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December 9, 2013 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 42

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we start today's proceedings, I just wanted to acknowledge a couple of

guests in our galleries: Mr. Frank O'Leary and Mr. Chris Henley from NAPE.

Welcome to our galleries, gentlemen.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: Today, we have members' statements from the Member for the

District of Bay of Islands; the Member for the District of Exploits; the Member

for the District of Port au Port; the Member for the District of Harbour Main;

the Member for the District of Baie Verte Springdale; and the Member for the

District of St. Barbe.

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and pay tribute to a

dear friend, a well-known businessman, and volunteer from the Town of Cox's

Cove.

On November 20, Alex Samuel Park passed away at the age of seventy-two. Born

and raised in Cox's Cove, Alex was involved in his community for many years. He

was a devoted family man, dedicated to his church and to his town.

Alex formed the first town council of Cox's Cove and served many years. He

was a great volunteer and served with the Recreation Committee, North Shore

Development and the Great Humber Joint Council. His dedication to serve and

contribute to his town is what he is to be commended for.

Alex's business ventures started with grocery stores in Cox's Cove and

Meadows and, later, with Island Roofing Ltd, which today has grown into a very

successful family business, employing up to eighteen people from the town.

Alex was a very kind-hearted, gentle, and caring person who gave freely to

others, requesting no recognition in return.

His wife, Mona, was his angel during his illness, and his devotion to his

family and his church, even during this difficult time, was unwavering.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members to join me in recognizing Alex for his

contribution to his community, both as a volunteer and a businessman, and extend

condolences to the family.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Exploits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Mr. Speaker, the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care Centre Auxiliary

in Botwood recently partnered with the South and Central Health Foundation to

cost share the purchase of a Cuddle Bed for the Palliative Care Unit at the

Twomey Centre. Palliative care patients and their families will benefit from the

purchase of this bed.

Members of the Auxiliary were joined by Dr. Jody Woolfrey, Mr. Doug Prince

Director of Health Services for Exploits and foundation board members for the

presentation of the new specialized bed which cost $9,000.

Mr. Speaker, the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Centre Auxiliary is well known for

their passion and dedication to the centre and this is another tremendous

contribution to improving services at the centre.

I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating the Auxiliary on

the purchase of this new specialized bed and wish them all the best with their

future projects.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port au Port.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CORNECT: Monsieur le prsident, je prends la parole aujourd'hui pour

rendre hommage M. mile Benoit, qui a t dsign personne d'importance

provinciale au

titre du Programme provincial de commmoration historique.

J'ai eu l'honneur d'assister cet vnement le 18 octobre

L'Anse--Canards, d'o tait originaire mile et o son pouse, Rita Benoit, a

firement accept le certificat attestant les ralisations de son dfunt poux.

mile Benoit tait dj un artiste connu l'chelle locale lorsqu'il a

remport un concours de violon en 1973, ce qui lui a permis de voyager de

nombreux endroits pour divertir les foules grce sa musique et ses rcits.

mile a obtenu nombre de distinctions durant sa carrire, dont un doctorat

honorifique de l'Universit Memorial de Terre-Neuve, un prix du Newfoundland and

Labrador Arts Council pour l'ensemble de ses ralisations, de mme que le prix

Roger-Champagne.

Les musiciens talentueux que j'ai eu l'occasion d'entendre lors de

l'vnement tmoignent sans contredit de la marque laisse par mile sur la

culture et la musique au sein de notre communaut.

Monsieur le prsident, je demande aux dputs de se joindre moi pour

honorer mile Benoit

titre de personne d'importance provinciale dans la

province de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador.

Merci.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Harbour Main.

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to honour

recipients of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Awards at the presentation ceremony

on Saturday, November 30, 2013 at the Capital Hotel.

To qualify for an award, a participant must undertake a balanced program of

volunteer activities and meet the prescribed standards in four important areas

of self development. These areas include community service, adventurous

journeys, physical fitness, and skill development.

The Honourable Frank F. Fagan, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and

Labrador, presented awards to eighty-three successful participants. I

congratulate all award winners and, in particular, five award winners from the

District of Harbour Main, members of the Frank Robert's Duke of Edinburgh's,

CBS. They are Andrew Butler, Emily Lockyear, Colin Tucker, Maddie Lundrigan, and

Mitchell Searle.

Mr. Speaker, these young people are part of 3,800 youth participating in the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award in this Province. I am sure all members of this

Chamber will join with me in honouring these young people for their dedication

and commitment, as well as thanking the provincial council and the countless

number of volunteers who work behind the scenes to provide this tremendous

service to the youth of this Province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. POLLARD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is the season of giving, celebrating and tradition.

I rise in this hon. House to recognize and thank two special people from Baie

Verte.

Over thirty years ago, retired educators Mary Lou and Ellis Stuckless hosted

an open house celebrating a Christmas get-together, welcoming one and all. It

all began with family and friends dropping in for a warm up as they waited in

the cold at the conclusion of the annual Santa Claus Parade, organized by

Kinsmen.

The menu consists of three kinds of soup; rabbit, cream of carrot, and

autumn, served with fresh buns, croissants, and a variety of baked goods, topped

off with tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Each year the community looks forward to

the event, signaling the start of the festive season.

Mary Lou and Ellis truly represent the spirit of the season as they give of

their time and energy to celebrate with community.

Please help me celebrate the wonderful, kind gesture of the Stuckless's as

they continue this tradition, at which I had the privilege to experience again

this past year.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate

Daley Samson, Mason Samson, Corey Patey, Dylan Murrin, Todd House, Nikita

Elliot, Shauna Patey, Jason Patey, and Tyson Samson on receiving a Certificate

of Commendation from the Governor General of Canada.

This commendation has been awarded in recognition of their actions in helping

their friends following an avalanche in Eastern Blue Mountains on March 10,

2007, which claimed the life of one of their friends, Jamie Patey. Without the

action of these young people this avalanche would have been a much bigger

disaster.

I ask for a moment to remember the late Joshua Hynes, also one of the brave

youth that day, but no longer with us as he succumbed to injuries from a motor

vehicle accident in Alberta on May 26, 2012.

The selfless actions of these youth are an inspiration to others and

represent a high form of citizenship of which we are all very proud.

I ask all members of this hon. House to join me in congratulating those nine

young people, and take a moment to remember the late Jamie Patey.

MR. SPEAKER: Observe a moment of silence, please.

[A moment of silence is observed.]

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you.

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a government, we are deeply committed to providing a model of

care to seniors and adults with disabilities that is sustainable over the long

term and achieves positive outcomes for families and their loved ones.

Development of a paid family caregiving option has been carefully considered

to ensure it will provide a quality care option for those who will use it. The

complexity of developing this program is highlighted by the fact that no other

Canadian jurisdiction has developed a policy that aligns with our vision.

Our design objective with the Paid Family Caregiving Option is to increase a

client's flexibility and choice by making it easier for adults, who require and

are assessed as eligible for home support, to hire a family member. Through this

option, we will broaden the definition of family members who can provide care to

include parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and relatives

residing in the same home. This excludes spouses and common-law partners as

there is still the expectation that the natural caregiving roles provided by

these individuals will continue.

Beginning in January, training will be provided to appropriate staff of the

regional health authorities who oversee the Home Support Program. The training

will ensure that staff has adequate time to become familiar with this new option

and the requirements for assessing a family member's ability to provide that

care. Once training is complete, this option will then be made available to 250

new home support clients beginning in March of 2014.

An evaluation of the program will be carried out after the initial eighteen

months to help determine the interest in the program, uptake and satisfaction,

workload and financial impacts, and most importantly, client and quality care

outcomes. The evaluation will inform decision making with respect to expansion

to current home support clients and will also support program modifications.

Over this eighteen-month period, we will ensure there is a high level of

accountability and parameters in place to ensure that client safety, quality of

care and satisfaction are paramount.

Mr. Speaker, for more information on this caregiving option, interested

individuals can contact 1-855-653-6440.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of the statement. Certainly, I am

happy to see this announcement today. It took a long time and a lot of questions

asked. As they say, the devil is in the details. It is a very positive

announcement on its face, but a very cursory read of this. We received it this

afternoon.

There are a number of questions I have to ask, and I am just going to put

them out there now. I do not usually have a good track record of getting answers

during Question Period so I will ask them now. We are talking about costing. I

am not sure what the costing is on this. There is an assessment tool we need to

see. Is there a new assessment tool? Is it the same assessment tool?

We see the number of 250. How are these going to be allotted? Will they be

done by regional health authorities? How are they going to be divvied up? Is it

first-come, first-served?

We come back to the costing on this. We know there was $6.1 million announced

in last year's Budget, which would have been pro-rated $8.2 million over the

year. What is the actual cost on this? Is there going to be new staff allotted

to oversee this? We know that it is starting in March and the eighteen-month

period would bring us up to the fall of 2015, which is a period of time I think

we are all looking forward to.

Again, a great announcement, but the devil is in the details. We need to see

more here. I am looking forward to the press conference that I am sure the

minister will have to announce what is a long promised initiative.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement. It is no

doubt that it is important to have a family caregiver option, especially in many

rural communities where caregivers are hard to find, but the resources need to

be there for training and for regular monitoring to achieve the high level of

accountability that is being promised. It is an important step but it is not

enough. We need it to be part of an overall, publicly administered and regulated

home care program. This would only be one little piece in that program, Mr.

Speaker.

There are so many questions. Will the training required for the extra

workload for those currently overseeing the Home Support Program will it be an

extra workload? It is going to be an extra workload. How are we going to protect

the family caregivers if they become injured? Are they going to be the same as

self-employed home support workers? What is the protection for them under

Workers' Compensation?

We are given such a little bit of information here today, Mr. Speaker. I look

forward to hearing much more from this minister.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Does the Member for St. John's North have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: Leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Thanks to the minister for an advance copy of her statement.

