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April 29, 2024 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol. L No. 69

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we begin today, I would like to welcome in the Speaker's gallery, former Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay, Deputy Speaker and a good friend, Brian Warr.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: In the public gallery, I'd like to welcome students from Heritage Collegiate and their teacher Paula Dooley.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Also in the public gallery, welcome to Ronnie Coady. He is joined by his wife Raylene and their children Lila and Natalie. Ronnie will be recognized this afternoon in a Member's statement.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

SPEAKER: Today we'll hear statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of Placentia - St. Mary's, Placentia West - Bellevue, St. George's - Humber, Stephenville - Port au Port and St. John's Centre.

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

S. GAMBIN-WALSH: Speaker, the Town of St. Mary's has a mother-daughter award winning duo. Each year, the 4-H National Awards recognize extraordinary contributions of supporters, volunteers and alumni who embody the mission of 4-H and make an impact on the youth in the communities they serve.

The Volunteer Leader of the Year Awards are given to a leader in each province. Yvonne Bishop of the Zodiac 4-H Club, a resident of St. Mary's, is the 2023 Newfoundland and Labrador provincial winner. Her daughter, Amy, is the 2023 4-H Canada Leadership Excellence Awards of Distinction Recipient of a $20,000 scholarship for the pillar of environment and health in the science field of study. Amy will receive $5,000 annually while attending Memorial University.

Amy first joined the Zodiac 4-H Club over 10 years ago. She has held every executive position and credits 4-H with developing her leadership skills and helping her find her voice. She has sharpened her public speaking skills, racking up awards at competitions. Amy was a highly active student in high school, earning three back-to-back Scholar Athlete Awards for athletes who maintain a grade average of over 90 per cent.

Congratulations to the mother-daughter duo Yvonne and Amy Bishop.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Thank you, Speaker.

Today I rise in this hon. House to recognize the Marystown Lions Club in the beautiful District of Placentia West - Bellevue. The Marystown Lions Club was chartered in May of 1974 and on April 27, 2024, just this past weekend, I was honoured to join them to celebrate their 50th anniversary at their annual charter night.

The Lions are a non-profit organization made of volunteers who come together to raise money and give back to their communities in any time of need. The Marystown Lions take part and host many events including the Lions Recycle for Sight, community meals, goods bingo and participated in Earth Day with their electronic recycling.

From helping individuals in need, supporting other non-profit organizations and being strong community leaders, I stand here with pride to know we have such a great organization in our community for the people to utilize and admire.

Speaker, I ask all Members of the 50th General Assembly to please join me in congratulating the Marystown Lions Club on their 50th anniversary and wish them many more years of great success.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. George's - Humber.

S. REID: Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Beverley McIsaac of the Codroy Valley who passed away peacefully in March of this year, surrounded by her loving family after a courageous battle with cancer.

Many people in the District of St. George's - Humber know Beverley as a nurse practitioner but through her career, spanning over four decades, she worked as a registered nurse, a nurse practitioner and a nurse educator.

Her legacy is one of compassion, professionalism and a relentless pursuit of patient-care excellence. Beverley's devotion to nursing took her to various regions within the province and across the country, including Canada's North. Her tireless efforts left a mark, not just on her patients, but also on those who she inspired to become health care professionals and follow in her footsteps.

Speaker, Beverley served in many communities in the district I represent and was well liked and respected in the community.

I ask all Members of the House of Assembly to join with me in sending condolences to her family and paying tribute to Beverley McIsaac for the contribution she has made to health care in this province.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

T. WAKEHAM: Thank you, Speaker.

About three years ago Tracy Boland, a Stephenville resident, observed that seniors were struggling with some of the simplest things in life in order to stay in their own homes. Tracy decided to organize a small but mighty group of volunteers who were willing to take on the challenge to help. This group call themselves the Guardian Angels for Stephenville Seniors. Their main mission is to provide assistance to seniors who are living in their own homes.

Since starting the program, the Guardian Angels have helped seniors with a variety of tasks such as providing rides to doctors' appointments, shovelling driveways, minor home maintenance or any need that presents itself. They have been distributing food hampers, as well as hot meals and cold plates to combat the rising cost of living.

The group relies on the generosity of local businesses, as well as individuals who come forth with monetary donations and food items. Children from the local schools got involved by designing cards to brighten the seniors' day.

The biggest issue among seniors, as identified by the group, is loneliness and the Guardian Angels are working hard to make seniors' days a little brighter, one senior at a time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, Coady's Metal Works has produced custom ironwork and kept the art of blacksmithing alive in St. John's since 1882, that's 142 years. Ronnie Coady is the fifth generation to run the shop.

William Coady started Coady's Forge on the current site of Sir Humphrey Gilbert Building in 1882. Several moves and 94 years later, the business relocated to 110 Lime Street in 1976. People still visit the shop to reminisce or for small repairs. Ronnie serves the everyday customer, doing small welding jobs when most modern shops will not.

Ronnie and his father, Ron Sr., are proud of their family business' community support, longevity and resilience in a changing world. From hammering out 6,000 horseshoes a year as late as 1970, to fabricating ornamental spiral staircases, to serving the fishery, forestry, agriculture and mining industries; if it was made with metal, they made it. Coady's Metal Works still produces custom work, ornamental gates, and railings for homes, home decor and service repairs. You can see their quality work throughout the city.

Ronnie and his dad acknowledge the challenges facing small businesses but continue to work hard and thrive.

Please join me in recognizing the resilience and determination of the Coady family.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Speaker, on behalf of the provincial government and all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, I send my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the legendary broadcaster, Bob Cole.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

A. FUREY: The passing of the voice of Hockey Night in Canada is not just a loss for the nation of dedicated hockey fans but is especially emotional for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

He was an incredible man, with an incredible voice, an incredible storyteller. Hearing him call games played by our hockey heroes, allowed us all to dream. It helped us realize that, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we too could achieve great heights in any endeavour and on any stage.

While his impact on the world of hockey was indeed immense, he was something extra special for us, for the people of his beloved and his most celebrated on national TV home, Newfoundland and Labrador.

When you look at all achieved in his lifetime, all the awards, all the accolades, I think it can best be summed up in his words: “Oh baby!”

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, I would like to thank the Premier for an advance copy of his statement.

Bob Cole made all of us, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, fiercely proud. The voice of hockey in this country was one of our own. Week by week Bob Cole put us right there on the ice in the heat of the action. Families and friends came together on the weekend, eager to watch the game on the edge of their seats because of the way Bob called it, and dreaming of being part of it. Imagine how many of our finest athletes were inspired by Bob Cole's passion for the play by play.

He realized he had a gift for inspiring others and he used it to elevate all of us. He was a role model through and through, excelling at everything he did, whether in multiple sports or in broadcasting, or in just helping those in need. He helped bind this country together week after week from coast to coast to coast calling Canada's national game.

We are genuinely grateful for the hundreds of hours we all spent riveted by the games his voice brought to life in our homes. Those memories and recordings are now an indelible part of our proud national sports history.

To all Bob's family, and to the millions who've been inspired by him, we express our deepest sympathy on his passing.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

I thank the Premier as well for an advance copy of his statement.

Every Newfoundlander and Labradorian held a special sense of pride when they heard Bob Cole's distinctive voice announcing a hockey game. Even if you weren't a fan of hockey, you probably knew the voice.

He enthralled millions over his 50-year career with an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and an unparalleled ability to narrate, and a stellar personality.

We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Bob Cole, a Newfoundland and Labrador legend.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers.

The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

A. PARSONS: Speaker, last week, the Premier and I were pleased to be in Come By Chance to celebrate the refinery's 50-year history –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

A. PARSONS: – in the community and mark the beginning of a new era with the launch of renewable fuel production.

In February, Braya Renewable Fuels successfully commenced refinery operations, converting the traditional petroleum refinery into a renewable fuel-production facility, investing more than $1 billion into our province and drastically reducing emissions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

A. PARSONS: Our government recognizes the importance of this refinery and the jobs it supplies directly and indirectly to the local communities, to the region, and to the entire province. It's why, in January of 2021, we provided $16.6 million in funding to keep the refinery in warm-idle mode, as the owners at the time searched for a buyer or investor.

We were pleased that our support provided the owners with the time necessary to secure the investment to convert the refinery to sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel production, securing employment for workers and a long-term, environmentally sustainable solution.

On March 27, Braya's first ever shipment of biofuel, produced from soya bean oil, was exported from Newfoundland and Labrador to a customer based in California.

Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in congratulating Braya Renewables, its employees and the Come By Chance region on this milestone.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

L. PARROTT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

It is truly commendable to witness the transformation of the refinery in Come By Chance from being the biggest emitter of carbon in the province to becoming one of the lowest emitters in the entire industry. This shift towards renewable fuel production marks a significant milestone in the refinery's 50-year history and sets the stage for a new era of sustainability. It is imperative for the government, not only to celebrate this accomplishment, but to also make a steadfast commitment to continue supporting our oil and gas industry workers throughout our province.

Balancing the need for economic growth and job security in the industry with environmental concerns is a delicate task that requires strategic decision-making.

As we congratulate Braya Renewables, its employees and the Come By Chance region on its remarkable achievement, let's also reaffirm our commitments to supporting workers in the oil and gas industry while ensuring a sustainable future for our beautiful province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

J. BROWN: Thank you, Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

We are very pleased to see that the refinery has reached this milestone. It provides good jobs and a good income for many people of our province and it has worked towards a green future and positioning ourselves towards a future in biofuels.

This hasn't come without hazards. We call upon government to make sure that all workplaces have safety standards and maintain the facilities so that workers can come home every day from their job safely. We want to make sure that government also applies that for all industries across this province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Are there are further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

T. WAKEHAM: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, today we're focusing on mental health and addictions, a topic that hits home in one way or another to every single Member in this Chamber and those watching at home. Newfoundland and Labrador has seen an extreme increase in deaths from overdoses.

I ask the Premier: How many people have died because of overdose in our province in 2023?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, we share the sentiments from the Member opposite as every family has been touched, either directly or indirectly, with respect to mental health and addictions and I'm sure many Members in this Chamber are no different.

