I would
like to recognize of them by name.
Congratulations to Garrett Barry, Alexandria Batten, Megan Clarke,
Joseph Eddy, Amber Hodder, Julia Outerbridge, Sarah Predham, Camille
Quirion, Abby Robbins, Alex Robbins, and Sean Winsor.
I
ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating them.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, on April 23, 2015, I had the pleasure of attending the Town of
Harbour Grace Annual Awards ceremony where the town recognizes many of its
finest citizens. The ceremony is
dedicated to the many volunteers, athletes, and members of the community who
are actively involved in the community.
Mr.
Speaker, I especially want to recognize Courtney Coombs who won both the
1992 Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games scholarship and the Doris
Murcell Memorial Award as the female athlete of the year.
She had previously won this award in 2012.
Courtney is an all-around athlete who excels in both competition and the
classroom. She is active in
soccer, volleyball, ball hockey, and cross-country running.
She is an avid multi-sport athlete and is attending her first year of
university.
The
Town of Harbour Grace is very fortunate to have young people like Courtney
and also Adam Slade, who was chosen as the male athlete of the year.
They are the future of our communities and our Province, and to be
recognized with such prestigious awards is a testament to their abilities.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating Courtney and
wish her all the best in her future athletic and academic endeavours.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Humber East.
MR. FLYNN:
Mr. Speaker, on Thursday,
May 21, the Duke of Edinburgh Award honoured program achievers who have
entered their Gold Standard at a ceremony with His Excellency the Right
Honourable David Johnston.
Since 1974, when the program was first introduced in Newfoundland and
Labrador, the Duke of Edinburgh Award has been instrumental in helping
thousands of young people develop qualities of leadership, personal
discipline, and strength of character.
Currently in our Province we have some 3,500 young people registered
in the program, which is the highest per capita number of any Province in
Canada.
I am
very proud today to recognize three individuals from the District of Humber
East, Dianna Alteen, Maria Filatre, and Marli Ver Mooten, who received the
Gold Standard Award at a ceremony on Thursday.
To achieve this award, these young people were required to set and
accomplish personal goals within an eighteen-month period in five different
areas which include service, skill, physical recreation, adventurous
journey, and residential project.
I
also want to thank the many adults involved in the program who offer
guidance and support to all of these young people.
I
ask hon. members to join me in congratulating Dianna, Maria, and Marli, and
all the achievers in this fantastic accomplishment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I
rise in this hon. House today to recognize a pioneer in many ways; Ms
Rosemary Marshall who will be inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador
Hockey Hall of Fame 2015. Ms
Marshall was among the first female minor hockey coaches in this Province,
and the first to serve as President of the St. John's Minor Hockey
Association.
She
was the only female in her class when she obtained her Level II coaching,
before forming an atom-age team in St. John's and went on to take a club to
the 1972 provincial competition in Labrador City.
In 1976, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association named her as an
outstanding minor hockey award winner.
Recognizing the need for more ice surfaces, she played a major role in the
construction of Twin Rinks and held the position of secretary for the Avalon
Arenas Association. After the
passing of her husband, Doug, in 2005 she joined with her sons, Steve, Ken,
and Ian, in the sponsorship of the Doug Marshall Hockey League.
She
was also the first female to serve as President of Sport Newfoundland and
Labrador.
I
ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing the legacy of Ms Marshall's
involvement in youth sports.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker,
Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador hosted the annual Tourism Excellence
Awards 2015 on February 26, recognizing the outstanding tourism leaders and
businesses that make great contributions to the provincial tourism industry.
The Gros Morne region, in the St. Barbe district, won big.
Ocean View Hotel, Rocky Harbour, won the H. Clayton Sparkes Accommodator of
the Year Award. This award
recognizes an individual who exhibits dedication to quality service and
makes a solid contribution to the community.
Gros
Morne Co-operating Association won the JAC Tourism Champion of the Year
Award. This award is presented
to an individual, company, or organization that has worked diligently to
ensure that the tourism industry prospers.
Bonne Bay Marine Station, Norris Point, won the Sustainable Tourism Award.
This award recognizes an industry operator who has made strides in
sustainable tourism practices and continually works toward the protection of
our natural and cultural resources.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to join me in congratulating
Ocean View Hotel, Gros Morne Co-operating Association, and Bonne Bay Marine
Station on winning these prestigious Tourism Excellence Awards.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Before we go to statements by ministers, I would like to take this
opportunity to recognize one of our own.
Last Thursday afternoon one of our Pages, Raylene Mackey, was
presented with the Caring Canadian Award by the Right Honourable David
Johnston, Governor General.
The
Governor General's Caring Canadian Award was created in 1995 to recognize
individuals who volunteer their time to help others and to build a smarter
and a more caring nation.
As
Raylene's citation reads: Raylene Mackey has been a golf coach for Special
Olympics athletes, and has contributed her time to St. Luke's Home.
As a former Miss Teen Newfoundland and Labrador, she has improved the
lives of others through a diverse range of volunteer activities at over 160
events across the Province. She
continues to volunteer today with several local organizations.
Along with Raylene, there were ten other recipients of this prestigious
award: Nitish Bhatt, Frank Millar Ewing, Dolores Flynn, Betty Gulliver,
Josephine Anne Hickey, Keith Hillier, David Regular, Madelene Small, Melissa
Thomas, and Ian Walsh.
Please join with me in congratulating Raylene and all the other recipients.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by
Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I am
pleased to rise today in this hon. House to acknowledge the designation of
Thomas E. Ricketts as a Person of Provincial Significance.
Mr.
Speaker, I had the honour yesterday to participate in the designation
ceremony in Conception Bay South.
It was a humbling experience to stand before men and women who wear
the uniform of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, as well as all other
officers who serve in our Canadian Forces.
I commend each of them for their ability to stand up for those whose
daily lives are embroiled in conflict.
We
are all familiar with the story of Thomas E. Ricketts, or as he is better
known, Tommy Ricketts, as we have come to know him.
Tommy Ricketts was a teenager from Middle Arm, White Bay, who joined
the Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War as a fifteen-year-old
boy. He went on to receive the
Victoria Cross the highest award for valour the British Empire could grant
a soldier for his actions during an offensive in Belgium.
Tommy Ricketts was the youngest soldier serving with the British Army
during The Great War to receive the Victoria Cross and 100 years later we
still honour his legacy.
Mr.
Speaker, as we commemorate Tommy Ricketts, it is also important to take a
moment to remember that during The Great War more than 6,000 men joined the
Newfoundland Regiment and more than 12,000 served on land, in the air, on
the sea, and in nursing services.
It was for reasons such as these that the Provincial Historic
Commemorations Program was developed, to recognize aspects of our collective
culture and to pay tribute to the people, places, events, and traditions
that make Newfoundland and Labrador unique.
To
further honour Tommy Ricketts' memory and to commemorate his legacy of
valour, the Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs has
provided $25,000 towards the community park in Conception Bay South, a park
that will stand as a legacy of Tommy Ricketts' service for years to come.
Mr.
Speaker, the sacrifice of Tommy Ricketts and the brave individuals who
served is an important part of our collective identity, of who we are today
as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Their sense of duty shall never be forgotten and we are honoured to
commemorate them in this way.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Conception Bay South.
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
thank the Premier for an advance copy of his statement.
Having been part of the ceremony yesterday, it is certainly an honour
today to be able to stand and speak to this particular project.
As a
high school teacher, Mr. Speaker, I taught fifteen and sixteen-year-olds,
and I fully understand how unprepared boys like Tommy Ricketts were when
they marched off to war in 1914-1915 but how they subsequently accredited
themselves in the European theatre of war.
Mr.
Speaker, this $25,000 will be a good kick start to our new Tommy Ricketts'
park in Conception Bay South which we are proud to develop in his memory.
Yesterday was a strategically scheduled event, and I wonder how many
more with subsequent financial announcements will take place as we get
closer to a fall election.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I,
too, am honoured to stand with the Premier and the representative from CBS
and honour Tommy Ricketts and his fellow soldiers
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
so many of whom were
very young and who fought in World War I.
The Great War was also known as the war to end all wars, a reflection
of the hope of people of the time.
One hundred years on, we know that hope was in vain, young Canadian
men and women are still being sent into armed conflict.
I
hope as we honour Tommy Ricketts and the sacrifices of so long ago, that we
also hope for a time when such sacrifices are no longer required of our
young people.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Acting Minister of Early Childhood Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I
rise in this hon. House today to proclaim May 24-May 30 as Early Childhood
Educators' Week in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This week is a time to recognize the significant contribution child
care professionals make in our Province.
Early childhood educators are the skilled professionals who are responsible
for planning and delivering effective play-based curriculum to our children
in the critical early learning years.
Each and every day these educators recognize and build on a child's
natural curiosity and imagination and evoke their learning through
activities such as dramatic play, art, and social games.
In
Newfoundland and Labrador, we are fortunate to have over 1,200 practising
ECEs working in many different settings and providing a variety of services.
Early childhood educators work in regulated child care centres and
family care centre homes. They
work as business operators, in family resource centres, private consulting
practices, and government departments.
No matter what setting, early childhood educators bring their passion
to educate children to the work that they do.
Their commitment and dedication truly deserve the recognition that
this week places on their profession.
Mr.
Speaker, during this week, our Province's early childhood educators will
have the opportunity to participate in professional development sessions, as
well as open houses at child care centres and also have the opportunity to
network with their colleagues and share best practices.
I
recently had the pleasure of meeting and talking to representatives from the
Association of Early Childhood Educators in Newfoundland and Labrador to
proclaim Early Childhood Educators' Week.
Their commitment and dedication to their profession was very evident
throughout our conversation. The
provincial government is very supportive of our early childhood educators
and certainly the work they do.
I look forward to working with them to further develop and improve early
learning and child care services in this Province.
Today, I ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing and thanking all
early childhood educators in this Province for the essential role they have
in ensuring the youngest members of our population have the best possible
start in their lifelong learning and education.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Thanks to the minister
for an advance copy of his statement.
The Official Opposition, Liberal caucus, joins the minister in
wishing a happy Early Childhood Educators' Week to all of the ECEs in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
ECEs
play a vital role in our education system and increasingly they are
recognized for their vital role.
One of the best ways that we can ensure early childhood educators are
properly compensated for their work the best way to recognize them for
their work is to properly compensate them for their work.
In that regard we are woefully behind as a Province, despite all of
the evidence that investing in early year's education is an economic
investment.
We
know that for every $1 invested there is a short-term return of up to $1.80
and a long-term return of up to $17, particularly for at-risk children.
Despite that, Newfoundland and Labrador has the lowest wages paid for
ECEs.
It's
Time for Preschool report recently suggested that we had the lowest salary
levels amongst all of the provinces.
That report pointed out that we spend just 1.3 per cent of our Budget
on ECEs. We have a long way to
go, Mr. Speaker, but once again, I am happy to
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I
remind the member his time has expired.
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 the advance copy of his statement.
I am honoured to recognize and praise the highly skilled and
dedicated early childhood educators we have in this Province.
I wish them success in their activities this week, and I hope people
throughout the Province get to see what is going on.
I am
glad to see government acknowledging their contribution to our Province, but
I urge government to do what it should do, and what would really be
acknowledgement, and create an affordable and accessible public child care
program that will pay good salaries to the early childhood educators,
provide benefits to the economy, and take care of the needs of the families
of our Province.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to acknowledge the important work
of Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador.
The
Conservation Corps is a provincial, charitable organization dedicated to
providing youth with training and employment in environmental and cultural
heritage conservation. It was
created in 1992 with the goal of increasing quality employment, training and
career development opportunities for young people.
Since its inception, Conservation Corps has employed more than 2,500
people through its Green Team, Intern, and other employment programs.
In
2002, the Conservation Corps became the host organization for the Climate
Change Education Centre, which has become a leader in the field of climate
change education and outreach.
Since its inception, the centre has been very successful in reaching various
target audiences and increasing their capacity to understand and engage in
actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
One
of these key target audiences continues to be youth and to that end, the
centre offers a Who's in Charge of Climate Change program in schools.
Through funding support of $147,000 obtained from the Department of
Environment and Conservation last year, the centre was able to reach over
11,000 individuals in 485 classes throughout the Province.
In
addition, the use of the Climate Change Club storybooks in Kindergarten to
Grade 6 continues to create a value-added educational package that schools
find very useful. The program
format includes all participating classes enjoying a reading of one of the
stories, followed by a short PowerPoint presentation and class discussion.
Programming for junior high and high school classes is continually evolving;
presentations are updated as severe weather events occur, new
climate-related data is released and significant discoveries are made.
As the Province continues to experience the effects of climate
change, these direct links are added to presentation materials to ensure
students can relate to the issues and understand the impacts at a local
level.
Mr.
Speaker, these are just a few examples of the way the Conservation Corps,
through the Climate Change Education Centre, is spreading the message to our
youth about climate change, and their outreach efforts extend to other areas
as well. For example, the centre
has delivered energy efficiency and climate change presentations to various
programs of the Stella Burry Community Services and the Association of New
Canadians.
The
provincial government is a proud sponsor of this important organization, Mr.
Speaker. In fact, in addition to
the funding provided through my department, approximately $580,000 was
provided last year through the Department of Advanced Education and Skills
to support its many initiatives.
I
ask all hon. members to join me now in applauding the Conservation Corps for
their important work and wishing them all the best as they continue with the
public education and outreach initiatives.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr. Speaker, I thank
the minister for the advance copy of his statement and I acknowledge the
good work of the Conservation Corps.
Education plays a vital role in raising environmental awareness, so I am
excited to see a Green Team discuss and pursue the limestone barrens
stewardship project, particularly in my district.
Programs like the Climate Change Club teach children about
environmental issues from an early age, giving them a foundation to become
good environmental citizens as they grow up and leading them to take actions
that will reduce their impact on the environment.
As
important as education is, actions are equally important, and this
government has cut positions at Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve, they have cut
Nature's Classroom, and they have an atrocious environmental record.
When we look to this government for action on environmental issues
like climate change, we see they are not taking the leadership role that
they should be. When will we see
the greenhouse reduction strategy on sector-by-sector emissions and a plan
for action that will have real impact for this Province?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
I, too, thank the
minister for the advance copy of his statement.
Congratulations to the Conservation Corps for their work educating
students about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.
Across the Province they have worked hard for many years making people aware
of how to reduce emissions. They
rank second in Canada in energy audits completed per capita and had the
highest proportion of rural community audits in the country; but I ask, Mr.
Speaker, who is in charge of climate change in Newfoundland and Labrador?
Where are government's targets for greenhouse gas emissions?
This is government's hypocrisy at its worst, but I do congratulate
the young folks at Conservation Corps.
Bravo for their work; keep up the good work.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Oral Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
In
November of last year the Premier instituted a discretionary hiring and
spending freeze on all departments in government.
I
ask the Premier: Is the spending and hiring freeze still in place?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Mr. Speaker, the member
is right; last year the Premier provided some leadership to the people of
the Province and announced that we were going to be putting in place a
strategy to ensure that we eliminated all non-discretionary spending and we
were very selective on our hiring process.
We wanted to make sure that we hit our financial targets for the end
of the year.
Since that time, we have had a new Budget introduced in this House.
In fact, we are debating it as we speak now, Mr. Speaker.
This Budget, when the House approves it, will actually be the
blueprint that will help us focus our spending decisions into the year
coming and, in fact, into the next five years.
Spending from here on through, Mr. Speaker, will be guided by this year's
Budget; but, always, these are prudent financial decisions.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
The
hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, I will
ask the minister again: Is the discretionary spending freeze and hiring
freeze in place now as part of this Budget process?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
MR. WISEMAN:
Mr. Speaker, let me
answer it again. As always
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. WISEMAN:
all of the decisions
that we make as a government reflect prudent fiscal management, so we will
make decisions on hiring and spending throughout this year and for the next
five years and we will be guided by a blueprint, and that blueprint is the
Budget.
Several weeks ago I read into this House a Budget for this year, but also
read out in this House and laid out for the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador a plan for the next five years, Mr. Speaker.
We will be guided both in our day-to-day decisions as a government by
that fiscal plan, our expenditure decisions by department and by agency will
be guided by that fiscal plan, and it reflects prudent decisions and prudent
spending.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, what I
heard the minister say was a confirmation that the spending and hiring
freeze is no longer in effect.
The Budget documents his government have presented indicate a 1.7 per cent
increase in spending over last year.
I
ask the minister: When you are going to borrow $1.1. billion, why did you
not maintain a spending and hiring freeze?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
If the member opposite
would want to check public commentary, Hansard in this House, she would
recognize very clearly, as would members of this House and the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador, the notion of having a hiring freeze and a
spending freeze, that was not the terminology used in the fall, Mr. Speaker.
What the Premier had said at the time was that we were going to
eliminate non-discretionary spending.
We
still have a government to run.
We have programs and services to provide to the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador. We need to recruit new
people to work in our health system.
We need to recruit new people to work within our Department of
Transportation and Works because they are having a summer construction
program.
So,
we need to carry on the business of government, providing valuable services
to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we will make prudent
spending decisions and sometimes it will involve recruiting the kind of
talent that we need to do the job, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Mr. Speaker, government
has admitted that the dome over Muskrat Falls is only half completed, and
plans for it to be finished have been scrapped.
I
ask the minister: What is the status of the dome, and how much of taxpayers'
money was spent on this structure?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, that is a
repeat question, so I will try to give the same answer I gave a few weeks
ago. The decision on the dome
was Astaldi's to try to advance production in the building of Muskrat Falls.
They built half the dome and then they decided to not build the other
half, and pick up in other ways in terms of productivity.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. DALLEY:
So that was the decision,
Mr. Speaker, but as I said at that time there are no additional costs to
taxpayers. That is a cost to
Astaldi. So, there is no
additional cost. They have built
half to use for half the powerhouse.
The other work is going to be done the spring and the summer in hopes
of adding additional batch plants to pour more cement.
So
that is their approach, Mr. Speaker, but no additional cost to the project
and no additional cost to ratepayers.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Mr. Speaker, government
has decided not to finish the dome construction and will leave units three
and four uncovered. They say it
will not affect the path to the first power in 2017.
So I
ask the minister: If the dome is not needed, and with such oversight as this
government claims, why was it approved as a necessity for construction and
ensured no delays?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, Muskrat
Falls is one of the biggest projects, I guess, most important projects, we
have ever done in our history.
The decisions to build Muskrat Falls are well documented, very public.
Also, which is very well known, is that Nalcor is building the
project, and they have project managers hired and a team through Astaldi and
so on.
So
the decision not to finish the dome was not a government decision, Mr.
Speaker. Nalcor made the
decision as project manager in the best interests of the project.
Our focus, Nalcor's focus, as directed, is to build the project, try
to keep it on time, and try to keep it on budget in the best interests of
the ratepayers of the Province.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Mr. Speaker, it is our
environment that will be further damaged because of mismanagement of this
government. It has been stated
in this House on many occasions that waste management is on schedule.
I
ask the minister: How can such an important issue be pushed down the road
another four years with continuous damage to our environment?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, there is nothing being pushed down the road by this government.
We were the government that initiated the waste management strategy.
The prior Administration brought it in with no detail, no money, and
nothing engaged in that strategy.
It was us who brought it in, in 2007, outlining clearly what we
needed to do in this Province.
We have a modern waste management strategy.
We
built on that to date. We have
spent $161 million in infrastructure in various parts of the Province,
working with the community in building a state-of-the-art infrastructure
project. Over the next number of
years, to 2020, we will spend an extra $61 million again in infrastructure
to complete the facilities, those depots we need around the Province for
waste management. From a
composting point of view, we recognize due to increased costs and our
financial situation, we will push that out for another five years to 2025.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
We will continue to
work collectively on a waste management strategy, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
I say to the minister,
that is little comfort to a lot of towns that are paying a lot higher costs
now, dumping fees, and a lot more dumping sites being established all over,
illegal dumping sites a lot less comfort.
We
hear from this government how important the environment is.
We see major increases in dumping fees, transfer of sites being
delayed again, and illegal dumping increasing.
I
ask the minister: With continuous delays, broken commitments, and false
expectations, how can the people of the Province have faith in your waste
management strategies?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Mr. Speaker, the
faith in our strategy is the demonstrated work we have done since 2007,
quite clearly, throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
As I said, it is a $161 million investment, $60 million-more that
will be invested between now and 2020.