Like many Members of the House of Assembly, I receive many calls from

constituents regarding this long promised initiative. From the conversations I

have had there is a high need for this sort of initiative and a great deal of

interest, especially with regard to care of persons with disabilities. It is too

bad it has taken so long to get this off the ground, but I certainly look

forward, like my constituents do, to the widespread implementation of this.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Acting Minister Responsible for the Status of

Women.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House of Assembly today to recognize

two very successful women leaders in our Province.

Each day, Mr. Speaker, we see the invaluable contributions women make to

their communities and in the business sector. Two of those women were recently

recognized for their outstanding ambition, innovation and leadership roles.

These women serve as exemplary models for the business, social and political

communities.

On Tuesday, December 3, Susan Patten, Chair of the Board of Directors of A.

Harvey & Co. was recognized by the Women's Executive Network, Canada's leading

organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in

management, executive, professional and board roles. Annually, the Women's

Executive Network recognizes 100 women leaders in the country who have moved to

the highest levels in their respective fields, overcoming obstacles to become

some of Canada's most powerful women.

Susan Patten is one of eighteen Canadian women in ten categories to be

honoured as the recipient of the Glencore Trailblazers and Trendsetters Award.

The Women's Executive Network classifies the women who achieve this award as

fearless, ambitious, innovative, determined, natural leaders and true pioneers.

Mr. Speaker, Susan Patten is a distinguished business leader in the Province

who has already received the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Order of

Canada. Her work ethic is paralleled only by her volunteer ethic where she

continues to be a pillar of the volunteer sector.

Mr. Speaker, I am sincerely honoured to also announce that our very own

Premier Dunderdale was singled out by this esteemed national organization at

their awards gala in Toronto last week. The Premier received a special honourary

Top 100 Award for setting an example for all women who strive for more in their

professional and personal lives.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: I offer my congratulations to Premier Dunderdale our

Province's very first female Premier and I thank her for the guidance and

leadership she is providing to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the

inspiration she is providing for women everywhere.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. The Women's

Executive Network recognizes each year 100 women from around the country who are

leaders in their own right, both in the public and private spheres. These women

are a powerful network for each other and tremendous role models for future

women leaders.

I congratulate the Premier; I also congratulate Susan Patten on her being

recognized as a trailblazer amongst us, Chair of the A. Harvey Group of

Companies. Dr. Patten can add this award to a tremendous list of recognitions,

from the Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year Award to the Order of Canada. Just

this year, Dr. Patten was awarded an honourary degree from Memorial University

for her accomplishments and contributions to the community.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize an incredible Newfoundlander who

also made this year's top 100 but was not recognized today by the minister,

Lorraine Mitchelmore, President and Canada Country Chair for Shell Canada

Limited. Ms Mitchelmore is a native of Green Island Cove and a graduate of

Memorial University. Ms Mitchelmore worked her way to the very top of Shell

Canada, and this should be celebrated here today.

Congratulations to all the remarkable women who made this top 100. Women have

fought hard to find their place in this public sphere and seeing these women

make it to the top is truly inspiring.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Susan Patten truly

is a great woman we can celebrate here today. We can be proud of the work that

she has done. We know how important it is to have women who are fearless, who

are ambitious, who are innovative and who are natural leaders and true pioneers.

Bravo Susan Patten and bravo to the Premier for her inclusion. However, as a

woman leader, Mr. Speaker, she cannot be proud that the Family Violence

Intervention Court was cut on her watch. This court was a crucial tool in

helping women who are the victims of domestic violence. The Premier must do the

right thing as a woman leader and reinstate the Family Violence Intervention

Court.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Does the Member for The Straits White Bay North have

leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Women deserve

recognition for success and commitment to our communities and business. Lorraine

Mitchelmore, as mentioned by the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair,

President of Shell Canada, of my hometown, was also a recipient of the top most

powerful women in Canada and awarded at this gala.

Ms Susan Patten and the Premier are to be congratulated for inspiring others

to reach for the top in business, social, and the political arena.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On November 4, 2013, the Premier stated in this House that the removal of

seafood tariffs under CETA was valued at $25 million and would go up. In the

CETA documents released last week, it is clear that the Premier when giving up

on the minimum processing requirements, that there was no value attached to this

loss.

I ask the Premier: Was there a financial analysis carried out on the value of

the minimum processing requirements?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we entered, as a Province, into discussions with the federal

government in 2010. In this process, unlike NAFTA at this point in time with

CETA, the Province was engaged with the federal government in terms of input

back and forth in terms of issues of importance to each province and certainly

the ten provinces and the territories in terms of what is important to them.

In the fishing industry, first and foremost, we wanted to get immediate

access to a huge EU market, removal of end-use restrictions, and get our

industry on a new level in terms of accessing that new market. We went through a

number of evaluations. The hon. member mentions MPRs.

We engage the industry, the FFAW, seafood producers, industry stakeholders,

and collectively it was thought the benefit that we could achieve through access

to EU was far greater than holding on to MPRs. That is why we moved forward.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My question was more about as we would in any negotiating process, you

would establish what it is you are willing to give up at the negotiating table.

We understand $25 million and up were the value of tariffs.

What was the value of the minimum processing requirements that you discussed

at that table?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Mr. Speaker, we looked at MPRs on a national level too,

Newfoundland and Labrador. We looked at what was happening historically in

Atlantic Canada and the other provinces in terms of them having MPRs, certainly

Quebec. We looked to BC in terms of the presence of MPRs. It is a significant

inland fishery in Western Canada.

Collectively, we saw that most jurisdictions did not have MPRs. What was

happening in terms of access to our resource, which some have indicated now will

happen tomorrow, we did not think was realistic. Speaking to industry and

looking at what we were doing, we did not think it was realistic.

Overall in that assessment and second to that, as we know, we have access

to a $400 million fund to continue to build the industry in Newfoundland and

Labrador, in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Through that assessment, and

collectively, all industry agreed this was the best route to go. Certainly, as a

Province we support it, and as a government we think it is the right thing to

do.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, it is very clear from the discussion that there was probably no value

at all that was established about MPRs. I will say, we keep talking about a $400

million fund; it is actually $280 million from the federal government of

course, the $220 million is coming from us.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier is on record as stating that as a result of the CETA

negotiation that there would not be any job losses. Yet, on June 1, 2013, in a

letter from the Minister of IBRD to the federal trade minister, it states that

worker displacement was one of the reasons for adding the federal component of

$280 million.

So I ask the Premier: Do you still stand by your comments that dropping the

MPRs will not result in job losses?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, let me begin by advising the Leader of

the Opposition that the amount is $400 million; $280 million from the federal

government and $120 million, not $220 million, $120 million from the Government

of Newfoundland and Labrador all new money, Mr. Speaker.

Now, you can slice that how you like. That is still $400 million new dollars

going into the fishery to ensure that it becomes all that it can be.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this was an incredibly important deal for the Province as a

whole, but particularly for the fishing sector. Like everything we do, we

understood that there would be little to no impact on workers in this Province;

but, in some case if there was, we would have the opportunity to look after

those people.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will agree that it is $120 million from our own taxpayers' money, and an

extra $280 million from the federal government. So that is the new money that

came in as a result of this, not $400 million.

Mr. Speaker, an MOU between Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador appears to

permit direct sales by harvesters to foreign vessels in Canadian waters or

over-the-side sales.

So, can the Premier confirm that fish caught in Newfoundland and Labrador has

to be landed in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, any fish that is landed in this Province under our current MPR

regulations would need to be processed here. Under CETA, there would be one

exception made to the EU in regard to if there was someone in the EU who wanted

to interact with a processor here in Newfoundland and Labrador. He talks about

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. HUTCHINGS: I am getting to it; take your time.

In regard to the MOU that we signed prior to that, today, Canada has control

on foreign waters in terms of over-the-side sales. I understand it has been

about thirty years since that has taken place. Through our analysis we certainly

identified and this is something that was worked on between Newfoundland and

Labrador and Canada in regard to over-the-side sales that we would put a

formalized process in place. In case at any point that would come up, the

federal government would be obligated to contact the Province and to deal with

the Province. We would have clarity in terms of that request.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last year this government passed Bill 53, allowing for new industrial-rate

power for Labrador. At the time, government expressed a sense of urgency to pass

the bill and allow for a new transmission line to service developing mines in

the area.

It has been a year and we have not seen any action on this new transmission

line. I ask the Premier: Why not?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Yes, Mr. Speaker, it has been some time since we have been

discussing Muskrat Falls and the development of power in Newfoundland and

Labrador for a number of benefits. Besides the least-cost option as well as

selling excess power for value, we always recognize the opportunity for

development, particularly in Labrador around our mineral resources, which is a

great benefit to Labrador and the entire Province.

Mr. Speaker, in order to do that we all acknowledge they need more power. In

terms of needing more power, the issue is around reliability with existing

power. There are tremendous opportunities for billions of dollars worth of

investment in Labrador. I can confirm that Nalcor and government were certainly

considering and looking at the development of a new transmission line from

Churchill Falls into Lab West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, we have heard that the developing mines in the

area point that the commitment from government that a new line must be built or

the development plans will need to be revisited.

I ask the Premier: It has been a year now and the PUB process will obviously

take additional time, so when will the process finally begin?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, the process has certainly begun in terms of

looking at the needs, the demands, and where we want to go with this, and there

are a number of options we can consider in terms of building the line into

Labrador through the PUB; also, consideration of costs as well as an impact on

rates. We are considering which options we can take.

Obviously, I sense from the member opposite that there is an urgency to get

the line built. We certainly concur with that, Mr. Speaker. We want to move

forward and in that process we will determine what is in the best interests of

the people of Labrador and certainly in the best interests of Newfoundland and

Labrador, as always.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We understand that right now in Corner Brook there are seven ultrasound

machines of which six are operational. We have been told that the design of the

new hospital will only have three ultrasound machines.

