Newfoundland and Labrador Hansard — Members' Statements; Statements by Ministers — 1 December 2014 (47th General Assembly, 3rd Session, Vol. XLVII No. 48)
2014-12-01
Newfoundland and Labrador — Debates (Hansard)
PDF Version
December 1, 2014
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 48
The
House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Statements by
Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we have members'
statements from the Member for the District of Mount Pearl South; the Member
for the District of Bonavista South; the Member for the District of Port de
Grave; the Member for the District of Labrador West; the Member for the
District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi; and the Member for the District of The
Straits White Bay North.
The
hon. the Member for the District of Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
gives me great pleasure to rise in this hon. House to recognize the
accomplishments of two individuals who have given their time and talents to
the sport of soccer in the City of Mount Pearl.
John
Nolan has served as president, treasurer, and director with the Mount Pearl
Soccer Association's Board of Directors, as well as serving as Mount Pearl's
representative with the Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association.
He also served in the role of coach, official, and convenor in both
house league and all-star programs.
Brian O'Keefe has been involved with the Mount Pearl Soccer Association for
the past twenty-six years. He is
known within the organization as a jack of all trades, serving in the
capacity of vice-president, director of house league, communications,
registration, officials, as well as chair of the scholarship and awards
committee.
John
and Brian's accomplishments have not gone unnoticed as just last month they
were both inducted into the Mount Pearl Soccer Hall of Fame.
would ask all members of this hon. House to join me in thanking these fine
gentlemen for their significant contribution to my community and wish them
all the very best in their future endeavours.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Bonavista South.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Honourable colleagues, I would like to congratulate the members of the
Heritage Huskies Cheerleading Squad, who are students at Heritage Collegiate
High School, located in Lethbridge, in the District of Bonavista South.
These thirty-two young cheerleaders captured their second grand championship
of the Newfoundland and Labrador Cheerleading Association in as many years.
Fourteen different teams, tiered into three different levels,
competed in the Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay.
After the first two programs they sat in third place, and they knew that
they would have to regroup to secure a position in the running.
Some of the seniors on the squad rallied the team together and
performed their next routine flawless with zero deductions.
This perfect performance gave the Heritage Huskies a first place
finish in level one. The result
is fitting for a sport that is athletic, competitive and risky which
requires dedication and hard work.
Cheerleading involves choreographing, memorizing and practicing different
stunts. The Heritage
cheerleaders also finished first in their division at the Cheer Expo in
Halifax and did a routine on stage with the Canadian band, Hedley, at Mile
One Stadium.
Mr.
Speaker, hon. colleagues, please join me in congratulating the Heritage
Huskies on their success that was well earned and deserved.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Port de Grave.
MR. LITTLEJOHN:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
rise today in this hon. House to congratulate Harbour Music Dance and
Atlantic Community Theatre on their production of Annie, the musical, held
this past weekend at the NaGeira Theatre.
This
production featured young performers from throughout the region who have
worked tirelessly for months practicing, rehearsing and fundraising so they
could display their talents on stage to capacity crowds throughout the
weekend.
Annie was played by Maya Petten, a Grade 7 student of Amalgamated Academy,
and Erin O'Brien, a Grade 5 student of All Hallows, North River.
These young actors were truly amazing in bringing the red head New
York City orphan to life during the Great Depression.
Daddy Warbucks was played by Calvin Powell who brought his booming
baritone voice to the show.
we know, these productions would not be possible without the support of
volunteers and local sponsors who ensure the production makes its way to the
stage so our performers can display their talents and entertain us all in a
very special way.
ask all hon. members to rise with me and salute the young talent in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Labrador West.
MR. MCGRATH:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in
this hon. House today to congratulate the municipalities in Labrador West in
collaboration with the Royal Canadian Legion Branches 47 and 57 for
honouring the veterans who served to make our country a better and safer
place to live.
The
Towns of Labrador City and Wabush, in working with the local Royal Canadian
Legions, have recognized the streets of Vimy, Vanier, Robertson, and
Veterans Memorial Drive by engraving the street names with the poppy on the
street sign as a tribute to the Allied Forces from the great world wars and
subsequent wars in which many Canadians have served.
Vimy
recognizes the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.
Vanier is named after Major General George Phileas Vanier, a soldier
in both world wars and a diplomat who, after the war, was appointed as
Governor General in 1959.
Robertson is named after John Irvine Robertson, well known as Scotty, who
was a World War II veteran and also a long-time resident of Labrador City.
Veterans Memorial Drive in Wabush is the home of Legion Branch 57 in
Wabush, recognizing all veterans.
ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing the efforts of all of our
veterans.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
is with pleasure that I salute a long-time resident of Virginia Park in
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi. Olga
Richards, known to many as The Mitt Lady, is a long-time resident of
Newfoundland Court and a wonderful example of the community spirit that
defines her neighbourhood.
For
over thirty years, Olga has been knitting children's mittens and giving them
away. Originally, she gave away
about fifty pairs a year every Christmas.
After a few years, she switched to making mittens for Halloween treats.
This year, as she has for many previous years, she gave out just over
100 pairs to trick-or-treaters.
She is already hard at work knitting for next Halloween no doubt while she
watches us here in this House, as she does most days.
I should say that Olga knows children well she puts candy and
treats into the mittens and ties them closed with a wool string.
Many
of the children she once gave mittens to are grown, and bring their own
children to her door for their own pairs of wool mittens.
The children of Virginia Park have warm hands because of Olga
Richards' warm heart.
ask this House to thank her with me.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr. Speaker, I rise
to congratulate St. Anthony and Area Lions Club for hosting the Sub-Multiple
N3 Convention. District Governor
Cyril Simmonds welcomed Lions west of Gander to join in celebrating St.
Anthony's fifty years of serving the public.
Mr.
Speaker, 1.36 million Lions members perform community service in 210
countries and geographic areas around the world to meet local needs and help
those abroad. Lions give back to
the community organizations and individuals in need.
In St. Anthony, many nights the lights are on, hosting a community
event, bingo, or serving up a feast.
St.
Anthony Lions are dedicated, making four Habitat for Humanity homes
available to low- to moderate-income families last fall.
Their commitment to organization, willingness to swing a hammer, call
contractors, and spend countless hours on site made this initiative
possible.
All
Lions are outstanding members of their community.
Calvin Johnson, James Haley, Eldon Swyer, and Penny Pike were
honoured with dedication awards for going above and beyond.
As well, Lloyd Luther was honoured for his contribution of
handcrafted guitars to assist in fundraising initiatives.
ask all hon. members to join me in thanking Governor Cyril Simmonds and St.
Anthony and Area Lions Club for fifty years of exceptional community
service.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by
Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. RUSSELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Nunatsiavut Day.
On this day in 2005, our Province changed forever with the coming
into force of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement and the creation of
the Nunatsiavut Government.
For
more than thirty years, the Inuit of Labrador worked towards the conclusion
of a land claims agreement which set out a new regime for land ownership,
resource sharing and self-government, including Inuit ownership of 15,800
square kilometres of land now referred to as Labrador Inuit lands.
Mr.
Speaker, Northern Labrador is both rugged and majestic.
It is a place where the Inuit of Labrador travel and harvest the land
and the waters. The name
Nunatsiavut means our beautiful land in Inuktitut and as a land claim
beneficiary and former member of the Nunatsiavut Assembly, I can attest to
the beauty of this region and its people.
December 1, 2005 truly marked a turning point in our history as Labrador
Inuit began to take control of their own destiny.
Over the past nine years, the Nunatsiavut Government has made many
strides to improve the lives of Labrador Inuit and our government has
continued to work closely with the Nunatsiavut Government on matters of
mutual interest. These matters
have been
discussed through various meetings, including two joint meetings of the
provincial Cabinet and the Nunatsiavut Executive Council.
In fact, a meeting was just held a few weeks ago between Premier
Davis, Nunatsiavut President, Sarah Leo, and me on a number of important
issues.
Mr. Speaker, it is important that we continue to work
together to further develop a positive relationship between our two
governments. I believe through
continued respectful dialogue, we can see our way through any challenges to
find opportunities and solutions together.
I would like to applaud the Nunatsiavut Government on
another successful year and I look forward to working closely with the
Nunatsiavut Government as we seek to further advance issues of importance to
the Inuit of Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members of this House to
join with me in recognizing the importance of this anniversary and in
offering congratulations and best wishes to the Nunatsiavut Government and
all Labrador Inuit on this very special day.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of his
statement. Mr. Speaker, as an
Inuk and a land claims beneficiary, along with my colleagues on this side, I
would like to congratulate the Nunatsiavut Government on our ninth
anniversary.
Mr. Speaker, the Labrador Inuit Association received
its first payment of $4,000 for land claims negotiations in the 1970s.
Today, the budget is over $8 million.
I am pleased to hear the minister wants to continue a strong
relationship with Nunatsiavut, as there are a number of issues that need to
be addressed issues surrounding justice, housing, transportation, issues
which have seen little movement in the last ten years.
The latest proposed increase from Newfoundland and
Labrador Hydro for 11.4 per cent increase in hydro rates for residents, 20
per cent for commercial I say, if this government is truly committed to
Nunatsiavut, then I would expect this government to lobby against the
proposed increases.
Happy Nunatsiavut Day to everyone in Nunatsiavut.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
December 1, 2005 was an important moment for everyone
in this Province, but especially the Inuit people of Labrador who realized
their dream of self-government after many years of struggle.
I congratulate the Nunatsiavut leadership for the vision they have
shown, especially on environmental and resource development issues.
The last nine years have been an exciting time for the
newly minted government. I want
to take this opportunity, as well, to congratulate them on the recent
announcement of their cultural centre, which will be a hub of cultural
activity in Nunatsiavut bringing communities and generations together, not
just in Labrador but for the whole Province.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and commend Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians who in 2013-2014 collectively recycled more than 162 million
beverage containers through the Multi-Materials Stewardship Board's
Province-wide network of Green Depots and regional collection facilities.