We have built infrastructure in all regions of the Province to
continue to build on the waste management strategy.
As I
said, we were the government that identified the waste management strategy,
the details around it, and the dollars from the taxpayers of Newfoundland
and Labrador that we would do to build that strategy.
We are committed to it.
His
reference in regard to transfer stations being delayed is incorrect.
A tender will be closed the end of this month.
There will be $30 million for six transfer stations for the West
Coast that will be built and hopefully ready within the next twelve months.
So we are moving forward with a waste management strategy, and we
will see it completed in the years to come, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Mr. Speaker, the
Agreement on Internal Trade helps ensure movement of people, goods,
services, and investment within Canada, but the provincial government has
withdrawn from ongoing negotiations on this agreement.
The minister says even though they are not at the negotiating table,
they are in constant communications with people at the table.
I
ask the minister: Who are you in constant communications with, and who is
representing the Province's interests at these negotiations?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
appreciate the question. For the
benefit of the member, the director of trade agreements for our department,
Jeff Loder, represents us at the bureaucratic level.
I represent the Province, as the minister, at ministerial meetings,
which we are participating in.
The
member's question is a little dated.
We have meetings coming up in early June, which I will be
participating in, and my director will be participating in fully.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Mr. Speaker, all our
provincial economic indicators are pointing in the wrong direction.
Our economy is contracting, but with almost 78 per cent of our
economy dependent on international trade alone, this government has decided
to withdraw from all trade negotiations.
I
ask the minister: If our Province is not at the negotiating table, who is
representing us and the Province's interests on these important economic
issues?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Obviously, the member did not listen to the answer I provided.
We are at the table. I
just said that a few moments ago.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. KING:
I am sitting at the table
and our director of trade policy sits at the table.
To be clear, we have never reneged on our right to sit at any table
where we had provincial jurisdiction to negotiate on behalf of the people of
the Province we represent.
What
we have said, Mr. Speaker, in light of the failure of the federal government
to live up to their agreement with us on the fisheries fund through the CETA
dispute, is that we will no longer provide the federal government with the
opportunity to negotiate away any rights that we own as a Province.
So
to be clear, we have never said we will not negotiate as a Province, but we
will not give the right to the federal government to negotiate on our behalf
until such a time as they honour the CETA agreement and the fisheries fund
deal.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Government recently released a tender for several million dollars' worth of
roadwork on the Trans-Canada Highway.
The problem is it calls for a new polymer mixture.
This new mixture is not readily available to contractors as it is not
supplied by the main suppliers in this Province.
Not
only has the government not put out early tenders as they promised, Mr.
Speaker, now they put out a late tender without consulting with local
industry. There was no prior
notice provided to the industry and no way for the industry to prepare for
the use of this new asphalt.
Why
would the minister call for tenders without proper consultation with
industry stakeholders to ensure they are prepared for such a huge change?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
want to make it clear to my hon. colleague across the floor; we have a great
working relationship with the industry, Mr. Speaker.
Only this morning I spoke to their executive members and we had a
dialogue around how we move forward on this project and many other projects.
I will be meeting with their executive and a number of the proponents
involved in this industry on Friday morning.
Prior to that, on Friday when there seemed to be some issues around the
availability of some of the particular contractors to get 2,000 tons of
liquid asphalt, I extended the contract until June 2, so we could have that
dialogue. We could have that
continuous dialogue going on.
I
might note that in 2013 we called for a tender that had 900 tons of liquid
asphalt. This one calls for
2,000, an increase, Mr. Speaker, of
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I
remind the member his time has expired.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Yes, Mr. Speaker, he had
a meeting because the industry is upset.
The
closing date for the tender was extended because the industry was caught off
guard. The asphalt that he has
talked about just now, Mr. Speaker, is different asphalt than the asphalt
they used last year. If the
industry was given enough notice and was properly prepared to use this new
asphalt, they would probably support it and you would not have an industry
that is upset and frustrated today.
Will
the minister commit to changing the specifications to use the traditional
asphalt that was used last year and every other year for this particular
year's roadwork and allow the industry time to adjust to the changes that he
proposed in the recent tender?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
want to make it clear, the changes in using liquid asphalt is not something
new. We have been doing it when
we did work on the Outer Ring Road two years ago around the rutting.
It is a better quality of asphalt, Mr. Speaker, to ensure safety on
our highways, particularly in high traffic areas.
That is what this Administration is all about and it is what my
department and the 1,700 staff are all about, ensuring safety on the roads.
We
are working with the industry, Mr. Speaker.
Last year we did contracts with 10,000 tons of liquid asphalt in
Labrador. We are going to look
at doing 2,000 tons here. If it
is a problem for the industry
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. BRAZIL:
we will have those
discussions. We will find a
solution that works for everything, but I want to make it clear, safety on
our highways, particularly high traffic areas, is our most important option
here, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr. Speaker, hunting
and trapping is a way of life in this Province.
Young people are best enabled to learn these skills at a younger age
and being mentored by adult family members, yet government regulations deter
young people from actively participating as we have the highest age
restrictions for hunters in the country.
I
ask the minister: What is government doing to address these age restrictions
and allow more youth to participate in hunting?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, growing up in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, when I turned
sixteen the first thing my father did, he bought me my first gun.
I did the same thing for my son.
So I hear what the member opposite has to say.
I have been in consultations with various industry groups.
We
are talking about the possibility of moving forward on this, Mr. Speaker,
but we are gathering information.
We need to do more consultations.
We need stakeholders out there to come out and talk about this.
It is a bit of a gap right now from where we are.
We are open to talking about this and we are looking at it.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
It certainly sounds
like lack of action, Mr. Speaker.
Firearm safety and hunter education courses start at age fourteen, but big
game hunting is restricted until eighteen.
In other provinces, young people can hunt with adult family members
starting at twelve for small game and fourteen for big game.
Resident hunters are taking their youth to other provinces and
non-resident hunters are not bringing their youth here for hunting trips to
the Province.
I
ask the minister: Will you listen to hunting groups in the Province and
lower the hunting age limits to be in line with the rest of the country?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, we have
great programs in this Province to help young hunters learn the skills of
their forefathers. This week
coming up, the rod and gun clubs here in St. John's and in Deer Lake are
going to be participating in youth shooting competitions and skills
competitions.
We
are aware of the differences of what is happening in other jurisdictions.
Mr. Speaker, we are having a hard look at that.
Coming from my background, it is a keen interest for me.
I have communicated this to industry stakeholders, outfitters, and as
well as other industry groups, outdoors organizations.
Mr.
Speaker, we are having a very serious look at this.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, CBC is
reporting yet another case where a family has been shortchanged by
government's botched Inclusion Strategy.
When he was asked to comment, the Acting Minister of Education said
he was pleased to see that parents were making up for the shortcomings of
the Inclusion Strategy by paying for a private tutor for their child.
I
ask the acting minister: If everything is working so well with your
Inclusion Strategy, why did the NLTA have to force your department to create
a joint committee to review it?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Acting
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, several
years ago our government adopted the Inclusive Education Initiative where we
would deliver to our children in our school system special services under
the lens of an inclusive approach.
We are doing that. We are
engaged with stakeholders.
I
think we have had tremendous success, but I would be the first to say, as
minister, there are challenges in the system.
There are always going to be challenges.
What we do need, though, is to recognize that collectively we all
have a responsibility.
In
reference to my CBC interview, I am always pleased to see parents engaged
with their kids in education because I believe with the work of parents,
with supporting their kids, along with the stakeholders we have, we are
going to have the best possible education system we can have.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
On the contrary, Mr.
Speaker. The fact of the matter
is, government forced its own idea of inclusion onto our schools several
years ago. It lacked funding, it
lacked student supports, and it lacked a vision for student success.
After years of public outcry about that, I do not know where the acting
minister has been he has not heard about it, but the NLTA finally forced the
government to form a joint committee to review the inadequate implementation
of inclusive education in this Province.
I
ask the acting minister now: Will you provide an update, table an update,
here in the House of Assembly on this inclusive education review that has
been going on since last September, I understand?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Acting
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, we believe
there is wide support for inclusive education.
We believe that as a society we all have a responsibility to
recognize those with exceptionalities, those with disabilities, and give
them the same chance as everybody else.
That is what inclusive education is about, Mr. Speaker.
What
the member is suggesting here is that we do away with inclusive education
and we go back to segregation, because that is the difference in the two.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. DALLEY:
We either bring them in
the classroom and support them and give them the supports they need, which
is what we are doing to work with parents and to work with our stakeholders,
or we stick them out into a classroom like we used to, because that is what
the member is suggesting. Stick
them out in a classroom like they used to.
We
are not going to support it, Mr. Speaker.
We are going to support the kids and do all we can.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. George's Stephenville East.
MR. REID:
Mr. Speaker, since the
Budget, I have asked the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills several
questions related to the future of the Safety and Emergency Response
Training Centre in Stephenville.
Recently, I met with employees at the search centre who report that
contractual staff have been told their contracts will not be renewed, and
other staff there are concerned about the long-term viability of the centre.
I
ask the minister: What actions has he taken to ensure the long-term
viability of this centre?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
will point out, the Member for Port au Port is having discussions with me
around the centre as well, Mr. Speaker.
I
would like to inform the member that I have spoken to people and had staff
discuss with people at the Marine Institute around this, and I can assure
the member the facility is not in danger of closing.
Mr.
Speaker, they do as do other institutions, you review, you revamp, and you
reorganize, making it more effective.
In this case, that is what the Marine Institute is doing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. George's Stephenville East.
MR. REID:
Mr. Speaker, the contract
training done at the search centre in Stephenville has been negatively
impacted by the short-term downturn in the natural resource sector as
companies try to contain costs.
I
ask the minister: Is he concerned that making drastic changes to the search
centre at this point based on short-term issues might lead to the loss of
highly skilled instructors who would be hard to replace in the future?
That would compromise the centre's ability to respond to future
opportunities. Is he concerned
about losing the staff?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, what I am
concerned about is we have a facility that is current, meets the need of
industry, and continues ongoing dialogue with industry, revamping their
education program so that the facility becomes the strongest that it
possibly can. I have no doubt
that the Marine Institute has been a proven leader in their field, and they
will do the same here, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Humber East.
MR. FLYNN:
Mr. Speaker, the Honour
100 Initiative commemorates the sacrifices of Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians who served in World War I.
A check of the Honour 100 website leaves a curious impression.
A number of events are planned for 2014 but still nothing listed for
2015.
I
ask the minister: Can he update us on the events planned for this year?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
have not seen the website myself recently, so I will certainly endeavour to
have staff to update the website for the member for future Question Periods
so he will be armed with a list of events that we are planning on pursuing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Humber East.
MR. FLYNN:
As a part of the 100
initiative, government launched a program valued at $600,000 for community
heritage projects focused on World War I.
The deadline to make application for these grants was in February of
this year.
Since we have heard nothing from the government about the program, I ask the
minister: How many community groups have applied for this funding, and what
sorts of projects have been funded?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
appreciate the member once again raising the issue.
As I have said a number of times in the House, it is a very important
investment that this government has made because we recognize the value of
engaging our citizens in remembering the history of our Province.
I think I have mentioned to the member before that we are actually
taking a huge delegation of youth this year from right across the entire
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador to Beaumont Hamel as part of that
particular trip.
The
projects that the member speaks to, I do not have the detail in front of me.
Unlike other governments, this government is not into operational
issues like that. We have
officials who deal with those things.
Once projects are selected for approval, then I become aware of a
number of applications and those who are successful.
When that occurs, I suspect over the coming weeks, we will certainly
make members aware and make members of the public aware.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This
evening there will be a major rally in Labrador City to support the 150
workers losing their jobs at IOC.
In February the Premier visited Labrador West and would not meet with
the steelworkers' union that represents the workers.
I
ask the Premier why he did not bother to meet with Steelworkers Local 5795.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I
can tell you that the circumstances and matters that are occurring in
Labrador West, I consider them to be very serious.
It has significant impact on not only the company, but its employees,
a large number of employees, and also the community itself.
We have already seen the challenges that exist in the iron ore
industry, Mr. Speaker, and we are seeing what is taking place now and
watching what is taking place now between the company and its members.
Mr.
Speaker, I was in Labrador West earlier this year, and I did engage in
conversations with stakeholders in Labrador West.
The union representative did not indicate a desire to meet until very
late in trip and I could not accommodate that at that point in time.
My officials have been engaged with representatives of employees and,
as well, a mediator has been assigned and has been making progress in the
last number of months. We hope
that both sides can continue to make progress together.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Well, it sounds like he has no intention of meeting with them, which is
disgraceful. There are currently
2,400 outstanding grievances from the union that IOC is ignoring 2,400
thereby creating a toxic work environment.
I
ask the Premier why he has not answered the steel workers' request for an
industrial inquiry to investigate IOC's poor labour relations.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
An
industrial inquiry is an option that is being considered, Mr. Speaker.
I can tell you I have been in discussions as recent as coming before
the House this afternoon with the MHA, the Member for Labrador West, who is
in Labrador West today instead of being here in the House.
He continues to have ongoing discussions with both stakeholders,
representatives of employees and also with the company.
He is on the ground doing the work in his own district, where he
should.
Mr.
Speaker, we assigned a mediator from the Labour Relations Agency.
From an arm's length point of view, this is a matter directly between
the employees and the employer.
We have a mediator. Together
they are making progress. They
are meeting more regularly now than they ever have before.
We are hoping that they are going to be able to continue that, but we
are looking forward to a further update on that.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
just returned from a press conference where thirteen eminent groups,
including Research Exchange Groups at MUN, the Social Justice Co-op of
Newfoundland and Labrador, Council of Canadians, and the Port au Port Bay
Fishery Committee raised concerns that government's fracking panel is not
representative. There are no
women, no Aboriginal people, no one from the West Coast, and no medical and
health researchers and specialists on it.
They are very concerned about the lack of true consultation.
I
ask the minister: Will he agree to meet with these concerned groups to hear
the very important and valid concerns that they have raised?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, there is a
process ongoing where an independent panel has been appointed highly
regarded people who we feel are independent of the fracking issue, but
obviously bringing experience and knowledge.
I
understand the fact that you cannot have a panel with every aspect
represented, but what you can have, Mr. Speaker, is a panel that provides a
process for everyone every one of these groups, everybody who has an
opinion to make sure they share that, share their research, and share their
facts with the panel. The panel
will do their due diligence with that work and provide a report back to
government.
We
will make it public. Eventually,
Mr. Speaker, government will make a decision with respect to fracking.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, the minister
knows that this panel is not representative of the Province and it does not
include
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. member has time
for a quick question.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, I ask the
minister: Will he instruct the reconstituted panel to include a health
impact assessment of fracking for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources has time for a quick reply.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, the panel
was put in place because of the current concern for the health and safety of
people of the Province. That has
been clear. It has been clear to
the panel. As I have said
before, it is independent. As
minister, I am not going to intervene with the work of the panel.
The decision on fracking has not been made.
This government has not decided we are going to frack or not frack.
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.
Tabling of
Documents
MR. SPEAKER:
In accordance with
section 19(5)(a) of the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and
Administration Act, I hereby table the minutes of the House of Assembly
Management Commission meetings held on February 24 and March 5, 2015.
Also, pursuant to section 8 and section 10 of the Public Tender Act, I
hereby table a report of Public Tender Act exceptions for the month of March
2015, as presented by the Chief Operating Officer of the Government
Purchasing Agency.
Further tabling of documents?
Notices of Motion.
Notices of Motion
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Port au Port.
MR. CORNECT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
give notice that I will move, seconded by the hon. Member for Baie Verte
Springdale, the following private member's resolution:
BE
IT RESOLVED that this hon. House condemns and seeks the immediate reversal
of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans decision to divide the
172.8 ton increase in the halibut quota equally among eight groups, instead
of respecting this Province's traditional share of 29.1 per cent a
decision that will reduce the additional share available to Newfoundland and
Labrador from fifty tons to about twenty-one tons.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government
House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
give notice that the motion just put forward by the hon. member will be the
private member's motion debated this coming Wednesday.
MR. SPEAKER:
Answers to Question for
which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
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 to provide financial
assistance to those most seriously injured as a result of said collisions.
As
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, I had the privilege over in Whitbourne on Thursday night to attend
a SOPAC meeting. I have to say
that group of people are wonderful people to bring the issue of moose
accidents to the forefront. I
would just like to say that the past president, they were all very good
and we have a new president of that organization, Mr. Brent Cole, and I
would like to congratulate him.
The
SOPAC group are not asking for anything out of the way here.
We went with the moose detectors.
They did not seem to work.
That cost us $1.4 million from what I can understand; anyway, it
did not work. There is a lot of
information out there within the department where those moose actually come
out to. If the government would
even consider making an approach to it or making a start at it to identify
the areas where the moose do a lot of crossing, to make a start on some
fencing.
These people are not asking you to go right across Newfoundland and Labrador
with fencing; these people are asking you to look at the circumstance of
where the accidents actually take place and to make a start on it, Mr.
Speaker. So if you took it and
you made a process on it and you made a start on it, then we can continue on
each year. These people are not
asking for anything and at all points in time, they have the best interest
of the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador at hand.
So, that is what these people are looking for, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To
the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the community of Northern Bay is a significant tourist attraction in
the District of Trinity Bay de Verde; and
WHEREAS the site of a commercial building was destroyed by fire several
years ago; and
WHEREAS the remains of this fire still exist along Route 70 in Northern Bay;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to
ensure the necessary cleanup occurs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. CROCKER:
As in duty bound, your
petitioners will ever pray.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to stand this afternoon on
behalf the people of the District of Trinity Bay de Verde.
A number of years ago a fire destroyed a commercial building located
directly across from the entrance to Northern Bay Sands.
For those in the House who do not know, Northern Bay Sands is
probably one of the largest tourism attractions in the District of Trinity
Bay de Verde, with tens of thousands of visitors every summer.
This
past Saturday, I had the opportunity to spend most of the day on the North
Shore involved in a community cleanup organized by Stella Johnson from
Northern Bay. While we were
there we took some time to look at the site of the former commercial
building. Just last week, I had
the opportunity to speak to the minister about this building and he assured
me he would have his officials go and take a serious look at it.
This
fire happened, I think, it was three years ago and the remnants of the fire
still stay there today. It has
even gotten to a situation where what is starting to happen now is people
are using it for a waste disposal site.
They are bringing in other garbage and leaving it on the site of this
former commercial building.
Mr.
Speaker, I call upon the government and I ask the minister to please, as
soon as possible, go to Northern Bay, look at this situation, and take the
necessary steps that are required to clean this up.
Not only is it an eyesore, it is a safety concern with large metal
objects, sharp objects, and so forth.
Also, there are environmental issues.
It is surrounded by running water.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister to immediately have a look at this
facility.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the
undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS Route 510 from L'Anse au Clair to Red Bay is in
deplorable condition and requires immediate upgrading; and
WHEREAS the condition of the highway is causing undue
damage to vehicles using the highway and is a safety hazard for the
travelling public; and
WHEREAS both residential and commercial traffic has
increased dramatically with the opening of the Trans-Labrador Highway and
increased development in Labrador; and
WHEREAS cold patching is no longer adequate as a means
of repair;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray
SOME HON.
MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS DEMPSTER:
and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador
SOME HON.
MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I ask members for their co-operation.
MS DEMPSTER:
to immediately allocate resources to Route 510 from L'Anse au Clair to Red
Bay that allows for permanent resurfacing of the highway.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
This is not a new petition, and the problems still
persist. I was thinking as I
drove over it again this past weekend and I am zigzagging out around and I
am jamming the brake, very dangerous, big jagged potholes, many, many times
I have talked about the people who have to drive over this pavement that is
almost forty years old,
that is extremely dilapidated, that to my knowledge is not even on the radar
yet to be resurfaced.
I
have talked about the school children who have to be bused over this, the
ambulance people; but, as I was standing to speak, I thought of something
else. They are not residents,
but they are very important people in our Province; their Honours are coming
to the district and I am going to be hosting them in the district for
several events this weekend. On
Thursday and on Friday the Lieutenant Governor and his wife are going to
drive on this road, Mr. Speaker.
It really concerns me for their safety.
