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April 18, 2016

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 14

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we start today's proceedings I would like to welcome to the Speaker's

gallery from the Nunatsiavut Government, President Sarah Leo, and the hon.

Darryl Shiwak, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also, we welcome from the

Town of Victoria, Mayor Barry Dooley, Deputy Mayor Sharon Snooks, Councillor

Aubrey Rose, Councillor Glenn Clarke and Town Clerk and Manager Shelly Butt.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

From the Town of

Bonavista, Mayor Betty Fitzgerald, Deputy Mayor Doug Robbins, Town Manager

Calvin Rolls and CFO David Hiscock.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we have Members'

statements for the Members for the District of Torngat Mountains,

Stephenville Port au Port, Burin Grand Bank, Terra Nova, Ferryland and

Mount Pearl North.

The

hon. the Member for the District of Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

rise in this hon. House to pay tribute to a group of young people who have

proven themselves to be real champions. The Provincial Atom Hockey

Championships were held last month in Stephenville and a team of young

people from Natuashish and Nain, called Team Innu Hawks, competed in that

tournament. A big thank you has to go out to the team coaches, Juan

Strickland, Samantha Strickland and William Flowers, for making it possible.

the first game, Team Innu Hawks faced the host club from Stephenville and

defeated them 8-1. They then tied Botwood with a score of 1-1. Against The

Straits they won again, a 5-2 victory. When they came up against Team Bay

D'Espoir they skated away with a 6-2 win. The championship game came down to

the Innu Hawks playing Botwood again, and they defeated Botwood by a score

of 6-2.

group of young Aboriginals from two different Aboriginal communities, coming

from the most isolated region of their province, proved that they can

compete with the best, and this year they can rightly claim to be the best.

ask all hon. Members in joining me to congratulate Team Innu Hawks on being

this year's Atom hockey champions for Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

District of Stephenville Port au Port.

MR. FINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge Mr. Richard Gallant of Stephenville. On

April 15, Mr. Gallant celebrated his 93rd birthday. I had the honour to join

him and his family and friends to celebrate this milestone.

Richard joined the military in 1941. After basic training, he was posted as

a communications specialist in the European theatre. Following the war,

Richard returned to Stephenville, and in 1946 he began working at the Ernest

Harmon Air Force Base and remained there until its closure in 1966. He

attained life membership with the Royal Canadian Legion, was the

Sergeant-at-Arms and also served as president for three terms.

was an active member of the Knights of Columbus, a dedicated church

volunteer, a councillor with the Town of Port au Port. In 2015, he was a

recipient of the Queen's Jubilee Medal. He's the proud father of 10

children, grandfather of 18 and great-grandfather to 21. A lifelong

volunteer who served his country, his province and his community, Richard

Gallant is a truly remarkable individual.

ask all hon. Members to join me in extending well-wishes to Mr. Gallant on

his 93rd birthday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Burin Grand Bank.

MS. HALEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise today to recognize a remarkable athlete from Fortune in my

District of Burin Grand Bank. Kiana Stacey, the 14-year-old daughter of

proud parents, Terry and Kelly Stacey, started off at the ice rink figure

skating, but soon discovered hockey was her true passion.

Since taking up the sport five years ago, Kiana has developed into an

exceptional hockey player. Kiana is so respected by her coaches and fellow

players that during this hockey season she was chosen to serve as captain of

not one, but three teams: the Marystown Mariners under 15 girls team, the

Tri Pen Minor Bantam AAA ice females, and the United Towns Bantam boys'

team.

Being a member of three teams has seen her crisscross the province this

winter, as well as travel to St. Pierre et Miquelon to play hockey. Her

leadership on the ice was demonstrated this spring as two of the teams she

captains won gold in provincial tournaments, while the third completed the

season with bronze.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members of this House to join me in congratulating Kiana

Stacey and in wishing her much success as she continues to develop in the

sport she so enjoys.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Terra Nova.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

rise in this hon. House to recognize the members of Royal Canadian Legion

Branch 27.

The

members of Branch 27, like the people of the Terra Nova District, have a

long history of volunteering. The Clarenville branch was formed on May 4,

1951 by a group of 17 ex-servicemen. Today they maintain an active volunteer

membership of more than 70 individuals.

April 9, I had the privilege of attending the Branch's honour and awards

celebration when individuals who give their time, energy and talents to

promote the interests and benefits of veterans who have served this province

and country with pride and dignity were recognized.

Each

year, the legion, in partnership with local schools, hosts a Remembrance Day

poster and essay contest. I am proud to say that the 2015 provincial winners

are from my district: first place winner Tristian Spurrell; second place was

tied between Chloe Vivian and Janie Smith. I wish to thank the teachers of

Riverside Elementary for continuing to support student involvement in this

worthwhile event.

ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the members of Brach 27

for their dedicated service to the people of the Clarenville area.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Ferryland.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

rise today to recognize a constituent of mine from my district who passed

away on February 22, 2016, Mrs. Ellen O'Keefe known as Molly who lived a

full life to the exceptional age of 102 years. Molly was born May 22, 1913

in Clears Cove, Port Kirwan. Molly left home at the age of 16 to work as a

housekeeper for Dr. Horan on the Southside Road in St. John's. In 1935 she

was hired as a housekeeper for John Ronayne who was a fish merchant in Tors

Cove and returned to the Southern Shore to work. It is there she met Albert

O'Keefe and they were married on October 10, 1938.

Molly and Albert raised three children, Anita, Lucy and Alice. Molly resided

in Tors Cove until December 2012, and at the age of 99, she moved into

Chancellor Park where she passed away on February 22, 2016.

Mr.

Speaker, I would like to ask all my colleagues in this House to join me in

honouring the life of Ms. Molly O'Keefe and the contribution she made to our

great province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Mount Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

rise in this hon. House today to congratulate and recognize a young resident

of Mount Pearl and Loran Scholarship winner Noubahar Hasnain.

Noubahar was named Mount Pearl Female Youth of the Year at last year's Focus

on Youth Awards and just recently served as one of our Youth Ambassadors for

the 34th annual Frosty Festival.

Every year, the Loran Scholars Foundation invests in young Canadians who

have more than an excellent transcript. Approximately 3,600 applicants apply

and interviews are conducted to determine who are the best fit for the

scholarship.

Out

of the 3,600 applications only the top 30 are chosen. Each scholarship is

valued at $100,000.

Noubahar is currently in her graduating year of high school, attending Mount

Pearl Senior High. She plans to continue her education in the fall and I am

certain that this scholarship award will assist significantly.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members of this House to join me in congratulating

Noubahar on her accomplishments to date, and wish her all the best as she

continues her education. I would also like to recognize the work of the

Loran Scholars Foundation and thank them for supporting our students.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Before we move to Honour

100, we'd like to recognize a former Member of the House of Assembly in the

gallery today, Mr. Glenn Littlejohn.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

The Commemoration

of the First World War and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel

MR. SPEAKER:

Today for Honour 100, we

have the hon. the Member for St. John's West.

MS. COADY:

I will now read into the

record the following 43 names of those who lost their lives in the First

World War in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Royal Newfoundland Naval

Reserve and the Newfoundland Mercantile Marine. This will be followed by a

moment of silence.

Lest

we forget: John Fowlow, Richard Fowlow, Zebulum Fowlow, Harry Frampton, John

Frampton, John Frampton, Albert Edward Francis, Ephraim Freake, James

Freake, William Freake, Buchanan W. Freebairn, John Joseph French,

Mackintosh Frew, Henry Frizell, Eldon Froud, John Fry, William Fry, Charles

Fudge, George Thomas Fudge, Jeremiah Fudge, Ignatius Furey, David J.

Furlong, William Furneaux, Francis Joseph Galgay, Michael Gallant, Morgan

Gallop, John Galpin, Cyril Gardner, Edward James Gardner, Frederick Gardner,

Theophilus Gardner, Fred Garf, George Gear, James Joseph Gear, Ambrose

George, Joshua George, Alexander Gilbert, William Gilbert, Arthur F. Gill,

Ernest Gill, Arthur Wilfred Gillam, Charles Gillam, Samuel Joseph Gillespie.

(Moment of silence.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Please be seated.

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, Budget 2016 outlined clear objectives and targets to address the

unprecedented fiscal challenges facing this province. We are taking action

to ensure we protect our residents from the potential financial impacts

caused by the lack of planning and poor management of the previous

administration.

One

important aspect of our plan is to shield this province from increasing

interest rates and use the public's money on essential social programs and

not mounting debt servicing costs. We must ensure that every available penny

that we can borrow to spend, is not spent on increasing costs of borrowing.

That's why we are pleased to see that all three credit rating agencies,

Standard & Poor's, Dominion Bond Rating Service and Moody's have responded

to the strength of government's long-term plan. Dominion Bond Rating Service

upgraded the outlook for Newfoundland and Labrador from negative to stable

and changed the Issuer Rating and Long-Term Debt ratings to A low. Both

Moody's and Standard & Poor's made no change to the province's credit

rating.

Dominion Bond Rating Service has said although the province is facing

challenging times with the economy, they acknowledged that the government

is committed to taking credible action as reflected by the substantive and

difficult decisions announced in the current budget, with more measures

forthcoming in the fall.

Moody's stated in their response that The challenge facing the province is

substantial, although we note that the government is exercising the full

extent of fiscal flexibility Canadian provinces possess. Moody's also

acknowledges the further cost-saving measures government is pursuing,

particularly through the Government Renewal Initiative.

Mr.

Speaker, I am pleased to see these agencies have acknowledged the difficult

decisions we have made in Budget 2016 and support our credible plan to be

more efficient, to eliminate government waste and to treat the public's

money responsibly. Our plan will lay the foundation to support residents and

protect future generations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

thank the minister for a copy of the statement. I only received it about

five minutes ago, but I will certainly review it as best I can at this

stage.

I'll

reference some of the information that's outlined here. It says 2016 budget

will outline clear targets. We are taking action to ensure we protect our

residents ; government is committed to taking credible action as

reflected by the substantive and difficult decisions announced in the

current budget, with more measures forthcoming in the fall; Our plan will

lay the foundation to support residents and protect future generations.

