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June 10, 2021

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. L No. 14

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

SPEAKER:

Today, we will hear statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of Topsail

- Paradise, Stephenville - Port au Port, Conception Bay East - Bell Island,

Terra Nova and Placentia - St. Mary's.

The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to extend my congratulations to

13-year-old Gavin Baggs of Paradise as being this year's Easter Seals

Newfoundland and Labrador Ambassador.

Gavin was born with a rare birth defect. It was unknown

if Gavin would walk; however, he has overcome all odds. At the age of five,

Gavin started playing para ice hockey with Easter Seals and then wheelchair

basketball and swimming two years later. There he quickly progressed and began

playing with the Avalon Sled Dogs, the Wheelchair Sports Association and

swimming with the Mount Pearl Marlins.

Gavin was fortunate to play with the Newfoundland and

Labrador wheelchair basketball team that went to the Canada Games in 2019; the

youngest player to ever play at the Canada Games wheelchair basketball and the

youngest ever to score a basket in that tournament.

Gavin wanted to give back to Easter Seals and began to

volunteer as a para ice hockey coach. He wants to let others know that you can

achieve anything you put your mind to, regardless of having challenges or

difficulties and encourages others to put their names forward to be next year's

ambassador.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all to join me in congratulating

Gavin.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Gold medallist, Katarina Roxon, is headed off, once

again, to represent Canada at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan this August.

This will be Katarina's fourth time representing our

country at these games. Katarina, born to immigrant parents, Leonard and Lisa

Roxon of Kippens, became involved in the sport of swimming at five years old

because her parents thought it was an essential skills she should have. Well,

investing in those swimming lessons was the beginnings of a world-class, gold

medallist.

Katarina is a three-time Paralympian having represented

Canada in Beijing in 2008. At the age of 15, she was the youngest member of the

team; London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. In Rio, she won a gold medal in the

100-metre breaststroke.

In recognition of her gold medal performance, the

government renamed the Trans-Canada Highway Route 490 as Katarina Roxon Way.

Katarina's accomplishments extend far beyond the pool.

In 2018, Katarina was appointed to the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador. She

is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and was

included in the 2016 Most Influential Women List.

We are so proud of Katarina. I ask all Members to wish

her much success at the Tokyo games.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I acknowledge a lifelong educator, volunteer and

promoter of our province's heritage and history through her decades of work with

the museum movement of Newfoundland and Labrador. I speak of my constituent

Teresita McCarthy or Teddy as she is affectionately known.

For decades she has been a driving force in the

province for the establishment and promotion of museums in all corners of our

province.

Teddy was recently selected by the Canadian Museums

Association as the 2021 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award which

honours individuals in the museum industry for their significant contribution to

the local, provincial, and national museum movement.

In the course of Teddy's 30 years of involvement, she

served as president of the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador and

was a founding member of the Bell Island Heritage Society. She has been active

at the national level serving on countless boards, committees and conferences

that were instrumental in promoting this country's history.

I ask all Members to join me in thanking Teresita

McCarthy for her dedication in preserving and promoting our culture and history.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

PARROTT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, during these unprecedented times, outdoor

activities were highly recommended and in my District of Terra Nova there are

many beautiful trails.

There is one such trail that is being built by a

family, friends and a group of volunteers, and is being developed as a community

memorial. This is to honour Donna Vardy. Donna's Way, the Long Pond Memorial

Walking Trail and Picnic Area, affectionately known as Nanna's trail by her

grandchildren.

For many years Donna talked about a trail or memorial

for Random Island. Her husband Dave, upon Donna's passing, acted on her wish.

With a few phone calls and no real plan in place, family and friends made this

happen. This trail is 3.9 kilometres in Robinson's Bight on Random Island and is

open year-round.

Donna was a member of the ground search and rescue for

Clarenville chapter, the Random West Volunteer Fire Department, the Clarenville

SPCA and a dedicated leader in the surrounding communities.

I would like us all to honour Donna as a volunteer that

went over and above daily. A lady that lived life to the fullest and left

memories for her family and community to enjoy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia - St. Mary's.

GAMBIN-WALSH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Society of United Fishermen was

founded in 1 8 62 by Reverend George Gardiner, a Church of England clergyman. On

April 9, 1931, Goodwill Lodge number 84 in Dildo, Trinity Bay, was established.

The society was originally formed to help fishermen,

their families and anyone in need. Originally, financial assistance would be

provided by the society. The need for this type of assistance has largely been

replaced by modern social benefits.

Now, the focus of the society has shifted to supporting

registered charities. It is the only fraternal benefit society of its type that

has its roots in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The lodge in Dildo

is comprised of members from Blaketown to Heart's Delight.

The lodge has spearheaded many significant projects

over the years. Most notably, a heated outdoor swimming pool and an

interpretation centre. The SUF also originally initiated and planned the annual

Dildo Days celebrations, which have grown over the years, attracting visitors by

the hundreds.

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity as the Member of

the House of Assembly for the District of Placentia - St. Mary's, to

congratulate the Dildo Society of United Fishermen on their 90th anniversary.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and

Labrador, I am very pleased to acknowledge the induction of Mr. Derek Hogan – no

relation – as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Widely considered to be the premier professional

organization for lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers is composed of

the best trial lawyers in Canada and the United States. Fellowship in the

college is extended by invitation only after extensive vetting to trial lawyers

who have been marked by the highest of standards of ethical conduct,

professionalism, civility and collegiality.

A 30-year veteran of the Legal Aid Commission, Mr.

Hogan is one of the most respected lawyers in the province and has been

instrumental in bringing about major changes to the justice system. In 1995,

Hogan appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada arguing his client's Charter

rights were breached by a weekend stay in custody. Days after his win,

Provincial Court instituted weekend court.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in

congratulating Mr. Hogan. He is a shining example of the great expertise within

the Legal Aid Commission, our public service and the legal profession.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. On behalf of the Official Opposition, I would like to offer sincere

congratulations to Mr. Derek Hogan on his induction as a fellow of the American

College of Trial Lawyers, which is a prestigious, well-known organization for

lawyers.

We have amazing, talented, diligent, hard-working legal

professionals within our Legal Aid Commission. There is a misconception that

Legal Aid lawyers may be less capable than their private sector counterparts.

Well, Mr. Speaker, that's truly a misconception, Mr. Hogan is proof of this. He

is evidence of the high-calibre legal professionals in the public system. He is

an excellent legal professional with impressive credentials; he is also a role

model to many new and young lawyers who enter the profession.

Mr. Speaker, of particular note is his dedication as a

criminal lawyer for most of his career at Legal Aid. That is important because

he has been committed and dedicated to ensuring that all individuals in our

criminal justice system have the right to counsel; a right, which is so

important, and a fundamental right guaranteed in our Charter.

Mr. Speaker, congratulations to Mr. Hogan. We, in the

Official Opposition, wish to thank him for his over 30 years of dedication and

service to Legal Aid and to the people of this province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. We also would like to congratulate Mr. Hogan on his induction as a

fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. This award demonstrates the

high calibre of people working as a part of our Legal Aid contingent. That is

why we take this moment to acknowledge the tireless devotion of all of those at

Legal Aid to their work.

It is a valuable public service they offer. Without it,

justice would be out of reach for people lacking the means to defend themselves

in court. That is why we ask the government to think long, hard and seriously

before adopting the recommendation of the Greene report to reduce funding to

Legal Aid by 2 per cent and consider the impact of this move on those for whom

justice or access to justice would be further reduced.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Climate

Change.

DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I take this opportunity today to announce the 2021

recipients of the Water Operator of the Year Awards, which recognize the

outstanding dedication of community drinking water system operators.

This year's recipient of the Small System Operator of

the Year Award is Henry Jacque with the Makkovik Inuit Community Government. Mr.

Jacque is a 29-year employee and a Class II Water Distribution Certified

Operator.

The Operator of the Year for 2021 is Wayne Bishop with

the Town of Paradise. Mr. Bishop has been with the town for 11 years and is a

Class II Water Distribution Operator and a Class III Waste Water Collection

Certified Operator.

Both of these individuals were recognized in their

nominations for their tireless dedication to their professions and communities.

Mr. Speaker, we are making significant progress in

improving drinking water quality and have reached some significant milestones.

For example, the number of long-term boil-water advisories that have been in

place for more than five years has reached an all-time low. The number of

communities with a certified operator, the number of certified operators and the

number of certificates awarded to water-system operators in any given year has

reached an all-time high.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members of the House of

Assembly to join me in extending our appreciation to Mr. Jacque and Mr. Bishop,

and the many system operators who play a central role in the delivery of water

services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement.

I join the minister in recognizing the recipients of

the Water Operator of the Year Awards. The small system operator of the year has

been presented to someone I know well: Henry Jacque of my hometown in Makkovik.

Henry is a seasoned professional in my community, and I'm delighted that all of

his hard work and dedication to his community is recognized with this award.

I also wish to congratulate Wayne Bishop of the Town of

Paradise for receiving the Operator of the Year Award. You provide a vital

service and this award recognizes your tremendous dedication.

The hard work of our public servants is critical to

ensuring our communities have safe and reliable drinking water. They deserve our

praise and recognition, and I humbly thank them for their service.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. Our caucus would like to congratulate Mr. Jacque and Mr. Bishop for

receiving these awards. We also thank them, as well as their talented and

dedicated colleagues, for their work to ensure that the people of this province

have safe, reliable and secure access to one of the most basic and fundamental

services a government can provide.

Ready access to water is a human right. That's why we

are disturbed by the fact that 189 communities are currently on boil-water

advisories. We call government to work harder and to reduce that number to zero.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Are

there any further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today's news is disappointing to say the least.

Government should be keeping oil production in the province and growing our

industry, not watching it die.

Is the Premier willing to admit that today's news is

his failure?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I will say is this: The province has been at the

table with the Terra Nova partners to try to strike a deal. We have what is, I

think in anyone's estimation, a good offer on the table.