I applaud their efforts to help keep our Province clean
and healthy. This is a testament
to the passion and commitment of the people of the Province, and dedication
and support of the Green Depot network, regional waste management
authorities, municipalities, and schools.
Mr. Speaker, youth and schools in particular play a
critical role in protecting our environment.
Last year, through MMSB's school recycling program, participating
schools collectively diverted more than 14.4 million beverage containers
from our landfills.
Through recycling, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are
protecting our environment for future generations by saving energy, water,
and valuable natural resources; but there is always more that we can do.
This week, to build awareness about the Used Beverage
Container Recycling Program and encourage the people of this Province to
recycle even more, MMSB is launching a public education campaign.
The campaign celebrates the environmental and community benefits of
recycling beverage containers, and also highlights the types of containers
accepted in the program.
Mr. Speaker, throughout the busy holiday season, it is
important for each of us to continue to do our part to protect the
environment. I encourage all
hon. members and members of the public to recycle more beverage containers,
more often, and help guide our Province towards a greener future.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.
MR. REID:
I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
The deposit-refund system for beverage containers is a literal buy-in
mechanism, placing value on what was considered by many to be garbage.
Individual buy-in is crucial to implementing attitude shifts and new
ways of doing things.
The system has also helped finance the MMSB, which
receives the direct funding from government.
Instead they are funded by levies on the sale of recyclables.
The MMSB is self-propelling; it is sustainable.
It shows us that change is possible one person at a time.
Educating people about the importance of recycling is
one major component ensuring
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I remind the member his time for speaking has expired.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of his
statement today. Mr. Speaker, I
also congratulate residents on their participation in the beverage recycling
program. Most containers are
missed though, simply by a lack of access to recycling facilities.
One example to give to the minister and perhaps
something that they can work on: we have an awful lot of recyclable goods
like containers, plastic bottles,
and that sort of thing that are on the side of the highways simply
because a motorist takes it and throws it out the window.
Setting up a beverage container recovery program at gas stations
might be simple to solve that problem.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Oral
Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
understand that government will once again provide money to Nalcor in the
upcoming Budget. Last year
government gave $552 million to Nalcor; the year before that it was $531
million. That is over a billion
dollars in two years.
ask the Premier: How much money will government transfer or have to give to
Nalcor this year?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Mr. Speaker, one of the
things that is really important for people to understand and recognize about
Nalcor, it is a company that is owned, a corporation that is owned by the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Any money that we invest in Nalcor is an equity position, we are
making a strategic investment on behalf of all Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians and the future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,
Mr. Speaker.
Nalcor has demonstrated in the past that they have been able to make
strategic investments in oil and gas.
They have made strategic investments in the development of Muskrat
Falls, all with the view, Mr. Speaker, of contributing to this Province's
continued prosperity, and we look forward to continuing our relationship
with Nalcor as we continue to make strategic investments on behalf of the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
ask the Minister of Finance, who is in charge of this Province's finances:
How much money will you transfer to Nalcor in the next Budget?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Next
year, as we have indicated in this House many times, the Muskrat Falls
development project itself requires an equity investment of about 25 per
cent of the total cost. There is
loan been floated, been guaranteed by the federal government, for about 75
per cent of the cost. So the
split is a 75 per cent investment through the loan and the Province has a 25
per cent investment stake.
Just
do the math. Based on the
current projected cost of that project of $6.9 billion, our investment over
time, over the life of that project, the construction of that project, will
be about $2.3 billion, I say, Mr. Speaker.
So between now and the time that we see first power, the total equity
investment will be about $2.3 billion.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
ask the Premier, maybe the Premier will answer this because it is a
commitment by the people of the Province.
We understand the concept of Nalcor.
There are two projects.
It is just not Muskrat Falls; it is the Hebron project as well.
You are now in budget preparation.
How much money will these projects require next year?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I
said a moment ago, the total investment in the Muskrat Falls Project over
the life of that project will be about $2.3 billion; simple math, the
project is $6.9 billion, 75 per cent, the loan 25 per cent equity.
Just do the math and that is what you will end up with, Mr. Speaker.
Over
the course of the next twelve months, in next year's forecast, we would
estimate, based on the flow of the money of that project and the pace that
it is currently advancing, we would estimate that probably around $500
million will be the investment in Nalcor as a part of the Muskrat Falls
piece for next year.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
the Minister of Finance referred to it as simple math, why don't you just
simply answer the question?
How
much money will Hebron be required, and Nalcor, next year?
How much money next year?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
It is simple math when I
said there is 25 per cent equity going into the Muskrat Falls Project of
$6.9 billion, I say, Mr. Speaker.
As I said a moment ago, we will invest next year roughly about $500
million in the continued investment in equity into the Muskrat Falls
Project.
Mr.
Speaker, I want to remind the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that is an
investment that we will get our money back.
Nalcor will be a tremendous economic driver of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador and as we move forward well beyond next year's
Budget, tens and twenty years ahead of us, we will be looking at a
significant return on this strategic investment that we are making in Nalcor
and its enterprises today, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Last
week the Premier announced a hiring freeze on non-critical new hires and a
stop to government's discretionary spending.
ask the Premier: How much money will these actions save?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I am
not able to give a firm answer to the Leader of the Opposition on that
question. When we introduced
this last week in discussion with departments as well, when we talked about
critical hirings, critical staffing actions, it is a case-by-case basis that
will have to be made by each individual department.
Discretionary spending, as well, looks after a number of issues from
travel, some purchases for departments, attendance at trade shows,
representation of the Province outside of Newfoundland and Labrador, those
types of things as well. Again,
those decisions are being made on a case-by-case basis, but I can tell you
with very careful consideration.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
Premier also announced that he would add a new level of approval to the
hiring process where each new critical hire would be reviewed.
ask the Premier: When is any hire not a critical hire, and who is making
this call?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Any
time there is a staffing action taken by government the member opposite is
right, they are important for a number of reasons.
It is important to the people involved and important to departments,
or sections, or branches within departments that provide services and carry
out day-to-day functions.
What
we are doing is when new staffing actions are requested and new hires are
requested within government, an assurance that while we are making these
decisions and we are evaluating the impacts of the world oil prices in the
coming months and potentially even beyond that, for any staffing actions
right now have to be considered very carefully.
Therefore critical staffing actions would be approved only.
There is a Treasury Board process being put in place as well where those
decisions will be made on the very ground level.
They are all considered very, very seriously, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
ask the Premier: Who is making the call on what the definition of a critical
hire would be as opposed to something that is not critical?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
My apologies, Mr.
Speaker, I thought I had explained that.
The
departments would have to make a case that the particular hire is a critical
one. Treasury Board would review
those asks by departments, have discussions on and any consideration of the
ask from each individual department.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
chairlift at Marble Mountain was struck by lightning and the cost to replace
it is $5.2 million. Only $1.2
million came from the insurance company.
ask the Premier: Why was only $1.2 million covered by the insurance, and
where is the remaining $4 million coming from?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
glad the member has raised the question around what we believe is a very
strategic asset we have on the West Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
A major piece of our
winter tourism, I say, Mr. Speaker.
Without that kind of investment, without that kind of infrastructure,
and without our government's support to continue to maintain that kind of
infrastructure, it would have a huge impact on a district like the member
opposite. The West Coast of
Newfoundland and Labrador and the entire Province, I say, Mr. Speaker,
benefits from that.
combination of the money that it has gotten from the insurance company, with
an investment already being made by the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador, together with some funding that has been raised by way of a loan
by the Marble Mountain Corporation are all a part of what was put together
to finance the replacement of that lift.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Marble Mountain is a tremendous asset on the West Coast.
ask the Minister of Finance: Where is the money coming from?
The $4 million that is required outside of the $1.2 million from the
insurance company, where is it coming from?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I
have just said a moment ago, this particular project and this particular
replacement of this chair, the funding comes from two sources.
There is an insurance policy in place that covered some of the cost
of that. The rest of it has been
coming from the provincial government.
One has been already advanced to them.
One of them had already been advanced to them, and members would
know, there have been several members of the Opposition who have been a part
of a briefing. Bill 31, in fact,
deals with a loan guarantee, which is the subject of this particular
investment.
The
Province is going to be replacing the chair with money from an insurance
company. The Province has
already advanced money to Marble Mountain out of this fiscal year to cover a
portion of the cost. The rest is
being covered off by money being borrowed by Marble Mountain, guaranteed by
the Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
Minister of Finance mentioned, obviously, the breakdown of where the funds
are coming from. We understand
that $1.5 million came from human resource savings throughout government.
ask the Premier: How many, and what positions within government, are
affected by this decision?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Mr. Speaker, one of the
things that happens throughout a particular fiscal year is at the beginning
of the year each department will put together a forecast, and we vote on
that in the House of Assembly here.
The Estimates come to the House where they are debated and there is a
motion passed. In recent years,
the Opposition has never supported any of those investments, Mr. Speaker,
but we have had a government that proceeded to make those strategic
investments.
Throughout a course of a year we have a budget-monitoring process.
So departments are looking at the forecast they had back in March or
April, how well they have been progressing, and what they anticipate and how
they anticipate ending up at the end of the year.
Members opposite will also recognize those who have been here for a
few years in January, February, there is a revised Estimates developed,
which is a reflection of what departments are forecasting they will actually
spend based on their initial budget.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
British Columbia are currently having vessels built at $55 million each.
They can accommodate three times the number of passengers and more
than twice the number of vehicles as the vessels being purchased for $51
million here. In other words,
they are considerably larger vessels at about the same price.
ask the minister: Will you confirm that you received a proposal for less
than $36 million $16 million less than the proposals that you accepted to
have those vessels built for Newfoundland and Labrador?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What
I can confirm is we are in a contract with one of the best shipyards in this
world, a shipyard that has come with a quality ship, or group of ships, that
we are going to use for the people of this Province.
Mr. Speaker, the return on our investment is second to none here.
What we have gotten is quality, we have asked for quality.
It is not about pricing.
It is about the quality for the people so we can supply the service that
they need, and, Mr. Speaker, we are very confident what we are getting is
the best value for our investment in this Province.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, we know that
cost is not the only defining selection criteria, but all of a sudden cost
is very important to this Province.
