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April

4, 2017

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 5

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

welcome to the Speaker's gallery today, Haley Crichton and Pegah Memarpour who

are the subject of a Member's statement today.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also in the Speaker's gallery

today we have Dylan Donnelly, a level II student from Mount Pearl Senior High,

and he is shadowing his MHA Steve Kent today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

In the public gallery today

we have 24 grade four students from Vanier Elementary, the District of Virginia

Waters Pleasantville, along with teacher, Mme Hudson.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

We also have joining us in

the public gallery Darren Buckle and his son, Jonathan, from Happy Valley-Goose

Bay. Jonathan has just received his cochlear implant, so he's both happy to see

us and hear us today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' Statements today

we have the Members for the Districts of Harbour Main; Cape St. Francis; Harbour

Grace Port de Grave; Ferryland; Conception Bay South; and St. George's

Humber.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

MS. PARSLEY:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

recognize a young man from my district on his outstanding achievements. On

December 19, Brady Ryan of Marysvale officially graduated from Ascension

Collegiate in Carbonear. It was clear to see that Mr. Ryan's hard work had

literally paid off.

addition to graduating with honours, Brady also received a number of prestigious

awards, including the Warren and Catherine Ball Memorial Scholarship, the PIPSC

scholarship, the Electoral District scholarship for Harbour Main, the NLESD

scholarship, and the John H. Lyans Jr. Iron Workers Scholarship. When all was

said and done, Brady took home a total of more than $30,000, enough to put him

well on his way to a degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Brady's

accomplishments don't stop with academics. On April 28 he will be flying to Fiji

where he will begin three weeks of volunteering with the Eco Students Abroad to

help teach school children, build rainwater catchments and assist with repairs

to a local school.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Brady Ryan on his

remarkable accomplishments and wishing him the greatest success in years to

come.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House today to congratulate the Pouch Cove Lions Club District 4N

on winning Recreation NL's 2016 Volunteer Group of the Year Award.

The

Pouch Cove Lions Club is well-respected for all that it does for area residents.

The club held its Charter Night this past November and celebrated 34 years of

dedicated community service.

Since

1982, the club has organized numerous projects, activities and touched lives of

many. With money they've raised from such events as bake sales, raffles, card

games and bingos, the club has provided assistance to many throughout the

community. They have provided backpacks for children, sponsored youth ball

teams, completed renovations to the club, sponsored the Come Home Year events

and many more.

2015-2016 the club volunteered approximately 6,125 hours of service and donated

$31,000. The club consists of dedicated members whose service range from one

year to an impressive 44 years of service with perfect attendance. With numbers

like that, it's no wonder the club was named Volunteer Group of the Year.

I ask

all hon. Members to join with me congratulating the Pouch Cove Lions Club.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Grace Port de Grave.

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm very

proud to recognize and congratulate our Special Olympians who competed in the

World Winter Games in Austria.

Crystal

Young of Harbour Grace, Sandra Smith of Carbonear, Floressa Harris of Gander and

Justin Dodge of Grand Bank proudly represented our province and country on the

world stage. Not only did they compete with Team Canada, they brought home some

fine hardware.

Crystal

Young won two gold medals in snowshoeing, for the five kilometre race and for

the 4x400 metre race. Sandra Smith captured two golds and a silver medal for the

200 metre race, the 4x400 metre and the 400 metre race. Floressa Harris took

home a bronze medal for the 100 metre snowshoeing race.

Both

Crystal and Sandra are members of the Tri Con Gentle Giants Special Olympians

team and they compete year round. They also participate in the annual Law

Enforcement Torch Run, raising awareness and funds in order to promote this

inclusive organization. Not only are they athletes, Crystal, Sandra, Justin and

Floressa, along with their teammates are all ambassadors we can be very proud

of.

At a

recent reception in her hometown of Harbour Grace, Crystal was awarded with a

street named in her honour: Crystal's Way.

I ask

that everybody congratulate these very special Olympians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Ferryland.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand

in this House today to recognize the Mobile Monarch's high school hockey team,

coaches and the accomplishments of gold medal winners at the Tier 2

Confederation Cup held February 8-12 in the St. John's region. The Mobile

Monarchs won 4-2 over the Holy Trinity High School Tigers in the championship

game.

The

Confederation Cup tournament began in 1999 as part of the 50th anniversary

celebrations of Newfoundland and Labrador becoming Canada's 10th province in

1949. Teams participated from all across Newfoundland, as well as from New

Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Members

of the winning team include: Brendan Houlihan, Logan Brothers, Noah Lynch-Walsh,

Michael Clarke, Adrian Doyle, Christian Walsh, Gavin Coady, Nathan O'Brien,

Patrick Maloney, Josh Colbert, Adam Lake, Kieran O'Driscoll, Kyle Whalen, Liam

Colbert, Kendall Power, Stephen Dunne, Devon O'Brien, Blake Carew, Lee Colbert,

Devon Popp, and Liam Shea.

Coaches

included: Kevin Whelan, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin Walsh, Marc Coady and Sean Doyle.

The

Confederation Cup allows a high level of competition while allowing new

friendships and experiences to be made.

Mr.

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

Monarch's high school hockey team in winning their first ever Confederation Cup

championship.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, on March 26, my colleague, the MHA for Topsail Paradise and I

attended the 7th Annual Art Exhibition and Sale at Worsley Park, CBS. This was

another great success for the artists and the community overall. This event is

free admission and showcases amazing local artwork.

The

Studio 5ive is a group of retired ladies residing in Conception Bay South and

they are the first local art group of its kind in our area. Local artists are:

Glenda Bartlett, Tessa Crosbie, Shelley Blundon, Joanne Stone, and Velma Dalton

Boudreau.

These

talented ladies are members of the Art Association of Newfoundland and Labrador

and meet weekly at each other's studios. They also bring in guest artists to

teach art classes and put off workshops.

This

group has travelled internationally to attend various workshops and art shows.

Studio 5ive also support and donate to local charities in our area such as

church groups, the Rotary Club, CBS Monument of Honour, Manuels River, and other

worthwhile charities.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in commending them for their great

work and their love of art. I also want to wish them future successes at their

art exhibitions and thank them for what they do for our community.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

George's Humber.

MR. REID:

Mr. Speaker, this past

weekend, I had an opportunity to witness an incredible event in Corner Brook,

called Start-up Weekend.

This

event involved entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas and working with

others over the weekend to develop their business plans. Mentors and coaches

were available at Grenfell Campus of Memorial University to help these teams

with their business, to take their business from idea to actual business.

This

event was held by Start-up Newfoundland in partnership with Navigate

Entrepreneurship Centre, which is a joint venture of Grenfell Office of

Engagements and the College of the North Atlantic.

Start-up

Newfoundland and Labrador was built on the ideas that entrepreneurs helping

entrepreneurs is the best formula for start-up success. At this event, over 20

people pitch business ideas and eight were selected for further work throughout

the weekend.

I want

to congratulate the entrepreneurs who came forward and participated in the

weekend and wish them well in their ventures. I also want to recognize the work

of the organizers and the volunteers who made this Start-up Weekend in Western

Newfoundland such a success.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Since

being appointed as Minister of Justice and Public Safety, I have envisioned a

new approach to the justice system in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was clear,

that in our department, we needed to find innovative ways to address the number

of people incarcerated, to look at why they are incarcerated in the first place

and to determine how to reduce re-offence.

To that

end, I strongly believe in restorative justice. We are currently evaluating

measures that genuinely help people. I am pleased to announce today that we are

also partnering with two impressive women with expertise in the field of

corrections, Memorial University graduate students, Hayley Crichton and Pegah

Memarpour, to conduct a feasibility study on a bail supervision program in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, approximately 50 per cent of our current inmate population are serving

on remand awaiting trial. At our justice summit last week, we heard we need to

look at bail supervision. A potential bail supervision program empowers judges

with an option for robust supervision of remand inmates instead of simply

imprisoning them. The aim would be to more effectively rehabilitate alleged

offenders while reducing the burden on provincial institutions like Her

Majesty's Penitentiary. It is a win-win.

This

study will look to build policy from the ground up with a view toward the unique

characteristics of Newfoundland and Labrador. The study will come at zero cost

to the provincial government as part of an innovative approach to policy

development by working with those in our community with a passion for the

betterment of this province's justice system. Working with our post-secondary

institutions and scholars is a resourceful way to build programs that help

people involved with our system. This is just the first opportunity for

partnerships like these to achieve innovative, top-notch policy in a

cost-effective manner.

I'd like

to again thank Pegah and Hayley for their expertise, and I look forward to the

results of this study.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement today, and assure you we

always welcome innovative thoughts and approaches of delivering services but

doing so with the sole purpose of saving a dollar can be dangerous and

problematic.

I'm not

suggesting that's the only reason, but I did hear the minister this morning. We

are encouraged that the minister sought the assistance from these two women with

expertise in the field of corrections. I'm sure the research will include checks

and balances, and not allow cost savings to be the ultimate deciding factor in

this very important process.

First

and foremost, public safety needs to take priority. People need to feel safe in

their homes and their communities. With accused persons on bail supervision

instead of remand, it is imperative to make sure those decisions are done for

the right reasons and strong assurances are provided to the public.

The

minister states they can save significant dollars and that causes some concern

for some of the people of our province, but it shouldn't be the primary

rationale.

I again

thank the minister. We'll be keeping a close eye on this. We look forward to

seeing the results from the study.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

applaud the minister for working with academics. More decisions should be based

on evidence, sound research and science. I'm really excited about the work grad

students Hayley Crichton and Pegah Memarpour have been doing already.

Policy

development is government's responsibility and must be done inside government.

This work is long overdue. The minister boasts this justice work will cost the

government no money when in fact they should be allocating whatever it takes to

do this important work. It is a matter of justice, and I thank Hayley Crichton

and Pegah Memarpour.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

pleased to update this hon. House today on significant growth in our province's

aquaculture industry.

In 2016,

the Newfoundland and Labrador seafood industry achieved a record production

value of $1.4 billion with the aquaculture sector accounting for almost 20 per

cent of this total. This represents a market value of $276 million, up from $161

million in 2015, achieving a new milestone for our aquaculture industry.