I'm frankly not willing to roll the dice with a massive

equity investment in oil firms that continue to make money. If the Member

opposite doesn't realize the risk with equity investments, perhaps he should

look to Alberta and his cousin in Alberta right now who's suffering from the

result of a failed gamble on an equity investment in a pipeline, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Where is the federal government in this process? Have

you spoken with the prime minister this morning about the loss to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I spoke with Minister O'Regan this morning; I've been

speaking with Minister LeBlanc to inform them of what's happened with respect to

the Terra Nova project and our position. They are still supportive of oil and

gas in Newfoundland and Labrador, as are we.

We recognize the value of this asset, the value of oil

and gas in our province. The oil is not going anywhere. We need to just make

sure that it's the right deal for the people of this province so that we can get

the best return, and not necessarily the oil companies, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister said he can't go it at all costs. We know

that government's offer was valued at over half a billion dollars.

I ask the Premier: What is the value of what the

partners in this project need to ensure this goes ahead?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, the equity ask is just far too much for our

province right now in this particular moment in time. We have $500 million of

value on the table for oil companies that still generate profits. We're in a

terrible fiscal situation right here right now in our province. We don't have

the capacity. I'm not prepared to roll the dice on the future of this province,

Mr. Speaker. These are the hard decisions that sometimes we have to make, but

it's not a gamble I'm prepared to take.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Well, Mr. Speaker, we need to see the analysis. We found in the past that this

administration doesn't break down exactly the impact on people in Newfoundland

and Labrador, particularly those workers and those companies who benefit from

the oil industry.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAZIL:

the Terra Nova does not resume production, how much will the province lose in

future revenues?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I will point out to the Member that there has

been no shortage of analysis been done on this project. I can guarantee you that

we will share the province's position at the right time. But I would point that

out that we are currently still under various NDAs as it relates to this. We're

still hopeful that a deal can be achieved.

We have not said we are not supportive; we have just

said here is a significant financial offer to put on the table for the remaining

partners in this project, all multinational, billion-dollar companies. We're

just not prepared to take a gamble. The risk versus reward was too high for us

as it related to the equity investment.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I remind the minister that the conversation we've had

over the last number of weeks when we asked questions about what was happening

in this deal was always about: it couldn't be done in the public. Well, it's now

in the public. You've taken 1:15 in the afternoon before the House opens to

actually kibosh this whole deal by preventing the companies from being confident

that this can go forward, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAZIL:

Premier: Can you tell this House what the full economic impact of this

devastating blow to the offshore oil and gas sector is for our province?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll remind the Member opposite that oil is still

there. It can still be developed. I don't think this government, at this

particular moment in Newfoundland and Labrador's history, should be meddling in

private business at this level, Mr. Speaker. This would be an incredible ask for

a Treasury that's already strapped. We've seen the decisions that we're going to

have to take moving into the future.

Right now, those oil companies continue to turn

profits. Last quarter alone, one of those operators made $361 million in

Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore. I think we don't have the Treasury

capacity to fulfil what they're requiring to move forward and I'm not willing to

take a gamble.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

But I would hope the Premier would let the world know

that Newfoundland and Labrador is open for business; it's the only way we're

going to get out of our economic challenges.

The Premier and the minister say that they did

everything they could to keep the Terra Nova here, but given the jobs impact,

transparency is important.

Will the Premier and minister immediately make public

in this House all the records they have relating to these lobby efforts of all

the project's partners, right now?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Just to point to the

preamble of the Member opposite first. I would suggest that

a $500-million offer certainly signals that this province is open to oil and

gas. I would remind the Member that it wasn't that long ago we were out on the

platform of Hibernia looking at the ways that we could help them to continue to

thrive in our offshore. The Member himself knows that.

To the question, what I would say, as I said earlier,

we are still subject to non-disclosure agreements. I guarantee you everything

will be put out there, but right now I am not going to risk a lawsuit just to

satisfy the Member's needs.

What I will say is that when this is all said and done,

all the information is here. In fact, I look forward to a debate on this issue

in the very near future.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will remind the minister, too, that we do support the

oil industry; we want to see the evidence. Talk means nothing if action is not

taken. We see a lack of action in this situation right here.

You want to talk about a debate?

I ask the Premier: Will he agree to an emergency debate

starting immediately in this House of Assembly?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, we're all supportive of oil and gas in

Newfoundland and Labrador, but it has to be done correctly. It has to be done

prudently. It has to be done with the maximum returns for the people of this

province.

I ask the Member opposite: Would he support such a

massive equity stake in an oil –?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

PREMIER A. FUREY:

What's that?

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

PREMIER A. FUREY:

We're prepared to debate it, Mr. Speaker. That is going to be advanced, as I

understand, in the near future. We will have an open, honest discussion across

the floor, because this is incredibly important with respect to the future of

the province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do agree with one point that the Premier said: It's

extremely important. That's why it's so important. We can't wait four or five

days to have a debate of how we solve this issue, or how we ensure the oil

industry flourishes in Newfoundland and Labrador and those individuals who rely

on this for their income know that there's some light at the end of the tunnel,

Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAZIL:

June 15 still the deadline for partners to find a solution?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Absolutely, I think June 15 is the deadline that's been

put forward by the partners in this project, certainly not by the government.

It's not a deadline we put forward. What I would also point out to the Member is

that these dates have been very fluid in the past.

There are two things the Member has not addressed at

all yet in his questions that I do think are pertinent to this. One: The deal is

not dead. We have a huge offer there. That relates to the second part: Why have

you not called on these multinational companies to come to the table for the

benefit of us and our workers?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Mr.

Speaker, we were waiting, as the minister was always saying that he didn't want

to negotiate in public and did not want to share information with us. Well, do

you know what? We're asking now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAZIL:

Will you table government's analysis on its offer for equity into the Terra Nova

Project, and why was it considered to be too risky?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are multitudes of factors. Information, I would

point out to the Member, will be forthcoming. There will be no shortage of

information, contrary to some of the megaproject debates that I've been involved

in in this House of Assembly, I can guarantee you that. They will guide us going

forward, the lessons from the past.

What I would say is that equity stakes are different in

every single project. In the past, sometimes the equity stake has been right at

the beginning as a partner coming in;

whereas in this case, it's coming in later

on, taking on full risk for a field where 85 per cent of the field has already

been depleted.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I remind the minister it's probably a little too late

to close the barn door.

Today's news it devastating to the offshore oil

industry. Is the Premier worried about the domino effect in the offshore

industry?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Mr.

Speaker, as the Member opposite knows, we're fully supportive of oil and gas in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

That oil is still in the ground. It's incumbent upon us

and incumbent upon them, frankly, to make sure that we get the best value for

that oil and gas for the people of the province. We are still supportive of oil

and gas and we'll continue to be supportive of oil and gas. It's incredibly

important for the future of this province and we're operating to achieve those

goals, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oil in the ground doesn't pay a thousand workers'

mortgages in Newfoundland and Labrador and keep their families fed and safe.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAZIL:

Why

did government pre-empt the operators and make this announcement today without

them?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's certainly not a case of pre-empting; it's a case

of the offer as it stands has been put there and has been communicated on

multiple occasions, and we feel that we are at an impasse as it relates to this

aspect of the deal.

What I would point out – again, this obviously is not a

great story to be talking about today, but I could talk about what's going on at

Hibernia and I could be talking about what's going on at Bay du Nord. But

there's one thing we won't do, we're not going to do as the Members opposite

would do, which is a deal at all costs and any costs and that's not going to

benefit this province in the long run.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Local media has reported that Suncor and Husky Energy

were willing to increase their ownerships in the field. Given they also have

stakes in the West White Rose Project, has the Premier asked if they are willing

to transfer the money they had budgeted for Terra Nova to the West White Rose

Project?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would point out that it is still too early for that,

given the fact that we are hoping this deal will still happen. We are asking the

partners, these seven oil companies, to come together to bridge the gap and use

the funding that we have put there to make this possible.

What I will say is that we'll work on anything that we

can, but I would point out something that's very important: Terra Nova and West

Rose are two separate, independent business cases and they will be based on

profitability. I would point out that when we started working on this, oil was

at $40 a barrel. Today, it is over $72 a barrel, yet we still maintain the same

support that we did back then.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the pre-empted announcement this afternoon, we're

hearing already from the oil industry that they're not very hopeful there will

be a deal here, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, so plans have to be made. I'm

already hearing from people that their families are distraught about today's

news and what it means to them.

What is the Premier doing to ensure that they have a

future in Newfoundland and Labrador?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, we're incredibly empathetic to the workers

impacted and their families by the delay in Terra Nova. As the minister

suggested, this deal isn't dead. We're just not going to be involved in equity

at this point as a government. There's still $500 million on the table, of

value, from the provincial government. I think that's a very healthy offer.

We are very hopeful that those partners can sort out

their private interests and come to a conclusion that advances this Terra Nova

Project. If that's not the case, we will be there for the hard-working women and

men of the oil industry who are impacted directly by this Terra Nova Project,

Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Well, on that note, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier – with today's devastating

news about the Terra Nova FPSO, many workers will be left wondering about their

future.

I ask the Premier: Will he ensure that a proportion of

the $175 million set aside for the Terra Nova will now be used to support

employment of those who counted on the Terra Nova for jobs?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We want them to advance this project, Mr. Speaker. So

this, again, is not the fact – the deal is not dead, it's just that we are not

involved in equity at this particular moment in time, nor should we be, Mr.

Speaker.

If, again, the deal does not go ahead and Terra Nova

does not advance to an asset life extension, we will be there for the women and

men who have been displaced from that opportunity of work. We will use the

proceeds available to us to ensure –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER A. FUREY:

that they have other opportunities and they're protected here in the province,

Mr. Speaker, whether it's in the oil and gas industry or beyond.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Education, I ask: Did the government

approve the hiring of the president at MUN? Yes or no?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Board of Regents, Mr. Speaker, negotiated the

contract and the terms of the contract with the president. The LGIC signs off on

the individual, not the contract.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

guess my question should be – if that's the case, then maybe I'll ask the

minister: Why didn't they ask for details?

If something comes to Cabinet, it shouldn't be

rubber-stamped; you should ask the questions. That's what Cabinet is there for.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PETTEN:

It's meant to be rubber-stamped, it's meant to ask the questions. We wouldn't be

out $500,000 on what I consider to be very lavish spending.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Mr.

Speaker, it's no different than when Dr. Kachanoski was hired in 2010 or 2014.