The first proposal was $37 million in savings to this Province.
Mr.
Speaker, I will ask the minister: Can you confirm that you have also
received a proposal
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
ask the member not to be using props.
ask the member to continue with his question.
MR. OSBORNE:
No problem, Mr. Speaker.
ask the minister: Will he confirm that he has also received a proposal for
less than $30 million, which is a savings of $22 million per vessel over the
proposal that he accepted?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What
we have is a process that we put in place to assess the best value for our
investments, Mr. Speaker, and that is what we have done here.
We have some of the best technical people in our own industry.
We have people from outside as consultants who work with us.
What we have done is assessed what would be the best service and the
best piece of equipment and the best asset for the people of Newfoundland
and Labrador and getting the best value for our investment.
We have done that.
Damen Shipyards came in extremely higher than most of the other proponents
here, and we are confident what we are getting here will service the people,
and the people of this Province are getting a good return on their
investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, unless all
of the details of these proposals are made public, there is no way
government can assure us that they are getting the best vessel at the best
price.
Mr.
Speaker, I will ask the minister: Will he confirm that he has also received
a proposal for less than $25 million, which is over $26 million less per
vessel than the vessels he has purchased?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What
I will reiterate is that we are getting the best value for our investment
here. It is not about only the
price lines here. Some of the
companies that bid lower prices did not make the cut.
Mr.
Speaker, they did not make the cut because the evaluation looked at the
service being provided, the type of vessel we wanted, and how it could best
service the communities that are serviced by ferries in this Province.
That is what we have gotten.
We have gone out to make sure we have a long-term plan to be able to
supply vessels to the communities that need them.
That is what we have done here and we are getting the best value for
the investment here for the people of this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, I will ask
the minister this: Is he prepared to say that while some of these companies
with proposals much less are building vessels for other provinces in Canada
and, in fact, for commercial entities right here in this Province is he
saying that those shipyards are not providing quality vessels?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, the
process we went through as a government to secure the new vessels for rural
parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, those in isolated areas that require
ferry services, was a very comprehensive and in-depth process.
The member opposite is quite aware of the difference in an RFP versus
a tender.
tender quite often is based on lowest price.
When you go based to a tender process to say that you are trying to
obtain a product or service, give us the lowest price, there comes with it
many, many difficulties and challenges.
We have seen that in the past when governments have bought lowest
price.
What
we were looking for is best value, Mr. Speaker.
This is a competent shipyard.
It is world renowned. At
any given time, it has hundreds of projects underway.
It has the best opportunity to keep the price in place, the time in
place, and provide the best quality product not the cheapest that you
would get when you buy something like, say, a
Nonia or something like that.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, in
September the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services confirmed that
two more children had died under the Province's care since August.
ask the minister: Have any more children died under the Province's care
since September? If so, have
these deaths been reported to the Child and Youth Advocate?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
can assure the member that all deaths have been reported to the Child and
Youth Advocate. I would also
like to take this opportunity after reading what the member had in
The Telegram as an editorial this past weekend I would invite him
back to the department because he obviously does not get it.
When
he talks about children in the care of government, there were three children
who were in the care; the other remaining were receiving protection
intervention services. It is
very different. All three of
those children who were in care died while in hospital due to medical
conditions.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, at least
thirty-five children have died while receiving service from this Province
since 2009.
ask the Premier: Has he been briefed on these deaths?
If so, will he provide a report to the House of Assembly?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, any time
a person loses a loved one, I cannot think of anything that would be more
difficult, challenging, and have a greater impact on a family.
If it be a family who has a child who has a relationship with a
government department, is either under a program or receiving services
because many of those children the member opposite is referring to were not
in the care of the government, were not in the care of Child, Youth and
Family Services, but may have been receiving some supportive services from
government or have had other relationships with government.
Any
time those types of incidents happen
MR. J. BENNETT:
Have you been
briefed?
PREMIER DAVIS:
I am sorry, I say to
the member opposite; this is very important, so just please bear with me.
These are very, very important to us as a government.
I know how important it is to the minister, I know how important it
is to the staff, and we take every step possible to ensure the safety of all
children in Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Mr. Speaker, the
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services provides a list of daytime
and after-hour phone numbers to report child abuse.
In Labrador, 80 per cent of the communities listed have to contact
the police after hours to report child abuse.
ask the minister: Why are Labrador communities the only ones having to call
the police to report child abuse after hours?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
acknowledge there are obviously challenges with providing services in
Labrador, but do you know what?
I look at where we were versus where we are.
We have made vast improvements over the last number of years in
Labrador. I think it is
important to recognize those. I
am sure the member is aware of many of them.
When
you look at the fly-in, fly-out service in Natuashish, you look at the
mentoring team, and you look at the planning circles that now happen between
the Department of CYFS and individuals in the governments there, the extra
team for Sheshatshiu, the MOU that has been signed, there has been a load of
work done, Mr. Speaker. That is
not to say there are not challenges because there are; but I assure the
member, as I assure all of the public, we are working with my colleague
here, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, we work with the government in
both the Innu as well as the Nunatsiavut, and we are making headway.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
thank the minister for the information.
I would like an answer to the question, though.
Mr.
Speaker, one of the Child and Youth Advocate's recommendations is that CYFS
must develop protocol with the police to ensure that information is relayed
immediately to the local CYFS office.
ask the minister: Can he provide us an update on this recommendation; and,
if protocol has been developed, will he table the protocol to this House of
Assembly?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
take all recommendations very seriously, whether they are from the clinical
service review with Susan Abell, whether they were from Ms Carol Chafe, the
Advocate, we take all recommendations very serious.
you look at the numbers, there have been ninety-six recommendations in total
through those six investigations some of which I just mentioned.
Eighty-three now are complete.
Five have not been accepted.
Those five that have not been accepted, with the others that are
under development but if I could talk about the five that have not been
accepted, three of these are the same request with regard to critical
incidents, which was have spoken about quite frequently here in the House of
Assembly. One is through a life
skills co-ordinator, which there was a little bit of a differentiation
between the
definitions, and one other with the social worker program under
the organizational structure.
So,
Mr. Speaker, we take all recommendations very seriously.
Most are implemented and others are being worked through.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
thank the minister again for the information, and I will give him some.
Mr. Speaker, it is not unusual for the RCMP in communities in
Labrador for the calls to be forwarded to detachments in St. John's or even
Halifax.
ask the minister: How is this an adequate response for reporting child abuse
in Labrador communities?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
take his question very seriously and that is why I wanted to frame it with
regard to the challenges that exist in Labrador and the progress we have
made as a department great progress to date.
There still remain challenges.
I would be happy to have a conversation with the member after.
With
regard to the RCMP, obviously we partner with them and we work with the
RCMP. Any time we can improve
the service, I would be more than happy to have that discussion.
I welcome to have further discussion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you.
Mr.
Speaker, according to AES staff there were roughly 150 apprentices working
in Bull Arm this summer whose hours are being denied by AES because
journeyperson ratios were being violated or because their paperwork was not
completed. That is just Bull
Arm.
ask the minister: How many apprentices are currently being denied their
hours throughout the Province?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, the hon.
member mentions an issue that was out in Bull Arm this summer and I am glad
to report to this House that has been corrected.
The ratios are there now in regard to all the apprentices, but, as
well, no government across Canada has invested in their apprenticeship
programs than any other province like Newfoundland and Labrador.
As a matter of fact, we have over 6,000 registered apprentices in
Newfoundland and Labrador, and that is an 82 per cent increase since 2007,
Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
When we wrote the
minister recently, Mr. Speaker, he said they only respond to these cases
following a complaint, so I hope he has looked at the whole Province, the
issues that are everywhere, not just Bull Arm.
Mr.
Speaker, government's Wage Subsidy Program for apprentices provides a
financial incentive for employers to hire apprentices.
ask the minister: How much of taxpayers' dollars did government misspend
this year in paying out subsidies for apprentices whose hours were denied by
your own department?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN:
Mr. Speaker, I cannot
understand how anybody can get up in this House and criticize the
apprenticeship program in this Province.
No other can be matched in this country, Mr. Speaker.
Right across this country, apprentices my counterpart ministers, we
are the envy of all of Canada. I
can tell the hon. member, we wasted no money in regard to our apprentices in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's North for a very quick question.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
ask the Minister of Education: Has this government actually achieved the
$12.8 million in savings you said would occur with the new supersized school
board? If so, where is that
money being directed in the education system?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Education and Early Childhood Development for a quick reply.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS SULLIVAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, obviously, it will take a period of time before we realize all of
the savings. That is something
we will do as we work through our updates and as we get close to being able
to see another year, and then be able to decide how we will redirect those
monies.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Nalcor has cost the people of this Province billions of dollars to date and
is still increasing debt, according to the report today, all of which will
be carried solely by the people of the Province.
ask the Premier: When will he tell the people how much Nalcor debt they are
going to have to carry?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Mr. Speaker, this is
simply a lesson in economics here.
When a question is prefaced by how much it costs, cost implies if you
have spent some money that you are never going to get back.
One
of the things I want to remind members of the House and the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador I think already get it.
They recognize, Mr. Speaker, the investments the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador is making in Nalcor is an equity investment.
It is an investment that we make because there is going to be a
return on it.
you think about the discussions we have had in this House over the last
three or four years, and the unlimited number of questions that members
opposite have asked, one of the things has been consistent, Mr. Speaker.
The thing that has been consistent is the investment that
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are making in Nalcor will come back in
spades in future years and provide guaranteed future sustainability for our
Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
ask the Premier: Will the $500 million that government says they are ready
to give Nalcor include the $55 million shortfall that Newfoundland and
Labrador Hydro will carry if the PUB rejects Nalcor's latest applications
for rates?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, today Nalcor
presented its third-quarter financial report, as was talked about and
promised and committed to, and they will continue to do that as the
Province's company, the Crown corporation.