We'll continue to do our best to ensure that we're putting in policies to support mental health and addictions across the province, Mr. Speaker. This is a problem that has gripped the entire nation, starting west and moving east. We're not immune here, Mr. Speaker. That's why the Minister of Health and I take this very serious, as does our entire government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Thank you, Speaker.

The answer is 51, according to an ATIPP request we received in February. That's an increase of 143 per cent since 2019.

Speaker, in September, it was reported that in eight months, 24 Newfoundland and Labrador residents had died due to overdose. Four months later, that number more that doubled to 51. The rate of overdose deaths in Newfoundland and Labrador is accelerating.

I ask the Premier: Do you think your government is doing enough to address the situation?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course, the government can always do more to support the situation. This has been an evolving crisis that gripped the West Coast of the country and has moved east as there are more drugs available, stronger drugs available, spiked drugs, things like fentanyl that weren't in the common-day language. Fentanyl was only available in hospital four or five years ago and now, unfortunately, is on our shores.

We have to do more. We've started things like Narcan kits available, more available throughout the entire communities. We continue to focus on education, continue to focus on building mental health and addiction strategies into all government departments.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Again, Speaker, the statistics are getting worse and worse.

Speaker, non-fatal overdoses are seen by police, front-line health care professionals and others. In two separate ATIPPs we have filed, there was no responsive records – zero – pertaining to any data relating to overdoses other than those resulting in death. Other jurisdictions collect that data, allowing them to target addiction supports and intervention before it is too late.

Premier, how do you address the problem in this province if you do not even know the scale of it?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, we are a data-driven, evidence-based government, Mr. Speaker. If that's not being collected, we're certainly happy to change that. Anything that we can do on this side of the House to prevent increased deaths with respect to overdoses, we will do, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, I look forward to that data actually being collected.

Speaker, letters and requests for meetings and information have gone unanswered. Families feel ignored and have not been invited to the All-Party Committee struck to address the growing crisis in this province. Some are here in the gallery today to get an answer.

Premier, why has your government ignored those seeking answers regarding addiction treatment options for their children?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the All-Party Committee has not concluded its work. Up to this stage, the All-Party Committee, consisting of Members on all sides of the House, have been meeting and hearing from officials and other officials. There is a plan in place to meet with the community stakeholders and those with lived experience, and that will happen as part of the work of the All-Party Committee.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, substance abuse is rampant in Labrador. Communities all over are begging for assistance. The six-bed mental health unit in Labrador was a welcome addition, but unfortunately, we're hearing of consistent issues with staffing.

I ask the minister: Is that unit currently up and running and accepting patients right now?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I've been advised by the provincial health authority that they did have some human resource challenges, Mr. Speaker. There was a temporary closure of that six-bed unit, but they do anticipate having it reopen this spring.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, I've been told that when the unit was open, it was fully staffed by travel nurses and now, obviously, it is closed down. I would just simply say to the minister, all those nursing students that are here now doing their practical examinations from Labrador, maybe some of them could be approached to see if they would take on the extra year of study, or whatever it takes to become a psychiatric nurse.

Speaker, the social issues in Labrador are growing and the resources are simply not there to help those seeking help. The budget allocates $15 million to develop options for help regarding mental health and addictions.

I ask: How much of that is being spent in Labrador?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There has been a significant increase in mental health and addictions spending in this province over the past five years. Much of that, Mr. Speaker, is being spent in the Labrador region of the province. There are a number of improvements in place throughout the province.

Again, if you compare the mental health and addiction services that were in place five or six years ago with what is in place today, there has been a huge improvement. There is much more work to be done, Mr. Speaker.

We're not nearly there, which is part of the reason we have the All-Party Committee to continue to build on the recommendations that were put in place as a result of the first All-Party Committee to build on the foundation that has been put in place through Towards Recovery so that we can continue to provide improved services for those needing them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, we didn't get an answer to the question in terms of how the $15 million is being spent.

The crime rates of the rural Newfoundland and Labrador are on the rise, and many are failing to address the mental health and addictions supports that they need. The budget highlights seven communities that will host mobile crisis teams with just $1 million for their start-up.

While the unit is up and running in my district, will the remaining communities have crisis teams in place before the end of the year?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, that is part of the budget this year. We are still debating budget. As soon as the budget is passed, we can get on with that work in earnest.

The addition of the Mobile Crisis Response Teams through a number of areas in this province is one of the enhancements being put in place to help those with mental health and addictions issues. They have proven to be very valuable. There are seven additional units in place for this province this year – new units. We'll continue to look at the success of those units, but yes, it is our hope that we will have those units up and running before the end of the year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, can the minister provide an update on how many staff have been recruited for those units and some timelines about when they might be actually up and running?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The sooner we get budget voted on and passed in this Legislature, the sooner we can hire staff for those units.

It is a part of this year's budget. The budget is still being debated. Although, I know recruitment has started for those positions and we can certainly get an update.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, again, we've already voted in Interim Supply for three months –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

T. WAKEHAM: – and to say that we can't start recruiting positions until the budget is passed is not good enough.

So again, I ask: Have the positions been advertised? Have the interviews been held? Do we have start dates for all of these additional staff?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Premier – sorry, Mr. Speaker. An early promotion.

Mr. Speaker, we are looking at recruitment for those positions. That will happen in earnest.

What I can say to the Member opposite is that while this Premier and this government has focused on increasing the number of positions in health care, we know that the Member opposite, when he was CEO of Lab-Grenfell, focused on reduction of positions.

That is the contrast between this side and that side.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. WAKEHAM: Speaker, I'm not even going to respond – I'm not even going to respond.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

T. WAKEHAM: No urgency, no priority.

Speaker, those in recovery oftentimes find themselves in difficult housing situations. There are very few options for them to seek shelter in a drug-free place. The sole option for many is the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing wait-list.

I ask the minister: Will the comfort inn be a place for those recovering users to seek shelter away from drugs?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Housing.

F. HUTTON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks for the opportunity to answer that question.

The Transitional Supportive Living Initiative at 106 Airport Road, the folks who will end up staying there, signing a lease and living there for whatever period of time it is, determined by our Coordinated Access table. That's a group of our community partners who work with and are partnered with folks who need help and need assistance, so its quite possible some will be there.

To say exactly who's going in there is going to be up to our Coordinated Access table. Those folks make the determination, they make the recommendation to End Homelessness St. John's. They have the contract for the operational status of that facility, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, in response to the growing crisis in this province, an all-party Committee was announced in September 2023.

I ask the minister: How many times has this Committee met?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We've had a number of meetings. We've attempted to arrange a number of other meetings. Members at that meeting indicated that the best time to have those meetings was when the House was in session. That is on record in the minutes of those meetings. We've attempted to have meetings since the House has come back in session, I believe on two occasions, and Members could not attend those meetings. We are attempting to have additional meetings.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Speaker, the answer to that question is three. There have been numerous cancellations and the option of meeting while the House is in session came from the minister and his officials.

Speaker, unlike the all-party Committee struck by a PC government in 2015, this Committee has seen very little actual work and many cancelled meetings. One of the purposes of the Committee is to consult and receive testimonies from individuals and families with lived and living experiences, many of whom are here today.

Minister, when will your department invite these individuals and their families to present to this Committee?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, in a question earlier by the Leader of the Opposition that question was asked. We will have meetings with individuals with lived and living experience and other stakeholders.

For the record, it was Members of the Committee who suggested the best time to meet was when the House was in session. That is in the minutes of the meetings, Mr. Speaker, taken by non-partisan officials. It is not our choice, Mr. Speaker, that was the choice of Committee Members including Members on that side. We were not the people who cancelled those meetings while the House was supposed to be in session.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

The minister knows and I know the difference, too, because I'm a part of that and we're sitting down. One day we got a 10-minute notice that the meeting was cancelled. Lo and behold, the emergency was the minister went on Open Line at 10:20. I guess that was why we cancelled the meeting.

You want to get on the reality of passing the buck. The minister makes those things and the Committee agrees to it, when it's brought forward by the minister. We're trying to be reasonable, but it's not fair to the people out there looking for help.

With the number of deaths from overdose rising, this is a growing crisis in our province.

I ask the minister: Is his department committed to truly working with the Committee to address the growing crisis or was it simply created to make another announcement?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, it's unfortunate that we're taking an all-party Committee that is supposed to be non-partisan and making politics of it. This Committee was put in place in good faith, Mr. Speaker, based on the success of the initial Committee with 54 recommendations.

Mr. Speaker, again for the record, the meetings that were supposed to be held while the House was in session, that Members themselves indicated was the best time to have these meetings, it was the Members that cancelled, Mr. Speaker. I am attempting to not get political here, but the reality is, those meetings were cancelled by the Members.

Mr. Speaker, we have increased the number of sites for distribution of naloxone kits from just over 100 to about 140 in the last several months.

There is good work happening as a result of that Committee and that work, I hope, will continue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

I'd like to just respond back to the minister who is making this political. You know that's not accurate. The steps of the Confederation Building are protested daily, and I mean daily, parents, families, from my district and from other districts across this province. People are upset. They want government to do more. The minister announced he would form an all-party Committee, which the group and all those protesters were happy about.

Smoke and mirrors is what we're seeing. We call government out for it on a daily basis, Speaker, and that's what we're seeing here. There has been no action from this Committee. It's fine to form a Committee – I sat on the last all-party Committee, we actually did stuff.

I ask the minister: When are you going to do stuff to address the problems that are outstanding now? The people in the gallery are waiting for answers, Minister, not (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, we've had two meetings set at the Member's request and other Members of the Committee to hold them in the afternoons while the House was in session. I'll gladly arrange another one this week, Mr. Speaker. Will that Member attend?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Information we obtained from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary indicates that in the last two years alone, from 2021 to 2023, the number of files assigned to the Drug Investigative Unit doubled from 80 to 112 to 141.

