April 30, 2007 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLV No. 4

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: the hon. the Member

for the District of Topsail; the hon. the Member for the District of Port de

Grave; the hon. the Member for the District of Windsor-Springdale; the hon. the

Member for the District of Burgeo & LaPoile; the hon. the Member for the

District of Exploits; and the hon. the Member for the District of Grand Falls-Buchans.

The Chair recognizes the Member for the District of Topsail.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in the House today to recognize an outstanding young athlete from the

District of Topsail. Ms Deborah Doyle is a twelve-year-old Second Degree Black

Belt in Tae Kwon Do from Paradise who recently won a gold and silver medal at

the U.S. Open Tae Kwon Do Championships in Orlando, Florida, this past February.

Deborah competed in both Poomsae (forms) and Sparring - taking a gold medal in

Poomsae and a silver in Sparring in her weight class.

Deborah is a student of the Newfoundland and Labrador Tae Kwon Do Academy and

at the age of eight became the youngest certified female black belt in North

America. She is also a multi-time Canadian junior champion and a two-time

recipient of the Premier's Athletic Award.

As a member of the provincial team, Deborah consistently excelled with every

challenge she has faced in the sport of Tae Kwon Do. Her accomplishments have

demonstrated her commitment to her sport and highlight the incredible talent we

have available in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I ask this hon. House to join me in congratulating Ms Deborah

Doyle on her outstanding athletic achievements to date, and in particular her

gold and silver medal performances in the sport of Tae Kwon Do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this House today to extend congratulations to School Council

President Denise Pike, who received the first Patricia Cowan Award. She became

the first to accept the honour recently during the Newfoundland and Labrador

Teachers' Association biannual convention.

Mr. Speaker, named in honour of the NLTA's first and only female president,

the Patricia Cowan Award was launched this year to recognize individuals and

groups outside the K-12 school system for their outstanding support and

promotion of education.

Denise has consistently been a champion for the cause of public education in

Newfoundland and Labrador since the late 1990s, advocating tirelessly for the

necessary resources, personnel and supports for the Province's K-12 education

system, widely accepted by the media and public as the voice of parents on

matters affecting K-12 education.

Mr. Speaker, long after she winds up her third and final term as President of

the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of School Councils at the end of this

month, Denise will have plenty of reminders of her contributions to the cause of

education in our Province. The latest one hangs on the living room wall of her

New Harbour home. It is a reproduction of a painting by Ian Sparkes,

appropriately called The New School . It was created exclusively to

represent the Patricia Cowan Award.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in extending

congratulations to Denise Pike, the first recipient of the Patricia Cowan Award.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Windsor-Springdale.

MR. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, hon. colleagues, I rise before this House today to congratulate

Dorset Collegiate of Pilley's Island for being named the top school in

Atlantic Canada by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). The school

was the only school in Atlantic Canada to score an A.

I have had the pleasure of attending several of the projects prepared by

Dorset Collegiate, their teachers and students. It is rare today to see young

people take such pride in all they do regarding education. I think the teachers

play a large

part in keeping the excitement in learning experiences. I believe

their motto, Keepers of Excellence, says it all.

I would like to thank the teachers, staff and students of Dorset Collegiate

for a job well done. Once again, the most important people in our future, our

youth who live in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, have come up on top.

My hon. colleagues, please join me in congratulating Dorset Collegiate for

their outstanding performance and a well-deserved Grade A.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate Joe Lane, a Port aux Basques native who was

honoured with the Royal Bank of Canada Hockey Leader Award recently. This is the

fourth year for the Royal Bank of Canada Hockey Leadership Program. Winners are

chosen based on guidelines that include dedication, leadership, commitment and

impact on hockey and hockey players in their community.

The selection panel includes: Hockey Hall of Fame Director of Public Affairs,

Ron Ellis; Chair of the Board of Hockey Canada, Ren

Marcil; and 2006 Olympic gold medalists Jennifer Botterill and Jean Labonte.

Mr. Speaker, Joe Lane is the President of the Port aux Basques Minor Hockey

Association, President of the Port aux Basques Referee Association, Hockey

Newfoundland and Labrador referee instructor and supervisor for Port aux

Basques, as well as coach of the local Bantam team. Mr. Lane was chosen as one

of thirteen winning volunteers, out of more than 1,000 nominees from across the

country. The win is also good news for the local Port aux Basques Minor Hockey

Association, which will receive $10,000 in his name. He was also the recipient

of a Merit Award from Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador for outstanding service

to minor hockey in June of last year.

Mr. Speaker, winners receive special recognition in the Hockey Hall of Fame

in Toronto, a signed Team Canada jersey and get to attend a special ceremony at

the Hockey Hall of Fame unveiling a display honouring the 2006-2007 Leaders of

Hockey in Toronto later this year. A banner recognizing this achievement will

also be raised in the Bruce II Sports Centre at Port aux Basques.

I ask all member of this House to join with me in congratulating Joe Lane who

has been honoured with the Royal Bank of Canada Hockey Leader Award.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of

the participants at the forty-fourth Annual Fourth Degree Provincial High School

Speak-off hosted by the Knights of Columbus of Bishop's Falls in the District

of Exploits, which I had the pleasure of attending.

Mr. Speaker, these seven young men and women participated in the local

competitions and advanced to the regionals, from there each one earned the right

to represent their region at the provincials, which were held this past weekend

on Saturday, April 28.

Mr. Speaker, these competitions provide a venue for our students to improve

their communication skills and build self-confidence. Each participant is

afforded the opportunity to speak on a topic of their choice. Although all seven

students have the skills and talent to represent this Province, it was Katie

Phillips of Blaketown who was judged as the provincial winner for 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating

these young men and women on their performances.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Mr. Speaker, over one million young musicians have taken

part

in 240 music festivals across Canada this past month. Today in this House I

extend congratulations to 6,000 talented Central Newfoundland students, who

participated in the forty-second annual Kiwanis Music Festival in Grand

Falls-Windsor in March.

Mr. Speaker, it was a week of music and song as the area's young people

participated in a number of voice, instrumental and speech competitions

throughout the community.

Awards were presented to the participants during the closing ceremonies with

Adriaan Mulder of Grand Falls-Windsor accepting the Bernice Edwards Memorial

Award for best piano performance of the festival. As well, Adriaan was presented

with the Cater Memorial Rose Bowl Award for the best solo performance senior

competition, fifteen years and over.

Margaret Barker received the Effie Pike Memorial Award for the best

performance in solo speech. Amanda Goulding received the Hennessy Memorial Rose

Bowl Award for the best solo performance junior competition, fourteen years and

under. Laura Woodworth received the Laura Blackmore Award for the best solo

performance in Newfoundland music. The Maple Buds Choir under the direction of

Mike Snelgrove was the recipient of the Bruce Reid Memorial Award for the best

performance by a choir.

Mr. Speaker, during the closing ceremonies, Kiwanis Club president, Mike

Mackey, thanked the community for their support of the event over the past

forty-two years. He also threw a big bouquet to festival chairman, Walwin

Blackmore, for his wonderful leadership during the festival, as was seen

throughout the week.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to join with me in

extending congratulations to all participants and organizers of the forty-second

annual Kiwanis Music Festival in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Before the Speaker calls Statements by Ministers, I have

been advised that the former member for Fogo, Sam Winsor, is in the gallery and

we welcome him to our House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to inform my hon.

colleagues that Mr. Haseen Khan, and Dr. Amir Ali Khan, water resource managers

with the Department of Environment and Conservation, are participating in a

European Space Agency Tiger Project from April 28 to May 9 in Egypt. They are

joined by Mr. Thomas Puestow, C-CORE senior manager.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Haseen Khan has worked in the department over fifteen years

and has managed a number of water resource programs. He visited Russia in 1998

and Egypt last year as a part of a Canadian delegation on environmental

governance capacity building. In February, he travelled to Belgium on an

invitation from NATO under its Science for Peace Project.

Dr. Amir Ali Khan joined the department in 2000 and has been heavily involved

in the application of geographic information system and remote sensing in water

resources management. He has presented information about the Badger River ice

monitoring service in England and Italy, and visited Egypt last year, in

December, as part of a NATO Science for Peace Project.

Mr. Speaker, both gentlemen are recipients of the Public Service Award For

Excellence.

Mr. Thomas Puestow has worked on a number of international projects in the

area of satellite monitoring. His company, C-CORE, is a Newfoundland and

Labrador corporation that provides worldwide innovative engineering services. It

focuses on commercial research and development to increase operational

efficiency and safety while reducing costs. C-CORE's investment in developing

satellite surveillance expertise is placing Newfoundland and Labrador at the

centre of several significant international programs.

Mr. Speaker, these three gentlemen will undertake field work, offering

training courses to Egyptian participants, and share expertise in the

application of satellite technology for water resources management in Africa.

This is a water resources design capacity building project with the main

objective to design, develop, and implement an earth observation-based capacity

for the operational monitoring of water quality in Lake Manzalah, Egypt. Lakes

are a precious source of fresh water in Egypt, and the use of lake water must be

carefully managed to satisfy a variety of different, and often competing,

domestic, agricultural and industrial uses.

The invitation to participate in a European Space Agency Tiger Project

highlights the strong expertise in this department and is another illustration

of government's success in using innovative technologies.

Mr. Speaker, I am confident that these individuals will provide valuable

information and represent our department and Province well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bellevue.

MR. BARRETT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. I, too, would like

to congratulate the individuals involved in this worthwhile project, in terms of

travelling to the developing countries and assisting in the water projects. I

think it is great that we are able to share our expertise, and it is also nice

to know that this expertise was built up under the previous Liberal government

and now we are willing to share it with the rest of the world. I want to

congratulate the former Ministers of Environment in terms of being able to

attract these qualified people to our Province to share our valuable resources.

Thank you very much.

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the prior copy of his statement.

I, too, am very happy to congratulate the individuals named in the minister's

statement, and it is really wonderful to know that we have this expertise in the

department and in this Province. I would hope, though, that this will also

reflect the high priority in the department with regard to ensuring our rivers

are protected from industrial pollution. We have had some decisions over the

past couple of years that I know personally I have not been pleased with, like

Trout Lake, so I hope that, with the expertise we have, we can stop pollution in

our lakes and rivers and that our water quality monitoring will be adequately

resourced.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and

Employment.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, April 28, government recognized

National Day of Mourning by laying wreaths at a ceremony held here at

Confederation Building.

National Day of Mourning is recognized across Canada as a day of remembrance

for workers who have been killed or injured on the job. In 1984, the Canadian

Labour Congress initiated Day of Mourning. In 1991, it was declared a National

Day of Mourning at the federal government level.