In fact, I requested copies, which are publicly available, of his contract. The

conditions in his contract are almost identical to the conditions in the

contract for the current president.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

On June 1, I asked the minister about details of the –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

PETTEN:

Two

wrongs don't make a right.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PETTEN:

I'll throw it back again. On June 1, I asked the minister about details of the

president of MUN's contract and he said he would look into it. Then, yesterday,

I asked the question again. The minister said he would look into it.

I ask the minister: Why didn't you look into this very

important issue when I first raised it in the House?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Mr.

Speaker, I guess two wrongs don't make a right. But I do remember when the

Member said that he had information. I did ask him to send that information

over. I'm still waiting.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In 2017, the former Finance minister said: “We can't

simply just ask and hope” ABCs “deliver. We need to ensure we get our spending

under control. This legislation will be brought in.”

Unfortunately, Minister, it was not brought in. Today,

or just recently in the Budget Speech, the current Minister of Finance alluded

to a similar promise.

I ask the minister: Will she take action to get

spending under control at ABCs, particularly, what we've just heard about from

MUN.

SPEAKER:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

This is indeed an important topic for the finances of

the province. I think the Member should be reassured that the Budget Speech does

also talk about an accountability framework that will be brought in for not just

core government, but all agencies, boards, commissions, Crown corporations and

anyone who receives money from the public purse.

I think the Member opposite should take comfort in the

fact that we are now bringing more Crown corporations to within government so

that we can have even advanced control. I think he should take comfort in the

fact that we also talked about, in the Budget Speech, changes to the legislation

for Memorial University and changing the financial arrangements with Memorial

University.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, we'll take comfort when the actual legislation is before us in the

House.

I would also like to ask: Has the minister considered

the Public Accounts Committee as the agency to be used, instead of setting up

another accounting agency for accountability?

SPEAKER:

The

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

COADY:

Mr.

Speaker, I'm sure the Member opposite is aware of the role and responsibilities

of the Public Accounts Committee. They have a very fulsome and important role

within the organization, within government and they can exercise their duties

under that responsibility.

We are talking about day-to-day operational activities.

That's why it would be in the Treasury Board Secretariat, so that we will have

not only continuous improvement, not only program evaluation, but also that

accountability framework.

I'm sure we will hear from the Public Accounts

Committee as to their view on how we maintain the Public Accounts of this

province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Again, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to it.

Today, Western Health is opening a testing clinic in

parents and guardians there's an expectation that all students will be in

attendance, unless they have been asked by Public Health to stay home. It went

on further to tell them that all individuals who had been diagnosed with COVID,

and their contacts, have been notified.

Well, today, as I just said, there's a new testing

clinic set up in Piccadilly. The province has spent millions for online

learning, but the school board has done nothing to accommodate students in my

district.

I ask the minister: Will he direct the school board to

offer alternate education and learning opportunities for those students who are

not able to attend school because their parents aren't comfortable or are

nervous about it, or they simply can't go because they're in isolation?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know that schools in the area were closed for

operational reasons, Mr. Speaker; in other words, because teachers were doing

contact tracing for teachers and so on. I am not going to direct the chief

medical officer of Health, or Public Health; I think they've guided us well.

This province has done exceptionally well, compared to

other jurisdictions, based on the guidance of the chief medical officer of

Health. If the chief medical officer of Health said that schools are safe to be

open, then I have to trust that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would simply ask that the school board is responsible

for the operation of the education system. I have asked that you provide

educational opportunities for the students; I didn't say anything about closing

schools. We have online learning. Let's take advantage of it.

Thank you.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Mr.

Speaker, the NLESD does a good job with continuum of learning plans for any

students who are not able to attend school. It's funny, because I've taken

questions from the opposite side when we did the blended learning model that all

children should be in school; we took questions saying that we should be going

to online learning.

Mr. Speaker, no matter which process you take, there

are people that will complain about that process. The best place for the

children, when the chief medical officer of Health says it's safe to be in

class, is in class for the learning there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is a sad day, indeed, for the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador and, in particular, people in the District of Harbour

Main, who are deeply impacted by the lack of transparency and the failure of

this government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Mr. Speaker, with regard to transparency, the Premier's

Greene report said: One way to improve it is to refine the current lobbyist

legislation, and that the current Lobbyist

Registration Act should be reviewed.

I ask the Minister of Justice: Who will be conducting

this review and when will it start?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you for the question, Mr. Speaker.

That will be reported in due time.

I do want to let all the Members of the House know, and

members of the public, that there was a report issued yesterday – or it arrived

on my desk the day before yesterday – from former chief justice of the Supreme

Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Trial Division David Orsborn with regard to

proposed recommendations and revisions to the Access to Information and

Protection of Privacy Act in this province. This government will take all those

recommendations in his almost-600-page report and review them diligently to make

sure that access to government information is strengthened and streamlined as we

move forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Mr. Speaker, the Premier's Greene report also said that

“People need to see which special interest groups are lobbying their politicians

and what those groups are requesting.”

Just after the election, the media uncovered that the

other Liberal premier was lobbied by a former Liberal prime minister to store

nuclear waste in Labrador.

I ask the minister: When will new lobbyist legislation

be introduced in this House?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank you for the question.

The

preamble to the question was a reference to what

was in the Greene report. As has been said publicly and as has been said in the

House, the Greene report is a list of recommendations to this government and not

every one is going to be adopted wholesale. We're still continuing to review the

Greene report. Anything in there that we think will serve the people of this

province, we will implement in due course.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Mr. Speaker, the Premier's Greene report had something

very important to say about transparency, which hopefully the government will

adopt. The Greene report also said that “Improving transparency will, at least,

minimize questions of undue influence.”

Now, that we know this government will be looking at

selling assets, as Moya Greene recommended, I ask the minister: Will new

lobbyist and ethics legislation be introduced in this House before this

government plans on selling or privatizing any major assets or services, to

ensure that there is no undue influence?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

Again, it's easy to answer a question twice in a row.

As I've said, the Greene report has recommendations

provided to this government by a high-calibre team, under Moya Greene's

leadership. We look forward to continue to review that report and anything in

there that we feel is going to strengthen the accountability and transparency of

this government the Department of Justice and Public Safety will certainly

implement and bring in any necessary legislation to the floor to debate in this

House so the public can see and everyone in the Opposition can have their say.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, you don't know. I'd like to say it's a sad day

here –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

O'DRISCOLL:

in the District of Ferryland, as well, for my residents and also for the

residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, recent media reports on a rogue investor

advisor who defrauded six elderly clients out of third-quarters of a million

dollars has sent shock waves through the industry. However, while the individual

will face sanction by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada,

who oversees the profession, they have no power to enforce any penalties or

sanctions. Newfoundland is the only province that has not given the regulator

any power.

Mr. Speaker, why is the government not protecting

individuals?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That's a very important question and we do have a range

of financial services legislation to protect residents of the province. I can't

speak to a specific investigation, but anything that was prosecuted, for

example, would have been as a result of the current legislation.

If you look at the Order Paper, we do have a

Securities Act upcoming where we're

going to deal with improving the responsibilities for IIROC and other financial

services institutions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

O'DRISCOLL:

(Inaudible.)

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can't blame you.

Mr. Speaker, the Third Party recognizes the potential

impacts that the announcement today regarding the Terra Nova FPSO has on workers

across this province. The announcement could potentially, certainly, have an

impact on every corner of our province. This causes tremendous concern for the

workers who were told by successive governments that their futures were secured.

I ask the minister: What is government prepared to do

to ensure that these hard-working people in our province are not the ones who

suffer because of what is now an uncertain future?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm certainly happy to answer this question and talk

about the workers who, I can guarantee you, have been top of mind during this

entire process.

I would point out the irony of the NDP asking this

question about them when they have never supported this industry at any point

during the conversation ever. It's a fine time to show up now when you didn't do

anything before.

Now, I will point out the main thing that the Members

don't get.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PARSONS:

There is $500 million on the table. That is not a small amount.

Now, I know the Members opposite may give up on this

but we're still hopeful that these multinational, billion-dollar companies will

bridge the gap as it relates to equity, take the support that we've offered and

come to a positive conclusion.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly remind the minister that the NDP, the Third

Party, has always been about workers; about making sure that with any industry

that's facing turndown that they are protected and looked after – period.

Mr. Speaker, the Keystone pipeline project commissioned

by Alberta's government that was all in on oil has been cancelled. The Terra

Nova FPSO is one of three large oil projects that are facing an uncertain

future. This is a harbinger of what is to come in this industry; we must accept

this to a degree.

I ask the Premier: What does he have to say to the

electorate who are now realizing the reality of the oil industry they are now

facing is tremendously uncertain in the future?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the Premier letting me answer this.

The irony here is in the first question we're talking

about workers. In the second question, they tell us not to invest in projects

that support workers. I'm finding it extremely difficult to understand where the

Member is going because you can't have one without the other.

Now, we have offered tremendous support to these

operators to make this work. But we've also indicated that there's a

responsibility that comes with us to make the best investment. That is why we

are not willing to throw our future away when it comes to these deals. We've

obviously shown that. But we're obviously willing to look at the analysis and

take the proper precautions and put the proper risk versus reward here. We have

done that. We're hopeful that these companies will come to a deal that helps

this entire province and its workers.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the minister has a poor understanding of irony.

I'm certainly willing to sit down and do some one-on-one tutoring with him.

It's not about investing. The question had nothing to

do with investing, at all. Please don't put words –

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Ask your question, please.

DINN:

Yes, thank you.

I ask the minister not to put words in my mouth.

Mr. Speaker, for decades the Auditor General has been

calling on government to divest from oil and gas. As a province, the government

has continually ignored this recommendation.

I ask the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology:

Are we now finally going to accept the global movement and invest more deeply in

a green and sustainable economy?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, I have no intentions to put words in the

mouth of the Member opposite. That's clearly not what I want to do. What I

remind him is that they have contrary positions.

Yesterday, they asked about Muskrat; the day before

they said don't ask about Muskrat. Their first question, they say we should

support the workers; the second question, they say no, we should not support

these workers. I can't figure out where they're trying to go.

What I can say is that obviously there is a transition

happening. There is no doubt, we've embraced it. I will tell you that

organizations like Noia and the operators themselves have embraced it. We see a

bright future for things like wind, for things like hydrogen; for green energy.