Mr.

Speaker, it is clear government's strategic investments in support of

aquaculture are providing real economic benefits for many rural communities

throughout the province. We are delivering on government's commitment as

outlined in The Way Forward to support

this industry to more than double the production for farmed salmon and mussels.

This

government will continue to work with key industry partners including the

Newfoundland and Labrador Aquaculture Association, mussel growers and producers,

and aquaculture leaders including Northern Harvest Sea Farms, Cooke Aquaculture,

Marine Harvest and potential new entrants to reach this goal.

Mr.

Speaker, this industry is poised for even greater growth and we will continue to

seek new markets and strengthen the industry for the benefit of all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Mr. Speaker, we are pleased

to recognize the positive growth of the aquaculture industry in our province. A

decade ago, all government identified aquaculture as an innovative sector with

tremendous growth potential, and it was our leadership that made the strategic

investments in aquaculture expansion to bring us to where we are today.

I have

witnessed the economic benefits of our administration's aquaculture investments

in my own district and I am pleased that the industry continues to expand and

diversify rural economies across this province. We encourage the continued

growth of aquaculture in a sustainable manner to support communities and people

throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. As we expand we must ensure

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. PERRY:

that the investments made

to date are protected and continue to thrive.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. The 2016 production

marks a significant milestone for the aquaculture industry, creating needed

economic activity in rural communities; however, we need to minimize the impact

of aquaculture on our traditional fisheries and to treat our marine environment

respectfully to ensure aquaculture jobs are sustainable. To that end, I

encourage government to give greater attention to the option of land-based

aquaculture as other jurisdictions are doing.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Many

years ago in a former role the Minister of Education told a group of student

protesters at Confederation Building, hang your heads in shame for a Liberal

government doesn't care about you.

I ask

the minister: Does that now not apply to the present day administration?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure

what the Member is referring to.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, I'll refresh the

minister's memory in the near future.

Mr.

Speaker, in 2015, the Education Minister stated that teachers with fewer

resources, larger classes and heavier workloads is a clear recipe for failure,

but when he was in power in 2016 teachers had less resources, larger classrooms

and heavier workloads.

What

will the recipe be for 2017 for teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do

understand this question. Mr. Speaker, the budget will be announced here by the

hon. Minister of Finance on Thursday, and I anxiously await the release of that.

There are a lot of positive initiatives, I believe.

After

coming into office last year and being faced with a $2.7 or $2.8 billion

deficit, I believe government has done a good job. Our colleagues have worked

very hard to try and take us back from the brink. Our bond rating was about a

couple of categories away from junk-bond status, and it's taken a lot of work to

get us back on our feet again.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, educators have

spoken out about the negative impacts recent cuts implemented since you took

power are having on our education system.

Will the

minister reverse the cuts from last year's budget, or will he expect teachers

and administrators to scrounge again for resources?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Once again, thank you to the

Member for an opportunity to stand and answer a question.

Mr.

Speaker, as I said, we had some difficult decisions to make last year.

Unfortunately, I think it's really the shame of the country. We spend more as a

portion of our budget on debt servicing and paying our debt than we do on

education. I'm not proud of that, Mr. Speaker, but that's the situation we have

today. We made a lot of difficult decisions last year in the budget.

As I

said at the time, I respect the fact that teachers work very hard in this

province. There's no question about that. I've been to about three dozen schools

since the new year began, and every school I go to it's the same thing. There

are a lot of good things going on, a lot of challenging circumstances. We

recognize that, and we will continue to work with teachers to make their job as

easy as possible.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can the

minister explain for this House, what criteria were used to determine what

educational infrastructure was given priority in your recently announced

infrastructure plan?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, there are a

variety of things that we take into account when we make decisions around

funding for infrastructure, whether it's for education or other departments in

government.

In the

case of education, of course, cost effectiveness is an important consideration

for when we spend precious taxpayers' dollars on any initiative. We look at

population growth or decline in communities. We take advice from the school

districts. They prioritize projects and send them to us.

We work

with the Department of Finance, Economics and Statistics. They do population

modelling. We look at the annual general return in terms of the number of

students that are in schools in September each year. Those are the sorts of

things that we take into account when we make decisions on infrastructure.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal

government appeared angry and confused with where the public wasn't overjoyed

with the infrastructure announcement. Maybe people don't trust the Liberal

government, and for good reason.

Why

wasn't Riverside Elementary included in the Liberal

Way Forward infrastructure plan?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member asked a similar question, I believe, three weeks ago. As I said then,

there were modular classrooms added to Riverside Elementary in Shoal Harbour in

order to address the capacity issue there. The previous administration used

modular classrooms all the time. Holy Trinity Elementary in Torbay has eight

modular classrooms behind it. There are not quite as many behind Riverside

Elementary.

I also

mentioned to the Member three weeks ago that the Newfoundland and Labrador

conducted a survey; they're going to review the configuration of grades there

with a view to relieving some of the pressure at Riverside and distributing

grades around the system differently.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can

only echo from, not only the parents of Riverside but a number of other

communities, that those solutions are not appropriate when there was a plan put

in place to build new schools and renovate schools where it was necessary.

What

population projections were used to address the overcrowding issues in

provincial schools?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, we've had a lot

of overcrowding in schools in the province over the past, I would say, decade. A

lot of that has been concentrated on the Northeast Avalon. Unfortunately, there

was a period of time that it wasn't attended to. I know I met recently with a

delegation of parents from the Witless Bay Mobile area who indicated, amongst

other things, that they didn't feel they had been listened to in the past. I've

spoken to school councils on the Northeast Avalon who have that same sense as

well.

There

are a number of infrastructure projects underway. In the Member for Cape St.

Francis district there's going to be a new school opening after the Easter

holiday. We have a new school opening in the Member's district in September. The

Member for Topsail Paradise had a new school open in his district this year.

So there are lots of new schools coming online. I would continue to monitor

population with a view to ensuring we have no capacity issues.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

I'm glad the minister

outlined what the previous administration had done to address overcrowding but

he didn't answer the question about what he's going to do to address

overcrowding.

We are

told that schools with more than 500 students are being asked to apply the 1-29

student ratio versus the 1-27 ratio followed last year. That means a minimum of

two less teacher units for a school with more than 500 students.

Can the

minister clarify his ratio process?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, at risk of

sounding like a broken record, as I've said many times over the past year or so,

it is the school districts in the province that are responsible for the

administration of primary, elementary and secondary education. The Department of

Education outlines a teacher allocation formula and provides its resources to,

so that those allocations can be provided, distributed to schools.

I'm not

aware of any communication from the Department of Education and Early Childhood

Development that the Member is talking about. If he has such communication from

the department or from either of the school districts, I'd appreciate him

sharing it with me.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Well, from the decisions made

by that administration to change the ratios, my calculations is there that could

be as many as 125 additional teachers coming out of the education system this

year, just based on that change that's been instituted or asked of by schools

that have more than 500 students.

Over

25,000 residents of our province spoke out against the closure of libraries

announced in last year's budget. A year later, libraries and residents have no

idea what is happening with the future of these libraries.

Can the

minister please outline the library plan for the future of libraries?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, it's absolutely

fear-mongering for the Member to stand up and suggest that there are some well

over 100 teachers being reduced in this coming school year. That's news to me.

You can continue to make it up as you go along, if you like, but that's

absolutely not the case.

As I

responded several weeks ago when the Member asked about the library system, I

indicated, as I will again, that the provincial library board and the steering

committee that is reviewing the system, the library system, is going to produce

a report based on exhaustive, extensive consultations that they have had with

the public over a period of about 10 months, a jurisdictional review and other

research that they have done.

As I've

said a number of weeks ago I expect that in the spring we're in the spring, so

we should be seeing it soon.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

So based on the minister's

non-answer but giving some information, obviously he's acknowledged that there

are going to be cuts and there are going to be teachers come out of the system.

Can he

give us the numbers then, based on whatever ratio that he's going to be using?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, I didn't indicate anything of the sort. I merely pointed out that

the Member is fear-mongering again, suggesting that things are going to happen

that are not going to happen.

One of

the things that was done, that the hon. Premier promised during the election

campaign that we were pleased to fulfill, is was that the Premier appointed a

Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes. They, just last week, finished

consultations; summits, if you will, all across the province; there were surveys

completed by teachers, by parents, by students; they continue to do

interjurisdictional research, with the view to trying to unravel many of the

problems that were unaddressed by the previous administration that we are

actively now trying to deal with.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Budget 2015 approved a new middle school for Mobile, Witless Bay

school system.

Can the

build a new school?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member

knows, since he served in Cabinet during the time which this decision was made,

that the school district does not make decisions on new school constructions.

They make recommendations to the Department of Education and Early Childhood

Development. They send in a priority list of projects for infrastructure

annually, then the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, in

collaboration with the Department of Transportation and Works, the

infrastructure committee, Cabinet, make decisions as to which projects we have

the money to pay for in a given year, and projects that we agree are necessary

to address capacity or aging infrastructure issues in schools.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So I'll

rescind their recommendation to the Department of Education?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

No, Mr. Speaker. As I said

about three weeks ago when the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island

asked a similar question, the school district made a recommendation to the

department prior to this administration taking office.

When we

came in, there were about a quarter billion dollars' worth of infrastructure

asks on the table that the previous administration announced in the dying days

of their time in office. We immediately set out trying to find out which of

these projects were immediately necessary, to deal with capacity issues in

schools and aging infrastructure issues. We have done that, and the Member is

well aware of what the decision was.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the minister referenced the prior administration and the recommendation

to build that facility in 2015. The BAE-Newplan consultant report in 2014

recommended a new five-to-eight school that was needed for the region based on

the Department of Finance's own projection of student numbers.

So why

are you not supporting the evidence and the information put forward, and why are

you cancelling the new school based on your own numbers that indicate the school

is needed?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, we're making

decisions based on information that is provided to us by the Department of

Finance, Economics and Statistics. Folks in the department have analyzed the

population data, and have decided that we've decided, subsequently, that the

extension to Mobile Central High is the most practical, timely, cost-effective

way to deal with the capacity issue that exist at present, in particular at St.