I ask the minister: Can you confirm there will be a 50 per cent reduction in

ultrasound services in the new hospital for Corner Brook?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, our current model for offerings in the new Western Memorial

Regional Hospital will include all of the services that are currently offered

there. It is not our intention in any way, shape, or form to see a decline in

any of the services that are offered.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The question was about the ultrasound machines, and we have real good

information that says it is going to go from seven down to three.

Will the minister confirm for the people of Western Newfoundland that that

service will not be in decline?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what we have been doing recently in terms of laying out the

functional planning for the Western Memorial Regional Hospital is that we have

been looking at demographics. We have been projecting forward as to what the

needs for that hospital will be and how we are going to be able to best serve

the needs of the region into the future.

What we will look at is all of the equipment that is required, and all of the

staffing that we anticipate will be required, and so on. We are not looking at

any downgrading of services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, in additional to there being a reduction in

ultrasound services, the new hospital will not provide any radiation services.

I ask the minister: Can you confirm this; and, if so, what is the rationale

for not providing such vital services to the Western Region of the Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have, in this House of Assembly on any number of occasions,

told the member opposite that we will not be providing radiation services at

Western Memorial Regional Hospital.

Mr. Speaker, we are taking the best advice from everywhere that we can get it

in particular, the Work Health Organization, from NLCHI, from experts in the

field and so on. The reason for it is that radiation treatment ought to be

offered in a tertiary care centre where the provincial cancer program is

offered, Mr. Speaker. So that is the primary reason for it.

The other has to do with the actual use of the equipment that is offered, Mr.

Speaker. A linac I am hoping I will get more time then to answer that

question.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: I see she consulted everybody except the physicians and the

people in Western Newfoundland about the radiation services, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, on November 22, I asked the minister about putting a PET scanner

in the new hospital. She said they would not endanger the people of the Province

by transporting these isotopes. These isotopes are transferred all over the

country on a daily basis. For example, the University of Saskatchewan gets their

isotopes from Hamilton, Ontario, 2,500 kilometres away. This is another excuse

for not installing a PET scanner in Corner Brook.

I ask the minister: Should you give the people of Western Newfoundland a

truthful answer instead of trying to scare them?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if there is anybody out there trying to fear monger the people

of Western Newfoundland it is the Member for Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Mr. Speaker, let's talk about that PET scanner, let's talk

about the isotopes that he knows so much about from Saskatchewan. First of all,

they are just putting in their PET scanner. So they are not bringing in any

isotopes for a PET scanner, Mr. Speaker, because they are only just putting it

in. The second part of that is that the isotopes that will be required for that

particular PET scanner in Saskatoon, Mr. Speaker, will be provided by the

university because that is where the cyclotron is going to be built.

Now, Mr. Speaker, in terms of a PET scanner for Corner Brook, I can outline

as I have done in this House of Assembly on any number of occasions the reason

why it is not sensible to do it at this point in time, and I really hope there

is a follow-up question.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, as I said to the minister, if she wants to attack

me she can but it is the people in Corner Brook I am concerned about.

I committed to the Member for Humber East

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I committed to the Member for Humber East that I

will show a letter from the Dean of Medicine from the University of Saskatchewan

saying that the PET scanner has been operational since May, 2013, and they are

transferring the isotopes. I will commit it to the minister and I will show him

that e-mail I received from the Dean of Medicine. Just to show the minister,

once again, is not being truthful with the people in Western Newfoundland. Mr.

Speaker, she was talking about the isotopes to follow shipment.

I ask the minister: What is the real reason you do not want to ship isotopes

from St. John's to Corner Brook when other provinces are shipping them all

across Canada and the US?

MR. SPEAKER: Before the minister answers her question, I ask the member

to apologize for suggesting that the minister was not truthful.

MR. JOYCE: I withdraw the remark.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am just as anxious to table material here in the House of

Assembly. Mr. Speaker, I will be tabling here right now the PET scanner, CT

scanner now operating in Saskatchewan June 20, 2013. I will table that document

that talks about the fact that the isotopes will be made in a cyclotron in

Saskatoon. I am happy to table that particular document.

Mr. Speaker, the Member for Bay of Islands continues to fear monger on the

West Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador about the quality of services that will

be provided. That is so unfortunate. What we are providing will be the best in

care. The best in care for that PET scanner will be here where the tertiary care

is being offered, Mr. Speaker, in the sense of being able to put forward proper

diagnosis and care for patients.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you.

Again, Minister, you should understand what a PET scanner is used for. It is

used for a variety of detections, not just cancer. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I

will say to the minister, she should check with other people, people who are

involved.

Mr. Speaker, the minister stated in the House that it will cost $40 million

for a PET scanner. Once again, this information is not accurate. The $40 million

includes the cost of a cyclotron and renovations. The cost of a PET scanner is

much, much less than $40 million.

I ask the minister: Will you provide the proper information to the people of

Western Newfoundland and stop making these outlandish claims?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my information that he calls outlandish comes from the World

Health Organization. I am not exactly sure where his information is coming from,

but I can tell you right now that I am happy to take information from the World

Health Organization that talks about the fact that a PET scanner is used

primarily for a patient receiving radiation treatment in terms of their overall

health care plan. Mr. Speaker, he can argue with the World Health Organization

if he wants to, but that is where that information is coming from.

Let's talk about the business of transporting isotopes as well, Mr. Speaker.

What we know is that they have a very short lifespan when we are transporting

isotopes for PET scanners. There are other kinds of isotopes, as I tried to

explain to him before. We are talking about a specific one, which is F-FDG. That

isotope has a 50 per cent

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Once again, Mr. Speaker, I hate to say it and I hate to repeat

myself, she is totally inaccurate in the information that she is providing

totally inaccurate.

Enforcement of the Animal Health and Protection Act lacks teeth. The stories

are being carried across the country. Citizens and animal welfare groups alike

are saying police are not seizing animals in distress.

I ask the Minister of Natural Resources: Will you immediately meet with the

head of the RNC and the RCMP about getting the message out to their officers?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, our government brought in the animal health act

in response and collaboration, and listening to all the needs of the people of

the Province around pet and pet care, and animal care throughout the Province.

It is obviously very important to our government.

Enforcement of the act is a process as well that we have been involved in, in

terms of training and engaging people in different communities, as well as

through SPCA, and working with the RNC and RCMP. I certainly will commit to the

member opposite that any work needs to done, the follow-up work, we will

continue to do so because by way of our action in bringing in the act, animals

are important to the people of the Province. Again, as minister, I can only

encourage people who have animals, and particularly those who have pets, that

they take proper care of their pets.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: I say to the minister, the act was so important you cancelled

the $40,000 or $50,000 for the educational program. That is how important it is

to your government.

Mr. Speaker, it is now below zero out, these tied on dogs are about to endure

another winter tied on to a box. Nineteen months after proclaiming the act, only

seven communities are trained to seize animals in distress.

I ask the minister: Will you do the right thing and make training mandatory

and resources for municipalities to enforce this act?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, the $50,000 was available to the SPCA to deliver

a program but we did not come to an agreement as to how that program could be

delivered. As a result, the funding has lapsed. If something comes forward in

the budget, we will certainly consider that. That is one part of the hon.

member's question, Mr. Speaker.

On the other side, Mr. Speaker, if the member has a specific case or

situation that he would like the chief veterinarian of the Province to look

into, I would be more than happy to take the information. I have spoken with the

chief veterinarian. There are a number of cases before the courts, which is

indeed indicative that the act is working.

As I said before, follow-up work, continuation and working with the people of

the Province, Mr. Speaker, is certainly a priority for our government as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, the 2012 international math scores have been

released and it shows our students have fallen from sixth place nationally to

ninth place in paper-based mathematics. Now every Province, except PEI, is out

in front of us.

I ask the minister: Can he explain to the people of our Province how this

decline took place under his government?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to point out to the hon. member first, Mr. Speaker, that we are

still in pretty good company with Canada, who scores at thirteenth amongst

sixty-five nations in the world. Our investment of $17.5 million in 2008 for the

Excellence in Mathematics Strategy, Mr. Speaker, we continue to roll that out.

This is the final year of implementation.

Mr. Speaker, assessments always inform instruction. In this particular case

we will go back, take a look at the assessment, look at strategies that teachers

are using, and then if we need to adapt some of our practices, that is what we

will do, Mr. Speaker. It is about informing instruction and better learning for

our students.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, a prominent math professor at Memorial

University says our Province's math curriculum is lacking some key structural

necessities and that is why our students are falling behind.

Since these students have only ever studied under this Department of

Education, will the minister admit that his government has failed our students

and engage the expert professional help needed to reverse this shabby treatment

of our students?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the individual the

member cites, we have been in discussions with the Department of Mathematics at

Memorial. They have endorsed the strategies that have been used in our

particular program. We will continue to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you one thing: I will not accept the member's

suggestion that we have failed our students. I would put our students up against

any students anywhere in the world, and I would put our teachers up against any

teachers anywhere in the world.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, while the lowest proficiency level tested is

level one, the baseline to fully participate in modern society is level two.

More than 6 per cent of our students, 50 per cent more than the national

average, are below level two.

I ask the minister: Is he concerned his system is producing so many students

that are not even able to fully participate in modern society; and if so, what

is he prepared to do about this serious issue?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have already undertaken,

and previous to these results coming back, is having discussions with the

Department of Education at Memorial who trains teachers. We take a look at how

comfortable our teachers are in teaching math. What methodologies are employed

now? We take a look at these so that again informs instruction. From that, we

look to improve results.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Government rejected a call by the Voisey's Bay Industrial Inquiry Commission

to provide a process for the imposition of a collective agreement when all else

has failed, the only recommendation that they out-and-out refused to consider.

I ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker, why her government continues to refuse to put

in place mechanisms such as mandatory arbitration panels for the protection of

workers and the public interest?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have reports done from time to time by a number of committees and groups

who have given us recommendations and advice on certain aspects of not only the

collective bargaining process, but many aspects of government and policy and

legislation for the Province. We accept some and we do not accept others. That

is part of being a government. We are not obligated to accept every

recommendation that is provided to us.

We also have an Employer Relations Committee that works with us from time to

time, made up of representatives from labour as well as business and government

officials. There are occasions, as we have done in this House very recently,

where they come with recommendations that are a consensus agreed upon by all

parties. We sometimes bring those forward. We have other what we call

non-consensus items that never make it to the floor of the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I point out to the minister that the Federation of Labour accepted all of

those recommendations and have seen very little for that.

I ask the Premier again to explain to the workers at Labatt's why it is all

right for replacement workers, known as scab labour, to be doing their work

while they stand on a picket line?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are very aware with what is going on with Labatt's and we are very

concerned with that strike. My officials, through a number of senior

conciliation officers, have been involved for quite some time in trying to move

that process forward. We are very hopeful and optimistic that we are going to

find a resolution.

As I said to the member several days ago, we understand the best way to form

a solution is through a negotiated process, not one that is imposed upon by a

third party such as the government. It is not a policy of our party that we are

going to bring forward the kind of legislation that she is advocating for in

this House.

I might add I am very pleased to hear her here today arguing for the unions,

when the bulk of her time is spent in this House arguing against the 3,000

unionized jobs that we are bringing forward for Muskrat Falls.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS MICHAEL: I ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker: In everything that they say

over on that side of the House, whose interest is this government really

serving, the workers of this Province, or that of multinational corporations

that make billions of dollars worldwide?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Mr. Speaker, the government of this Province is serving the

needs of the people of this Province and the interests of the people of this

Province. That is why we are creating 3,000 jobs in Muskrat Falls. That is why

over the last ten years the economy in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

has never been in better shape than it is today. It is why the Province

continues to grow.

It is why every single indicator brought before this House, even as recent as

last week in the mid-year fiscal update by my colleague the Minister of Finance,

shows very positive results in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is because of the

leadership this government and our Premier has provided the Province.

We take back seat to no one, especially the Leader of the New Democratic

Party who argues both sides of an argument depending on who is sitting in the

gallery in this House. We stand by the policies that we bring forward in the

best interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to ask the minister: Last week you talked about all the

wonderful things that they are doing for workers in this Province; what does

worker retention mean or what does worker education mean when they will not

stand by the rights of the workers as they are being stripped by multinational

corporations?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Mr. Speaker, there are labour laws in this Province for a

particular reason. It is so that people like the Leader of the Third Party

cannot arbitrarily, because it suits the politics of the day, impose a political

decision into the middle of a labour dispute. We have laws in place to support

that process, and we have a Labour Relations Agency in place to support and

facilitate finding resolutions for the workers, such as the one at Labatt's.

Our government is very understanding and very aware of the sensitivities of

that dispute, and we have great concern about where it is headed there is no

question about that but we do not intend to get into the middle of a dispute.

MS MICHAEL: (Inaudible).

MR. KING: Now, Mr. Speaker the Leader of the Third Party can shout at me

across the way or she can let me answer the question. We do not support

replacement worker legislation, first of all; but I will say to you that there

is a request for a conciliation board before me, and I am considering it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Mr. Speaker, inmates are still abruptly cut off their

legitimately prescribed medication and courts are still reluctant to send

certain accused individuals to HMP because of this. In his external review of

the prison psychiatric services, Dr. Klassen recommended expanding the network

of psychiatrists providing services in correctional facilities. The department

agreed to develop a rotation of psychiatrists to provide on-site services.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Has this recommendation been implemented?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Mr. Speaker, I would like to say, first of all, I always find

it very troublesome as the Minister of Justice when a member, a politician,

comes to this House and questions the independence and integrity of the court

system in the Province. I always have great difficulty with that topic getting

on the floor of the House of the Assembly.

This is a political environment and all of us should recognize, at least,

that the court system in Newfoundland and Labrador is independent of any

political bias. They operate totally autonomous to government, and that is how

it has to be in order to maintain proper rule and order and ensure the proper

application of the law of the land. So, I do take somewhat of an offense to the

member continuously chastising the court system in the Province here in a

political environment.

She is absolutely right. The report that was done by Dr. Klassen thank you,

I will get it on the follow-up.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre, for a quick

question without

preamble, please.

MS ROGERS: Okay.

Mr. Speaker, the new Correctional Services Act received assent

MR. SPEAKER: Without

preamble, please.

MS ROGERS: Yes.

The assent on May 31

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the member to get to a quick question.

MS ROGERS: Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: What is holding up

proclaiming the Correctional Services Act?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice for a quick response.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The quick answer to the previous question that I did not get to is that we

accepted the Klassen report. We accepted all the recommendations as it pertained

to psychological services being provided at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, and we

are moving forward with full implementation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time for Question Period has expired.

MR. JOYCE: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands, on a point of order.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, in Question Period the Minister of Health

mentioned that the PET scanner in Saskatchewan is not open. I just want to table

a news release from the Government of Saskatchewan that it opened in June, 2013.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There is no opportunity for private members to table documents.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will ask leave to

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009. (Bill

29)

MR. SPEAKER: Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Notices of Motion.

The hon. the Member for the District of Lewisporte.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. VERGE: Mr. Speaker, I give notice of a private member's motion to be

dealt with on the next Private Members' Day.

BE IT RESOLVED that this hon. House acknowledges the leadership that

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are demonstrating through innovation ventures

in areas such as ocean technology, robotics, digital imaging, software

development, e-learning, genetics, aquaculture, food production, fabrication,

offshore oil, exploration and development, and subsea electricity transmission

for the Muskrat Falls Project.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have two notices of motion. First of all, I serve notice that the private

member's motion just laid before the House of Assembly by the Member for

Lewisporte will be the one to be debated this coming Wednesday, the next Private

Members' Day.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you.

MR. KING: Thank you.

Also, Mr. Speaker, I give notice under Standing Order 11 that I shall move

that the House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.

I give notice further notice under Standing Order 11 that I shall move that

this House not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10, 2013.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand today to present a petition on behalf of the people on the North

Shore of the Bay of Islands, Route 440.

WHEREAS we are concerned over the deplorable condition of the pavement at

Hughes Brook hill, Route 440; and

WHEREAS many residents of the Towns of Hughes Brook, Irishtown, Summerside,

Meadows, Gillams, McIver's and Cox's Cove travel this road on a daily basis; and

WHEREAS after repeated requests for repairs to the pavement, the road has

continued to deteriorate; and

WHEREAS the ruts in the pavement are creating a safety hazard; and

WHEREAS we feel that the condition of this road presents an accident waiting

to happen;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to give

serious consideration to making repairs to this road.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is a

section of the road that has very dangerous ruts. I

wrote the previous Minister of Transportation and Works last year on several

occasions on this matter. Department officials in Western Newfoundland are well

aware of these concerns.

Last week, Mr. Speaker, and today when people call me, I say: I wonder, is

this part of the $251 million or $271 million not spent this year? We hear so

many announcements about the amount of money used for roads in this Province

when we have a condition like on Route 440, which is travelled by school buses.

A lot of kids travel this to get to their school in Meadows.

There is a lot of heavy equipment. The fish plant in Cox's Cove is a prime

example. There are a lot of heavy equipment and tractor-trailers that go back

and forth here. It is a very dangerous situation. The hill is very steep. The

hill is very long, Mr. Speaker. Going up on both sides there are ruts going up

on Hughes Brook hill and coming from the North Shore towards Corner Brook,

coming up that steep part again, are dangerous ruts. As the winter moves on, the

conditions are going to get worse because of the ice.

Mr. Speaker, it has been brought to the government's attention on many

occasions. I have written the ministers on many occasions. I assume it is going

to be a priority for this government because safety is a major concern for the

Province in the roads. I just call upon the government to make this area a

priority. It is a much-needed priority, not for luxury but for safety.

Mr. Speaker, once again I will be presenting petitions throughout every

opportunity I can on this route because it is very dangerous. The people asked

me to present their petitions. I can assure you government will not be able to

say next year that it was not on our list because we were not aware of it. They

will be made well aware of it. I trust they will do the right thing and make

this road safe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS play-based, full-day kindergarten has been proven to give children a

stronger start in school and in life; and

WHEREAS a full day of learning early in life can help improve children's

reading, writing, and math skills, and provide them with a strong foundation for

further learning; and

WHEREAS full-day kindergarten provides opportunities for children to

socialize with others and develop the academic and social skills necessary for

future success; and

WHEREAS children in full-day kindergarten programs are able to remain in

familiar surroundings with staff and friends all day, rather than moving between

different locations; and

WHEREAS full-day kindergarten makes the transition to Grade 1 easier for both

parents and children; and

WHEREAS provinces that invest in full-day kindergarten are seeing a return on

investment in terms of better school achievement and fewer students at risk of

falling through the cracks;

We, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to

introduce a full-day kindergarten program for children and families in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, with the limited time I have, I want to relate a story I had a

couple of nights ago to members of the House of Assembly with respect to this

issue. I have a couple of friends who have a small child who is kindergarten age

who just moved to the national capital region, Ottawa, if you will.

As you know, lots of people who work in Ottawa also live across the river in

Hull. When they were relocating from Montreal to the national capital region

they had to make a decision. Some of the rents were actually cheaper across the

river in Hull than they are in the Ottawa area, but in Ottawa there is full-day

junior kindergarten. Parents are not forced to partake in this but there is an

optional full-day junior kindergarten for four year olds, and also an optional

full-day program for five year olds.