They are driving over a road they are not used to.
It is absolutely atrocious.
Maybe if I start on Monday, maybe by Wednesday we can get another few bags
or a tractor trailer load of cold patch down just for some interim
life-saving measures there, Mr. Speaker.
It is really is that bad; I am not exaggerating.
The road is atrocious.
This past week was the first time I have driven over it in weeks that I have
not lost a tire.
Mr.
Speaker, I know that there are three projects that are ongoing right now in
Labrador the infamous eleven kilometres after the bungle from Humber
Valley Paving is still not done; that is being finished.
I know there is some pavement on the Goose Bay north end and there is
widening and upgrading north of Lodge Bay; but this road has to be
addressed, it has to be factored in, it is a danger to the travelling
public, to the residents who live there.
We are coming into tourist season and we are going to have people
driving and towing motorhomes.
Mr.
Speaker, I am fearful to say it, but it is a matter of time and lives are
going to be lost on Route 510.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Conception Bay South.
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
have a petition for brush clearing on the Manuels Access Road.
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 Route 2 on the Conception Bay South Bypass Road is the second
busiest highway in the Province; and
WHEREAS we must ensure the safety of the residents who use the access road,
especially when driving at night; and
WHEREAS brush clearing can reduce the risk to drivers from the local moose
population;
We,
the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to
allocate funding to include brush clearing for the Manuels Access Road.
Mr.
Speaker, this is a petition that I have brought forward on several
occasions. As I said, this is
the second busiest highway in the Province, some 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles a
day. We have been looking for
brush clearing here for some time. Our
last response from the Minister of Transportation and Works is that yes, in
the next batch of tenders, there may be brush clearing for this section of
highway.
Mr.
Speaker, the last batch of tenders as I have mentioned here before, there
we nine projects all nine went to government districts.
I
will just give you an example.
When you leave the Manuels Arterial Road and take Pitts Memorial Drive down
towards St. John's, we have the District of Kilbride on our right, the
District of Paradise on our left, and the first thing we see is that brush
is cleared from the median going down to the highway.
Then brush is cleared to prevent moose coming off the Glencrest
development. Then as we go
further towards town, brush is cleared to keep moose from coming out of the
backyards of Southlands. We turn
around and come back, we pass Admiralty Woods and brush clearing is done on
the backyards of Admiralty Woods to keep the moose from coming out of the
backyards of those houses.
Mr.
Speaker, as we get up into Ruth Avenue, the brush is cleared in the median
in Ruth Avenue, to keep the moose from coming off the parking lot of Bigs
they hang out there at Bigs all the time.
As we come further towards Conception Bay South
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. HILLIER:
brush is cleared to
keep moose from coming out of Donovans Industrial Park.
It is time for us to get some brush clearing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
There are many private conversations going on.
The Speaker is having trouble hearing the person recognized to speak.
I would ask again for all members for their co-operation, please.
The
hon. the Member for Conception Bay South, to continue.
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I
was saying, we are taking a trip from downtown and working our way back
towards Conception Bay South, and following where the brush has been cut.
The last area I mentioned was Donovans Industrial Park, Mr. Speaker.
With all the moose coming out of Donovans Industrial Park it is a
danger coming along the highway, and I ask that government give us the same
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I
remind the member his speaking time has expired.
The
hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
To
the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Strait of Belle Isle is a very important transportation link
between Labrador and the Island of Newfoundland; and
WHEREAS both commercial and residential traffic is continuously increasing
because of the opening of the Trans-Labrador Highway, and increased
developments in Labrador; and
WHEREAS the existing ferry service can no longer effectively handle the
traffic; and
WHEREAS there have been many interruptions in the ferry service, especially
during the 2014 winter season;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to
complete a comprehensive feasibility study for a fixed link across the
Strait of Belle Isle that would include a geological assessment and a full
cost analysis.
As
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, any society that has ever developed and thrived has been developed
on advanced transportation links.
If we look at what is happening and what Quebec is doing, they are
investing in Route 138. There
are hundreds of millions of dollars in the Plan Nord under a Liberal
government in Quebec that is looking at moving transportation north.
No matter what happens, transportation will flow north.
So we have an opportunity to act and create a great circle route.
The
petitioners here are asking for government to take on and conduct a
comprehensive feasibility study to look at what the geology is like and a
full cost analysis. What we had
was a pre-feasibility study that is not as comprehensive in terms of
information.
If
we look at the opportunity that exists, we look at in St. Anthony there is
international shipping.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. MITCHELMORE:
If you talk about
being able to come in through Labrador, go across the Strait of Belle Isle
in a fixed link and come down the Great Northern Peninsula, you could go to
St. John's and you could end up going out through Argentia, or you could
come right down the West Coast and go through Port aux Basques and make that
great circle route, how transportation can flow effectively.
Just like how government is saying this is how electricity is going
to flow, we have to make sure that goods and services and flow of people can
also be moved in a similar way.
This
is why we really do need I have been speaking up for having Newfoundland
and Labrador connected by a fixed link for quite some time.
I certainly support it.
Government does not know how much it is going to cost because government is
not willing to even do a feasibility study; yet, it will do feasibility
studies and cost analysis for a number of other projects they have put
forward.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. MITCHELMORE:
So they do not have
the interest, Mr. Speaker, on that side of the House to look at advancing
transportation networks in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Quebec government certainly does.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Orders of the Day.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government
House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
would like to call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, that the House approves
in general the budgetary policy of the government, the Budget Speech.
MR. SPEAKER:
We are continuing debate
on the Budget Speech, the amendment.
I
recognize the hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I am
very pleased to have the opportunity to once again speak to the Budget; a
Budget that we have been dealing with here in the House now for a number of
days; a Budget which causes great concern to us and to people in the
Province; a Budget which this government is bringing in and has brought in
and we are debating, which is making the people of the Province pay for
their errors, making the people of the Province pay for the situation we are
in, in this Province with regard to our fiscal situation, making the people
of the Province pay for their poor planning.
That is what this Budget it all about, Mr. Speaker.
The
$1 billion deficit is a deficit on the backs of the people because this
government spent the last year since 2003, this party has been in
government. They have been here
for something that has never happened in our Province before.
They are here because they themselves took the money that has been
earned by the workers of this Province, the money that has been earned in
the offshore, the money that has come in, and they spent it without any
planning.
That
is the problem, Mr. Speaker, they spent it without any planning, no planning
for the future. Knowing they are
dealing with a resource that we have no control over in terms of the money
it brings in, knowing the oil that comes from our offshore is something that
is part of a whole global system, and they and we or nobody else has control
over how much money that is going to bring in; yet, spent it since 2003.
Yes, it did some wonderful things.
I am not going to deny we needed a lot of work done.
We
never had this money before but it still should have been spent with
planning for the future, knowing that at any moment with the fluctuating
prices for the price of oil, that we could be in the situation we are in.
It was not a surprise to anybody else, yet they behave as if: Oh, my
goodness, look at what happened.
All of a sudden the price of oil dropped.
Well, that is what happens to the price of oil.
Yes, it will go back up again and then it will drop again.
We
have a Budget they are calling
Balancing Choices for a Promising Future.
Well, I have read this Budget.
I have read so much of the Budget, the Budget Speech itself.
I read the Speech from the Throne, that happened before the Budget.
I have read the documentation that goes with it.
We have started the Estimates.
I
would like to know what the promising future is that the government is
talking about and I would like to know what the balanced choices are,
because it seems to me the balance is against the people of the Province,
Mr. Speaker. This is what really
disturbs me. The balance is
against the people of the Province.
I
would like to talk about some of the things that are in the Budget and how I
see them affecting people in this Province and how I see them affecting
people in my District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, Mr. Speaker.
In
one of their documents, one of the Budget papers is called Investing in
Health and Wellness. The
government talks about, Recognizing the importance of ensuring there is
sufficient capacity to meet a growing need for long-term care, Budget 2015
provides approximately $700 million in long-term care and community support
services, including home support and personal care homes.
They
then go on and talk about all the ways in which they are going to spend that
$700 million, but because the government has not put plans in place, because
they have not done careful mapping out of the needs and put a whole program
of long-term care and home care in place, their Budget is hit and miss.
Let me talk about some of the misses, Mr. Speaker.
They do not like to hear about the misses but the misses are there.
Let's talk about a couple in my District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi where
the man of that couple is in poor health.
He himself has a bad heart condition.
He underwent surgery for that heart condition and he requires home
care. What happens is his wife
gets ill. She goes into
hospital. She goes through her
treatments in hospital and she is told she can go home.
She said, well, I cannot go home, I need help.
I have to be taken care of.
Well, you have a partner, you have a husband,.
Yes, but my husband requires home care himself and he has his come
care. He cannot take care of me.
So,
she sits in a bed in the hospital for two to three months trying to get this
sorted out. She is being told,
well, if you are not going to go home you have to go into a long-term care
facility. She said, but if I can
manage at home with home care, why can't I get home care?
She was told, well, your husband has home care.
Mr.
Speaker, that is a miss, and that is a real situation.
That family did not give up.
Eventually somebody used their head inside of the health care system,
and eventually somebody realized let's get the home care in place.
It did happen. So now
both of those people are at home and they are getting the home care they
need.
Mr.
Speaker, why should they have to go through that kind of situation?
Months of being in torture, months of being unhappy, months of
feeling insecure, months of not being together as a couple.
This is not acceptable.
When government talks about $700 million in long-term care and community
support services, they do not think about planning.
It
is the same way, Mr. Speaker, that we saw today.
We had family members, people outside the House of Assembly today,
and they were protesting. Why
were they protesting? Because
they are the parents of children who are autistic.
What were their signs saying?
Their signs were saying: inclusion, not exclusion.
What did that mean? Those
signs were getting at another example of where this government takes one
step, does not do planning, does not do an analysis, and makes a mess of
things.
When
they started inclusion in the educational system, when they started their
wonderful model of all students at all times being in a classroom together,
called it inclusion, and then did not put the resources in place to make
inclusion work. What one of the
mothers outside today said to me: It is not inclusion, Ms Michael, it is
exclusion. Because when my son
acts up, when my autistic son cannot take anymore, and maybe children are
teasing him or maybe he just cannot take any more in the classroom and he
gets worked up, he is the one who gets sent home and the rest stay in the
classroom. So he gets excluded.
I
have a constituent in my district, Mr. Speaker, whose son is autistic.
He is now at home, and has been at home for months.
Apparently, there are hundreds of children in this Province now who
are at home because the schools they are in do not have the resources to
enable those children to be in the classroom.
Instead of something being done to get services for them, they are
now being excluded because the schools do not have the resources to keep
them in the classroom. They are
being excluded now.
These children who are so-called included in the school system, in actual
fact, are worse off than they ever were.
Because before when they were not in the one classroom with all other
students all day long, they actually had people who were working with them.
Now, in order to be in the classroom and nobody is saying they
should not be there.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
The parents are not
saying it either. What they are
saying is, where are the resources to help them be in the classroom?
As
one of the parents said to me today, there are times they have to leave the
classroom. It is not a matter
that it is even good for them to be in that one classroom all the time.
Where is the flexibility with regard to the needs of those children?
I have not one, I have several people in my district who have come to
me about this issue and it is getting more extreme.
This
is another miss. They like to
talk about the wins. I am
putting out there right now the misses, the things that are not working.
Let's look at something else. I
have in my district the new St. John's long-term care facility.
We all know about that facility, a beautiful building.
It is state of the art.
There is absolutely no doubt about that, Mr. Speaker, it is state of the
art.
What
is happening? We have a facility
there where thirty of the beds are still not open.
They have been in that building for months.
Thirty of the beds are still not open.
Those beds are not open because we had inadequate staffing.
Many
of the people from my district are in that building, and I have the families
of those people getting in touch with me.
They are upset about the fact that their loved ones are in that
facility and they are really happy to have their private room and happy to
share a washroom with only one person.
There are all kinds of things about it that are good.
It is wonderful having that building, but we have a government that
once again did not do any planning.
They did not plan for what the real needs were going to be in that
building.
I
have spoken already in this House, and I have asked questions in this House
with regard to the staffing levels of the long-term care facility.
We know and the government knows, and Eastern Health knows
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):
Order, please!
There are significant conversations on both sides of the House.
I ask hon. members if they could respect the speaker and either take
their conversations to corners of the House or outside.
Thank you very much.
The
hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I
appreciate your intervention there.
As I
was saying, we have a long-term care facility that does not have enough
staff in it to take care of the needs of the people, and Eastern Health is
recognizing that.
It
is really interesting, Mr. Speaker, they have been having over there
regularly, and this is a good thing, regular meetings called family council
meetings. They have the family
council meeting once a month.
One month it is in the east wing, and one month it is in the west wing.
They have to do that of course because there are so many people there
that even to try to have one meeting covering both wings at the same time
would make it difficult for people attending.
So they go back and forth.
One month after the other, they have these family council meetings.
At
the February meeting, Mr. Speaker and I understand this also happened at
the March meeting, but at the February meeting, I have the minutes here in
my hand the families raised concerns about what was happening at the
long-term care facility. They
raised concerns about understaffing.
They raised concerns with regard to high nursing absenteeism since
the move from Hoyles Escasoni over to the new facility.
They have raised concerns about continuity of care.
In other words, in one night or one day even they may see one nurse
on duty and the next day that nurse is not there, it is somebody different.
The same way with an LPN, the same way with personal care workers,
they do not have continuity.
Another issue that has been raised by them is lack of physiotherapy.
Another issue raised by the family is lack of recreational
programming. These are very
serious concerns, Mr. Speaker. I
have to say at least the minutes reflect that the staff gave the reasons for
their concerns. They said your
concerns are valid and the reasons they give are very disturbing.
They told them the truth.
They told them that, yes, we have a whole unit that is not open.
We recognize this is a problem.
We have concern for the families.
Our recruitment team is doing extensive recruitment and we are
starting to see successes, but it is a mess over there.
Here
you have the families at least were not nobody tried to deny it, they gave
them the reason, but it is a sign of the lack of planning, Mr. Speaker.
The same way with the continuity of not the continuity, that too,
but the one I wanted to look at, the families raised the issue of the lack
of physiotherapy. They were told
by the staff that there was a vacant physiotherapy position at the new site
since October of 2014. It had
been recruited for several times with no success and they were told that one
was coming. It is solved, one is
coming. Still months away, but
it was coming.
The
other thing that they raised, Mr. Speaker, was the lack of recreational
programming. Again, nobody
denied it. Everybody recognized
there is a lack of recreational programming.
They were told that the therapeutic recreation department has not had
a full complement of employees since moving to the new home and have been
down by three to four employees.
Mr. Speaker, this is not good enough.
I
have also had a letter from one of my constituents whose mother is in the
home. What she has described,
others have described to me as well.
She has put it in writing, a long letter, about a seven-page long
letter describing how her mother cannot get out of bed, she is alone in her
room, and this daughter does go in as often as she can every day.
The things that she discovers, sometimes 3:00 in the afternoon her
mother still has not been seen for her personal needs; a tray laid down for
her and nobody coming back to help her eat it; not having had her bath yet
at 3:00 in the afternoon not the fault of the workers, Mr. Speaker, and
this is what I want to make clear; it is because there are not enough staff
in the facility. That is the
reason for this reality.
This
woman, because of the lack of recreational facilities, she is not getting
the kind of recreational outside of her room that would stimulate her, so
she is very unhappy.
The
things that are going on and it is not the staff.
It is the understaffing that is the issue; understaffing not just
with regard to LPNs, understaffing not just with regard to nurses, but
understaffing also in the specialized areas the specialized areas, as I
just named, physiotherapy and recreational programming, just to name two.
The minutes of the meeting, the family says, that the manager of the
therapeutic recreation department is currently conducting a review of
service delivery to the facility.
Group exercise is a program on units presently, so they do get to
have fun and fitness. It is
called group exercise.
No
individual attention to the needs, no individual attention to somebody, for
example, who needs help getting out of bed.
You have people who are in bed and if they were able to be out
around, maybe in a wheelchair, they would be happy to do it, but not enough
of them are getting the opportunities to do that.
Mr.
Speaker, this is the legacy of this government so far.
Having been in power for twelve years, their legacy is a legacy of
half measures, not doing long-term planning, not recognizing that you have
to have a strategy has many phases to it and pieces fit together.
You just cannot put a piece in here, a piece over there, and a piece
somewhere else. You cannot say
we have a program to help families who want to take care of their own person
who needs long-term care and we will pay them, we will give them some money,
and, on the other hand, tell a person whose husband has home care and she is
in hospital you can go on home because your husband has home care.
She required home care herself.
They
are not putting all the pieces together.
They do not do planning.
They do not look at the long term.
They do not put in place all the pieces that are needed.
Inclusion we have heard about inclusion in school.
Oh, that sounds like a great idea, but who bothered to look at the
fact what did that mean. What did it mean in terms of resourcing?
What did it mean in terms of the needs, not just of the children who
had special needs, but what did it mean for the needs of the children who
are in the classroom, who want to be there with their fellow students who
have special needs, but also they too need to learn?
So what does it mean?
What does inclusion really mean?
What
we demand of this government is some real planning, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I
remind the hon. member her time has expired.
MS MICHAEL:
Yes, my time is up.
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CROCKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
pleased this afternoon to take my second opportunity to speak to
Budget 2015: Balancing Choices for a
Promising Future. Mr.
Speaker, I am first going to start by talking a little bit about my district
and move into my critic's role before I look at some of the information the
government has provided us when it comes to Budget 2015.
It
is always a pleasure to stand here and represent the people from Trinity
Bay de Verde. A district which I
have had the privilege to represent just since November, but it is indeed a
pleasure. Mr. Speaker, always,
in Trinity Bay de Verde, the first thing that comes to mind when you speak
is the fishery. It is by far the
most important industry in our district, with three plants.
One in Winterton, one in Old Perlican, and one in Bay de Verde doing
shellfish, and another plant in Old Perlican involved in the groundfish
industry. The groundfish
industry is one that we need to be prepared for.
As the groundfish stocks replenish, we have to ensure that we are
ready for that stock and ready to market that stock.
I
hear from the critic on our side for Fisheries all the time talking about
the failure of the government.
It has been a constant failure of this government to market and to plan.
We have not planned for the return of the cod fish.
We are going to pay for that when it does return in our waters.
The
other industry that is developing in Trinity Bay de Verde is tourism.
I can remember back maybe ten to fifteen years ago where it would be
very hard at that point to find accommodations in Trinity Bay de Verde.
Mr. Speaker, we have some world-class facilities, world-class
accommodations now in that district and some amazing infrastructure and
tourism attractions.
I
spoke to a petition earlier this afternoon that had to deal with one of
those locations, and I will just go back to it for a minute.
It is about the abandoned building in Northern Bay that burned down
about four years ago, and it is directly across from the entrance to
Northern Bay Sands. I am pretty
sure everybody in this House, if they have not visited Northern Bay Sands,
they are familiar with Northern Bay Sands.
I do call upon the government again and the Minister of Environment
to ensure that this cleanup takes place sooner rather than later.
We
also have Salmon Cove Sands in our district.
That is probably the two most prominent beaches.
We have Baccalieu Island, we have Bay de Verde heritage house, Old
Perlican heritage house. Mr.
Speaker, I am going to miss somebody if I start naming things.
We
also have Pitcher's Pond golf course in Whiteway, which is a lovely
nine-hole course. Anybody who
has played it will quickly understand that Pitcher's Pond is probably one of
the hardest nine-hole golf courses you will find anywhere.
I see the member
MR. K. PARSONS:
I played it twice
last weekend.
MR. CROCKER:
The Member for Cape St.
Francis played it twice last weekend.
So thank you for spending some of your money in Trinity Bay de
Verde, Sir. It is probably one
of the hardest nine-hole golf courses you will find anywhere.
There is no forgiveness, to anybody who understands golf.
Mr.
Speaker, that is a little bit about the tourism industry in Trinity Bay de
Verde, but there is one thing that comes out of Budget 2015 when it comes to
tourism and Trinity Bay de Verde that is a little concerning.
Mr. Speaker, 2016 will mark the 150 anniversary of the successful
landing of the transatlantic cable in Heart's Content.
In last year's Budget, the government did allocate some money for
some improvements to the museum.
Even today, those improvements to the museum are taking place and I thank
the government for that, and the people involved in the 150 celebrations in
Heart's Content would certainly thank the government as well.