We will invest in that and we'll take advantage of the federal funds.

At the same time, we have a bright future for oil and

gas in this province. We have huge reserves that are still there. We just need

these companies to realize that we are not going to give it away.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay.

WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Pursuant to the motion of referral of May 31, 2021, and

in accordance with Standing Order 72, the Resource Committee met on five

occasions: May 31, June 1, 3, 8 and 9 of 2021.

The Resource Committee have considered the matters to

them referred, and pursuant to Standing Order 75(2), have directed me to report

that they have passed, without amendment, the Estimates of the Department of

Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture; the Department of Immigration, Population

Growth and Skills; the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology; the

Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation; and the Department of

Environment and Climate Change, and recommend that the report be concurred in.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

Further reports by Standing and Select Committees?

The hon. the Member for Burin - Grand Bank.

PIKE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Pursuant to the motion of referral of May 31, 2021, and

in accordance with Standing Order 72, the Government Services Committee met on

three occasions: June 4, 7 and 10, 2021.

The Government Services Committee have considered the

matters to them referred, and pursuant to Standing Order 75(2), have directed me

to report that they have passed, without amendment, the Estimates of

Consolidated Fund Service; the Department of Digital Government and Service NL;

the Department of Finance; the Public Procurement Agency; the Public Service

Commission; and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, and

recommend that the report be concurred in.

Thank you.

SPEAKER:

Any

further presenting reports by Standing or Select Committees?

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In accordance with

section 12 of the

Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation

Act , I hereby table the annual

performance report for 2020 for WorkplaceNL.

SPEAKER:

Any

further tabling of documents?

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice, and by leave, to move the following

motion: Notwithstanding Standing Order 9 that this House meet for a debate

regarding the Terra Nova FPSO on Monday, June 14 at 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

SPEAKER:

leave granted?

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

would like to respond to that motion to move that this debate on the FPSO start

immediately as opposed to Monday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

take it that leave is not granted. I ask is leave granted for –?

PETTEN:

leave granted for mine?

SPEAKER:

For

Monday.

The motion was that he asked to debate on Monday and

asked for leave.

PETTEN:

(Inaudible.)

SPEAKER:

have to deal with this issue first.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

You

can't amend it. You either agree with leave or not.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

you agree to give leave?

Leave is granted.

PETTEN:

(Inaudible.)

SPEAKER:

You

can do the motion after regular proceedings. Once we get into Orders of the Day,

then you can your motion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

have to deal with the initial motion first.

PETTEN:

(Inaudible.)

SPEAKER:

Yes.

PETTEN:

Thank you, that's (inaudible).

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

PETTEN:

move, notwithstanding Standing Order 9, that the House debate regarding the

Terra Nova FPSO start today – start immediately. It cannot wait.

SPEAKER:

This House do recess for a few minutes to review the request.

Recess

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The notice of motion made by the Member for Conception

Bay South is not in order. There is a process to dispense of the ordinary

business of the House in circumstances such as these, which is outlined in

Standing Order 36.

Leave was requested by the Government House Leader when

he gave his notice of motion. Leave was granted; therefore, the motion before

the House is the motion by the Government House Leader. I will now call for

debate on that motion.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

We see the urgency of this matter and we want to make

sure that everybody has an opportunity to have what briefings that can be

availed of early next week or even into tomorrow. So, Mr. Speaker, that will be

our motion, that this House do sit on Monday morning to debate this urgent

matter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do agree that this is very important. We, on this

side of the House, know the importance of this and the effect it has had on the

province, on every one of our districts and the people who work in our

districts. I have a lot in my own district that is affected by this.

I get the fact that Monday is coming and they're going

to have a debate: I'm fine. But we really feel the importance of this is here

and now. Where we're to right now, today. We did make a motion in order – or out

of order; I guess that's the House rules. We feel strongly that something of

this importance to be put off until Monday – there is no better time than the

present. We strongly believe the government needs to reconsider and start the

debate now, because the longer you wait, every day that goes by that's extra

days of stress.

We had a private Member's resolution yesterday on the

mental health that the pandemic has caused. Unfortunately, this may be another

result of the pandemic and the world oil markets. It's a combination of things,

but the pandemic plays into it. What those workers in this province feel today

with that news conference – and at 1:15, I might add, which was 15 minutes

before this House opened, that we became aware. It wasn't a long time for anyone

to get their heads around it and to come into this House and to properly give –

even Question Period. Now, I give credit to the leader for doing so.

We feel strongly that here and now is the time to do it

for that reason. I mean, we can go into a number of reasons, but I won't waste

any more time at it. I believe that right now the time should be spent debating

this motion, here and now, today. The Terra Nova FPSO is too important to the

province to be putting it off for days down the road while workers are home

sitting down wondering what the future has. One minute too long is not good

enough for these people, Mr. Speaker, or those communities.

I call upon the government to make the motion to sit

today and to continue on tonight. We're here as long as you want to be here.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just a couple of points on this Mr. Speaker. This is

obviously disappointing news, to say the very least, and it is a huge issue for

our province and it's a huge issue for the workers. I totally agree. On a

personal level, I would have no issue – and I know that's not the motion; it's

neither one of the motions, really. But if someone could provide me with some

sort of a briefing and so on of whatever details could be available. If we

suspended the House right now and we could have a briefing and come back to

debate it tonight, personally, I'd be okay with that. But to simply have a

debate right now, at this moment, with no information, I don't think we would be

doing justice to the issue.

I'm not making a motion here of my own, because it

won't be in order either. But, again, I really believe we need the briefing and

the information and, as I said, on a personal level, if we did it right now, had

a briefing and then we debated it tonight, I'd be fine with that. I'd be fine

with debating it tomorrow morning, but I need the briefing first.

So I just wanted to make that point.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's my understanding from the department that those

briefings are being arranged as soon as possible. Obviously, the department is

busy. There are still negotiations here. This is not something that is a dead

deal. We still have a half a billion dollars on the table as an offer. These are

important jobs and that's why we have a half a billion dollars on the table. If

you think about it, that's a considerable offer to these companies from this

province and there's work being done.

So, Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member opposite,

before our debate on Monday there will be an opportunity for a full briefing for

Members opposite.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

PARROTT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I find it very hard to believe that these briefings

aren't already done. There was a decision made, there was a press conference at

1:15 this afternoon, 15 minutes before we came into the House of Assembly. Was

this decision, again, made with a lack of information? Is it another case of

something that we didn't know? It's a fair question.

At the end of the day, there are thousands – it's not

just the 900 men and women that work offshore directly, it's the people that

work indirectly that are affected by this, and we want to put it off to the eve

of a deadline instead of trying to find a solution three or four days prior to

and trying to help find a solution. Something I'll add, and that this Premier

has added time and time again, is that we need to collaborate and work together.

Let's wait until the last minute so there's no time. We need to debate this

motion today, Mr. Speaker, not Monday, and government should be prepared to give

us a briefing right now.

SPEAKER:

Are

there any other speakers to the motion?

The hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course we have to respect the opinion of the Chair

on the motions, which ones are in order and not in order. I understand the

urgency across the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador for all of the workers

and I'm sure every Member in this House of Assembly right now is concerned about

the workers and their families.

It is a situation, Mr. Speaker, where I feel that if we

were going to debate it now, fine, but I've been through a lot of this and I go

back to Voisey's Bay, I go back to Muskrat Falls and I go back to them all.

Before I would get involved with the – seriously, we could stand here, I could

stand here and talk about it politically, but to get involved with it, I feel

that we do need a briefing. I feel that, the government, if they're offering a

briefing that I would partake in that briefing, because it's so important to the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador. If we're going to debate this on Monday, I

notice the motion says 9 o'clock, so we should have a briefing either before 9

o'clock or delay it and open it at 10 o'clock and have a briefing at 9 o'clock

for some way to have a briefing in this House.

Even with the briefing, I am confident, being involved

in some negotiations before, that there's a certain amount of information that

you can't divulge anyway. You can't divulge it, but divulge the best and the

most that you can to help us with an informed decision.

If the government is wiling to commit to a briefing on

Monday, to give us the proper information so we can have a really informed

debate and offer some great discussions, I'm fine with that. We can't rush the

decision and we can't rush the information that we're going to get. If the

information is available in a briefing sense, let's have it. As the minister

said and the Government House Leader said, this is still going. I understand

where the Opposition are speaking from also, that it's so important to all the

people. I know a couple of them and their districts are very much impacted by

all of this.

I just wanted to put it on the record that if we're

going to have a debate, we should have a briefing and get all the information

that we can to all the Members before this debate in the House of Assembly.

Thank you.

SPEAKER:

Any

other speakers to the motion?

The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's really not the best of a choice either way you

look at it. If we debate it today, we're doing so probably without some

information. If we do it on Monday, I think, as my colleague behind me said,

it's going to be on the eve of the decision. I guess, if I'm looking at it, I

still need to have the information in front of me to have that fulsome debate,

even if that's tomorrow.

I'm just thinking if, indeed, this proceeds on Monday

or we have a briefing on Monday, maybe – I don't know; it's probably out of our

hands – the deadline could be pushed back. I don't know if it can or not.

Otherwise, if the debate on Monday is just a matter of formality or pro forma,

it offers little.

Certainly, I do want to have a debate on this. I think

it's important we have it, but I'm cognizant of what my colleagues have said

here. There are people, yes, who are going to be going through a stressful time

over this weekend. I think we need to have an informed debate here. If that

means doing it earlier, I would certainly support that, but it has to be one

that's done with the information in front of us.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

Any

further speakers to the motion?

All those in favour of the motion, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

Any further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm, again, going to present a petition on behalf of

the people of Humber - Bay of Islands and the Corner Brook area concerning the

previous election in 2021.

Mr. Speaker, the petition calls upon the government to

have an investigation into the last election.

I've noted before on the Committee – and I've asked

people and I'm getting a lot of responses to it – that there's no one on this

Committee from the West Coast – no one. From the west of the Baie Verte turnoff,

there's no one on this Committee to express their views and pass on the

frustrations that were felt during the election. I said before, Mr. Speaker, if

there was no one on that Committee from St. John's, what an uproar; if there was

no one on that Committee from Labrador, what an uproar. But there's no one on it

from the West Coast of the province.