Bernard's Elementary in the Member's district. So that's what's happened. We

have relied on the best information that's available to us.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

District trustees approved or recommended the nine classroom extension that you

announced in Budget 2016 ?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, the

responsibility of both school districts in the province are very clearly

outlined in the Schools Act. They're responsible for the administration of primary,

elementary and secondary education; that is very clear.

We have

approved an extension to Mobile Central High that was approved in last year's

budget, almost a year ago today. There was a request for proposals that was

successfully responded to by SNC-Lavalin. They are very much into the process of

doing the design of the extension to Mobile Central High. That extension will be

completed in September of 2018.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I'm

asking the minister is that you recommended in the 2016 budget, based on your

own numbers, that a nine-classroom extension on Mobile Central High would

alleviate what we've seen in terms of growth in the region, which is not

supported by any numbers.

I'll ask

that there be nine classrooms built on Mobile as a resolution to the issues that

we are seeing with regard to overcrowding?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, we had a meeting

with the Member and a delegation from the communities affected. We disagree

about the numbers that are being used. We are using the numbers from Economics

and Statistics that every other department in government uses for projecting

population growth in certain areas.

Based on

the most likely population growth scenario the most likely population growth

scenario as projected by the department of Economics and Statistics, this

extension to Mobile Central High is the most practical, timely, cost-efficient

way of dealing with the capacity issues in that family of schools.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, respectfully, I

say to the minister what he just said is not supported by the evidence and by

the numbers.

Mr.

Speaker, the 2014 BAE-Newplan consultant report used numbers by the Department

of Finance. The current review done by the Eastern School District used the

numbers of the Department of Finance. There's been no change in those numbers.

In addition, there's been tremendous growth in regard to the two municipalities

and four local service districts in the region. That information was not

included.

I ask

the minister: The numbers haven't changed, it still supports a new school, so

what information are you using to say that a new school shouldn't be built?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, the Department

of Finance, Economics and Statistics, produces a low, medium and high scenario.

The high scenario is not the most likely outcome. The Member chooses to use the

high, least or not likely outcome, if you will.

We are

using the medium projection, which is, statistically speaking, the most likely

outcome for population growth in that area. Therefore, we have decided that this

extension is the most timely, cost-effective, practical way of dealing with the

capacity issues in consideration of the most likely population growth scenario.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, Statistics Canada recently indicated Witless Bay and the region was one

of the fastest growing communities in the region. The numbers the hon. minister

is talking about doesn't include growth of new homes which are estimated about

800 between the two municipalities of Witless Bay and Bay Bulls. It's not even

included in your numbers, Minister, and you know that because the parents told

you in the meeting.

The

recent review of current stats for students will still support a new middle

school. The number used by the minister still means in 2020-2021 new classrooms

will have to be built in Mobile.

Minister, does this make any sense to you to build on extensions and, in 2021,

you're still going to build on classrooms instead of building a new school?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, at the expense

of repeating myself we have made this decision based on the most likely

population growth in the area. I know the Member talks about housing starts,

building lots and so on, we do not the government, whether it's that

government, this government, another government, does not build schools based on

hope that building lots in certain areas will grow.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KIRBY:

You build based on what the

population is, what the likely growth scenario is based on a variety of factors,

not just one. You can't just cherry-pick the figures to fit your argument. We've

seen that too many times in the past and it's not worked out. We have chosen the

most likely population growth scenario in making this decision.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the issue here is identifying on the ground what is happening in terms

of economic growth. I know the crowd on the other side don't have any economic

plan for the province, but the reality is the region is growing. It has grown in

the past decade, it will continue to grow and this is looking forward to making

long-term solutions that you need to think about.

In 2021,

based on your own numbers you indicated, meeting with parents, additional

classrooms will have to be built in Mobile if you do not build a new school

today.

I ask

the Minister of Finance: Do you support this interim plan to use taxpayers'

money when the extension will be inadequate in a couple of years and will not

deal with overcrowding? Is that good use of public funds, Minister?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, there have been

a significant number of decisions that this government has had to make that are

choices based on the revenue that we have available to us. The circumstances

that we face are directly related to the choices the former administration made

around their spending and we are faced with a situation where we have seen

revenues related to oil royalty shift. We have increasing spending that is

outpacing what is affordable to the taxpayers, and what the minister has

referred to in his earlier questions is the responsible approach to look at

infrastructure investment as a whole throughout this province and as a whole

throughout the education system, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

There

are thousands of people directly employed in the inshore shrimp fishery and the

snow crab fishery. The quota cuts announced yesterday and last week will have

devastating impacts on harvesters, plant workers, spin-off businesses and entire

communities.

Minister, does your government have a strategy to deal with this looming crisis?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, this government realizes the

challenges the fishery is facing, shrimp cuts just last week and the crab cuts

that came down yesterday. This morning I had the opportunity to meet with ASP,

this afternoon I will be meeting with the FFAW. Mr. Speaker, I spoke to numerous

fish harvesters and plant workers over the last 24 to 36 hours.

The

Premier and I spoke to Minister LeBlanc last evening. We told him that we expect

DFO has a role to play here for our harvesters and processors and plant workers

in this province, but we will certainly work with the stakeholders, work with

our plant workers, work with our harvesters, work with our processors and our

communities as well, Mr. Speaker, because this is really the backbone of many

rural communities in this province.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

general manager of the Fogo Island Co-op said that cuts to the shrimp quotas

will mean that there will be only one shift working for just five weeks. This

means there will be there's a lot of talk of job losses and plant closures.

Minister, what advice can you give plant workers who are facing this dire

situation?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, there is a stark reality here

when we look at the shrimp fishery. In 2009, we harvested 85,000 tons of shrimp

in this province, and it declined down to this year, which will be 7,000 tons.

At the peak, we had 13 plants in this province. Last year we operated eight.

Mr.

Speaker, what we can tell the plant workers in this province is as a government

we'll certainly be there for them. There's a reality, it was the Members

opposite, it was their government in

Budget 2015 that sunsetted the fish plant worker adjustment program.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

Liberals boast about their cozy relationship with the federal government, but

when the minister asked for a smaller reduction in shrimp quotas the federal

government ignored him.

Minister: When will you stand up for harvesters and plant workers in this

province and ask Ottawa to reconsider these quota cuts?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, this government

will stand up for plant workers and harvesters in this province every single

day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, let's do a

little small history lesson here. I said a moment ago it was in 2010 that we

reached our peak in shrimp production and it was in 2009 we reached our peak in

crab production. That was while the previous administration had their heads

buried in a barrel of oil and forgot to invest in the fishery. They had an

opportunity when we had $25 billion in oil revenues. We had revenues that we

could have invested in the fishery.

These

trends that we've seen, Mr. Speaker, in the fishery, these started back in 2009

and 2010. This is not something that came about yesterday. There's a reality

here, and I can assure the plant workers and harvesters in this province we'll

stand with them.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Frances for a very quick question, no

preamble.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Okay. Minister, you knew

these cuts were coming; you said the assessment was coming.

Why did

you wait until after the announcement was done to even ask for a meeting with

the federal minister? Why did you wait so long?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources for a quick response.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, I met with the

federal Minister of Fisheries two weekends ago in Boston.

Mr.

Speaker, I can assure the Members opposite, we have a relationship with Ottawa.

If I need to speak to the federal minister, like the Premier and I did last

night, we can get those meetings. We don't have news conferences on the corner

of Langevin Block, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Order,

please!

There

will be no debate back and forth by Members who are seated. The only Members I

wish to hear from are the Members identified to speak.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

February 28, we held a public forum inviting people and organizations to draw on

their experiences and suggest how government can build a better budget. The NL

Medical Association told us we badly needed an effective chronic disease

program. We have the highest type 2 diabetes rate in the country, and we must do

more to prevent expensive complications, such as heart disease, kidney failure

and amputations.

I ask

the Premier: Where is the chronic disease prevention and management program

promised in the 2015 election?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much for the

question, Mr. Speaker.

The

chronic disease management program is a complicated piece of organization. It is

underway. We have engaged the NLMA, and we have engaged other stakeholders as

well. Within that framework of chronic disease management, there will be a piece

on the provincial Diabetes Registry. That is coming forward shortly. We will

also have a provincial diabetes strategy.

We have

already brought to the House regulations around the Cancer Registry, and that is

the prototype we will use for chronic disease in general and diabetes in

specific, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

We also

heard from people who can't get the home care they need to remain independent.

This government promised an in-home assessment program to help seniors stay in

their homes, but all we've seen is higher fees and cuts to hours.

I ask

the Premier: Where is the promised in-home assessment program?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much for the

question, Mr. Speaker.

It was

late last fall that we received a report from Deloitte on the Home Support

Program in general. There are 24, maybe 25 recommendations there. They are being

worked on and an implementation plan will be forthcoming before the spring is

out if we ever get spring. It will deal with these in a phased and

co-ordinated way to address the issues that the Member opposite raises.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker.

The Way Forward

promises a health-in-all-policies approach.

I ask

the Minister of Health: Has he done an analysis of the impact of the cuts to the

Adult Dental Program and over-the-counter drug coverage on the health of people

affected, and on the other aspects of the health care system, including any

extra costs?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much again for

the question.

We do

have a health-in-all-policies approach, Mr. Speaker, with reference to the

specifics that the Member opposite raises. We evaluate both of those programs on

a regular basis.

I refer

back to my previous comment about over-the-counter medications. If these are

medically necessary in the opinion of a prescriber, they can be sought through

special authorization. The NLPDP currently covers 130,000 people. We have

received to date just shy of 410 requests for authorization under that special

process and have granted them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, I am hearing in

my office of people having to go to emergency because they can't get the Adult

Dental Program covered anymore.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Minister of AES: Has he done an analysis of the impact of

cutting people's bus passes on their mental health and an analysis of the extra

time and cost to the health care system of repeatedly sending people back to get

doctors' letters in order to appeal the denial of their bus passes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. BYRNE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

We have

in Newfoundland and Labrador our program for Social Assistance for income

support for individuals ranks, according to the statistics that have been

provided to us that are made publicly available, one of the most healthy

programs that are in the country.

always seek to do better. In fact, what we've done is we want to make sure that

resources are available in areas where they are needed. For example, in

Budget 2016 we provided an additional

$3 million to be able to ensure that people have access to home heating

requirements.

addition to that, we've also made sure that people have access to transportation

services to be able to go to non-emergency, regularly scheduled medical

appointments. That is currently still available to them. There is a frequency

and of course a distance test, but it is available and it is very important that

we keep that in place.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question Period

has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

Pursuant to

section 8 and

section 10 of the Public Tender Act, I

hereby table the report of the Public

Tender Act exemptions for January 2017, as presented by the chief operating

officer of the Government Purchasing Agency.