Just based on the availability of that full-day program for their

four-year-old child, they decided to live in Ottawa and not in Hull. Think about

that when it comes to Newfoundland and Labrador, the attraction to people who

are considering moving here. That is another reason to have a full-day

kindergarten program here. People will want to come here because we have that

for our children. It is a good idea, I say, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill Quidi

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS strikes and lockouts are rare and, on average, 97 per cent of

collective agreements are negotiated without work disruption; and

WHEREAS anti-temporary replacement workers' laws have existed in Quebec since

1978, in British Columbia since 1993, and successive governments in both those

provinces have never repealed those laws; and

WHEREAS anti-temporary replacement workers' legislation has reduced the

length and divisiveness of labour disputes; and

WHEREAS the use of temporary replacement workers during a strike or lockout

is damaging to the social fabric of a community, the local economy, and the

well-being of its residents, as evident by the use of temporary replacement

workers currently by Labatt's, and in recent years by both Ocean Choice

International and Vale in Voisey's Bay;

WHEREUPON we, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge

government to enact legislation banning the use of temporary replacement workers

during a strike or lockout;

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to stand and to present this

petition today on behalf of the petitioners. As they point out in their

petition, we have a particular situation in the Province right now where we have

workers who have been on a picket line for eight months. Over the last seven

years that I have been in this House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker, we have had at

least four protracted strikes in this Province, everything from the Vale

workers, from eighteen months on the picket line, through to the workers at the

St. John's Airport Authority for eight months, and now Labatt's workers for

eight months.

In all cases, Mr. Speaker, we know that the ability of employers to use

replacement workers, known as scab labour, is one of the issues that helps

maintain a strike to be prolonged.

In the report that was done by the Voisey's Bay Industrial Inquiry and

released in 2012, the commissioners pointed out that it was a major factor in

the eighteen months strike in Vale. We know from other provinces, as the

petition references, both in BC and Quebec, they have shorter strikes when they

do have a strike and they have a fewer number of strikes. Both of those factors

have contributed to the fact that they have anti-replacement workers'

legislation in place so that employers cannot hire replacement workers while

people are on the picket lines.

Mr. Speaker, I urge this government to reconsider its position that it has

been stating so strongly with regard to legislation that we need. I beg of them

on behalf of the petitioners to listen to the prayer.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits White

Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS government has a responsibility to ensure that Internet access is

broadly available so people have the right to be able to access the Internet in

order to exercise and enjoy their rights to freedom of expression and opinion

and other fundamental human rights; and

WHEREAS Bide Arm was bypassed under the Broadband for Rural and Northern

Development Initiative, which saw high-speed Internet added to thirty-six

communities on the Great Northern Peninsula in 2004; and

WHEREAS nearly a decade later Bide Arm still remains without broadband

services, despite being an amalgamated town with Roddickton; and

WHEREAS residents rely on Internet services for education, business,

communication, and social activity; and

WHEREAS wireless and wired technologies exist to provide broadband service to

rural communities to replace slower dial-up service;

We, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to

assist providers to ensure that Bide Arm is in receipt of broadband Internet

services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As in duty, bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this petition is signed by quite a number of residents from the

Town of Englee. Actually, I believe, the majority of them, and then in Bide Arm

as well.

Bide Arm being an amalgamated town with Roddickton, it creates a social

divide when you are trying to build a community and trying to be inclusive when

it comes to community events and how you share information, whether it is using

upload videos or photos of different events and news stories. For someone to be

able to have the slower dial-up Internet services, it is very much unacceptable

when it comes to being able to access that level of service.

Bide Arm, for example, has had a number of water problems recently and being

able to get the message out to individual households can be shared and towns can

get a lot more information out quickly if you have a group or if you are able to

access that posting directly from a Web page. In certain areas of my district, a

number of them actually do not even have certain radio stations that would be

able to broadcast and share that information. It is just not readily available.

Beyond public radio, there are no private operators there in the community for

Bide Arm and for other communities of the Straits.

Being able to provide Internet is a key area of where we need to be. Having

close to 200 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is completely

unacceptable in 2013.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright L'Anse

au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS until 2013, calcium was applied to provincially owned gravel roads in

and around communities to suppress dust; and

WHEREAS dust suppression is very helpful for residents experiencing health

conditions like asthma and allergies; and

WHEREAS the cost of administering the calcium budget is very affordable to

government; and

WHEREAS dust suppression is an affective way of improving safety for the

travelling public;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, beginning

in 2014, to reinstate the calcium application program on provincially owned

gravel roads in and around communities.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I have had the privilege to stand a number of times and speak to

the calcium issue, and I will continue to raise the calcium issue until it is

reinstated. Last night, I was visiting a family member at the Miller Centre and

there was a gentleman there from St. John's. He said: I heard you last week

speaking to calcium. Is it really as bad as that?

Obviously if you live in a city and you have streets of pavement, you really

do not understand what it is that these residents in coastal Labrador the dust

that they are living with on a day-to-day basis with gravel roads at best; but,

by having calcium on the provincially owned part of the road that ran in the

centre of town, it certainly made a huge improvement to the situation that we

live with on a day-to-day basis. Because we know that anywhere you have a gravel

road, they are giving off dust.

What I am saying is the cost of dust control can more than pay for itself

when you look at the health implications, when you look at the cost of people

being sent out, emergencies with asthma and allergy reactions and things like

that. I am trying to get government to see that this would actually be a good

economic decision to reinstate. We know that provincially it only costs

$300,000. I still do not have a figure, but it is much less than that, what it

would cost to reinstate the calcium back into communities in southeast.

I will continue to advocate for my constituents, Mr. Speaker, on their behalf

to have the calcium reinstated.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, to the hon. House of Assembly of the Province

of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the

undersigned humbly sheweth.

WHEREAS there is no cellphone service in the Town of Trout River, which is an

enclave community in Gros Morne National Park; and

WHEREAS visitors to Gros Morne National Park, more than 100,000 annually,

expect to communicate by cellphone when they visit the park; and

WHEREAS cellphone service has become a very important aspect of everyday

living for residents; and

WHEREAS cellphone service is an essential safety tool for visitors and

residents; and

WHEREAS cellphone service is essential for business development;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to partner

with the private sector to extend cellphone coverage throughout Gros Morne

National Park and the enclave community of Trout River.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, let me tell you about Trout River. Trout River is a town of

around 600 or 700 people. As you go out to Gros Morne National Park and you

have seen many other places, you have seen Woody Point. Then you take the trip

to Trout River. It is around twenty kilometres or so out through Trout River

Gulch, on the left-hand side going out. It is absolute rock, it is volcanic

rock, and it is blast rock. It looks almost like the face of the moon. On the

right side going out to Trout River it is absolutely lush and green, trees,

grass, and fields. It is almost like you can see a split type of geography.

When you get into Trout River, especially if a person is there maybe in the

summertime, in the month of July, maybe because there is no highway that runs

through it, people still have livestock. It is the type of small community that

many of us grew up in that we do not see very much of any more in this Province.

Most of the people have gotten away from livestock, they have gotten away from

hay fields. Well, Trout River is not like that.

Trout River, there is a large number of people who still maintain a

traditional lifestyle. They fish and they hunt, they guide, and they have

restaurants. They have places for people to stay. There is now a service

station, which was not there for some time.

The Town of Trout River is very self-sufficient. The restaurant is

internationally renowned. If you go visit well, there are several restaurants.

Two or three or four in the summertime, but one of them, the Seaside, is

internationally renowned. You can visit there for the seafood and you see names

of individuals people like David Suzuki, names of individuals who have visited

the area, various actors, entertainers, performers, have written this, and they

all have high accolades for the area.

What do they not have in Trout River? They do not have cellphone service.

Cellphone service is so basic today; 600 or 700 people, many of them have

cellphones. They get cellphones anyway and they accept that they have a

cellphone, because when they drive to Corner Brook or Deer Lake or elsewhere,

they can phone home to their hardline and let people know where they are. That

means they have cellphones for very limited use, because there is no cellphone

service.

Mr. Speaker, this is a simple request for government to partner

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the member that his time has expired.

MR. BENNETT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court provided a comprehensive

approach to domestic violence in a court setting that fully understood and dealt

with the complex issues of domestic violence; and

WHEREAS domestic violence continues to be one of the most serious issues

facing our Province today, and the cost of the impact of domestic violence is

great both economically and in human suffering; and

WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed by

all aspects of the justice system including the police, the courts, prosecutors,

defence counsel, Child, Youth and Family Services, as well as victims,

offenders, community agencies and women's groups; and

WHEREAS the recidivism rate for offenders going through the court was 10 per

cent compared to 40 per cent for those who did not; and

WHEREAS the budget for the court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire budget

of the Department of Justice;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to reinstate the Family Violence

Intervention Court.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I have had the privilege of standing up in this House on several

occasions to present this petition. The petitions keep rolling in, and I think

because people are very passionate about this issue. We know how large a problem

the whole issue of family violence is today. We have just honoured and

commemorated December 6, which is a day specifically of remembrance about

violence against women but also it is a day about action.

People are aware of the great cost to society of domestic violence. What I

would like to do today, Mr. Speaker, is speak a little bit about the offenders

and what the court meant for the offenders. For the sake of speaking here today,

predominantly the offenders have been male and predominantly the victims have

been female, women and then their children.

We know research has shown that intervention as close to the time of offence

is the most effective way for intervention in family violence. It is the most

crucial time to enact treatment. It is the most important time to assure as much

as possible that treatment will be effective.

We know, Mr. Speaker, that, for instance, the John Howard Society had a grant

of $155,000 to provide treatment for offenders. The internal review showed that

this treatment was effective. The recidivism rate for men who went through the

treatment program was 10 per cent as opposed to 40 per cent for those who had

not.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the government to look at this again.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the member her time has expired.

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Straits, or Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: I will get your district out in a moment.