I'm asking the people from the West Coast that if you

have any concerns, which a lot have already expressed, during the election,

after the election and since I started presenting the petitions, keep sending

them to me. I will assure the people on the West Coast that they will be given

to the Committee. I am more than confident, Mr. Speaker. I know the Opposition

themselves will be on the Committee. I know that they received a lot of the same

concerns that we had. They had a lot of concerns expressed. They felt the

frustration and they felt, on many occasions, the act wasn't followed and a lot

of people's right to vote was denied. I'm sure they're going to keep the

government accountable for that in the Committee.

I'm still amazed – I said it before and I'll say it

again – I'm still amazed why the Commissioner for Legislative Standards is not

brought before this House to have a discussion and inform this House what

happened during the previous election in 2021. I am just astonished that an

Officer of the House of Assembly is not in front of us explaining his actions

and why the Premier, at the time, said that the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards could run an election during a pandemic. We've seen the outcome of

that.

This is why sometimes I think the House of Assembly in

itself is not doing their own duties and our responsibilities to the people of

the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, but that's for another time.

I will keep presenting petitions. I made a commitment

twice a week and I will follow up on that commitment to keep raising this issue,

Mr. Speaker, so we can make improvements for the next election.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition here and I'll just read it out first.

The reason for this petition, Mr. Speaker. The former

mill property and Grand Falls House were appropriated by the government after

the Abitibi mill closed in Grand Falls-Windsor.

THEREFORE we petition the hon. House of Assembly as

follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to turn over the former mill property

and Grand Falls House to the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor, where the people of

the community feel it belongs.

Mr. Speaker, this has been going on for quite some time

now through a couple of different ministers. I had a great chat with a few

people about it again this morning, but it's not moving fast enough.

In a time of fiscal restraint, I understand that some

decisions are going to be hard and can't be made; this doesn't cost the province

a penny – not a penny – except the paperwork it's written on, to pass this back

over to the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor, but the benefits that could come out of

this for my district and, in that envelope, the province itself are phenomenal.

The plan that Grand Falls-Windsor have for the old mill

property is a green scenic area with some parkways, just a beautiful space.

Right now it's just a parking lot. It's just a crumbled parking lot that's

cleared off. It's not right. We feel as though it should be passed back over to

the people of Grand Falls-Windsor where it belongs. There is no purpose to hold

on to it. We need to get it passed over, as well as Grand Falls House.

If you've ever been in there. It's absolutely

beautiful. It can be used as a great tourist attraction.

Again, I call on the minister. I would love a response

from the minister about where they are with negotiations when it comes to

passing it over to the town. Hopefully, they're ongoing. Hopefully, it's

resolved soon so we can move on with this and the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor

can get back what it rightfully owned in the first place.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I presented this petition in the last sitting. It reads

as follows: Several abandoned buildings in unincorporated areas or LSDs pose a

significant health and safety hazard to local residents and tourists, including

collapsed or collapsing dwellings. Others are dens for rodents. These abandoned

buildings also undermine the tourism and development potential of many

picturesque communities in the District of Bonavista, which is heavily reliant

on this industry for economic growth.

We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to

urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to bring forward legislation

that acts on the removal of these collapsed or dilapidated structures.

I present this petition, Mr. Speaker, and it's one that

was presented before that we had discussed. The District of Bonavista is big on

tourism, as you know, and I would think it's very significant for the economic

coffers and revenues of our province.

We would like to build on the tourism. I'm sure with

our state of financial affairs that our province has there are industries like

tourism and the fishery that we ought to be focusing on in order to grow our

revenues from these sources.

We have areas, like in Knights Cove, Trinity East, and

Newmans Cove to name three of the 58 communities in the District of Bonavista,

that have these dilapidated structures. We want to gather more and collect more

from tourism. I think it would be in the province's interest to make sure that

these collapsed and abandoned structures are removed so that they're no longer

an unacceptable sight for the many tourists that travel in the District of

Bonavista.

I read the Estimates in 2019, the, then, Minister

Mitchelmore, talked about how tourism was enhanced in the District of Bonavista

when they paved roads that went to tourist attractive sites. He complimented and

said what a great investment it was.

I would say in the short time remaining, Mr. Speaker,

that an investment into these dilapidated and rundown structures by the province

will bode well and better present the District of Bonavista. I will certainly

always help those that are in these communities as well.

I thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call Motion 1.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, Mr. Speaker, it's always a privilege to speak in

this House of Assembly on behalf of the Exploits District.

Mr. Speaker, only last night I got a call from one of

the oil workers myself who wanted to know what would be his future with regard

to the oil industry, and today just to hear that news. I was looking forward to

going home this weekend, but to go home to see that person to try to explain to

him or put some hope in his mind that things will be okay. Hopefully, they will.

Hopefully, we can get this straightened out and, hopefully, we can carry on.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, on a brighter note, it's still

good to talk about the Exploits District. Right now, I'd like to acknowledge the

volunteers of the district. We have a great volunteer core in the Exploits

District. A lot of the clubs, especially during COVID, some people did come on

hard times with regard to the amount of work they could find. They needed extra

help with regard to food. They needed extra help with regard to clothing.

Sometimes even some worse cases, I know there were a couple of fires that people

had to reach out to with regrouping, clothing, bedding, household goods, that

sort of stuff.

Hats off to the volunteers in our district, Mr.

Speaker. The Lions Clubs, fire departments, the Knights of Columbus, Kinsmen

Club, seniors organizations and church groups. They all band together it seems

like in the past year and you could reach out to them. Even though those clubs

fell on hard times themselves, it was still great to be able – because I did

reach out to them a couple of times, different departments there, different

clubs, to say I have a family down the road, I have a family in this community

wondering if you can help them out. They won't reach out to you because they

have that sense of pride that they don't want to reach out and feel intimidated

that they have to ask. B'y, those clubs would jump on board and say, yeah, we'll

help you, b'y. Let us know. They'd be down with hampers or, like I said,

bedding. Anything at all to help out. Mr. Speaker, I'd certainly like to thank

the volunteer groups in our district.

Speaking of the church groups, I'd just like to

acknowledge right now that the Anglican parish of Bishop's Falls is celebrating

its 100 anniversary this weekend. They're going to be having their opening

ceremonies this weekend. I'm glad to be home to join them in that. It's a

milestone, no doubt about it. I'd like to congratulate the clergy and

parishioners of the St. Andrew's Anglican Church on such a milestone.

Mr. Speaker, also the Max Simms camp

in Bishop's Falls. When you're talking

about the volunteer groups, Lion Max Simms camp, the help that they provide

without government assistance. It's at a cost of $1 million a year, just to

operate the Max Simms camp. It provides assistance to groups with disabilities,

especially the blind and autistic. I know this, Mr. Speaker, because I'm a

member of the Bishop's Falls Lions Club. I'm very proud to be a Lion.

They do great work.

The work that they do, Mr. Speaker, those people, I've seen the camp for the

blind. You'd have to be there to really appreciate it. They keep their monies.

They look forward to every year to going back to the camp just for that week or

two weeks – whatever they can get. I hope COVID don't interfere with their

plans; it really interfered last year. I know they're looking forward to getting

back.

Mr. Speaker, the

Max Simms camp is a great, great facility. If anybody would like to go out and

visit that someday, I'd certainly be more than welcome to take you up there for

a tour, just to get an acknowledgement of it.

Mr. Speaker,

front-line workers, another group that certainly, in our district, excelled

during COVID. They had their worries as well as anyone else. Your front-line

workers: your store attendants, nurses, anyone on the front lines, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to acknowledge those people in our district, at this time, for the work

that they did during COVID.

Boys and Girls Clubs: another great facility in the

Exploits District. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, they have great programs.

They do great work for youth. It's amazing. They are usually there from probably

five years old, up to 22 years old. Especially this time now, Mr. Speaker, with

COVID, I know we talked about mental health and I know the Member for Grand

Falls-Windsor - Buchans mentioned yesterday about youth, how he dealt with the

youth in regard to mental health. Those Boys and Girls Clubs, the programs that

they can provide to help with the youth in the area, it gives them a feeling of

belonging. It gets them out into the communities.

There is one in Botwood and there's one in Norris Arm.

The Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans, there is one in Buchans, actually.

Those Boys and Girls Clubs, they're well underfunded, I'll tell you that,

because the monies that they need to operate, the programs that they provide,

the interaction with regard to schooling. They're not in school most of the

times now; they're home. If they can interact with people of their own age – in

regard to Boys and Girls Clubs, too, when we're talking of mental health – they

can share their views and they can relate to one another. Mr. Speaker, the Boys

and Girls Clubs, I can't stress it enough, the work that they've been doing.

Actually, it was only, I think, what, a couple of weeks

ago I did a Member statement on Shealah Hart of Northern Arm. She was recently

chosen by BGC Canada as one of this year's Regional Youth of the Year. It is

amazing work to see those young people doing that, Mr. Speaker.

Shealah, she's been with the BGC – they've changed the

name from Boys and Girls Clubs. They went with BGC and it's hard to get used to.

She's been a volunteer now, Mr. Speaker, for 13 years and she has served on

numerous capacities at a local and national level with the BGC. That's a big

accolade for a youth. It really is. I'm very proud to speak on youths. Even

though she's enrolled in MUN, she will continue to work with the BGC on a local

level and on a provincial level to foster and support other youths.

That will tell you the activities. Sometimes we look

down on the youths. I'm sure we've all said it, like: Oh, look at that group

coming down the road. What are they up to? If we supported programs like this in

our communities, we would know that the youths in our communities are doing good

things. I've seen them with cold plates. The Boys and Girls Club deliver cold

plates to the seniors in the community, Mr. Speaker. That's great to see that

happening and we need more of that to get our youths involved. Get involved in

society. Get involved in themselves. Let them relate and let them be free in our

communities. Not only do they excel from it; we excel from it, too, because to

see them do those things, it's rejuvenating, Mr. Speaker.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I will touch on the health care in

our district as well. I can't leave it alone, because health care has really

taken a toll in our district. I'll start with the lab services of Grand

Falls-Windsor. Our regional hospital at Grand Falls-Windsor, that's where our

biggest hospital is.

