No.17/2012

 

 

House of Assembly

Province of Newfoundland & Labrador

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1st Session – 47th General Assembly

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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS

(a)    Statements by Members

(b)    Statements by Ministers

(c)    Oral Questions

(d)    Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

(e)    Tabling of Documents

(f)    Notices of Motion

(g)    Answers to questions for which notice has been given

(h)    Petitions

ORDERS OF THE DAY

 

1. C Address in Reply

Third Reading Bills

 

2. C Third Reading of a Bill C “An Act To Amend The Enduring Powers Of Attorney Act".  (Bill No. 3)

                                                                               (Justice and Attorney General)

 

3. C Third Reading of a Bill C “An Act To Amend The Revenue Administration Act". (Bill No. 5)

                                                                                                          (Finance and President of Treasury Board)

 

4. C Third Reading of a Bill C “An Act To Amend The Municipalities Act, 1999 and The Urban And Rural Planning

Act, 2000". (Bill No. 9)                                                                      (Municipal Affairs)

 

 

Second Reading Bills

 

5. C Second Reading of a Bill C “An Act Respecting Procurement By Public Bodies”. (Bill No. 1)                                                                                                                                                             (Service NL)

 

6. C Second Reading of a Bill C “An Act To Amend The Registration Of Deeds Act, 2009". (Bill No. 14)                                                                                                                                            (Service NL)

 

7. C Second Reading of a Bill C “An Act To Amend The Student Financial Assistance Act”. (Bill 15)                                                                                                                                                (Advanced Education and Skills)

 

MOTIONS

 

1. C THE HONOURABLE THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND PRESIDENT OF TREASURY BOARD C To Move AThat This House Approves in General the Budgetary Policy of the Government.@ (Budget Speech)

 

2. C THE HONOURABLE THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND PRESIDENT OF TREASURY BOARD C To Move that the House Resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Supply to Consider Certain Resolutions Relating to the Granting of  Supply to Her Majesty. (Bill No. 16)

 

3. C MR. ANDREW PARSONS (Burgeo - LaPoile) C To Move:

 

“WHEREAS the House of Assembly is the cornerstone of responsible government in Newfoundland and Labrador;

 

AND WHEREAS the effective and proper functioning of the House of Assembly is essential to good government, effective legislative process and an open and democratic society;

 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this House of Assembly calls upon Government to provide for a fixed House of Assembly sitting schedule by introducing amendments to the House of Assembly Act as follows:

 

“Section 3 of the House of Assembly Act is amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the following:

 

(3)  In 2012 and every following year, except years in which there is a general election under subsection (2), there shall be a sitting of the House of Assembly

 

(a)     commencing on the second Monday in March and adjourning on the Wednesday before Easter Sunday;

 

(b)     commencing on the third Monday after Easter Sunday and adjourning on the Thursday before the Victoria Day holiday, and

 

(c)     commencing on the third Monday in October and adjourning not later than one week before Christmas Day.

 

(4)  In years in which there is a general election under subsection (2), there shall be a sitting of the House of Assembly

 

(a)     commencing on the second Monday in March and adjourning on the Wednesday before Easter Sunday;

 

(b)     commencing on the third Monday after Easter Sunday and adjourning on the Thursday before the Victoria Day holiday, and

 

(c)     commencing no later than 30 days after the general election day and adjourning not later than one week before Christmas Day.

 

(5)  Nothing in subsection (3) prohibits the House of Assembly from sitting.

 

(6)  Where the Lieutenant-Governor in Council intends to adjourn the House of Assembly earlier than the sitting dates referred to in subsection (3) or to cancel a sitting referred to in subsection (3), the Government House Leader shall

 

(a)     table a report in the House of Assembly stating the reasons for the early adjournment or cancellation, and

 

(b)     on the first day of the next sitting of the House of Assembly, give notice of a motion to debate the report referred to in paragraph (a) and this motion shall have precedence over all other substantive motions on the Order Paper”.”

 

4. C MR. JIM BENNETT (St. Barbe) C To Move:

 

         “WHEREAS the fishery is the lifeline of hundreds of communities in our Province, with both the harvesting and processing contributing significantly to personal incomes and regional economies;

 

         AND WHEREAS the shipping out of unprocessed seafood negatively impacts our people, communities and Province;

 

         AND WHEREAS provincial legislation is already in place to restrict the exporting of our unprocessed fish products;

 

         AND WHEREAS there is a growing concern that the community unit will become even less of a beneficiary of one of our most important renewable resources;

 

         AND WHEREAS the government is already on record as stating that our people and our communities must be the primary beneficiaries of our fish resources;

 

         AND WHEREAS there is increasing evidence that other countries are benefiting greatly from our unprocessed raw seafood products;

 

         AND WHEREAS there are warnings that our Province is running out of time to diversify its economy before the oil revenues run out and we will be left with insufficient money to pay the bills;

 

         THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this House of Assembly encourages the Provincial Government to immediately recommit to the principles of disallowing the shipping out of unprocessed resources in order to protect regional and provincial economies; and

 

         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this House of Assembly encourages the Provincial Government to work with the Federal Government to adopt a policy that if a company is unable to process its quota allocation, then they be obligated by law to offer it to other processing companies at cost and a reasonable profit margin (as determined by industry norm); and

 

         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this House of Assembly encourages the Provincial Government to adopt a policy that in cases where it is absolutely necessary to ship out unprocessed fish – to ensure the survival of the industry in the long-term – it must be shipped out before a definite time frame and the company exporting unprocessed seafood has to, first, reapply for the export license annually; and, secondly, it must pay a fee to the Province, as is done in many other industries, so that our people and our communities continue to benefit from this natural resource.

 

5. C MS. YVONNE JONES (Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair) C To Move:

 

         “WHEREAS we have seen many tragedies and many lives lost due to distress on land and at sea, most recently the death of 14 year old Burton Winters of Makkovik, Labrador;

 

         AND WHEREAS ground search and rescue is a Provincial responsibility and was the first point of contact in the Burton Winters Tragedy;

 

         AND WHEREAS the Federal Government has announced that the Maritime Sub-Centre for Search and Rescue Services in Newfoundland and Labrador will close on April 25 of this year;

 

         AND WHEREAS many questions have been raised about procedures and practices of the Provincial Government and DND in relation to the Burton Winters tragedy;

 

         AND WHEREAS the Government of Canada ha indicated that they are ready to participate in, and cooperate with, a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Burton Winters;

 

         THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this House urges the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to conduct a full investigation into the Burton Winters Tragedy and search and rescue services in Newfoundland and Labrador using a public enquiry under Section 3.(1) of the Public Inquiries Act which states:

 

                  3.(1)  The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by order establish a commission of inquiry to inquire and report on a matter that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council considers to be of public concern.”                                                    

 

QUESTIONS

 

         15. C MR JIM BENNETT (St. Barbe) – To ask the Honourable the Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural Development to lay on the Table of the House information related to actions taken to keep the 2011 PC Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, Policy Blue Book promise “to work with service providers to develop a plan to expand digital and cellular telephone access to more regions of the province”.

 

         16. C MR JIM BENNETT (St. Barbe) – To ask the Honourable the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture to lay on the Table of the House information related to any examination of best practices of other jurisdictions with a view to establishing a fisheries loan board in Newfoundland and Labrador .

 

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Published under the authority of the Speaker of the

House of Assembly by William E. Parsons, Queen's Printer