I'm

not sure what budget she's speaking to. She's not speaking to the one we

heard on Thursday, Mr. Speaker, I guarantee you that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

And not what the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador are talking about today, I guarantee you

that.

Furthermore in terms of the stable rating, the bond-rating agency goes on to

say, however, Risks remain tilted to the downside, as the outlook for the

economy remains weak and the plan to reach balance is incomplete.

What

this government did on Thursday was further put this province behind. It's

unbelievable that all these people will stand and try and support what

you've done to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador last Thursday and

it's disgraceful.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement.

I'm

glad I didn't have it too soon before I came into the House because I got so

upset when I read it. I'm shocked that the minister can stand in this House

today and read this statement when because of her budget many people in this

province don't know if they're going to be able to feed themselves because

of the budget.

I'm

glad the agencies are happy because believe me the people of the province

aren't, and they don't feel protected by this budget, they feel attacked by

it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, I rise

today to acknowledge award recipients and hall of fame inductees at Sport

Newfoundland and Labrador's annual provincial amateur sport Stars and

Legends Awards Gala held this Saturday past.

Our

athletes and coaches continue to have success in local, national and

international events. Congratulations to all those who were nominated in the

various categories, particularly the 2016 award recipients as chosen by

Sport Newfoundland and Labrador's award selection committee.

The

2016 award recipients are: softball player Sean Cleary as Senior Male

Athlete of the Year; hockey player Sarah Davis as Senior Female Athlete of

the Year; sledge hockey and wheelchair basketballer Liam Hickey as Junior

Male Athlete of the Year; target shooting's Samantha Marsh as Junior Female

Athlete of the Year; volleyball's Keith Randall As Coach of the Year; Galway

Hitmen softball team as Team of the Year; soccer's Doug Redmond, as

Executive of the Year; swimming's Joan Butler as Official of the Year; and

basketball's Brian Hunt as Volunteer of the Year.

This

year's Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame inductees were: Nigel

Facey in the athlete category for soccer and hockey; Sandy Faulkner Ash in

the athlete category for soccer; and Howie Meeker in the builder category

for hockey.

The

provincial government is committed to supporting sport, recreation and

healthy living at all levels.

ask all Members to join me in congratulating all award winners and the Hall

of Fame inductees for the hard work and dedication which led them to be

honoured as well as Sport Newfoundland and Labrador, the provincial sport

organizations and the many athletes, coaches, managers, parents and

volunteers who support athletic excellence at every level.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd

like to thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. We join

with Members opposite in congratulating the award recipients and hall of

fame inductees. You're all to be commended for your skill and determination,

as well as your contribution to amateur sport in this province.

Sport Newfoundland and Labrador is the volunteer organization committed to

promotion and advancement of amateur sport throughout the province. They

represent 55 provincial sport organizations with over 70,000 individual

members.

Mr.

Speaker, while we recognize the importance of recreation and amateur sport

in this province, we are preparing to debate a budget that axed large

portions of our recreational funding and health promotion. So while I thank

the minister, it's curious how you can acknowledge the importance of

something in one breath and then cut the programs and services related to it

in another.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Congratulations to

the athletes, teams, coaches, officials and volunteers who were honoured

this year. Bravo to them all!

How

much celebration will there be this year with $740,000 cut to sports and

recreation programs, including Stars and Legends, leadership training and

travel subsidies. Government is pulling out of the Jumpstart program cutting

$350,000 that made it possible for more than 3,000 low-income children to

enrol.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. ROGERS:

Hall of fame?

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. ROGERS:

Government should be

inducted into the hall of shame.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the 3Ps cod fishery located off Newfoundland's South Coast recently

became Canada's first Atlantic cod fishery to achieve Marine Stewardship

Council (MSC) certification.

Our

government is committed to the sustainability of this valuable seafood

industry to ensure the long-term viability of harvested species, the health

of our oceans and the future viability of rural communities. In fact, in

2008, Newfoundland and Labrador's inshore Northern shrimp fishery became the

first MSC-certified fishery in Canada. More than 90 per cent of our

aquaculture operations have achieved Best Aquaculture Practices

certification and more than 80 per cent of the value of Newfoundland and

Labrador's wild fisheries is now MSC certified.

Seafood products from our province are exported to more than 40 countries

around the world. The MSC recognizes and rewards responsible management of

seafood resources, influences seafood buying behaviour and maintains the

most widely respected and accepted global standard of certification of wild

captured seafood.

world markets increasingly demand sustainable seafood, eco-certification is

more important than ever if we are to continue to compete and market our

products globally. It is a foremost priority of our government and for our

seafood industry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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, Mr.

Speaker.

I'd

like to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Marine

Stewardship Council certification is very important. The products, it shows

where they're harvested to, and that it's a sustainable fishery. When

consumers see the blue label, they'll be sure it is a sustainable fishery

and they'll know where their product came from.

The

cod fishery is a very important part of our future, and a very important

part of diversification in this province. Last week's budget had five lines

on our fishery. Five lines talking about the cod fishery, the most important

industry in this province.

Mr.

Speaker, both the harvesters, processors and unions have come together to

talk about the future of the cod fishery. This government has done very

little to talk about the future of our fishery and how important it is to

all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, especially rural Newfoundland and

Labrador. I urge this government to put a little bit more emphasis on our

fishery.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. K. PARSONS:

It's an important

industry in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. It's good to hear

of another of our fisheries achieving MSC certification, especially our cod.

Our seafood is exported globally, and MSC certification does a lot to

promote our products. But it's too bad there's no money in this year's

budget to start a real seafood marketing plan so buyers and consumers could

easily recognize our high-quality products. If this government really was

worried about revenue, then they would put a marketing tool in place

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. MICHAEL:

which is long overdue

in our seafood industry.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, last week we were all subjected to the long-awaited Liberal plan. The

Premier and his Liberal team have delivered a devastating budget and it's an

attack on the people of our province. It's full of broken promises and it's

full of Liberal choices which will negatively impact every Newfoundlander

and Labradorian and burden every single family in our province with extra

taxes that will cost them thousands each year.

Now,

Premier Ball has also decided to introduce a Liberal levy, a cover charge

for every hard-working person that makes over $20,000 a year.

ask the Premier: Where was the evidence-based decision making when you

decided to impose a Liberal levy that targets our low- and middle-income

families?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, first of all, I will tell you that when you have to make difficult

choices because you want to protect the future of your province, sometimes

they're not easy choices to make. I can tell you everyone on this side of

the House of Assembly understands what it takes to make those difficult

choices. It is not lost on us that this budget indeed impacts

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

the past, as I've sat through this House of Assembly in 2012 I listened to a

10-Year Sustainability Plan from the Leader of the Opposition right now.

Well, that plan is a complete failure. It was supposed to bring per capita

debt down to a national average. It will never come close to that target.

Budget 2015-2016 from the previous administration was a complete failure; it

doubled the deficit that they predicted last year. Mr. Speaker, the tax

rates that we put in place takes us back to 2006 and 2007. We remain

competitive.

Mr.

Speaker, I realize these are tough choices, but we will protect the future

of our province.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Budget 2016 is a Liberal budget, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

It's that Premier's

budget. It's not the Opposition's budget; it's that Premier's budget. That

Premier and that government decided to bring forward the Liberal levy. It's

a tax grab for the current government. It was this government's choice which

puts a tremendous and unfair burden on the people of our province.

person earning $25,000 a year is just making ends meet, and they just tagged

them with an additional $300 cost, while a person who earns $200,000, or

$300,000 or $400,000 has to pay $900. On Friday, he told a group in Paradise

that the wealthiest pay 88 per cent of the taxes in our province. Now we

know, Mr. Speaker, how he feels. He feels the rich are paying enough. Now we

know.

ask the Premier: How were these levy amounts determined and where is your

concern for the lower- and middle-income families of Newfoundland and

Labrador?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

are very concerned about the lower- and the middle-income earners in our

province. We've enhanced over $76 million to support those middle-income

earners.

think it's fair, Mr. Speaker, that we understand the context of where we

are. The tax rates that you see in our province right now, we're back to

2006 and 2007 levels. I will remind the Member opposite that he speaks that

the levy is not part of that. The levy is included in that so we remain

competitive right back to 2006, 2007 levels.

For

me, as Premier of this province, it was a difficult choice. I think the easy

political choice was made just seven or eight years ago when it was the

previous administration that put in tax-reduction measures that were not

sustainable in our province. That's where we are. This is a temporary levy

and, in 2018, you will see this levy reversed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, the reality

of this temporary levy, it's a cover charge. It's a cover charge for people

working in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Liberal levy unfairly targets

hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, particularly our low-income,

hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, many who live from paycheque

to paycheque. I'm not sure if the Premier understands how that is, but

sometimes people live from paycheque to paycheque.

ask the Premier: Why did you choose to target those who can barely afford to

live today? Is that the stronger tomorrow that you promised people in last

fall's election?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

is a temporary levy. It's in place in many other provinces right now. In

fact, Ontario has a very similar model right now that they call a health

tax. BC has one, Quebec has one.

As a

matter of fact, back in 1996 there was a surtax that was put in place in

this province. We remain competitive, back to 2006 and 2007 levels, Mr.