Answer

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I give notice that I will move the following motion: that this House

approve in general the budgetary policy of the government.

I also

give notice that I will move that the House resolve itself into Committee of a

Whole on Supply to consider a resolution for the granting of Supply to Her

Majesty, Bill 6.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

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

there has been an identified lack of mental health services in our province's

K-12 school system; and

WHEREAS

this lack of services is having a significant impact on both students and

teachers; and

WHEREAS

left unchecked, matters can and, in many cases, will develop into more serious

issues;

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

of Assembly to urge government to increase mental health services and programs

in our province's K-12 school system.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, given I was asked to present this petition, I felt compelled to do so

in the House of Assembly, but I would draw people's attention to the recent

All-Party Committee report on mental health and addictions. I'm quite pleased,

as I know Members on all sides of the House are, that there are specific

recommendations related directly to our school system and the need to improve

access to mental health programs and services for students in our K-12 education

system.

I'm also

pleased that the All-Party Committee had an opportunity to meet with the task

force on educational outcomes, and ensure that some of the issues that we were

hearing about, through our work, were also on the radar of that task force as it

reviews our education system and makes recommendations to improve the system as

well.

Mental

health is a major challenge in our society today. It's not just a challenge for

government; it's a challenge for communities and it's a challenge for virtually

every family in Newfoundland and Labrador and across the country as well.

There's an opportunity to help young people through the school system to access

the services they need.

So in

the recent All-Party Committee report there's a call to ensure that there are

interdisciplinary teams available to provide support to young people in the

school system who are in need of support, to work with students and to work with

families as well.

There

was also a recognition that there needs to be curriculum changes as well to

ensure that there's age-appropriate mental health education that will raise

awareness and reduce stigma and help young people be better prepared to deal

with any mental health challenges that may arise, and have that embedded

directly into the K-12 curriculum.

So those

are positive steps. I do have a high degree of confidence that government will

implement the recommendations that are outlined in the All-Party Committee

report.

This is

still an important issue, and I'm pleased to raise it on behalf of constituents

who have signed this petition. I hope we will see prompt action to follow

through on those recommendations, and to be honest, Mr. Speaker, I believe we

will, because it's the right thing to do.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

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

smaller class sizes, adequate learning environments and effective curriculums

are paramount to success of our youth; and

WHEREAS

recent budget decisions have negatively impacted student supports, educational

resources and teaching allocations; and

WHEREAS

the provincial education system should ensure that each child has the ability to

reach his or her full potential;

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

of Assembly to urge government to enhance the education system in Newfoundland

and Labrador; introduce initiatives which ensure smaller class sizes which will

provide more sufficient personal space per child and allow more individual

learning opportunities; develop effective curriculums which will enable youth to

develop both life skills and optimal academic achievement; provide resources to

ensure a fully beneficial inclusion model is in place and to ensure all children

in our province have equal standard of education in their learning environment.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, we've had this debate for the last number of months, as parents and

educators and administrators and service organizations get a better

understanding of the negative impacts that recent cuts are having to our

education system. The impact they are not only having on the immediate

students in our system, but they can see the long-term effects they're going to

have on our society as students don't meet their full potential. Some fall

behind and some miss opportunities that may shape the careers they would have.

For

example, intensive core French, being able to get educated in a particular area

where that may open up certain avenues for longevity in a certain career;

talking about not making particular investments in infrastructure around schools

because of class sizes and all the impacts it has on that; ensuring that the

system itself is conducive to what we want to do in our province here for

learning.

This

group of individuals, which are province-wide now, have taken it upon themselves

to petition the government, and they have given me the honour of sharing the

petitions to the House of Assembly outlining their concerns. As they come in,

you see them, they're from all parts of the province, they're from Labrador;

but, they have a common concern. Class sizes, lack of curriculum, impacts on

teachers and administrators, supervision, access to certain programs and

services, the resources that are necessary.

We know

there are some challenges there, but when you're making priority decisions they

have to be around the longevity and the benefits of your society. What better

way to do that than investing in your young people, and particularly investing

in their education. So it's very important that we continue to lobby to ensure

that not only no further cuts take place, because that will totally devastate

the education system, but the ones that were put in place last year, the cuts

that have happened have to be reversed. There has to be a movement to invest

more money.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I'll have an opportunity to present this petition and many others as

the weeks go by.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

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 humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

government plans to remove the provincial point-of-sale tax rebate on books,

which will raise the tax on books from 5 per cent to 15 per cent; and

WHEREAS

an increase in the tax on books will reduce book sales to the detriment of local

book stores, publishers and authors, and the amount collected by government must

be weighed against the loss in economic activity caused by higher book prices;

and

WHEREAS

Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the lowest literacy rates in Canada, and

the other provinces do not tax books because they recognize the need to

encourage reading and literacy; and

WHEREAS

this province has many nationally and internationally known storytellers, but we

will be the only people in Canada who will have to pay our provincial government

a tax to read the books of our own writers;

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

of Assembly to urge government not to impose a provincial sales tax on books.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I wonder, did government do any kind of analysis at all of the rollout

effects of imposing this provincial sales tax on books? Did they do that? How

much money were they expecting to raise? Then, aside from on this one column

what they expect to raise, have they looked at the economic impact on local

businesses? Have they looked at the economic impact on the sale of local

authors? Because at this point, with the 10 per cent extra tax on this book, on

local books, for instance, our local writers will only make about 10 per cent on

a book sale. So that means government makes as much on the individual books of

local writers as do the local writers. There seems to be no fairness in that at

all. There's just no justice in that as well.

Again,

this seems like such a knee-jerk reaction to impose a 10 per cent sales tax on

books. People who live in Newfoundland and Labrador will have to pay more for a

book that was written and published here in our province than anywhere else in

the country. People all across Canada will have those books at much lesser

rates, much cheaper, 10 per cent cheaper, than the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador, for our own writers. Government's imposition of this tax means that

government makes more than the local writer does on the book that they have

probably taken years to write. It makes no sense at all.

Again,

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if government has done any analysis on this at all. I can

only assume they haven't because it makes no sense whatsoever.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I call Orders of the Day, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call from the

Order Paper, Order 2, third reading of Bill 4.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I move, seconded by the

Minister of Natural Resources, that Bill 4,

An Act To Amend The

Intergovernmental Affairs Act, be now read a third time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It has been moved and

seconded that Bill 4 be read a third time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

CLERK (Barnes):

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Intergovernmental Affairs Act. (Bill 4)

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 4 has now been read a

third and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order

Paper.

motion, a bill,

An Act To Amend The Intergovernmental Affairs Act, read a

third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 4)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call Order 5,

second reading of Bill 5.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Natural Resources, that Bill 5,

An Act To Remove Anomalies

And Errors In The Statute Law, be now read a second time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

Bill 5 be now read a second time.

Motion,

second reading of a bill,

An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute

Law. (Bill 5)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

as always, it's a privilege to be able to stand here and speak in this House as

it relates to the legislation that goes through here.

On many

days we get an opportunity to speak to very substantive pieces of legislation,

legislation that affects the lives of every Newfoundlander and Labradorian,

legislation that can have a pressing effect or a very noticeable effect on the

lives and the well-being of our citizens, legislation that in many cases changes

can be very fundamental to this province.

This

bill is probably not one of the most substantive bills that we will debate here

in the House of Assembly. In all senses and all aspects, this is very much a

piece of housekeeping legislation.

Mr.

Speaker, basically what we have to do here is I guess in my role as the

Attorney General and under the Executive

Council Act , it is my duty to administer all acts, orders and regulations

that are not assigned to another minister. It's a significant number of pieces

of legislation that I'm responsible for.

In that

capacity, from time to time, the Attorney General will bring a bill to this

Legislature to make various administrative revisions to other statutes. Again,

it is very much a housekeeping matter. That's not to detract from its

importance. Obviously, it is very important that our legislation be up to date

and that it be reviewed on a regular basis.

This

being said, in many cases, reviewing legislation is a very difficult process.

It's extremely time consuming; it requires a very good eye. In a lot of cases,

you can alter one piece of legislation and it affects another piece of

legislation that you may not have contemplated. Again, it doesn't have an

out-and-out effect, but this is a chance to review all legislation and to

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

There

are a number of conversations happening in the House. I ask Members if you can't

keep their volume to a minimal, to take their conversations outside.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I understand,

there are a lot of conversations about this bill. It's pretty significant, so I

understand that this bill would generate significant conversation. I appreciate

the fact that all Members of this House are listening and talking about this

bill because it's important. I expect them all to know every change that we're

about to make here.

In all

seriousness, this is a housekeeping bill, but it is important and that's why I

am going to go through it. Sometimes it can be typographical errors; it can be

repetitive language, obsolete language, another anomaly. In some cases, a change

in one statute can reflect the change that has been on another piece of

legislation. Again, it's a matter of consistency, and that's what I have here

today.

That is

basically the purpose of Bill 5. I do understand that the Opposition has been

briefed on this and our caucus has been briefed on this. The last bill of this

nature was, I believe, in 2013; it would have been the last

Statutes Amendment Act .

again, our department periodically reviews the legislation. Sometimes we receive

issues from other departments and we look through those. Generally what happens,

instead of bringing one of these bills where you talk about one thing, it's a

matter of waiting and complying a number of these changes and doing one bill,

which I think is better for everybody involved.