In 1992, Mr. Jack Harris, the former Leader of the New Democratic Party and

the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, provided the leadership

in this House to ensure that National Day of Mourning was formally recognized

and observed in our Province. Since its early beginnings in Canada, it is now

observed in about 100 countries in the world.

Saturday was a solemn occasion when our thoughts turned to be with the

families of those workers who have been killed on the job. In 2006, there were

eighteen fatalities reported in Newfoundland and Labrador, in which eight were

due to incidents in the workplace and ten were as a result of industrial

disease.

While progress is being made to improve conditions in the workplace and

prevent further tragedy, we still need to recognize that this task is not yet

complete and that more work has to be done.

We must be vigilant and make certain that the health and safety of people in

the workplace is not compromised or undermined. Safety on the job must be the

number one priority.

Employers and workers, along with the Workplace Health, Safety and

Compensation Commission, and the Occupational Health and Safety Division of

Government Services must continue to work together to ensure our workplaces are

safe, maintain a strong focus on prevention, and reduce the number of

work-related fatalities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to stand and observe a

moment of silence and remember those who are no longer with us as a result of a

workplace incident, and reflect on the importance to continue to work for a day

when every workplace is safe.

[A moment of silence is observed]

MR. SKINNER: Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement, and to say

that it was an honour to represent our leader and our party at this ceremony on

Saturday past, and to join the minister and the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi and various councils, unions and other organizations, during this solemn

ceremony to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives on the job as well as

those who have been injured.

I guess I agree with the minister when he said that it was a solemn occasion,

in particular when the people there remembered all those who lost their lives

during the Ocean Ranger disaster, and to say that eight people died this year

from incidents in the workplace as well as ten others through industrial

diseases.

We know that progress has been made, Mr. Speaker, but we, too, would

encourage each and every individual to keep working so that the workplace will

become a totally safe place.

Mr. Speaker, being a former contractor and an employee both in this Province

and outside, I know full well what it is to see the dangers that sometimes our

employees are encountered with, and we hope that the day will come when

prevention will be the way that we will go, so that the workplace will be

totally safe.

I want to say to all employers and employees, to the Workplace Health and

Safety Commission and the Occupational Health and Safety, may we all continue to

work together to see that happens.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.

I was quite impressed - and when I say impressed, I mean in a bit of a sad

way - on Saturday with the increase in the number of people attending the event,

because it was obvious to me that there were more families there. I guess as we

have more workers die in our workplace - we have one of the highest rates right

now in the country - we are going to see more families attending. I would like

to see the day when people are attending, but not because of new deaths; that we

can bring these numbers down.

While the minister does call upon employers and workers and the agencies of

government, I think the administration of government and his department have a

real responsibility to ensure that more measures are put in place, because I

think consultations have shown that there are more measures that are needed in

order to reduce the number of deaths in our Province in the workplace.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it now appears that the sale of FPI is just about complete, and

in the coming weeks we will be asked to make amendments to, or abolish, the FPI

Act. There are many questions that will be asked by the Opposition, and many

questions that we certainly would like to hear the answers to, or about, before

this actually becomes a done deal.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries is on public record stating that any

sale of FPI would be contingent upon the quotas held by FPI becoming the

property of the provincial government.

Can the minister tell us today if, in fact, the Province will own FPI's

quotas?

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

Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank the Leader of the

Opposition for his question.

We are aware, of course, that there are negotiations continuing between FPI

and certain parties as to what may lead to a sale of assets, or certain assets,

of FPI. I cannot confirm that these matters have been concluded at this point in

time, but I do know that they are ongoing.

As far as quotas are concerned, Mr. Speaker, the Premier and myself, speaking

for the government, both of us, on more than one occasion over the last several

weeks, have made it absolutely and abundantly clear to anybody who has an ear to

listen that if there is, if government is at all to consider any closure, with

government approval, of a sale of assets of Fishery Products International

Limited, then the quotas and the licences associated with FPI must rest with the

Province or some arm of the Province in some form or other. That is a

precondition to this sale, if it goes ahead, been finalized, and it is one that

is absolute and one that the government is absolutely committed to, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: I thank the minister for his answer, but it raises a few extra

questions.

Have you talked to the federal government about passing over the quotas of

FPI to the Province? If you have not, and if you are talking about the company

passing over the quotas of FPI to the Province, then would that need the assent

of the federal government? If so, what representation have you made to the

federal government regarding the transfer of these quotas?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we have made numerous pieces of representation over numbers

of times, going back several months now, to the federal Minister of Fisheries

and Oceans, advising him on numerous occasions that there was a possibility that

to transfer FPI quotas and licences to the Province or an arm of the Province in

some form or other, whether it is a Crown corporation or a department or

whatever it might be at the end of the day. So, the federal minister, Mr.

Speaker, is aware of that. I have had conversations face to face with him on

that. That has been put in writing on countless occasions.

The process, as I understand it, Mr. Speaker, will be a formal letter of

request, if and when binding agreements are reached. There will be a formal

letter of request from FPI to the federal minister asking that the quotas and

licences be transferred, signed by FPI, the recipient party, whoever that might

be. Let's say for argument sake it is OCI and the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador, signed by all three parties, asking that the formal transfer of

the quotas and licences take place to an arm of the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In talking with a member of the media this morning who had been in contact

with the federal government, the federal Department of Fisheries, that

individual was notified by DFO that no formal representation has been made by

government pertaining to that issue yet. So I take it, that will be forthcoming,

if a deal goes through. I cannot see how a deal can go through if you are going

to abide by the words that you said, unless the quotas are transferred. So I

think that you had better start talking to your federal counterpart.

Mr. Speaker, the minister has referenced as well in a letter, which I have

here, written to an individual here in the Province, that FPI's groundfish

quotas, which he knows is the least valuable of FPI's quotas, would be

transferred to the Province in the event of a sale.

I ask the minister: Who will get the ownership of FPI's more valued quotas,

those being the shrimp and scallop quotas?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, let me make it abundantly clear, in case it is

not to somebody or other out there in the public. We have had countless

conversations with the federal minister, Newfoundland's representative in the

federal Cabinet, who also happens to be the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans,

regarding the transfer of FPI's quotas and licences to the Province or an arm

of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, prior to and as a condition to any

sale of the assets of FPI. Now, whether somebody in the federal bureaucracy

knows about that or not, I cannot speak to that, but the federal minister knows

it and I know it. It has been in writing, it has been face to face, it has

happened on numerous occasions over the last several weeks.

As to the particular question posed by the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr. Speaker, the groundfish quotas and licences are the object of a transfer to

the Province. The other assets that the hon. member refers to, like scallop and

shrimp, are part of negotiations. That has not been concluded yet. When they are

concluded I will be able to say more about them, but I do know that these are

part of negotiations that are taking place which may or may not lead to a

binding agreement between FPI and some other parties at the moment. The party

that we all know of, of course, is OCI.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

According to Mr. Risley, in a release that went out this morning, it looks

like the deal is done, I say to the minister, and you should at least know. I am

sure you have been in extensive discussions with both companies, or you should

have been over the past few months since the announcement of the potential sale

was ongoing, of where these quotas will actually be going. For example, the

shrimp quotas held by FPI, I think they have some 8,000 tons of shrimp, which is

an integral part of that operation, especially as it pertains to the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador and those involved in the two shrimp plants that FPI

currently owns. Obviously, those quotas have to stay with the new company here

in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Now, as for the quota of scallops. Mr. Risley runs that operation today out

of Nova Scotia. That is my understanding. That is where they land at, and it is

my understanding as well that Mr. Risley wants to hold on to that lucrative

quota himself. So, to suggest that you do not know yet where these quotas are

going, I say to the minister, I think you should know.

Mr. Speaker, FPI currently operates eight plants, eight fish plants in this

Province, namely Burin, Fortune, Marystown, South Dildo, Bonavista, Catalina,

Triton and Port aux Choix. Can the minister tell us today how many of these

plants will be operational if this sale goes through?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I have certain constraints on me that are

incumbent on me to be careful in what I say, in terms of leaving the people of

the Province open to potential liability, in terms of shareholder value and so

on in publicly traded companies. We are dealing with two here; we are dealing

with FPI and we are dealing with Highliner. Of course, OCI is privately held.

The legal advice is that I have to be careful on that score, but let me again

make it abundantly clear, that in terms of groundfish quotas and licences, there

has to be an agreement that that reverts to the Province or there will be no

deal.

In terms of shrimp; Mr. Speaker, the shrimp that is currently held by FPI -

if the deal that has been speculated in the media is consummated - if that is

consummated that quota will be part of the company that we are talking about and

that company is operating here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Let it be clear as

well, Mr. Speaker, that that company is also dealing with FPI in terms of its

scallop operations. The scallop operations are very important to the financial

stability of FPI. They were put there to help make FPI financially stable back

in the days when FPI was created from the remnants of a whole bunch of bankrupt

firms several years ago.

In terms of the day-to-day operations of the plants in the communities

referred to by the hon. member, those matters are still under negotiation. We

know what the operational plans of OCI are - if they are, in fact, successful in

this. At that time, when it is all concluded they will be made public, but there

is a plan to operate all of those plants in all of those communities. We are

constantly making sure that the best interests of the people and the communities

where FPI has operated will be what stands at the front if and when all of this

is brought to a successful conclusion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: The minister said that the Province will own - he has indicated

that the Province will own the groundfish quotas of FPI. Yet, he just said that

the shellfish quotas, which are the more lucrative ones, especially the shrimp,

will go to the company that is going to operate in Newfoundland and Labrador. So

I take it from your answer that the shellfish, mainly the shrimp that is held by

FPI today, that will go to the new company; that the Province will not own the

shrimp quotas like they are going to own the groundfish quotas?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, because of the situation, we are talking

somewhat in generalities here today. Unfortunately, we have to keep it at that

until matters are concluded. I have tried to be open and honest and above board

as much as I can without boxing the people of the Province into any corners that

could lead to any actions later on if something - I say here or outside - could

be construed by shareholders of FPI as devaluing their shares and their assets.

So, generally speaking, what I have said here, Mr. Speaker, is where we are at

this moment.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So, what the minister has said is that yes, indeed, the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador will own the groundfish quotas but he will not commit

to the shellfish, namely the shrimp quotas that are held by FPI in this Province

today.

Mr. Speaker, it appears also that High Liner of Nova Scotia is going to

purchase the secondary processing and marketing division of FPI, which includes

the secondary plant in Burin.