MR. A. PARSONS: A petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the Province

of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the

undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the residents of Burgeo, Ramea, Grey River and Franois, of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador must use Route 480 on a regular basis for

work, medical, educational and social reasons; and

WHEREAS Route 480 is in deplorable condition, such that the shoulders of the

road continuously wash away and there are huge potholes on the road; and

WHEREAS the condition of Route 480 poses a safety hazard to residents and

visitors to Burgeo, Ramea, Grey River and Franois; and

WHEREAS the Department of Transportation and Works is responsible for the

maintenance and repairs in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the local division of the Department of Transportation and Works does

make periodic repairs to this route but these repairs are only temporary

patchwork and this road needs to be resurfaced;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to support

the users of Route 480 in their request to have Route 480 resurfaced.

As in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, again, this is an issue I have petitioned on a number of

occasions. It is one that, like many roads in this Province, is in deplorable

condition. I think there are a number of factors that make this road

particularly treacherous. Given the fact that it is such a long road, it is

about 150 kilometres; given the fact there is absolutely no cell coverage on

this road, which means that when you do get in trouble because of the condition

of this road, you are often stuck there.

This is a road where we had a wash out last year in June that sat until

November before it was actually finished. I give the Minister of Transportation

credit here, I mentioned this to him, and he looked into it and made sure it was

done. I have been bringing it up previously to that. It has been sitting there

all summer but the department did not see fit to make this necessary repair.

The other thing is because of that wash out, fixing that, it meant we never

had any other work done whatsoever besides the usual patch jobs that have been

done. In fact, I am soon going to start sending the pictures that I receive of

people who suffer damage to their car on to the department on a regular basis,

just so they can see the constant e-mails, calls, Facebook messages, that I get

from people.

We know it is not going to be done all at once. We know it is a very sizable

road, it is 150 kilometres, but there has to be some kind of regular effort made

to maintain this road and to start to work on this road. Not doing the little

dribs and drabs that they have been doing, if we are lucky to get that.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to continue entering these. I have a number of

petitions here, and I appreciate the opportunity to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS in the past, the Town of Conception Bay South has provided space for

the Conception Bay South Public Library but will not be providing public space

for the library in its new Town Hall building; and

WHEREAS losing the provincial library means that one of the fastest growing

communities in the Province, with a population of 25,000, will no longer have

local library service; and

WHEREAS a library is more than just books; it is an open community space for

Internet access, online lending, children's reading programs, and community

events and services, which improve literacy levels, provide access to

information, stimulate creativity and innovation, and foster the development of

strong communities; and

WHEREAS the Town of Conception Bay South has expressed interest in cost

sharing a new site for the Conception Bay South Public Library;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to provide the necessary resources to

retain the public library in Conception Bay South.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this petition on behalf of these people.

They are coming from CBS and St. John's as a matter of fact, some signatories,

but a lot of them from Conception Bay South again. The word is spreading on this

that this is an important issue for the people of CBS, for the people of St.

John's, and the rest of the people of the Province as well.

We know what has been happening with the library system in this Province,

particularly as it pertains to the last Budget as well. We know the cuts there

to librarian staff, for example, are only going to telescope and cause further

problems to services that are being rendered by the libraries themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I am quite pleased to have presented this petition today. We

know what libraries mean to people. They are a centre of excellence, if you

will, for people to meet. They are essential to the operations of some

communities. They are central in the minds of some people as well because they

are, of course, centres where research can be done. They are also centres where

Internet access can be gained by people who cannot afford it.

Mr. Speaker, again, I ask government to consider this. Of course, reading

just the last line, there is an opportunity here for government to partner with

the Town of Conception Bay South in expanding library services and making these

services an integral part of a growing community, as well as an educational

community and a centre of excellence for our business community.

Mr. Speaker, I leave this with the House and leave it to government to

consider this petition.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I move Motion 1, pursuant to Standing Order 11, that the House

not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. today, Monday, December 9, 2013.

Further, I move Motion 2, pursuant to Standing Order 11 as well, that the

House not adjourn 10:00 p.m. today, Monday, December 9, 2013.

MR. SPEAKER: It is has been moved and seconded that this House do not

adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, December 9, 2013; and it has been further moved

and seconded that the House do not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. on Monday, December 9,

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.

Motion carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am going to call from the Order Paper, Order 5, second reading of a bill,

An Act To Amend The Schools Act, 1997, Bill 28.

With the Speaker's guidance on this one, we made the motion on Thursday and

we are still in debate, so I am not sure if I need a motion again or is it a

continuation of second reading.

MR. SPEAKER: This is a continuation of second reading. This is where we

finished off on Thursday, the last time we sat.

MR. KING: Okay. So, we will call from the Order Paper, Order 5, Bill 28.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a pleasure to speak to Bill 28,

An Act to Amend the Schools Act, 1997.

This legislation, Mr. Speaker, would require every school to have a school code

of conduct. It will require teachers, principals, school councils, school

boards, and directors to promote a safe and caring learning environment. It

would allow a board to appoint an associate director. It would increase the

maximum number of assistant directors a board may appoint, and allow the

minister to issue policy directives related to a safe and caring learning

environment.

Mr. Speaker, before going on I would like to say thank you to the staff in

the Department of Education for the briefing that they provided on this but,

moreover, for all of their hard work on this and on the Safe and Caring Schools

Initiative.

MR. LANE: (Inaudible).

MR. KIRBY: I will get to the minister; just one moment, I say to the

Member for Mount Pearl South.

I would like to thank teachers and staff in our schools who have been working

on this, all of our school councils who have been working on this, parents and

students, but I would particularly like to single out the Minister of Education

for being so generous with his time as to meet with me and discuss this; it was

quite helpful.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KIRBY: When we talk about bullying in schools, Mr. Speaker, we are

essentially talking about a repeated and harmful behaviour that is deliberate

and harassing. It is intended to cause or it should be known to cause fear or

intimidation, humiliation, distress, or harm to another person. It occurs in a

context where there is a real or perceived power imbalance between the people

involved and it can be significantly intensified by encouragement from a peer

group or bystanders.

The participation of others can be a key factor in increasing the negative

impact on the victim or victims, and bullying can take many forms, including

physical, verbal, or social bullying and can be carried out personally, in

person, or electronically. All bullying in schools and playgrounds associated to

schooling has a damaging psychological impact.

Of course, physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, punching, pushing, or

threatening, stealing, damaging, or destroying someone else's property.

Cyberbullying takes place with the use of technologies. It is facilitated

with the use of technology, and includes spreading rumours or making harmful

comments, or posting or circulating pictures or videos without somebody's

permission.

As the minister has pointed out, that includes something called sexting,

which involves circulating nude or suggestive photographs, and other less

dramatic invasions of privacy. Cyberbullying can be particularly destructive

because it can spread this information or misinformation to many people very

quickly. It can be done anonymously or through impersonation.

The victimized person can be faced daily with hurtful material and often

feels that many other people share the views of the perpetrator. It often

results in an overwhelming psychological pressure and can have a negative effect

on the school climates, school relationships, even when that sort of thing,

cyberbullying, occurs off the school property. I will not belabour that.

problems and problems associated with school violence is demonstrated by a

recent Ontario school case. It was described as follows: It was an attack that

was described as cowardly, disgusting and revolting, as reported in the

National Post on June 3, 2011.

Two female students viciously attacked a sixteen-year-old girl at noon hour

at Grey Highlands Secondary School in Flesherton, Ontario. Another student

filmed the attack and posted the attack, the video, on YouTube. The victim was

kicked in the side of the face and the attackers delivered blows to her body.

Other students could be heard on the YouTube video giggling and urging the

attackers to continue on.

At one point another girl came out of the crowd to try to stop the attack,

but another bystander attacked that girl. The police charged six students in

total, aged fifteen to seventeen, under the Criminal Code, including the person

who filmed the attack. That is one example. According to the Ontario Provincial

Police there have been similar attacks in the area that have been filmed and

posted online.

Closer to home, Mr. Speaker, there was a physical assault that occurred last

year at Crescent Collegiate in Blaketown. It left one school student injured and

three other students facing criminal charges. Two girls aged fifteen and

thirteen assaulted another thirteen-year-old girl near the school. Police said

the two teens pushed the third into a ditch and repeatedly punched her. While

that student was beaten, it has been reported that dozens of others cheered

while they watched and recorded on cellphones. I understand that at least one of

those cellphone videos was posted on Facebook.

When it comes to bullying, Mr. Speaker, and this initiative, this amendment,

there is no question that

definitions are important. They are important,

especially for consistency I would say.

What we are doing here is reminiscent of what happened in the Province of

Nova Scotia after the government there, under Darrell Dexter, decided to have a

task force on bullying. In that Province, they introduced a regulation that

defines bullying. Much like the policy directive here, it still provides a

statutory authority to the minister, if you will, who is ultimately responsible

or answerable to the House of Assembly. There is legislative authority, much

like what was done in Nova Scotia.

In Nova Scotia, the Education Act was amended earlier this year in fact.

Under regulations put in place by the minister,

section 145 of the Education Act

in Nova Scotia says: the minister may make regulations, and it lists a number of

regulations. One of the subsections says: "defining disruptive behaviour',

severely disruptive behaviour', bullying' and cyberbullying'". In effect, it

provides the authority to the minister in Nova Scotia to work on and provide

that definition, and provide changes to the definition.

Here in this Province, under the Schools Act, 1997, under "Powers of the

minister", there are a variety of powers the minister has under

section 117 of

the Schools Act, 1997. "may (

a) prescribe books, materials, programs and

courses of study for schools; (

b) issue policy directives, including policy

directives with respect to" and I will just give a couple of examples "(iii)

transportation of students to and from schools(

v) special education, (vi)

student evaluation".

Then under this amendment, it would allow the minister to effectively

establish a protocol and a definition of bullying. The minister and I had a

conversation about this, and I have talked to folks in the school community, if

you will, school councils and so on, about this approach. I agree that it

provides a sufficient level of flexibility. As the minister said in his initial

comments on this, sexting' was not something that was in our vocabulary until

very recently.