On that

note what I'd like to do when you look at the bill sometimes, Mr. Speaker,

when I talk about pieces of legislation, I talk about its size. This is a

sizeable bill, as it references a number of different pieces of legislation. I

am going to go through the legislation here and some of the incorrect references

there are a bunch of changes here. For the purpose of making sure this is on

the record, I want to refer and I'll go through this.

changes the reference from Municipalities

Act to Municipalities Act, 1999 .

There are actually six different clauses in that bill where it's referenced. So

that's a pretty important change. Again, I notice that there are a lot of people

interested in this bill and sometimes you got to have a bit fun, Mr. Speaker.

changes the Engineers and Geoscientists

Act to Engineers and Geoscientists

Act, 2008 . Again, another significant change to this piece of legislation.

Environment Act to

Environmental Protection Act ;

Waste Material Disposal Act to

Environmental Protection Act that's pretty much a whole-scale change to the

title there.

Hospitals Act

to Regional Health Authorities Act ;

Hydro Corporation Act to

Hydro Corporation Act, 2007 ;

Public Inquiries Act to

Public Inquiries Act, 2006 ;

Registration of Deeds Act to

Registration of Deeds Act, 2009 ;

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Act to

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Act, 1992 .

Again, some of these changes are a long time in the making, Mr. Speaker.

Urban and Rural Planning Act

to Urban and Rural Planning Act, 2000 ; and finally, it changes the

reference from Workers' Compensation Act

to Workplace Health, Safety and

Compensation Act , and that's a change that happens in a number of different

clauses.

In some

cases, it had to change the names of departments. Some of these have been

changed very recently. So Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs is now

changed to minister, and again that department has seen a number of changes over

the last number of years. Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs is just

changed to department, which hopefully will prevent having to come back here and

debate this later on.

Department of Environmental and Labour is just changed to department, and then

Department of Environment is changed to department. So again, a lot of very

simple changes here, just cleaning up the language.

Some

typos and errors: Clause 1 corrects the typo in the

Schedule to

Abitibi-Consolidated Rights and Assets Act ; replaces the reference

Zone 2 with the reference Zone 1. Again, a small change; we could have a

debate about that piece of legislation and how that process unfolded and talk

about that expropriation that happened then, but in the spirit of moving forward

with this bill, I'll continue on. Everything is fairly peaceful here.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Filibuster.

MR. A. PARSONS:

That's the one if we are

going to filibuster, we should filibuster that one.

Clause 6

corrects a typo in the definition

section of the

Change of Name Act, 2009. A couple of Members on the other side

would be very interested in this. Clause 7 corrects a typo in subsection 135(2)

of the City of Mount Pearl Act

and it corrects the placement of a comma. Like I say, as the old commercial

said, the more you know.

MR. LANE: You

got me on board now.

MR. A. PARSONS:

The Member for Mount Pearl Southlands was about to vote against this bill, but

he is now on board.

Clause 10 in the

Correctional Services Act changed from expended to extended. Like I say,

P to T; it's big stuff here, Mr. Speaker. Clause 11 corrects a typo in sections

14(4) of the Denturists Act, 2005 .

Clause 22 amends

section 2 of the

Partnership Act , and clause 27 changes a typo in subsection 5(5) of the

St. John's Municipal Council Parks Act.

We're moving forward, Mr. Speaker. References to repeal

provisions of legislation basically, in many cases, you change a piece of

legislation, there would be a repealing of a clause; this is a chance now to

delete the references to that repealed clause in other legislation. So there are

two different acts there.

Clause 8 amends a paragraph in the

City of St. John's Municipal Taxation Act, which no longer exists.

Clause 15 amends the

Schedule to the

Highway Traffic Act to delete offence and penalty provisions that no longer

exist. Clause 16 amends the Highway

Traffic Demerit Point System Regulations which relate to the

Highway Traffic Act provisions that no longer exist.

Finally no, close to final, it corrects references to

amend the provisions in other legislation. Clause 16 amends the

Highway Traffic Demerit Point System

Regulations related to bus regulations and now those are covered in the

Highway Traffic Act.

Clause 16(3) changes the same act, but now it falls under

the Highway Traffic Licensing Equipment

Regulations . Finally, clause 17 amends the

Hydro Corporation Act to correct

section references in the

Corporations Act, 2007.

Thankfully, I'm at the end of my presentation of this bill,

Mr. Speaker. Amendments required due to the enactment of other legislation

this is somewhat important. Clauses 3 and 26 add reference to the Seniors'

Advocate; that is a piece of legislation that we debated here recently. The

provisions relating to Officers of the House of Assembly as it relates to the

ATIPP Act and the

Public Service Commission Act , because of that change there, we had

to change two pieces of legislation.

Clause

21, amend the Municipalities Act to

replace the words Registrar of the Supreme Court with the words Trial Division.

There were some changes made in the

Judicature Act back in 2013, these are now changed.

Like I

say, Mr. Speaker, this is purely a housekeeping bill. It's not to say that it's

not important, it shouldn't be done but certainly it's less substantive than

many of the bills that we have the pleasure of standing here and debating. This

one falls to me as the Minister of Justice handling all bills that are not

specifically referenced to another minister.

So, like

I say, I'm very happy to speak to this. I do want to thank the staff of all the

various departments that put the time into this. Like I say, this is not easy

work, so I appreciate the time they put into this.

On that

note, I look forward to the commentary from my colleagues on the other side. I

look forward to the conclusion of Bill 5 second reading, and then moving on to

the Committee stage.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We've

been strategizing over here and this could be a long debate, because it's a long

bill; but, no, it probably won't be a long debate.

I think

the House Leader has done a job of outlining what this legislation is all about,

and this is something that happens every so often in the House of Assembly.

There's a tremendous amount of work that goes in to each and every piece of

legislation that's brought before this hon. House. In some cases, months and

even years of work goes into the legislation that's brought before this House,

and as you just got a sense following the House Leader's remarks, there's

legislation and regulations for all kinds of things that people wouldn't

necessarily even think about in the province.

Some of

that legislation goes back 50 years. Obviously, government evolves, society

evolves, the environment that we're living and working in evolves over time;

therefore, legislation needs to evolve over time. Sometimes legislation just

becomes outdated because it no longer reflects current practice, and it's not

that anybody's operating outside the law. It's just that procedures change, the

way of doing business changes, the way government operates changes. So this

legislation,

An Act to Remove Anomalies and Errors in the Statute Law, cleans

some of that up.

Sometimes there are drafting errors as well, and sometimes in this hon. House

people like to have some fun with those kinds of things as they come up, but the

reality is when you're dealing with complex legislation it's quite possible for

there to be a typo or a minor error or whatever, and these things get discovered

and then dealt with over time. So rather than bringing in a bill to address

every one of these individual pieces of legislation individually, there's an

opportunity to bring in one bill that addresses a whole bunch of anomalies and

errors throughout the legislation that is in place in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This

brings to the House of Assembly matters in statute law that require legislative

correction as a result of amendments or enactments made in previous sessions.

It's about updating the legislation to make it consistent with subsequent

legislation and to make it consistent with current realities and practice. This

happens quite frequently. I don't think it happens necessarily every time in

every sitting of the House, but at least every two or three years I've seen a

bill like this come through here. It corrects titles. It repeals legislation

that is no longer relevant and no longer needed. It doesn't contain any

substantive changes. There are no cost implications here. These are technical

amendments. There are no policy shifts, no changes.

It is

rare for us to all be in heated agreement in this House, but, in this case, this

is just part of the regular business of the House of Assembly, and it is part

that I've witnessed before. I know some of my colleagues have seen this before.

For that reason, we have no problem standing today to support Bill 5. Mr.

Speaker, I will conclude my comments there.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm very

happy to stand and speak ever so briefly to Bill 5,

An Act to Remove

Anomalies and Errors in the Statute Law. I would like to thank the fine folks in

the Department of Justice for their briefing.

This bill in fact, is a testament to the incredible work

being done in the Department of Justice by those who are responsible for

legislation to ensure that the legislation is tabled properly and to ensure that

all of our legislation, no matter what kind of legislative changes we do, that

it all falls in alignment as well. It takes painstaking attention to detail, and

that is what this act reflects, Mr. Speaker.

So I would like to thank the folks in Justice for their

briefing and also for their committed and painstaking work, and the commitment

to ensure that the integrity of our legislation is followed through right to the

last crossing of the t's and dotting of the i's.

This is an omnibus bill that is passed from time to time by

the House of Assembly, and it is a collection of minor corrections and

amendments resulting from amendments or enactments made previously in the House.

Some of it is about

typographical errors; some of it is also about just little parts of the law that

need to be adjusted so that all legislation is in alignment. This act corrects

these technical errors in an effort to keep statutes as accurate as possible.

We know,

Mr. Speaker, as well that legislation

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

We also

know, Mr. Speaker, that legislation is a living thing in that it needs to evolve

and respond to the realities of our communities, to the realities of the people

of our province. That's what we see and that's what we would hope to see.

Legislation can be a very complicated process, but it needs to be responsive to

the realities of our lives.

The bill

contains 31 clauses, each of which amends existing legislation to fix errors and

anomalies, as the Minister of Justice so clearly explained to us. For instance,

if we look at clause 31, this is just an example, Mr. Speaker. In clause 31 it

says: Clause 31 of the Bill would amend paragraph (3)(1)(

a) of the

Waste Management Regulations, 2003 to

delete the reference 'Department of Environment' and replace it with the word

'department' with a small d to reflect current practice.

That

shows us that when we look at some of these clauses they are actually a

thumbnail sketch of a number of pieces of legislation that have passed before

the House in the past while. Also, it's a bit of a map of the work that has been

done in the House over a period of time. That one, for instance, reflects the

fact that there is no longer a department of environment that it comes under

Municipal Affairs.

There

are some questions I would ask about that, but that's not what we're debating

here today, Mr. Speaker. Clause 31 is not only just a minor change, it also

tells a story of legislation that has been either presented to the House past

and or enacted.

In a

manner of speaking, Mr. Speaker, when we see that, really this is about making

sure the acts refer to the proper acts. It's really, in a manner of speaking,

this is all about the Department of Justice getting its act together. That's

really what it is, getting its act together. It's an attempt at humour, Mr.

Speaker, but it's the Department of Justice getting its acts together.