Does the minister have any guarantees from the new company that this plant in

Burin will remain open, or if it would be closed and its equipment would be

transferred to Danvers, Massachusetts, where they have secondary processing

going on today, or in Nova Scotia where High Liner has other fish plants?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, let me say this for now: The Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador is aware that FPI and High Liner are working on an

agreement. If that agreement becomes final then we have already had preliminary

discussions with High Liner, which we will go into more detail on if there is a

final agreement with FPI, on the operations as it affects Burin and other

interests that High Liner would have as it affects Newfoundland and Labrador.

We are not talking to High Liner or anybody else about the closure of Burin

or the transfer of equipment to somewhere else. We are talking about the future

of Burin and securing the future of that community for the long term, Mr.

Speaker, not closing it down.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: I can understand where the minister is coming from. He is not

talking about closing the plant, but what I asked is: What guarantees would be

put in place?

You say you cannot openly discuss this until a final deal is done. I say to

the minister, once the final deal is done it may be too late for the people who

are employed by FPI to find the answers to these questions, and that is the

reason I am asking them today.

Mr. Speaker, FPI is the largest employer in rural Newfoundland - the largest

employer of any, that I know, who operates in rural Newfoundland and Labrador -

and it employs, as far as I know, as well, over 2,000 people. Can the minister

tell us today how many employees will have their jobs guaranteed if this sale

goes through?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, let it be absolutely clear what I just said in

my answer to the Leader of the Opposition. I did not say there had to be binding

agreements. I said, as I understand it, there are still negotiations underway

between FPI and in this case as it relates to Burin and other matters involving

High Liner company. If they reach an agreement, Mr. Speaker, then we will - you

know, we have already had discussions - we will have further discussions.

Let it be clear, Mr. Speaker, to anybody who does not understand: nothing, no

asset of FPI, can be final until this Legislature pronounces on it, so the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador, the people of Burin, the people of Port au

Choix, Triton, Bonavista, Catalina, all of those places, Mr. Speaker, will know

- they will know, Mr. Speaker, in spades - what it is that has been agreed to,

if there is an agreement.

Now, I cannot speculate as to what might be - for example, it might all fall

apart. It might all fall apart. It is not done yet. They are not signed off, but

when they get signed off, Mr. Speaker, we will make sure that the best interests

of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are protected.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: In terms of how many jobs are going to be at the end of the

process, Mr. Speaker, there is no discussion of any cutbacks. There is no

discussion of any layoffs. There is no anticipation, Mr. Speaker. As a matter of

fact there may well be more employment opportunities in that industry in

Newfoundland and Labrador when this whole matter unfolds. That is where we will

be wrapping our minds around, Mr. Speaker, for the future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When the minister says, let it be clear that the people of this Province will

know all of these details, well, I say to the minister, that does not give me a

lot of comfort when you consider that the Minister of Environment, the member

who represents Burin and Marystown, the workers in both of those fish plants, he

did not even know that FPI had sold a couple of draggers recently, and that had

to be given permission by his own government. He sat around a Cabinet table

where that was supposed to have been discussed and he did not even know, by his

own admission on an Open Line show, that these draggers had been sold.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: He did not know they were even being discussed, so that does

not give me a lot of comfort and I am certainly sure that it does not give a lot

of comfort to those 2,000 people who are currently employed by FPI.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, when this government - you are talking about

commitments and about people knowing - when this government gave FPI permission

two years ago to do the income trust, FPI gave a commitment to the people of

Bonavista and that commitment was that they were going to build a new crab plant

for that town and that construction would start in 2007.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: I ask the minister: Will that commitment be honoured? Will

there be a new crab plant built in Bonavista in 2007? If not, what will happen

to that facility?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I do not suppose that if I were struck with the

Wisdom of Solomon, which I do not have and I do not expect I will ever have, but

if I were, I do not suppose, Mr. Speaker, any word that would escape my lips

would give any comfort to the Leader of the Opposition. It would not surprise me

that it would not give him any comfort - or any word from anybody on this side

of the House for that matter.

Let me say this, Mr. Speaker, to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador who

are working in plants were FPI currently is in operation and who are dependent

and have historically been dependent on FPI: This government and the ministers

in this government, and this Premier, will ask every question. We will explore

every possibility. We will leave no stone unturned. We will not leave one

"I" undotted. We will not leave one "T" uncrossed -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: - to ensure that the best interests of the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador are protected for the long term, Mr. Speaker.

We will not be -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, is there something in Beauchesne that could be

used from a parliamentary perspective -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

A question has been asked. The Chair gave some extra time to put the

question, so the Chair would recognize the minister and ask him to finish up his

answer quickly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I thank you for coming to my rescue from the

terrible onslaught that was directed my way by the Member for Bay of Islands.

As I was saying, Mr. Speaker, unlike -

MR. JOYCE: Tell them about Harbour Breton!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I do not know what the hon. gentleman had for

lunch, but something is showing over there.

Mr. Speaker, what I was trying to say is that this government, led by this

Premier, has the desire and the will and the focus to ask the tough questions,

unlike the last government, Mr. Speaker, when they were dealing with FPI.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We heard that speech before, about no stone being left unturned, and we will

stand shoulder to shoulder with you. We heard it in Stephenville, where they

lost 901 full and temporary employees in the last two years. We heard it in

Harbour Breton. We heard it in Fortune. We heard it from the pan of a truck on O'Leary

Avenue, when you said: FPI broke the law, broke the law, broke the law, and they

are going to be charged, charged and charged!

We have not heard anything else about it. Mr. Speaker, we have heard that

rhetoric before. We are asking questions because we care about the workers of

the FPI plants in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, last year, FPI purchased a seafood company in

Great Britain to the tune of $50 million. Who is going to own that facility

after this sale goes through, I ask the minister?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition and everybody

else in Newfoundland heard me say from the pan of a truck that FPI would be

charged, charged, charged, and FPI were charged, charged, charged!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Those matters today, as we speak, are before the courts of

the land, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: No fear or no favour to anybody from this government. If

they broke the law they will answer to the consequences. There is a right way

for that happen and it will happen when the courts deal with the matter,

finally.

In terms of the seafood company, Mr. Speaker, that is not part, as I

understand it, of anything that is taking place today. We will deal with that

matter as the universe unfolds.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: So, Mr. Speaker, we are getting some information. We understand

that the scallop quotas are not going to stay with the Province. We also

understand that we are going to lose the secondary processing and the marketing

division of FPI. Now we also learn that we are going to lose the seafood

company, a $50 million acquisition by this company a year ago. We do not know

where the shellfish quotas are going to go. We do not know if the shrimp quotas

are going to be with the Province or with the new company.

I will ask the minister another question. We all know that FPI recently sold

two of its new draggers. I ask the minister: How many vessels does FPI currently

own and who will take control of these vessels if FPI is sold in the coming

days, weeks or months? I also ask the minister: Who will own the new scallop

dragger that FPI has?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that the Leader of the

Opposition has a terrible case of selective amnesia. He was over there on his

high horses around this time last year, or a few months just before that,

pontificating about FPI spending money to buy this terrible company in Europe.

Now, Mr. Speaker, he wants to know who is going to end up with it. This company

that FPI, by the way, bought for $40 million, it is my understanding they can

unload today for double that amount of money. That was a terrible investment,

according to the Leader of the Opposition a few months ago. It should have been

stopped. The Government of Newfoundland should have stopped it. We should have

stepped in there and not allowed it to happen. Now, Mr. Speaker, he looks

through the glasses and he sees shades of a different colour.

Mr. Speaker, look, on the matter of the vessels, the company that is in

negotiations with FPI at the moment has plans to utilize those vessels. That is

about all I can say to it at the moment, but the details will be made available

if there is a deal. If there is not a deal, we will be told there is no deal,

but if there is a deal, the details will be made available.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I stood here a year ago and I asked the

question: Who is going to benefit from the purchase of the seafood company in

Great Breton? Not the people who work for the plants, not for the people who

built FPI off the sweat of their own brow, that is who paid for the acquisition.

Answer the question that you just posed yourself: Who are they going to

unload it to? Who is it going to benefit? Is it staying with the Province? Is it

going to stay with FPI, whoever buys FPI in the Province, or is John Risley

going to pick it up for a song, the fellow who bought it off the sweat of the

taxpayers' brow?

Mr. Speaker, my final question for today, and I saved it for today because

there are going to be lots more to come. I ask the minister a simple question:

What will become of the FPI Act?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition, in his

various rants over the last several minutes, has also made reference to the

marketing arm of FPI. Mr. Speaker, this government and this Premier sat down - I

know of three occasions where we sat down with the representatives of the

industry, the union and the processors, and offered it to them. We said we will

provide the financing for you to buy the FPI marketing arm and you operate it.

We will provide the money for you to do it. Did we get an agreement from the

industry in this Province to do that? No, Mr. Speaker. They did not see the

value in having it. Therefore, the Premier and the government made that offer to

them, we made the offer to them, we offered to provide the financing and that

did not happen.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of what is going to happen to the FPI Act. Who knows?

Mr. Speaker, I gave notice of amendments to the FPI Act as our very first order

of business - which tells you the determination and the focus of this government

on that particular matter in the fishery - on the first day that we started this

new session. If there is an arrangement and a deal that is binding, it may well

be that the act will have to be changed or repelled, that we do not know today.

It may well be that if there is no deal nothing will happen to the FPI Act, Mr.

Speaker. All I can say, Mr. Speaker -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, there has to be something in the rules -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There are certain protocols that we should observe. I ask members for their

co-operation.

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My question today is for the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and

Employment.

Mr. Speaker, the report of the 2006 Statutory Review Committee on the

Workplace, Health, Safety and Compensation Act was released to the public last

June. At that time the department said it would take the rest of 2006 to

determine its response to the recommendations. Then on November 10 the then

minister made a statement to the public that the response of government to the

recommendations would be released by the end of February, 2007. It is now April

My question for the minister is: When does the government intend to inform us

of its response to the recommendations contained in the statutory review report?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and

Employment.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the hon. member for her question. Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member

knows, I was appointed minister in late January, mid-January. That report was

one of the first items of business that I dealt with. I wanted to familiarize

myself with the work that had gone on. There was extensive consultations done,

extensive recommendations made. That report is now being put through the normal

process and I expect in the very near future we will have something coming

forward on that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Mr. Speaker, there is urgency around those recommendations.

Nine of the eighteen work-related fatalities in this Province last year were due

to industrial diseases. The Statutory Review Committee recommended the creation

of an occupational disease advisory panel with health professionals, workers,

employers and government in order to improve our poor record in dealing with

occupational disease.