Mr. Speaker, the lab testing hub for Gander, which was

announced for Gander and moved to Gander, has caused a lot of friction between

the towns. For starters, the lab services in Grand Falls-Windsor, the lab

itself, was big enough to be the testing hub. It was before. There was no reason

to move it to Gander. The minister himself, he will come on and say: B'y,

there's nothing happening to the lab services in Grand Falls-Windsor. There are

no services being cut. Everything remains the same.

Yet during the election again, 2021, they made a lot of

promises out our way. They really did. During the election of 2021, I can

remember the candidates, even on the NTV news, saying we will review the

decision. Mr. Speaker, if things are okay, if there are no changes, would

somebody explain to me what are they reviewing? What would it be? It's beyond

me; I don't know. But it seems to be that the testing hub is moving.

I don't know who endorsed those candidates to say those

things. There was a big announcement from one of the candidates that the 24-hour

emergency service in Botwood was going to be open. Then the other candidates

announced that we're going to review the situations. I don't know who endorsed

those announcements, Mr. Speaker. If it was the Liberal Party, the Liberal

government, well, they should come clean on all that and let's get it done.

Let's do the reviews on the lab services. Let's open the 24-hour emergency

service in Botwood.

I can't see the candidates just coming out themselves

and just saying it: B'y, maybe I'll get elected. I can't see the Liberals at the

time doing this just to say: B'y, if we do this, we'll knock out the PC

candidates and we'll get those seats.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

FORSEY:

that's what's on here? I'm amazed with it. I really, really am. I'm really

amazed with it.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, in regard to the lab services,

Grand Falls-Windsor hospital itself, right now, they're the hub for seven

satellite hubs in Central Newfoundland. They range from Harbour Breton, Baie

Verte, Springdale, up to Grand Falls-Windsor – Buchans and out as far as

Lewisporte – Botwood, of course. That's seven satellite hubs all in Central

West. That's seven that have to go to Grand Falls-Windsor for testing.

They're going to bypass Grand Falls-Windsor hospital

and go on to Gander, and then wait until those tests are done and then send them

back again. Transportation alone just doesn't make sense when the Gander

hospital only has two satellite hubs. The geography of it just doesn't make

sense, and just for, basically, the minister to be able to service his own

District of Gander.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, again I mention the 24-hour

emergency service in Botwood, the stress it's creating on the emergency service

in Grand Falls-Windsor because now they can't go to the emergency service in

Botwood. They have to go to the emergency in Grand Falls-Windsor. It's creating

more waiting times for the patients, doctors. More stress on the doctors. More

stress on the nurses. The nurses right now, you'll hear them on the news.

They're all stressed out. They're worked to death. You're going to have to try

to span out the workloads and make it easier in one capacity or the other. Mr.

Speaker, by opening the 24-hour emergency service, it would take the stress off

Grand Falls-Windsor and have the people more content back in Botwood.

Also right now, Mr. Speaker, the CEO of Central Health

is still in New Brunswick. She's been in New Brunswick ever since last June. She

resigned last June. As far as I know, there's no recruitment to get the CEO back

on site. We only just went through a COVID influx in Central Newfoundland, Mr.

Speaker, and our CEO is up in New Brunswick.

Mr. Speaker, there is some great attention that needs

to be done with regard to health care in the Central area, and doctors, again,

are another thing that the residents in our area – we have a shortage of

doctors, Mr. Speaker. I did touch on it here yesterday, but I'm getting lots of

calls from people that can't find doctors; they have to make long travels.

I know that's not just in my area, Mr. Speaker, it's in

every area in Newfoundland and Labrador. When you're taking about seniors to go

see specialists, and most of the time it is in St. John's at the Health Sciences

Centre, they have to come out here and they have to travel long just to drive

out, Mr. Speaker. Then they have to get rooms because they can't drive back.

Seniors need more time – it seems like they take their time more – not like some

young ones, they rush out and probably rush back again on the same day. Seniors

need more time and they need to be rested so they come out, and it costs them

more, Mr. Speaker, just to be able to see a doctor. We need to put more emphasis

on the doctors.

Having said that, Mr. Speaker, there's also some other

work that needs to be done in the Exploits District. I did touch on it the other

day; the roads are another part of the Exploits District that needs attention,

Mr. Speaker. I'm getting it all down around the areas. In the past two years, we

haven't had any roadwork done in our district. The potholes, the pavement is

gone in places, and it takes time for the maintenance –

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

FORSEY:

Yeah, Mr. Speaker, the minister do remind me that he don't know where Exploits

is, because he did tell me one day that the Sir Robert Bond Bridge ran across

the Humber River. So that'll tell you where the Liberals think Exploits is: they

don't even know.

Thank you for that reminder, Minister, I appreciate

that.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

FORSEY:

Yes, probably you should come in. I'll show you around one of those days.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

FORSEY:

wouldn't have reminded me of that.

Anyway, that's some issues in our district, Mr.

Speaker, that I would like to have addressed. I'm sure we have them all over.

Again, the lab services, the 24-hour emergency service

and the doctors, that is immediate, primary health care that we need in Central,

in the Exploits District and a part of Grand Falls. Some of my district runs to

Grand Falls-Windsor and probably overlaps with Grand Falls-Windsor into the

Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans area, probably. Actually, the Member for Grand

Falls-Windsor is my constituent.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

FORSEY:

See, when I tell you I get calls, I get calls. No doubt about it.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, it's always a pleasure whenever I

get a chance here in this House to get up. I know everybody hears me say: B'y, I

wish he'd shut up about the 24-hour emergency service; I wish he'd lay off about

the lab services in Grand Falls-Windsor; I wish he'd lay off about something

else. B'y, is there anything good out there? Yeah, there is. But I just can't

help it, Mr. Speaker, because these are the issues that are brought to me and my

obligation is to bring them back to the House of Assembly.

As long as those issues and concerns are being brought

to my attention, Mr. Speaker, I'll certainly bring them to the House of Assembly

and I'll be more than proud and pleased to do so. It's an honour to represent

the people of the Exploits District.

With that, Mr. Speaker, thank you for your time and

I'll get to speak another day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the time to speak today.

I don't know when the briefing is going to be for Terra

Nova, but I personally don't need it. That's something that is very dear and

close to my heart. I'm just going to speak for a moment, not from a political

point of view, I'm not going to speak on behalf of the government and I'm not

even going to speak on behalf of the Opposition, I'm going to speak on behalf of

the workers that are facing a very hard day today, or possibly coming –

hopefully not. Hopefully, something gets worked out. What those people and those

families have to carry into the weekend now is unsurmountable. It's not going to

be a good weekend for them and their families. So I'm going to take a moment and

talk about that.

Mr. Speaker, on February 15, 2019, I walked off an oil

rig for the last time after 17 years of – enjoyed every single minute of it. I

enjoyed the oil and gas. It has a future in our country, on our globe and

especially in our province. When I walked off that rig on February 15, 2019, I

walked off with the same pair of boots that I wore for a couple of years,

throwing chain, throwing tongs, climbing the rig, drilling for oil 1,000 metres

a day. I loved every minute of it. I miss the people I worked with and I miss

the rig. Mr. Speaker, sometimes I still wear the boots; I have them on today

just to remind myself.

Every now and again people don't notice but they're the

most comfortable things I ever put on my feet. I carry them with me as I

represent the blue-collar workers of Newfoundland and Labrador. I'll continue to

represent the blue-collar workers of Newfoundland and Labrador. They're not

forgotten about, but until you walk a mile in somebody's shoes –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

TIBBS:

you don't really see what they're going through.

I'm going to speak for them for a little bit here now.

Again, what they have to face now the weekend, and that's why we wanted to

debate sooner than later. Again, just to give them some relief. Who knows? I've

seen some squirrely things happen in oil and gas; some very squirrely things

happen when it comes to deals in oil and gas.

When you catch the person's ear at a certain moment,

that really counts, it can change their mind when it comes to deals. You

wouldn't believe the humanity in some people. I just wonder for a second, if we

had this debate today or this evening and something was brought up, brought

forth – a piece of information that really touched somebody in a certain way on

the higher end of things, we'll call it – maybe that could potentially impact

the deal deadline coming Tuesday.

We're talking about Monday, that's four days away.

That's lost time. That's lost time: 96 hours.

People are going to lose their jobs, potentially, and

it's going to be very difficult. That's very concerning. But what concerns me

just the same is the amount of people, possibly, that are going to have to put

their boots on like I have now, get on a plane, take their family and move away.

That's going to hurt our population growth.

I've always said it: Immigration is very important to

Newfoundland and Labrador, but immigration is one thing. My God, if we can't

even keep our own people here now, how much is that going to impact us moving

forward? It's going to impact us huge.

The message that we have is: It's a dark day, it is; it

is for the Terra Nova and the families that work on it.

I want to bring everybody's attention to something for

a moment. I'm mind-boggled; I'm absolutely mind-boggled. Again, I don't run off

facts and figures; I run off pure emotion. Those who know me, know that's

exactly what I run off, and that's why I came home to do this job.

We have the federal Natural Resources minister from

Newfoundland and Labrador. I remember when he was appointed that everybody was

excited because we thought we were going to see some benefit from it. We are not

seeing any benefit from it. We truly are not. I'm not here to play politics or

throw anybody under a bus, but when we have the Natural Resources minister for

Canada living in our backyard and we can't get anything from Ottawa –besides

what we've gotten and it's greatly appreciated – to further this deal, that's

very concerning to everybody in Newfoundland and Labrador.

For those people out there who say: You know what? It's

COVID; it's the same everywhere else. No, it's not. If anybody wants me to table

text messages from my phone, I'm more than happy to do it. I got a call last

week to go back to work. Drilling is happening. People are drilling for oil. At

$72 a barrel, that's a sweet spot. It truly is. Ninety bucks a barrel, you know

she's going to bust soon; $40 or $50 a barrel, not worth drilling; $72 a barrel,

bring it on. That's exactly what investors are looking for. So how we can't move

this forward, it's very, very concerning.