Speaker.

will just mention one thing, when he talked about covering something. I can

tell you, Mr. Speaker, yes, we are covering something. We are covering the

mess that this group over across the way here, that they left this province

in. That is what we are trying to do. That is what we inherited. Does he

forget that?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

just five months this Premier and this government have abandoned their

commitments that they campaigned on when they went door to door and visited

with the people of the province last year. Election promises are out the

door. Reversal of the HST, the job killer that the Premier so proudly

protested, now it's back on. Job cuts, now they are laying off 650 people

just to start, and we don't know how many more there's going to be. Where's

the diversification plan? There is no sign of a diversification plan that he

promised Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker,

there is no plan at all.

ask the Premier your government has made choices. Your government and you

have made choices. You've painted a picture with no plan, with no hope, with

no vision for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Why would you not

have chosen a more balanced plan instead of sending people to the ferries

and the planes and leaving our province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

encourage the Member opposite to take some of the politics out of this and

let's start talking about some of the facts. He knows that if he checked the

tax rates in other provinces that we remain very competitive.

he does want to answer a political question, I would ask the former premier

of the province why is it that on September 28, when I wrote this very same

Member, why it is in his capacity he refused to let the people of this

province know going into the election, indeed, what the financial situation

was in our province. He hid it from us. He hid it from the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. He knew back then, in September and October, and

refused to put that update out there, Mr. Speaker. It was on September 28

and he refused to answer that letter.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

knew the circumstances when he cancelled the HST after he took the office,

Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Ninety million dollars in

revenue lost in this province because he cancelled the HST and replaced it

with a levy that targets our lowest and hardest working Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians. That's what he did, Mr. Speaker. That's what he did

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

It's an unfair levy. It's

an unfair Liberal levy that goes against all forms of taxation, all forms of

being fair and concerned about people. It's going to bring in $79 million

versus $90 million that the HST would have brought in.

The

Premier and his Liberal government have made decisions. They made decisions

to cancel that HST. That was their decision, Mr. Speaker, not ours. It was a

flip-flop, and a flip-flop that's causing hundreds of millions of dollars

that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are going to have to pay for. I can

tell you, that unfair levy is the talk of the province today.

ask the Premier: Can you admit that this was a mistake? Can you also end

your attack on the lower and hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What

we are trying to protect is the future of our province. I agree, these are

tough tax measures that had to be taken on behalf of the future of our

province.

The

track that we were on, Mr. Speaker, was over $27 billion just in seven short

years. I say this: Since 1949, since Confederation in our province leading

up to 2015, we had a net debt in our province of just over $15 billion.

As a

result of the poor planning and the mismanagement of the previous

administration that debt would have grown in seven years to over $27

billion, all of that with access to over $25 billion in oil money and oil

royalties. You didn't plan, you mismanaged and this is the mess that this

administration will now have to clean up.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

remind the Premier, he's in the Premier's chair today. Budgets are about

choices. Last year we made choices.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

We clearly laid out, Mr.

Speaker, what the implications were on a dollar of oil. Members opposite

should listen to this.

clearly laid out the implications on a dollar of oil. We clearly laid out

what a cent in the exchange rate would make. It was there for them to look

at. So they either ignored it or they're incompetent and couldn't figure it

out. I don't know which one it is but it's one or the other, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, when asking

for a plan the government told us to wait for the budget and now we've seen

it.

say to the Premier, budgets are about choices and they're about decisions.

Leadership is about being accountable for those decisions.

How

are the budget decisions of your Liberal government, such as removing the

Home Heating Rebate, taking $54 million out of health care and burning

seniors with additional taxes and fees how is that a plan for a stronger

tomorrow?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member opposite speaks of choices. I remind him the choice that he made not

to do was reply to the people of this province on September 28. That was a

choice that he ignored.

he's suggesting now that everyone in this province should have understood

the fiscal realities of the election? Well, he ran a full campaign ignoring

to answer that question.

Mr.

Speaker, these are difficult choices. These are tough but necessary choices

that had to be made. We will put in programs that will help protect the

vulnerable in our province. We realize there are critical services in our

province that we must continue, and we will continue to make a financial

commitment to.

This

budget includes $8.48 billion in expenditures, I would say, Mr. Speaker. So

there is quite a bit of activity. We are not giving up on Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians and we will help them prepare for their future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Premier likes to talk about what I've done or what I didn't do. He should

check the name plate on the door, because I think his name plate is on the

Premier's door today. That's who's in charge today, Mr. Speaker

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

and that's whose

choices matter to the people of the province.

It's

your choices, your decisions and your plan that impacts the people of the

province today, such as the HST rebate, the Home Heating Rebate taking

those away, that's what impacts people. That was your decision, Premier, not

ours. That was your decision.

Mr.

Speaker, the evidence-based decision making decisions of this government are

continuing to roll out. Just today Eastern Health announced a reduction of

50 long-term care beds just Eastern Health. Absolutely amazing, I can't

believe it. They're reducing 50 long-term care beds in the eastern part of

our province 40 at Masonic Park, and 10 at the Waterford. Liberal choices

will take those much-needed 50 beds out of the system.

So I

ask the Premier: How does this choice build a stronger tomorrow for those

who require long-term care in the province? Those who are waiting in

hospital beds waiting for long-term care, how does this improve their lives?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

former premier mentions about the name tag on the door. Well, indeed, the

name tag on the door has changed, but I can tell you, as a result of

mismanagement and the poor planning of this previous administration, the

problems inside of that office are much larger because he did sit in that

chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

So, Mr. Speaker, it's

obvious, the Premier doesn't want to talk about long-term care.

have the fastest-aging population in the country. We laid out a plan to

create new long-term care, where his plan is to reduce long-term care. He's

taking 50 long-term care beds just out of Eastern Newfoundland today 50

long-term care beds.

ask the Premier once again: Where is your plan for long-term care? How does

this benefit people who much needed long-term care?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

issue of long-term care beds relates to Masonic Park, which is a in a state

of disrepair and beyond remedy. Those clients will be better served by

moving to a vacant space which is unused at the Veterans Pavilion. The other

10 clients from N2B at the Waterford are being accommodated in much better

accommodation. As part of our plan to replace the Waterford, they are going

to Pleasantview. They are being well taken care of and there is no

reduction.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

We wondered about that,

Mr. Speaker, and we checked. I checked when I was over and met with Eastern

Health today. As a matter of fact, there are not 50 vacancies in the

province in long-term care today. There are not enough vacancies to fill

Masonic Park down at the Veterans Pavilion. There is not enough vacancy.

There are some there, but not enough for the vacancies, the 40 people who

are going to move.

This

is going to put extra pressure on the system. There are 50 beds taken out of

the system, pure and simple 50 long-term care beds taken out of the

system. Not only that, speaking about being taken out of the system, this

government promised no layoffs. They promised no layoffs during the election

last year and in the budget announced last week they have identified 650

full-time positions.

Today we've learned of 107 positions being eliminated from Eastern Health,

16 more from Central Health and we know 2,500 who have been put on notice

that your jobs are intact only until September.

ask the Premier: Can you let the people know how many positions you've

eliminated as part of your budget, restoring fiscal confidence and

accountability?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I

understand the Members opposite enthusiasm to weave a tapestry of bologna.

Quite frankly the 2,500 temporary positions that the

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

It's your time in

Question Period you are eating up, folks.

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Just

to clarify, the 2,500 that the Member opposite refers to are 2,500 temporary

positions that were extended as of March 31 for six months. Those are part

of the normal operations of government. They are not related to anything

other than normal government operations, as was clearly explained to

officials from the Opposition office last week.

Mr.

Speaker, when it comes to the positons that we announced as part of our

budget last week, the number for core government and the FTEs for the

agencies, boards and commissions, those numbers were being very transparent

as it relates to our actions of Budget 2016.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, I tell you

I've heard it all now when she refers to public servants losing their jobs

as bologna. You're talking about long-term care and public servants and

calls it bologna.

Mr.

Speaker, at a time in our history where we need young people, we need

families to live and to work in our province, the Liberal's choices made in

the budget to increase fees and taxes have instilled fear in the people of

our province. We're hearing from hundreds of them.

their own admission and in their own Budget Speech, the Finance Minister and

the Liberal government have cleared the runway for people to leave our

province like we've never seen before. There's another set of cuts coming

this fall in budget two.

ask the Premier let's see if he'll answer this question: Why didn't you

have the guts to lay out your full-range budget choices now in the spring as

traditionally done? Why are you leaving people in limbo, in fear for several

more months?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, we have

been very clear with the people of the province that these are unprecedented

fiscal situations. Members opposite seem to forget that left unchecked, this

year's deficit would have been $2.7 billion. Because of the actions of this

government and because of the things and the choices we made, we were able

to reduce that deficit to $1.8 billion.

must be able to provide sustainable, efficient public services for the

people of the province. It is important that we make the choices that we're

making so that we can actually pay for the services we need to provide, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, the Premier

has gone silent, so I'll try this question for him.

simply ask the Premier: How will your plan for a stronger tomorrow for the

people of the province when your first set of choices are driving people,

businesses out of the province. How will this improve our province for those

people and businesses? Is there more coming this fall?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

First of all, Mr.

Speaker, I want to address some of the comments that were made by the

Members opposite when it comes to increasing spending. Well, maybe they

forget some of the commitments that they had made last year, one of which

was of the $400 million; it was $222 million that goes to the NLTA pension

fund

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

the $400 million that they're talking about, $222 million of it goes to the

NLTA pension fund, some to debt servicing. They didn't seem to be overly

worried about debt servicing, overly worried by the fact that in just seven

years over $27 billion, we would require over $2 billion in debt servicing

in this province.

That

is what's eating into the services and the critical services and benefits

that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador need. By addressing this issue

today, that's our approach to do that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I can remember my time sitting opposite, and particularly last year

when I was Premier. Liberal Party Members, they were in the Opposition over

here, every single day got up in their place and they asked us for more and

more and more. They asked us to spend more and do more and give more every

single day, hundreds of millions of dollars. Through weeks on end, they

would come up and they would ask for more.

Mr.

Speaker, this is about their budget. Since the budget was announced we know

that Liberal ministers, we know that backbenchers are receiving an

overwhelming amount of calls and negative feedback from their constituents.

Mr. Speaker, we know the pressure is on every Member opposite to vote for

their people or for their party.

Can

the Premier assure the people of the province that he will allow a free vote

on this budget, allowing every Liberal MHA to vote on their conscience as

opposed to being whipped to vote on this devastating Liberal budget?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, it's

important to address the comments from the Member opposite in his

preamble

when he speaks about, his words: more, more, more. Mr. Speaker, when we sat

on that side of the House last year he presented a budget that had a deficit

of just over a billion dollars. We had six out of 12 years of deficits in

this province. We had spending at 20 to 36 per cent higher per capita than

any other province.