I would like to ask the minister: Can he at least give us some idea today

with regard to the government's response to this recommendation, and is he

considering putting this advisory panel in place and when?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and

Employment.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there were forty-four recommendations that came forward. All of

them are under active consideration by government. There was a fair amount of

impact on government operations that would have to be considered by

implementation of all of these recommendations. That information has been

gathered. It is being studied by government and we will, as I indicated, be

coming forward with a response to those recommendations in the near future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Minister of Natural Resources.

The energy plan has been in the works by the government for the past three

years. There is over $3.5 million invested and yet we have no plan. I would like

to ask the minister when she is going to table the energy plan for the public in

the Province? Because, as you know, there are investors who are wanting to

invest in energy developments in Newfoundland and Labrador that have been turned

away simply because this plan is not in place.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will certainly pass along the question to the member, but as it has being

relayed, and as she said, the plan is presently being developed and we intend to

have that released within the coming months. That is where it is, Mr. Speaker.

We will just release it when the time is ready and it is fully developed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allocated for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to give notice of the following private member's motion.

WHEREAS this government is committed to providing the necessary resources to

ensure a proper education for students in rural and urban Newfoundland and

Labrador; and

WHEREAS for the first time in our Province's history government's

investment in education will exceed $1 billion; and

WHEREAS education is a key to accessing opportunity and self-reliance;

BE IT RESOLVED that all Members of the House of Assembly support and endorse

initiatives brought forward by this government for the betterment of our

children and their education.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Does the Chair understand this will be the motion for

Wednesday, two days hence?

MR. ORAM: That is correct, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will ask leave to move the following

resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Assembly as follows:

WHEREAS

section 4(1) of the Elections Act, 1991 provides that the Office of

Chief Electoral Officer will be filled by resolution of the House of Assembly;

and

WHEREAS subsection 34(2) of the House of the Assembly Act provides that a

Commissioner of Members' Interests be appointed by the House of Assembly, on

motion of the Premier following consultation with the Leader of the Official

Opposition and representatives of other registered political parties having

representation in the House of Assembly;

THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED that Mr. Paul Reynolds be appointed Chief Electoral

Officer and Commissioner of Members' Interests.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions to which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate an opportunity to deliver a petition on behalf of the residents

of LaPoile and Grand Bruit in my district on the South Coast of Newfoundland,

and it is in regards to the lack of restroom and waiting room facilities in the

community of Diamond Cove, which they might be able to avail of as they await

the ferry service.

We went through this last year quite extensively with the porta-potty

debacle, we called it, in Burgeo, for the users in that area, and Ramea, and I

have no problem or no hesitation in thanking the Minister of Transportation and

Works that, in this year's Budget, I understand, the money has been allotted

to do that in Burgeo to the tune of about $350,000. It took a lot of pressure,

it took a lot of petitions, and it took a lot of speeches here in this House to

bring the point home to the minister that it needed to be done. It was a health

issues, a safety issue, and it needed to be done. It is a dignity issue, and it

is being done now, thank God.

We have the same identical type issue. We have two communities of Grand Bruit

and LaPoile. They come up the coast when the want to do their shopping, their

banking, their health care needs and so on, and they get off in a place called

Diamond Cove, or nearby Diamond Cove. It is actually surrounded; there is

Diamond Cove, Rose Blanche and Harbour Le Cou. When they have to wait for the

boat, there is not a home, there is not a facility, there is not a washroom,

within five kilometres of where the boat ferry is. You cannot go on board the

boat, if the boat is not there, to use their washroom, and they are left there.

If they travel down from Port aux Basques, for example, and park their car and

the boat is late, they could be waiting hours and they have nowhere to use a

washroom.

We are just asking that the minister again apply the same common sense, and

the same reasonable forces be brought to bear in the case of those users in

LaPoile and Grand Bruit to put some kind of washroom-restroom facility in that

area so the users of it - because it is not only the residents. The Minister of

Tourism, Culture and Recreation often talks about our tourist industry. We want

to bring people in and get them going down the South Coast and visiting our

rural areas. They do not have it; I have heard it from them. I have been there

myself on the wharf listening when people ask for washrooms and I do not even

have a porta-potty to direct them to. That is very embarrassing. That is not

good for our Province, either for our residents who use it on a year-round

basis, or for the tourists who come to this area.

We are not asking for any big visitor information-type centre that costs

millions of dollars. We are asking for a common basic decency of put a little

building there that has washroom facilities so that someone can at least use the

washroom facilities, have a place to wash their hands, and if they do not want

to be sitting in their cars for hours on end they can sit down in a heated place

and at least keep warm while the boat is coming.

Not everybody, as well, who uses the ferry has a vehicle. If they take a bus,

for example - because they do not own cars, many of these people. They live in

Grand Bruit and might not own a car. You come up and you catch a taxi or the bus

that picks you up and takes you up to Port aux Basques, for example, to do your

hospital stuff and your banking and your groceries, and when you go back the bus

drops you off and leaves. You could be sat there in January or February month

with nowhere to go. There are no homes. There are no hotels around. There is

nothing. They are just asking for some place that they could have so that the

basic human needs of safety and health and dignity will be looked after.

I implore the Minister of Transportation and Works again if he could apply

that to that area, like he did in Burgeo, it would certainly be appreciated by

the residents of those two communities.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

Order of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, Motion 1, which was the motion put down by the

Minister of Finance, that the House agrees in principle with the budgetary

policies of the government, commonly known as the Budget Speech.

We will now sit back and look forward to several hours of interesting debate

from the critic for the Official Opposition.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Mr. Speaker, I am looking at a lot of smiling faces opposite.

They are wondering, how long am I going to stand here today and talk?

For the benefit of the viewing audience today, I actually have available to

me three hours and four minutes. Whether I will use all of that, I will have to

wait and see as I go along. It depends.

I am delighted to stand here today. I must say, the Marshall plan turned out

to be better than the Sullivan plans.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Now, if I were you, I wouldn't wear out my desk yet because

we are just starting out.

I have to say, there are certainly a lot of good features to this Budget and

a lot of people will benefit, particularly in the social sector.

I had a good read of the Budget over the weekend. Of course, I listened

attentively to the Minister of Finance when he delivered his Budget on Thursday,

but there is nothing like sitting down with the Budget in your hand and having a

chance to really digest it.

I know a lot of groups around the Province can be congratulated because I

know one thing, that this government does not like to be criticized. This

government does not like to be criticized, so anyone who had a issue, whether

they were a minority group, a special interest group, any member of society who

had an issue and wanted it addressed in this particular Budget, I would think

that most of those groups that made their voices known, whether it be through

petitions, directly with government members, but particularly those who made it

public, had the best chance of getting money in the Budget.

We all know who the winners were. I am glad for all of them because when it

comes to health issues I do not think there is anyway that we can refuse when we

have money to do so. I would think that would have been health and social policy

issues which were the ones that were looked after the most.

I had a good read of the Budget over the weekend and I wanted to bring to

attention some of the issues that the Minister of Finance brought forward. I

know the Minister of Finance went out and bought a new pair of shoes. He bought

a new pair of shoes because he said he needed a new pair of shoes. He was not

frivolous and just went out and bought a pair of shoes for the Budget only. This

is the kind of a minister that says that this is an indication that he is only

going to spend money if it is needed to be spent.

When you look at the weather today, it is a rainy day outside this building

and all over the Province mostly, but this Budget is not a rainy day Budget. It

is a fine weather Budget. That is one thing that I am concerned about, whether

or not we are looking to the future.

The minister outlines in his Budget - and you have to look at where we came

from. How did you arrive at this place four years later? How did you arrive at

that place and where does our money come from that we have to spend all over our

Province?

I remember 2003 very well. That was our first year of what we call accrual

accounting, where you put all the expenditures of every agency of government -

no matter who they are, whether they be hospital boards or school boards, or

whatever. Every cent that government was liable for came under one umbrella

called accrual accounting. That gave everybody here in government, and everybody

across the Province, a big fright. We had to include - for the first time ever

in our history we actually seen, for the first time, what government was liable

for, because it was always held in two separate pockets.

In addition to that, it was a time when we had to take over the student

loans, the Newfoundland and Labrador Student Loan portfolio. The banks did not

want it anymore. All of that combined gave people a huge shock, but it was the

perfect storm. It was the perfect communication storm because it gave this new

government a tool that they could use to their communication advantage. The

fright that they put on everybody, including the public service, worked; because

there is no way that you could be saying that the Province had a debt of $1

billion and then today, four years later, you are able to spend this kind of

money and predict a surplus for this year of $261 million. So, it was a great

communication spin. Everything lined up perfectly to give that information out,

and people bought into it.

I want to start off by saying: Where does our money come from here in this

government? Where does it come from? Today we have a Budget of almost $6

billion. That is a lot of money when you consider our small population. Our

population now is 505,000, which we are not very proud of - when you look at the

fact that we are a population 505,000 people.

Our Budget is almost $6 billion; B as in billion. One-third of that money

comes from the federal government. Almost $2 billion comes from the federal

government, and that comes to us in the form of equalization and offsets health

and social transfers, the Atlantic Accord and other federal sources. Now, I

guess this has changed considerably over the past few years because I can recall

ten years ago when 60 per cent of our Budget was coming from the federal

government and only 40 per cent from our own sources, but over the years we have

generated revenues basically because of our oil and mineral resources that have

put us in this position today. When you look at that, you know, our natural

resources put us exactly where we are. Now one-third of our Budget comes from

the federal government and we generate two-thirds ourselves. What we generate

ourselves comes from taxation, investments, fees and fines, and I will talk

about these in few moments. That is where it comes from. Of course, the biggest

chunk of our money - how we spend it - is always spent on social issues. That

would be health, education and anything that is connected to social policies,

like Income Support and actually the running of government administration. It is

a simple method but it is nice to know where our money comes from and where it

goes.

Now, when the Minister of Finance got up last Thursday and talked about the

Budget, I thought to myself: well, he has only been in the portfolio a few

months and he has had the good fortune of being able to stand up and spend money

that will suit almost every sector of our society and also declare a surplus. So

that must have been a good feeling as the Minister of Finance, for sure. I am

sure it was quite a different feeling than the former Minister of Finance had

when he stood up for his first Budget in 2004.

The Minister of Finance had the luxury of having all of this money to work

with, which was great. I remember when I was the President of Treasury Board,

and I know my deputy minister at that particular time, Peter Kennedy - I think

he might be just recently retired. He was working for Newfoundland Hydro after

he left government here. He always outlined to us as a Cabinet that there would

be structural deficiencies with the Treasury for about two years. That would be,

generally, 2004 and 2005. In 2006 things would turn around. We kind of did not

believe him at the time, but actually what he predicted was right on the mark.