The
troubling thing coming out of Budget 2015-2016, Mr. Speaker, is there is no
special line allocation for the celebration of the 150 anniversary of the
landing of the transatlantic cable.
Again, I met with this group on Friday in Heart's Content to talk
about the planning and where the planning had come thus far.
They are concerned not seeing a budget line item on funding for the
celebrations in 2016.
Mr.
Speaker, I urge the government and I urge the minister to ensure this
significant anniversary next spring or next summer actually I think July
27 is the day when a lot of the activities are going to take place, that the
government become an active partner in this and ensure the proper funding
for the celebration of the 150 anniversary of the successful landing of the
transatlantic cable takes place.
Mr.
Speaker, that is a little bit on the district.
I will come back to the district again when I get my next opportunity
to speak to Budget 2015. I am
just going to take a minute now and go into my critic role.
I am the critic responsible for business and rural development in the
Province. We have had some
exchanges here in the House with the minister over the past few months about
some of the activities around the Business Investment Corporation.
The
minister likes to point out the history of the loans.
He stood in the House, I guess two weeks ago, and said how 97 per
cent of the loans the department had written off were loans from previous
Liberal Administrations. The
minister did not really look at those numbers too closely because he would
have found that the number is not 97 per cent, it is substantially lower.
When
you talk about the loans of previous Administrations, you are talking about
the significance of the Fisheries Loan Board, Mr. Speaker.
The vast majority of the loans that have been written off over the
last ten years by this government were Fisheries Loan Board loans that date
back as far as 1968. We look at
comments made here of loans from past Administrations, but I was not even
born when some of these loans were lent.
Mr.
Speaker, when we look back at that, some of the information is not totally
clear to the people at home.
Some clearer information, we go back to the 2013-2014 annual report of the
Business Investment Corporation.
The financial statements for the Business Investment Corporation show loans
and equity in 2013-2014 of $36.3 million and a decline in value of $26
million. That is a decline of 73
per cent.
It
makes you wonder sometimes, Mr. Speaker, as somebody who comes from a small
business background what government is doing in some cases when it comes to
protecting taxpayers' money. On
March 31, 227 of the loans from the Business Investment Corporation of a
portfolio I think somewhere in the 550 loan portfolio were past due by
ninety days.
We
have to look no further than other jurisdictions in the country.
If we look at Nova Scotia and their Department of Business and Rural
Development as an example of how they handle taxpayers' money when lending
it for business development. In
Nova Scotia, it is an arm's-length organization very similar to what we have
here in the Province in our Research and Development Corporation that lends
money to businesses.
One
thing you will not find at an announcement or a ribbon cutting in Nova
Scotia when it comes to taxpayers' money, from the Department of Business,
is a Cabinet minister. In Nova
Scotia, the government removes themselves from business investment.
It is no different than we do somewhat with our Research and
Development Corporation, but in Nova Scotia, the government removes
themselves from the day to day lending.
I
think as we go forward, Mr. Speaker, it is something we should look at as a
Province when it comes to lending to small business.
I absolutely support government playing a role in business and
lending to businesses. There are
many, many success stories from this Administration, and from
Administrations past, of businesses that have been successful with the help
of government. I certainly
support government's role in helping with business development.
Mr.
Speaker, I am going to move away from there again a little bit now and talk
about government's plans and hopefully I will have enough time to get into
the eight pillars of this year's Budget.
First, I am going to look, Mr. Speaker, back three-and-a-half years ago at a
blueprint from this government in the 2011 election campaign.
I will just read some of the stuff I found in there that I thought
was interesting to point out to the people and just remind them of some of
the promises the government made just three-and-a-half-short years ago.
They
start off on page 3 talking about a reasonable approach to debt management.
Well, they have managed to get the debt from twelve years ago at $9
billion to what will be, if you look at the pillars of the new five-year
plan, to over $14.7 billion in five years' time.
So, they have managed one thing they have done on debt management
is they have managed to increase it.
Page
4, Population Growth Strategy. I
hear the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair get up day after day and
talk about the Population Growth Strategy, or lack thereof.
That strategy has been a strategy that has seen our population
decline, Mr. Speaker, since we had this last blueprint.
They
brag about, on page 5, the Residential Energy Tax Rebate.
So three-and-a-half years ago they took some time to talk about it,
but, obviously, in Budget 2015 the residential tax rebate was eliminated.
Focusing on Teachers well, they focused on 77.5 teaching units this year
and here in the House last week were not able to give us a clear answer on
how many actual teachers will not have a job to return to in September, so
there is a focus on teachers.
Post-secondary, tuition freeze: Another commitment that the government has
always stood on its feet and talked wonderfully about tuition freezes year
after year after year, but this year the minister stood on his feet and said
well, hold on, we are hands off on the tuition freeze; that is a decision
for Memorial. In the 2011 Blue
Book it was something we could certainly talk about, but now it is a
decision for Memorial.
Student Housing: The 2011 Blueprint talks about student housing.
One of the increases in this Budget which concerns me as an MHA that
represents rural Newfoundland is increase to housing and the cost of student
housing, because it is the students from my district and from the vast
majority of the districts of members on this side of the House who avail of
student housing. So again, it is
the rural student who is going to pay for this increase in housing cost.
Then
there is another interesting section, section nine in the Blue Book, it is
called Labrador. They talk about
the Trans-Labrador Highway, a highway that has pretty much gone nowhere
since the Humber Valley Paving debacle.
We got set back and as I think the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au
Clair today had a petition talking about the deplorable conditions of the
road and we hear it day in and day out.
As a link this past winter, the ferry was stuck for days and days on
end that the people of Labrador could not get across or we could not get
back over and the movement of goods is severely hindered.
It
is interesting while I am on Labrador for a second, I will just go off a
little bit from the blueprint.
Back in the early winter, I had the opportunity to spend the day at the
Northern Expo here in St. John's and there were interesting conversations
with small business owners from the coast of Labrador talking about the lack
of purchasing or local support that they were receiving from Muskrat Falls,
the development. We are not
buying local when it comes to Muskrat Falls, Mr. Speaker.
We have wholesalers here in the Province who were shipping, I think
up until that point in February it was nine pallets for this year in.
In one day alone, they counted fifty tractor trailer loads coming in
from the Quebec side.
The
government talks about a moose management strategy.
It is an interesting strategy.
In two petitions here in the House of Assembly this afternoon it
talked about a moose management or a lack thereof strategy.
The Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace referenced so the SOPAC AGM
he attended last week. Like he
said this afternoon, I think to quote his number it was $1.4 million they
spent on the monitoring system.
Everybody in this Legislature had some opportunity in the past five or six
years to drive in over the highway and look at the flashing light signs.
The ironic thing is on the bottom there was out of order.
They were out of order.
The out of order signs actually became permanent.
They were permanent.
There was a permanent out of order sign.
Usually out of order is just like a sticker.
These
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. CROCKER:
Yes.
AN HON. MEMBER:
They are still
working out in Gander (inaudible).
MR. CROCKER:
On the West Coast they
are still yes. So it was a
permanent out of order sign. It
was quite interesting.
The
government talks about its ferry strategy.
We see where a ferry strategy for Labrador has gone, Mr. Speaker.
It has gone back to the drawing board.
This
is another interesting one. This
one, Mr. Speaker, really hits home for me in my district and I know other
rural districts. Digital and
Cellular Telephone Services: We will work with service providers to develop
a plan to expand digital and cellular telephone access to more regions of
the province. That was in 2011
that statement was made.
We
looked at an ATIPP request back again, I think in March, and it showed that
government has not been talking to anybody when it comes to cellphones.
They say it is a federal responsibility.
We agree. We recognize
the fact this is a federal responsibility, but it is a provincial
responsibility for government to advocate on behalf of the people.
We should be at the table telling the federal government that we need
a strategy and we need adequate cellphone coverage in our Province.
Mr.
Speaker, they also go back in 2011 and talk about the need for
re-establishing a fisheries loan board.
There has been no action.
That is gone, and I do not profess to know as much as the Member for
Carbonear Harbour Grace when it comes to the fisheries, but the FTNOP I
believe has been somewhat of a dismal failure to say the least.
I
spoke earlier on about tourism and the value of tourism in my district and
throughout the Province. One of
the things they talked about three-and-a-half years ago in tourism is
signage and a strategy for uniformity in signage.
I believe three years ago, they went out and removed a lot of signs
and there was a strategy. In
three years' time, we were going to have finger boards.
I think that has failed.
The
next one and I am getting towards the end of the blueprint.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Where is all of this
coming from?
MR. CROCKER:
This is the Tory
blueprint from 2011.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CROCKER:
These are not my notes.
Page
56, Respecting Our Seniors this is a very interesting one.
I sat in this House three weeks ago, I think, when the Member for
Conception Bay South entered a private member's resolution on one Wednesday
calling for the establishment of a seniors' advocate.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) supported
that.
MR. CROCKER:
No, unfortunately they
never. One member from the
government actually got up and said seniors had enough.
MR. REID:
(Inaudible).
MR. CROCKER:
Exactly, I say to the
Member for St. George's.
Just
last week, after so much pressure coming from our side of the House and from
the Member for Burgeo La Poile talking about it, government has at least
now reinstated that a senior, not only a senior, but people in our Province
can actually not only get a half a set of dentures now.
So after pressure from the Member for Burgeo La Poile in Estimates
and in other places
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CROCKER:
the respect for our
seniors came back a little bit.
So now seniors who require dentures can at least get a full set.
Mr.
Speaker, another thing they talk about is Care At Home.
I think that was the family caregiver program.
The family caregiver program has been non-existence from what I have
heard. I have not heard tell of
anybody getting up and championing the family caregiver program in any
recent time.
Policing and corrections, Her Majesty's Penitentiary well, we know what
happened to Her Majesty's Penitentiary and we know what happened to the
courthouse announcement. The
government went late last fall and announced a new courthouse for downtown.
No doubt we need one, but there was never anything done with it.
There was never a plan.
It was an announcement. It was
never a plan to replace the courthouse; it was an announcement.
How many announcements have we had to replace Her Majesty's
Penitentiary? It is just
announcement, after announcement, after announcement.
AN HON. MEMBER:
The Waterford.
MR. CROCKER:
The Waterford Hospital,
the same thing. The Corner Brook
hospital we all know $40 million for the Corner Brook hospital to date,
with $9 million this year for the Corner Brook hospital.
Well, I can assure you that will not go very far.
Mr.
Speaker, my time is running out and I wish I had some more if someone
could give me some leave because I only got through the Blue Book and I
wanted to go in and talk about some points of what the Liberal Party has
said we would do as a government, so I will save that for my next speech.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I
do each and every time I stand on my feet in this House, I would like to say
again thank you very much to the people of the great District of Lake
Melville. From Sheshatshiu in
North West River up to Goose Bay into Mud Lake and into Churchill Falls, the
people have always been there to stand by me.
It is an honour and a privilege to represent them in this House and
in the daily activities of government, and it is an honour and a privilege
to get into the district each and every time that I possibly can.
Mr.
Speaker, I am going to start my commentary today again with just a little of
discussion about the district itself and some of the things that have been
happening. Last weekend not
this weekend past but the weekend before that I was in the great community
of Churchill Falls at Eric G. Lambert High School and we had the high school
graduation there. Nobody puts
off an intimate affair like the people in Churchill Falls.
I get to say that, Mr. Speaker.
It is a company town.
What they have is a very small number of grads and everybody takes part, but
they had a wonderful ceremony, a wonderful plan for the safe grad.
Everybody participated there.
I
just want to say for my fourth grad in a row at Churchill Falls, it was a
wonderful, wonderful experience put off with all the class and all the love
and support for those students that you would expect from the people of
Churchill Falls.
Mr.
Speaker, I just want to say one other note about that graduation ceremony in
Churchill Falls, Mark Critch the famous comedian, born Newfoundland and
Labrador responded to a student's request to be the guest speaker at the
Churchill Falls graduation. You
can imagine that now in very isolated central Labrador you have Mark Critch
coming in to address the dozen or so graduates.
It was wonderful, Mr. Speaker.
Even then in that speech by Mr. Mark Critch he talked about our
tourism ads, the Davis government, and a few of the things that we are
doing. I also got roasted a
little, which was my pleasure to be done by such a famous Newfoundlander and
Labradorian as well.
To
the kids of Churchill Falls, congratulations to them and all the best wishes
in the world. We hope the very
best for them in their continuing education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
With that, Mr. Speaker, I
will move on to the grad that happened in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this past
weekend at Mealy Mountain Collegiate: eighty-five grads.
In stark contrast to the small intimate session that you have with
Churchill Falls, in Happy Valley- Goose Bay, eighty-five grads a very big
affair, if you will. It is very
hard to get that many kids organized and all that.
I
just have to say, just the way it was handled, the professionalism of all
the teachers, the wonderful things that the students had to say about the
teachers and vice-versa, the same as every other school in this wonderful
Province, Mr. Speaker. Even with
the teachers who jumped up for big flash mob in tribute to the kids, it was
a wonderful affair.
I
will say my own daughter, Alicia, graduated amongst that eighty-five.
I love her very much and wish her all the best but congratulations
to every grad as well. They had
a wonderful evening, a very well-planned-out safe grad with very, very high
attendance, I will say. I will
commend every committee, whether you are organizing the proms, the grads,
the safe grads, all that stuff, it takes a lot to get stuff like that done;
and time and time again we see people come out, give of their time, and
companies, of course, around the various communities always throw in there
to make sure things happen too.
That is certainly the situation with Nalcor in Churchill Falls, as well as
the business community around Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
So,
with that, I just want to touch briefly on another project that has been
happening in Lake Melville. We
have a woods project between the Minister of Natural Resources and Labrador
and Aboriginal Affairs. I will
say, Mr. Speaker, what we did was give a little tribute to the low income
and the seniors in the District of Lake Melville by coming together with the
two departments and putting a substantial amount of wood Muskrat Falls
wood, I will add, cut from the transmission lines to put that in the
communities of North West River and in Happy Valley-Goose Bay as well for
seniors and low income.
In
the community of Sheshatshiu we have put a substantial amount of saw logs
there to continue on with our sawyer training that we are having in that
community as well. So I just
want to say thank you to the minister for supporting our community.
Thank you to all the people in Nalcor who worked together to make
that happen so we can have a little bit easier access as a tribute to the
people who have paved the way for us our seniors, our elders in those
communities. We are very
appreciative of that.
I
will say in commentary to the program, too, the wood was put there for
everyone. I just want to
reiterate to the people out there who might catch wind about this or hear
they might hear about the project, they might be availing of the project,
taking a little bit of wood, but the bottom line here, the intent was for
low-income people and seniors.
So, we do not mind everybody going in there and grabbing a stick of wood or
two, if the need is there, but we would like to make sure that the community
puts it up to each and every one of us to make sure that we know who that
wood is there for, and if you do see people who are perhaps maybe taking
advantage of it, please just have a word with them, let them know what the
intent was just to reaffirm why that wood was put there, Mr. Speaker.
So
with that I am just going to talk a little bit more about some issues that I
see with the Nunatsiavut Government and our community freezers; up in
Labrador and we see this across a lot of places in the North as well, even
into Lake Melville, so I will go through Torngat Mountains into Lake
Melville. We have community
freezers, Mr. Speaker. It is
odd, if you look at this year's Budget and you talk about the additional
$320,000 that this year's Budget puts into monitoring the caribou herds up
in Labrador a couple of weeks ago actually I was in Yellowknife and I
talked with the Premier, Peter Taptuna, of Nunavut about the caribou
situation in Nunavut as well. It
is not isolated to Labrador. We
are feeling pressures across the entire North of all the herds.
We are doing a great job of monitoring the herd, Mr. Speaker, through
Environment and Conservation. We
are continuing to put that investment there.
This year's Budget is no different but the trends are the same, very
alarming, and whether we are talking about weather patterns, there are many
different theories out there.
The
elders are talking about predation, they are talking about insects, and they
are talking about permafrost.
There are many decent and different conversations happening depending on the
region you are from, but the result is the same, Mr. Speaker.
I applaud this government's initiative to continually look at those
natural resources such as the caribou herds in Labrador and to keep a focus
on, again, monitoring and the mediation of any type of work activity that
happens in Labrador so we can continue to have a focus on that herd.
With
that, Mr. Speaker, just talking about the Nunatsiavut Government and the
Inuit Community Corporations in my district, specifically right now I am
going to talk about NunaKβtiget, run by Gary Mitchell Gary, a very famous
musician, is always out there playing for charitable events.
God love Gary. Gary runs
the NunaKβtiget community freezers and we have partnered with them through
Advanced Education and Skills this year and the Labrador and Aboriginal
Affairs to make sure that they have extra access to not only a little bit of
farmland to do a little bit of farming for the seniors in our communities,
but also some dollars to purchase some country food, if you will, some fish,
some berries, some things for our elders, very special stuff, Mr. Speaker.
When
people get up in age, and whether they are at the long-term care facility or
they are taking home care workers into their own homes, a taste of the good
life, I will say, where they happen to have a set of experiences and
memories associated with fish that they got on the land or meat that came
from the land, partridges, wild berries, wild meat, fruit, vegetables, all
of that stuff, it is a very, very worthwhile initiative.
I just want to say to Gary in NunaKβtiget you are going an excellent
job there taking care of our seniors in our communities.
Keep up the good work.
Time and time again, I will be there and this government will be there to
support your initiatives. I just
want to say well done to everybody involved, Mr. Speaker.
Moving on now, I see my time ticking away as it always does.
We are sitting here now in the House listening intently to each other
talking across the way. I could
not proceed any more without talking a little bit about some commentary from
the other side.
The
Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi got up.
I was just surprised because what we are getting is usually we get
the venom, Mr. Speaker, we get the negativity, the depression.
I keep using that word depression because it is as if everybody's
sole intent when speaking on that side of the House is to get up here and
make sure people have fear in their hearts.
They do not feel that we need to have pride in ourselves as
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
We
all know there is an election coming eventually here, and we all know the
tactic behind that. The bottom
line here is this, we are resilient people, Mr. Speaker.
We can weather these storms.
I have talked about this bump in the road pricing of oil and all that
stuff. I have talked about that
time and time again because I do not think we are going to fall apart.
We just do not do that.
That is not the way we are built.
It is not the way Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are wired.
We
can push the negativity and, look, that is fine.
The member of the NDP who was up from Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, she
got up and said we did some really wonderful things since this government
took over when you look back as far as 2004.
I was really shocked to hear it.
At the same time she said we have done some wonderful things, but
then we spent and spent and spent with no planning.
To
me, Mr. Speaker, I will just be blunt, if you are going to say that then
that is a slight. That is a slur
against the public service in my opinion.
You cannot simply sit here and put that out to the people out there
in TV land, that one individual in charge of a department if you are in
Cabinet, or the Premier makes all of these calls going ahead.
We
have professional people, we have educated people, dedicated people in the
public service who are there planning time and time again.
Yes, things may change direction from time to time, and due to
finances you might have to scale back on what your intentions are with
certain initiatives as well, but we have good people.
We have dedicated people.
No matter where you are from on this side of the House or the other
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
Look, I would like to
generally think, all politics and game playing aside, Mr. Speaker, that we
are here to do the best for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, no matter
where you live, no matter which community you are from or which district you
are from.
I
will say that about the public service too.
They are there to execute a function and that function is to be
professional. It is to give it
their all in their jobs, their daily work to make sure we do what is best
for the people of the Province, to try to get the most bang for our buck,
and try and touch as many lives with the initiatives that we do, whether you
are talking about having safe roads, you are talking about health care, you
are talking about all those good things.
I
will just remind the member, you can get up and say that we do not plan.
We have heard, I think the word of the day for the Liberals is now
squander squander, squander, squander.
I will tell you what I see.
I see infrastructure, billions and billions, Mr. Speaker.
We have all seen it.
You
do not have to kid people out there.
You do not have to fear monger.
You do not have to tug on their heartstrings and talk about things
like long-term care and personal care and scare people into thinking there
are better days ahead, because we do have some difficult times right now, a
bump in the road. We are going
to get through it. The bottom
line here is this, Mr. Speaker, we have made those investments.
We
have made investments in tax relief to put money back in the pockets of
working people, of everyday working people, cheque-to-cheque people who need
a little bit of a helping hand from time to time.