Does the Justice Minister acknowledge that the drug crisis in this province is only getting worse?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

Yes, I acknowledge, as the Premier did earlier, when we were asked about questions about the drug problem in this province. I think it is fair to say, and it's obvious to say, that it's getting worse. As the Premier mentioned, it's something that we saw on the west coast of this country and it's spread across to Newfoundland and Labrador, which is very unfortunate.

The RNC and RCMP, I know, and so do I, as Justice Minister, take this very seriously. In fact, I think it was two years ago there was a joint task force announced on the West Coast between the RNC and RCMP, which has been very successful in combating any crimes that are committed with drugs and with guns in this province.

So I take it seriously, both police forces, which I said on a number of occasions. We're very lucky to have two great police forces in this province which have taken it seriously. They have tangible work that we've seen over the last two years to deal with the drug crisis. I know that they continue to work on it to make sure that we're as safe as possible in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: More information provided from the RNC indicates that the number of charges laid by this Drug Enforcement Unit rose from 25 in 2021, to 82 in 2022, to 181 in 2023, more than seven times what it had been just two years earlier. The drug problem in our province is spiralling out of control.

When will this government treat the underlying addictions crisis as a health crisis and not leave it to our police to pick up the pieces for this government's failure to act?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a health issue. It's also an issue where health officials and health professionals work with law enforcement and other agencies. There is training and so on in place for those that are involved in responding to individuals with mental health crisis or mental health issues. That will continue.

This is an issue where all individuals, all agencies, all groups are working together and must work together to ensure that we respond in the most appropriate way.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Speaker, there is a clear link been established between untreated mental health conditions and crime. Unfortunately, many people go untreated and it's because there is a lack of access, not from a lack of trying.

Does the minister know how many individuals who are incarcerated or facing charges have untreated mental health conditions?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I don't have that number in front of me right now, but as the Member knows, we're working very hard to deal with any facility issues specifically with regard to HMP here in St. John's to increase – there's $15 million in the budget over the next couple of years to provide extra spacing at HMP. There's an expansion of Labrador Correctional Centre, which will provide additional spacing as well. Not just for educational programming, but for addictions and trauma-centric and, in Labrador's case, Indigenous-centric programming that can help treat people.

As I said before, it's very important that individuals who go into facilities in this province receive the proper rehabilitation. It's part of the Criminal Code ; it's part of the sentencing provisions that take rehabilitation into account.

I do look forward to continuing to work on making sure that those programs are available for individuals in this province.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

L. PARROTT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll give the minister a number. In 2018, the Jesso report estimated that between 77 and 87 per cent of the inmates either had mental health issues, substance abuse issues, or both. Six years later, I'm sure that number is much worse.

Sadly, too many people fall through the cracks under this government's watch, and they end up committing crimes before they have a chance to access the help they desperately need.

Premier, how can you continue to allow this happen on your watch?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

It's pretty much the same answer as I just gave. We're working very hard to make sure that individuals who are in facilities in this province, such as the Labrador Correctional Centre and HMP here and other facilities throughout the province, have the proper treatment programs available to them.

A big step we've taken over the last couple of years was to transfer health services away from the Department of Justice and Public Safety, which obviously it is not its area of expertise – it's health and addictions – into the Health Department in this province.

I know I've had meetings over the last couple of weeks with individuals who are there on a daily basis and said they're very pleased with the way that's working and that they feel that people's access to health care was increasing. I had a meeting last week as well where a group said: Can we look at these facilities being more health intensive as opposed to punishment?

I totally agree with that. I think we need to continue to work on that and I'm happy with the work that's been done by the Department of Health and Justice and Public Safety, Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

L. PARROTT: I'd like to thank the minister for highlighting the issue. It isn't about the treatment once they get there. They're there because they're not getting the treatment and they end up there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

L. PARROTT: Speaker, families struggle immensely navigating the mental health and addictions services in this province. There's no better example than a family in my district from a couple of weeks ago. Their 23-year-old son who struggled for two years trying to get mental health interventions he desperately needed, to no avail. He was recently arrested and currently sits in a fit program for the next 30 days.

What do you say to his family?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, there's no question that we must do better for those with mental health and addictions issues. As we have in this year's budget, whether it's the mobile crisis response units that we are adding throughout the province, or enhancing the addictions centres with funding in this year's budget, we continue to look at mental health and addiction services.

There's funding in this year's budget, as well, for a step-down facility in St. John's to add additional capacity. We are focusing on increasing and improving capacity but we are building on – like I said, the foundation that was put in place through Towards Recovery is the beginning. That's not the end of where we need to go. It's the beginning because much, much more work needs to be done and this government is focused on that, which is why we continue to invest.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

L. PARROTT: I can tell you the family that I'm talking about; they don't care about the services here in St. John's. They're in rural Newfoundland and I don't hear a word about it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

L. PARROTT: The young individual, along with support from his family, tried on several occasions to get help. He went to Doorways, as the minister suggested. He called 811, as the minister suggested. He had contact with the mental health navigator, as the minister suggested. He went to the Waterford, only to be sent home in a taxi, not once, but several times. The mental health system failed him and now he's in the justice system, as the previous minister just talked about.

Minister, how is this fair to this individual and his family?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, we can't speak to individual cases, but what I can say is it's not just in metro region that we are putting service. The majority of the mobile crisis response units, funded in this year's budget, are for rural Newfoundland. There are other services such as the FACT teams that are put in place, Mr. Speaker, throughout the province.

There are others, such as the narcotic addiction sites where we are expanding those services into other substances; this year, starting with alcohol. We have an alcohol addictions plan in place. We have a suicide prevention plan put in place. Those plans have been put in place in the last couple of years and the recommendations on those plans are being acted on and the services, as a result of those plans, are being put in place.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, there are too many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians struggling with mental health and addictions. A mother of a 14-year-old in my district has lost her daughter to addictions and mental health challenges. Everywhere she turns for help, whether it be the Health Sciences Centre, RNC, 811, the Janeway, the Waterford, they all get deferred; constantly hearing: Not my department.

Minister, is this your plan for wraparound supports?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, the wraparound supports come from the 54 recommendations. They will also come from recommendations from the new All-Party Committee. We're not simply waiting on the recommendations from the new All-Party Committee. Otherwise, we wouldn't have the funding in this year's budget for things like the Mobile Crisis Response Teams.

We are acting – while we are waiting on recommendations from the All-Party Committee, we are putting action into place, Mr. Speaker, with wraparound services in areas of the province to ensure that mental health and addictions services are there.

Is there enough? No, absolutely not. We need to continue to add to that, Mr. Speaker, and we continue to look for ways we can do so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN: Speaker, I've heard it from reports that have been put out there and it is a quote from a lot of people dealing with lived experiences: Mental health and addictions does not do good on wait-lists, and this government has waited nine years now, at least.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. DINN: Speaker, just last week, a mother expressed her heart-breaking desperation to find help for her teenage son battling with addictions and mental health struggles. Her son will have to wait over a year to see a psychiatrist.

What do you tell this mother who says – and I quote – I don't care if my son hates me for life, as long as he lives a long life?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, access to psychology and psychiatry services in this province is important. We continue to recruit, Mr. Speaker. We look at areas where recruitment is necessary and we recruit for those positions.

Recruitment is challenging, as the Member knows. It is not only challenging in this province, it is challenging in every province across the country. There is a shortage of health professionals in each and every province in Canada and, in fact, globally.

There is a shortage of skilled labour, regardless of which discipline you look at, whether it is in the trades or engineering or health care. So it is a challenge, no question, but we continue to recruit because these services are vital to the people who need them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS: Speaker, in response to my questions on the lack of mental health supports in my district the minister spoke about the six-bed psychiatric unit – that is actually closed – FACT teams, 811, Bridge the gapp that aren't helping people in my district who are at greatest risk.

Can the minister commit to at least the most serious cases will be able to access the appropriate level of care?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, are there enough services in place? Absolutely not. But to say that the services that are in place are not helping is a little unfair as well. We need to increase and expand on the services that are in place, Mr. Speaker. That is how we are going to appropriately service the individuals with mental health and addictions needs throughout the province.

But there has been a great focus and a great investment in services in the Labrador region of the province. I'm not going to say it's enough, because it's not nearly enough. We continue to focus, continue to invest and continue to build on the services that are there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS: Speaker, the services available are not nearly enough.

When I asked the minister: Does it take someone actually dying before people in my district can access mental health care? He replied: If there are gaps that need to be filled, this government will fill those gaps and put services in place that need to be there.

But people are dying, children are dying. People are dying at their own hands.

So will the minister commit to ensure psychiatrists and psychologists are available to people in my district?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, we are absolutely committed to ensuring that those services are available, but those individuals, those health professionals, need to be recruited. As I mentioned to an earlier question, there is a challenge in recruitment of health care professionals across the country, in every province in Canada and, in fact, in many countries around the world.

It is challenging. We absolutely need these positions. We need them in Labrador. We need them in Gander. We need them in St. John's. We need them throughout the province and the health authority are doing their best to recruit these positions. We put a recruitment office in place in the health authority specifically focused, day in and day out, full time to recruitment of health care professionals.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Friday past, police in riot gear cordoned off a

section of Livingstone Street in my district. It was another incident in a long line of violent incidents affecting the residents of the neighbourhood. The trauma of such incidents can impact people in many ways and have ripple effects on mental and physical health.

Police in tactical gear, Speaker, cannot be the only response to the issues facing the area.

I ask the Premier: What immediate, proactive steps will government take to ensure all residents of the area have a safe neighbourhood?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I've been receiving emails about this incident, actually, before the incident happened last week and, in fact, some of the emails called for an increased police presence there. Then, sure enough, unfortunately the police – or maybe fortunately, the police did show up. They do a lot of planning before they do anything like that, to show up with any plans like that because of crime.

Then I received some emails that said: Of course, when we sent the initial emails, we weren't aware what the RNC were going to do. So I think they were thankful that the RNC showed up to deal with the crime in that area on that specific day.