People will think back. Back in, let's say, 2006 Twitter was in its infancy.

No one would have ever believed it would be used the way it is now. Facebook was

only really coming on the scene then. Changes happen in the Internet virtual

environment at a very rapid pace. As the minister has explained, this provides

some flexibility through policy directive to change the definition as we go

forward, as the Province of Nova Scotia has decided to.

I think one of the important things that need to be raised is a question of

resources. I could go through the litany of policy directives that the minister

is able to deal with under his responsibility. I will just take, for example,

earlier this year when cuts or reductions were made to the teaching allocation

for this current school year.

The School Administrators' Council of the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers'

Association pointed out that, "all of us see the reductions to school

allocations as having direct and negative impacts on student achievement and

adding to an already heavy workload" for school-based administrators. They are

seriously concerned that the reductions in personnel will have significant

negative implications on their ability to carry out responsibilities and meet

their job functions.

Those job functions have been increased, increased and increased in recent

years. Increases in responsibility for the implementation of new policies

related to school councils; with respect to healthy and active living

initiatives; Safe and Caring Schools; inclusive education; My Gay-Straight

Alliance; KinderStart; twenty-first century learning; also instructional

technology integration; accounting and controls; electronic report cards; school

security; building maintenance in some instances and a number of other areas;

increasingly, school staff, teachers, administrators have far more on their

plate. We are not going to get more for less here without sufficient new

resources.

I want to refer now, Mr. Speaker, to the consultant's report that was

produced when the Safe and Caring Schools Policy was reviewed by Goss Gilroy

Incorporated Management Consultants. I am not really sure so maybe later the

minister can tell us what this cost because I am always interested in knowing

what consultants reports and so on cost. I am not sure that information was ever

provided here but it would be interesting to know. They did a significant piece

of work on this.

One of the things they talked about moving forward was the need to ensure the

dedicated attention to this policy implementation at the district level and

across schools geographically in, we say, desperate and vast regions of

Newfoundland and Labrador. It cannot be just an initiative to which staff

attributes a small portion of their time. This is very time consuming stuff;

also depending on the size of the school, the number of seniors administrators

who are there. Teachers talked about that.

They also talked about training. One of the teachers who were interviewed by

the Goss Gilroy Consultants said, "To create the culture at a school level to

create a safe and caring environment, than you must have people trained and

in-serviced at the school level." That is a very important point. Professional

development is one of the few ways we can ensure teachers who have the required

training can carry out what it is the Minister of Education is asking them to do

through the policy directive.

"Another issue raised was in relation to the number of professional

development days available to school staff in light of the many and varied

issues requiring planning for SCS Policy implementation. As one school informant

stated, given the depth of issues and the need to effectively engage the entire

school community and the broader community, more time is needed for in-school

planning around engagement and designing activities." So, I think that is an

important message.

There are a variety of different factors that have been hindering and will

continue to hinder the implementation of policies around Safe and Caring

Schools. I think one of the things that we need to have is leadership at all

levels, not just at the ministerial level but within the Department of

Education. At the board level now there are just two boards, so I guess that is

a little bit easier. Although, one of those boards is massive. Leadership at the

school level is considered to be critical, critical for the buy-in that is

needed for effective implementation of the Safe and Caring Schools Policy and

also for monitoring the outcomes.

Personnel changes are a problem. There are always changes at the school level

from year to year, whether that is people retiring, people transferring, and so

on. That can really constrain efforts at the school level and can impact

leadership at the school level as well. Sometimes folks leave one principal or

assistant principal position to go to another school.

Again the lack of relevant training is a significant obstacle, and there are

social realities that Goss Gilroy pointed out, societal realities. Students'

home lives can be contextualized and often are defined by poverty, lack of

respect and communication, parents who are in conflict situations, violence,

domestic violence, parental disinterest, and a general disconnect from a child's

school that is really predicated on all the things that I just said. That can

come into conflict. Students can receive contradictory messages with respect to

Safe and Caring Schools, anti-violence, respect for one another, and care for

others in school.

There are a variety of mental health and addictions issues that intervene,

and that brings me to an important point: the need for more on-site staff, not

teachers, other school staff to help with this situation, guidance staff, in

particular. We all know that guidance staff are basically stretched to the

limit. As the School Administrators' Council has said you stretch and you

stretch and you stretch the band and then it breaks. School guidance is at a

breaking point, to some extent.

School guidance counsellors are expected to deal with a variety of health

issues, personal issues, mental health issues and on top of all that, they are

supposed to somehow mentor and guide our young people on their way to a trade, a

job, to college, to university, the military, or where they are going to end up

after they leave school. So, they are excessively burdened. We are going to add

another layer now onto them that is certainly going to cause significant

problems.

significant professional development, I believe, would really, really help.

Student absenteeism is also a significant problem. I have mentioned to the

minister here in the House of Assembly a number of times about undocumented

absenteeism that often occurs in the situation that children with special

education needs find themselves in.

That also leads to a disconnect from the school community, and can add, as

the Goss Gilroy report has pointed out, to other negative pursuits. What are

they doing when they are out of school? For repeat offenders, suspension is

really of little value for children who are in that very, very difficult

situation. They simply stay home, wander the mall, wander the streets, and then

their school work suffers further. So, when it comes to consequences for

bullying, I think we really have to consider different ways to resolve it.

I have a lot more to say, but I think my time is coming to a close. I just

wanted to point out that in the task force on anti-bullying in Nova Scotia, they

talked about developing a protocol whereby issues of bullying and cyberbullying

in schools could be referred to the Human Rights Commission, and they could be

handled through complaint mechanisms such as mediation, restorative justice, and

other alternatives.

As the minister already knows, Dr. Dorothy Vaandering in the Faculty of

Education at MUN is an expert in this area of restorative justice, and I think

that if she has not already been engaged, she is another expert who would

certainly be interested in helping with this initiative.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn): The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I welcome an opportunity to discuss this bill. This bill is

An Act to Amend

the Schools Act, and even though I will be speaking in support of the bill, the

bill plays some interesting games. It plays some interesting games in that it

seems to combine two issues; one is the Safe and Caring Schools Policy, which

really does not need

an act; and, it also rolls into it provisions to amend the

Schools Act in order to be able to consolidate the school boards, which

government ought to have done, I would say, in the first place.

In looking at it there is no doubt that Safe and Caring Schools is important.

When you look at the legislation it says, "Every student shall (

a) promote a

safe and caring learning environment; (

b) comply with the school code of

conduct, school discipline and the rules of the school; and (

c) carry out the

learning activities within the prescribed curriculum." It says to "promote a

safe and caring learning environment".

It goes on to say under the new

section 26.1(1), "Every school shall have a

school code of conduct which shall include (

a) standards of appropriate and

inappropriate behaviours; and (

b) proactive and reactive strategies."

Mr. Speaker, this appears that the government is downloading the obligation

and the responsibility on the students in the schools to put into place a Safe

and Caring Schools Policy. Would it not make more sense that government

formulated and determined what precisely was the definition in the Safe and

Caring Schools environment, to prescribe what it ought to be, instead of saying

to each and every school you come up with your own Safe and Caring Schools

Policy?

It appears to give autonomy to schools in this respect. In fact, I would say

that schools do not need autonomy and should not have autonomy in this respect.

In this case, there should be one law for everybody, there should be one rule

for everybody, instead of different schools making different rules.

Mr. Speaker, the issue before with the Safe and Caring Schools Policy there

is nothing wrong with the old Safe and Caring Schools Policy. The Goss Gilroy

report said that the former Safe and Caring Schools Policy was fine, but it was

not implemented. It was not implemented, and it was not properly funded. They

said that every school district should have a champion for this particular

issue.

What they also said is that resources should be allocated. If globally you

assign or grant a certain amount of resources to a school area, then there will

be other pressing areas of need for these resources to be spent, for the cash

resources to be spent, and for the personnel to be hired. Are you going to hire

someone for special education and not have that person for Safe and Caring

Schools? Are you going to hire someone for mathematics and not have someone for

guidance?

The Goss Gilroy report was pretty clear in that the Safe and Caring Schools

Policy, as it existed up until now, should work fine but it actually needed

proper implementation and proper follow-up and more regular follow-up. That was

the shortcoming; it did not need another piece of legislation.

Having said that, there being another piece of legislation, I do not really

have any reason not to support it; it is better to have this conduct legislated.

Mr. Speaker, you can legislate authority, but you cannot legislate

responsibility. Responsibility cannot be assigned; only authority can be

assigned. This is giving authority, but the responsibility still rests with the

department to make sure that the results are the appropriate results.

Then if you go on to the other half if you buy one, you get one free. So,

if you like one, what do you do with the other one? The second half is the

implementation piece to consolidate school boards. Why on earth in a piece of

legislation for Safe and Caring Schools would you need a piece of legislation

that says that school board shall and I am certain that the minister and the

drafters know the difference between shall and may; is it permissive or is it

mandatory?

It says, "A board shall, subject to the prior written approval of the

minister, appoint" so that means you have to do it, but the minister has to

sign off on it "(

a) one director; (

b) one associate director; and (

c) no more

than 7 assistant directors."

Then it goes on to say: Notwithstanding and I kind of really do not like

notwithstanding, because notwithstanding means that is a way to wiggle out of

whatever it was you said you were going to do in the first place. The lawyers

put in notwithstanding even in sections of the Constitution, a province

invokes a notwithstanding clause. That means it does not matter what else we

just said, we are still going to do it our way.

It says, "Notwithstanding subsection (1)," and that says were we get no

more than seven assistant directors, "the minister may approve a larger number

of assistant directors." We were told within the last six months or so that if

we consolidate the school boards, we save all this money because we do not have

this duplication. Then we have a piece of legislation and the piece of

legislation says that oh, by the way, now you have to hire back all of these

people. Did we need the people in the first place or did we not need the people

in the first place? I suspect we may have and we may have needed them otherwise

applied than they were.