We have made initiatives.
We have put billions during our Administration into that, Mr. Speaker.
You
talk about tax relief, you talk about infrastructure.
Yes, we have managed to put money against that too, because here is
what you are going to get from the Liberals across the way, Mr. Speaker.
You are going to get the member who spoke from Trinity Bay de
Verde got up, and great. I love
to see people get up here with fire in their belly talking about their
districts, doing those things.
Then he got up and said, well, we need to spend more money on celebrations
and we need to spend more money on tourism.
That is great, but then they are telling you too that we are
borrowing too much. So they are
saying spend but do not borrow.
We
have seen the confusion between the Leader of the Opposition and the Finance
critic. One is saying we are
going to chop the heads off departments and then we are going to borrow.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. RUSSELL:
The other one is saying,
no, we are not going to borrow.
So they do not know what is going on.
We
have all seen the exercise in planning; planning to plan, or a plan to plan
a plan. I do not even know what
that was, but it was met with sharp criticism.
Because what you are seeing, Mr. Speaker, is you are seeing people
without the responsibility to govern.
I imagine it must be a very fun job, because you have no
responsibility. You speak out of
both sides of your mouth. You
can be all things to everybody, Mr. Speaker.
We
heard them talk about things like cellphone coverage and all that, and the
people outside they know this.
When you are dealing with large urban centres and there are markets in there
for cost recovery for companies, it is very easy to get the investment in
those types of districts when you want to expand coverage.
As
you get out into the more rural areas, Mr. Speaker, everybody knows it is
exponential, that graph, that costing model is going to go through the roof,
because when you get out there you need to engage the federal government,
you need to partner with the provincial government.
Everybody needs to subsidize those activities.
I
tell you what you get. You get
the complaints over here. You
get the complaints time and time again, all things to everyone.
So people at home, I say, just remember that.
They
have an opportunity to be all things to everybody because we hear people,
and we hear it in Labrador. We
hear sharp criticism about not having power lines running through all the
small communities, and we know that.
The fact remains is ratepayers have to cover that.
Likewise, a company is going to look to recoup the cost of services
if they were to do expansions in cellphone service out there as well.
When
you talk about roads, Mr. Speaker, you have to have projects.
You have to have as much economic activity in these regions to help
drive that. One project leads to
the next, and you can leverage those different projects against companies to
get cheaper services and products brought in there too, Mr. Speaker.
What
I am saying is all things to everyone, because they are not going to get up.
They are going to criticize us at every turn.
They are going to do it time and time again.
Are they going to get up?
Tell the Leader of the Opposition and the members in his districts,
specifically the ones in Labrador tell him to get up now and commit to a
road connecting every community in the North and South Labrador.
Tell
him to get up right now, Mr. Speaker, and say they are going to put power
lines the first thing they are going to do is lay out the asphalt and then
we are going to put power lines to every single community with full
broadband and cellphone service.
Tell them they are going to do it.
Tell them to stand up and make the commitment now.
MR. A. PARSONS:
A point of order.
MR. SPEAKER:
A point of order, the
hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, on a
point of order.
I
would just like to point out I know I am not supposed to reference it, but
I would like to point out to the Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
that the Leader of the Official Opposition is in Labrador today fighting for
(inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
There is no point of
order.
The
hon. the Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs.
MR. RUSSELL:
Mr. Speaker, look, it is
wonderful
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. RUSSELL:
I tell you what
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. RUSSELL:
There is never a point of
order. You see them stand time
and time again but there is never one.
I
tell you what, when it comes to what is happening in Labrador West, Mr.
Speaker, we will be there to support the workers time and time again.
Advanced Education and Skills, we will be there to support the
workers time and time again. We
will make sure that those families are going to be taken care of.
That is just the way it is.
The
response will be the same as it was for the people of Wabush when they
needed a helping hand too, whether that came in the form of municipal
subsidies, money in the hand of the council and the mayor to do what is
needed.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
Or whether or not it is
about taking people back in, re-educating them, and getting them trained to
go to a different level of work, Mr. Speaker.
It is the same thing.
This all goes back to the same theme.
I
say this to the people at home, the bottom line is this; they are all
talking about the price of oil, the downturn in mining.
They will bring up those points to you, guaranteed, time and time
again. At the same time, they
are complaining about what is happening with this commodity, or what is
happening in this sector, what is happening in this vertical.
They will do that time and time again.
Then they will get up and then they will criticize us about our
planning for Muskrat Falls and Lower Churchill.
They
are telling us we have to watch out, you have to diversify.
Then when it is time to diversify on a magnitude to the level never
experienced by this Province in our history, which is what we have done with
Muskrat Falls, not one of them stood up and voted for that either.
They can talk about everything with one side of their mouth and go to
the other as it is convenient.
They can plan to plan a plan to talk about a plan or do something to that
effect. They can directly
contradict each other along the whole way.
The whole time, I say, Mr. Speaker, fear mongering, trying to keep
people desperate, trying to keep people depressed about where we are headed.
I say, have some pride in our Province.
We
have resilient people. We have
professional people. We have a
school system that is second to none.
We are dedicated to that.
You
have all been out in your districts, just as I have been, to see the bright
and promising young kids we have coming up through the school system.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
A product of our system
who have that twinkle in their eye.
They are ready to get out there and take on university and go to the
next level of education. Do you
know what? Some of them are
going to end up in here as leaders.
Some of them are going to end up in the public service as top-line
professionals, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
Some of them are just
going to blow our minds and go off into athletics and into the arts and into
other different careers across the world and be just another shining example
of products of our environment here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Our
school system, our dedicated teachers, our dedicated level of governance,
which makes sure we keep those focuses where we need to be, which is on our
kids, which is on our seniors, which are on those people who are vulnerable
in our society that need our help from time to time, Mr. Speaker, that is
how we do it over here.
We
are not saying that things are going to be a little bit tough in the short
term. We are not saying that at
all. We are not saying that
everything that was done inside government has been absolutely perfect
because we would be fools to try and say that.
We do not treat the public out there as fools as well.
We
do not expect you to think that everything we are going to do over here is
going to be the Midas touch, but I tell you what we are prepared to do.
We are prepared to look at things.
We are prepared to look at efficiencies.
We are prepared to do what is right by the people of the Province.
That is why we put out not a two or three-year plan, but a five-year
plan to see us back to surplus.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
We are going to lay that
out before the people.
I am
just telling you, engage the people on all sides of the House, engage your
MHA, and ask questions about what is going on in the economy.
Ask your MHAs questions about what is in this Budget.
Ask specific questions about what the needs and the wants are in the
districts and ask about our plan.
Ask about what we are going to do.
At
the same time, when you are looking at an NDP or a Liberal candidate, ask
them what their plan is too because there is nothing there right now.
Like I said, they are talking out of both sides of their mouth, Mr.
Speaker; all things to everybody.
It
is a wonderful time to be in Opposition.
Sure, but I tell you what.
We understand they have a function.
We understand that we are going to continue to govern by principle
under the leadership of this Premier, under the dedicated Cabinet and
dedicated members on this side of the House.
We will be willing to talk and consult with the people of the
Province and do what is right.
We
are going to lay it out for them.
The people will choose.
They will see if they want somebody who knows what they are doing or
somebody who is prepared to say anything and make people scared to the point
where they think they have to make a move just based on what is coming out
of their mouths on that side of the House, Mr. Speaker.
With
that, I will take my seat.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
happy to stand again and speak to this non-confidence motion on the Budget
because the district I represent does not have much confidence in this
Budget and they have far less in this government, Mr. Speaker.
I am just bringing the message forward from the people.
I
just listened to the minister for Labrador talk about the leaders, the youth
that are coming up. I would be
remiss if I did not mention that I just spent a beautiful evening in L'Anse
au Loup where I watched twenty-one young people receive their Grade 12
diploma. It was a lovely
graduation, youth from L'Anse au Clair to Pinware; some who have taken part
in Youth Parliament and many who have written letters to me bringing their
issues forward. I guarantee you,
Mr. Speaker, that those young people who are coming up, they are very bright
and they are not going to put up with what past generations of Labrador
people have. They are not going
to lead the way tomorrow; they are leading the way today.
Mr.
Speaker, the Member for Lake Melville said it must be some fun in
Opposition. Well, I want to say
to the Member for Lake Melville it is not very much fun when you fly up to
your district every weekend like I do and you see the inadequacies, you see
the injustice, you see the partisan politics that went on around this
Province, and you see areas that are suffering.
No,
it is not very much fun, Mr. Speaker, but I put my name forward to be a
voice for the people of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair for Labrador and my
critic areas as Advanced Education and Skills.
Mr. Speaker, that is also an area that I take very serious, $1
billion department and a lot of people impacted here, a lot of people on
Income Support with issues.
Housing issues are huge in that area; people that hang on the line for hours
and hours.
Mr.
Speaker, when I stand here and I have only have twenty minutes, I hardly
know where to start. The Member
for Lake Melville talked about we are a resilient people in this Province
and we can weather the storm, but there comes a time when people demand
change. When the writ is
dropped, we are going to see that.
Not the forty-eight people who are here in this House and we are
not playing house, it is very serious issues that we are dealing with.
Every time I walk the stairs I said it before.
I saw them out there again, it is a sunny day, and every time I see
the children out on the playground I think that is why we have a
responsibility to make right decisions.
Mr.
Speaker, last Thursday the Minister of Transportation got up and said the
Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Loup likes to get up on her soap box.
He said she is passionate.
She likes to get up on her soap box and talk doom and gloom and talk
about the ferry. Well, it is
more than the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair who is concerned and
that is upset about the ferry issue in the Strait of Belle Isle.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS DEMPSTER:
I hardly know where to
begin when I talk about the ferry, but it is important that we talk about
it, Mr. Speaker. We cannot let
it go. Because over and over
again we ask questions, we have concern, and what do we see from this
government? Another example
where put out an RFP and we will do our homework after.
Nearly one year after the RFP closed, after three delays, we had many, many
assurances that the service would be in place in 2016.
The Finance Minister did the mid-year update; there was no mention to
the people. We went through the
winter I had mayors in from Labrador and we went through all winter
waiting for an announcement. Up
to the end of March, we were still being told the people of Labrador who
rely on the service, the people of the Province who rely on the service were
still being told that they were standing by their commitment of 2016.
What
happens a few weeks later, Mr. Speaker?
Everything is changed, this ferry vessel replacement strategy and
they wonder why we get up and we say we are last, we are least, and we are
lowest. Who is still waiting?
I think it is four new ferries that have been announced.
Who is still waiting? Who
is still waiting?
What
happened? Why couldn't you get
it right? Why couldn't you get
it right? Did you not have
enough time? It is shameful what
people are travelling on. It is
shameful what those people are enduring, Mr. Speaker, with that ferry
service.
To
turn around and say we are going to go out and we are going to consult with
the people, it is a joke it is a joke.
It is an insult to the people that they are going to go out now into
the communities and they are going to say tell us what you want.
Mr. Speaker, it is not a new service; it is a service that has been
running for decades. This
government knows I would be surprised if there is anybody over there who
do not know the kind of boat that is needed.
I would like some clarity from the minister if he is going to get up
and speak again. I would love
some clarity because, on the one hand, he is saying we are going to go out
and we are going to consult with the people and we are going to ask the
people what they want; but, on the other hand, he is in the media and he is
saying we could not afford, we could not afford, and things have changed
financially.
Guess what happens when things change?
Guess who suffers? Guess
who is the first to be cut, I say to the Member for Lake Melville?
That is not fear tactics.
That is not fear mongering. That
is no plan. On one hand, you
have the Premier down there announcing we are going to put away some money
and we are going to save for a rainy day, but we cannot afford to give the
people of Labrador a boat. Stay
and use your forty-year-old Scandinavian reject.
Have the little children and the seniors travelling on that boat.
Have them stuck in the ice for over fifty hours.
Have people paying hotel bills who went for an hour doctor's
appointment, and they are coming home with $2,000 and $3,000 bills, and it
is taking them months to pay for it.
If
what I am saying is wrong, you stand up and tell me, and you tell the people
of Newfoundland and Labrador that what I am saying right now is incorrect.
You do that. What I am
saying, Mr. Speaker, is right.
What I am saying is right. The
people have been set adrift, they have been left.
The
tide has gone out on the money that was available for the Labrador ferry.
Can you believe that in 2015?
People are outraged. They
are upset, and now they are going to do this little they have asked each
MHA, give us a name for a transportation committee.
When in fact they came back and said, no, give us two names because
we want to pick. At the end of
the day, we do not want you to pick who goes on the committee.
That is how it went down.
So, it is never really how it is in the media.
Mr.
Speaker, we had a transportation committee a number of years ago.
I have spoken to members of that transportation committee.
They told me thirty recommendations were put forward, and not one was
implemented. Now we are going to
go through it again.
Like
I said earlier when I was up on a petition, I am very pleased their Honours
are visiting the district. Now I
do not know what kind of time they are their Honours are driving, and we
are going to be on a tight schedule.
They are coming into the district.
They are coming on the ferry on Thursday that is if everything goes
well with the ferry, Mr. Speaker.
They are going to see first-hand, and I would not be surprised but
they are going to shake their head and say, I cannot believe we are in the
same Province. I cannot believe
we are in a part of this Province that has given so much, that has been so
rich in resources, yet so poor in services.
I
did not even mention the cost of preparing RFPs.
Somebody said the cost to prepare an RFP for these ferries was up in
the six-digit figures. One thing
we do know, Mr. Speaker, is we know there are a lot of unknowns around the
future, around when we are getting a boat in the Strait of Belle Isle.
There are a lot of unknowns, because once again we have a situation
where there was no plan.
My
colleagues have all stood and they have talked about their respective critic
areas, and they have outlined again and again what happens when you have no
plan. My colleague for The
Straits White Bay North talked about the PC math.
Mr.
Speaker, there are a lot of unknowns, but one thing we do know is that we do
not have a boat, and we do not know when we are getting a boat.
I would encourage the minister, if he is putting out an RFP this
fall, to get up and tell the people what is the plan.
Although, Mr. Speaker, I doubt there is anybody who is going to have
any confidence anymore, no matter what they say, because it is just lip
service.
The
Member for Lake Melville talked about fear mongering and fear tactics.
Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about is reality.
The people are living the reality.
They are experiencing the neglect.
Lab West is not my district, but my husband has been working in Lab
West since April. So he sees
first-hand the devastation.
Our
leader is up there listening to the people today.
I am wondering why the Minister of Labrador is not up in Lab West
listening to the people when we are reading articles in the paper about the
janitors who are mopping up more tears than dirt.
It is very, very difficult times, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased that our leader is on the ground up there right now.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS DEMPSTER:
Mr. Speaker, one of the
things we have talked about in the last couple of years is that people
matter, and if you cannot listen you cannot lead.
I think that has been one of the downfalls of this Tory government.
As I
travel throughout the Province that is what I hear from people, they did not
listen. We have had examples
over and over again of where millions of dollars has been spent, Mr.
Speaker, because they have not listened.
So we are doing what we can to move out and about around the
Province. We will be doing that
over the summer months, listening to the people and bringing the issues
forward.
Today there was a Ministerial Statement that went out on waste management,
Mr. Speaker. That is now moved
ahead into 2025. My district,
not unlike many others, is at a crisis state with our waste management.
We have Crow Head overfilled to capacity.
If any tourists are coming down through, they are going to drive
through thick, heavy smog.
Sometimes the dump is lit. They
do not know who lights the fire.
It gets out of control. We have
had a number of very serious circumstances.
Mr.
Speaker, there is a lot of unrest right now.
I have heard of municipalities that are actually so fed up with
waiting for money, with waiting for a start.
Hatch Mott MacDonald did the study that was done.
Now it is time to put the money where the mouth is, to go down.
If a one-site model is the site that is going to be the most cost
effective, it is time for action.
The time for talking is long far gone.
We need to get this waste management issue moving or we are going to
be having some very serious issues.
Capital works, Mr. Speaker; I have only been elected a little less than two
years but I can tell you in the spring of 2013, $65,000 came into Cartwright
L'Anse au Clair. Imagine.
If we are not playing partisan politics, how can you fathom such a
small amount into a district where needs are so great?
I am not talking about small what is the minister
AN HON. MEMBER:
A new water system
(inaudible).
MS DEMPSTER:
We did get a water system
in Charlottetown. We absolutely
did. Do you know what?
Everywhere around the Province, that is a very basic right, drinking
water for the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS DEMPSTER:
If we want to talk about
a cost to our health care, Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about a cost to
an already staggering burden in our health care, we need to go out and we
need to ensure that all of our residents have reliable drinking water.
The
point I was making, $65,000 came into the district in the spring of 2013,
and in the spring of 2014 we got a whopping $205,000 chlorine system in
Cartwright. I think the twenty
and the forty-five was for West St. Modeste and Mary's Harbour that were
projects ongoing.
Mr.
Speaker, we have around $5 million in requests that are into the system.
We know we cannot meet the needs every year, but my colleague for the
Bay of Islands, I heard him on Open Line once last year.
I think it was over $80 million that had been spent in the Tory
districts and we were less than $5 million in Liberal.
This Budget is about Balancing Choices; $80 million and $5 million,
tell me where the balance is, Mr. Speaker?
Where is the balance in that?
My
colleague for St. John's North called it lost opportunities and misplaced
priorities. I call it, when I
look at my district, instead of
Balancing Choices for a Promising Future, to me it is imbalanced and
leaves us with a darkening future.
I do not know if I said that when I got up, Mr. Speaker.
Nonetheless, Capital Works, we have big issues.
We still have communities and I am not talking about small,
unconnected communities that do have a lot of issues as well, but some of
them we do not know whether they will be staying or whether they will be
going. The sad reality is we
have communities like William's Harbour that voted to relocate, and because
this government is so slow moving through the process they are spending
millions on running the ferry service, airplanes, and everything else in and
out when that is not setting a very good example for communities that may
go.
Capital Works, there are some huge issues.
I hope the minister will put a formula in place and we will allocate
that, as I have said before, according to need.
Fire
and Emergency Services, Mr. Speaker, huge needs in the district.
I know there are communities that might have a decent fire truck, and
there is a community ten minutes away that can address that.
Mr.
Speaker, I want to mention a tragedy that happened in Cartwright this
winter. Now if they want to
accuse me of playing politics, I don't care as long as the word is out and
maybe the need gets addressed.
We have a community, it is the second largest community in my district, and
for years they have been writing letters requesting a new fire truck.
They get a letter back that says: thank you for application.
All of the funds have been exhausted for this year.
We encourage you to apply next year.
Mr.
Speaker, we had a man and a wife, lovely people, who lost their lives.
Do you know a fire truck they cannot even get parts for anymore, it
is over thirty years old. They
did not even have enough hose to reach from the fire station to the house
that was burning. You tell me,
Mr. Speaker, that is balancing choices for a promising future.
I
hope that this year, even though we are in a tough financial situation, when
money because they do have to continue to provide a service to the people
of the Province and govern. I
hope they will look at the balancing choices and they will put partisan
politics aside and some of the needs of these people, firemen going out
and volunteering for years and giving so much, but you have to be given some
tools to do the job with.
Fire
and Emergency Services: We have been weighed in the balance and we have been
found desperately wanting. There
are a number of applications in again from my area.
I hope there will be consideration given to them, Mr. Speaker.
Broadband: I stand and I talk about broadband.
I petition day after day after day.
Mr. Speaker, what a mess.
Half the district we have just got upgraded, but we have the communities of
St. Lewis, Mary's Harbour, Port Hope Simpson, and Charlottetown.
Mr. Speaker, I used to get up and say and it seems to have gotten
worse that I could only send and receive emails.
I had an email from the town council office in St. Lewis the other
day. It took them half a day to
download their email.
Mr.
Speaker, imagine I would like for the people here in the House to have to
experience for a week, maybe a day, maybe one day, I would like for the
people here who rely on technology to experience for a week what the people
in these communities are putting up with when we have speeds at 0.06.
When a bare minimum, the service provider themselves told them, was
0.79. Ideally, that should be
something between 1.5 and 5. I
am not a technical guru, but that is my understanding, Mr. Speaker.
Nobody can convince me that this government does not have some
responsibility to ensure for the people of the Province that when a service
provider is providing you a service that you are getting something back for
the money you are paying. That
is not happening in this case.