Because of that administration, Mr. Speaker, this side of the House is

taking accountability for the situation we find ourselves in now with oil

prices also impacting, compounding the problem on top of the mismanagement

from former administrations and we will not make decisions that are anything

other but in the best interest of the people of the province in the long

run, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Interesting to see, I asked the Premier if he was going to allow his caucus

to vote freely and he puts the Minister of Finance up.

I am

going to ask again, Mr. Speaker. Each of the 40 Members in the House of

Assembly, each and every Member here in the House of Assembly has the

opportunity to vote in support or against and vote down the budget. Every

Member can do that. A frequently asked question over the last number of days

from people of the province.

ask the Premier again: Will you allow your Members to vote freely on budget

day?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What's important for us as a government is that all Members of our caucus

have a choice to actually have their input into what they have. One thing

that I've said in this House now, it is the fifth year I would say, Mr.

Speaker. We've been here before. We went through one of the longest

filibusters that we've seen in the history of our province. That was of the

Muskrat Falls debate.

that time many people around this province were asking for a free vote. The

Members opposite were part of that. What they did was they whipped their

caucus into a free vote. Right now I say, Mr. Speaker, I would argue that

the money that's advanced to Nalcor to support this province, I wonder now

if they had to vote for that project all over again would they be prepared

to vote the same way? Because they were not prepared to actually put the

money in place. It was poorly planned.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Premier has not answered. I've asked the question twice, if he'll allow a

free vote, and he hasn't answered the question. I say again it's probably

the most frequently asked question I received over the weekend.

Mr.

Speaker, the Premier's inability to get help from the federal government has

led to tax hardships for families, seniors and students. There should have

been other options, but the Premier has stated in his own words: It is what

it is.

When

other premiers, Premier Wall and Premier Notley, are lobbying and advocating

and contacting the federal government to look for assistance, our Premier is

sitting on his hands. He threw them up, he threw in the towel and he didn't

pursue opportunities with the federal government.

ask the Premier: Five months into your mandate, how can the people of our

province have confidence in your government, in your captains of industry,

in your choices when you don't make efforts to pursue opportunities for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

think what the premier is referring to is the equalization formula that we

see in our province.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Leader of the

Opposition.

PREMIER BALL:

Leader of the Opposition,

the former premier.

What

I'm saying is what he's thinking is that Alberta and Saskatchewan, because

they seem to be shouting a bit as he says, that the volume is what's

required. Alberta and Saskatchewan have not received any more from

equalization.

knows he should know, at least even though he failed to make the case

for Newfoundland and Labrador back in 2014, the formula is an $18 billion

program. I can assure you we are working with our federal colleagues.

Already we've seen well over $300 million in infrastructure funding.

We've seen a small business community fund that they refused to even sign

off. That's how important that relationship was with them. It was either

they couldn't get in the door or the door was shut in their face.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

guess the Premier is not aware, it's a 10-year fund to be utilized over a

10-year period. It didn't have to be used last week, last month or last year

for that matter, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, once again I'm going to ask the Premier. Instead of advocating to

his federal cousins in Ottawa for more funding, the Liberal government

decided to increase taxes and fees on our lowest-income earners in the

province, those people who struggle every single day.

I'm

going to ask the Premier one more time: Why did you accept status quo

instead of fighting for more on behalf of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I have

listened to Members opposite since last Thursday talk to people in this

province about what they perceive is the reality and the facts about our

budget. Well, let me clarify it for them.

Currently, based on the tax increases that we've been forced none of us

want to do it, we've been forced to make tax increases and tough choices. We

have the third-lowest first income tax bracket. We have tripled the point

increase in the first tax bracket across the top bracket, and including all

of the levies, all income tax levels are back to 2006, and we've implemented

an enhanced seniors' program, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

You

have about ten seconds.

MS. C. BENNETT:

We have implemented

an income supplement to help the most vulnerable and some of those that are

impacted, and we've also provided an enhanced seniors' benefit, Mr. Speaker.

For

the Members opposite to continue to avoid the facts that are in the budget

is, quite frankly, irresponsible.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

provincial budget projects, on page 5, a 15 per cent reduction in employment

and a 22 per cent reduction in real compensation of employees over the next

five years. Today we saw 107 jobs gone from Eastern Health, 15 from Central

Health.

her Budget Speech, the Minister of Finance admits that deficit-reduction

measures in the Liberal budget account for 40 to 50 per cent of these

serious declines in the economy.

So I

ask the Premier: How could he allow the Finance Minister to proceed with a

budget that does so much harm to our economy and to our people?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, for the

Member opposite, and certainly for those listening at home, I'd certainly

like to explain the remaining part of that per cent that the Member opposite

didn't refer to.

have two years where the large-scale projects in our province will be

concluding. When those projects conclude that's going to see a significant

impact on the unemployment rate. Quite frankly, it's one of the reasons why

I believe people of the province elected us to govern, because for a decade

the former administration was focused on diversifying the economy by only

focusing on developing oil and not focusing on how to diversify the economy

throughout the province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, government

blames our fiscal crisis on the drop in oil prices. During the election they

promised economic diversification, yet their first budget shows no evidence

of any plan for economic diversification.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the minister: Aside from crossing her fingers hoping oil

prices will increase, what are her concrete plans for economic

diversification?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I can

assure the people of the province and the Member opposite that what we're

not going to do is we are not going to budget based on hope that money is

going to we are going to base our budgets based on fact and not on faith.

We're going to base it on the fact that oil prices, even today, analysts are

saying, could dip to $30 later on this year.

Mr.

Speaker, we have to accept the reality that there has been a decade of

spending. There has been a decade of poor planning and, as a result, the

people of the province are left in this situation. The responsible thing to

do is to make methodical steps forward through this budget, the fall budget

and next year, to make sure we get our fiscal situation back under control.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, this is not

a budget by a government who knows what they are doing; this is merely an

accounting exercise void of vision and hope.

ask the minister: What new sources of revenue has she created, or is she

satisfied to just pick the pockets of our hard-working people with

regressive taxes, levies and fees?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I made

it very clear in this House last week that I don't think there's any Member,

I would argue, in this House of Assembly that is pleased with the idea of

increasing taxes. But I would remind the Member opposite that even though

this is an unprecedented fiscal situation, these are not unprecedented tax

increases.

These changes, including the temporary changes we've made, bring us back to

2006-07 levels. Mr. Speaker, we need to continue to make sure that we have

the resources to be able to provide cost-effective and efficient public

sector services for the people of the province at the same time as we manage

the risk associated with the borrowing and debt load that the previous

decade has left the people of the province to face.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East Quidi Vidi, for a quick question.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

ask the Premier: Based on what his minister just said, how does he justify

demanding that low- and middle-income Newfoundlanders and Labradorians bear

the brunt of the levy tax, which, as far as I know, is pretty new in this

House?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, we have

implemented the Newfoundland and Labrador Income Supplement which low-income

seniors, low-income persons with disabilities and individuals will be able

to avail of that to offset some of these tax increases.

The

combined tax increase that we're undertaking actually brings us to 2006

levels, and I would remind the Member opposite that currently on the lowest

tax bracket, we are the third lowest in Canada, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Presenting Reports by

Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd

like to give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An

Act Respecting Insured Medical And Hospital Services In The Province, Bill

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

The

hon. the Member for the District of Bonavista.

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, I'm bringing

forward a private Member's resolution for Wednesday, seconded by the Member

for Terra Nova. It states:

WHEREAS the First World War was a significant event in the history of

Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS Honour 100 represents the provincial government's commitment to

commemorating Newfoundland and Labrador's First World War story and will

focus on significant anniversaries, legacy, education, provincial outreach

and research; and

WHEREAS as a province, we will honour the sacrifices made by our veterans

and come together and commemorate the anniversary on July 1, engaging our

young people to learn more about the history that has shaped this place we

call home;

THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED that this House of Assembly calls upon all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to join with the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador to mark this centennial day and commemorate those brave men and

women by participating in planned events at the National War Memorial and

community memorials throughout our province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, pursuant

to Standing Order 63, the private Member's resolution entered by the Member

for Bonavista is the one to be debated this Wednesday.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS the Deficit Reduction Levy is an extremely regressive surtax,

placing a higher tax burden on low- and middle-income taxpayers; and

WHEREAS surtaxes are typically levied on the highest income earners only, as

currently demonstrated in other provinces, as well as Australia, Norway and

other countries; and

WHEREAS government states in the 2016 provincial budget that the personal

income tax

schedule needs to be revised and promises to do so;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge government to ensure that the Deficit Reduction

Levy be eliminated and any replacement measure be based on progressive

taxation principles and that an independent review of the Newfoundland and

Labrador provincial income tax system begin immediately to make it fairer to

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

And

as in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, we are getting hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of calls. I'm

sure every Member in this House is getting calls from the people of the

province about this regressive levy.

you know, Mr. Speaker, that if you have a household, a single household with

two earning members, both earning $50,000 a year the levy for that household

will be $1,200? If you have a single person earning $900,000, living alone,

that household will pay $900. There's something wrong with that. This is not

progressive; this is regressive.

wonder, Mr. Speaker, who in God's name was the government listening to when

they boast about thousands of people coming to their town halls and when

they consulted with them, and they said that thousands and thousands of

messages they got from people across the province? How people recommended

taxing and putting a levy on low-income earners like this? Who in God's name

was this government listening to? They certainly weren't listening to the

people who are speaking to all of us here in this House.

Mr.

Speaker, this is not compelling us forward. This is not based on a budget

that propels the province forward; this is simply an accounting exercise

where the Minister of Finance so proudly stated they went line by line by

line. I believe they did that, because that's all they did. There is no

diversification. There is not a single new job that has been created. There

is not a single new penny of revenue that has been created. Instead, what's

happening is government is choosing to pick the pockets of the hard-working

people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This

is not a budget; this is a scheme for pickpocketing. That's what it is, Mr.

Speaker.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much,

Mr. Speaker.

the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of

Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the federal government cannot justify discriminating against

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians when determining the dates of the

recreational groundfish fishery;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge the government to be vocal in calling the

and Labrador to promote fairness, safety and tourism in our province.