Human

nature being what it is, there will always be small errors and other overlooked

issues which need to be addressed, and that's what we see happening here. So I'd

like to thank the people who paid close attention to these minor errors and

collect them in order for bills like this one to be passed from time to time.

they're not mistakes; they are simply, again, aligning all past legislation with

current legislation. Accuracy, as we know, in the statute law is important and

that we have people who take the time and the trouble to ensure our statutes are

as accurate as possible is a wonderful thing and I would like to thank them, one

and all.

That's

all I would have to say at this point, Mr. Speaker. It's not a substantive piece

of legislation. There have been a few pieces of legislation that have come

before the House in this sitting that have not been heavy on substance. There

are a number of issues that are outstanding in the province that I'm sure people

would like to see the House debate at this point, but this is where we are at

this point.

Again, I

would like to thank the people who have painstakingly taken note of any errors

or omissions so that all of our legislation, in fact, aligns with each other.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Mount Pearl Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm just

going to take a couple of moments to speak to Bill 5,

An Act to Remove Anomalies

and Errors in the Statute Law. Really, I just wanted to stand to offer my

support of this piece of legislation. I'm not going to repeat everything that

has been said, but, basically, it is important. We do pass an awful lot of

legislation in this House of Assembly.

There's

been an awful lot passed over the years. There are lots of laws, statutes and

regulations that govern our day-to-day lives, and it's important that the laws

that we have, that they are accurate. We know that you can take a sentence, Mr.

Speaker, and depending on where you put that comma, you can totally change the

meaning of what that sentence is. So the same thing can happen with legislation.

wouldn't want to cause confusion. We wouldn't want to have a situation where

legislation is unnecessarily challenged because of technical errors and so on,

the costs, the time and everything that could be associated with it. It's

important, as has already been said, to ensure that as times change, department

names change, divisions within government change, and legislation changes that

the other legislation that's in place is up to date and is using the same

terminology and the same department names and so on, again for clarity of the

law, and that's really what's being done here.

There

are a number of pieces that have all come in together under this one bill.

Nothing that's here, as has been said, is what one would consider any drastic

change. There's no change or direction in policy that we would have to debate.

It's simply just going through legislation that's in place, finding any errors

that may exist, identifying any changes in department names and so on or other

references and making those changes to the legislation so that it's all current

and up to date and provides clarity to this House of Assembly, to our

legislatures, to the public. For that reason, I will be supporting this bill.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

If the hon. the Government

House Leader speaks now, he shall close debate.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

appreciate the comments as it relates to this bill. I will say talking about the

sheer number of bills that we deal with in our Province right now, we have

approximately 400 statutes and about 1,500 sets of regulations, so there is a

tremendous amount of legislation.

I just

have to follow up on a comment made by my colleague in the NDP who talked about

debate in the House. I will point out that in the last session our government

handled 71 pieces of legislation. Actually, I appreciated hearing from the

Throne Speech because I started to forget some of the stuff that we've done.

Again, that Throne Speech did a good job of going through it.

Now,

just to get some context in the years before that: The session before that,

there were 15 pieces of legislation; the one before that, there was 44; and then

the one before that, there was 25. So I have to provide some context. The fact

is we do have substantive debates here. The other thing if we talk about having

the debate, I will say that right now we are doing Address in Reply no, we did

Address in Reply and we did actually do some, back in the last session, when it

came Interim Supply. It is a chance for Members to get up and debate but if you

want to have a substantive debate in this House, you actually have to stand up

and say something.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Is the House ready for the

question?

The

motion is that Bill 5 be now read a second time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Remove

Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law. (Bill 5).

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 5 has now been read a

second time.

When

shall the bill be referred to a Committee of the Whole House?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Now.

MR. SPEAKER:

Now.

motion, a bill,

An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law, read

a second time, ordered referred to a Committee of the Whole House presently, by

leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Natural Resources that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole to consider Bill 5.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider Bill 5.

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, the Speaker

left the Chair.

Committee of the

Whole

CHAIR (Dempster):

Order, please!

We are

now considering Bill 5,

An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute

Law.

A bill,

An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law.

CLERK:

Clause 1.

CHAIR:

Shall clause 1 carry?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

motion, clause 1 carried.

CLERK:

Clauses 2 through 33

inclusive.

CHAIR:

Shall clauses 2 to 33

inclusive carry?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

motion, clauses 2 through 33 carried.

CLERK:

Be it enacted by the

Lieutenant Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as

follows.

CHAIR:

Shall the enacting clause

carry?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

motion, enacting clause carried.

CLERK:

An Act To Remove Anomalies

And Errors In The Statute Law.

CHAIR:

Shall the title carry?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

motion, title carried.

CHAIR:

Shall I report Bill 5 carried

without amendment.

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Motion,

that the Committee report having passed the bill without amendment, carried.

CHAIR:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I move, Madam Chair, that the

Committee rise and report Bill 5.

CHAIR:

The motion is that the

Committee rise and report Bill 5 carried without amendment.

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, the

Speaker returned to the Chair.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

The hon. the Deputy

Speaker.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, the Committee of

the Whole have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to

report Bill 5 carried without amendment.

MR. SPEAKER:

The Chair of the Committee of

the Whole reports that the Committee have considered the matters to them

referred and have directed her to report Bill 5, carried without amendment.

When

shall the report be received?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Now.

MR. SPEAKER:

Now.

When

shall the said bill be read a third time?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

motion, report received and adopted. Bill ordered read a third time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

from the Order Paper, Order 1, Address in Reply.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy Speaker.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's a

privilege anytime I stand on my feet in the House I'm waiting for my light

here, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you, I'll start again.

It's

always a privilege to stand on my feet and speak when I have an opportunity in

the House of Assembly on behalf of the good people in the District of Cartwright

L'Anse au Clair.

Before I

start and get into my 20 minutes, Mr. Speaker, which will go much too quickly, I

do want to, on behalf of the people of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, just

mention again Mr. Rompkey, the late Senator Rompkey who passed away last week,

who served my little corner of the world very, very well for just over four

decades. I would have been a pretty young girl when he started.

We were

quite familiar with him coming to our house and many cups of tea, and he did

well for that area. We can look back to the airstrips along the coast in

Labrador. We can look back to monumental things like securing the money for the

Trans-Labrador Highway and things like that.

Mr. Ed

Roberts certainly did a good job giving a eulogy at his service on Friday. Our

thoughts have been with Mrs. Rompkey and with Peter and Hilary and the two

grandchildren as well.

Mr.

Speaker, yesterday when I came into the House I had just gone through my

district. I left here on Friday, three hours on a plane to Goose Bay. In three

days I drove 1,125 kilometres, six hours on a plane, I met with two different

municipalities. I met with the school council and dealt with a number of

constituency issues.

Mr.

Speaker, every time I go back to my district I'm reminded of how far it is from

here on the Avalon. I have colleagues that commute seven minutes, seven minutes

to and from, and when they come up in my area they say what an eye opener it is.

Mr.

Speaker, every year around this time we have a difficult time with the

Apollo in the Labrador Straits, in the

Strait of Belle Isle. We have heavy ice that moves in. I want to say thanks to

the wonderful federal relationship we have with Ottawa. This year we've been

really, really fortunate with icebreaker support. There are times we've had one

icebreaker breaking out the harbour, and then we've had another icebreaker, the

Fox , usually escorting across.

So the

flow has been better this year than previous years, but, Mr. Speaker, sometimes

that is too much. When you have people who are disrupted for days and days on

end, the families I get that are stranded for days. We were able to put flights

on last week, which is something the previous administration never did, ever,

Mr. Speaker. We were able to put flights on to help these people move back and

forth and that was certainly, certainly appreciated.

Where

I'm going with this, Mr. Speaker, is this is one of the reasons why we need to

find out if a fixed link is actually feasible. If it is doable, Mr. Speaker, we

have to find out once and for all. When I came in and I hear them asking

questions and the question of the day on VOCM is about whether the timing

should be right now for a fixed link. I want to explain to the people that are

watching, the reason the time is right, right now to determine if a fixed link

can be done.

We are

looking at a full Labrador marine transportation strategy. Minister Hawkins,

along with the Labrador caucus Members, has been quite involved in that. We have

ferries that have passed their life expectancy. Do we want to lock into a

longer-term contract with ferries? We need to know that. We need a full

feasibility study that includes cost analysis, geological assessment.

People

that get up and ask questions about whether that is needed or not, need to talk

to the people that are stranded five days on one end or the other, that are

racking up bills of $1,000 and $1,500. Mr. Speaker, there was a family whose mom

passed away last week, the ferry wasn't moving and they were a week trying to

get the body home. Serious stuff, Mr. Speaker, but that's what we deal with.

AN HON. MEMBER: ( Inaudible.)

MS. DEMPSTER:

Absolutely. Then they come in

and try and spin words and talk about, did the money get taken from Lab

Grenfell. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm going to spend most of my time looking forward, because I always

say your windshield is bigger than your rear-view mirror and there's a reason

for that. We're moving forward but sometimes we have to glance back to learn

valuable lessons from that.

So, Mr.

Speaker, that's why I reference the importance of the fixed link and the reason

it has to be done now. So that we can make the right decisions as we go forward

and look at the marine strategy and putting ships in place that will provide the

best service for residents and for commercial, to have the least disruption in

the flow of traffic there.

Also,

Mr. Speaker, I drove on a pretty bad road. Some of you seen the pictures. People

in Labrador and not just people in Labrador, the road in the spring and the

fall, because it's a gravel road, it becomes atrocious.

Mr.

Speaker, one of the things I thought about as I was driving back into Goose Bay

on Sunday was how the former government failed to make meaningful progress on

the Trans-Labrador Highway. December 10, 2001, we got connected to the outside

world. My daughter, it was her fifth birthday, so I'll always remember December

10, 2001. Now she's 20 years old, and in that period of time we have 80

kilometres of pavement.

Mr.

Speaker, 80 kilometres, despite having 12 years of the previous administration,

$25 billion in oil, 12 years and $25 billion in oil. Many of those years they

were running a surplus, we didn't see the progress on the Trans-Labrador

Highway. What we did see was them getting bogged down in contract negotiations,

doing favours for friends.