In that, it was indicated that there is a current loss on the books
for Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro up to the third quarter, but there is a
rate application submitted to the Public Utilities Board looking for interim
rates as well. That is a
process, Mr. Speaker, that both Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and the
Public Utilities Board will go through.
They will do their due diligence and a decision will be made.
that time, Mr. Speaker, if the proper rates are returned to Newfoundland and
Labrador Hydro they will certainly be in the positive.
Again, we want our Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro company focused on
safety and reliable power, and they need to be able to afford to do that,
Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL:
Yes.
All I am asking, Mr. Speaker, is what is the Premier going to do if
the PUB says no?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, if the PUB
says no, then obviously Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro will go back to the
PUB with some more information.
Because the reality is, Mr. Speaker, and I am sure the member opposite knows
because we have all stood in this House, we have an expectation of
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to deliver safe, reliable power to the
people of the Province.
all know the experience we went through last year.
We all know the outcry that they would deliver on that promise to be
able to get the power into the homes of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Mr. Speaker, to do that there is cost.
There is labour cost, there is fuel cost, there is capital cost, Mr.
Speaker, and we expect them to spend the money.
We expect them to deliver on reliable power for the people of the
Province. In order to do so, it
has to be paid for. We will wait
for the process to go through, but, Mr. Speaker, we have every expectation
that they stay focused on safe and reliable power for the people of the
Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Part
of Nalcor's read shows that the Hydro division is applying to the Public
Utilities Board for an increased rate of return.
ask the minister: How much is this going to cost the average household on
the power bill?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, the question
is raised and the Public Utilities Board will make that decision.
What is important here is about the viability of Newfoundland and
Labrador Hydro. We have to have
a company in this Province that can deliver the power that we need, and that
is what Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro does.
That is what they are expected to do, and to do that, Mr. Speaker,
there is a cost. In order to get
a return on that cost they have to go through the PUB and go through a
process. That is what it is
about.
for the 8.8 per cent, Mr. Speaker, they have to be viable.
We are making investments.
It is long term. They
have to be able to borrow. They
have to be able to plan.
Mr.
Speaker, as a government we said Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro should get
the same rate of return as Newfoundland Power, another very important
utility in this Province. It is
all about that balance of cost and reliability.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
time for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Tabling of
Documents
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
required under
section 51 of the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity
and Administration Act, I am pleased to table the annual report of the House
of Assembly Management Commission for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
Notices of Motion.
Notices of Motion
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Mr. Speaker, I give
notice of a motion for Private Members' Day, a private member's resolution
inquiring into the cancellation of Humber Valley Paving contract 1-12:
WHEREAS the Auditor General found there is no documentation to support the
decision to cancel the contract for Project 1-12 between Humber Valley
Paving and the Department of Transportation and Works; and
WHEREAS the Auditor General did not receive a response from Humber Valley
Paving to its request for information and solicitor-client privilege for the
company was not waived; and
WHEREAS the Auditor General was left with many unanswered questions
following his review of the cancellation of the contract for Project 1-12;
and
WHEREAS a public inquiry would allow an independent third party to require
that all public and private parties involved in the contract appear under
oath to answer questions;
THEREFORE
BE IT RESOLVED that this House urges the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador to conduct a full investigation into Humber Valley
Paving and the cancellation of Project 1-12 using a public inquiry under
subsection 3(1) of the Public Inquiries Act, 2006 which states, The
Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by order establish a commission of
inquiry to inquire and report on a matter that the Lieutenant-Governor in
Council considers to be of public concern.
This
is seconded by the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Opposition
House Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Yes, Mr. Speaker,
pursuant to Standing Order 63(3) the private member's resolution just
entered by the Member for St. John's South is the motion to be debated this
Wednesday.
MR. SPEAKER:
Further notices of
motion?
Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
stand on a petition on behalf of the people of Corner Brook, Western
Newfoundland and Labrador:
WHEREAS we wish to raise concerns regarding the recent delay of the
construction of the new hospital in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to commit to the planning and construction of a new
hospital in Corner Brook as previously committed to and in a timely manner
as originally announced without further delay or changes.
Mr.
Speaker, I just stand on this petition again.
I know of the meeting that the minister had with the health care
committee. I heard the Premier
talk the weekend about all major projects have to go through the budgetary
review. I am not saying that it
is going to be delayed any further, but it is a concern of some people who
have brought it to my attention that if this regional hospital has not
already gone through a budgetary review and it has not already gone through
all the necessary steps in government I guess people are getting a bit
nervous. Why would this project
have to be considered again?
The
Premier was out and made the announcement about it going to start in 2015
for the long-term care facility part.
The minister was out in Corner Brook probably about ten days ago
announcing that the new hospital, the acute care part of the hospital, will
start in 2016, Mr. Speaker. Yet,
we hear the Premier talking about all major projects will have to go through
a new budgetary review.
Mr.
Speaker, I know it is not Question Period, but it has been brought to my
attention again that the Premier should explain himself that.
Is the hospital one of the projects committed to this budgetary
review? Because if it is, it is
contradictory to what the Minister of Health said in the last two weeks
ten days just before the by-election, I might add, in Corner Brook.
just urge the government to not have any further delays on this hospital.
If it is going through a budgetary review, at least give the
residents of Western Newfoundland and Labrador the courtesy and the respect
to explain what this budgetary review will entail, when will it go ahead,
when will it be finished, and when will they give the final word if the
hospital is still on budget and on time, as committed last week by the
Minister of Health while out in Corner Brook.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
stand in this House today to present a petition to the House of Assembly
around literacy and skills development:
We,
the undersigned, urge the House of Assembly to call upon the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador to make literacy a priority by supporting the
development of a robust provincial strategic literacy plan that addresses
the learning and literacy of individuals from the early years through to the
senior years;
Furthermore, recognizing that literacy is intimately connected to other
social issues, we urge the House of Assembly and we call upon the Government
of Newfoundland and Labrador to invest more funding in literacy programs so
that all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can enjoy the benefits of
participation in our society and so that no one is left behind.
Mr.
Speaker, we have signatures on this petition from people all over the
Province: Leading Tickles, Summerville, Baie Verte, South Brook, Port aux
Basques, Heart's Desire, Carmanville, Burgeo, and the list continues.
One of the reasons why I would stand in this House of Assembly today
and ask the government to support this request is that as the minister
understands there is funding available.
I am getting questions from the people of my district around the
accountability of the funding as it relates to the Newfoundland and Labrador
literacy foundation.
The
minister last week said that there had been no decision about how that
funding would be used. My
understanding is currently there is about $2 million in the account with
about $364,000 of interest accrued.
It is not the minister's responsibility, as he indicated last week,
to make a decision on where that funding is, but I would certainly encourage
and implore him to work with the board and expedite that particular piece of
money coming out into the community to support literacy.
The
minister also spoke today about the amount of money that has been spent on
the apprenticeship program and the ability for Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians to avail of the jobs that are going to be available in the next
number of years requires them to have a literacy level that is much higher
than we have currently in some places, in some segments of our population.
would ask the minister to consider intervening and getting in touch with the
Newfoundland and Labrador literacy foundation and make sure that funding
gets out to the community as quickly as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of
Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court provided a comprehensive
approach to domestic violence in a court setting that fully understood and
dealt with the complex issues of domestic violence; and
WHEREAS domestic violence continues to be one of the most serious issues
facing our Province today and the cost of the impact of domestic violence is
great both economically and in human suffering; and
WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed by
all aspects of the justice system, including the police, the courts,
prosecutors, defence counsel, Child, Youth and Family Services, as well as
victims, offenders, community agencies and women's groups; and
WHEREAS the recidivism rate for offenders going through the court was 10 per
cent compared to 40 per cent for those who did not; and
WHEREAS the budget for the court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire budget
of the Department of Justice;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge government to reinstate the Family Violence
Intervention Court
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, I am rising once again to present this petition on behalf of the
thousands and thousands of people who have signed this petition over the
period of almost two years now.
They signed this petition because they believe that cancelling the Family
Violence Intervention Court was a huge mistake, and I believe almost
everybody here in this House agrees.
As a matter of fact, the majority of the government members even
stood up and said they wanted to see it reinstated.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, one cannot
help but wonder: What are the priorities?
I think it is really important that the chairlift in Marble Mountain
is operational again. However,
government can find $1.5 million to help fix a chairlift in Marble Mountain,
I think that is a noble cause and that was not even budgeted for yet
$500,000 to protect women and children across this Province could not be
found. What is that all about,
Mr. Speaker? It makes no sense
whatsoever.
What
does make sense is that the Family Violence Intervention Court, in fact,
saves us money. It dealt with
domestic violence cases in an expeditious manner; it reduced recidivism,
thereby lowering the cost to the court system, lowering the cost to the
overall judicial system. Mr.
Speaker, this government says that they are listening to the people of the
Province. Obviously, they are
not.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS most communities in the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair do
not have adequate broadband service; and
WHEREAS residents, businesses, students, nurses, teachers, and professionals
rely heavily on the Internet to conduct their work and cannot afford to wait
until 2016 to access a potential plan in partnership with the Muskrat Falls
development; and
WHEREAS there are a number of world-class tourism sites in the region
including UNESCO site at Red Bay, Battle Harbour Historic Site, and the
Mealy Mountains National Park;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to
work with the appropriate agencies to provide adequate broadband service to
communities along the Labrador Coast.
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, every time I am back in the district, I do not know if there is a
community that I go in where I do not have to deal with the or people are
asking me questions about the broadband.
We have twenty-two communities.
The three unconnected communities are paying for their own Internet
through satellite, but the communities that supposedly have broadband, it is
very inadequate. We have
businesses that are struggling to run just a basic Interac machine without
paying for boosters. We have
hotels that can only check their Internet at certain times a day.
Mr.
Speaker, we live in an age where increasingly we rely on Internet services.
Mr. Speaker, I think the farther you live away from urban areas the
more dependent you become on Internet right now, for things like banking.