Mr.

Speaker, the fishery is a huge part of our province. It's a huge part of who

we are as a people. This government across the way don't realize that; they

don't know how important the fishery is to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

talked to a lot of fishermen and fisher people and they tell me that they

all agree with the recreational fishery, but it should be done and let the

fishermen and the fisher people in this province get out and catch the cod.

It should be something that this government is doing to ensure there are

markets in place. It's the one thing that can keep rural Newfoundland alive.

Everybody in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and everywhere in Newfoundland

understands the importance of the fishery other than the government.

Mr.

Speaker, the recreational fishery is important to our communities. I urge

the minister to talk to his counterparts. They're talking about a tag

system. Let the people know what's happening and let the people know where

we're to. Also, let the fishermen know when and

schedule for a recreational

fishery.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly

sheweth:

propose to close Whitbourne Elementary effective June 2016 and bus them to a

distant school; and

WHEREAS Whitbourne Elementary is an important accessible and inclusive

neighbourhood school with programs, community partnerships and

extracurricular activities designed to meet the particular needs of the

children who attend it;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge government to ensure that Whitbourne Elementary

school remains open.

And

as in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I bring this petition. The people who signed it know now that it's

not just the school trustees suggesting the school close. This school, along

with four other schools in the province, have been closed as of Saturday.

People who signed this petition I have hundreds of signatures here in my

hand along with others heard this for themselves on Saturday. They heard

the school trustees make a decision that took not into account one thing

that was said to them at the April 2 hearing that took place in Whitbourne

not one thing.

Parents of children who have real, exceptional needs stood and told the

story of those children, and we know that those children are going into an

inaccessible building. What the school board has in mind for these children

is disgraceful.

didn't escape the parents who were present on Saturday that this is a

decision that was made they had no choice. They did have a choice, but

they were being given a demand by this government to close schools, to save

money on the backs of their children. On the backs of their children, one of

whom is in a wheelchair, another one uses a walker, children who cannot be

on a bus for a whole hour in the morning before going to school because of

their physical conditions and their mental conditions.

Mr.

Speaker, it is disgraceful that these parents had to go through what they're

going through. I'm warning the government now; they still want this petition

read because they're not giving up. They are going to continue to tell this

government, to tell the Minister of Education that they have a

responsibility for the children and they have a responsibility to make sure

that this decision gets reversed. They are not going to give up the battle.

They

had this battle some years ago. They didn't give up then, and they're not

going to give up now. What has happened is shameful, and these parents feel

completely let down by the government and by the minister, by everybody on

that side of the House, Mr. Speaker. As long as they present petitions to

me, I will be delighted to be able to stand and be their voice here in the

House of Assembly.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of

Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the lifeline of the residents of Bell Island, both socially and

economically, is its ferry service;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge government to confirm that every measure be taken

to expedite the modifications to the existing wharf structure, ensuring that

Bell Island returns to two-ferry service as soon as possible.

And

as in duty bound your petitioners, will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, Bell Island and the people who are serviced by the ferry service

there have been reliant on a two-ferry service. We invested, as an

administration, over the last number of years millions of dollars to ensure

that people would have equitable access to transportation so it would grow

the economy.

We've moved from a reliance on income support to a commuting service, Mr.

Speaker, that 525 people a day travel to the mainland part of the Island and

work in the service industry, work in professional services, are health

professionals, to ensure their stability and their financial contributions

are significant. We've been down to one ferry. There's been no work done on

the Portugal Cove side terminal for the last five months. Even though there

was a contract let, the breakwater itself which is another issue around

parking has all the construction equipment there and all the materials

ready to go, but nothing has been done.

We've been urging the department to work a deal with the contractors to

start moving that forward. We have issues around parking, which becomes a

safety issue. We have an issue around new ferries coming here and no ability

to put them into play because of the fact that wharfs won't be done.

More

importantly, the people of Bell Island are worried about having a two-ferry

service that they always had. This administration talks about

diversification and their policies about growing tourism. Well, Bell

Island's one of the hottest growing areas for tourism in this province, and

you're stifling that because you're not moving forward on the contract that

was put in place.

So I

urge the minister, and I urge him to work with his colleagues to ensure that

the contractor gets on site and starts doing the work they were contracted

to do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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 our province's seniors deserve quality care and assistance when

residing in long-term care facilities; and

WHEREAS our province is currently experiencing an escalating shortage of

long-term care beds;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge government to explore all options including

partnerships to create new long-term care beds in this province.

And

as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, it's very difficult for me to stand here this afternoon. We are all

very angry in this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As I stand here

and present this petition on behalf the people calling for more long-term

care beds to take care of the seniors, Mr. Speaker, who've given their

entire lives to this province, we face an announcement of another loss of 50

long-term care beds in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The

people of this province have certainly been let down by this Liberal

government. It is well known that we have an aging population in this

province and seniors need to have adequate care facilities.

The

announcement today that mass layoffs are coming will do nothing to improve

the standard of care for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Is this the

stronger tomorrow you promised the people? Remember, no layoffs under a

Liberal government.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MS. PERRY:

Mr. Speaker, I'm getting

some heckling from across the way. The person who called last year for

double dentures and cut it all out altogether this year, Mr. Speaker.

our district, we don't like to lose things. We don't like to acquire

something by losing something else. We lost our dialysis today. We lost our

clinic in Hermitage today. We lost services to rural remote communities like

Rencontre East, Gaultois, McCallum. These people can't even get a doctor,

Mr. Speaker, now they have to travel even further to get to a doctor. It is

absolutely deplorable that you called upon them to vote for you and this is

how you treat them. The government has a responsibility to address this

major issue no thoughts whatsoever of honouring the promises they made to

the people.

Not

one single word came out in the budget on long-term care but they ripped the

partnership program that we had in place for 350 long-term care beds. There

is a shortage of long-term care beds and the plan to address this would make

a massive difference to individuals and their families and it would create a

lot of jobs, Mr. Speaker. We need those jobs today more so than ever. Long

wait times for long-term care and acute care services remain in our health

sector today and left unchecked, these wait times will grow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. PERRY:

Mr. Speaker, is my time

concluded?

MR. SPEAKER:

Yes.

MS. PERRY:

Okay. Well, I certainly

will be back to speak in this House again, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. PERRY:

The people of this

province deserve better!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly

sheweth:

Junior High school and send students to a distant school; and

WHEREAS the board has arbitrarily and without consultation reduced the Holy

Cross catchment area and students will have to be bused to a far more

distant school; and

WHEREAS Holy Cross Junior High is an important neighbourhood school with

programs, community partnerships and extracurricular activities designed to

meet the particular needs of the inner-city students who attend it; and

longer accountable to the people who elected them;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge government to ensure that Holy Cross Junior High

school board.

Mr.

Speaker, on this past Saturday the school board trustees voted to close Holy

Cross Junior High. It was amazing to watch the process because I don't know

who they were listening to. They certainly were not listening to the people,

to the parents, to the guardians, to the children, to the teachers and to

the principal of Holy Cross Junior High. I don't know who they were

listening to.

The

fact that they were not a duly elected board of trustees is absolutely

scandalous. It undermines the whole premise of the accountability of school

board trustees to the people of their communities. They made a decision to

close a school in central St. John's. There wasn't a single member on that

board who lives in St. John's, so who were they accountable?

The

premise of our school board is to ensure that we have trustees that are duly

elected by the people of the community who are accountable to the people of

the community. This was a secret vote. It was a secret ballot. We don't know

who voted, how they voted. Nobody has to justify how they voted. On what

grounds were these decisions made?

The

other thing I find particularly concerning is that the teachers were not at

all consulted, the teachers who know these children intimately, the teachers

who know their needs. Mr. Speaker, 38 per cent of the children at Holy Cross

Junior High have exceptionalities. This particular school has increased the

standards for these children. These children were doing much better than

they were in previous years. The school was successful in providing every

student with the greatest opportunity to succeed, which is what we want to

happen in our schools. We want to provide every child with the greatest

opportunity to succeed.

Why

was it important to keep the school open? Not out of sentimental reasons,

but because now almost every child in that school will have to be bused to

another school, which means they won't be able to take

part in after-school

activities. Most of these children come from families that have

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

look forward to standing and speaking to this issue again.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I move, pursuant to

Standing Order 32, to Orders of the Day, Mr. Speaker.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move,

seconded by the Minister of Service NL, for leave to introduce a bill

entitled,

An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act, Bill 12, and I further

move that the said bill be now read the first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded

by the hon. the Government House Leader that Bill 12 be now read a first

time.

it the pleasure of the House that the minister shall have leave to read Bill

12 a first time?

All

those in favour?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

Those against?

Carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and Labrador to

introduce a bill,

An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act, carried. (Bill

12)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend

The Highway Traffic Act. (Bill 12)

MR. SPEAKER:

This bill has now been

read a first time.

When

shall Bill 12 be read a second time?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 12 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call

from the Order Paper, Motion 1, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

It's

certainly a pleasure to get up and speak to Budget 2016 as a Member of this

provincial Legislature, one of 40 Members. It is a privilege for me to stand

here as the representative of the people of the Ferryland District, since

2007 first elected.

certainly is a privilege. You run for elected office. There are many who do

that aren't successful. It is indeed a pleasure and a privilege to represent

the people of one of the 40 districts in Newfoundland and Labrador. To work

hard for them; work on issues of importance to them, either individual

issues or issues in the community, issues related to public policy right

across the full spectrum of running the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador, whether you're on the government side. Here in the Opposition you

have a role to play and it's a very important role. I think everybody

understands that. As I said, it's a privilege to be a part of that.

Over

my career in politics I've had the opportunity to serve on both sides. This

is a new role for me in Opposition. I'm enjoying it. Through the years on

the government side as Cabinet minister, I'm quite familiar with the process

that has gone on over the past number of months and weeks in regard to

preparing for a budget and the role that the public service plays in many

departments right throughout government. In finance, the excessive number of

hours and hard work they put in putting a budget together was part of that.