He knew accrual accounting was coming and every province in Canada must adhere

to it. He understood that there would be a structural deficit, but he also told

us that in 2006, 2007 things would turn around based on the new royalty regime

that our previous government had put in place for the new developments offshore.

They were true words, because right now we are seeing the benefits of that

investment offshore.

The Minister of Finance in his speech said we have an eight-year blueprint.

Well, I must remind the Minister of Finance, an eight-year blueprint is four

years beyond this term. I think one of the key things that this present

government talked about was a strategy, a plan for rural Newfoundland. I will go

into that deeper as we get into this Budget, but as of today it is quite

apparent we do not have one. Now the Minister of Finance, in his own words, did

say that we have a large reliance on oil and gas. He said: the most significant

fiscal challenge facing Newfoundland and Labrador is the burden of debt we

inherited. Well, I would think the best advantage that you have as a new

government is the inheritance of natural resources that are generating the

revenue today that you are able to spend. That would be one thing that you have

not acknowledged.

When you look at the Province's overall Budget and you look at the fact

that our economy here in this Province is not really that diverse - and the

Minister of Finance will agree to that himself. He said: Achieving the surplus

took careful fiscal management. Revenues for the year were down overall

primarily because of longer-than-expected shutdown at Terra Nova.

Last year when I got up to speak, I said: Thank goodness we are surrounded by

oil. You know, oil has been the mainstay of the economy of this Province for

several years now since our first Hibernia development and then the others came

on stream. Hibernia, of course, was our first development and, after that, a

former government changed the royalty regimes so, in fact, this year we will

collect $1 billion in offshore royalties and mineral royalties. One billion

dollars, one-fifth of our whole Budget, will come from offshore royalties. When

you look at that, everything is riding on our offshore oil industry.

Now, the Auditor General outlined in his report this year some key pieces of

information that I think are worth sharing. I think what you have to look at is,

he is saying we need, as a Province - if we do not generate any more new

activity by way of a large project or anything else - a $300 million surplus

every year for the next forty years to eliminate our current debt of $11

billion.

Now, we are looking out for the next year. When a Budget is brought down by a

Finance Minister of government, he is really just looking out to the next year.

Based on the spending and the revenues that he knows he is going to have in the

Treasury for this coming year, he can already tell there is going to be surplus

money at the end of the year of $261 million. Now, that is predicting that oil

prices stay the same. If oil prices drop, well, naturally, we are going to have

to do some belt tightening before the year is out.

Of course, the Auditor General says that the Province has the highest net

debt of any province in Canada per capita, $23,000 for every Newfoundlander and

Labradorian, so that figure has not changed. There was a small amount of money

put on our debt, I think about $70 million, but that is nothing in relation to

the big picture of what we owe.

I do not know what the former Finance Minister would have done with his

spending, knowing he had a big surplus. I do not know if he would have spent it

in the same direction or whether he would not have, but that is immaterial at

this point; we know where it is going to be spent.

I think what is important to note as well is that economists all across the

country are telling us, as a Province, that we have to watch what we are doing

here. Two thousand and ten is going to be a year when it is crunch time, because

if we do not have any large projects that are coming on stream by that time we

will be in a declining mode - a declining mode - which means that our revenues

will start to dry up because our natural resources will be starting to wind

down.

As I said, the only amount of money that was put on the provincial debt this

year by the government, although they had a surplus, was $70 million, so putting

$70 million on a debt of $11 billion is just like a drop in the bucket.

MR. DENINE: What about the pension liability (inaudible)?

MS THISTLE: The Member for Mount Pearl is saying: What about the pension

liability? Even with the money put on, the $2 billion put on the pension debt,

we still owe $11 billion.

Now, that was a good thing, looking after the teachers' unfunded liability.

I do not know if you got the rewards of doing that, because I heard Kevin Foley,

when I was out there last week in a scrum. In fact, the Member for Mount Pearl

was there and he gave up his chair to me so I could have a few words to say, but

I do not know if you got the bang for your $2 billion bucks as you thought you

were going to get. He outlined publicly that there is still a shortage of

teachers and he is not satisfied, as the President of the NLTA, that this

government, although they have addressed textbooks and school fees and

maintenance and new school construction, they still have not addressed, to his

satisfaction, the number of teachers who are going to be left in the system to

teach our children. I don't know if you got the best advantage for the $2

billion you spent. You will have to decide that yourselves.

MR. DENINE: We have already decided that, and the answer is yes.

MS THISTLE: You already decided that, did you?

MR. DENINE: Yes.

MS THISTLE: So, you are satisfied with what the President of the NLTA

said?

MR. DENINE: No.

MS THISTLE: No. Well, how could you be satisfied that you got the best

advantage? I think he is confused. I think the Member for Mount Pearl is

confused.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MS THISTLE: You didn't miss it. You missed it alright.

What we have to look at is: We have $2 billion that has to come from Ottawa

in order for us to balance our budget and give us a surplus. Now, it is clear

that our Premier had more luck with Paul than he is having with Steve. Now, you

know, we have always been at odds with Ottawa, because when the former Premier,

Roger Grimes, was here sitting across the way Paul Martin could have settled up

that deal on the Atlantic Accord with Roger Grimes. He chose not to do it. Now,

we are into a situation with the Prime Minister of Canada and our Premier at

odds. What is new? Nothing has changed. It doesn't make any difference who is

at the helm in Ottawa, generally speaking Newfoundland and Labrador are

generally at odds with them.

Maybe if you wait a few months, he will be able to deal with St phane

instead of Steve. Who knows, probably you will have more luck convincing him.

There are all kinds of variations of the equalization. It is so complicated,

even the Chief Economist, Wade Locke, had problems with the figures that he got,

trying to work out whether or not we had a good deal or a bad deal. We know that

we have a deal that was signed in 2005 that is still on the books, and we have a

choice: We can stick with that deal or we can go with the new deal. I am sure

there has to be a lot of toing and froing before this government decides whether

or not they will take the new deal.

Mr. Speaker, economists across the country are saying that, right now, next

to Alberta, we are actually leading the way across Canada with our growth and

GDP. Ours is set at 2.8 per cent and the closest one to us - of course, well,

Alberta, I mean, you are never going to reach Alberta. Theirs is 6.8 per cent

and we are next at 2.8 per cent. What they are saying, Stats Canada tied

Newfoundland's improvement to the first full year of production at the Voisey's

Bay nickel mine and the offshore White Rose oil field. Now, this is what Stats

Canada are saying.

I remember when our current Premier was in the Opposition and he always

talked that he could drive a Mack truck right through the legislation for Voisey's

Bay. Now, as far as I know, I have not seen that Mack truck go through the

legislation. The only thing I seen the Mack truck do so far was deposit money in

the provincial Treasury.

I know the Minister of Finance agrees with me, that the Mack truck comes up

to the Confederation Building every two weeks and they deposit money in the

public Treasury, whether it be in the form of taxation, taxes on goods and

services they purchased, or personal income tax by the employees who are working

there. So the Premier was wrong in making that statement. He is actually very

grateful, I am sure, that there was a project for the Voisey's Bay and he and

his government are now the recipient of new revenue that they have not created.

Stats Canada economists all across our country are warning this government

that we have an artificial economy that is built only on our natural resources.

We have not diversified as this new government said they would do. The Minister

of Finance is saying: We are forecasting that total direct revenues from

offshore projects will be over $1.25 billion this fiscal year. I believe I

already alluded to that.

This is going to be one of the greatest returns on our oil investment and

mineral royalties this particular year coming up. Now, it was nothing that this

particular new government did to enhance that figure. It was a new royalty

regime that our former government struck and, as a result of that, we are now

getting more revenues for our offshore oil and also for our minerals.

Of course, I am going to have the advantage and the opportunity next week to

actually attend the official opening of the Duck Pond Mine in Millertown. Now

that dream is a reality. Whoever thought that we would be having a new mine in

Millertown? When the mine closed in Buchans, in 1982, I do not think that

anybody ever thought that Central Newfoundland would come on the map again when

it came to mining. Although there are lots of people in Buchans area, Millertown,

who said, you know, we have not even scratched the surface of the motherlode

yet.

I know that next week will be a milestone for sure, because I remember

several mayors of the community of Millertown and they all seemed to be

optimistic and say yes, I believe that mine will actually happen, and it has.

They went into production, actually, in January of this year. So, next

Wednesday, May 9, I will have an opportunity to actually be in Millertown for

the official opening.

That has been a wonderful boost to Central Newfoundland and it is a private

concern, Aur Resources, that did not have any government involvement, a private

company that decided to put a mine in Millertown, Duck Pond. That particular

mine, during the construction phase, hired as many as 300 people to work on the

site, and now that they are up and running they will have roughly 200 people,

full-time jobs. Can you imagine what 200 full-time jobs are doing to Millertown

and surrounding area? In fact, I know that the Member for Windsor-Springdale is

glad because a lot of the people from his district, and also the Member for Baie

Verte, a lot of people from their districts, are currently employed because they

had mining experience.

This is a underground mine, and I had the opportunity last year, with my

colleague from Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, both of us visited the mine site

last summer and we went underground. At that time it was four kilometres of

underground mining in place. A wall, a tunnel, had been built four kilometres

underground. It was my very first time that I had been underground, and I

wondered what it would be like, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was very,

very nice. The air was fresh, and it was quiet, and I could understand how

people would actually like to work there. Of course, they have every piece of

modern technology to ensure that worker safety is adhered to and so on.

In fact, what is different about this is that we have been able to attract a

number of females. A number of females have actually come to work at Aur

Resources on the mine site. They have been trained for work underground at

Corona College in Grand Falls-Windsor, and I am proud to say that the owner, the

President of Corona College, Ms Bernice Walker, was just named the Entrepreneur

of the Year for Central Newfoundland, so congratulations Bernice.

One of the programs being offered by Corona College is underground mining, so

that has been a huge benefit. The lifespan of this particular mine is expected

to be anywhere from eight to ten years but, from all indications that we are

hearing already, that could be much longer because they are a lot of junior

companies in the area that now will be feasible because of the mill at Duck Pond

being able to refine their ore.

Currently, the ore from Aur Resources Duck Pond Mine is being shipped to Turf

Point - that is out around Port au Port - and they go over the Millertown road

to Buchans Highway and then over the Trans-Canada out west until they reach Turf

Point.

I had the advantage of going up to Millertown about four weeks ago and I saw

that double hauler truck about eighty-three feet long that hauls the ore out

right to Turf Point. It was a bit of an issue at the time that they started out

because they roughly have ten trucks a day, a double belly hauler that is

hauling this ore to Turf Point.

Of course, that is why I was so insistent talking to the Minister of

Transportation and Works, that he improve the road up there so the safety issue

would be addressed; but, you know, he did give me some money. Not nearly enough.