Those emails continued over the weekend, some of which I was involved in, and the Member was as well, coming up with some creative ways, some out-of-the-box ways to improve the area specifically, such as the community centre.

I have a meeting set up already with an individual at Thrive who wants to look at putting a community centre there and any supports that could go along with it. I think individuals there are willing to be engaged. I look forward to continuing talking with them as well as we continue to talk about that specific part of the city, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

J. DINN: Speaker, since 2019, I have called for such measures as community policing and a community centre, among others. It's only the past year that government finally committed to a feasibility study on a community centre.

Government's so-called wraparound supports for people with complex needs are totally inadequate.

I ask the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development: What further tangible supports will his department put in place to ensure people remain safely housed and people feel safe in their neighbourhood?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

The Member is right, there has been a commitment by this government to that specific part of the city. In fact, issues were raised a couple of years ago when I was minister as well, talking about safety there. I know that the RNC took steps to meet with them on a regular basis, to meet with individuals there who wanted to meet. They did some things like send their police forces there, on a daily basis as well, to show that there's a presence of the police in that area, that part of the city, so people could feel safer.

Again, I continue to look forward to meeting with them and discussing options with them, such as public safety money that the City of St. John's has that might be available to those individuals as well.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The time for Oral Questions has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia - St. Mary's.

S. GAMBIN-WALSH: Speaker, pursuant to the motion of referral of March 21, 2024, and in accordance with Standing Order 72, the Social Services Committee met on six occasions: April 15, 18,19, 23, 25 and 26.

The Social Services Committee has considered the matters to them referred and pursuant to Standing Order 75(2) have directed me to report that they have passed, without amendment, the Estimates of the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development; the Department of Education; the Department of Health and Community Services; the Department of Justice and Public Safety; the Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs; and Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. Further, the Committee recommends that the report be concurred in.

SPEAKER: Further presenting reports?

The hon. the Member for St. George's - Humber.

S. REID: Speaker, pursuant to the motion of referral, March 21, 2024, and in accordance with Standing Order 72, the Resource Committee met on five occasions: April 15, 16, 17, 23 and 29.

The Resource Committee has considered the matters to them referred and pursuant to Standing Order 75(2) have directed me to report that they have passed, without amendment, the Estimates of the Department of Environment and Climate Change; the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture; the Department of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills; the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology; and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation. Further, the Committee recommends that the reports be concurred in.

Thank you, Speaker.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl North.

L. STOYLES: Speaker, pursuant to the motion of reference of March 21, 2024, and in accordance with Standing Order 72, the Government Services Committee met on four occasions: April 16, April 18, April 19 and April 26.

The Government Services Committee has considered the matters to them referred and pursuant to Standing Order 75(2) have directed me to report that they have passed, without amendment, the Estimates of Consolidated Funds Service; Digital Government and Service NL; Department of Finance; Department of Labrador Affairs; Public Procurement Agency; Public Service Commission; and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the report be concurred in.

SPEAKER: Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow move in accordance with Standing Order 11(1) that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 13, 2024.

Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow move in accordance with Standing Order 11(1) that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow move that notwithstanding Standing Order 9, this House shall not adjourn at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, but shall continue to sit to conduct Government Business and, if not earlier adjourned, the Speaker shall adjourn the House at midnight.

Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow move in accordance with Standing Order 11(1) that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

SPEAKER: Are there any further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been given.

Petitions.

Petitions

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Thank you, Speaker.

The background for this petition is as follows:

WHEREAS there are no current operations at the Bull Arm Fabrication Site; and

WHEREAS the site is a world-class facility with the potential to rejuvenate the local economy; and

WHEREAS residents of the area are troubled with the lack of local employment in today's economy; and

WHEREAS the operation of this facility would encourage employment for the area and create economic spin-offs for local businesses; and

WHEREAS the site is an asset to the province, built to the benefit of the province and a long-term tenant for this site would attract gainful business opportunities; and

WHEREAS the continued idling of this site if not in the best interest of the province;

THEREFORE, we residents of the area, near the Bull Arm Fabrication Site, petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to expedite the process to get the Bull Arm Fabrication Site back in operation. We request that this process include a vision for a long-term, viable plan that is beneficial to all residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Furthermore, we request the government place an emphasis on all supply, maintenance, fabrication and offshore workover for existing offshore platforms, as well as new construction of any future platforms whether be they GBS or FPSO in nature.

I know that we have been moving along with the Bull Arm Fabrication Site. As I joined the minister and the Premier in Come By Chance for the 50th anniversary of the refinery and the launching of Braya, while there are some really good initiatives that are happening, the people of the area really do see the Bull Arm site as an asset and we'd like to get an update as to where we are right now, and I invite the minister to answer to the petition.

Thank you, Speaker.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology for a response.

A. PARSONS: Thank you, Speaker, and I thank my colleague for an opportunity to provide a small update on Bull Arm and the facility.

It's not the update that we want to hear yet, but the good news is that we are moving in the right direction. We did put out an RFP and we have had interested parties submit bids and, right now, we're in the process of going through that and doing analysis of that. In all cases we had to do a clarification, where we go back and ask certain follow-up questions.

We want to see what comes out of that. That process is moving fairly quickly and hopefully, even during this sitting of the House – who knows; anything is possible – we can talk about this.

Just a couple of points I would make. I mean, we all agree that it is an asset. It is underutilized and we want to do more with it. The second part, though, is that because it is an asset and it's a government asset, sometimes the bids that come in, the interest that comes in is not as valuable as we think it should be. We don't want to make use of an asset for less than what it's worth or to dispose of that or to partner on that.

Anything we do, whether it is something or if we choose not to move forward, we will be discussing it here and there will be opportunities to ask questions and there will be lots of discussion on that.

So, on that note, I look forward to the opportunity to provide a bigger answer sooner, hopefully, rather than later.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Speaker.

The background to this petition is as follows:

WHEREAS in the District of Harbour Main there are many residents who are concerned with the deteriorating cellphone service that they have been experiencing in recent months. There has been a significant decline in the cell service throughout the district where calls are being dropped and residents are unable to get their calls to go through for no apparent reason;

THEREFORE we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to work and partner with the various cellular providers and telecommunication officials to stabilize and improve the cellphone service within the region so that citizens have a reliable service that they can depend on.

Speaker, this matter is only getting worse. I am hearing repeatedly from constituents throughout the district. Most recently, a constituent from Avondale, she had stated that we really need to get out mobile phone coverage back. There are so many dead zones throughout the district, and it seems like there is even more lost connections each and every week.

There are constituents that have said that they're concerned about the safety issue. They're concerned if there is a real emergency and there is no cellphone service available. I just heard this morning that one of the schools, they don't even have reliable cellphone services within the district.

Speaker, this is my fifth time presenting this petition. The last time was in November of 2023. I will add that the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology was concerned about this at that time. In fact, he met with me right after the petition and he encouraged me and others to reach out to our providers.

We have done that, Speaker, yet there is no tangible improvement. It seems that we're hearing from throughout the district that matters are only getting worse. We're hearing from Clarke's Beach, the town council there, who says that the situation is just intolerable.

So I implore the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology to work with us. I've heard from constituents who are saying this is not only just about getting the matter fixed, but they need communication. They need to understand what the problem is. Information is power and at least if our constituents knew where this stood and exactly what efforts the provincial government is doing, in partnership with the federal government and other partners, then at least we'd be that much further ahead.

Again, Speaker, this situation is serious and it has been ongoing for many years now and we need to deal with this as soon as possible.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology for a response.

A. PARSONS: Thank you for the opportunity to respond.

I appreciate the petition from the Member. I will say that in my time in Opposition, you've still got a way to go to catch petitions I put in when I was Opposition about cell service in Newfoundland and Labrador. The reason I say that is that no matter who's in on either side of this House, cell service is an issue and it's difficult because we're dealing with huge multinationals.

There are couple points here. Number one, while I think the service in many areas – and I've been and drove on these roads; I agree the service is not there. It's like it in many parts of this province and it's not acceptable. But, at the same time, I'm not prepared for the provincial government to fully fund, 100 per cent, the cost of providing this service. I do not think that's something where we should be. I do think the federal government has a role to play here, and I do think the companies need to step up and do more. There it is.

I'm more than happy to work with the Member or any Member on either side of this House when it comes to targeted areas. Anecdotally, I can say that I've had places in my constituency where it seemed like we had a certain level and then a degrading of that, and then we try to communicate and say what is going on there to see if we can fix it. In some cases, maybe there's a technical reason that they're not aware of.

So I'm happy to continue to try that. All I can say is that this is an evergreen frustrating issue. I appreciate the concern of your constituents. I'll continue to do what I can. But again, you see this on a conversation; nobody ever said it was easy working with telecommunications companies and I think we need to continue to hold them responsible for the service they need to provide to all of us. They need to realize this, and I think we can make sure that we present that case together as well.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, concerned citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador urge our leaders to take action to address the accelerating climate emergency. We are not on track to achieve our target of containing global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Unprecedented, extreme weather events have become routine while oil and gas companies continue to post record profits. If we are to avoid a climate catastrophe, we must take serious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a just transition away from fossil fuels that doesn't leave workers behind;

Therefore, we, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to declare a climate emergency, invest substantially in public transit infrastructure province wide, cease subsidies of oil and gas companies and introduce legislation that bans the advertising for oil and gas companies.

Speaker, the petition is not calling on for the turning of the taps, as some might say, but it is about getting ready for it and about just transition. Which was the impetus and the central point of our just transition PMR. Which is about making sure that when oil companies pull out – and eventually they will – that our workers are protected and our environment is protected. It's basically to protect Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Oil companies will operate in their own best interests. It's as simple as that.

So what it's looking for is a recognition, not a we-all-believe-in-climate-change-but statement, but that we have an emergency. We only have to look in our province what we've seen and, in Canada, with regard to – I think we've had the warmest summer on record. We've had forest fires raging across the rest of Canada and here in our own province. We've had the effects of Hurricane Fiona, which are still affecting our province and the cost of that.