We have increasingly more students doing what we call CDLI courses.
the last budget that came down federally, we saw over $300 million set aside
for broadband. I am urging
government to work with the federal government and to work with the local
service provider, Mr. Speaker, to try and come to an acceptable resolution
to address this very important issue to try and bring the people of the
District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair on par with the rest of the
Province.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
have a petition. To the hon.
House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament
assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) program for children with
autism, is funded by the Department of Health and Community Services; and
WHEREAS the program was introduced in 1999 and is in serious need of
revision; and
WHEREAS with the advances made in early diagnosis of autism, the number of
high functioning children being diagnosed with autism has drastically
increased; and
WHEREAS the current ABA program does not take into account that children on
the Autism Spectrum are involved in many educational, recreational and
social activities outside of the home; and
WHEREAS the current ABA program requires that the therapist be accompanied
at all times by another adult which is not only inconvenient but can be
quite costly when a parent is unable to be that second adult due to work or
other obligations; and
WHEREAS the current ABA program ends at Grade 3 but autism is a lifelong
social disorder;
WHRERUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to
implement a review of the ABA program with considerations given to alternate
programming options, and to extent autism programming beyond Grade 3.
Mr.
Speaker, this is obviously a very serious issue.
We have heard a number of questions in this House; we have heard the
debates in this House when it comes to this particular issue.
The numbers in this Province, as I have listed on numerous occasions,
are staggering and they continue to grow every year.
We need to review the policy that we have in place here.
There are two issues. Number
one, the fact that it was defined so long ago that we need to have a serious
look back at it now. It has
been, I would say, over fifteen years now since we have had a serious look
at the ABA treatment. The second
factor and we understand there are cost pressures when it comes to
providing services. The fact is
we have health care and education that we have to take care of.
The problem seems to be that when you do not have a strategy in place
to deal with the problem, you have no idea on how you are going to deal with
the problem. You have no idea
what the cost is going to be.
mentioned questions in this House a couple of years ago.
The Minister of Finance at that time said we invested this amount of
money and we invested that amount of money.
The problem is when you are measuring outcomes with the actual
investment, as opposed to the outcomes, that is a recipe for failure.
are not talking about extra money.
We are talking about looking at the problem and figuring out a
solution talking to educators, talking to advocates, and talking to health
care professionals. We need to
look at this.
This
petition was drawn up speaking directly to parents and advocates.
They want this out there.
I am putting it out there. I am
hoping the different areas, especially health and education that have not
exactly gotten along in the last number of years.
It seems like they operate in silos.
I am saying let's put that to the side.
Let's sit down and figure out the situation, which is for the
betterment of our children who are going to grow into adults.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS the communities of Castor River South, Castor River North, Shoal
Cove West, Bird Cove, New Ferolle and Bartletts Harbour were contracted
under Phase 2 of the Rural Broadband Initiative to receive Internet service
in May 2013; and
WHEREAS the above communities were scheduled to have that service installed
in the fall of 2013; and
WHEREAS the company contracted to provide that service, EION Inc.
experienced delays and the new
schedule for Internet service for the above
communities was for March 2014; and
WHEREAS the equipment has now been installed to provide this service, but
due to technical difficulties, the company, EION Inc. has not yet completed
the installation of this service; and
WHEREAS even though contracted, residents have been advised that not all
areas and/or all residences included in the contract will get Internet
service;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to
immediately resolve the issues and delays associated with providing Internet
service as contracted through EION Inc. to all of the above named
communities.
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, this is in Phase 2 of the Rural Broadband strategy, so imagine my
delight when I heard the government announce Phase 3.
They announced that Phase 2 was absolutely completed, it was all
done. In fact, on checking with
the residents actually I did not have to check with the residents, because
the residents quite regularly advised me that we still do not have the
Internet service. We are
supposed to receive the Internet service.
It looks like in many of these communities some parts of the
communities are receiving the service, other parts are not receiving the
service. Some of the
communities, in the case of Bartletts Harbour and New Ferolle, are not
receiving any service whatsoever.
The
government seems to have moved on from Phase 2 to Phase 3.
It is almost like somebody decided, well, I guess if Phase 2 is
difficult, we will leave that behind.
We will do sort of a hodgepodge and make the best of whatever we can.
We will go on and take credit for having it completed, even though it
has not been completed, and we will go on to Phase 3.
Mr.
Speaker, these residents are extremely concerned since the government
pretends or maybe even believes the work is done, that they will not receive
their Internet service when in fact the government goes forward into Phase 3
and it has not even completed Phase 2 yet.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of
Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS Tordon 101 contains the chemicals 2, 4-D and picloram; and
WHEREAS the chemical picloram is a known cancer causing carcinogen; and
WHEREAS the provincial government has banned the cosmetic use of the
pesticide 2, 4-D; and
WHEREAS safer alternatives are available to the provincial government for
brush clearance such as manual labour, alternative competitive seeding
methods, and/or the mechanical removal of brush; and
WHEREAS the provincial government is responsible for ensuring the safety and
well-being of its citizens;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge government to cease the use of chemicals covered
under its own cosmetic pesticide ban and begin using safer methods of brush
clearance that will not place its citizens in harm's way.
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, I am pleased to represent the people who have signed this petition
today. They come from between
St. John's and other areas of the Province: Paradise, Bellevue, Kelligrews,
Old Perlican, St. Phillips, Paradise, Goulds, and again back to St. John's.
Mr.
Speaker, last week in this House of Assembly there was an awful lot of
conversation around environmental liabilities and what is going to be left
behind by various industrial processes.
This is no different, Mr. Speaker, when we are talking about things
that are left behind for other generations to worry about.
Again, Mr. Speaker, by ignoring the problem of the use of chemicals we are
kicking the can further down the road for other generations to deal with,
and we do not know how they are going to deal with it, especially when we
are considering the full issue of people's health.
We do have better ways of doing things these days.
One of them, of course, that I have talked about in this House of
Assembly is the use of mechanical brush clearing having to deal with the
issue of vegetation on the sides of the road.
We do not have to use chemicals to do this particular
process. There are better ways.
Again when you are talking about people's health concerns, I fail to
see the reason why this government does not adhere to its own cosmetic ban
on these pesticides and start to deal with the issue itself of keeping an
environment healthy and stop adding to not only environmental liabilities in
this Province that are only going to have to be faced by government in the
future, but how about the liabilities to people's health at the same time.
Mr. Speaker, it is a grave concern amongst the
residents of this Province. I
continue to get these petitions in.
I can only hope that on their behalf this government will address
their concern and begin to answer the issue.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance and
President of Treasury Board, that we move to Orders of the Day.
MR. SPEAKER:
The motion is that we move to Orders of the Day.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, nay'.
Carried.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
At this time, I would like to call from the Order
Paper, Order 1, Address in Reply.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is an honour to rise today in the House to give my
first speech. As someone who has
worked around the House of Assembly on and off since back in 1989, it is
good to finally be allowed in the House and participate in the proceedings.
It is certainly a different perspective on things and I would like to
thank the people of St. George's Stephenville East for placing their
confidence in me and electing me as their member.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding of the first speech, or
the maiden speech, is that it is a little different from a normal speech in
the House in that you are given a little bit more leeway to talk about the
district you represent and tell people about yourself.
It is also an opportunity for the member to talk about some of the
issues that are important to them.
In starting, I want to depart a bit from the normal
partisan practices in the House; I want to say something good about a member
of one of the other parties. I
want to recognize the previous member and minister who represented the
District of St. George's Stephenville East from 2003 until this past
summer. I know the previous
member worked hard for the district and made a significant contribution to
government during her time of service.
I want to recognize her contribution over the years and thank her for
the work that she has done.
I would also like to recognize the other candidates in
the by-election held in August.
By running, they made a contribution to the political process.
It is a big step to come forward and to offer yourself for public
office. They were both very
strong candidates and they continue to make significant contributions to the
district in the work that they do.
Since this is my first speech, it is a bit of an ice
breaker. I want to tell you a
bit about my background. Both my
parents are from Codroy and many members of my extended family still live in
the area. I grew up with my aunt
and uncle in Jeffrey's, which is a little farther along the coast in Bay St.
George.
Mr. Speaker, after graduating from high school, I went
to university first, in Corner Brook, and then in St. John's where I
finished my first degree in Political Science and Economics.
While at the university, I got involved in the Liberal Club on campus
and worked on a few election campaigns.
After graduating, I moved back to the district and lived in
Stephenville for two years where I did a journalism program at the community
college there in Stephenville.
It was there that I met Shaunna, the woman who would later become my wife.
She was from Isle aux Morts and was going to the college in
Stephenville at the time as well.
Leading up to the 1989 election, I worked to help get
the Clyde Wells Liberals elected.
After the election, I got a job as a junior researcher with the Wells
Administration. Part of my
duties at the time was to staff the government caucus room.
It was a job really that no one else wanted to do, but for me it was
really a dream job. It allowed
me to learn more about the operations of the House of Assembly and it gave
me an opportunity to witness some of the most significant debates, I guess,
that have happened in this House: the Meech Lake debate and the debates
around denominational education.
It gave me a chance also to talk to MHAs and ministers
and to gain some understanding of the different qualities and the uniqueness
of the people who were elected to the House at that time.
It gave me a really good insight into the political process and how
things worked.
As the years passed, I served in various positions as a
political staffer with Liberal members.
I was a policy analyst, Director of Research, Director of
Communications for a government department, Director of Research in the
Opposition office. I was also
executive assistant to the Leader of the Opposition for a while.
Since starting at this kind of work in 1988, I have
gone from Opposition to government, then from government to Opposition, and
who knows what the future will hold.
Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed my time as a political staffer,
but I wanted to try something different.
I wanted to get some new and different experiences.
I went back to university part time and eventually completed a
master's degree in Education Policy at Memorial.
Just having completed the degree in 1998, my wife and I
decided to try something different.
Teaching overseas at a university in South Korea was a life-changing
experience. It made me more
appreciative of the quality of life we have in this country and especially
here in this Province.
When we returned two years later, I decided I would
pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa.
I took a year and a half to complete the course work and then
returned to work as a political staffer in the Opposition office while I
completed the thesis part time.