The only amount of money that was given to improve or repair the road on the

Buchans Highway was $600,000. We all know that, with the price of asphalt today,

you can basically only pave about one kilometre of asphalt highway for about

$130,000 to $150,000, and with the repairs on the shoulders what do you expect

to get from that?

Now, you see, that is where this government falls down. There is a mine up

there in Millertown, as I just said, putting all kinds of money into the

government coffers, and the government is supposed to be shouldering up rural

Newfoundland. Well, this is one time that they are not doing it. They should be

improving the highways so people can get to work and school children can be safe

riding on their bus from Millertown to Buchans. Government has seen, in their

lack of wisdom, not to invest any more money in this highway. So, that is wrong.

I looked on the weekend in The Telegram and I saw "Summer work -

winter work". It was a story of a fisherman from Port Union who left his

home on Boxing Day with two others and headed to Alberta. Now, these are

fishermen who were fishing crab. They left on Boxing Day to go out to Alberta to

work. They are going to come home this summer to work if prices are good and

they see that it is going to work out. This is a typical family that always

worked at the fishing industry and now are going to find that in order to

sustain themselves and their family they are going to have to head out to

Alberta in the winter and come back and fish in the summer. Now how long are

they going to do that? Once they realize that it is a huge hardship to be away

from their family, more than likely they are going to end up taking their family

out to Alberta and there will no fishing done in the summer. As a result of

that, there will be the loss of another family from that community.

Last night I saw on TV, fishing for stamps. I think it was something like

that. It was put off by Global TV. A stamp factory - maybe it was, I did not get

the title. It was heartbreaking to see. A fisherman from Placentia Bay, I think

his name was Johnson, and they had been fishing for almost 100 years, passed

down from father to son and so on. It was a typical family that had very little

education. As soon as they were old enough to go in a boat, they were in a boat.

It happened that way from father to son. He was saying that his son would be the

last generation who would ever step foot into a boat. He said his youngest son,

Curtis - I think his name was - did have his Grade 11. So he was in a much

better position, education wise, than his other family members, but we all know

today that Grade 11 does not get you very far. He started to fill up, last going

off on the show. He said he expected his son to be the last generation of

fishermen. It was interesting, when the show was over there was a little excerpt

that came up on the screen, sort of an update as to what these individuals had

done since. What was said about his son - his son decided not to go fishing. His

son decided to go to Alberta. There you go, the one hope that he had left for

his son to pick up the slack and carry on the tradition of fishing in a boat

like his father and his grandfather did not happen. The writing was on the wall.

The son decided that he would go to Alberta.

It was so pitiful to see the people from Harbour Breton, the women moving

stones from one location to the other. It was heartbreaking to see a proud

community that always worked full time - the plant was open all the time. Here

the women and men were involved in make-work, moving stones from one location to

the other. I mean it was pitiful, actually shameful, and we are in a Province

with a surplus this year of $261 million and to see women doing make-work jobs

like that.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance says that over the past three years an

estimated 3,400 person years of employment have been created in Newfoundland and

Labrador. That is not much, 3,400 jobs over four years. Where are those

full-time jobs? I wonder, can anybody name up where those full-time jobs are? I

looked at the government's own information in the back of their Budget book

and they are saying that the population in 2003 was 518,000 people. The

population as of July was 509,000. Stats Canada is saying it is 505,000. So,

there is a difference in numbers there. Even that, that is a difference of 9,000

people gone, by government's own information. That is not propaganda. If it

is, government printed it. From 2003 to 2006 there were 9,000 people who left

our Province to seek work outside. This government says that they have created

3,400 person years of employment.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a young fellow who says that he goes

out to Alberta for three weeks at a stretch and then home for two and back

again. One thing I would like for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to

do is tell me: How do you count the person who is out in Alberta working, his

wife and children are home here in Newfoundland? How do you count him? Is he

considered to be on our payroll; not on our payroll, on the list of people here

in our Province working? Is that particular individual counted as working in

Newfoundland, because he is paying income tax here and because he is paying

property tax here? I would like to know where that invisible workforce is? Are

they connected to Alberta or are they connected to Newfoundland and Labrador?

Are they an invisible workforce that sends their money back home but are not

living here? Are they considered to be part of the people who are working here?

I would like to have that question answered; I really would.

With 9,000 people leaving our Province in three years, more than likely 90

per cent of them are in Alberta. Some of them have their families here, and a

lot of them, of course, after a few years decide; well, we are not putting up

this, we will bring the family out as well. There are a number of people, you

only have to go out to the St. John's airport - now, of course, thank

goodness, Air Canada had decided to fly out of Gander two or three times a week

to Halifax, so we will be seeing more activity through Gander. I know there is a

lot of activity in Deer Lake, people from the Northern Peninsula using Deer Lake

as the airport where they fly to Alberta.

Of course, those companies in Alberta have hired chartered planes to actually

come and pick up our people from Newfoundland and Labrador and bring them out to

Alberta and bring them back. Now, it is not unusual - I have a book, I have it

with me here somewhere, that was published by a group of companies from Alberta,

that they are putting in mailboxes everywhere in Newfoundland and Labrador

trying to take our skilled workers who don't have a job and bring them out to

Alberta. They will give them a signing bonus, they will guarantee to look after

their housing, and they will fly them back and forth. Now, can you imagine how

much demand there is for skilled workers across Canada?

When the government, this new government here in our Province, says they have

created 3,400 person years of employment, when I think back to the numbers of

people employed, I know that with the Voisey's Bay they have an extra 600

people they have hired. The expansion of IOC in Labrador City and Wabush, Voisey's

Bay, as I said, the White Rose project and also Aur Resources in Millertown -

can you tell me: What did government have to do with that, creating those person

years? Would someone tell me? Government had no involvement in creating any of

those industry jobs, but they are saying that they did. I would like to know

what the Minister of Finance means when he says there are 3,400 new jobs

created.

I do agree with spreading the wealth and making sure the economic pie reaches

further than the Avalon. A lot of people on the Northeast Avalon have always

felt the advantage, the benefit, of our oil industry, whether it be in housing,

sales, new infrastructure going up. Look at the box stores on Stavanger Drive,

and look at what is happening around town and so on, and there is new business

created because of it.

For the people in Buchans Junction and on the Northern Peninsula and

everywhere else, they have not felt the benefits of our oil industries, so I

must say I would compliment the minister on the fact that he decided to give

everybody a break on their income tax. At least the benefit that we are

receiving from our oil industry will be felt by everyone who is working. That is

one of the advantages that, it is clear, we are glad happened.

In fact, when you talk about the people who will benefit from this tax

reduction, there is an indication, too, that the highest income earners in our

Province who make over, say, $65,000 or $100,000 or $150,000, they will have the

greatest gains, more so than the one at the bottom of the scale. So, I do not

know if it was necessary to provide the greatest tax advantage to the ones who

are earning the most money. We have to look after the ones in our society who

are not able to provide for themselves. I do not know if there is anything in

that tax advantage that will keep anybody actually here in our Province. Number

one is that they need a job.

We all saw the direction, of course, last year, the lineup on Kenmount Road

for the Capital Hotel, 9,000 people. I am sure the Member for Mount Pearl must

have dropped into the stadium last week at the Glacier in Mount Pearl and seen

5,000 people lined up for a job. I am sure he did that. To hear people who were

out at the Glacier in hopes of a job, and the companies that were here were

hoping to sign up 1,000 people to go out to Alberta to work. Imagine, they were

going to sign up 1,000 out of 5,000 who happened to turn up at the Glacier for

work.

You know, tax decreases are good. It puts more disposable income in the hands

of people so they will go out and they will buy things they would not normally

buy, and eventually the money will end up in government coffers anyway because

they will collect it through retail sales tax and other means, fees and so on,

that they would normally get.

Let's talk about fees. This new government, the Williams government, in

2004, their first Budget - and, of course, the Minister of Government Services

will know this - they put forward I think it was about 170 new fees that they

would collect $26 million on annually. Now, everybody complained about those

fees, because prior to 2004 they were paying $140 to get your driver's licence

renewed and they were paying $85 to get an ambulance; but government this year

decided, with the heat of everyone complaining about fees, they would drop some

of them back, but they did not touch the driver's licence. You are still going

to have to pay $180 to get your driver's licence renewed and you are still

going to have to pay $115 for a one-way trip if you get an ambulance.

You know, when I looked in the paper this weekend, I saw that the Premier's

executive staff, some of them got as high as between 8 per cent of a raise right

up to 17 per cent. The Director of Communications, her salary was $89,000 and

now it is $102,000. Can you imagine that? Twenty-three thousand dollars of a

salary increase in the one year for the Director of Communications. Do you know

how many ambulances you can get, or how many road trips you can do, for the

$23,000? Roughly two hundred ambulances can be called at $115 each for the

Director of Communication's increase in her salary.

Tell me, what is the Director of Communications doing to earn a salary of

$102,000? For anyone to go from $89,000 in one year to $102,000 the next year -

the same year - tell me. The Premier says, in the interview he did with Rob

Antle on the weekend, he defended the additional cash for the senior staff,

saying the bigger amounts reflect the actual responsibility of the position.

Now, is he the only one who ever had a Director of Communications? Every

Premier in this Province had a Director of Communications when they were

Premier. "I'm very demanding," Williams said - I am reading right

off the paper - "I'm not easy to work for...." I think we know that.

He said he is a workaholic. I would say every politician here in this room is a

workaholic. You ask any politician here if they are not a workaholic. Every one

of us here is a workaholic. If we get a phone call at 11:00 o'clock or 12:00 o'clock

in the night we answer it. If we are invited anywhere, we go, so everybody here

in this room is a workaholic.

He said, "So you can't pay people enough to work for me, I suppose,

for want of a better term." He said, "They're special staff."

My goodness, even if you are getting the minimum wage you are special staff.

I would say there are a good many out there today, across our Province, getting

the minimum wage who are doing their utmost to please their employer and doing

everything they can for that $7 an hour.

He said, "I know. And they can make that argument..." - he is

referring to the Public Service - but these staff, my executive, he said,

"They're special staff. They're a staff that are my senior advisers,

that are running a $5 billion corporation...." So, the Premier looks at the

whole government, which is almost $6 billion, as his own personal corporation,

and he has his executives to run it.

Well, let me tell you, the bureaucrats around this government in every

department are the ones who run the government. The Cabinet ministers and the

Premier give directions, but I can tell you what: the bureaucrats actually run

the government. Whenever there is a change from one stripe to the other,

government does not shut down. Government does not shut down when there is a

change in the political stripe from the Liberals to Tories. It doesn't change.