It's interesting that little PEI is actually looking at a feasibility study, Speaker, of a hydrogen-run passenger train between Summerside and Charlottetown. That's not what we're suggesting but, certainly, it comes down to a regional transit system where people don't have to rely on cars, not just in the metro area, but in the Northeast Avalon and across the province.

We have seen that when we gave subsidies to oil companies, they basically laid off workers and they still posted record profits. As for advertising for oil and gas companies, we do the same very much for cigarette companies and alcohol companies as well. So I think these are reasonable initiatives –

SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Member's time has expired.

The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology for a response.

A. PARSONS: Thank you, Speaker.

I guess I'm three for three today in responses to petitions.

I think the easy thing to do on this one is to just start off with an agreement as to the premise of the petition, which is climate change, and I'm going to be different than some of the people, not so much in this room, a former leader of the PCs who famously went to Ottawa just recently and said climate change is not real. I'm not going to agree with that. I don't think most Members in this room agree with that.

We do recognize that climate change is real and we have to combat it. Many of us have children, grandchildren, we do want to leave something to them and I think it's incumbent on us to get there. But the word that is necessary here is “transition.”

Transition is not the flick of a light switch. The reality is that we do have to plan for the future. We will have, just by necessity, an oil and gas industry for some time, because if we eliminate ourselves from the equation, the slack will be led by companies in Angola, Namibia, everywhere else down in South America with lesser ESG standards and our workers will not get the benefit. We will not get the benefit of that resource but, at the same time, what we're trying to do is lower emissions there. We're electrifying our offshore.

I just look at our refinery. I just spoke about it today. We went from something that was a significant polluter in this province, small investment to us, a large international investment and now we have something that's providing renewable fuel to the world, and it's done here in Newfoundland and Labrador and making sure not only do we protect the workers, we increased the number of workers out there.

I'm not prepared to do anything that harms the mining industry in Lab West. Realizing they are significant emitters, but we need to work with them. That's why we launched the Green Transition Fund –

SPEAKER: Order, please!

The minister's time has expired.

A. PARSONS: – $100 million that we're trying to get there. So I agree with the Member, the Green Transition –

SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired.

A. PARSONS: – (inaudible) and protect the workers in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL: Thank you, Speaker.

The background to the petition is as follows:

Cellphone coverage from the Goulds to St. Shotts is continuing to deteriorate. The coverage has gone from no coverage in some areas where was previously coverage available.

Therefore, we petition the House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, urge the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to requests upgrades or repairs to existing towers and equipment to enhance and improve the quality of cellphone coverage in the region.

Speaker, I've certainly mentioned this on many occasions in my district. I drive from here and I live in Bay Bulls and drive throughout the district and all the cellphone coverage and the issues that go on. The one thing that I do question is every household has a cellphone; I would say nearly every cellphone is $80 to $100 per package, per person. So it's something that we should be looking at to make these big companies available.

I know the minister has certainly looked at it, but when I drive from here and I drive through what we call Middle Pond Hollow, in our area, one time last year from Bay Bulls Big Pond to the top of the hill, where it ended in St. John's, there was no cellphone coverage and, at one time, it was good. SOS used to come up on the phone, so it's pretty dangerous. We've had a couple of accidents in the area; had a couple of nurses who had an accident and happy to help people who were in accidents and had no cellphone coverage; had to run to a house to make a call.

Now this year, in the last few months, the cellphone coverage seems to have improved in that area, whether they turned the tower and not tell people, I'm not sure, but right now I can drive through that area, cellphone coverage works a little bit. You lose it for about 10 seconds and the call comes back. Last year, it didn't work at all.

So maybe they are changing that stuff, but the big issue that I have with it is we all, as individuals, have cellphones that we pay for and pay these companies big money. You think about the number of people and the number of cellphones that are in this country. Let's use Newfoundland and Labrador; I would say, barring somebody that just got a flip phone, every phone is probably $100. If you get three or four kids in the family, let's use three kids, two adults, more than your car payment most times for these cellphone coverages and they give us little service or improve the service.

So they're saying we'd like to have some coverage and we'd like to have some data to prove it. You know, you try to get on and make a report to them, to explain where the cellphone coverage is and it's disappointing that it doesn't improve. We pay big money to these companies and they should be investing.

The government has a part; they put out some RFPs and stuff like that, which we hope to improve. But it's very critical in these areas, certainly in the rural areas. I can tell you driving through the communities that I'm trying to go to an event and you're trying to make phone calls, if you try to leave 10 minutes early to get there, then if you have to make a call, you either have to haul in on the side of the road to finish the call or you have to get there and not make the call at all. We do a lot of work on our phones, as you know. It depends on what district you're in.

Thank you so much. It is certainly appreciated.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

A. PARSONS: Four for four, Speaker, bring it on.

What I would say again , starting with the premise that, look, I get it. We understand. We all have roadways, areas of our constituencies that don't have coverage.

Just a couple of points I will make in no particular order. We actually did Estimates with my colleagues this morning. We talked about the fact that this is like it everywhere. This is a global issue. Sometimes we think the grass is greener. I hear it. We talk and we complain about self service and then when you get a chance to visit other places, you realize there are issues in many places.

A couple of things – one: The reality is that I don't think the tech is keeping up with where we need to go in terms of the cost effectiveness. We simply cannot – for the amount of coverage for a tower and X number of people and if we expect to pay, I don't think we're getting a great return on provincial dollars there. That's why we're exploring different opportunities to provide coverage.

The second part: Look, in many cases, it is very hard for a provincial government to force a multi-national or a large company, which you have a contract, to hold up their end of the bargain. The other reality is you mentioned the kids. I say this all the time: They've got it solved because we're all buying the contracts. Yet, at the same time, they're not holding up their end of the bargain but they're not seeing any less business because we're all paying these contracts.

That's where the feds come in. This is federally regulated and Newfoundland and Labrador is no different than Alberta or Nova Scotia. We are not going to be able to bring the Bell Canada's or everybody else to their knees. Nor are we trying to bring them in. The reality is this is a difficult thing. Where I think the solution comes with, we can be a partner in providing coverage in different formats and different solutions. We can also lobby together, but I also think that tech –

SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired.

A. PARSONS: – (inaudible) work coming with satellites.

On that note, I will sit down again but I look forward to the next one.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS: Thank you, Speaker.

We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador who urge our leaders to ensure that our Northern Labrador residents are provided with access to timely and adequate health care.

Frequently, patients are prevented from getting to medical appointments at outside provincial health authority centres. Some of the delays are due to inclement weather. Often patients are prevented from getting on medical flights to their appointments because there are no seats on the flight.

There are multiple reasons for this and we're calling on government to work towards removing these barriers so patients can access their medical appointments.

Now, Speaker, when I present this petition, timely and adequate access to health care, I talk mostly about patients trying to get out to their appointments, their scans, their chemo treatments, and also the delays on getting home. But very rarely have I talked about mental health and I should be focusing on mental health as well, access to timely and adequate mental health.

Now, in this House of Assembly, I present a lot of petitions, but I have not presented one on mental health. When looking at access to health care, I quote Inuit Tapirisat of Canada in the National Inuit Suicide Prevention Strategy where they say, “The high rates of suicide in Inuit Nunangat are a symptom of the social and economic inequities that have existed between Inuit Nunangat and most other regions of Canada since Inuit began to be impacted by colonization and transition off the land into permanent settlements.

It goes on to talk about, “The stress our people experienced during this transition, coupled with the prejudice and social inequities families faced in settlements, led to enduring social challenges that create risk for suicide in our communities.”

Suicide is just one aspect of the harm that's being done to our communities since we joined Confederation and these petitions that I present, the petition to return the freight boat, they're main services so we can access high-cost food but food that we could actually be able to obtain. Right now, where they removed the freight boat, we can't actually buy nutritious food. We have trouble purchasing adequate food.

I also talk about inclusion to rebates. When the rest of the province gets these rebates, we're looking at $17,000 to transition off oil to electricity, we can't access that, and our elders suffer and low-income families suffer. A petition to access affordable travel and fair electricity rates.

Speaker, our mental health is being impacted by the failure of this government to actually address the social inequities in Northern Labrador. So that's the reason why I have the petitions that I try to present, but in actual fact –

SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Member's time is expired.

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Motion 4.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I moved, seconded by the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, for leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to Amend the Tourist Accommodation Act, Bill 75, and I further move that the said be bill now read a first time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and second that the hon. Government House Leader shall have leave to introduce a bill,

An Act to Amend the Tourist Accommodations Act, Bill 75, and the said bill be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation to introduce a bill, “An Act to Amend the Tourist Accommodations Act,” carried. (Bill 75)

CLERK (Hawley George): A bill,

An Act to Amend the Tourist Accommodations Act. (Bill 75)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a first time.

When shall the said bill be read a second time?

J. HOGAN: Tomorrow.

SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 75 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call the Concurrence Motion on the Report of the Social Services Committee.

SPEAKER: The motion is that the House concur with the Report of the Social Services Committee.

The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise

P. DINN: Thank you.

I won't be long. I do have to reach out and say thank you to all the staff who participated in the Committees there last week.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. DINN: Lots of good knowledge there, and I don't think anyone in this House will deny that those are the people who make ministers and Members look good – no doubt about it – in having the expertise behind them.

I had the privilege of sitting in on the Children, Seniors and Social Development Estimates, as well as the Department of Education, and I can honestly say that we did ask a lot of questions, a tremendous amount of questions, actually, and responses from many. In fact, some were deferred. So we've gotten a lot of information.

Many of the staff, actually, that I had worked with previously, so I had no doubt in the response that they would give. Again, I applaud all the work that they've done to ensure that questions were answered and information was put forth.

As I said, I wasn't going to talk long, I am done.

Thank you so much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Thank you very much, Speaker.

Before I start and have a few words in this area of our Estimates, I just wanted to recognize a school, Heritage Collegiate, in the gallery.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. PARDY: I'm not sure if many schools are so in tune with the operations of the House of Assembly, but I know two years ago I was invited to speak to a class and the class discussed many questions about the operations of the House of Assembly. I would say that this particular school, one, it traditionally has very high academic scoring, a record of schools within our district; it is a very high athletic performing school in the district; and I said last time for the minister, this is where in our district the robotics started, was in this particular school.