Just as I completed the Ph.D. and was starting to look
for employment outside of politics, another interesting opportunity arose
within politics. Siobhan Coady,
then a newly-elected Liberal MP, asked me to be her chief of staff.
The lure of this new experience in politics this time at the
federal level was too interesting to resist.
I worked in that position for two years while I taught part-time at
the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of Business at Memorial.
After those two years at the federal level, I then made
a transition into teaching more courses, doing some consulting work, and
starting a small community newspaper in Mount Pearl and Southlands called
The Pearl .
I was enjoying teaching at the university and doing research.
I was enjoying the challenge of starting a new business, which was
really a return to my roots in journalism.
When the previous Member for St. George's
Stephenville East resigned this past summer, the call to run was too strong.
I knew that if I did not run, I would later regret it and always ask
myself what if. I also knew that
by running I would have an opportunity to make a difference for the
Province.
Mr. Speaker, I want to take some time now to talk about
the wonderful district I represent.
It is one of the largest, most dispersed districts in the Province.
It includes towns such as Stephenville, Stephenville Crossing, and
St. George's; but it also includes many rural areas such as Cold Brook,
Noels Pond, Black Duck Siding, St. Teresa, Flat Bay, the communities in the
Bay St. George South area, and the communities in the Codroy Valley.
Politically, the district could be classified as a
swing district or a bellwether district.
Over the years, it has been represented by both the Liberals and the
Conservatives. It is usually
represented on the government side of the House , but it has deviated from this pattern several times.
For example, in the 1970s it was in Opposition when it was the first
district in the Province to elect a woman MHA since Confederation.
The
district is one of the most diverse districts in the Province in relation to
the heritage of the original settlers.
There are many people of Aboriginal background in the district, and
it is exciting to witness the revival in this culture in recent years.
This revival is evident from the Pow Wow held in Flat Bay and St.
Teresa this summer, which attracted over 5,000 visitors.
It is also evident at the museum in St. George's which has many
displays related to Mi'kmaq culture and heritage.
Later settlers included Scottish settlers in the Codroy Valley and
Heatherton Highlands area. These
areas are amongst the few places in the Province with a significant number
of people of Scottish de s cent.
there is also a French heritage in the district that is a major part of our
history. After all, this used to
be the French shore, and Sandy Point in particular was a thriving
international seaport in the 1700s.
Another major cultural influence in the area was the American presence at
the Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville.
The base was in place from 1941 until 1966.
There are many issues in the district, and I only have time to highlight a
few today. One of the most
prominent issues in the district is health care.
In fact, a serious crisis situation is developing for residents in
the Bay St. George area. The
clinic in Jeffrey's has been without a regular doctor for about a year now.
This situation is about to get worse as the doctor in the Town of St.
George's has announced he will be leaving in the middle of December.
The
absence of these two doctors will add even more stress to the overburdened
emergency clinic at the hospital in Stephenville.
I have talked with officials at Western Health and I have had an
opportunity to discuss this matter with the Minister of Health to make sure
he is aware of the seriousness of this situation.
People with serious medical issues are not getting the service they
need. It is a serious problem
and it has gone on for too long.
Another issue is the state of roads in the area.
Some of this problem is based on the deteriorations of roads over a
long period of time. These are
major problems that need to be dealt with.
For example, this would be the state of Fortunes road in Jeffery's
and the road to the Highlands.
These are barely passable and are comparable to roads in Third World
countries. Many of the roads in
the Codroy Valley are in a similar state.
Another related issue is the lack of proper road maintenance.
This lack of regular maintenance has allowed small problems to
eventually become big problems.
This is not a criticism of the people who do the work.
It is more a problem of the way things are set up.
People in this Province are reasonable in their expectations, but
they want to be treated fairly as well.
Mr.
Speaker, another issue in the area I represent is fracking.
I was pleased that the Liberal Party has been in the forefront in
calling for an independent public review of this issue, and I am also
pleased that government, although reluctantly, have arrived at the same
position. At this stage it is
important to keep an open mind and listen to what people have to say about
this topic. One of my basic
beliefs is that if people have an opportunity to ask questions and gather
information on a topic, they are capable of making good decisions on issues
that impact them and their communities.
Many
on the West Coast are asking why people with expertise in environmental
science, public health, tourism, and fisheries are not included in the
review panel on fracking. They
have also pointed out the failure of the government to appoint any women,
anyone of Aboriginal de s cent, and indeed anyone from the West Coast.
Mr.
Speaker, the concerns and questions which have been raised are reasonable.
If we look at the panel that examined the fracking issue in Nova
Scotia, it had a much broader composition.
It had fourteen members and in making his report, the chair of the
panel noted how the diverse composition really added to the work of the
review panel. The panel members
who have been appointed so far are all fine people.
They have extensive qualifications, but I ask the minister to listen
to the concerns that have been raised and consider adding more members to
this panel.
Mr.
Speaker, there are many issues in the district which I could talk about
today: cellphones and Internet access in rural areas; opportunities for
growth in agriculture; Port Harmon and the potential that exists at that
port; the airport is another area.
The community college headquarters and maintaining the presence there
in Stephenville and exploring ways the college presence can leverage
economic growth in the area is also important.
The Province's T'Railway Park has lots of potential to be an economic
generator. The Codroy Valley
Wetlands and the significant Ramsar designation is another issue as well.
There are many other issues, and over time I will touch on more of
them in the House I am sure.
Mr.
Speaker, over my first few weeks in the House I have been observing and
thinking about how my experiences relate to some of my previous work, how it
relates to the political science courses I have taught and some of the
research work I have done in the field of political science.
One paper that I did a few years ago, and presented at the Canadian
Political Science Association, comes to mind.
I did a comparison of the rules in provincial Legislatures across
Canada. The paper looked at
things such as the way questions, petitions, private member's bills, and
other things are dealt with in Legislatures.
The
thing I want to talk about a bit today is the committee structure.
The whole purpose of committees is that they do tasks that would be
too cumbersome for the full Legislature to do.
The roles and powers assigned to these committees vary by province.
For example, in Nova Scotia and Ontario committees have a role in
reviewing government appointments to agencies, boards, commissions, and
Crown corporations. In other
provinces, they have a role in developing and reviewing legislation.
this Province, with only a few exceptions, the committee structure has
basically been inactive for the past fourteen years.
Only in the last few years has the role of a crucial committee like
the Public Accounts Committee began to reassert its role in monitoring
government expenditures.
During the Wells years there were legislative review committees which
examined pieces of legislation and often held public sessions.
The process seemed to work quite well and in several circumstances
led to better legislation coming to the House.
The question I think we should be asking ourselves is: What is the
cost of not having committees?
What are the costs of inadequate debates and review of legislation?
Usually the consequences are pretty subtle and not very dramatic.
It is a piece of legislation that passes but comes back to the House
for amendment a short time later.
It is a piece of legislation that causes unexpected problems.
It is less effective public policy decisions.
The whole idea around our democratic institutions is that through
debate in the House we arrive at better decisions.
look forward to continuing to learn from more experienced members about how
this Legislature could be more effective. It
is important to look at what we can learn from other jurisdictions and our
past experience to improve what we do here.
Mr.
Speaker, I have talked briefly today about the district and some issues that
are important to me. In the time
ahead, I will get an opportunity to expand on these items and to talk about
many other things as well. In
the months and years ahead, I look forward to making a contribution to the
district I represent and the overall government of the Province.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Before I start off we are into a new session this time around, being a
couple of weeks into it now I want to issue some congratulations and some
good luck in your new position as Speaker.
I wish you all the best there.
have new Pages. I would also
like to welcome the new Pages who are here, and also welcome the new members
here to the House of Assembly, Mr. Hillier and Mr. Reid.
I am pretty sure they will make fine representatives here in the
House of Assembly. I wish them
all the best in their future deliberations.
know that we have heard some interesting comments from Mr. Reid.
His ideas pretty much on committees is one position that this party
here has been presenting now for a long time, the need for committees in
this House, and his reasoning as regards what can happen with a piece of
legislation when you have a failure of not having committees in the House
talking over legislation they are marked anyway and we do know what can
happen from there. I appreciate
the experience of the new members who are coming in and congratulations on
their election.
Mr.
Speaker, the other day when we were in Question Period we had a stark,
staring realization on the part of this government that it was time to hit
the panic button when it came to a much lower price of oil being projected
now in the world market in the situation that we are dealing with.
Knowing that government had dealt with a situation where they
forecast the price of oil to be coming in at $105 a barrel was not
unpredicted by some people out there in the marketplace.
During the Muskrat Falls debate in December of 2012 we quoted several
reports. One report that was of
note that talked about the imminent collapse of the price of oil happened to
come from a gentleman who worked at the Harvard's Kennedy School, a Mr.
Maugeri, M-a-u-g-e-r-i. If
anybody wanted to Google that report, it is out there for public
consumption.
Mr.
Speaker, we had gone on the year before that, indeed, when government came
out even with its projections. I
think it was in 2012 when they came out with the initial projection, I think
it was $112 for the price of a barrel of oil, West Texas Intermediate or
for Brent, I should say, that there was a situation developing in the
States, Mr. Speaker. I spoke
extensively about that when I was talking about the situation that was
evolving and that the world market for oil was changing.
that time, I told government to be careful and to be cautious, that we were
going to be paying dearly if we happened to have our expectations higher
with the price of a barrel of oil than what the market was actually
beginning to show. I said at
that particular time that the fracking industry in the States and the growth
in US domestic production was growing as such that it would influence Brent
prices and drag Brent crude oil prices down as a result of West Texas
Intermediate dropping.
What
we have now is a situation where government is going to have to try to
strike that balance somehow because this world is going to have trouble in
the next little while even gaging what is going to be happening.
I tell you, Mr. Speaker, what I am hearing out there is that there is
going to be some sort of a war for juxtaposition in the markets.
What has been happening right now is just but the start of what is
going to be happening in the future.
So government, whoever it is, even now, and into the future, the next
Administration, is going to have a world of trouble on their hands trying to
balance the books.