Maybe the next time it will be from Tories to Liberals. The government will not

shut down. It will keep in operation and everyone will get their cheque on time

and every inspection will be done and so on.

The Premier thinks that this special group here are the ones, his personal

staff, that are running a $5 billion corporation.

He has a Chief of Staff, can you imagine - everyone has a Chief of Staff, as

Premier - and his salary this year is going from $121,000 to $131,000. Now, that

is 8 per cent.

AN HON. MEMBER: How much?

MS THISTLE: One hundred and twenty-one to one hundred and thirty-one

thousand. Now, I do not know of anyone around the Province who is going to get

an increase like that.

The biggest increase goes to the manager, percentage wise not dollar wise.

The Manager of Community Outreach, that is a new position. I never heard tell of

that before. Instead of making $68,000, that person is going to make $79,000.

AN HON. MEMBER: That is organizing campaigns.

MS THISTLE: That is organizing campaigns. That is that person's job; 17

per cent, mind you. Director of Operations, going from $69,000 to $82,000. A 17

per cent increase in one year. Boy, they must be good.

Now, what is this? A principal assistant. That is an assistant to the

principal, is it? I guess that is the first assistant to the Premier. That

salary is going from $83,000 to $90,000, an 8 per cent increase. Then they have

a special advisor on top of that, going from $85,000 to $92,000, another 8 per

cent. Then there is a brand new position, a Deputy Chief of Staff. We have a

Chief of Staff making $131,000 and now we have a Deputy Chief of Staff making

$95,000. The Director of Communications, she is going to get a big raise, 14 per

cent in one year, from $89,000 to $102,000.

This government, the one who has a surplus of $261 million, could not see

their way clear to put the ambulance fees back to $85 like they were when they

took over the government, but they can pay all these increases in salaries. I

bet these people never came up to the Premier and said: I cannot do my work, I

need this increase in salary.

AN HON. MEMBER: They are afraid of him.

MS THISTLE: No, he said he is hard to work for.

AN HON. MEMBER: So they are afraid of him.

MS THISTLE: So, they are afraid of him. They never came up to the Premier

and said: Now, Mr. Premier, if you do not pay me an 18 per cent increase on my

salary I am leaving. They would not say that to the Premier because they said he

is very demanding and he was not easy to work for. So none of them asked for

that raise, but the Premier decided he would give it to them.

As I said, the Director of Communications got an increase of $23,000 on her

salary. That is enough money there to call up 200 ambulances at $115 a trip.

There are seniors out there today afraid to take the telephone and call an

ambulance because they do not have the $115 to pay for it. They figure that if

they wait until the morning they might be better and they will not need an

ambulance because it is $115, but the Premier got lots of money. He decided to

increase her salary by $23,000, enough to call 200 ambulances.

Anyway, let's move on. There is $21 million in new fee money that could

have been given back to the people of this Province because we do have a

surplus. The Minister of Finance said that probably a dozen times during his

speech, we do have a surplus, but he could not find it in his heart and soul to

say to anyone out there who is driving a car, you are still going to have to pay

$180. There is something sneaky about all of this, because they are saying that

if you go online, use your computer and pay your driver's licence online, you

are going to get a 10 per cent reduction. Now I figure that is the only job

creation they are going to have. There is somebody out there listening to this

and they are going to go and use their computer and everyone that is in the

community, they are going to say: Well, George, boy, come on up to the house and

pay your driver's licence on my computer. I will get the 10 per cent reduction

and we will split it. Now, that is the make-work; that is the make-work they are

coming up with. Yes, there is somebody in every community in Newfoundland and

Labrador today saying they have a computer and there is going to be 10 per cent

off that $180. That is $18, and that is easy money. You come on up to the House,

boy, no need to go to the bank. Come on up the House, boy, I will do that for

you now. Listen, it is going to cost you though. You are not going to get that

10 per cent back and put it in your wallet. I wants $8 or $10 for doing that.

How much is a case of beer now, boys?

AN HON. MEMBER: I don't know.

MS THISTLE: You don't know? Eighteen dollars they are going to get

back. They are going to say: Well, all right then, maybe we will have a

celebration, or maybe I will charge $8 or $10. There you go now.

There is another motive behind that 10 per cent. The Premier is dead set on

putting forward the fibre optic deal. The Premier is dead set on putting forward

the fibre optic deal. He wants everybody around Newfoundland and Labrador to be

hooked up to an Internet system. He wants everybody to be online. Maybe this is

a way to sell fibre optics to everybody in the Province because when they go to

pay something online they will get a 10 per cent discount. Maybe there will be

more people signing up for fibre optics. When I saw the 10 per cent reduction

for paying online, people are still not getting the advantage of the low - it is

not the low fee; $140 is not low to renew your driver's license. Check

anywhere across Canada, we are the highest. Now, they are going to take off

eighteen dollars, 10 per cent, if you go in online and pay it. Now, how many

seniors, can you tell me, or the Minister of Government Services, how many

seniors have a computer?

MS WHALEN: You would be surprised how many have them.

MS THISTLE: You would be surprised how many haven't. I don't know too

many seniors in a lot of parts of my district who have - now, they might have

them in yours, but there are a good many seniors in rural Newfoundland and

Labrador who do not have a computer. They haven't got a computer and you haven't

dropped $100 for them to go out and get their medicals. That is another charge

you brought in that you haven't changed.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MS THISTLE: Twenty-seven million, yes, and they took off $5 million, so

there is still $21 million you are getting every year over and above what the

fees were in 2003.

We are going to see a whole lot of new businesses springing up out around

rural Newfoundland and Labrador now. Maybe you will be able to add them into the

jobs you created; who knows.

We are moving along through the Minister of Finance's speech, and we are

seeing that the Minister of Business is going to put $25 million into a business

attraction fund. I had the opportunity of looking at the minister's business

plan a while ago. We all know that the new government, the Williams Government,

has not really addressed the out-migration problem in rural Newfoundland and

Labrador. It was interesting when I looked at the Department of Innovation,

Trade and Rural Development and I saw that everything with this government is

based on a strategy; a strategy for this and a strategy for that. As long as you

can say you are doing something, and you don't have to show the results, it

looks like you are doing something. I counted up in the book last night for

Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, and how many strategies do you think

the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development had? They had eleven.

I thought they were going to have one for every month, but I guess there was one

month they decided to take a holiday. They had eleven strategies.

Now, the Minister of Business - that was a department that was supposed to be

the Premier's shining department. He was going to be the minister, but last

year he gave it over the Member for Gander. You know, the funny part about this

is that every minister in the Cabinet had to produce a book telling the world

what their plan was to develop within their own department and how they were

going to run it and so on. I was very critical of the Minister of Business

booklet that he put out because, you know, it basically said nothing. It just

said what the policy of the department was, and what they were planning to do.

It said nothing about how many jobs he was going to create, where he was going

to create them, and when we could look forward to seeing jobs on the horizon.

The only thing he did say, and I thought it was kind of funny because I looked

at the Office of the Executive Council and that is one that the Premier himself

- that is his own plan, and he said: as Premier, I am accountable for the

preparation of this plan and for the achievement of its goals and objectives.

The Premier said there is no gender bias with Executive Council, and I am

glad to see this. I do not know what this has to do with it, but the Premier

said: the Office of the Executive Council has a staff complement of fifty-six,

approximately 71 per cent female and 29 per cent male.

Okay, that is fine. I am sure women and men have the same expertise when it

comes to running a business and running the department.

I guess the Minister of Business, in his wisdom, wanted to copy off the

Premier and he says: the Department of Business is located on the sixth floor of

the Confederation Building, East Block, and they have a budget of $4 million.

They have a staff of thirty-five people, and 67 per cent, mind you, 67 per cent

of the positions filled to date are occupied by females.

Now, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Now, what has

that to do with the price of tea in China, that the Minister of Business- I am

glad that there is no gender bias with the Minister of Business, but why would

you have to point out how many women are working and how many men are working?

Is it because the Premier decided to do that with his Executive Council? It has

nothing to do with developing business. I am glad women are employed, but why do

you need to make a special statement about it? It seems odd to me.

I think the most telling thing about the whole book is this: the minister's

strategic directions. Now, mind you, the Minister of Business has a working

budget of $4 million and he has eleven on staff. Now, he has four ideas that he

is going to create businesses around this Province. One is business attraction,

the other one is business support, the next one is marketing, and the other one

is regulatory environment reform. Now, according to him, where the Xs are marked

there are three blocks. One is for a business plan, one is for an operational

plan, and one is for a work plan. Guess where all the plans are? Has anybody

across the way any idea where all the Minister of Business plans are?

I heard he was out talking about all the business he is going to create.

Well, you know, all of those plans are in a book like this one. They are in a

book like this. The Minister of Business has all of his plans in a book like

this. Not one of them are in operation, and not one of them are in the working

stage. Can you imagine?

This Department of Business was created in 2004 with the first Budget. There

have been millions of dollars put in that department, and any plans they had for

developing new business are still in a book like this one. There is not one of

those plans in operation, and there is not one working plan in place.

Imagine, the Premier let him publish this book for all to see, for all the

world to see; but, you see, he can take comfort that he is not the only one who

did that. The Minister of Business does not have to be embarrassed too much

about that because one of his colleagues did the same thing.

The Minister of Business really does not have - he says he has twenty-five

working files of new business opportunities coming to this Province. Well, I

guess they have been on his desk for four years because we have not seen

anything happen.

Now, don't be embarrassed too much, Minister of Business, because the

Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development did the same thing. He did

the very same thing. I do not know how the Premier actually let him publish the

book, because if the Premier ever knew that this book was going out for the

public to see he would have put a halt to it right away.

Here you have a strategic plan. It is all about strategies, you know. Now,

you cannot eat strategies in the hungry month of March but this crowd, the new

government, has a strategic plan for every department.

The Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development apparently has eleven

strategies in this book, of what he is going to do to create employment in this

Province. Do you know something? He has the biggest budget that you could ever

see in this book; it is called Estimates 07 . The Innovation, Trade and

Rural Development budget - can you imagine this? - $58 million. That is $58

million. He has 154 people on his staff, going around the Province thinking that

they are going to be creating new businesses. They have been four years in the

works and what did they create? Nothing. I could not believe it. Here is a book,

an activity plan, that was put out by the Rural Secretariat, Executive Council.

It says, strategic directions of Minister Taylor. This is what it says on page

9, strategic directions of Minister Taylor. I cannot believe it. Isn't it the

government, the Williams' government? Isn't it the strategic directions of

the government? No, this is strategic directions of Minister Taylor.