We
have a group of citizens who have come together.
They have been looking at hiring a lawyer.
They have been looking at seeing what they can do because they are
very, very frustrated.
Mr.
Speaker, the businesses in that area wonderful people.
They are so important to the region.
We have endless fundraising and things like that in these little
communities. Those businesses
are dependable and able to be relied upon again and again, but it is not
easy for them when they have such a high operating cost, when they have
these Internet issues. When they
are waiting for days and days to have goods comes on the ferry and their
store shelves are bare, and then they wonder why some people are trying to
bring in their own things and supplies when they can get out.
Education: Again and again and again I have said I believe that the Minister
of Education has the most important job in this Province.
I have said it and my colleagues have heard me say it.
Why I say that is I go over to the Health Sciences and I look at all
the specialists and I say: Where would we be without education?
That is why everybody needs to be on a level playing field, and we
cannot compromise education.
Oil
and gas and all these things offshore, where would be without education?
I love getting out to the graduations.
We have some bright and upcoming sharp young people, but we are going
to now cut 77.5 teaching units I think it is a savings of $7 million or $8
million. It saddens me when I
see the mismanagement of megaprojects like Muskrat Falls, spending $4
million, and for the sake of a couple of days at Muskrat Falls we are going
to have almost 200 teachers in this Province who are going to lose their
jobs.
AN HON. MEMBER:
The dome.
MS DEMPSTER:
That is right; my
colleague mentioned the dome. It
is half built. We are not going
to finish it. We did not need
it. We are compromising our
future, Mr. Speaker, with children out in these rural schools.
As I went through the district the last couple of weekends, many of
the teachers are afraid to speak out and say much, but they are pulling me
aside and they are saying we are very concerned.
We do not know how we are going to be able to carry the load.
We do not have the infrastructure, in a lot of cases, for more CDLI
courses, and the slow Internet and things like that.
Mr.
Speaker, I have to add, CDLI came online for rural schools you have to be
very self-motivated. Not every
student can learn in an environment where they are in a room and they are
stuck in front of a computer and they are on their own.
So I am very concerned.
There are a lot of sad people around the Province because the cuts that are
coming down are cuts that are going to be very, very keenly felt.
I
got up last week and talked about examples of waste, Mr. Speaker.
So many examples of waste in this Province, yet we reach deep into
the pockets of seniors to the most vulnerable to get us out of this mess,
and then we start to cut the people who are teaching our children
MR. SPEAKER:
I remind the hon. member
her time is expired.
MS DEMPSTER:
I thank you for my time
to speak again.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cape St. Francis.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you very much,
Mr. Speaker.
It
is indeed a privilege to get up here again today and to speak on behalf of
the people from the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis.
We are all here today and we are doing a bit of our debate on the
Budget, and each side of the House has its own perspective of what we are
doing here today. Just listening
to the member on the other side, I can say she has a different perspective
from what I do because I see positive things, and I always try to be
positive. I always try to look
at how things are going good.
Do
you know what? There is no
district in this Province she might think she is the only one with a
district in the Province that has issues.
We all do. Every district
in this Province there are issues.
Whether it is school issues, whether it is transportation issues,
whether it is roads that need to be done, we all have different needs.
Mr.
Speaker, she gave good cases, boy, where she has some problems in her
district, but she forgot to mention there were three new schools built in
her district in just a very short little while.
I mean, I think that is a very positive thing.
She started off talking about education.
She talked about the graduation she was at the weekend.
I was wondering if that was one of the brand new schools that were
built in her district that she was at the weekend.
I would imagine the students
AN HON. MEMBER:
Are you saying they
do not deserve it?
MR. K. PARSONS:
Yes, everybody
deserves new schools. There is a
new school getting built down my way.
Just do not go finding all the bad stuff.
Tell some good things that are happening in your district.
If I had three new schools getting built in my district I have one
getting built now I would be very, very happy.
I think you should be the same.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I am
going to stay away from that because that is not the way I am.
I am going to try to be positive today. I am not negative, but I do
understand and we do understand as a government, our ministers in this
caucus and Cabinet, and our Premier do understand that we have needs in this
Province. We have a lot of
needs.
We
can look at different committees that we are on and everything else.
We understand that there are things happening in the Province where
people need improvements. There
has to be improvements done.
Whether it is roads or whether it is our health care, our education, or
whatever, we do need to have improvements.
We
are all working hard to make sure I would like to have that magic wand to
go boom, all done, everything is perfect, but we do not live in that world,
Mr. Speaker. So we have to be
responsible. We have to be
responsible to the people of our district.
We have to be responsible to the people of the whole Province and
understand that there are a lot of needs out there, there are a lot of
priorities out there, and we have to address them as we go.
I am
going to talk about my own district today.
I spoke earlier. When I
got up and spoke it was mainly about stuff that was happening in the
Province and stuff like that. I
am going to end it just talking about our Budget, aims of our Budget, and
what we are planning on doing.
Today I am going to stay focused and I am going to stay positive.
I always try to stay positive on what is happening in Newfoundland
and Labrador, in particular in the District of Cape St. Francis.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
That is what we hear
on the other side is negativity all the time.
There are a lot of good things.
The hon. member I mentioned that I was out playing golf in his
district last Sunday. I had a
half hour one morning and went down.
The one thing that impressed me the most about going down through
Whiteway was the wicked roads that are down there.
The transportation down in that area, the roads were paved going
through all the communities and so they should be, but I was very
impressed with the roads out there.
I am sure the former member, Ms Johnson, did a great job for that
district and making sure that a lot of her roads but it is a beautiful
district, there is no doubt about it.
That
is another thing when we talk about tourism because the East Coast Trail is
in my district and the weekend there was a lot of activity.
There is a place in Flatrock called the Beamer and they walk out
along and then they can walk right on back into Tapper's Cove in Torbay.
To see the people who were on the East Coast Trail this weekend was
amazing. There were a few
icebergs out around and that obviously attracted some people, but it was
nice to see so many people being able to get out and enjoy the East Coast
Trails.
That
is another investment we have done.
Maybe that is squandering money, I do not know, but I tell you for
the people who are using the East Coast Trails and even a person like myself
who grew up in the community, I did not realize it was so beautiful once you
go along those trails and walk right in around.
It is really, really nice. I
invite anybody from Newfoundland and Labrador to come to the beautiful
District of Cape St. Francis because there are a lot of really nice trails
down there with the East Coast Trails and it is really nice to walk along
those trails. There are a few
icebergs still down around, so you are more than welcome to come down.
Mr.
Speaker, last week I had a fundraiser in my district, and I want to thank
the people of Cape St. Francis again.
We had a very good turnout.
I must say, it was a really good turnout that I had.
I had to move my venue from one area to another because that many
people wanted to come. Then I
had to put an order in it was good.
It is nice to see because at that time you get to meet and you get to
talk to a lot of people in your district and you understand the needs and
stuff like that.
I
had someone introduce the Premier at the time and I found out where his
roots really came from. The
Mayor of Pouch Cove got up and he talked about the Premier and when the
Premier was young, his aunt lived in Pouch Cove.
At the time, he used to come down every second they were a very
close family; he used to come down all the time.
The first Mayor of Pouch Cove was the uncle of the Premier.
I figure now that is where the Premier got his start in politics was
in my District of Cape St. Francis.
Mr.
Speaker, the one thing that was most evident the whole night long as the
Premier went around and he spoke to everyone, they all just realized that he
is an honest, good man and he is there for the right reasons.
I was very proud to have him in my district and he was very sincere
to the people and they really liked him there.
I have to say, I have to take my hat off and thank the Premier for
coming down and letting the people see who he really is about.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
I believe the people
in this Province as they see this Premier and they see his sincerity, his
honesty, and how he wants to see this Province and the plan that he has he
has a plan for the future of our Province.
It was very nice and I want to thank him, and I just wanted to
mention that because it was a great event in my district and I felt good
that night because so many people came out and showed their support and it
is nice to have that in your district.
Mr.
Speaker, I am going to talk about education and I want to talk about
education in my district because over the last number of years the other
side has told us that we are squandering money and stuff like that.
I just want to talk about investments and I am going to talk about
what was just recently announced, but I want to go back a little bit and
show that we have invested so much in education right across the Province.
I am
just going to tell a little story first.
I was at Memorial University with a couple of hon. members from
Burgeo La Poile, the Member for St. John's Centre, the Member for Terra
Nova, and the Member for Bonavista North.
We were at a little thing there; they were giving us a presentation.
Before we started, the Member for St. John's Centre asked a question.
I was blown away by the question that she asked.
It is the reason I am going to state here today.
She asked the question, there was a young doctor there training to
be a doctor she was from British Columbia.
Before we started the presentation, she wanted to know, she said I
wonder can you tell me she wanted to talk about tuition; she wanted to get
into the political part and talk about tuition.
The
question is asked: Can you tell me how much tuition you are paying?
I am sure it is high and the young doctor from British Columbia said:
Yes, we are paying $6,500 I think that is for the one year, for the full
year. That is what it costs
here.
She
said: Oh my God, that is high.
The young doctor from British Columbia said: No, not really at all because
if I went to school in British Columbia, I would be paying $18,000.
Right here in Newfoundland you can go to school for $6,500.
There was another doctor there too.
He spoke up and he said: That is not bad in British Columbia because
if you came from Ontario the average cost, the same course, the identical
same course, would have been $21,000.
I am there looking now and I am saying: Gees, I can see why there are
so many people who want to come to go to school here.
I
asked a question: So what is the average across Canada?
Does anyone know what the average is?
They told me it was around $18,000; the lowest probably was around
$17,500. Do you know what?
I was proud to be a Newfoundlander and Labradorian because I know
that the investments we have made over the years and we are after hearing
a lot about tuition and everything else, but when we can put doctors in our
medical school for $6,500 that is a great investment.
Then
I found out afterwards that our investment in the tuition freeze over the
last number of years has been about $370 million, which is huge.
Do you know what? That is
where it should be. We are
investing in education. Listen,
we all live in world where we understand we have to pay for things, but do
you know what? When we offer the
lowest tuition fees in all of Canada, I am very proud to be a Newfoundlander
and Labradorian because we give our young people opportunities.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
We give our young
people opportunities to have a great education.
I
listened to CBC then a couple of mornings afterwards and the lady was on and
she was talking about different rates and stuff like that.
It was the same thing; one cost of a course was $3,500 where the
average in Canada was $13,000. I
just want to mention that today because that is so important.
Those are investments we have made.
Now,
investments we have made in my district; over the last number of years I
have Holy Trinity High, Holy Trinity Elementary, Cape St. Francis Elementary
and St. Francis of Assisi elementary over in Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove
which I was over on Saturday night.
I want to applaud the school council over there.
What a fundraiser they had.
They had a silent auction and then they had an auction.
They raised over $60,000 for the school which was remarkable.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
That community, I
tell you, they really got out and supported their town.
Our government has supported education in my district.
We did a million dollars' worth of renovations on that school.
There are new windows, new siding, and a new roof.
Inside is absolutely beautiful.
That is an investment well made.
At
Holy Trinity Elementary we have built a school.
The school opened in 2008.
The population in my area has grown like you would not believe.
They are bursting at the seams, but we have done things.
That school itself cost $15 million.
That was in 2008. We put
in modular classrooms, four to be exact, there now to adjust to the growing
needs of the school. That alone
cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to do that.
The same thing down in Cape St. Francis down in Pouch Cove, Shoe
Cove, we invested in it here.
Right now today, as I was down last week I had a complaint from a couple of
constituents. One constituent
called and said that there were too many rocks coming off the road and there
was too much construction on the go where the new school is getting built.
Another constituent called and said that the brush that was cleaning
off the road is holding up the traffic too long so I did not know which one
to do. It was a great complaint
because do you know what? In my
district right now there is a brand new school getting built at $19.9
million.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
So we are after
hearing lots of things in the House here about how big it is, but the school
itself is built for about 720 children.
The school itself is designed.
The design of the school is for future expansion.
If you look at the numbers that are coming down for what you can see
in the area, if the area continues to grow like it is, we will probably be
looking at expansion of that school in 2021.
That then, the way the school is designed, it is built on a ten-acre
piece of property. If you read
the spec from the school it says for future expansion.
The school is designed for future expansion.
That means the cafeteria size is huge, the labs are bigger, and there
are lots of washrooms there. The
design of the school will be like that.
Right now, the Grade 8's will be staying at the high school where they
should be because it will keep the numbers right.
That will be good for the high school.
The high school is going to lose Grade 7's this year and they are
going to be in perfect shape.
Lots of classroom sizes are K-4 in Pouch Cove and K-4 at Holy Trinity
Elementary. I am really pleased
with what is happening with the schools in my area and I am really pleased
our government is investing so much money in education.
Mr.
Speaker, I heard about squandering money and stuff like that.
Last night I was down to the Jack Byrne Arena.
Every year I go down, and they have their election of officers and
they have their AGM. Every year
my job is to run the election of officers and stuff like that.
I go and I like to listen to what happens.
I
was involved in minor hockey all my life.
I coached for thirteen years.
I was on the executive for about ten years.
So it is nice to go back and see how things are done.
Every time I walk into the Jack Byrne Arena I am just proud of the
facility that is down there, and proud that it is in my district.
That
arena is doing really, really well.
The East Coast Music Awards were down there this year.
There was a cheerleader thing there this weekend.
The place was absolutely packed.
The arena itself is making money.
They are doing really, really good.
Last
night at minor hockey and we talked a little about it afterwards, because
there were a couple of guys there my age who came through the same system I
did, where we had to fight for ice time.
We had to fight for everything else.
They use other arenas because Jack Byrne cannot handle it for the
times they want it all the time anyway, but they have to use (inaudible).
They are going to be up next year to about fifty-four hours.
This year at the Jack Byrne they have about forty hours they can use.
So they are fourteen hours outside.
Do
you know the nice thing the Jack Byrne Arena did?
When the Jack Byrne Arena was built there are 748 children in minor
hockey in our area this year.
Before it was built, there were 167.
Now that is an investment in a recreation facility.
We always talk about it, I know the Opposition do, everybody talks
about getting our children healthier, getting our children off the couch and
getting them active. That is an
investment that I am very, very proud of in my district.
Mr.
Speaker, I look at the Torbay Bypass Road.
I drive up the Torbay Bypass Road every morning.
That is another thing that opened in 2008.
The total cost of the road was like $23 million.
So the cost to this government was around $18 million.
You should see what that has done for the people in our area.
One
of the main reasons why our area has grown so fast is because people want to
go down there. It is easy.
Anywhere on that bypass road, get on that and you are probably about
six or seven minutes away from Stavanger Drive and all the amenities out
that way, with Costco and Dominion and everything else.
So it is really good. You
are really close to everything.
Mr.
Speaker, we had so many years, that I can remember, being stuck in traffic
coming up out of Flatrock, there for hours at a time, because of people
stuck on Piperstock Hill. In the
last couple of years that has been open, we have not heard one complaint
about anything. So it is a
really good investment. I want
to thank the government on behalf of the people of Cape St. Francis for
doing that because it was something that was needed, it was a planned road,
and now it is working out perfect.
Mr.
Speaker, I am going to talk about I am getting down there, aren't I?
I am going to talk about my towns.
I just want to talk about individual towns in my district.
Again, the member was up from Cartwright L'Anse au Clair and she
talked about issues in her district.
We have issues in my district.
There are water issues in Pouch Cove.
Last year we invested something like, $900,000 was allotted for a new
water treatment at the water supply area, but before we could do that, we
had to there were a lot of leaks in the lines and stuff like this.
We had to get the water consumption down.
The Town of Pouch Cove has worked so hard at this, it is
unbelievable. They are at the
point right now where they have it to a level of where it should be.
So we are looking in the near future for them to get started with
their engineering part on this and the town area.
The
big thing, since they reduced the consumption of water, it seems like the
water is after getting a lot better because I guess where there was not so
much coming out and now it is a lot clearer and a lot better.
That is a great investment that this government has made in one town
in my area.
Now,
Mr. Speaker, the Town of Bauline, it is a beautiful little town.
If anybody ever gets the chance to go there, go down over the hill
and you are looking over at Conception Bay.
It is absolutely beautiful.
It is very, very beautiful.
AN HON. MEMBER:
What a mayor.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Yes, they have a
great mayor down there. The
mayor down there is a real good mayor, I have to say.
They
have a new town hall they are getting built right now.
We are hoping it will be open by the middle of the summer.
That was an investment this government made of $1.8 million.
Now their town hall, where they meet to have their regular meetings,
is in an apartment. If they had
to have a public forum they used to go down into the United Church and sit
in the United Church.
If
there was a function that needed to be done or anything in their town, they
would have to go somewhere else, over to the Lions Club over in Pouch Cove
to have a dinner or if it was a I do not know, it could be a birthday
party, it could be anything at all, a shower or something like that, they
had to go out of their town. So
in the month of July when this opens, I am going to be very, very happy, and
I know the people in Bauline are going to be very happy to see that this was
invested.
The
Town of Flatrock, recently we just did the Flatrock Community Centre.
The hon. Minister of Environment was down the weekend and did a great
job down in Flatrock with the (inaudible).
They were down, and there were people from all over the Province.
They hosted a beautiful dinner there Saturday night in the community
centre. The community centre is
all revamped.
Now
the Town of Flatrock invested a lot of their own money in that too.
We got them some money but they did a huge investment and took out a
loan because they wanted it done the way but right now in the community,
it is absolutely beautiful. It
is a nice spot to go to. Like I
said, it is a big plus for this government for making the investments that
they made in it.
Mr.
Speaker, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, another town in my district.
They just recently did a flood risk analysis in the town.
They went and checked out they have a lot of problems down there
when it comes to water coming down from Stavanger Drive, where Stavanger
Drive is after building up and there is a lot of water coming down.
The culverts in the area are not as big as what they should be to
take the water.
They
did a flood risk analysis and last year the government gave them
$400,000-and-some-odd to replace some culverts.
This year it looks like they are going to get some more money to
replace even more culverts. So
they are very pleased with what is happening.
That town is growing like you would not believe.
It is a beautiful town also.
The
Town of Torbay now has their tender out for their new depot that they are
building in the town. The depot
I think is going to be somewhere around $2.8 million or something like that,
almost $3 million. That is
something that they are doing.
The Town of Torbay is one of the fastest growing towns in the Province.
They do a lot of work within their town.
They have a great council down there and people working very, very
hard for their town.
Mr.
Speaker, I have to talk about the City of St. John's too.
The City of St. John's right now is a part of my district.
All you have to do is just look around down around the Stavanger
Drive area. I know on Torbay
Road right now, there is all kinds of paving getting done.
Pyramid is down cutting out this here
all over the place. So there are
huge investments in the City of St. John's, hundreds and hundreds of
millions of dollars that this government has been investing into the
District of Cape St. Francis.
Mr.
Speaker, I only have a few minutes left, but I heard the nember over across
the way talk about the least, the lowest, and the worst or whatever.
What is happening in Cape St. Francis is the best.
Thank you very, very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Cross):
The hon. the
Member for St. George's Stephenville East.
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This
is my second opportunity to speak on the Budget today.
I look forward to making some comments related to the substance of
the Budget itself, some comments related to some of my critic
responsibilities, and also some comments related to my district and issues
that are present in my district, Mr. Speaker.
The
Budget is one of the most important functions that this House of Assembly
does. The government brings
forward a Budget and then the House together examines the Budget that was
brought forward. There is a
certain amount of time allotted in the House for the examination of the
Budget, for the Budget Speech.
The procedure is well established and we go through it.
We
also have a process that happens outside this House in the evening and in
the morning when the House is not in session, which is the Estimates
Committees. Each department's
expenditures are examined line by line in the Budget, and we have an
opportunity to ask questions to the minister, to departmental officials, in
some cases, and to really get an understanding of how this government spends
its funds, and what results they get for the funds they have.
So,
one of the most important functions that we conduct here in this House is to
bring forward a Budget and to pass a Budget for the Province, and the plan
of how we are going to spend the money that we received and how we are going
to raise the money we spend, Mr. Speaker.
The
Budget debate, as well, because it is about the finances of the Province, it
is usually a wide-ranging debate, and people are able to talk about a very
wide range of items that they want to talk about.