Humber

Valley Paving, most will remember, I took a bit of a beating for that, Mr.

Speaker. I got kicked out of the House because I refused to withdraw something,

and that wasn't something I liked to do but I stood on principle. When you pay

$19 million for 80 kilometres of highway, you get 20 kilometres of that done,

and you still pay the person who was about to run for the PC leadership for 60

per cent of the work $19 million.

Mr.

Speaker, I am really, really pleased to be part of a government that clearly

showed the commitment to Labrador last June. Mr. Speaker, we formed government.

Every single day we hear about the difficult, tough choices that had to be made,

but in June I travelled with the Premier and a number of others on a plane into

Mary's Harbour and we made the single, biggest announcement to date on the

Trans-Labrador Highway, because this highway is not for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair, it's not just for Labrador. It is, in fact, a provincial highway for the

people of the province. That is why, Mr. Speaker, we can't wait another 15 years

to get it done.

Every

year there is a commitment from the Premier, from this government and from our

federal colleagues that we will push this through, and it will be done in short

order. In 2019, 2020, we're going to see most of that road completed. That's the

only thing that keeps me going sometimes, Mr. Speaker, when I'm on that road in

that condition and I see

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER (Warr):

Order, please!

MS. DEMPSTER:

what some of these people

have to drive on.

Another

thing, too, that I want to mention is everyday Members opposite get up and they

say, where's the plan? Where's the plan? You have no plan.

Mr.

Speaker, I don't know where they're living, I live up in Coastal Labrador, a

long way from here but we have lots of things in our plan. I look at

The Way Forward , where we clearly

outlined the vision. We outlined the guiding principles where it talks about how

we will do better with less.

I grew

up in a home, seven boys, two girls. I guess I was number 10. I was raised by my

grandparents, a family of 12 on the Labrador Coast. There's a term that I became

very familiar with, Mr. Speaker, and that was making do with what you got. I

don't know if people here heard that. I'm not that old, not as old as some of my

colleagues, but my grandmother often said, we'll make do with what you got.

It is

unfortunate to the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador when we look back 12

years and we see that we had an administration that did less with more. We

didn't get the (inaudible). They did less with more. Going forward, I see many

examples of where we are going to be doing more with less.

We look

to the pilot project in Transportation and Works. People talk about what is

wrong with our pavement. One time pavement was good for 20 years. Pavement is

expensive. We have a lot of gravel roads. We have a lot of roads provincially to

keep up. Now the Premier and the Minister of Transportation, they want to see

why the pavement is not holding up. We can't put money into something and in 10

years we need to be spending millions again. So there is a pilot project being

carried out on that.

Mr.

Speaker, another wonderful example of us doing less with more is the changes

that have been made to the public procurement and tendering act. In Labrador,

which has got significant construction happening right now, we have short

seasons because of the climate. We are making changes to that act. We are

bringing in multi-year contracting, so that a contractor can get in and get

started and then, as soon as the snow and ice thaws in the spring, they can get

back. What will happen, there are two things: It's the most efficient way for a

government to operate, but it also provides the best service for people instead

of waiting years and years to see something, once the tender rolls out the door.

colleague, the Minister of Finance, stood a couple of weeks ago and talked about

the multi-year funding for groups, and that's another positive thing that I am

very, very proud of. We have a lot of community groups that do very, very

valuable work in our area. Sometimes when you're living on a contract, it is

hard to do planning. It's hard to say, am I going to take out that loan because

I don't know if I will have a job in six months. But with the multi-year

funding, it will provide stability to staff. They will have less turnover. There

will be more stability in programs and services.

So there

are many, many wonderful things. I say to the Members across the way, if you're

looking for our plan, come and talk to me; I'll sit down they don't seem to

understand it. They haven't seen all of the wonderful things we have put out.

One of the things that our Premier and our Cabinet and our caucus have talked

about from day one is the importance of a report card. Most of us here have had

children who have been in the school system. So they go off to school every day

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. DEMPSTER:

and we want to know how

they are doing. Then when we get to parent-teacher days, we would be very

anxious to go and to sit down with the teacher and say, let's see the report

card and let's see how they are doing.

Mr.

Speaker, we have a team that have been working very, very hard on the first

range of initiatives that were announced through

The Way Forward. We've already got the report card on that very

much on track. We have achieved more than $45 million in savings. This is a

government, unfortunately and you've heard it again and again that didn't

have the money at their disposal that the previous administration had just

didn't have it.

It goes

back to we have had to make do with what we have. We have had to find ways to do

more with less. And, Mr. Speaker, how did we achieve $45 million in savings?

There were a number of things that happened to do that. The zero-based budgeting

where departments no longer just got the amount of money that they would

normally get to operate, but build from the ground up why do you need this

money, justify the money. It is after all, Mr. Speaker, the taxpayers' dollars.

When we

think about the taxpayers in Newfoundland and Labrador, we have aging

demographics right across the country but Newfoundland and Labrador we know is

the oldest province in the country. The area that I represent, a rural district,

we know that's more pronounced in rural, so we have to be very fiscally

responsible and make wise choices with money that don't actually belong to us.

We are

put in privileged positions here, Mr. Speaker, in the House of Assembly, very

privileged positions, and we have to be mindful of the decisions that we make.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the previous administration made

choices that we are living with. I guess that's how it happens. The Member for

Cape St. Francis got up yesterday and he made a reference to the fact that we

were mean. It's easy to get up now and say you're mean when they made decisions

on projects

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

recognize the hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is

easy to get up and say oh, the other crowd is mean and the Minister of Education

getting lots of questions today I can't believe every day I know no matter

who is in government, Mr. Speaker, that's it's very important that you have

healthy debate, it's very important that you have Opposition ask questions; but

I am always absolutely amazed that some of them are able to get up and ask the

questions about what are you doing and why did you make these tough choices when

they know very well, we've got the fifth largest project in the world, a

megaproject that's happening in my backyard, and it is the biggest mess that

you've ever seen.

Thanks

to Stan Marshall at the helm with Nalcor, we did have a little bit of hope last

week in terms of them trying to rein in spending, get this back on track,

mitigate the cost as much as we possibly can, and mitigate the cost to the

ratepayer because there are lots of concerns around that, Mr. Speaker. Then you

have Members that can post things about dark days and things that the Liberals

are doing. We're just trying to make responsible decisions with the things that

have been left to us to deal with.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to talk for a few minutes about my district. The fixed link, I

already mentioned, is something that more than the people of Cartwright L'Anse

au Clair or Labrador supports. When the ferry didn't move a couple of weeks ago

for a week, the people that were coming into my office were the people from

Gander, were the people from Grand Falls, were the people from Lewisporte saying

when am I going to get out and you guys need to be more vocal and how come this

has not been looked at before. So I share that, Mr. Speaker, just to say that

this is certainly supported by a lot of people across the province.

Mr.

Speaker, the Trans-Labrador Highway will continue and I have every confidence

that the Premier as the minister for Labrador and Minister Hawkins that we will

see great progress over the next two or three years, working in partnership and

leveraging federal funds on the Trans-Labrador Highway, and we will get the

pavement in much shorter order it will be more progress than we've seen in the

last 10 or 12 years.

Broadband is something that I have stood on my feet and petitioned many times

when I was in Opposition; tremendous need for enhanced broadband in the District

of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair. Businesses need it to be able to operate;

schools need it for children to be able to go online at home. We've made

provisions in all our schools, fortunately, that they're able to function and do

their Centre for Distance Learning courses.

Mr.

Speaker, in medical, as we see more outmigration and aging demographics in our

small communities we're moving more towards technological things in our clinics

where somebody can come in and sit down in front of a TV screen and maybe meet

with their doctor here in St. John's.

These

are all the reasons why we need to see enhancements to broadband, and I want to

say to the people of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair that I have had multiple

meetings with the minister for that department, with my federal counterparts in

Ottawa, people like Nunacor, people like NunatuKavut, that are being engaged now

and looking to see what they can do. I'm optimistic that we're going to see some

movement on that file in the not-too-distant future.

Mr.

Speaker, tourism I have a beautiful district. Wednesday night, tomorrow night

actually, we're going to see Battle Harbour receive an award at the Delta for

their contribution

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. DEMPSTER:

their significant

contribution to the marine industry. I'm happily looking forward to attending

that.

We have

places like Red Bay, a world heritage UNESCO site, absolutely beautiful place.

We have the oldest maritime archaic Indian burial site in Point Amour. We have

the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada, the second tallest in Canada. Lots of

things.

Mr.

Speaker, as some projects wind down and people wonder where their employment is

coming from, we could have a great future in tourism in our area, I believe

that, as we get the road finished, as we get the broadband brought in. We are

seeing significant increase in our tourism numbers. Just that little town of Red

Bay last year saw 11,000 visitors, an increase in their tourism of 26 per cent.

Right on down through, Mr. Speaker, our roofed accommodations, the hotels, they

all saw an increase in tourism numbers.

People

love to gravitate to places that are off the beaten path. I like to call us one

of Canada's last frontiers, Mr. Speaker. I would encourage anyone watching to

come and visit Cartwright L'Anse au Clair and Labrador. Travel up the coast, a

beautiful area, a memorable experience. Battle Harbour, that little island in

the middle of the ocean, a memorable experience you won't forget.

Mr.

Speaker, we have a ferry that moves about 150,000 people a year 150,000 across

the Strait of Belle Isle; more than 83,000 passengers, just from May to October

last year. So people are coming and people want to see the region. These are the

reasons why we have to make decisions and prepare for that right now.

I want

to speak for a moment about the All-Party Committee that I was a member of on

Mental Health and Addictions; a good report, 54 recommendations. I have every

confidence that my colleague, the Minister of Health and Community Services

within his jurisdiction, will implement as many of these recommendations as he

possibly can. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unwell people in our province.

Mr. Speaker, the truth is we can have all the infrastructure we want, we can

have all the community programs and services we want, if our people are not well

it doesn't matter.

Mr.

Speaker, I was pleased to be a part of that, happy to play a little role up in

Labrador where there were some great recommendations about land-based

programming and getting curriculum into schools that are culturally relevant for

the diversity that we see in places like my backyard, and I'm looking forward to

seeing some of that roll out.