One
of the positions, just to give everybody an example of what some people are
talking about out there, is the value of the oil now that is being fracked
out of the ground in the United States.
The value of this stuff needs very little refining.
So the price of it is very, very high and a lot of people are saying
that even though the profit margin, or the breakeven point, for the frackers
I guess we will call them frackers the small-time oil producers, is
anywhere between $40 and $60 a barrel, but we have a product here that is
being torn out of the ground in a process that is relatively new.
Since 2005, they have been using the slickwater form of fracking,
2005-2006. The stuff that is
coming out of the ground is of such high value, it is valued much more
highly than what Brent ever was priced, and probably $30 or $40 more per
barrel on average.
So,
you have a high-quality product that is being turned out that is wanted by
the refining industry, so the war against the Saudis, the economic war that
is going to be carried out in the future if US domestic production
increases, it is very telling because if you have a high-value product and a
low production value at the same time there is lots of room for movement.
That is why government needs to be very cautious about the volatility
here and that is why you are seeing what is happening in the markets right
now. That is part of the reason
why, anyway. This is very highly valued stuff and everybody wants it and
everybody is benefiting from it.
Mr.
Speaker, we have a very questionable bottom line that we are going to be
dealing with in the future.
Having said that, it is going to be a question, too, as to how we are going
to pay for those expectations at the same time.
Where are we going to get the revenue?
How do we pay, for example like some things that I deal with in my
constituency. I have a couple of
seniors now, for example, who have to deal with the simple cost of Lucentis
injections. Right now,
government has it subject to a cap and right now these injections are about
$1,800 a shot. If you do not
have insurance, $1,800 is a lot of money.
have to take the position from government, if you will we are against
government on this that by having a cap and not protecting the people who
need the injections, we have the possibility of people losing their
eyesight, and government having to fork out even more resources to look
after people who are now blind and who are going to be needing more
government services.
is a situation where government should be taking a look at what they are
going to be paying up forward versus what they are going to be paying in the
back end. I think that
government, if they do not pay attention to that and deal with that
particular situation, the problem is going to creep up to them and we are
going to have a more severe problem on our hands.
interesting statistic, Mr. Speaker, is that about 20,000 Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians are going to be dealing with some form of an eye condition that
is going to cause them blindness.
Government has ways of dealing with this so that they can remove the
future costs to the health care system or remove the future costs off their
bottom line.
Mr.
Speaker, that is one situation.
Another situation I will talk about is the need for this government to
protect the taxpayers from what they are going to be facing in the future,
and one of those things has to do with the municipal funding formula.
Mr.
Speaker, I cannot reiterate how many times I have gotten on my feet and
spoken about the need for the residents of St. John's and for St. John's
East to be granted some form of protection I will call it protection in
quotation marks from being insulated from any possible increase in
municipal taxes because the government is not paying its fair share.
Government has promised they said so last year in the Budget
process. They said not too long
ago, actually, that they have a commitment.
They will be making that commitment to municipalities in 2016 to
address the funding shortage. We
all know that. We all know that
government has said those words.
Now
we have a situation where if government does not have the money because we
are not going to see $105 a barrel for oil this year, and they were so
dependent on these revenues, then we have a serious question to ask.
What sort of a funding arrangement is this government going to
provide for municipalities, so a municipality like mine, the City of St.
John's, does not have to go back to its taxpayer and say to the taxpayer: I
am sorry, but because the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador was not
going to be meeting its funding commitments, we now have to tax you
additionally for the residence you have?
Mr.
Speaker, that can amount to quite a lot of money under the present
arrangement. I would encourage
government to look at that and to come up with the best arrangement that is
going to insulate the taxpayer in every municipality in this Province from
the risk of any increases they will be facing in the future.
It is pretty important to me, Mr. Speaker, because what we are
talking about here is keeping it affordable for some people and to make sure
they are going to be able to stay in their homes.
That is part of what government has been saying too, is it would like
to see people staying in their homes a little bit longer.
Part of that is affordability.
We have to address it.
Mr.
Speaker, the other part of that at the same time when it comes to that, when
it comes to the affordability issue, now we have a government that has made
a commitment to a massive project in Labrador, and we have a risk that is
ongoing, now going through the Public Utilities Board stage in the next
little while where Nalcor's hydro division is going to be looking for an
increase in rates. Mr. Speaker,
now we have the consumer here that is under pressure.
We have the taxpayer here that is under pressure.
We are still having the revenue problem here that government does not
have.
government does not have the revenues from $105 a barrel oil, it does not
have the money directly to pour into Nalcor, it is going to turn around, as
this application is saying, to the Public Utilities Board and to the public
out there: Sorry, we do not have enough money to carry on with the project.
We are going to have to go ahead and increase rates.
We are going to have to take the money out of your pocket to help pay
for this project. That is what
it is saying to me, and that is what people are saying to me out there on
the street.
They
do not want to be paying any more because they are already taxed.
They are already to the limit.
They have already been pressed to the wall.
Their backs are against the wall now.
The taxes are being taken out of their pockets, Mr. Speaker, and they
do not need to be contributing any more than what they already have.
They do not need to see any more money taken out of their pockets.
Just
when the price at the pumps goes down, just when we are about to see that
the Public Utilities Board is probably going to have to go back to the rate
adjustment formula and drop the price of electricity that is being generated
through Hydro by oil generation, just when we are about to see these prices
start to come down to the consumer, what happens?
Nalcor steps in and they are looking from 4.75 per cent, I think it
is, to looking at 8.8 per cent return on investment, return on revenue.
Mr. Speaker, we have these pressures on the taxpayer again.
I do not want to see it happen.
I do not think anybody does.
want to come back to health again and talk a little bit about diabetes.
I would like to see a few more dollars go into the diabetes registry,
and see more money go in for preventative maintenance, or preventative
health care costs when it comes to diabetes.
We know it is a scourge in this Province.
have to say one thing about somebody I hold very dearly, who took a
different way out when it came to diabetes control, Mr. Speaker, and I would
like to see government invest a few more dollars in it.
I know she is probably watching today as regards to this because I
had a great debate with her.
Somebody I hold very dear had a surgery called bariatric surgery because
they had a problem with weight control.
Along with the weight control issues, also came along the problem of
the amount of drugs she had to use to control her diabetes.
Mr.
Speaker, I am so proud of her today.
Because the bariatric surgery kicked in and all the side effects of
the bariatric surgery are working out positive in her favour, she has gone
from four injections of insulin a day and these were up to seven, eight,
nine units of insulin per injection.
She has gone from that down to one nighttime injection in the run of
a day. She is down about
forty-five pounds in weight. Her
Metformin use has also gone down.
Her blood pressure is back under control.
The surgery we consider to be a success.
I am
so proud of her for doing that and to go to that means.
I had to talk about that.
The cost savings to government when it comes to insulin that had to be
purchased to look after this person, plus the drugs like Metformin that
government is saving at the same time, Mr. Speaker, can only be multiplied
by hundreds for the amount of people who may be able to avail of that
particular surgery.
encourage government, and the Health Minister too, to research a little bit
more about that. There are some
pretty good studies out there when it comes to bariatric surgeries.
The stampede study comes to mind.
I went through that one.
Mr. Speaker, I think government will be well served by even providing that
possibility to some of the sufferers of diabetes in this Province, and I
think they can save a lot of money.
Mr.
Speaker, one of my critic areas happens to be environment and conservation.
I want to talk a little bit about liabilities as well, environmental
liabilities. It has come up in
the past. I touched on it
earlier when I stood on the petition having to do with the banning of
cosmetic pesticides in the Province.
Mr.
Speaker, when we are talking about environmental liabilities, like I said
earlier, we are talking about kicking the can down the road and the last
thing we need to do is kick the can down the road in a failure to deal with
these environmental liabilities.
Of course, we should see a line in the budgetary process.
We should be able to talk about our environmental liabilities and
what can possibly happen in the future and how to deal with it.
are talking about, for example, from the Muskrat Falls Project, the buildup
of mercury in Lake Melville. We
are talking about mining projects that are proposed in Labrador, for
example, that are talking about the draining of lakes and the diversion of
rivers just so they can get at the resource.
We are talking about interest groups that are out there.
For example, we are talking about the Big Triangle Pond project that
is out there on the Trans-Canada Highway immediately before Salmonier.
The project borders on the Avalon wilderness area.
It comes very close to it, and, of course, we are talking about
fracking. We still do not know
what to do with the waste water, was one of the big concerns that came up at
the town hall.
That
is not to question, as well, the number of members that were on the panel,
the environmental representation that was on the panel, the health interests
that were not on the panel. The
public health interests w ere
not represented on the panel. We
encourage government to have another look at that panel and make sure there
is somebody there who is going to be looking after the public interests in
that.
The
environment, it seems, especially the Environmental Assessment Act, on all
these projects brings into question government's commit towards the
environment. We ask that
question every day. We hear
various ministers get up from time to time and talk about the environment
and the positive things that are happening out there.
had another minister again today talk about beverage recycling and the
containers, and there are various other initiatives out there.
There are valuable returns to our own personal environment and the
environment here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
There are times, like I say, where environmental liabilities are not taken
into consideration, and the fracking issue is one that we should be taking
due note of. We know that the
environmental concerns are ranging all over North America when it comes to
this industry, but we do know of one province so far.
In Nova Scotia, the Liberal government of Nova Scotia banned fracking
as of two weeks ago now, two Fridays ago in their own Legislature.
They parked the issue, and hopefully they parked it for lifetime.
Mr.
Speaker, when it comes to environment, I think that there is a cost to
government by not acting in the defence of our environment and not taking a
precautionary approach. That is
why I keep getting these petitions in when it comes to the use of chemicals
in this Province. It is a simple
problem that can be dealt with.
We do not have to be using chemicals on our roadsides.
We could be using mechanical brush clearing.
I know that the conversations I have had with various members of this
House of Assembly, they seem to agree with me, and I do not know why
government even presses on with it.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a little bit in the minute and a half I
have left about the people's bottom lines out there.