So it is usually a debate that is very wide ranging, Mr. Speaker.
So it is a great opportunity to talk about some various types of
issues, and that is why I intend to do here this afternoon.
So,
Mr. Speaker, first I want to talk about an issue that I raised in Question
Period today. The SERT Centre in
Stephenville is a wonderful centre.
It is the Search and Emergency Rescue Training Centre.
It is quite the facility I have had an opportunity to visit the
facility, to tour the facility.
It is a place where training is done for firefighters, for people who need
certification so they can operate their boats.
They even have a mock-up of an airplane crash there that they set on
fire and they go out and they put the flames out.
They also do industrial training for industry, various industries.
They will develop programs and sort of contract out their services
and their facilities to industries in this Province, and also industries
outside this Province.
This
week, for example, they have a group from Iqaluit who is coming down to do
some training at the centre. So
the centre is doing training not just for firefighters here in this
Province, they are also doing firefighting training for other provinces.
That speaks to the excellence of this centre that exists in
Stephenville now.
I
have been very disturbed in this Budget with the cuts to Memorial University
and the way that has trickled through the system, and the impact that is
having on places like the SERT Centre.
I met with some employees at the SERT Centre this weekend, and they
were very concerned. The
contractual employees have already been told that their contracts will not
be renewed. Some of these
employees are looking at being laid off in June; some later in the summer,
but it is a very immediate thing for them.
I
find this very disappointing because when I initially asked questions in
this House about how this SERT Centre was going to be impacted by the cuts
to Memorial University and the Marine Institute in the Budget, there did not
seem to be a high level of awareness amongst the government about what the
possible impacts would be, which is very concerning because this SERT Centre
is one of the main sources of revenue.
The SERT Centre rents space and facilities from the airport in
Stephenville, so it is a source of revenue for the airport that has been
struggling for a number of years, Mr. Speaker.
It
is rather concerning that there is not a sort of level of commitment to this
centre and it is also concerning that there was not an awareness of the
impact that such a closure would have.
It is also concerning that there was not really a concerted effort by
government to ensure that this wonderful centre that exists remains in
place.
It
is all very concerning and I will continue to ask questions about what is
happening there, what government is doing, because I do think there are
things that government can do. I
think there are win, win sort of scenarios that they should be exploring.
For example, one of the things that I think government should be
exploring in relation to this centre is the volunteer fire departments
around this Province. Many of
them have difficulty raising the funds they need to do the training they
need to provide firefighting and rescue services around this Province.
I
think there is a need for the training; there is a wonderful facility there
that can do the training, Mr. Speaker. They even have a mobile burn unit
which they can one of the major expenses of the training is the
transportation to the training site and this SERT Centre has a unit that
they can take right to the town where the volunteer fire departments are.
All they need I think is a little assistance from government to the
fire departments for training to make that a real possibility, Mr. Speaker.
I am
also concerned the centre is experiencing a short-term downturn in the
business that they generate through contract training because of the
downturn in the resource sector.
That is impacting the amount of training that is being done at the centre.
It is a short-term problem.
If the government allows this centre to deteriorate or to be
compromised because of those short-term problems the centre will not be
there when the resource sector rebounds, when the training is needed.
Rather than training our own firefighters, training our own safety workers,
emergency response workers, we will be sending our people somewhere else to
be trained, Mr. Speaker, when we have the possibility of creating a centre
for excellence here at this facility that exists in Stephenville.
We have real possibilities to create a centre for excellence and to
market that across the country, and even internationally.
It is very disappointing what is happening to the SERT Centre in
Stephenville and the lack of commitment that this government has to that
centre.
That
is one issue I wanted to talk about today.
Another issue I wanted to talk about related to the district is
health care services. One of the
major issues in the district that I represent is the lack of doctors or
nurse practitioners and also the wait times and the lack of specialists the
hospital in Stephenville.
Mr.
Speaker, the community of Jeffrey's has been without a doctor for about a
year-and-a-half years now, so it is rather disturbing that people in that
community do not have access to basic, primary health care that they need.
That has been the case for over a year-and-a-half now.
It is a very serious problem.
You have elderly people who do not have the consistency of care that
leads to good medical care. They
do not get their reports back in an adequate manner and you have elderly
people travelling long distances, waiting for a long time to see a doctor,
or just simple things like to have a prescription refilled or something like
that. Mr. Speaker, it becomes
very problematic.
Also, people on workers' comp or things like that, that require forms to be
filled out, it becomes an added burden to them.
People are already in difficult situations having to travel long
distances to get the medial services they need.
So it is not a good situation.
Many people have called me about it.
I have had mothers with small children call me and say how this is
impacting their lives.
You
can make a connection, I think, between things like a lack of medical care
and the economy, Mr. Speaker. It
is not much of a stretch, because some of these young parents are telling
me: Well, if the government cannot provide good health care, basic health
care for me and my family here in this rural community, then we have to
think about moving away. We have
to think about going somewhere else because the health care is so bad.
That
is the connection with the economy.
Skilled educated people are talking about moving away because of the
lack of good health care in the district.
It is a big issue. It is
something I will continue to speak out about in this House until it is
resolved.
St.
George's is another community that just lost their doctor.
I am hopeful that things will improve in the next few months, Mr.
Speaker. I have talked to the
minister. I have talked about it
in the House several times. It
is something that we have to continue to work on.
In
terms of post-secondary education, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that the
college headquarters in Stephenville is one of the major employers in the
district that I represent. It is
a great facility. They just
announced they are establishing a centre of excellence for heavy equipment
training in the Stephenville-Bay St. George area.
That is a great thing that is happening there.
I am sure it will be a success because they have many qualified
instructors. I understand they
will be hiring more to bring them to the area.
So that is a very positive thing, Mr. Speaker.
The
whole concept of post-secondary education and the importance of it as an
economic generator, I think the evidence is in for many years that places
that invest in education do better economically in the long run.
The evidence is in.
Anywhere in the world that you see places where people have invested in
education, their economy does well in the long run.
There is certainly a connection there.
It is an investment rather than a cost or simple expenditure.
Those are some of the things that we need to be focused on, Mr.
Speaker.
Research and development is another area closely related to post-secondary
education. It is interesting
that the College of the North Atlantic is doing a lot of research and
development in their various campuses, Mr. Speaker, and also at Memorial
University.
It
was interesting to look at the report for the Research and Development
Corporation this year. One of
the people they focused on was a dairy that happens to be located in the
district I represent. This dairy
is doing some wonderful things in terms of technology and the research, and
the way they operate their business, Mr. Speaker.
It is a wonderful example of how technology can make a traditional
business more competitive. It is
a demonstration of how important technology is into every sector of the
economy.
One
of the things they are doing there is they are generating electricity at the
facility, Mr. Speaker. They have
found ways to do that through the waste of the dairy.
They have one problem; they generate more electricity than they need.
They cannot sell that into the grid because this government has not
brought in a policy of net metering.
That is one of the things.
It
was interesting to see the way in the report they talked about maybe in the
future, sometime in the future this great research and development project
could result in the power being sold to the utility, and generating a
revenue. It is interesting that
in this case government's policy is really restricting research and
development the implementation of research and development, Mr. Speaker.
I
want to take a few minutes as well to talk about the Generations Fund, the
idea of a future fund where you take some of the revenue from oil and gas,
natural resource revenue, and you put it into a fund for future use, Mr.
Speaker. That is one of the
eight principles that were outlined in this year's Budget, is this concept
of a Generations Fund. It is not
a new idea, it is not a novel idea, but it is a good idea.
It is rather disappointing that in this case the government did not
put forward any details on how that Generations Fund is going to work.
There are other places in the world where the idea of a Generations Fund or
a futures fund or a sovereign wealth fund has been very successful.
One place is Norway, another place is Alaska.
Some people point to Alberta but that
is sort of a case that is debated a lot, whether they have been successful
in maintaining their revenue or not.
There are a lot of questions to be asked about a Generations Fund or a
futures fund that are not answered in this Budget document, Mr. Speaker.
For example, how much of the resource revenue will go into this fund?
In Norway, 100 per cent of the oil revenue goes into their sovereign
wealth fund; 100 per cent of the revenue generated from oil and gas off
their shores is put into a sovereign wealth fund.
It
is by chance that oil is placed and discovered off our shores, Mr. Speaker.
It is by chance. It is
not anything that the people of this Province have done in terms of the
placement of the oil. It is a
bonanza, it is a bonus. It is
like winning a lottery really, and how do you spend that money?
How should you manage that money, are some of the questions, Mr.
Speaker. That is some of the
questions we have, that I have about.
Also, Mr. Speaker, another question with future funds is how does the money
come out? What restrictions are
on the money, taking the money out?
Can you take it out whenever you want?
Can you take all of it out?
Can you just take the interest out?
Those are some sort of questions people have asked about Generations
Funds and the future of how it would work, Mr. Speaker.
Those are some questions that are unanswered in this Budget.
I think these are questions that we should be asking, and questions
we should be discussing and debating in this Province as we move forward.
Alaska is another example. They
put 25 per cent of their revenue into their future fund, and it is has been
quite successful. In fact, they
pay dividends to their citizens each year from their oil and gas fund, Mr.
Speaker, from their resource fund.
It is an interesting concept.
So there are lots of issues in relation to how the Generations Fund
works.
There are a few other issues that I wanted to raise.
I have only a few seconds left, so I will probably get another
opportunity to speak in this debate, Mr. Speaker, on the Budget.
I would like to speak a little more about the Generations Fund next
time I get up, and also touch on some issues such as agriculture in the
district, and the road repairs that are needed in the district.
There are so many bad roads in the districts.
One of the reasons the members opposite say that they had to spend
the money was because there was an infrastructure deficit.
Well there is still an infrastructure deficit after having spent $21
billion. There is still much of
an infrastructure deficit in the Province, Mr. Speaker.
I will have an opportunity to speak about this later when I rise
again in debate.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works representing Conception Bay East Bell Island.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It
is indeed an honour again to get up and speak to the Budget, particularly,
as I sit here and listen over the last number of weeks to my colleagues here
speak about the great things that are being done.
Particularly, think about the visionary things.
Think about the things that we have put in play over the last twelve
years, Mr. Speaker, that we have put in play to improve the lives of people
in this Province. There is a
multitude of them.
All
my colleagues here the Member for Cape St. Francis noted a number of great
things that have happened in his district.
The Member here for Lake Melville has talked about the great things
happening in his district, but more importantly, where we are going, how we
have set a trend here to improve people's lives, and to move things forward,
Mr. Speaker.
I
could go on. I know the
Opposition have as part and parcel of their responsibility to outline
what they think are the things that we are not doing, or the things they
would prefer for us to do.
Ideally, we would like to do everything.
We would like to be the perfect landlord and steward for everybody in
this Province, but, Mr. Speaker, we have to live within our financial means.
We have to know that when there are lean times we can make the
decisions that minimize the impact on people, and guarantee that people
still have a quality life, and that we can move things forward.
We
get criticized and the numbers change from $12 billion, to $15 billion, to
$18 billion of oil revenues. Mr.
Speaker, whatever the number they use over there we know $15 billion was
brought in through oil revenues.
We know that went back to the people of this Province.
We know decisions were made to improve their lifestyle, to improve
safety, to better find ways to engage them, to give them a better sense of
pride in this Province, and also to make us better competitors on the
national and international market.
I
mean, $6 billion; I know as Minister of Transportation and Works going
through what we have invested over the last twelve years, it is in the basic
infrastructure, the day-to-day infrastructure needs.
If it is a bridge, if it is a road, if it is a hospital, if it is a
school, if it is a library, if it is a recreation facility, Mr. Speaker,
that is where the money went.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Over on Bell Island.
MR. BRAZIL:
Bell Island will get its
fair share, as did every part of this Province, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
They do not want me to go
to my list again because I will go through who wins the jackpot when it
comes to infrastructure. Do you
know who wins the jackpot? The
people of this Province, Mr. Speaker, that is who wins the jackpot because
that is what it is about.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
It is about fairness.
If it is from Nain, Labrador or Carbonear in Conception Bay and
everybody in between, they get what is needed to ensure they have a good
quality of life.
Now
does it all come at the one time?
No, Mr. Speaker, there might be a hospital built in one community and
there might be some challenges on the roads.
Those roads will be addressed.
In another community there might be a school built and there might be
some issues around recreation, but you can see the differences.
There was a wide need when we took over here.
We realize that the previous Administration could not do everything
for everybody either. We were
fortunate enough, through proper investments and through proper negotiations
with the oil industry, to have that extra revenue, Mr. Speaker.
We have invested it wisely.
We have guaranteed that people have access to proper services.
You
can look around anywhere in this Province.
It is not segregated to one region.
It is not segregated to one geographic peninsula.
It is not segregated, politically, to how people voted.
It is out there because of the needs of the people.
They were identified.
The
same civil servants who advise politicians and advise those in Treasury
Board, in Cabinet, and in government are the same people who live in these
communities. They want to avail
of those services. They know
where the priorities are, Mr. Speaker.
I am
happy to say that this Administration has been cognizant of those priorities
and have moved them fairly along the way, Mr. Speaker.
That is why we do not get much kickback from people.
Very little noise do we get from people because they realize we have
done things where the priorities have been.
We have done it. We have
put schools where we needed to put kids in seats where there was a
challenge, or schools were not safe.
We
have improved roads where we knew there were heavy volumes of traffic.
We have done that. We
have talked about how we improve recreation so that our society is
healthier. We have engaged
people to be able to do that. We
have looked at services in regions so that everybody in a catchment area
would have access to proper health care and proper counselling services.
We have done that. We
have done it, I think, very diligently and very prudently because we have
made the proper investments for people here, Mr. Speaker.
So I
also talked about $3 billion.
While we were doing that we were very cognizant that our generation, the
next generation, and the future generations cannot inherit a massive debt.
We were smart to plan. We
knew one day there are cycles up and down, there are peak and valleys
that there would be a day where we would have to go back to the market.
We would have to borrow money again to build the same proper services
for people, and to make sure people still feel comfortable, safe, and
healthy living in this community, Mr. Speaker, so we paid down $3 billion on
the debt.
From
somebody who comes from the civil service, and is very proud to have served
for nearly thirty years as a civil servant, Mr. Speaker, in different
capacities, we wanted to make sure the civil servants who carried this
Province and did their part with everybody else in this Province, that their
pension money was secure, that they had worked to realize that.
I mean as anybody will tell you when you joined the civil service you
knew you were never going to get rich in your jobs, but you took on the
vocation because you knew you could service people.
You knew from the day that you felt you have contributed to the
Province that you would have a nest egg there; you would have a pension that
you could rely on. You would not
get rich on it, but you knew it was safe there.
When
we knew there were things in jeopardy when it came to the pension plans we
sat down with the stakeholders.
All the proponents sat down and said, yes, realistically this makes sense.
We need to invest in certain areas and we did this in a multitude of
our pension plans, particularly our Teachers' Pension Plan, which was one
that had some real challenges for a period of time.
We
made them secure. We have since
then come up with a new approach here, where everybody has bought into it,
and we are finalizing the last parts of the agreements with the other unions
where we move forward on it. We
have a plan where they are sustainable and they are not a burden to any
other taxpayers as we move forward, Mr. Speaker.
That is prudent planning.
To
get to that point, along the way when we had our extra revenues coming in
from the oil industry we invested.
We paid down. We secured
those pension plans so people could feel better when they came to work and
know that they could concentrate on their jobs and not worry about it.
The union officials could worry about representing their membership
in other areas if there was internal strife that they had to work with, or
if there was training that they needed, or there were supports.
The bigger picture was taken care of, Mr. Speaker.
One of the key things that I think has been done in the last year is
that we have secured that for people.
We
have nearly 40,000-plus civil servants of some manner here who have pension
plans who now have some security.
We have a plan for the rest of the people in this Province, those who
unfortunately do not have a pension plan.
This is not going to be a burden on them for the rest of their lives
or their kid's lives. This is
done in a manner, Mr. Speaker, where the investments are proper for the
people. This is proper planning.
This is where we have gone with this.
Tax
relief; people forget we have put money back.
People have told us we have been burdened from taxes for years and
years from Administrations over and over, we need a break.
If you give us that break, we will reinvest back into our own
communities. We give people tax
breaks. We have done that.
We have reduced the personal income tax, Mr. Speaker.
We found programs and services there to give back to those who have
some challenges financially to ensure they have a better quality of life.
Mr.
Speaker, we have done it to the tune of $3 billion.
That is an investment back into the people of this Province.
It is an investment back where they now take the money and they get
to decide where they want to invest, what they want to spend it on, how they
want to drive the economy, how they want to support their own families, and
how they want to be good stewards of the money they bring in.
That
is what it is about. Good
governance is about being able to give people the ability to be their own
governance. That is what we have
done in this case, Mr. Speaker, when it came to the financial part of it.
Mr.
Speaker, billions were put back into other programs and services.
We have initiated new youth services programs for people.
We have new strategies around what we have put in our drug dispensing
programs to ensure that people have the proper drug medication that
addresses their medical needs.
We
have added hundreds of new drugs to that plan, Mr. Speaker.
That is again a testament to being identified, working with the
medical professions and working with the citizens who need certain things,
but being able and understanding to address the needs that people need to
have a comfort level physically, mentally, and socially.
We have added in all of those.
That is part and parcel of what we wanted to do.
We have added into all kinds of investments when it comes around what
we have done, particularly around recreation, from the whole inclusion
from toddlers to senior citizens, and all of those types of investments.
Mr.
Speaker, one of the other things that I am proud to say that this
Administration has done over the last number of years is shown respect for
its civil servants. We have
shown respect through reclassification, through salary increases.
This Administration came in and sat down with the civil service and
asked them at one point we have a problem here.
We have a financial crisis.
Can you work with us?
Give us an opportunity to get to the next level, and we will reward you for
the great work you have been doing; we will reward you for being
co-operative and helping us.
Mr.
Speaker, that happened. The
civil servants still gave you an honest day's work.
They still went out and developed the programs.
They still went out and advised the government on what were the best
things to do. As a result, we
rewarded them. The standard of
living here for a civil servant has increased dramatically.
We are ahead of the Atlantic Provinces, and we are on par nationally.
In
my day when I started here, and I know my colleague for Port de Grave, when
we started here thirty-plus years ago, it was not at that it was not.
When we went to national meetings, we knew our colleagues were being
paid at a different level, but we understood that.
We understood the restrictions, financially, this Province had.
As we moved money and became more of a have Province that have
ability was given back to those who have helped foster and move the Province
forward. That is again an avenue
of being respectful for the people who have helped develop programs and
services, who will help do that, no matter what Administration is in power.
I
have been fortunate enough to have been through four full-time
Administrations, four different party changes, Mr. Speaker.
I have also been sat down to look at thirty-one different Budgets and
know which ones really meet the needs of what people are saying, which ones
are politically oriented, which ones are cut and dry, which ones are
definitely going to do harm to people, and which ones are going to be the
ones that are really going to moved things forward.
That has happened with all Administrations.
I
can say this was perhaps the best one I have seen that was balanced that
took a hard financial core and opened it up to make sure of minimum impact
on anybody. In a lot of cases,
things were enhanced. We have
enhanced thresholds for low-income people to be able to have access to
better services and more revenues that they can put back into whatever their
priorities are, back into their families.
We have managed to do that when you are having to find a
billion-dollar savings.
So
that is being creative, Mr. Speaker, and the creativity came from listening
to stakeholders. Our
stakeholders' message comes from not only seeing a stakeholder day to day,
but the civil servants who on a day-to-day basis are meeting with hundreds
and thousands and tens of thousands of them through the programs that they
service. Channelling that back
up when we get our advice around programs and services, and what budget
lines are important, and which ones have been put on the backburner, and
which ones can be modified, and which programs have served their need for a
number of years.
Politicians are as good as we are on both sides, no matter what party you
are. There is a line item there
that is based on the people who are the front liners who would know what to
do. We get great advice, Mr.
Speaker. This Budget is
reflective of that great advice we have gotten from our civil servants along
the line. That is why I think we
have had minimal impact on people's lives.
Is
it perfect? By no stretch.
Are there people falling through the cracks?
Of course there are, Mr. Speaker.
That is why we are trying to find other ways, other services, and
ensure that our civil servants are trained to be able to deal with
organizations. More
particularly, we have opened it up to having discussions.