Public servants may not often be recognized in terms of the work they do in

putting a budget together but it is important to recognize that there's

often long hours in the evening time and on the weekends. As you can

imagine, an $8 billion exercise in terms of bringing all that information

together and making decisions. It is a big process in terms of doing that. I

just want to recognize, based on my experience and what I saw, I certainly

do recognize that of the public servants.

that process of the budget, what political side you are on or political

ideology or where you believe you should take direction of the province,

there are always difficult and easy decisions. Well, that's what they are.

They are easy decisions. The difficult ones, when you are faced with them,

as I've experienced sitting around the Cabinet table and/or in caucus, are

challenging. It comes down to the fundamental principles of what you believe

in. Then you come together and try to draw some conclusions in regard to how

you are going to move forward collectively on a particular item. I

understand that.

The

past couple years there has been times we sat around and made tough

decisions. Again this year with a new government coming into power in the

fall, we had to sit down and look at where we are and make decisions on how

we want to move forward with the province in terms of leading it and

providing the direction as we move forward for the next four years.

is challenging, everybody recognizes that, but fundamentally at the end of

the day, when you go into an election campaign you lay out for people what

your fundamental principles are. You make promises and you're expected to

live up to those promises. You lay out for people what your vision is for

the first year in office and for the four years in office. You lay out

fundamental pillars of what you think is going to be important and how

you're going to get through that.

People have a right at the end of the day to hold you to that. That is

certainly what it's all about, about getting elected. We run as an

individual, you run to represent people in a district. Certainly as a

government, you run on a platform. You run on a belief and direction of that

particular government and you should be held accountable for it.

That

finds us today; here we are today discussing the budget of 2016 and what the

current Liberal administration campaigned on in the fall, last fall, and

what they delivered here in this budget. That's what we will discuss over

the weeks ahead through estimates. In Estimates this morning, the Public

Service Commission, Human Resource Secretariat, we went through a bunch of

items in regard to those two entities. The minister was available and all of

her staff in regard to those and went through. That's an exercise for people

that are out there to understand how we break down those various aspects of

a particular department and go through line by line in regard to the

expenditures related to last year's budget and what the actuals were for a

particular year. Then again, the current government lays out the estimate

for the coming year.

particular, departments, when you go to Estimates, you can as a standing

committee, the Members from both sides sits on those committees and can ask

any questions related to those line items, as well as policy issues related

to the department and the direction they're going and success that's been

had to date, and/or moving forward, what that will be.

It's

all part of the budget process and we're working through that now. I know

last fall, us being in power for a number of years, we went to the

electorate to lay it out for us, but our ideas, our vision was for the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the democratic process. The people

chose. We respect that.

The

people chose, gave a mandate to our folks on the other side to form our

government and to bring in what they believed was in the best interests of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and based on, as we lay out in a platform

to the people, why we should vote for one particular party or one bunch of

individuals. That platform people expect you to follow through on. So we've

had lots of discussions about that as we move through our budget debate.

we look at where we are today in terms of our financial situation, I mean

nobody I don't think any side would deny, or certainly it's not our

intention to deny the province is challenged by the consequences of a

revenue shortfall, a lot of it due to global market in regard to oil

reduction in the amount of a barrel of oil. We've seen it in other Canadian

jurisdictions, more specifically Alberta and now Saskatchewan.

When

you're based on natural resources in a time of plenty, you get great returns

from those. When it's not in the global market and there's a whole number

of intervening variables at any point in time that cause that challenge;

there are challenges from a revenue point of view and from operating the

government. There are challenges. With that comes the ability to lay out an

immediate plan to address any shortfalls and a long-term plan to deal with

it over a four-year government period or even longer, depending on what the

indicators are at that time.

all know action is required. Last year in 2015, when we laid out our budget,

we introduced a balance of some fee increases, things like HST. We inserted

two new brackets in the personal income tax on the higher end and a number

of variables to look at how we would bring that balanced approach forward.

That's what we did.

That's what we're thinking should have been done with this particular

budget. We don't think it's balanced. I would think it's very quick on the

revenue side to pull a whole lot of revenue, a whole lot of funds out of

people's pockets in a variety of areas, a variety of demographics, right

through the whole demographics of our province. In doing that based on what

is happening globally and in Canada itself, when the economy slows, and the

economy is slowing because of various reasons, it's tough to take more

consumer spending and reduce it because small businesses and all businesses

are what drives our economy, all the time. But certainly in a time like,

this we need to be very careful of what we do and make sure it's a balanced

approach.

our 2015 budget we laid out as I said, it was in bringing a response to a

revenue crunch and trying to lay out a long-term plan to deal with that so

people can see it. Everybody knows here in the House when you lay it out

and our friends on the government side will see that there are challenges

when you're in government for laying it out and you need to convince people

that you're going in the right way and that things are being done the way

that they need to be done.

you honestly lay it out. You lay it out for the people and you say here it

is, and you work through it and try and do what you need to do to get

through it. We did it in an election year. We could have easily said no, no

new tax increases. We are not going to do any of that. That won't be

popular. HST, we announced it first last year; it wasn't popular. We didn't

do it because we thought it was going to be popular; we did it because it

needed to be done.

Looking and evaluating where we were to, we had to make some choices. They

were serious choices, laying them out in front of people and what that would

be. Again, on a balance, we looked at some infrastructure spending and in

our documents of last year and I will talk about that as I move forward

today we laid out infrastructure. There is always lots of infrastructure

in all of our districts and all the various industries around the province;

we can always look at increased infrastructure. We tried to take that

balance. That's what we did in 2015; we took that balance and laid out

priorities for this year and looked at what the priorities would be in

future years based on our abilities. That is what you do, and it's important

that we do that. You're honest and upfront with the people and you let them

know what you're doing.

regard to what we are seeing in this budget, there was certainly choices

made by this particular government running an election campaign,

particularly related to HST, adamant, the now Premier said back at that time

as Opposition Leader, back last year, unequivocally, right away, HST is a

job killer. We're not going to do it. Unequivocally, straightforward, that

was said.

see in the budget today that the HST is in. It's something that we laid out,

basically, straightforward with the people of the province. We said we think

it's a need. It's something we need to do, and this is the revenue we think

we'll generate from it.

As a

result of the election of the Liberal government last fall, immediately

coming into office we had already contacted the Department of Finance in

Ottawa and requested that the HST be levied. There are two particular times

during a year January 1 to June 1 that HST, with the approval of the

federal government, can be levied. We did that. We gave notice. That process

was set to begin as of January 1, that there would be a 2 per cent increase,

to go from 13 to 15. With the coming in of a new government they decided,

no, we're not going to do that. So they wrote and had it stopped.

That

means the next time they could I believe it's July 1 when they could

institute the levy. It would be then. We had predicted somewhere in the

range of $180 million in regard to the generation of new revenues from the

HST increase of 2 per cent. The fact that it was cancelled, that's $90

million, basically, that we don't have now that we could have had. Now,

based on this budget, we've flip-flopped. We're going back and we're putting

HST in place, which is going to, I assume, be instituted by the federal

government (inaudible) collections start.

notice in the budget, I think even the Estimates of the current government

is higher than the $180 million. If I remember correctly, it might be about

$220 million. That means we may have left even more money in the first six

months of this year on the table. That would be about $110 million. I think

that would exceed what the current levy is that the government has now

instituted.

We're saying it's a temporary levy, but if they had recognized the HST and

the revenue it was going to generate, obviously, that would offset the levy.

That's certainly confusing on why that was done. I guess the government and

others will answer for that as we move through debate and tell us why that

happened.

Other things we hear too and I'll take you through that in terms of we

were in government for a number of years and made a number of decisions

about spending and budgets, where we would invest, why we needed to invest,

where we were when we came to power. The revenues that were generated for

things like the oil industry, how we would use that to rebuild a province

that had huge deficits in regard to infrastructure, in terms of

post-secondary investment, in terms of economic development, in terms of

growing our rural communities.

Let's face it, no matter what government is in power, you never get to do it

all, but you prioritize and you try to build it collectively to make a

province a place where people want to raise their family, where people want

to stay, where people want to go to post-secondary, go to college, get

expertise, get training and want to stay here and grow your family. That's

what it's all about. That's what the initiatives in any government are all

about. We took that very seriously and invested heavily in many aspects.

Other areas, innovation, research and development, our municipalities, all

of that builds strong communities and stronger regions. That's what you

need. I'll talk further too, when we get into it, about investments in

health care, social programs, education. All of that builds strong

communities. That's what we need and that's what we did over the past number

of years.

Always, whether I was the minister of innovation, business and rural

development, Fisheries, Municipal Affairs, we all had discussions with my

colleagues on this side and on the other side about needs they had and needs

they thought were important. That's fine, they certainly did have needs. We

worked with them to fulfill those needs. We didn't get them all done, but

there was never a time when someone on the other said ever said: well b'y,

you know, we shouldn't spend that. That's not a good investment.

will go through shortly some of the significant infrastructure. The monies

that have been spent and what it's been spent on. We often hear there was

$25 billion, or there was X amount of dollars for this, and we didn't spend

it properly and we wasted it. Well, if someone wants to stand up and say

that, that's fine, but let's back it up and tell us where was that to.

Here's the infrastructure we spent. This is the reduction we gave in

personal income tax to allow this province to be very competitive and allow

people to live here and build their families here, and also for people to

move here and to be competitive, and for businesses to move here and to have

competitive corporate and business taxation. Those are all indicators or

pillars of how you build your economy and how you do it successfully.

did that. If people disagree with it, that's great. It's nice to stand up

and say there's something here you shouldn't have done. Or if something was

built in your district, there was infrastructure put in your district, but

today you should stand up and say: well, that shouldn't have been done. That

piece of infrastructure shouldn't have been built. You shouldn't have done

it. That's fine. That's a debate we can have if someone wants to stand up

and say that. The infrastructure was spent, the dollars were spent to build

our communities, build our region and build our province.