Mr.

Speaker, I had much, much more here that I wanted to talk about: the seniors,

the supplement that's going out again tomorrow

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. DEMPSTER:

on behalf of this government,

but I look forward to continuing the next time.

Thank

you very much for the opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bonavista.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's an

honour to stand here today and give an Address in Reply to the Speech from the

Throne which was given a week ago today. First of all, I would like to thank His

Honour, Frank F. Fagan who delivered that great speech and there's quite a bit

good in this document. I have a lot of things highlighted and I have a lot of

notes made here today. So I'm going to get to that.

Certainly, the Throne Speech, being my second, is always a big deal. The pomp

and circumstance that surrounds the Throne Speech I'm getting a bit of

feedback, I think, Mr. Speaker, from what I'm saying. So I asked the Member

opposite to take my cellphone. Sorry.

What I

was saying, there's a lot of pomp and circumstance around the Speech from the

Throne. It's always a nice occasion. I get to dress up. I put on my medals, any

such time I'm in the presence of the Lieutenant Governor. Also, it's nice to see

some of my navy colleagues who are, one is aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant

Governor, the other is the commanding officer for CFS St. John's. So it's always

good to touch base with them and have a quick chat.

Talking

about the Throne Speech, it covered quite a bit that affects the District of

Bonavista. I'm going to get to that shortly, but I want to make a couple of

general announcements here.

I don't

but there have been quite a few polar bear sightings in my district, one of

which is in Melrose today. It went up to some people's houses. It actually ran

the base pads of the old Melrose ball field, but what I say to people is be very

cautious with the polar bear. I was talking to wildlife officials today. They're

on their way down and are hopefully going to have a trap set up before the end

of the day. So just keep your safety. They're following all sightings on the

Peninsula.

I also

want to highlight something the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair just

highlighted. It's the Enhanced Seniors' Benefit and the Newfoundland and

Labrador Income Supplement will be released tomorrow. So if you're wondering, my

GST cheque is really big, why is that? That's because we put extra money into

that going towards seniors and low-income people.

I want

to talk about some good things that are going on. I want to talk about some good

things. Now, the Third Party got up the week before last during Interim Supply

and talked about how you shouldn't be talking about good things, like Brad

Gushue winning the Brier. I think that is absolutely ridiculous. All you hear

from that crowd over there is doom and gloom, and I think the Minister of Health

and Community Services aptly named them that.

So what

I'd like to do, right off the bat, is give recognition to the Bonavista Pee Wee

Cabots. They are the regional finalists for Newfoundland and Labrador for the

Good Deeds Cup. If you go to Chevrolet Good Deeds Cup, get in a vote for them.

They're currently in seventh place. We want to get them up beating the Cape

Bretoners who are well ahead. We have to get behind these young players who are

doing some good things in the community and supporting our food bank. That's why

they got nominated.

I want

to talk about Team Gushue, who are currently 5-0 at the World Championship. It

was an honour to see them down at the Brier, but it's even more exciting to see

them competing so greatly on the world stage.

MUN

Curling Team needs to get some recognition as well for winning the USport

championship in curling.

What can

I say about our Special Olympians who did us so proud just recently in the

Winter World Games. It's great to see, and kudos to you guys.

I'd be

remiss if I didn't talk about my friend, the Member for Placentia West

Bellevue, in Kaetlyn Osmond who won silver medal this past weekend at the world

championships.

And what

else can I say about Come From Away ?

It's tearing up Broadway.

All

these things are good news stories here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the

Third Party doesn't want us to recognize good things that are going on in this

province. It's a shame. They couldn't close debate quickly enough on Interim

Supply, but they're yet to get up to speak on this Address in Reply. The cat

must have their tongue.

Now, I

have to comment on the Leader of the Opposition. He got up immediately after the

Throne Speech and went on a revisionist history of their 12 years in government.

He's worried about his legacy so much, he's got so much revisionist history that

he takes no responsibility for the financial state we're in. His head is in the

sand. I tell you, Mr. Speaker, Wrestlemania was on Sunday and

Wrestlemania is more believable than anything that comes out of the mouth on

the PC Opposition.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Are you saying it's not real?

MR. KING:

No, it's not real.

One good

piece of legislation that we brought forward in the fall was Bill 65, which is

an act respecting the tabling of Public Accounts. So we call that the Davis '15

bill. The reason why we call it the Davis '15 bill is because they came out with

their budget that said there was going to be a deficit of $1.1 billion, and it

turned up being double to $2.2 billion. You can't plan a campaign around that.

The public going into an election should be aware of the public coffers and

what's there.

He also

said the backbenchers on the other side should get up and stand up against their

own government. Well, I find that a bit funny coming from that Member, because

when Bill 29 was brought forward, none of them got up and stood up against that.

AN HON. MEMBER:

What bill was that?

MR. KING:

Bill 29.

When

Muskrat Falls was debated, none of them got up to say no, this is wrong. We were

hoodwinked

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. KING:

Oh, sorry, I am talking about

the Official Opposition.

Finally,

Mr. Speaker, when they got up and talked about the phantom fisheries fund of

$280 million that they got from the feds, none of them got up and talked about

no, this is not true, we did not sign an agreement. The former Fisheries

Minister even put a letter into The

Telegram that was totally false. I had to write a letter, which was in there

last Thursday, that clarified things.

It's

unbelievable how they get on and pretend that the previous 12 years didn't

happen. But getting back to the District of Bonavista, because I've already

spent too much time talking about that crowd, I'm going to get back to the good

news again. Getting back to the Speech from the Throne, right off the bat, there

was a reference to John Cabot and the importance of the cod fishery. As you are

all aware, John Cabot landed in Bonavista. The cod fishery has been a vital part

of the District of Bonavista ever since.

This

year, we marked the 25th anniversary of the cod moratorium that immediately sent

30,000 people out of work, and my hometown of Catalina was one of the worst hit.

The Port Union plant employed roughly 1,400 people year-round, and they were

automatically thrown out of work.

We are

still feeling the effects from that. Businesses closed down, people moved away,

and now we are starting to see a boom on the Bonavista Peninsula. We are

actually a growth centre. So that talks about some great things that are going

on, and the Speech from the Throne talks quite a bit about that. Our

Way Forward I have several sticky

tabs here and I might get to read some of this out is going to be beneficial

to the District of Bonavista.

Also,

Roots, Rants and Roars were referenced. That is the premier food festival in the

province. It is becoming world renowned. You are getting chiefs from all over

Canada, the US and other parts of the world. You are also getting people come

from everywhere to come to Elliston to take

part in this festival. I've had the

pleasure of attending this past year and the year prior, it's second to none,

and I encourage my colleagues to come out in September and enjoy the three-day

festival. You'll certainly enjoy yourself. It has been a boom to our economy,

and it certainly put us on the map.

What

came out of the Throne Speech, one of the things that struck me right away is

we're building towards a sustainable future building towards a sustainable

future. From what I seen from the Throne Speech, what I've seen from

The Way Forward is that the District

of Bonavista will be front and centre in building that sustainable future. As

I've mentioned, we've seen new businesses open up over the last two years.

The

Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation has been there several

times; he sees the potential. He spoke to the Chamber of Commerce last year. He

sees the value in the District of Bonavista when it comes to business, tourism,

culture, especially innovation and industry. You hit all of them on the head.

So there

are several things that were highlighted in the Throne Speech and

The Way Forward because you can't

forget about The Way Forward .

They often say you guys haven't got a plan and I challenge them to pick up

the document; I don't think they have.

Like I

say, I think there are 70-odd actions in it and over half will certainly relate

to the District of Bonavista, Mr. Speaker. Page 6 of

The Way Forward says we have to do better with less. When they were

out spending like drunken sailors with $25 billion in oil revenues, and we can't

forget the $4 billion in lost tax revenue that they gave up $29 billion, Mr.

Speaker. When they were out spending like drunken sailors, not looking at any

outcomes on anything, we have to face their poor planning. One of the Members

said our overspending is kind of on us. At least someone over there admits it.

So we

need a paradigm shift in how we do things as government, and this is where we

get to do more with less. We need to focus on outcomes, Mr. Speaker. We can't

throw money at something and not measure the outcome. How do we know whether or

not we're getting value for our money if we don't measure outcomes? For example,

education, health care, they've thrown money at that year after year and never

did once measure outcome. We have a Minister of Education and a Minister of

Health and Community Services who are out looking at education outcomes and

health care outcomes. We want to use the money correctly.

A report

card came out recently and I thought we did pretty good on that, and it is

Realizing our Potential. So for a stronger economic foundation, here's what we

plan on doing: establish a Cabinet committee on jobs now imagine, not rely on

just oil or one industry, our Cabinet is actually going to focus on jobs and

diversification increase the number of social enterprises in Newfoundland and

Labrador; introduce status of the artist act; release a cultural plan; improve a

sense of arrival for travellers to Newfoundland and Labrador; increase water

area for aquaculture to 50,000 metric tons for salmon and almost 11,000 for

mussels; increase timber allocations and harvest levels by 20 per cent in 2020.

I'm

going to get to some of these things, hopefully I'm probably going to run out

of time, so I'll get to it in my response to the budget because a lot of what

we're seeing here is hopefully going to be coming out of our budget as well,

because everything is based on The Way

Forward .

We're

incorporating the women's employment plan on infrastructure projects; offer

online block training for select trades. I really like that one; it keeps our

tradespeople in the workforce while they're still going and writing their exam

for their journeyman tickets. I think that's a huge move forward.

We're

going to make Crown lands more accessible to stimulate the economy, agriculture;

support tourism industry by doubling resident and non-resident spending;

establish a fisheries advisory council, appoint a chair which was done a

couple of weeks ago and one of the biggest things that we did was the

Public Procurement Act that we brought

forward in the fall. I think that's going to change things. Instead of going to

the lowest bidder where you know there are going to be arisings come up and you

end up spending more in the long run, what this public procurement does is it

gives you more money for value. So it might not necessarily be the lowest

bidder, but you're going to get more value for your buck.

I talked

about the groundfish