The all-party mental health committee is another great way of
engaging people around there are people who fall through the cracks in
every part of society, particularly some around mental health.
How do we find a better way to develop the programs and address their
needs? Or give them access, or
give them knowledge of where the programs and services are?
Or find ways to better regionalize services so that everybody has an
ability to meet the needs of the particular individuals and a better
fostering, a better understanding and a better partnership, Mr. Speaker?
We have done that. We
have done that because we have been able to bring the proper people together
under the proper heading and the simple heading is let's do the right
things. Let's do the right
things under the auspices of the financial restrictions that we may have.
One
day it will get better, Mr. Speaker.
We have a plan. The
Minister of Finance has a great plan.
In five years we know where we are going to be.
As we move, things will continue to move up.
We will invest in different programs.
We will modify the existing ones.
The ones that have met their need, Mr. Speaker, will move on to
whatever the priority is from that day.
That priority will be set by the people of this Province.
I
want to give a wholehearted thank you to the civil servants who particularly
for years had to live on minimal increases, if any, at certain times and
their standard of living would drop.
We are there to continue supporting the government and now have been
rewarded for it, and we will continue to be rewarded, Mr. Speaker.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. BRAZIL:
That is right; some
previous Administrations were talking rollbacks.
This Administration said we are here.
We respect what you are doing.
We will take care of you one day.
Mr. Speaker, we have managed to do that.
I do
not want to talk about where we are in this Budget, Mr. Speaker, because
everybody has already talked about it.
Those who are in favour of it very diligently outlined what we are
doing very passionately because they believe in it.
Those who are opposed to it have politically postured for that reason
to say we are doing things wrong.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. BRAZIL:
That is right.
The
general public know we are passionate about what we want to do because we
are the same people who live in the same neighbourhoods.
My kids went to the same schools as every other kid in the
neighbourhood. They go to the
same post-secondary education things.
They go to the same arenas.
They travel on the same roads.
We do all the same things everybody in our own family.
We
have the same vested interest as any other citizen, so there is no hidden
agenda. If there is an agenda,
the agenda is to do the right thing for the right people at the right time,
and that is what this Budget does.
The right time now is, under restraint, we are doing the things that
minimize impact on people and still make sure that we move things forward,
Mr. Speaker. We are doing that,
very much so; I am very proud to be a part of it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Mr. Speaker, what I want
to touch on as we talk about the Budget process because it might be the last
time I get to speak on this Budget, particularly, because it is an election
year so who knows where destiny will take us down the road.
AN HON. MEMBER:
You could be Finance
Minister next year.
MR. BRAZIL:
Yes, I could be Finance
Minister so I will get that four-and-a-half hours as the present Finance
Minister did, and did a wonderful job on it.
There was nobody left at the end of the day not understanding exactly
what we were presenting to the people.
There was nothing hidden in that Budget, Mr. Speaker.
It was all out in the open because that is what it was about:
transparency.
Do
you want to know what we are doing for post-secondary?
Here are the wonderful things we are doing for post-secondary?
Do you want to know some of the challenges we have in post-secondary?
Here are the things around post-secondary.
Do you want to talk about where we are going to invest money in
infrastructure? The minister
outlined that. Do you want to
talk about what we are doing for business?
He outlined that. Do you
want to talk about how we are going to drive the economy?
He talked about that.
Mr.
Speaker, it was all laid on the table for people to see and for the
Opposition to tear apart if that is indeed what they wanted to do.
I give credit; some members of the Opposition did note some of the
good programs and services that we did and did note some of the good
programs and services that we put out there, and we acknowledge that.
There is no doubt about it; there were a lot of good things
announced. There are still a lot
of good strategies moving forward.
I
want to go back a few Budgets ago; I want to go back to this Administration
to tell us how we got to this point.
I say how we got to this point, how we got to a point where our
revenues are down no fault of ours, Mr. Speaker.
It is what it is. We are
the stewards, we accept that, we understand that, but no fault of ours
because it is an international issue for everybody and we are trying to work
through that. How we got to the
point to have our revenues down substantially and still be able to offer a
Budget for the people of this Province that minimizes impact on them, does
not alter their lifestyle, it offers hope, and it offers some vision there,
it offers a plan of where we are going to be in the future.
I
have not heard plans from anybody else, Mr. Speaker; I am going to tell you
that right now. I have not heard
them, not a plan whatsoever. I
heard a plan about a plan that there might be a plan down the road when they
are ready to put the plan out, but I do not know what it is.
I do not know what it stands for.
One thing about this side of it, when we get up and speak, whether
you like it or not and there is no doubt, what we do here is not always
perfect, but we do have it out.
It is out there for people. They
understand what it is. If they
want to tear it apart, if they want to question it, if they want
clarification, if they want to understand it, without a doubt it is all
visible, it is all transparent, and it is all available for people.
That is one good thing about what we have in this Administration, Mr.
Speaker, and that is where we are.
I
want to talk a little bit about how we got to this point, how we got to the
point of having to come up with a billion dollars and managing to be able to
do those things without having a major impact on people's lives.
That is because for the last ten years, Mr. Speaker, we have
developed programs and services.
We have engaged people out there to tell us how to do it.
We have partnered, Mr. Speaker.
If
you look at the municipalities, we have partnered with more municipalities
in the last ten years and developed ongoing partnerships.
They are just not one-offs, Mr. Speaker, they are ongoing.
At any given time there are municipalities coming in to meet with my
department and other line departments to talk about, how do we continue to
do the things we are doing? How
do we continue to partner on roads?
How do we continue to partner on recreation programs, on
infrastructure programs? How do
we continue to improve regional services?
I
have the privilege this week now, I will be meeting with the Joint Councils
of the Northeast Avalon but particularly on the northern part of Cape St.
Francis and Portugal Cove St. Phillips.
Mr. Speaker, it is a new awakening there.
They like the fact that in the last number of years we are open to
talking about, how do we better service each other?
We fostered that co-operation between municipalities, between
organizations out there, Mr. Speaker.
We have done that.
Look
at all the youth organizations we have helped develop, the community youth
networks. Look at some of the
great work that is being done by them from Nain, Labrador, where we have
sites, to over in Harbour Grace, to here in St. John's with Thrive St.
John's, and the Street Reach programs, and Choices for Youth.
These are all programs that over the years we have supported.
We
did not just throw a bulk of money at them.
What we did was partner with them.
They came up with ideas and initiatives that made sense, that engage
other partners. Because of the
partnerships we have helped to develop, I would say we delivered and have
been able to co-operate on hundreds of millions of dollars from federal
funding, from private sector funding.
This
Administration right now has more partnerships with the corporate world,
giving to social programs and social services.
It is not just about a business plan.
This is about social programs being supported by the business
community, because we have put programs and services in place and developed
partnerships. We have connected
the social programs with the business industry, and businesses have bought
into that.
When
they came into this Province we said you are coming in as a partner.
Well, you do not just partner on the revenue generating part of it.
You partner on the whole social part of it, and they have done that,
Mr. Speaker. As a result, we
have a better society here.
Look
at the oil companies here, the construction companies, the pharmaceutical
companies. All these companies
realize that if you are going to be part and parcel of Newfoundland and
Labrador and you want to develop a partnership and you want to flourish
here, you have to give back to the communities, and they have done it.
As I
said about the people on this side and our families, and the same people
over there, their families live in the same communities.
They attend the same schools.
They do the same things in recreation.
They want their society to be safe, they want it to be engaging, and
they want it to flourish. They
want everybody to have the same opportunities, Mr. Speaker, and we have done
a great job at that. Is there
much more to do? Of course there
is, Mr. Speaker, of course there is.
Would this be a great utopia if everything was perfect?
Of course. Will we ever
get to that positon? Probably
not, but I guarantee you, under this Administration everyday things get
better. It is lighter at the end
of the tunnel every day because we have a plan.
We have a strategy, Mr. Speaker.
That strategy is about the people of this Province and meeting their
needs and making sure, at the end of the day, the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador are better off tomorrow than they are today.
We have that.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
going to stand again. This is my
second time speaking to this year's Budget.
I
want to raise a couple of issues.
We have had speaker after speaker after speaker on the other side
basically stand and say, it wasn't our fault.
It was the world price of oil.
That is what did it. That
is the reason we are in the situation we are in.
We could not control that.
It was out of our control, Mr. Speaker.
Many
would argue with that, and the reality is we all know David Cochrane, the
CBC reporter, he has hit on us as well and hit on government.
I would say he is generally a fair journalist, but I want to talk a
little bit about one of the articles he wrote regarding the Budget.
He said, The Progressive Conservatives were having a pretty good
budget week, right up until they got to budget day.
The government used a series of pre-budget announcements to set the
news agenda
.
We
all remember that. I was
starting to think they blew this whole Budget thing out of proportion saying
it is going to be a tough Budget, because they had announcement after
announcement after announcement leading up to the Budget that sort of
softened the Budget a little bit, or tried to soften the Budget.
But
on budget day, an endless series of grim numbers took over the news agenda,
telling a story of financial hardship that most people thought was in the
past. Now, we will keep in mind
that the government opposite had a decade of this Province's greatest
wealth, a decade of the greatest wealth this Province has ever experienced.
I do not know if we will ever see that sort of decade again.
I hope we will. There is
lots more oil out there. I am
hoping there will be other discoveries of oil that will keep this Province
in the oil business for decades and decades.
We
did experience the greatest decade of wealth that this Province had ever
experienced, $20 billion in oil royalties, and on top of that another $5
billion in Atlantic Accord revenues.
I am not sure about the $2 billion cheque, whether that is included
in the $25 billion or not, but I will talk a little bit about the $2 billion
cheque. We all remember the
celebration. All of us, every
one of us in the House, me included, thought that was $2 billion that
government arm wrestled out of the federal government.
No,
no, Mr. Speaker. We are now
starting to see the real picture.
That was in trade-off for five years of the Atlantic Accord.
We were supposed to get royalties under the Atlantic Accord
MR. WISEMAN:
(Inaudible).
MR. OSBORNE:
I say to the Finance
minister who is over yapping, he had hours of speaking on this Budget and he
is going to get an opportunity to stand and speak on this Budget again, but
the Finance minister seems to feel he has the right to have the floor.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
I am on my feet, I say to
the Finance minister.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. OSBORNE:
He is a cracky, Mr.
Speaker, there is no doubt about it.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
He has no right to try to
take my time when I am on my feet.
He will have an opportunity to get on his feet again.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, we all
remember the $2 billion. Mr.
Speaker, the reality is, and nobody
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) Cabinet
table.
MR. OSBORNE:
I agree, I was at the Cabinet table.
Nobody, even at the Cabinet table, Mr. Speaker, nobody was told the
truth when that $2 billion cheque was brought home from Ottawa.
None of us were told that was a trade-off of five years of Atlantic
Accord. None of us were told.
None of us were told, Mr. Speaker, that we traded off instead of
getting twenty years of equalization payments
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
equalization payments
for twenty years, Mr. Speaker.
Yes,
Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask you to intervene and ask the Minister of
Finance to
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
Chair has recognized the Member for St. John's South.
I would ask other hon. members to keep their comments to themselves,
please.
The
hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. WISEMAN:
(Inaudible) the Cameron
Inquiry.
MR. OSBORNE:
I appreciate that, Mr.
Speaker, and I will be glad to talk about the Cameron Inquiry any time at
all that the Minister of Finance wants to challenge me on the Cameron
Inquiry, because he knows the details of that and so do I.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, I will say
to each and every member over there that I have acted professionally on this
side. I know where all the
closet doors are and I know where all the skeletons are, I say to the
Minister of Finance. So do you
want to talk about the Cameron Inquiry? I
will talk.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
I will talk, and lots
more.
Now,
Mr. Speaker, back to the $2 billion.
We had twenty years of equalization we were supposed to get under the
Atlantic Accord arrangement, but we did not get twenty years, we got
fifteen. Because the $2 billion
was the trade-off, the last five years of the Atlantic Accord.
Mr.
Speaker, I am not sure if the $25 billion we got in oil royalties and
Atlantic Accord combined includes that $2 billion or not.
The reality is we got $25 billion over the past decade.
Do you know what? We hear
from government that there was $6 billion spent in infrastructure.
Well, that still means another $19 billion.
They
talk about propping up some of the pension plans.
Well, Mr. Speaker, there is a whole lot more money out of that $25
billion that should have put this Province in good stead.
It should have had this Province able to weather the storm when oil
prices went down.
The
reality is we have had oil prices where they are today over the past decade,
but the Province still experienced great wealth.
The reality is we have seen the oil prices where they are today since
2003, but we still have experienced over that time period, because we were
in the decade of greatest wealth this Province has ever, ever experienced.
Mr. Speaker, it is a different story today.
The
article goes on to say,
the largest deficit in the province's history.
Can you imagine after a decade of unprecedented wealth to have the
largest deficit in the Province's history?
After a decade of unprecedented revenue growth this budget raises
fees, hikes taxes, grows the debt and projects the largest deficit in the
province's history. Less than
two years after former Premier Tom Marshall referred to Newfoundland and
Labrador as being in a 'golden age,' the province is facing five straight
years of real GDP decline and projecting net job losses until 2019.
On top of that, From the premier on down, the Tories have blamed all
of this on the sudden plummet in oil prices and other commodities that have
stripped more than a billion dollars out of the government's revenue
streams.
Mr.
Speaker, he goes on to say: conveniently the members opposite ignore the
fact that government's own spending has played a part in their current
fiscal misfortune. That is the
reality. It has been
government's spending and their lack of ability to plan, their lack of
ability to save and put money aside in a heritage fund.
The only ability when oil royalties and other royalties were rolling
into this Province in unprecedented numbers was the ability to spend.
Any time a problem came up, out came the chequebook and the problem
went away. Well, there was a
lack of planning, and that in large part has led to where this Province is
today.
When
the money seemed endless is the next part of this media story.
It all seemed good when oil was in triple digits.
Government's thinking got soft when the economy was booming and money
seemed endless. That, in a
nutshell, is why the Province is in the situation it is in today.
Now,
it is easy enough for members opposite to say it is us who are saying that,
but it is also the media. Most
people you speak to on street corners or walking through the malls or
anywhere else you see them will say they cannot believe, after a decade of
unprecedented wealth, that this Province is in the situation that it is in
today.
Mr.
Speaker, twelve years after winning power, government is forced to raise
taxes and run record deficits and they are projecting deficits for the next
five years. They have projected
that in their road plan to prosperity.
Five years of deficits in their road map to prosperity.
AN HON. MEMBER:
It does not take
public sector wages into account.
MR. OSBORNE:
It does not take public
sector wages into account; that is a fact.
Mr.
Speaker, I remember 2010, most people will remember even though two years
ago former Premier Marshall said the Province was in a golden age.
I remember in 2010, five years ago, when the former Premier Marshall
was Finance Minister at that time and he was doing his Budget consultations
around the Province. We remember
the ticker and so on that the former Premier, former Minister of Finance
had. In 2010 I remember Minister
Marshall advising that oil royalties were in decline.
In 2010 he said oil royalties were in decline and would continue that
way for some time.
Now,
those are the words of Minister Marshall in 2010, but today it is not our
fault. This decline in oil
royalties was unexpected. We did
not see it coming. That is what
members opposite would have you believe, but if you look at some of the
quotes from Minister Marshall in 2010, they knew that oil production was in
decline. They knew that oil
royalties were in decline, Mr. Speaker.
They have had five years and they did not do anything to find
efficiencies. They did not do
anything to find efficiencies since those quotes and comments of 2010.
Mr.
Speaker, they did not have the ability to plan, they did not have the
ability to put a plan in place five years ago, but today will say they have
a five-year plan. They have a
five-year plan, eight pillars.
In five years, they promise to make things better.
Forgive us for the mistakes we have made yes, we have made a few,
but give us another chance; we will set the record straight.
Well, Mr. Speaker, you do not judge a government who has been in
power for twelve years on what they are promising to do; you judge that
government on what they have done.
You judge them on what they have done.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. OSBORNE:
That is what you judge
them on, Mr. Speaker.
The
best way to tell the actions of a government who has been in power for
twelve years is not on what they promise to do, but on their track record,
on what they have done. Their
track record has not been one of setting out a five-year plan.
We know that, because in 2010 they had an opportunity to plan the
next five years. When Minister
Marshall said oil royalties are in decline and that is the way they are
going to be for some time, they had an opportunity to plan five years then;
but no, government said forgive use, we have made some mistakes, but we have
the plan. We are going to do it
better this time. Give us
another chance.
Well, Mr. Speaker, soon enough the people of the Province will speak their
mind. They will have an
opportunity to cast judgement on whether or not government has managed the
Province properly for the past twelve years.
We all know what we are hearing in the streets; we all know that.
Government, I would suspect, are doing their polling.
I know they are because that is the way governments operate.
They do polling to find out what public opinion is on this issue or
on that issue, find out how much the general public like them, and what
direction should they take, what they should do, how they should handle a
particular issue.
They
have been doing it for years, so they know what public opinion is like.
We have seen it for the past couple of years where government who
were topping the polls a few years ago have spiraled.
They have lost the confidence of the people, and that is the reality.
I am not saying that to be cocky.
I am not saying that to blow a horn.
I am saying that, Mr. Speaker, because we are hearing it everywhere
we go.
All
you need to do is look at the ferry contracts on the Fogo-Change Islands
ferries and the Bell Island ferry, and the $25 million in tariffs government
are going to have to pay because they did not pick a North American company
whose bid was almost the same as the European company.
There are no tariffs on North American companies.
Government will try to convince you, do you know what, this company is
better, they will do a better job; but they have never built a vessel for
our waters. The company they
overlooked, that would have been $25.5 million cheaper, Mr. Speaker, has
built vessels for waters in Newfoundland and Labrador, and they are proven.
I am
not trying to slander the other company but what I am saying is government
says the people of the Province are getting their monies worth; they are
paying $25.5 million more for ferries that government presented the plans
on, presented the specs on and whatever company built those vessels would
have to build them according to government specs.
That
is not good planning. We saw it
on Humber Valley Paving, Mr. Speaker, where government were very quick to
forgive the bonds, release the bonds, because they did not want to hurt the
company. There are lots of
companies throughout this Province that were hurt because the bonds were
forgiven, and now have to take court action if they want to get their money
back instead of applying towards a bond.
We
all know the history on why that happened.
We all know why those bonds were forgiven.
Is that good planning in the best interest of the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador? We
all know of the promises and government are promising a five-year plan, a
road to prosperity; but no, Mr. Speaker, I do not believe it and most people
do not because government promised a new courthouse for St. John's.
Guess what? That is on
hold. It is not cancelled
because government does not want to say we broke our promise.
Oh, that is on hold, indefinitely, but at some point we are going to
come back and do it again.
A
courthouse for Stephenville what happened there?
That is on hold.
Government promised it. Do you
know what? We are going to put
that on hold, indefinitely, but we promise we are going to do it again at
some other point.
The
Waterford Hospital was another promise.
What happened? This year
the promise is on hold. How
long? We cannot tell you
indefinitely, but we will come back again and do that because we promised.
Well, they already promised it but they are promising the promise
again.
The
Corner Brook hospital was promised for the first time in 2007.
It was promised during the election of 2007.
It was promised every year from 2007 to 2011 and promised again in
the election in 2011. The
by-election out there, Mr. Speaker, when the Premier resigned in Humber
East, it was promised in the by-election when the other Premier resigned in
Humber West. Because let's
remember, since 2011 we had three-and-a-half Premiers.
So,
it was promised. Guess what?
They are still promising.
The people of Corner Brook do not believe that promise because they are
still promising the hospital they have been promising for seven or eight
years. They have a nice lot
leveled out there. They have
moved the sign, I think, two or three times.
Mr. Speaker, there is still no hospital and no sign of a hospital,
but it is promised. Just like
the five-year road to prosperity, it is promised.
A
new penitentiary what happened to that?
They are promising to revisit that again.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I
remind the member his time has expired.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Deputy House
Leader.
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Before we adjourn, I just want to remind the House that the Estimates for
Education and Early Childhood Development will met tonight in the
Legislature at 6:00 o'clock.
On
the note, I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance, 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 stands adjourned until 1:30 o'clock tomorrow.
On
motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1:30
p.m.