We've heard too in regard to we have no choice, those sort of things. We

always have choice as a government and the direction we take. Once you're

sworn in, whether you are a premier or cabinet minister in caucus and all

concerned, you represent the group that runs the show. It's your choice. You

make the choices what you do now to move forward. There are many variations

of what that could be many variations certainly. A wide range of programs

and policies and levers you could use on the revenue side and on the

expenditure side. That's what you put together.

It's

always left with those that lead and those who are on the government side,

and that's where it needs to be. Leadership is about taking that stand,

taking the responsibility and laying it out for people. Sometimes it's tough

and sometimes it's not so tough, but, at the end of the day, you have to

take responsibility for it and you have to do what you believe is in the

best interest of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

We've also talked earlier there has been a lot of discussion as we've gone

through about our credit rating, which is extremely important, as we know.

As your credit rating rises, obviously it is a benefit in regard to

servicing your debt. In terms of borrowing money, it is a far better

interest rate and you want to keep that debt and servicing down as low as it

can possibly be.

know last fall when we presented to the people of the province or last

spring when we brought down the budget, we seen several times through the

years the three bond rating agencies were happy with that, happy with the

plan that was laid out. Even as late as November, I think one of the bond

rating agencies had looked at it and were still content with what we had

laid out. Now that had started to change when the current government in

January, I believe it was, formally initiated that they were going to cancel

the HST, which signalled that the plan had changed.

The

credit rating agencies and all concerned were looking for okay, well the

plan is going to change. You are going to pull revenue out. How are you

going to replace it? With a barrel of oil and revenues dropping, what's the

plan? How are you going to move it forward? That was lacking. It was lacking

for quite a while, till Thursday, and we got some indication of where this

government was going to go, what their ideas are, what some of their plans

are; but, as we talked about here in the House in Question Period, it now

appears we are going to have two budgets. We had a budget on Thursday and

we're going to have another one in the fall.

think that causes some concern because it is not a plan in regard to the

fiscal year. It's causing, what we have heard, and I'm sure on the other

side as well, because I've seen a lot of emails and a lot of messages sent

to various Members and people who have concerns with the approach on

Thursday and what that's going to mean in regard specifically to people and

cost. I talked about the demographics and the various parts of society that

are affected.

Still, you look at seniors, obviously, many on fixed incomes. You look at

the disposable income they have. So you look at a levy that goes on where

they may have to pay $300 or $400 a month. You look at gasoline that goes

up, 16 cents. You look at their car insurance. All of this adds up, and

these are net dollars that are coming right out of their pocket. Home

Heating Rebate all of those things are direct dollars that are coming out,

off a group like seniors which is devastating. It is fixed income.

is that a balanced approached? Is that where we need to go? What does that

do for the needs and what they need to survive and stay in their communities

and live in their homes? It's a challenge. It's a real challenge. So what's

the balance? Is there something else we can do to balance that out? Because

we've invested heavily over the past number of years in regard to seniors

and everybody knows the demographics in this province the fastest aging

demographic in the country. So that brings challenges.

We've looked, as a government, certainly looking at keeping seniors in their

home, investing heavily in home support, which is essential to allow them to

stay in their homes. So that's one of the things that are extremely

important. What this budget is doing is looking at how do these seniors

still survive and still be able to maintain their homes and live in their

homes and have those services they want when we're heavily burdening them

with taxation and fees.

get back to the point I said before, in terms of balance. It's all about a

balance. It's about you need to raise more revenue, but you also got to talk

about your expenses. How do you balance that out? And that's what we're

talking about. Certainly it's part of the revenue stream. It's a part of

diversity. It's economic development. It's your community. It's your

economy. It's your businesses. So you can't do one thing on one side of the

ledger that's going to dramatically affect the other side, and that's the

balance.

Thursday, the budget that was presented didn't show that balance, didn't

demonstrate that balance or didn't show long term how we're going to deal

with some fundamental issues we have in regard to our deficits as we move

forward.

That's important; that's what we're saying. That's our concern, certainly,

with the budget in terms of how it was laid out heavily on the taxation side

and just driving revenues, and this is how we're going to get revenues.

We're going to tax everybody, we're going to increase fees to everybody, and

we've got an economy that's sort of flatlining. So that's going to impact

the economy, because it's all about disposable income. It's all about people

spending, and you don't feel comfortable with that or confident, it's very

concerning.

Another thing we've seen, certainly, is indications in terms of the public

service. There were layoffs announced. I think there were 650 announced in

the public service. People understand you've got to do things on both sides

of the ledger; you have to make serious decisions.

One

of the things that's really concerning is we don't know whether that's it

and we don't know whether there are more coming in the fall. From a consumer

point of view and consumer confidence, and people being concerned and have

fear about what the future holds, I mean that dramatically affects the

economy.

we have 48,000, or in that range, of public servants either core public

service or with all our agencies and boards that are out there today and

saying, I don't know what's going to happen in the next six months. Do you

think they're going to buy a new car? Do you think they're going to do

renovations on their house? Do you think they're going to take a trip? A lot

of them are going to sit back and say, I don't know, I'm uncertain, I don't

know what the future holds for me. They're not going to invest. They're not

going to spend. If you don't spend, you're not supporting local business;

you're not supporting the local economy.

all say small business is the foundation of our province and of our economy.

Sure they are. In all of our districts, here in St. John's or you're out in

Renews, you're on the South Coast, you're in Labrador, we all know it, we

see them every day. We talk to them. It's fundamental. They might hire two

people, they might have 15, but that's a livelihood for those people.

people are nervous about spending and they don't know what the future holds,

and they don't have a plan from the government on what the future is going

to hold, it's problematic for the economy. That's why we don't understand

why we don't have a budget which lays out here's where we're to, here's

where we're going, here's the cuts, here's how we're going to raise new

revenue from economic development and for other means that people clearly

know and understand.

As I

said, it's reality. I've gotten calls and I've gotten emails over the past

three days. People are very concerned. From the middle-class families that

are just raising small kids to middle-class families that have kids starting

to go to university, to those that are retired, seniors, fixed income. So

it's across the board and there is concern.

One

of the biggest things, and we all know this, is the population of our

province. As I said before, we look at the demographics and which way we're

going, we need young people. We need new families or young families to grow

our economy. Any economy does. That's so important that we can't tinker with

disincentives for people to stay here, especially young families, or

encouraging them that this is not the place to be and don't give them hope

and don't lay out for them a plan of why the next number of years is going

to be good and you should stay here. This is a place to flourish because we

have a couple of tough years, but we have a plan and we can lay it out for

you. You should stay because it will come back when you look at all we have

to offer in our province, one being our offshore but certainly our fishery.

We look at the ITC sector, how that's been grown; various industry, I

mentioned before, the ocean technology sector; look at the investments we've

made for our education system at Memorial, the College of the North

Atlantic, Marine Institute, the infrastructure we built, state-of-the-art

genic centre at MUN was about $17 million. We believe it was a good

investment. To build that cluster of research and development is so very

important.

built our engineering program at MUN, looked to double that by 2020;

improvements to our medical school, added great space to our medical school;

pharmacy school at Memorial, all of that; huge upgrades to Grenfell College

on the West Coast. All of that is about creating an environment where people

want to stay, people see opportunities to get good education, and then to

graduate and become part of the economy and part of our communities. That is

the bigger picture.

When

you start tinkering with that and don't have a good balance, that's

problematic. Because once people leave and go elsewhere and put down roots

well, as a young family that's what they do we lose them, and we can't

afford to do that. So the environment we create, even in a tough situation,

that environment needs to be balanced. It needs to show that any government

has an idea of where we currently are, where we need to go in the short term

and what the long-term plan is. This doesn't do it I'm sorry, it doesn't

do it.

What

we heard last Thursday and what we're hearing from the general public is a

huge concern. Everybody needs to understand that because, at the end of the

day, everybody here represents the people in their district. You can be part

of a party, you can be part of a government or part of an Opposition but

everybody has to answer. Everybody has to answer to people in their

communities that goes to the ballot box and marks an X for them, because

they are the ones who decide at the end of the day.

is great I said I was in Cabinet before. That's all great and wonderful to

be in Cabinet but, at the end of the day, you answer to the people in your

district. It doesn't mean anything when people decide well, did you

represent me? I had views; I had opinions. What is the majority of my

district saying? They are the ones at the end of the day when you go back to

the ballot box, they'll remember believe me, they always remember, and so

they should. They should always remember what you stood for, who you stood

for and when you stood for it and if you listened. That is part of politics.

That is part of the democratic process. That's the way it is. That's the way

it should be.

This

budget, a lot of people will certainly think about it, a lot of discussion

about it going on everywhere over the past couple of days and the weekend

and will continue to go on. As elected officials a person I used to know

used to say you Dance with the one who brung ya. That basically means

don't forget the people that elected you and don't forget the people who

voted for you. If you're going to continue your life in politics, you'll be

going back knocking on that same door again and asking. They'll have

questions, they always do, and so they should.

we continue on, we talk about that balanced approach. In many cases, we

always look for more spending. We have to garner that with the overall plan

of where we're to. If we don't have a plan of where we're going and what

we're doing, it's hard to fathom how we can make those kinds of decisions.

That's the issue we have here in regard to this budget. It doesn't lay it

out clearly where we're going and what we're doing.

Decisions that are made and have been made, we think, based now on, as I

said, our economy, what's happening in it, has the ability and we think

will, if not correct it in some way, continue to hinder its growth, will

continue to hinder activity in our economy at a time when it's so crucial

that we're able to continue to support our economy, our local businesses,

our people in our communities to continue to grow.

There's a limit when you tax. Everybody understands you've got to tax,

you've got to raise revenues, but you do that to a certain point. Once you

get to a certain point where you exceeded that threshold you're in trouble,

because basically it's a disincentive in the economy and it's a disincentive

for people to continue to work. They may not get work; they can't find

opportunities. That's a concern.

you can't tax people or you can't tax your economy to the point where you

cause devastation and you're going in the wrong direction. You've got to

have a plan to see it through the rough periods. That's very important.

That's what we need to do here, but we're not seeing it not seeing it at

all.