So a big welcome to Heritage Collegiate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. PARDY: We've had the Estimates in the Children, Seniors and Social Development and my aspect looked at the social development side, income services. In the Estimates, we asked about the social well-being plan, as to how it's going to affect the seniors that we would have in our province and how it will move them along. Apparently, under the social well-being plan, I think part of that will be the targeted basic income that will be provided. This will treat or serve or assist a small segment of the seniors that would be in Newfoundland and Labrador.

When the announcement was made in November of last year, there was a lot of fanfare and I would say we received calls in the District of Bonavista wondering: When am I going to get additional funds in order to make ends meet? Because we weren't sure at that time, in November, what was going to be in this particular plan. Well, right now, we are into April and we're still not really sure because people still ask: What's involved with it? Is my well-being going to be improved as a result? That's a fair question.

I've heard many people say that obviously there was no plan in prior to November when the announcement was made, because here we are this number of months since and we still don't have the plan rolled out. So that is something that we'd like to see and see soon so that this small segment of seniors are going to see their lives improved with this targeted basic income. I heard that the numbers speculated maybe 400 to 500 being positively affected with this targeted basic income. Maybe the minister can speak to that a little more later.

One thing when we create targets in this House and in the school system we often say: The goal of this class in Heritage Collegiate is that we're going to try to strive for an average of 88 per cent in the upcoming mid-term exams. That is a tangible target that we put out there, 88 per cent for Heritage Collegiate in the upcoming mid-term exams. That is a target that we would have out there.

BC says that they're going to reduce poverty in British Columbia by 56 per cent. That's a goal. I would say, Mr. Speaker, we don't hear those goals here in the House. We don't have those goals in the House. We would hear the House say: Well, we've provided 15 per cent more money. We provided 5 per cent more money. Here is the amount of dollars that we spent. Money fixes everything, but we must have a plan and it's nice to have a targeted plan to know that we're working towards this amount by the target. I would think that's important.

The suggestion I would have is that whatever action we take in the future, let's have a targeted improvement. We're going to lift 40 per cent of the seniors in our province out of poverty. There's your target. We're going to lift X number and that's right.

One thing that came up, as well, in our Estimates was the fact that the department has – and my memory is – 367 social workers CSSD has in their employment, give or take some, but I think that's generally, Minister, around that number that was stated last week. What was surprising in it was that we have 105 vacancies. If you look at 105 vacancies, that's basically 30 per cent to 40 per cent of what our entitlement would be.

When we look at serving the population out there, that is a big figure. That is a startling figure. That can be a crisis. I understand that every effort is being made to make sure that we would recruit the numbers. I think the minister had stated that there are now 80 graduates per year from social work, so we've increased the classes over what they've had. There were 40 social workers matched up with Labrador, but of those 40, there were 20 vacancies.

So I know that having the personnel in place to be able to address the needs is a challenge. I didn't know quite how big the challenge and how big a shortfall we have with the social worker. I'm not sure what the class size was before but I know that CSSD stated that, I think, they captured 39 graduates from MUN within their department, I think, the last graduating year, which is a decent number.

One thing that I found out in the Estimates was that we are moving towards social worker assistants, very similar to adding teacher assistants in our school system.

When Marian Fushell did her study back last year in '23, she talked about teacher assistants, but she said it doesn't move the needle as far as the situation within the K-to-12 system. The gist of what she was saying was that it was better to make sure that we maintain and invest in more teachers and reduce the class size instead of keeping the class size as large as what it is and adding more teacher assistants. I agree. Marian Fushell agrees and the authors.

So when we're talking about now CSSD heading down the road to having social worker assistants, can the same correlation be made in social work as what it is in education? So the minister had stated what the qualifications were of the social worker assistants: a background in ECE, a background in social sciences and in humanities. We currently have a one-in-six ratio, social worker assistant to social worker in the system and it was stated at our Estimates that the goal will be one to three.

So what we're missing in social workers, I would think the plan – unofficially – is to replace them with social worker assistants and we won't need as many social workers in our system. I don't know and the minister will speak to that when he has an opportunity to speak a little later. If that is the case, which we feel that has happened in the K-to-12 system, adding more teacher assistants, the past minister talked about staffing the schools and talked about staffing equally teacher assistants and the certified teacher, all in one number, all in one piece of data. I'm saying there's a difference.

There is a difference. So I'm not sure what the social worker assistants will bring, but would be something that the minister may be able to address.

We'll find that when it comes down to seniors, I've presented a petition three time and the situation goes, Mr. Speaker, the federal government indexes their contribution to the Guaranteed Income Supplement. The federal government will index to compensate for the cost of living. It's a good thing. So we have the federal government, who's a contributor, and we have the provincial government and the provincial government is not indexed. There is no indexing with the provincial government. The same formula as what has been in existence since '15-'16 – same formula.

So as the federal government contributes more money to the seniors, the threshold, which is around $16,000 in the formula – $16,700-and-something – that has been the same since '15-'16. So seniors get more money. When they get the income above that threshold, what does the provincial government do? No indexing, the provincial government will give less. The federal government gives more; provincial government will give less. And you see what happens: The federal government provision is here; provincial government, the same, only they will pay less now because that threshold has not moved.

Now some would call that a clawback. And it would be nice to know from the Finance Department or from CSSD, when the minister talks, how much since '15-'16 has been reduced as a result of the indexing of the federal portion, how much less does our provincial government pays seniors. And I know that we've given them an increase. Yes, we have. But why have we maintained a threshold from '15-'16 and never, ever indexed it or raised it? Fair question. Why haven't we?

Some seniors would say it seems like the provincial government is saying that we're getting too much. Once you go past $16,000, whoa, getting too much money, we pull back some of our contribution. And that's a fair comment.

CSSD –

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

C. PARDY: I personally think that's a fair comment; if you're clawing back and not increasing the threshold, I think that's a fair comment.

My colleague from Topsail - Paradise, in Estimates, had asked about the chronic absenteeism. We know, for probably some years back, we talked about a chronic absenteeism in our K-to-12 school system of about 10 per cent.

Another figure that we hope to hear today, maybe, would be what is the chronic absenteeism in our K-to-12 system now? Is it less than 10 per cent? Is it more than 10 per cent? Or are we still at 10 per cent? Because that indicates to what interventions we've had as to whether they're successful. If it isn't, we can't keep doing the same as what we're doing. We've got to change it up and we got to be more strategic. The question was asked to the minister as to what was done, what the change would be.

The disability top-up now is going to be coming from the federal government. The disability top-up, we're going to give our disabled and those with disability in our Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, right across Canada, the federal government is going to index and give them more money.

If they're being given more money, the question was asked in Estimates: Will we be clawing back? Will we be reducing in any way the payments that we give out or contribute to those that are disabled in our province? There was no firm answer as to whether that would be the case or not. We didn't know. That is something that probably should be asked and should be expressed in the House: Are we going to claw it back or not? That's a fair question.

One thing we look at, that's an indicator out there of a great need, would be the food bank usage. I just want to share some statistics from the food bank in Bonavista. I asked permission to share it. Here are the figures: In 2021, there were 557 families that were helped and assisted with food at the food bank. That's 2021; 557 in Bonavista to serve the area. The expenses at the time, by the food bank, were a little over $11,000.

In 2022, it grew from the 557 to 622 and then in the year that just ended, in 2023, we had 786 families accessing and using the food bank, but the dollar figure now for to provide the increase and the cost of groceries is over $13,000. In 2024, January broke a new record with 83 families being served; February, 85-plus being served. So I would say that is a very significant increase in the cost of providing, plus the number of people of which they provided.

The Seniors' Advocate has many recommendations in her report for government to adopt. The number one recommendation she stated is that six out of 10 seniors are doing without food, medical supplies and special diets they're prescribed. That's pretty significant: six out of 10 – six out of 10. That's huge. I would say, for those seniors, we ought to bump up that threshold, increase it to provide more for the seniors, not claw back when the federal government increases it.

She asked the provincial government – she wanted and suggested that you would index the NL Seniors' Benefit – index it – and that was a suggestion not acted upon yet.

The Seniors' Advocate made comments like, seniors are existing on toast and tea, and that is the case. They're struggling to provide for themselves in our province. So when I look at the targeted basic income, if it's going to provide and serve 400 to 500 of the most needy, we got to applaud that. That is a good thing.

What's out there in the system is that people are thinking that it's going to be serving and affecting more. If we index it for all seniors, the benefit, we have everyone that is going to benefit from indexing of the Seniors' Benefit.

So I end, with my final seconds, I want to thank the department officials and I think they were second to none. They are good at what they do. One thing Estimates do is they show us, in the public service, the quality of employees that we have, and it is something to watch each and every one.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development.

P. PIKE: Thank you, Speaker.

It's certainly a privilege to speak today in the House as the Minister of CSSD, as well as the MHA for the District of Burin - Grand Bank.

Before I begin, I'd like to thank the Minister of Finance for a great budget and a strong focus on the well-being and social determinants of health. Building a strong foundation for a healthy and fulfilling life must take into account many factors: the conditions of which where we are born, where we grow, learn, work and live – and age, by the way.

I happened to be in my district this weekend and it was so great to get back to the district, to my community where I grew up and still reside, and it was great to talk to the people in the community about the goings-on in government, the budget and about things we're doing for seniors and so on.

Just a few weeks ago, I was out doing an announcement – a great announcement – on summer camps for persons with disabilities. While I was out there – I had people from my department with me – we took advantage of the time to meet with seniors. We met with representatives from all the clubs in my district, all the 50-plus clubs. They were fantastic meetings. The seniors are very hopeful. They are very excited about the Seniors' Well-Being Plan, and they realize that government is doing their best to help.