Now, out of this strategic plan that rural development has here, they have

eleven strategies, and they have charts just like the Minister of Business, in

his booklet as well, and there is not one of these plans in the working stages.

Not one. They are still on the shelf. They are still being worked on by the

staff, and we have 154 people there employed at a cost of $58 million a year and

not one of these plans is in operation.

I do not know how the Premier let this publication pass by and did not do

anything about it, but it is there for the whole world to see and there is not

one thing being done.

When I looked at the Rural Secretariat, I could not believe what I saw. In

April, 2005, they formed nine regional councils across the Province. All of

these people have to find a way to get together and talk about how they are

going to improve the well-being and the economy of our Province. Now, they had

350 people wanting to get in on it, but they only accepted 133 because they

wanted them to come from different sectors, cultural social backgrounds and so

on. Do you know what? Each of those councils meet twice a year, and who pays the

tab? The government.

This is a picture here of 133 people doing what they call having a gathering

for dialogue day - now mind you, dialogue day. One hundred and thirty-three

people went to that. This dialogue day right here was in Steady Brook in Marble

Mountain. They had all the regional council members, 133 of them; they had the

PC caucus; they had the deputy ministers; they had the chair of the provincial

council of the Rural Secretariat. They had all of these people, 133 of them,

plus all the bureaucrats with them over at Marble Mountain. This is October,

2005. These groups, they meet twice a year and the government picks up the tab.

After that big famous meeting they had, the Minister of Innovation, Trade and

Rural Development and the Minister of Business comes out with their new book,

and not a thing in it, empty. After having these dialogue days with 133 regional

councils, government picking up the tab - all over the Province. Sometimes they

met in Burin, other times they went to Marble Mountain. They pick a different

place every time they have a meeting. Then after all of that chaw', all of

that chatter and everything that goes with it, the Cabinet ministers came back

and they said: Oh, we have a strategy. They published these books for everyone

to look at. Guess what? Not a thing in them. Not a working plan in place.

Anything that they talked about is still on the shelf, and no jobs created. No

jobs created. How could they get away with that? What they did, they decided

that they would name every strategy a new one to give the impression that they

were developing something new and wonderful. Yet, for all of that, nothing comes

out of these strategies. You have all of these diversification funds, you have a

huge budget for rural development but there are no jobs.

I would like for someone to stand on their feet now and tell me how many jobs

you created over the past four years. I would like for someone to stand up and

tell me how many jobs you created over the past four years. I know what you

created in make-work, I saw that. The Tories topped the list with municipal

spending for make-work.

The Member for Baie Verte, I think was the prize winner, even in government

times and Opposition times. He was the prize winner. The Member for Baie Verte

never lost his touch in getting money for make-work. Even in Opposition times he

always topped the scale and even when he is in government he did the same thing.

AN HON. MEMBER: The crowd in Baie Verte are going to miss him.

MS THISTLE: Yes, the crowd in Baie Verte are going to miss him. No more

make-work for sure.

MR. HICKEY: They are not going to miss you though, from Grand Falls, I

can tell you.

MS THISTLE: Oh, they are, and I am going to miss them too because I

enjoyed every moment.

Well, there is one thing about me, Minister of Transportation, I do tell the

truth. When I get up to speak I will be fair and I will give credit where credit

is due, and I will talk about the good things that are in this Budget. I will

not try to be negative about those but it is my job, being the critic, to also

indicate where you might have fallen down on the job or where you could improve

spending and having the money to do so. That is constructive criticism, it is

not negativity. That is my job to do, as long as I am the Member for Grand

Falls-Buchans. So, you can put any name you want on these strategies and unless

you produce results, you can call them whatever you wish but they do not mean

anything.

It was very enlightening when the Auditor General - because we always heard

the Minister of Transportation and Works get on his feet and talk about all the

spending that is being done on provincial roads in our Province. He was always

giving the indication that this particular government was spending more on roads

and transportation than any previous Liberal government, but now the truth came

from the Auditor General in his report this year. Do you know that the Auditor

General said? He said actual expenditures incurred by the department on road

construction activity has decreased significantly from 2001 to 2005. It said the

Province's road construction expenditures decreased by 55 per cent, from a

high of $80 million in 2002 to a low of $36 million in 2005. Which proves that

you cannot believe all the propaganda you hear, but we can depend on the Auditor

General to give us the facts.

What the Auditor General is saying is that it is all about a communication

spin that this particular minister put out. It was incorrect. The Auditor

General is giving us the facts here in this Auditor General's book. He is

saying that there was actually a decrease in road construction, road

maintenance, since this particular government came into existence. You have to

realize, for the past two years this new government had a surplus to work with.

What we heard from the minister was basically incorrect. The figures that were

given, funding for maintenance of the Province's roads excluding snow and ice

has remained relatively constant between 2001 and 2006, at an average of $20

million annually - what we heard from the current minister was, I guess, an

exaggeration, to put it mildly.

Now, there is no doubt about it that our roads need attention, and all of us

who live in rural Newfoundland and Labrador are on the highway every week and we

know that a lot of them are in hard shape. I don't see anything there, in big

measure, that is going to help rural Newfoundland infrastructure; I really don't.

Sometimes you can look after a school that is dilapidated and put a new one in

place, but what we are seeing in recent years is that our school children are

having to travel further to get their education. I know there is a huge issue on

the Eastport Peninsula where children from Salvage are actually having to travel

to Glovertown. A lot of kids are on the bus an hour and a half and two hours a

day. That is not a healthy situation, and it is still not a safe situation

either.

I don't know how you can expect children to be ready for school, ready to

learn, when they have been on a bus, shook up over the highway, for probably an

hour or an hour and a half before school starts; and the same thing in the

evenings. Sure, when they get home they only want to flop in front of the

television and get their supper. You talk about trying to be involved with

school activities in the community! That is impossible.

Our population, the way it is going now, with no help for rural Newfoundland,

I don't know how we are going to end up.

Look at our oil industry. The big question on people involved with the oil

industry is sustainability. The money we are seeing now is like a flash in the

pan. For the next several years we will have basically the same revenue,

increased revenue actually. As more oil production is put out we will have

greater royalties. But without another new project to fill the void when

Hibernia runs out, and the others, where are we? It is key, as the oil community

are saying, that we need another project. We need our Premier to be able to

actually sit down and negotiate another project. Without that, we are going to

be in hard shape. All the predictions are there.

If you look in The Economy book this year you will find out that we have some

lean times coming up unless we can develop a new project. The government are

saying it themselves. It is not something that I am dreaming up and I am

actually saying. The government is saying that the value of manufacturing

shipments deceased by 10 per cent in 2006 due to a decline in the value of fish

product, newsprint and fabricated metal shipments. Newsprint shipments declined

by 22 per cent in 2006 to 594,000 tonnes due to the closure of the Stephenville

mill; and, of course, we all know right now that the price is down for newsprint

across the world so that is going to have a huge impact.

I was very pleased to see that our own mill in Grand Falls-Windsor were able

to find their $10 million that they had to find in order to continue on as they

are. That was met by the employees of the mill in Grand Falls-Windsor and voted

on by the end of March and that looks good for this year; however, prices are

expected to decline by 7 per cent this year so that is an issue that we will

have to take into account as well.

I think the big telling item here is the capital investment. That is the

investment that companies, private groups, invest in our Province. Take, for

instance, a new retail outlet probably by Costco or Kent or Home Depot, or a car

dealership or a hotel or a resort or whatever. These are private entrepreneurs

that see this Province as a good place to invest and a good place to start a

business and grow a business and where they can expect to make a profit.

The Premier, I guess, and his government are saying that next year capital

investment is projected to decrease by 7 per cent. Now, that is really

significant. When you look in The Economy book for this year and you see that

capital investment is roughly $8 billion, that is a lot of money. Anyone who is

doing any kind of renovations or extensions or new construction or whatever -

and a lot of this, of course, is government's own source of investments where

they are going to be building schools and hospitals and clinics and road work

and whatever. Government's own investments account for a lot of that. When you

look at the fact that government has stated in their own publication that 7 per

cent is going to be reduced this coming year in capital investment, that tells a

different story. That says that people do not have the same faith in this

Province as they once had, and for that reason they look at the financial future

as being uncertain.

Most people today, that you talk to about this Budget, they are happy with

it. I would think probably in excess of 90 per cent of the people are happy with

it, but it is a flash in the pan, because if we do not sustain that revenue

regeneration through oil and minerals, because this government has not

diversified our economy one bit, where are we going to be in the years to come?

Of course, everyone is saying that 2010 will tell the story. Unless we have some

unusual new activity, an injection of new business, a new project, in 2010 it

will be crunch time.

Government are also saying that housing starts are expected to decline by 8

per cent, or almost 2,100 units less will be built this year. Twenty-one hundred

homes that would normally be built in Newfoundland and Labrador will not be

built next year.

Now, here we are with a surplus here in this Province of $206 million, after

this government has made strategic investments, particularly social, and we have

a surplus, but yet the business community are saying that there is going to be a

7 per cent decrease in investments in new construction in this Province, and

there are also going to be 2,100 less houses built.

Now, the greatest indicators of an economy in this Province, or anywhere in

the world for that matter, is generally new housing starts and car sales, but

there was a reduction, actually, in car sales last year of 2 per cent in this

Province. These are the two greatest indicators, because we have all watched it

ourselves and the oil industry people are telling us that things are going to

dry up. The warning signs are out there. A lot of businesses, particularly

around the Northern Avalon, Northeast Avalon, that had been geared up for

another project have locked their doors and moved out. There are a lot of

companies around this community here that are out a lot of money, that were

gearing up for a big project that did not happen.

Right now we are wallowing in all this extra cash, and I have to say that it

was not generated by this particular government, but they are finding the

benefits of it. It was all done by a previous government, but right now you have

cash that you can spend on different parts of society; which is a good thing. As

a result of that, a lot of people are going to be looked after, but there is a

huge problem facing this government which they do not want to even look at close

to an election. This is an election Budget. They were fortunate to have all this

money to play with. They addressed a lot of needs around the Province, and I am

glad that a lot of groups and people were able to benefit from this Budget.

In fact, I looked through the Budget again and I saw that there is going to

be a new investment in tourism. It was interesting, the Finance Minister said

there is going to be $1 million extra for tourism marketing. I had this e-mail

the same day that the minister stood on his feet. It was addressed to the

Premier and copied to me. This is something that the Minister of Tourism,

Culture and Recreation should look at. It says: I am wondering when the comfort

station will be built at Sir Richard Squires Memorial Park. My family and I have

been camping there for the past twenty-five years and I was very excited to hear

that a comfort station would be built. It was supposed to be