It is only now when you actually get cheaper fuel prices that you see
how much it means by keeping a dollar in people's pockets.
I cannot put a number on it how many people have actually talked
about how much it means to have fuel prices low the way they are.
I am happy for them, because it is these people who are going to keep
the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.
What these people are really saying is this: because they have a
dollar in their pockets, this is an opportunity for them this is a litmus
test for this government, that I do not know if government is going to be
able to pass or not.
will leave you with this final comment in the short time I have.
If government has done all the things right when it comes to economic
development but they cut out the RED Boards, so there is some question as
regards future economic development in this Province, especially when it
comes to rural areas. The true
litmus test is this, if government has all its ducks in a row when it comes
to economic development and all the proposals that it has put forward,
saying that they have done this and done that to sustain the Newfoundland
and Labrador economy, then they should be able to pick up a fair level of
taxation the same from that, from their investments that they have made.
They have lost when it comes to predicting the price of crude oil,
they have lost revenue there
MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):
I remind the
hon. member his speaking time has expired.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Exploits.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks for the opportunity today to be able to speak on Address in Reply.
I, too, would like to welcome the two new members into the House of
Assembly: the Member for Conception Bay South and the Member for St.
George's Stephenville East.
Unlike their newly elected member in Humber East, today, I must say that the
Member for St. George's was very kind to the former members there, the good
work that they had done, and this government had done; but when you listen
to the Opposition, you listen to a new member get on the news and say that
the district was neglected, I think it is shameful
AN HON. MEMBER:
What district?
MR. FORSEY:
The District of Humber
East.
wanted to get in a lot of the other good things that we have been doing as a
government, Mr. Speaker, because I do not think we do enough of it.
However, now that I have the opportunity, I would certainly like to
just touch on a couple of things that the former member, who happened to be
a minister and former Premier in that district, the investment and I do
not know what this new member is going to do when it comes to wanting to
give it better representation and not have the neglect that it had in the
past, if he can improve on the new long-term care that was put in there, the
dementia units, the Grenfell Campus and the new residence, the new arts
building, the Corner Brook Regional High School $22 million the new eye
care centre strategy, Margaret Bowater Park rentals, fire trucks and fire
equipment, not to mention our investment in the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper,
a tremendous investment, keeping the industry going and securing the
pensions for
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible) most
recent contributions there.
MR. FORSEY:
Somewhere around $110
million that this government invested to help the industry and the residents
of that area in Corner Brook, to secure jobs and to secure the pensions for
the hard workers who had already been retired and deserved to get their
pensions that they duly worked for, and hard, I must say.
My father worked as a logger as well and I know first-hand that it is
not that easy. They worked for
it and this government supported them, Mr. Speaker.
I do
thank the Member for St. George's for his kind comments of previous members
and also the investments by this government, Mr. Speaker.
It is always great, when we are given the opportunity, to be able to
get up there and explain what we have done as a government.
We do not do it enough. I
know we do not because sometimes you hear the words, oh, we need a change,
and sometimes we do not know why we need the change.
had really a couple of good topics to speak on that I wanted to touch on
today, but when you listen to the Opposition and you are sitting here, Mr.
Speaker, it is difficult. They
are so negative when they stand up.
It is like the sky is falling, the glass is half empty or the glass
is half full, whichever. We want
it half full; they want it half empty.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Poor management.
MR. FORSEY:
Poor management and so
on.
Mr.
Speaker, the Member for St. John's North got up today and wanted to know
what we were doing with the $12.6 million that we were supposed to save from
the amalgamation of the school boards.
I think certainly I do not think, I know that it was the former
government, the Liberals, that amalgamated the schools and did away with the
denomination system. They were
saving hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars.
probably was a good move. I am
not saying that it was a bad move, Mr. Speaker.
Guess what happened in 2003 when this Administration came in?
Everything was falling down.
What happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars they were going
to put into the schools, into the infrastructure?
When
we came in all we could listen to was dilapidation, schools were falling
down, the windows were falling out, and the roofs were leaking.
Mould, mould, and mould, and more mould is all that was listened to.
Every time I came into this House that is all I listened to.
It was the Opposition that was getting up and complaining about it
when they were the ones who saved the millions of dollars on amalgamating
the schools and did not have a plan and did not invest it wisely, I say, Mr.
Speaker.
Just
for a mention of some of the things, Mr. Speaker fortunately enough, I had
a couple of things written down here with regard to the education system and
what this government has done.
Just touching on a couple of things, I think this is very interesting on
what this government has done in education, notwithstanding the free
textbooks, the elimination of school fees, and the introduction of the
skilled trades into the high schools.
AN HON. MEMBER:
The lowest tuition in
Canada.
MR. FORSEY:
The lowest tuition in
Canada.
Just
for this year, Mr. Speaker, about $99.3 million has been allocated for
ongoing major projects, including $20 million to continue construction on a
new high school in the west end of St. John's, $14 million to complete
planning and begin construction of a new K-6 in Paradise, and $11 million to
complete planning and begin construction of a new K-7 school in Conception
Bay South. Is that neglect?
AN HON. MEMBER:
No.
MR. FORSEY:
I ask, Mr. Speaker, is
that neglect? Mr. Speaker, $10.4
million to complete planning and begin construction of a new Grades 5-7
school in Torbay.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
There you go; the Member
for Cape St. Francis is very pleased with it.
He does not think there is neglect and it is far from it; it is a
very good investment. It is not
an expense, by the way; it is an investment.
That is what this government has been doing: investing.
Mr.
Speaker, $9 million to complete planning and begin construction of a new
Grades 5-9 school for Portugal Cove St. Phillips; $8 million to complete
planning and begin construction of a new school replacement in Virginia Park
Elementary; $6.5 million for the continued redevelopment of Roncalli
Elementary in St. John's; $6 million for the continued reconstruction of
William Gillett Academy in Charlottetown.
can see the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, her eyes pop right open
when we talk about Labrador, especially Southern Labrador.
There has been quite a few investments down there, Mr. Speaker.
MR. MCGRATH:
Listen to her cheering
you on over there.
MR. FORSEY:
Yes, she is giving us
accolades and cheering me on. I
appreciate that because she knows it is a good investment.
I am willing to take the applause and the credit as part of the
government, absolutely. She is
similar to the Member for St. George's; they are finally admitting to the
good work we are doing and the good investments we are making.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
That is what we are
doing.
I am
just going to finish these couple of little tidbits here, Mr. Speaker.
MR. KING:
Take your time.
MR. FORSEY:
Sure, I say to the Member
for Grand Bank; I have to take my time because, like we say when we are
talking to Mainlanders sometimes, we talk slow so they can understand it.
We are going to try to do the same thing so the Opposition can do the
same thing. So far, I have found
that by talking slow, it has worked for two members over there already.
I really appreciate their support acknowledging the investments we
are doing.
MR. JOYCE:
(Inaudible).
MR. FORSEY:
I will not mention the
other member right now; he has his mouth going too.
I will not mention his name right now, but I am sure he is speaking
loud enough that everybody hears him anyway.
Mr.
Speaker, $2.3 million to continue redevelopment
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. FORSEY:
Mr. Speaker, it is very
difficult to try to explain what we are doing as a government when the rest
of the Opposition over there will not listen and they do not want to listen.
It is too bad that they are not like the two new members they have
over there well, the one from Cartwright is fairly new and, of course, the
new Member for St. George's. I
am sure in time they will probably listen to them.
Mr.
Speaker, $2.3 million to continue to redevelop former Regina High in Corner
Brook; $2.3 million for the continued redevelopment of Exploits Valley High;
and $1.6 million to finalize work on several projects throughout the
Province.
Apparently, Mr. Speaker, they are getting really excited about the people
who are seeking nominations for their party.
Even though they have all kinds of and they do.
They have a number of people coming out in my district seeking the
nomination, but guess what? They
are still phoning some of my own PC colleagues to see if they want to run.
They do not want the ones who are coming out for them.
They are still phoning our party people.
So just for the information of the ones who are really challenging
each other for the nomination and it is happening in Terra Nova
apparently. They have four or
five or six people out there now who want to run for the Liberal nomination
in Exploits, but they are still calling our people, our known PC people, to
see if they want to run because apparently they are not interested in the
ones who are already putting their name forward.
I do not know why, but I mean that is their choice.
the people who are seeking the nomination for their party still want to come
on board with them, go to it.
That is up to them. They can
MR. JOYCE:
(Inaudible).
MR. FORSEY:
Yes, I spoke to him
Saturday night at the Fireman's Ball and I would like to
MR. SPEAKER:
I remind the hon. member
to make his remarks to the Chair, please.
MR. FORSEY:
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am
sorry; I apologize. I get a
little bit excited sometimes.
Only because the Opposition, the ones across the floor there, are
intimidated. They know what we
have done and what we are doing and they do not want to acknowledge it so
they just want to use some other derogatory words and just challenge us.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Member for Exploits.
MR. FORSEY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
appreciate your support, and I will address the Chair.
Mr.
Speaker, I do not want to try to leave anybody out over there, because they
get upset when you do not leave them out and they get upset when you do, so
you do not know what to be doing.
The
Member for Burgeo La Poile last week got up, he was speaking, and he was
talking about the dialysis unit in Port aux Basques, Mr. Speaker.
We have made tremendous investments again, investments in health
care. This year, over $3 billion
in health care, over 40 per cent of our Budget going into health care and a
lot of that is going into diagnostic equipment.
have gone from seven sites to what will now be sixteen sites when Bonavista
is up and running.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
The Member for Burgeo
La Poile, now that he has his dialysis unit there probably does not want the
rest of the Province to have one because he is saying that we should be
putting more money into prevention and so on, and not into the dialysis.
He almost thought it was a waste of money when he got up and spoke,
Mr. Speaker. He almost thought
it was a waste of money.
MR. A. PARSONS:
A point of order, Mr.
Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile, on a point of order.
MR. A. PARSONS:
I am not sure if the
member opposite heard me. I was
referencing Dr. Joshi, the pre-eminent physician in the Province on diabetes
who s