I'm sure there's a lot of work going into it. There's

not one person in here that wants to see that fail, but we need more

information. We want to see exactly what's happening, we truly do, because

there's a lot of stuff we don't know on this side and we would like to know

because maybe we do have something to add. I worked in the industry and I've

been in on some deals back out West. I've helped facilitate many, many things. I

know this is on a much of a bigger scale.

It's crazy to think that Quebec is still getting $13

billion a year in equalization. Yes, it's from two pots, but we are Newfoundland

and Labrador with a population of, what, 525,000 people and more natural

resources per person than I can ever imagine on the planet, and we aren't seeing

the actual benefit that we should be seeing. That is very concerning to myself.

When we talk about a community benefits agreement.

Everybody is going to say to me, and I've heard it lots of times: Well, you went

out West to work. Of course I did. Well, what about their community benefits

agreement? They've had them. They've had them for 20 years. I guarantee you,

when oil bottomed out at $40 a barrel, I was one of the first people to be sent

home. I live with that and I totally accepted that. Of course I did. They want

to keep their own people out there at the time working. Less LOAs and less money

they have to put in to getting us out there again. I 100 per cent agreed with

it. When I got sent home, as hard as it was on myself and my family, I agreed

with it and I could see where they're coming from.

We need a community benefits agreement here in

Newfoundland and Labrador. Over two years now I've been asking about it and over

two years I've been told it's something that's in progress. Well, in progress

doesn't do a whole lot for those people that are sat at home without jobs.

COADY:

(Inaudible.)

TIBBS:

Sorry?

COADY:

have benefits agreements for oil.

TIBBS:

Yes, for oil and gas. But for other places in Newfoundland and Labrador.

For instance, the Grand Falls-Windsor long-term health

care centre. Again, people from out of province coming in during a pandemic. We

couldn't get people home, our own citizens, to go to a funeral and whatnot. I

understand the safety of it and I don't disagree with the safety of it. But

shouldn't that safety be implemented for everybody? There should not have been

one worker come from out of this province into this province to do work.

Especially during a pandemic. I'll stand out on that limb all day long and

anybody can call me out on it all day long. I really don't care. But I'll always

pick up for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

What we're going to see if this falls through, it's

going to be some dark days for some families out there. I'll just give you some

prime examples of what my family has gone through. Because 17 years, we all know

oil and gas, it goes up and it goes down. I've been just about ready to drill a

hole and they've told me: No, we're shutting down, that's it. It's been crazy.

What you feel when you make plans with your family and whatnot. It certainly

disrupts a lot of things.

What these families have to go through now when it

comes to finances, for instance. The finances are going to be top of order: how

they're going to pay their mortgage, their car payments, their fuel and

groceries. Of course, groceries have gone up and fuel is skyrocketing right now.

Again, people in this province are just surviving; we're not living. I'll say

it, and I've said it before every time I've spoken these past two weeks, I'll

never point a finger. I won't do it. I won't. Unless it's warranted. But what

people have to go through in this province right now, it's absolutely

fundamentally horrible, because they are truly surviving, a lot of people. It's

not right that we work 40, 50 or 60 hours a week just to survive, just to

hopefully walk out with a bag of groceries and feed your family at the end of

the week. It's what people put up with. Now, these families, the uncertainty

that they face is absolutely – it's horrendous.

I'll disclose something right here, right now. You can

ask for the record if you want. My last year drilling I made $176,000. Great

money. It was fantastic money. I took a huge pay cut to come down here and take

this job on. I didn't take it on for the politics. Personally, I don't like the

politics in politics. I really don't. What I do like is how all of us stand up

for our constituents and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. It's not just

my constituents. I'd stand up for the Minister of Finance's constituents

tomorrow because they're fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

What they have to go through now, the Members for Terra

Nova and Harbour Main – lots of people within that area. My area isn't greatly

affected, but it will be affected in the long run. What they have to face now –

and they truly care – it's absolutely horrendous and I know what they have to

face. They have to face families coming to them now asking: Well, what do I do

about this? What do I do about that? These families, they're going to go through

quite a bit. Again, I remember coming home on dark years, you know, 2010 hit us

pretty hard, 2011 oil bottomed out around then and as well 2009. It was a

horrible year. Coming home, I just talk about – you know what, I've got a very

strong wife. Rotational workers they have very strong wives and husbands as they

go away to work. I have a very, very strong wife. But it takes a toll on your

marriage, it takes toll on your relationship with your kids and it takes a

mental toll on everything.

Those men and women now what they have to go through.

We just talked about our PMR yesterday. What they are about to go through, it's

unspeakable. They have to look at their kids now and say they can't get into

certain summer programs because now we have to struggle and financially watch

what we're doing and just survive. They're in survival mode. They have to tell

their kids they can't have anything. I remember coming home and having to say to

my kids: Sorry, but we can't afford to do that right now. For a man or a woman,

or a mom or a dad, that's a lot to take on. To go from one lifestyle where

you're enjoying life and now off to this.

I just plead that we find a solution for these people

so they don't go away, because it's easy to go away. Right now, Western Canada,

she's starting to boom again. She is. Precision Drilling, 299,

God bless all of the workers on that

rig. I got a call to go back

to it, like I said, last week. I miss it every single

day. I miss being covered in oil, dirt, sweat and everything else. By God, who

knows, maybe one day I'll go back to it. Hopefully not. Hopefully I have a place

here and I continue to stay here and stand for the blue-collar workers and the

workers throughout my district because they need a voice for them. They do.

Sometimes we sit in here, we get caught up in the

politics of it all and we get caught up with the high-level stuff. Sometimes we

need Members like myself. I'm not out to do any great things; I probably never

will. But what I will do is I'll speak on behalf of the people that I am very

comfortable sitting in the trenches with. Those people that put on their

workboots every single day and get out and give it their all, and send every

cent back home to their family. When they see their family have sports, when

they see their wife can go do something nice for herself or their husband can do

something nice for himself, that's all they want. That's all that ever put a

smile on my face. I'm the most non-materialistic person on the planet, I can

guarantee you. I need very little. But when I see my community and my family

doing well, that's all I ever needed.

But I know now the people, the families that are

affected by the possible shutdown, close up of this today or Tuesday, they're

going to feel exactly what I have felt in the past and I know it. I'm sure

everybody in here has struggled at one time or another when they came up

through, but for those blue-collar workers – and I don't know who's done it,

who's not done it – I tell you they're some of the backbone of our province.

What they do every single day with the safety concerns they have, the dangers

that they face – I mean, I've watched some horrific accidents on oil rigs too.

What they go through is a lot to take on, but to keep them working, to get them

back to work, we need to do everything we possibly can. I know that I'll do

everything I possibly can and hopefully there are other projects to happen.

Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil and gas – we

could be a hub. We really could be a hub for this industry. I know Alberta,

Saskatchewan, BC; they're a hub in Western Canada. We could be a hub in Eastern

Canada. And to find out that, you know what, we have a possible billion barrels

out in that basin right now, it's fantastic to hear and hopefully to have access

to it.

I heard the Premier say it's still in the ground; it's

not going anywhere. I've heard that all throughout Western Canada over the past

17 years too. It hasn't gone anywhere for a million years, it's not going

anywhere soon: it's not a good thing. It's not a good thing because the goal is

– and we have to say it like it is – to transition to a greener economy. I am

100 per cent on board with that.

I have two small kids; hopefully they're going to have

small kids growing up. When they grow up, I hope that climate change isn't even

a word at that time because they don't have to worry about it. I hope it's not a

big issue at all because I hope they don't have to worry about it. I hope that

is the way the world is at that time, but that's then and this is now.

That oil that's in the ground, we need to utilize it

now as best we can before it's redundant, before we don't need it anymore. I

don't know how long it's going to be: 20 years possibly, maybe 100 years. Nobody

really knows how long this is going to come on. All it's going to take is one

invention or a thought or an idea to really put oil and gas and keep it in the

ground forever and ever. It's coming and I welcome the day that it comes, but

it's not today. So we need to ensure that the oil – it's in the ground, it's not

going anywhere: again, it's not a good thing. We need to avail of that now, as

soon as we can, get it streamlined, back on board. Hopefully something happens

down the road, but right now that is of little comfort to the families that are

affected.

I know everybody here feels it, but until you have the

job instability or insecurity of not knowing what tomorrow is going to bring,

like those families have now – and, again, I lived it for a long, long time, my

family lived it and I know lots and lots of families that live it as well. The

insecurity of that is – it is very disturbing to your family and it causes so

many problems.

When it comes to mental health, that's one of the

biggest things. Again, I'm just going to speak from experience. I was a driller

on an oil rig. You're too tough to have bad days. Trust me, on these rigs it

doesn't matter. There's no calling in sick. There's no taking a mental health

day, like there should be, but there's not. I guarantee you that. Do they try to

follow their best practices? No.

When you were there for your 30 days – I spent up to 50

days straight on a rig; you were there for your 50 days and you had to suck it

up and go with it. It's not the way the world should be, but it's the way that

industry is. It's one of the toughest industries on the planet. I've drilled in

minus 56 and I've drilled in plus 45, and I tell you what, it's one of the

toughest jobs on the planet. My hat goes off to all of those who are in our oil

and gas sector, including their families that put up with that lifestyle as

well.

We talked about the community benefits agreement. When

people say to me, you were out West for quite some time, I realize that, but I

wasn't out there because they were welcoming us. Yes, they loved having us there

because they knew we were the hardest working people in Canada. I wasn't there

because they asked me to come out; I was there because there was a shortage of

workers in Western Canada.

That's where people get it mixed up a little bit when

they try to call me out and say you've gone out to Western Canada. Yes, I did

and they were great people, but it was because they had a shortage of workers. I

pray for the day that we have a shortage of workers here in Newfoundland and

Labrador, too, and we have to fill those spots as well, but that's not today

either.

We talk about the workers now that could possibly lose

their jobs. The spinoffs that are in this province are unrenowned. That's going

to be less cars bought, less houses bought, less groceries bought and that's

going to trickle across the Island like you would not believe. If we lose one

family – just one family – that's a loss to this province. We don't want to lose

any families in this province. That can be a huge loss. When you extrapolate

that, you destroy an industry.