The legislation goes on to say, "Notwithstanding" that notwithstanding word

again "that a board may employ a director, an associate director or an

assistant director under this section, a contract of employment between a board

and a director, an associate director or an assistant director shall not be

entered into without the prior written approval of that contract by the

minister, and a contract of employment entered into without that approval shall

be void."

Mr. Speaker, this has the appearance of the minister granting all of this

untouched and it seems to be working well from what I can see, that we have

this new legislation. It says that you have to appoint this number of people,

and oh by the way, you may appoint some more of these people if you want to, but

I have to approve it. Yes, you can enter into a contract with them, but the

minister has to sign off on the employment contracts, basically, of all of the

decision makers in the board, at the board level.

Isn't this consolidating absolute power and absolute discretion into the

hands of the minister? I agree the minister has absolute power but if the boards

are supposed to be instruments that permit a certain level of discretion, a

certain amount of professionalism, and a certain amount of decision making to go

to the board level, then why does the minister need to have absolute discretion

even in hiring contracts?

This seems to say that we have now appointed one school board and we have

collapsed board after board after board and now we are down to one board. Yet,

the minister will have all of the decision making power.

Really, this part of the legislation is designed to fix up the Schools Act to

actually accommodate the consolidation that happened a few months ago. Back then

the minister was asked, and I asked the minister in Question Period, if he had a

legal opinion as to whether the school boards could be consolidated without a

change in the legislation. I was assured: Oh, yes, we have that legal opinion.

Oh yes, the minister agreed to provide the legal opinion, and never did.

One of his colleagues who is not with us, does not sit any more in this

Legislature, with legal training, was concerned, by my observation, that we

should not be giving such a legal opinion; but the minister said you can have

the legal opinion which says that we can consolidate the boards without changing

the legislation.

Now, we have this new bill, Bill 28, which is

An Act to Amend the Schools

Act, and it is framed in a way to look like it is for the Safe and Caring

Schools Policy, which is a good policy, but it was not implemented and it was

not funded. There is no funding made available. The minister said no special

funding or individual assigned funding for the new Safe and Caring Schools

Policy to be implemented, yet on the back end of it we have sections of the bill

which say, basically, we want to clean up all the things we really needed to do

I say the Safe and Caring Schools portion of this bill really is the

smokescreen the government is using so they can pass legislation necessary to

implement the consolidation of the boards; however, on balance, to see that the

government is making some efforts to advancing Safe and Caring Schools, it is

better to support it than not support it.

I do not see that it does a whole lot, unless we get the actual

implementation put in place and unless it is properly funded and properly

followed up. Safe and Caring Schools, clearly, is critically important to

society generally and certainly it is important for the learning atmosphere our

children are entitled to and that they need.

Those are my comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: If the hon. the Minister of Education speaks now, he will

close the debate.

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity, and the

minister, to speak to this piece of legislation,

An Act to Amend the Schools

Act, 1997. It is certainly a positive and progressive piece of legislation. We

recognize our schools, with society, are becoming more complex spaces. To ensure

we have legislation where we can make our schools a safe and caring environment

for all students and staff, I think, is something all of us in this House of

Assembly would strive to achieve. It is nice to see the minister has been

advancing and moving forward on such initiatives.

When we talk about what this is doing when it comes to addressing the issue

of bullying within schools and the ability to enforce protection against it, a

number of other members have talked about different forms of bullying, whether

it is physical, whether it is emotional, or whether it is looking at

cyberbullying.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity while I was on my own Facebook, and

you see in the newsfeed, there was a video that was playing out. It was talking

about educating to prevent against bullying. These two individuals had basically

on a campus or in a public area started engaging acts of bullying to see how the

general public would react, and they videotaped these and then they posted them.

As they were walking through, some people sat and they did nothing. Some people

watched those acts of bullying and did not react. Others walked away from that

and left the scene of the act that was coming on, the violent act.

Then there were others who took out their phones and started recording. When

they were asked, what are you doing? They were like, well, you are bullying this

person and I am recording it so that we have some evidence now, and you have to

stop this. Then there were others who certainly did not know these individuals

who were being bullied who were really stepping to action, men and women who

were standing up against others in this video.

I found it very interesting. It was a great form of education because it was

showing people in certain situations as to how they would react and how it makes

you feel. As a society, I think we need to see more educational material as to

if we are encountered as individuals, whether we are out of school or whether we

are in a public space. How would we, as individuals, react to make sure that

what we are doing as a Province and as a society, we make sure that we have a

safe environment for all citizens of this Province?

These are mechanisms we need to do. I would like to know what the rollout is

going to be. This legislation has been questioned in the House of Assembly

around the resources that will be attached to it. Some of the documentation,

some of the materials as to how we can educate people can be a relatively low

currently are already doing. We do not need to reinvent the wheel but we

certainly do need to get our message out there. I think we can all do that.

at bullying and the words that are put there.

Everyone needs to be cognizant that once you put something out there, whether

it is on Twitter or Facebook, or in any public forum, that it is there for life.

It does not just go away when you delete it or whatnot. That is something we

have to recognize when you are taking photos and different activities. Be very

cognizant about when it is posted, do you want the whole world to see it? That

is something that needs to be considered.

Looking at the legislation and seeing this is going to increase the number of

directors from three to seven, allowing the board to elect an associate

director, and the definition of bullying will be left out of the legislation to

keep flexibility of the idea and concept of bullying. We saw that, as well, with

earlier legislation when it came to gender expression and gender identity. It

was left out of the legislation, but it would take the

definitions of the Human

Rights Commission to allow for the changing scope.

As other members have stated, words such as sexting' was not in the public

realm. It was not a common word used and it was not something that most people

were knowledgeable about. We are seeing that bullying and cyberbullying is

evolving to different forums. So we do have to have that ability and that

recognition to have flexibility in a definition.

Some revisions or some considerations, just for the minister, the three

months' written notice for termination and report of dismissal should have an

appeal period for those subject to dismissal. I just wonder about the fact of an

appeal and that whole process. Maybe that could be further clarified by the

minister when he gets up to speak to close debate.

I would like more around the campaign strategy being conducted to bring the

message of this act to the public and to the school. That clearly needs to be

outlined. There are lots of great ideas. There are lots of great public

engagements that can be done through the Office of Public Engagement, through

other Web sites, through other means. It can also be, in many cases, part of the

education system and student initiated as well, so they have that peer to peer

learning. It can also be driven, as well, from ordinary citizens and parents,

and others, because having a safe and caring school environment is important to

everyone.

When giving Royal Assent to the act, which will come into place by September,

2014, will this time frame prove sufficient to select seven assistant directors

and appoint one director of business and finance? Just to reiterate, I would

like to see from the minister what the added cost will be. They must be

accounted for, these newly appointed director positions in the legislation of

the School Act.

The cost of having seven assistant directors and the duties they will fulfill

may not necessarily be contributing to having a safe and caring school

environment in staffs and schools. I would just like some further clarification

around that, because I guess overall it was not ideally clear in the legislation

around that piece and that particular matter.

I will be supporting the legislation. I think it is a good piece of

legislation and I think the minister has done a good job in presenting this

topic. I know there is a lot more work to do. I think we are all willing to step

up as members of the House of Assembly, I know I am, in working with the

minister to try in any way look at combating and reducing matters of bullying

that is happening in our school system in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I thank the minister for putting forward this piece of legislation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: If the hon. the Minister of Education speaks now he will

close debate.

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I kind of felt like starting off with God bless us, every one, Mr. Speaker.

It has been a wonderful debate here this afternoon, and on Thursday about

this. I am almost tempted to go without any of the notes that I have here

because we have been enthralled in this for a while, but I know there is one

person watching who, if I do not use some of the notes, she will say that I

missed them. So I am going to have to cede to doing that.

Mr. Speaker, just a couple of points that have been raised. It was raised by

the Leader of the Third Party on Thursday past and by the Member for St. Barbe

today by also attempting to slip stuff in, another agenda as it pertains, in

particular, to the school board. Mr. Speaker, that is the furthest from the

truth. This is a decision we made based on you look at in Roman figures, since

2004, the last reorganization of the school board, our population has gone down

by 17 per cent.

We have 67,000 students in this Province, and we had sixty trustees

representing those 67,000. You consider that we had those sixty trustees and

before I even go down that road a little further, I want to thank them because

the work they do on behalf of the students of this Province they are to be

commended for; but, at the same time, we had to take a look at where the numbers

were, and the expense that is incurred with having sixty people travel around

the Province is a reality.

boards and one French. The Francophone board remains intact. We had a director

and then we had three assistant directors. Where we have gone right now is from

a staff of directors at the present board, having gone from seventeen down to

nine. When we took a look at this and looked at the numbers and the decline in

population, it was decided this is the way we have gone.

So, the one addition is the assistant director. We have the director, Mr.

Darrin Pike, and we have the assistant director, Mr. Jeff Thompson. This

gentleman, Mr. Thompson, as associate director, he is the individual that board

office people will report to when it comes to programming. We wanted to make

sure that programming was under the purview of a particular individual and it

is, in fact, Mr. Thompson, and, of course, everything under the director, Mr.

Darrin Pike.

The Member for St. John's North asked the question as to what was the cost of

the Gilroy report. That report was $70,000, Mr. Speaker. I contend that the work

that was done, it is extremely good work. One of the things that Goss Gilroy did

say is that the Safe and Caring Schools Policy was a good policy. It had a good

philosophy, but there was some additional work that was needed. Through the

consultations the one thing that was asked is that they wanted more direction.

Mr. Speaker, that is what this document has provided.

We went out and we consulted Goss Gilroy consulted with students, teachers,

administrators, district personnel, government and community partners; and then

the department went out and carried out further consultations and met wit