One thing that I did notice is that the number of people that are in these clubs is increasing. For example, in Grand Bank, they have a club that's able to hold between 90 and 100 people. They have 139 members, the largest ever, and now they're looking at expansion, but it's a testament to our aging population here in the province.

It was something that, when I was there, the president said: When we have our meetings, we have to say to 40 of our members, you stay home this week because there's not enough room. That is something that I never realized would happen, that we'd have that many members.

But 50-plus clubs are taking off in the province. I spoke last year to the 50-plus representatives at their annual conference and the spirit and the things that they want to do and so on is just unbelievable.

Before I sit down, I'm going to talk about a project I learned about on Saturday night. I attended a dinner with the Member for Placentia West and one of the Lions talked about a project that they were doing. I saw it as an intergenerational project. I want to talk about that before I sit down, but there are other things I need to talk about as well.

A key recommendation of the Health Accord in the final report is improving the social conditions that affect our health. Budget 2024 delivers on our government's commitment to broadening the framework to a better focus on social factors that impact health and further expand the approach to supporting health and well-being beyond traditional health care models.

Certainly, the most important highlight of Budget 2024 for my department, as well as many other departments, was the investments that are being made under the Poverty Reduction Plan.

As a government, we recognize these are challenging times and there's a high cost of living. That impacts people throughout our whole province, across the country and across the nation. This certainly impacts people living in poverty and $41 million of incremental investments towards our Poverty Reduction Plan in 2024 will support targeted actions. These include: reducing child poverty, creating and sustaining income and employment, improving income and supporting our seniors.

We realize that when our children grow up with improved resources and opportunities, they will most likely receive a higher education, secure better jobs and ensure a brighter future for them and their families.

In Budget 2024 , our government is investing close to $30 million to increase the Newfoundland and Labrador Child Benefit by 300 per cent.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: Last month, eligible parents received their first payment. This puts us the highest in Atlantic Canada and third in Canada only behind Quebec and Alberta.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: Budget 2024 includes $4 million to expand the prenatal infant supplement up to age five.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: Again, eligible families of children aged one to five received their first Prenatal-Early Childhood Nutrition Supplement last month as well. W e are delivering.

This year, we're investing $3 million to expand the school food programing in schools.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: This will be in K-to-9 schools starting this September with schools with the highest needs – fabulous. Being a school principal at one time, the same as my colleague across the way, the Member for Bonavista, we realize the importance of children that have a good breakfast, a good lunch, because it certainly affects overall achievement. It affects the overall morale in your school. It affects children to a point where they're able to take part and be active in school activities. So this is very important and we welcome that. If I was in the school system now, I'd be out celebrating that.

I'd be celebrating the fact that we can feed the children that come in and it doesn't matter their background, we're feeding them all, K-to-9.

These investments are intended to provide our children and youth a healthy start and a bright future. Our new Poverty Reduction Plan includes important measures to improve income, another key element of reducing poverty. Through a comprehensive review of the income support program, my department continues to work on streamlining and improving income support benefit structure and application process.

S. COADY: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: I got one fan.

J. ABBOTT: It's an important one.

P. PIKE: It's an important one, yeah. If you're going to get one that's the one to get.

Changes will be announced soon to reduce to number of different benefit rates, starting from eliminating the lowest ones and to simplify administration.

Additionally, $4.8 million is allocated in Budget 2024 to initiate that Targeted Basic Income pilot for people 60 to 64 who currently receive income support, as well as benefits from the Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services programs.

J. ABBOTT: Good one.

P. PIKE: That is a good one.

We are just beginning the enrolment process, just in case you're wondering, the enrolment process has started, which will provide participants with more adequate financial supports, which are similar to the federal benefits that they will get when they turn 65 years old. So between 60 and 64, now you'll get the same benefits as you would as the federal benefits you'll get at 65.

Under this plan, we also have expanded the Employment Stability Pilot, which provides increased incentives and supports to people who are on income support to enter the workforce and maintain employment. Based on the success of the initial pilot – just listen to what's coming up here – in St. John's, we expanded it province-wide and now we have over 400 individuals in that program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: Four hundred people working and receiving income benefits as a supplement to their earnings. Mr. Speaker, not only that, because of this pilot, 80 former income support clients no longer rely on income supports.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: That's how we measure. That's how we measure.

The final element of our poverty reduction program is a $10-million investment in Budget 2024 for a comprehensive Seniors' Well-Being Plan, which will help seniors by prioritizing home renovations and modifications – wonderful – supporting the caregivers of individuals with high-care needs. Just on the weekend, I spoke to a person about this and they think that this is the best idea they ever heard because they're putting as much home care support that they can into their – she's looking after both parents and this will certainly help there for extra help that they may be required by family members.

We are providing grants to low-income seniors. Further details on the Seniors' Well-Being Plan will be coming forward very shortly.

Mr. Speaker, social inclusion is a very important part and a social determinant of health. My department's Senior and Aging Division also continues to invest approximately $600,000 in programs to support seniors, older adults, persons with disabilities to stay and participate in their own communities. That's the key. The key is to keep people in their own communities. People are happy there.

My mother sits in the window and she tells me she's not going into no home – a little bit of home care, yes, but she's not going to any homes. She's 93 years old and she can sit in that window, she says, and everybody that passes out the road, she knows who they are and they always wave and she waves back. She's not giving up that, and that's what we're trying to do. We should be having people be able to stay in their own homes in their own communities.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. PIKE: Age-Friendly Newfoundland and Labrador Communities Programs are what we're talking about. We're talking about Newfoundland and Labrador Community Transportation Program, and that's a great program. I happened to be out with some colleagues in Clarenville a while ago and when we were out there, they talked about their community program. They have a bus. The bus is run by volunteers, but they do have community partners.

This particular bus transports seniors all over the district, all over their immediate region. That's so important. To say all of this is being run by seniors – the Town of Clarenville picks up the cost when it comes to maintenance and so on of the bus, but it's just a fabulous, fabulous program. We're seeing now that other communities are joining together and putting in funding proposals so they can do the same things in their community. We welcome those proposals.

Mr. Speaker, we have a Cabinet Committee on Seniors, which I chair. This continues to focus on addressing seniors' issues as well.

Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to say that in Marystown, last week, we did an announcement on Summer Camp Inclusion Grant. This was announced last year, a great success, and provides assistance to families, individuals and organizations to pay for a support person to help facilitate the inclusion of children with disabilities in summer camps.

Budget 2024 : We are continuing to invest $3 million in a Basic Income Program for youth receiving residential services for the Youth Services Program.

Mr. Speaker, I see my time is getting short. I don't want to miss this opportunity to talk about the Circle of Life Program. This is something that when I heard about this, I know it's been around for a long time, but it's something relatively new in this province. The Circle of Life Program, by the way, was began by a young social worker from Portugal Cove-St. Philip's Lions Club who saw the importance of connecting children with seniors and the value it had mentally and socially for these seniors.

Her vision was shared with Lions Clubs across our province and nationally and internationally, and I will say that this spinoff from this has gone provincially, nationally and now internationally. Something that was created by a social worker in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's district.

Here on the Burin Peninsula – this is what I'm reading – for the past year and a half, the Marystown Lions Club, in partnership with the Burin Peninsula Brighter Futures, has been offering this program to seniors. The reason why I'm bringing this out today is because it's something you may want to bring back to your districts. I thought it was something wonderful and it's something that we're going to fund, as well, through our intergenerational activities.

The families visit homes twice a month. Now, these would be families that have children from zero to three, so three years or younger, and they bring those children with them when they go. While there they share stories, they do crafts, they play games and they also provide musical entertainment for the children and the seniors. Each visit becomes very special for all involved.

The Circle of Life Program is done through generous donations from individuals and businesses in the community. Because of the little bit of money that they raise by doing that and their sponsorship, they were able to donate 200 blankets to the seniors in the Marystown area. Isn't that fabulous? I think it is.

Again, this is an intergenerational activity and its benefits are immeasurable, but the thing with it is that it's an idea that you may want to bring back to your districts. Because, as we know, seniors – I noticed the Member for Bonavista mentioned it – are lonely. Again, they are lonely. These types of things do help.

In any event, I guess I'll leave it at that. But to conclude, I'd like to thank again the Minister of Finance for the hard work that her staff and herself put in to Budget 2024 , because it ensures benefits for our children, our youth, our families, our seniors, persons with disabilities, persons experiencing poverty, as well as our valued community partners.

Thank you all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER (Trimper): Thank you, Minister.

I now recognize the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

P. LANE: Thank you, Speaker.

I'm glad to have an opportunity to speak to Concurrence for this particular Committee. I didn't really get the opportunity I wanted during Estimates because of this new rule, so I'm going to utilize my three 20 minutes to get any points I have across in this particular format, I guess.

Anyway, first of all, just to respond to the minister – and he had a lot of good stuff to say and I'm not knocking any of the things he said, I'm really not, but I just want to say, though, during COVID-19 we had the CERB program that came out. Basically, the federal government at that time determined, I guess, that a livable amount of money, of revenue coming in for a person to live on was $2,000 a month. That's what they came up with, $24,000 a year. So I would argue that they set that standard and even that amount, I would suggest, I don't know how a lot of people even can survive off that.

But seniors in this country are expected to survive on even less than that. So I really believe that the federal government, through our OAS and CPP supplement program, I believe they are failing, not just the seniors of this province, but they are failing the seniors of this country.

The fact that the provincial government sees the need to put in a Seniors' Benefit – and seniors are certainly thankful for that and I'm glad they're doing it to try to help the seniors survive. There was an increase, albeit a small one. I think it was 10 per cent or whatever it was. But, then again, 10 per cent on $1,600 or whatever it is, that's an extra $160 a year. So, at the end of the day, it's very miniscule in terms of what one would need to survive. We're seeing more and more seniors at the food banks, sadly. It's all throughout the province.

I know if you were to talk to Major Hillier at the Salvation Army in Mount Pearl or if you were to talk to the fine folks with the Saint Vincent de Paul at Our Lady, Queen of Families on Ashford Drive, as well as the former Mary, Queen of the World site over on Topsail Road, and thankfully the Baptist Church, when that church was sold, the new owners of that facility, the Baptist Church, they allowed the food bank to continue. It's still run by Saint Vincent de Paul but it's still operating out of the same church that it once did.