Let me tell you something, the federal government, I'm

not going to say they're out to destroy the industry because it's revenue. It

would be pretty silly to say that they're out to destroy the industry, but

they're not doing it any favours, I can guarantee you that. I've seen it through

Western Canada. They might put some money on the table, which is appreciated –

for anybody to say it's not appreciated, you'd be wrong – but I don't see

anybody bending over backwards for Newfoundland and Labrador from Ottawa. I

haven't seen it for quite some time now. I've seen it for Quebec and I've seen

it for other provinces. You go out to the West there and they're not very

popular out there as well.

We have to try to find a happy medium to get everybody

back to work, but at the same time keep the Newfoundland and Labrador coffers

stable. I understand that and I understand there is a lot of pressure there,

that we don't have a lot of money to be giving out. That's okay. I totally

understand that. But where is Ottawa?

We are the 10th province of Canada and we keep getting

kicked around, kicked around and kicked around. I feel it every single time. I

always feel it. I felt it out West, too. Unless you're Quebec or Ontario –

especially Quebec, who's getting this $13 billion a year. It still blows my

mind. It's 2024, I know that it comes up again, but it's degrading. It truly is.

I don't know what the number would be to put on the table to get this deal done,

but I'm sure that Ottawa could find something to come down here, a Natural

Resources minister to come down here and say what do we need to get this done,

to keep Newfoundlanders and Labradorians working?

Industry is one thing, yes, and oil and gas is great,

fantastic; it's something we have to hold on to. When you get down to the crux

of it, Mr. Speaker, it's the people. It's the men and women that put on these

workboots every single day to go out and do their job that they may not have

come next week. You'll find these workboots at St. John's airport, Gander

airport or out in Deer Lake and they'll be gone. Once that happens and we get a

certain amount of people leave the province – not an influx, but an

out-migration – I guarantee you, we are going to be in a lot of trouble and it's

coming.

We need to pull together and have our debate. Hopefully

somebody catches it; hopefully somebody makes a decision. I know that I'll

always speak for the blue-collar workers and oil and gas workers right here in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

God bless you all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I move that we now adjourn debate on Motion 1.

SPEAKER:

The

motion is that we do adjourn debate.

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Municipal and

Provincial Affairs, that this House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole

on Supply to consider the Estimates of the Legislature and the Executive

Council.

SPEAKER:

is moved and seconded that I do now leave the Chair for the House to resolve

itself into a Committee of the Whole to discuss the Estimates of the Legislature

and the Executive Council.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole, the Speaker left the Chair.

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Warr):

Order, please!

The Estimates of the Legislature will be voted first.

I'll ask the Clerk to call the subheads.

CLERK (Barnes):

The

Legislature, 1.1.01 through 7.1.01 inclusive.

CHAIR:

Shall 1.1.01 to 7.1.01 inclusive carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, subheads 1.1.01 through 7.1.01 carried.

CLERK:

The

total.

CHAIR:

Shall the total carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, Legislature, total heads, carried.

CHAIR:

Shall I report the Estimates of the Legislature carried without amendment?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, Estimates of the Legislature carried without

amendment.

CHAIR:

shall now consider the Estimates of the Executive Council. I understand that the

House Leaders and a representative of the unaffiliated Members have met and

agreed on an approach to considering the Estimates of the Executive Council.

Estimates will be considered by subheads and there are

four in this order: 3.1.01 to 3.1.06 is Treasury Board Secretariat; 1.1.01 is

Lieutenant-Governor's Establishment; 2.1.01 to 2.8.03 is the Office of the

Executive Council; and 4.1.01 to 4.5.05 is the Office of the Chief Information

Officer.

Just a little housekeeping, time will be allocated in

10-minute blocks. A Member can ask as many questions as they wish during their

10-minute allocation. The responsible minister will respond with this

allocation, as is the practice in Standing Committee meetings. The style will be

back and forth. Members may use multiple 10-minute blocks as long as there's an

intervening speaker.

I will prioritize for recognition of the Official

Opposition critics, followed by Third Party critics, followed by the

unaffiliated Members. When there are no further questions for the subhead, the

vote for that subhead will be called. When all subheads have been considered,

the totals will be voted.

Seeing no objections, I will now ask the Clerk to call

the first subhead.

CLERK:

Treasury Board Secretariat, 3.1.01 through 3.1.06 inclusive.

CHAIR:

Shall 3.1.01 to 3.1.06 carry?

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll start off with some general questions.

The Budget Speech talks about the establishment of a

House Committee, quote, “to review financial statements, budgets, and the annual

reports of Crown corporations and organizations.” Again, I think I asked this

earlier today: Has there been any thought to accomplishing this through the

Public Accounts Committee?

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before we begin, may I just also say a couple of words

on what Estimates we're looking at. This is the Office of the Executive Council.

I want to thank them for their hard work and efforts. I don't want to take up

too much of the Member opposite's time, but I did want to thank them for their

efforts and for the work that they do on behalf of the province. They also

manage relations with Ottawa, so it's a very important part of government.

Perhaps, when I get into each

section of it, I can say what they do.

Just on the point that the Member opposite is asking,

the view here is we wanted to make sure that the Estimates – and I'll use that

term – of all the important agencies, boards and commissions, the Crown

corporations, are brought before the House of Assembly. This is a means and

mechanism of doing this.

Yes, you could perhaps put it under the

responsibilities of an existing Committee; we felt it best to have another

Committee set up because, of course, the work that is done by the Public

Accounts Committee is extensive. We wanted to have an opportunity to have

another Standing Committee of this House of Assembly where more Members can be

involved, different Members can be involved and you can bring in various

entities to have them go through their Estimates.

We think it's very important, Mr. Chair, that we

actually get to the granular level of everybody's expenditures, all those that

take huge amounts of money from the public purse.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I totally agree with the concept, for sure, and I also

echo the comments about the Executive Council and staff and the work they do.

The PERT report recommended major changes to

government, but there is a no-layoff clause in the collective agreements. I was

wondering: How do these two items work together or conflict with each other?

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I think it's very important that we recognize that the

PERT report – the Premier's Economic Recovery Team – did an extensive amount of

work. I want to again thank the members of that team who volunteered their time.

I do want to say, Mr. Chair, that we are currently

doing communications and consultations with the people of the province to

determine which pieces of the report we want to implement and how we want to

implement them.

Yes, we have a no-layoff clause in our current

collective agreements. As I said to the Member opposite on multiple occasions,

there are over 500 vacancies within government. We are looking for good people;

we need good people. What we're considering is that people can be accommodated

if they are moved around or they want to move around government.

I don't see there is a conflict at this point, first

and foremost, because we are still consulting on the Greene report; second of

all because we do need good people in the provincial government.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Chair, I am aware that discussions about the long-term work from home and the

return to workplace are ongoing. Could you please provide some detail on that?

CHAIR:

Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you very much.

This is very important, the work from home. There is a

lot of work being done right now to try and accommodate people as we are moving

through COVID, Mr. Chair. We are also considering how do we ensure people who

wish to continue to work from home are accommodated; what positions can be

accommodated. We also want to speak with union leadership, the labour unions, to

make sure we're considering all the various factions.

That work is ongoing, Mr. Chair, and we're expecting it

to take a couple of more weeks, but we are looking at plans that allow those who

wish to work from home and those that can be accommodated to work from home and

any workplace policies that are required because of same, that we have a good

solid policy. We will be speaking to labour leadership to make sure that we're

considering everything as well.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

What is the attrition plan which government is now

following and is there a multi-year forecast by department which you can

provide?

CHAIR:

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

COADY:

Thank you very much.

Yes, there is an attrition plan within government, it

is at 0.5 per cent. It has been there, again, same as last year. We do have a

schedule, of course, for each department. Of course, that would have been

reviewed during Estimates process, but if you want an accumulative list, I'm

sure we could provide it.

We did increase the requirements of agencies, boards

and commissions, so Crown corporations to 1 per cent. That is because we've seen

there is a lot of potential within Crown corporations. So 1 per cent of those

that retire will need to be acclimatized to a change in what they're doing.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Given the significant number of employees that have

reached the age of retirement, is there any consideration being given to

allowing employees to retire early without having their pension penalized, which

could help speed-up the attrition process?

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will say that we are expecting or the eligibility for

retirement is about 24 per cent in the next five years. So it's a tremendous

number of people within government. We understand the impact that could have on

the operations of government.

There is at this point no consideration for an early

retirement package. That's not to say that there wouldn't be one in the future.

I'm just saying there is not one under consideration at this point in time. As I

said, we have vacancies within government. We know that there will be more.

There are more vacancies to come because of people retiring.

At this point in time, it's not under consideration.

That's not to say it won't be in the future.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Under

section 3.1.01, the Office of the President of

Treasury Board, under Salaries, I note that the budget for salaries has

increased from $56,000 to $186,400. I was looking for an explanation.

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to make sure I'm getting it right.

Yes, that is because, of course, I'm now having the

dual responsibility of the Minister of Finance as well as President of Treasury

Board. That is now a dual responsibility. That is for two positions, one being

what I'll call secretarial support or administrative support and the other being

an executive support person to help manage the affairs of that office. It's up a

little bit, but still not significantly when you consider that that is now part

of my mandate.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Under

section 3.1.02, Executive Support, again in Salaries, despite a salary

savings last year of $102,200, the salary budget is being increased to $1.9

million. Can you please explain why and probably give us an overview of the

types of positions that are contained in that one?

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you very much.

Yes, we were down last year by about $100,000 because

of vacancies. You'll see that throughout Estimates that sometimes there are

delays in filling positions. It might be a specialist position or whatever.

Sometime there's a little bit of a delay to fill them.

We are now back up to complement and we are actually

adding another assistant deputy minister for program evaluation and

accountability. You'll have seen that in the budget where we talked about how

importance continuous improvement program evaluation and accountability

frameworks are. We're adding an ADM responsible for that. That's why it's up

slightly, to accommodate that position, plus the salary increases from this

year.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Is it possible to get the overview of which positions

are contained there or to be provided with a listing?

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Certainly. That's the secretary to Treasury Board, four ADMs in Executive and

about 20 positions overall. The $1.9 million includes Treasury Board support

staff and admin support as well.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Under the revenue section, there is a Revenue – Provincial. Can you please give

an overview of where this revenue comes from and what accounts for the increase

in revenue received last year?

CHAIR:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That is pensioner mail cost recoveries. When mail is

sent