The

Liberals made some promises in the fall in their election campaign on what

they would do. Some of those they haven't kept and people are not happy

about it. As I said, people will have to answer for that and have to see us

through.

I've

heard discussions in regard to our wealth over the past number of years and

what we did and what we didn't do. Some will say, and I keep hearing this

figure, there's $25 billion that something happened to it. What did you do

with it? Did you waste it? What did you do with it?

I'll

take you through some information in regard to some of the investments and

stuff we've done in Newfoundland and Labrador, done in all districts, done

in all areas of the province, done in Labrador, done here on the Island to

grow that environment that I spoke to earlier, that allow communities to

grow and flourish. That's why you do it. You reinvest. You've got to build

that sound basis to allow people to be able to do that. If you don't, it's

not a solid basis to where we want to be. That's so very important.

I'm

just going to go through and talk about over the past 10 years. Last year we

did a document, Solid Investments in Provincial Infrastructure. That was

basically outlining the whole range of areas and industries where we did

expenditures, and most people here sitting in the House would be quite

familiar in the district where they are.

some point during the debate of the budget, if someone wants to stand up and

say: yes, okay, I saw that or I'm aware of that piece of infrastructure but

I don't think we should have did it. Well that's fine. That's good. Stand up

and say: no, we shouldn't have did that. We shouldn't invest in that

program. I don't think that was right. That's fine, because you can have a

good policy discussion about it then. But to just stand up and vaguely say:

well, the money is gone and we don't know where it's gone. Well that's not

worthy of a discussion. We want to talk about it, let's have a discussion

about it.

Those investments were made over a period of time to build everything we

needed in our province. We hear the same story over again in terms of a

number of years ago we had mould in schools. We had all kinds of things with

regard to schools and children in our schools.

Health care facilities; we have a massive province, as we know,

geographically and far dispersed, from Labrador to the Island and all over.

It's tough to meet those needs, but whether you have it in regional centres,

you need to have that core infrastructure. You need to have it.

health care we continue to find new medicine, new drugs, new technology and

the need of professional medical people to do that type of work. It's very

competitive. So we have to be able to provide a level of care and balance to

the people of the province that they so deserve, and it's challenging at

times.

Again, municipal infrastructure is another huge one. We've done a lot with

municipalities over the past number of years. Last year we were able to

agree to a new fiscal framework which saw continued investment, but measured

investments initially under what was recommended. That's something the

current government will have to look at again as they move forward.

was happy to see, one of the things in the budget that I have to say to the

government and to the minister, they did stay with the initiatives we had

introduced last year in the fiscal framework for municipalities. I certainly

give them credit for that one. There's not a lot in this budget but I give

them credit for that one. It was good and I was glad to see it, because that

was something that was worked on for an extended period of time.

was about looking at a whole range of things in regard to municipal

governance, municipal infrastructure, access to revenues, sustainability of

communities, all of those things. It was the first time ever in the

province, historically, that municipalities would get access to a share of

the gas tax directly. As well, they would get, for the first time ever, a

rebate on their provincial HST portion. So they were two huge revenue

streams they had asked for and we had worked with them to deliver.

There were other things outside of that. We looked at Crown land. We looked

at the ability to access Crown land for development, and access it over a

period of time so that communities as I said before, what it's all about

can continue to grow, regions grow, and they're able to access what they

need in terms of growing their communities. So that was good. That was

maintained.

There were also elements in that in regard to looking at local governance,

because right now I forget the numbers maybe 260 municipalities, a

little under 200 maybe local service districts, then you got areas that are

unincorporated. My numbers could be a little off. It's a little while since

I was in Municipal Affairs. So there's a wide variety. As we grow and as we

look to deliver services and it is challenging, and everybody knows it's

challenging. We've got to look at what the model is.

One

of the big recommendations from municipalities and Municipalities

Newfoundland and Labrador, was we knew to look at the governance model. So

what we did last fall I think it was the end of August, maybe, we moved

ahead with that. There was a committee struck to look at various local

governance models, certainly in Canada and other areas, wherever, and just

seeing, based on our demographics, our geography, all those types of items,

what may best fit in terms of looking at a more cohesive and balanced

approach to local governance. That could be related to how we raise revenues

to service a region, how we look at sharing services. All of those make it

very important.

That

committee was struck and representatives on it. I'm not sure where it's too.

We haven't heard anything on it, but it was our intent to do data

collection, do a comprehensive discussion, a consultation, and by April, I

think of this year, report back to Cabinet with some recommendations of what

that may look like, and collectively we will find a new means to move

forward.

I'm not sure where that is. Again, it was an element we had identified in

the fiscal framework, which was historic in terms of what we had developed

with municipalities. We'll see where it's too, but I think it's extremely

important we have that look and see where we are.

Significant investment in the province over the past 10 years to continue to

grow our economy. It certainly helps in terms of any time you invest in

infrastructure whether it's the federal government or a province. Over the

past decade when the economy started to slide at times, there was often

and we did it in 2007-2008, I believe, put extra money in for infrastructure

to offset a decline in other areas of the economy. The new federal

government prime minister, I think, is adopting somewhat of the same

approach: to invest heavily in infrastructure to help drive the economy. It

certainly helps GDP growth, all of those things that are important person

years of employment, all of those things that are important in the economy.

There was reference, I guess, some time ago by the Premier that we were

going to get some extra dollars in infrastructure over and above per capita,

but I don't think we've seen any of that. I'll speak to that as I move

through in terms of some of the items through the federal government we seem

not to be as excited about in terms of lobbying them to get some help at

times when we can and should as part of this great country we call Canada.

There are all kinds of federal programs, federal transfers that can be used

to provide us with assistance.

When

you look at things that invest in terms of growing the economy, forestry and

agriculture; over $64 million invested over the past number of years ranging

from access to roads, commercial harvesters access to roads, contributes to

industry and business and growth. That's important. When you look at where

we spend, it's one of many areas as we continue to go through.

Specifically, we can look at, in particular, in St. John's the Foreign

Animal Disease Laboratory. It's very important in monitoring control of

animal diseases. That grows the industry and builds infrastructure within

the industry, so approximately $4 million there.

you look at forest access roads in terms of driving that industry in the

forestry sector, silviculture, all those types of activities, and commercial

wood harvesting, those types of things, we know that's required and that's

needed. That was almost $50 million that was invested in those areas.

Many

MHAs and Members here would be quite familiar with that. They know those

roads and access roads and how important they are. They need upgrade every

year. New roads need to be put in to access for commercial harvesters to get

into areas. We're all quite familiar with that. That's obviously well spent

in terms of driving economic activity.

the aquaculture areas again, there is a new sea potato facility here in St.

John's, $400,000. It's spread all throughout the province which is

important. As I said, when we grow our province and grow our region

expenditures, you look at opportunities in various regions and how that

helps grow the region which is so important around the province.

Wooddale Provincial Tree Nursery upgrades, Bishop's Falls, Grand

Falls-Windsor, approximate cost in excess of $6 million, just significant

again in terms of driving that particular industry, in that sector, forestry

and agriculture. That's just an example of some areas that we thought were

important, were important investments, and still do. Anyone who doesn't I

guess they can tell us that it wasn't the place we should have invested.

we look at post-secondary education, you look at education in general

anybody who looks at communities and building strong communities, a strong

province, a strong country look around the world, education is the key

component. You look at giving access to education so you can develop those

expertise and knowledge-based industries in your own area of the world or to

go elsewhere. Because travelling too, obviously, you need the experience and

that education or that world experience elsewhere also helps drive your

economy. That is a quality you can export. It's a knowledge-based quality,

or it can bring it back in future times to grow your economy. That's so

important as well.

post-secondary education, under $400 million invested in total. We look at

Memorial University infrastructure, the College of the North Atlantic, as I

mentioned earlier, all of that is about building opportunity, building the

infrastructure so young people have access to that in our great province.

That drives not just economic development, but social development as well,

which is very important for all our residents of the province to have that

opportunity.

need to have state-of-the-art facilities. At Memorial, we have a lot of

students that come here in terms of their education. We've been very

successful in terms of entrance fees at Memorial. It also brings a lot of

new people to our province and in that and of itself, when people come, they

do an undergrad or do a graduate degree or do a co-op program, they are out

working with companies in the province. Foreign students come and they're

out working with companies, like I said, in our economy. That gives the

benefit as well of having them exposed to the area, putting in roots, being

entrenched in their community. We talk about needing people to come to drive

our economy; it certainly supports that from that perspective as well.

have a core science facility at the university being built; you see that.

Grenfell Campus, I mentioned about $27 million. In Corner Brook, there is a

new extension to the Arts and Science Building, bringing in things to

modernize the facility, teaching laboratories and all those types of things

to make it state of the art. We are very comfortable with that in terms of

expenditures like that that people can use to grow both the social and

economic side of our society.

Labrador City, a $22 million investment in the Lab West campus of College of

the North Atlantic. Macpherson College residence, that's the one at Memorial

University, people will see a brand new residence facility. That was in the

range of approximately $65 million. So students that come to St. John's

certainly can have state-of-the-art facilities. We have known over the past

number of years there was a residence in St. John's, but it has been there

for a number of years. The time had come to replace those and do the things

we needed to do to support the student community.

Mr.

Speaker, another area we looked at from an industry point of view, because

whether in a budget or you're doing it over a four-year term or a 10-year

term, you identify your industries all your industries, but those that you

have a huge opportunity to continue to grow, to continue to work with. One

of those is the fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador. That's been a hallmark

for why we've been here for 400 years or more. It's changed dramatically in

terms of the way it's prosecuted, but still many similarities.

For

us in our time in office and we found that was well spent to invest in

fisheries and aquaculture. On both sides, on the fisheries perspective, on

the wild fishery, various programs, we had to support that, as well, to

support research and science. What we saw over decades past is that the

federal government in their role, in terms of supporting science, has

certainly deleted many of it and scaled it way back. We thought it was

important to invest those dollars and to get the evidence and the

information we need in terms of our ground fishery and some of the things

we're seeing with the return of cod that we're prepared. That's a sound

investment. We think it is. If others