If you were to ask those people, they would confirm, certainly in Mount Pearl and I know it's across the province, that food bank usage is increased and sadly seniors are part of that.

So while certainly I'm sure seniors appreciate – I know they do – the Seniors' Supplement that the provincial government provides and the increase, albeit a small increase, but an increase and doing the best, I think, that we can given our own fiscal circumstances as a province, to try to assist seniors, I still think that, as a province, and I would say all the provinces, should be lobbying together, if they're not already doing so – I haven't heard of any big move on it.

I've heard the Premier talk about how all the premiers have lobbied the federal government about the carbon tax now, but I'm not hearing about the premiers getting together necessarily and lobbying the federal government about increasing Old Age Security so that seniors are not living in poverty and so that provinces are not having to supplement what should be the work of the federal government.

I put that out there and say to the minister and the government, certainly say to the minister, when you're talking to your counterparts and we're here trying to do stuff with seniors with our scarce resources, that the federal government needs to be stepping up to the plate and providing enough income to seniors through OAS, CPP and the supplement so that the provinces are not required to have to fill in the gap with Seniors' Benefits, so that seniors have enough money to live on, so that they're not having to cut pills in half, not having to go to the food bank.

Also under this heading, falls Newfoundland and Labrador Housing and I just want to make the point, and this has been raised in the past as well, I guess, around the Tent City. I have been down to Tent City in the past and spoken to some of the people there. I understand there are complex needs. It's not an easy task, I understand that. I was down on the weekend, I wasn't talking to any of the residents, I was down having a look and there are actually more tents now than there was before, not just on the back of the building but on the front of the building as well. That issue is still not being resolved.

One of the big issues though, of why they're not moving, at least what some of them told me, at the time and others have said, is the fact that they don't feel there are any, what they consider, safe and suitable options being provided to them.

Now, I know they're all individual cases and some of them are going to be very complex. I know there are some people who you might say they don't want to follow the rules and all this kind of stuff, I understand some of the complexities there as well. But I have been told and I have seen pictures of and spoken to advocates of some of the filthy facilities, these privately run shelters that are out there in our city. I've seen more pictures there the weekend.

I understand you've got to take the pictures with a grain of salt. Pictures can be manipulated to make it look worse than it is, but I'm being told that there are places where we are putting people in these private shelters and there's not even a door on the bedroom. They're using a sheet instead of a door and this type of thing and to see some of the filth and being with just a box spring thrown down on the floor and said: Here, sleep on that.

I don't know if Members have seen or if the minister has seen pictures of supposedly a lunch that was provided for somebody at one of these private shelters and it showed a piece of white baker's bread cut in half, nothing on it; not a sandwich, just a piece of bread, and some Cheerios in a bag. Now was that staged? Was that real? I don't know. But I'm just saying it is out there and it does make you wonder.

So I would say that part of the solution – I'm not saying it's the whole solution because it is complex and there are mental health issues at play, there are addictions issues at play – but part of it has to be these private shelters and making sure that we have standards.

So I guess I just want to throw out to the minister, he has talked about shelter standards, I think in Question Period maybe this week or last – it wouldn't be this week. I guess last week, I think I heard him respond to a question about shelter standards. I think he said it's coming sometime later in June, I think. It might have gotten delayed and now it's going to be June.

You need to get those standards in place, Minister, sooner rather than later. It's pretty bad when you think about it, that someone would prefer to be in a tent, especially in the wintertime and in all kinds of weather, than they would be in one of these shelters. If we're going to be providing shelters – and I understand the hotel, that's a different beast altogether, I get that. But if we're going to be putting people in shelters for whatever reason, these private shelters, in particular, there must be standards and those standards have to be enforced. That's the key. You can write anything on a piece of paper.

If there's no enforcement, it's going to be abused. History has shown us that. So that's something I just wanted to throw out there as it relates to NL Housing: shelter standards. It's something important I think that needs to happen.

Also under this set of Estimates is the Department of Justice. So I just want to throw out to the Minister of Justice, as we have done petitions regarding the Limitations Act. I think we're tabling something here now; haven't seen the legislation, but he did table it, first reading of changes to the Limitations Act . I say to the minister: I hope that will be before us before this session of the House of Assembly closes down.

Next, I want to speak very briefly on education, because that also falls under these Estimates. In terms of education and in terms of our schools – and I know I'm not alone on this one as well. Every Member, I'm sure, on both sides of the House can speak to issues and concerns they are hearing from teachers, administrators and students and the community as a whole, for that matter, as it relates to issues in our schools. Whether that be issues around inclusion, issues around violence in our schools, issues around overcrowded classrooms, issues around resourcing.

As one Member over here on this side – I can't remember who it was – the other day was talking about, what is 0.25 a teacher? What's that all about? I would have to concur that this whole idea of taking a teacher, a human being and dividing them up into quarters and three quarters and all this kind of stuff is absolute nonsense. At the end of the day if someone does the math and they say, well, we need 32.5 teachers, make it 33. I can guarantee you there's enough work to go around. If you talk to the teachers in this province, they will tell you there is more than enough work to go around to find something for that 0.25, that 0.5 or that 0.75 of a teacher to do. Make it full units.

That's something very tangible that can be done. We no longer have to talk about the school board and blame it on them and put it on them anymore. There is no school board. You are the Department of Education now; there is no school board.

That's something that the Minister of Education, I would think, would have the ability, through government policy, to send a memo to all of the schools and say on this day forth there will be no percentage of teachers anymore. If you need 32.5, you're going to have 33. If you need 28.5, you're going to have 29. If you need 31.25, it's going to be 32. No more portions of a teacher anymore, that policy has now been ended. Something very simple, I would suggest, that the minister could and should do.

Another thing I have been getting a few questions about as well, during COVID-19, of course, we went virtual, and at least some of the schools – schools in my area and high schools for sure – are continuing to use Chromebooks and technology and so on. I'm just looking for some clarification from the minister around whether that's going to continue or not.

As new students come into the picture, whether they be from other countries through programs that the Minister of Immigration is responsible for, or whether this be local students moving around the province or students coming from other provinces, what is the intent, what is the plan when it comes to Chromebooks and technology? Will this be continued? Will we have a program to make sure that they are replaced, new ones for students coming in, replacements for ones that get broken and so on? What is the plan when it comes to using technology in the classroom?

Because I'm not sure that there's a well-communicated policy out there. Talking to some teachers, you kind of get different stories as to their

interpretation of where this is going and there does not seem to be a plan or a policy. So that's something else that I would say to the Minister of Education that you could do. Clarify that issue and get rid of the 0.5 of teachers. Those are couple of things that you would easily do.

Class size: I don't know how many studies we have to do on class size. This has been done over and over and over and over again, yet now we're going to have an accord this time, I think, is it? Now it's the Education Accord. Now we are into an Education Accord and before that we had committees and we had studies and we have Think Tanks, and now we're going to have an accord to figure out what is an appropriate number of students per teacher.

I don't think we need to do another accord. I don't think we need to wait to do that. I think the data should definitely be there and someone can make a decision as to what are reasonable numbers with these caps on class sizes, particularly these soft caps and the hard caps. Like, let's just come up with a reasonable number and let's stick to it.

Let's make sure we have appropriate student assistants in place and other resources. The government just lost a court case to the Churchill family because they couldn't provide resources for a deaf child, and there are all kinds of other children with other needs that are not receiving the resources they require to thrive in school. Again, I don't think we need an Education Accord, another Think Tank or another study, just get it done.

Finally, I just want to delve quickly into health care. Just to reiterate, I guess, some of the points that I've raised in the past and other Members have raised. This is probably the number one issue that I receive from my constituents. I can't speak for other Members; I'm sure you're getting lots of calls, but if I were to rank the number of phone calls and the types of calls, I would suggest that, by far, the number one issue that I hear from constituents about in my district is health care.

Now, that could range from any number of things. It could be wait times for MRIs. Wait times for MRIs are crazy. Sixteen, 18 months, two years to get an MRI. If you actually get an MRI, how long are you going to have to wait to see a specialist? If something shows up on that MRI, how long are you waiting to see a specialist to tell you exactly what that is, how advanced it is, whether or not surgy is an option, what type of treatment would be required?

Besides the fact that whatever is going on is continuing to go on in your body, potentially spreading throughout your body, potentially growing in your body, besides all that, from a physical point of view, just think of the mental stress. Think of the mental stress that somebody is going through when you get an MRI and you're told that a spot has shown up, you need to see a specialist and not only are you waiting for months, you can't even get on the list to get an appointment.

We actually have two lists; I couldn't believe that one. We have two lists. You have to go on a wait-list in order to go on the appointment list. That's how bad it is. I am not making it up. Any Member here can call down and you can confirm it. It's true.

Of course, wait times in the emergency department, that's another one. I've had a lot of sick people – I know there are people that go there and they're really not that bad and probably they shouldn't be there, but they don't have a primary care physician, that's why they're there. But there are a lot of sick people. I've had cancer patients and stuff who've been down and waiting for hours and hours and hours in the emergency department. I've told stories here last week, specific ones. It's just not acceptable. It is just not acceptable.

One of the ways we can help deal with the load, and my colleagues have talked about it, is nurse practitioners, allowing them to bill MCP for services rendered. There is no reason in the world why it can't be done. The only reason why it's not being done, of course, the minister has alluded to it, is that he wants nurse practitioners to take other jobs. So, basically, we're not going to allow you to set up a practice because we want to tell you where you're going to work. That's what it comes down to. That's not going to work either.

Anyway, I see I'm out of time, but I certainly look forward to the next set of Estimates.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: Thank you.

I now call on the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island, the Minister of Housing.

F. HUTTON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before I begin my comments and say what an honour it is to get to speak to the budget, my first budget –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

F. HUTTON: – I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place, but I will do it.

Over the weekend, I had the honour of attending the celebr