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May

13, 2015

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 14

The House met at 2:00 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

We will begin.

I was waiting because there was a group of students from MSB Regional

Academy that we were expecting in the public galleries.

So if they come in, I may pause before I recognize an intervening

member to do their member's statement so that you are not interrupted.

Today I am also pleased to welcome to the public

gallery His Worship Mayor Ern Simms, and Deputy Mayor Darl Scott of St.

Anthony

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

along with their Town Manager, Curtis Richards.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER:

We will hear members' statements today from the members representing the

Districts of Humber Valley, Torngat Mountains, St. Barbe, Port au Port,

Humber East, and Baie Verte Springdale.

The hon. the Member for the District of Humber Valley.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate SEDLER

Community Employment Corporation on twenty years of service in the Deer Lake

area.

SEDLER helps provide people with intellectual

disabilities access meaningful employment in the Deer Lake area.

They provide support to clients when choosing where they wish to

work. SEDLER also works with

businesses as a client advocate.

SEDLER began its history in 1995 when a local pharmacy

hired their first employee from SEDLER, Judy Lodge.

This past week SEDLER hosted its twentieth anniversary banquet and

highlighted many of their success stories.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Jim Mercer, Paul Porter,

Dianne Cross, Tracy Cassell and Randy Osmond for fifteen-plus consecutive

years of employment through SEDLER.

The effort SEDLER has made in promoting workplace

inclusion for those with developmental disabilities is commendable.

Their dedication and commitment is why SEDLER continues to thrive

today, having a real impact in the Deer Lake area.

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

in congratulating SEDLER Community Employment Corporation on twenty years of

service in the Deer Lake area.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate the badminton

team from J.C. Erhardt Memorial School in Makkovik on their excellent

showing at the provincial badminton championships recently held in St.

Lawrence.

Eight students from the school, ranging from Grades 7

to 12 cleaned up at the two-day tournament winning gold in every event

except one, where they received silver.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. EDMUNDS:

The team consisted of Amanda Dyson, Mandy Smith, Sophie Jararuse, Charlie

Mae Dyson, Dylan Andersen, Sydney Ford, Liam Dyson, Jason Wolfrey, and coach

Ryan Connors.

They took gold in boys' and girls' singles, girl's

doubles, boy's doubles, and mixed doubles.

The team excelled in all events, and proved their supremacy in the

sport of badminton.

During the tournament, Makkovik competed against teams

from Mount Pearl, Marystown, Glovertown, and others.

Just to put it into perspective, Mr. Speaker, the school in Mount

Pearl has 900 students in Grades 10 to 12, that is three times the

population of the community of Makkovik.

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

congratulating the badminton team from Makkovik and look forward to next

year when they have already committed to defending their title.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe.

MR. J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

March 23, 2015 was a night to remember for eight people

who took refuge from a wild snowstorm at Irene Payne's Sunrise Bakery in

Parson's Pond, on the Great Northern Peninsula.

For those eight people who could no longer drive in the

blinding snowstorm, it could have been worse.

Sunrise Bakery owner, Irene Payne, with employees Holly Payne, Robin

Payne, and Grace Decker kept the bakery and store open all night to

accommodate the motorists that were stranded.

They served toast and sandwiches, and kept the hot coffee hot and the

tea on. Most of the stranded

people slept, while others stayed awake.

We could not leave them stranded; there was one little

boy who was really scared, said Irene.

It's the way we do things in Newfoundland & Labrador.

This incident epitomizes the hospitality and generosity

that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are world renowned for

an act of

kindness that will stay with eight people forever, a story that will be

shared.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to

join me in commending Irene Payne, Holly Payne, Robin Payne, and Grace

Decker for taking care of strangers in the Newfoundland and Labrador way.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Port au Port.

MR. CORNECT:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to congratulate the Rotary Club

of Stephenville for presenting their fortieth Annual Music Festival.

Under the leadership of Rosa Dollard and Noreen Dwyer,

a very successful festival was presented.

Performers of all ages provided pieces from classical piano and

bodhran to bagpipes, showcasing the rich and diverse cultural fabric of the

Bay St. George region.

Mr. Speaker, the winner of this year's Rotary Music

Festival Rose Bowl and best in senior piano for the second consecutive year

was Stephen Eckhert of Kippens, who was recommended to perform in the 2015

Provincial Rotary Music Festival.

Other trophy winners at the Stephenville Rotary Music

Festival included: Stephenville Elementary Grade 5 Choir for best choral;

James Benoit, best instrumental; Stephenville Middle School, Grade 6, best

band; Cody O'Quinn, best dramatic speech; and Marigold Benoit, best vocal.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members in this hon. House

of Assembly to join with me in congratulating the Stephenville Rotary Club

Music Festival Committee, the award winners, and all the participants for

their dedication, commitment, and talent.

Flicitations et merci!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to speak with a great deal of

pride about a relatively new initiative in my District of Humber East.

A little more than a year ago the Open Door was launched as a free,

healthy lunch program held every Monday at the Anglican Cathedral of St.

John the Evangelist.

Sponsored by the Anglican churches of the Humber

Deanery, over 3,000 lunches have been served by over 1,000 volunteers.

In addition, these volunteers have distributed hundreds of coats,

books and school supplies, mitts, socks and hats, and served a complete

Christmas dinner.

This is an outreach program that is truly an open door

to all, but especially to those who are hungry and lonely.

It is a festival atmosphere with piano music, a warm welcome, and a

departing gift of fresh fruit and necessary toiletries.

I have personally served and eaten at the Open Door, and would

recommend it to all other hon. members who are interested in knowing the

struggles of some of our most vulnerable.

I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating the

Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in this important outreach

program.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a delight in this hon. House today to convey

accolades to the 50 Plus Encouragement Club.

Comprised of three friendly communities, namely, Burlington, Smith's

Harbour, and Middle Arm, the club motivates seniors to engage in a healthy,

active lifestyle.

President Gerald Burton and his dedicated executive are

to be applauded for their visionary leadership in organizing this particular

club.

From the first public organizational meeting in 2011,

momentum kept building to the point where today all three communities are

well-served and everyone looks forward to the special events or activities.

With hard work, their dream became a reality.

Their vision was to create safe, secure age-friendly communities, not

only by promoting intergenerational activities but also to acknowledge the

tremendous contribution that seniors have made to our communities.

From all accounts, the Encouragement Club is a positive

initiative that is embraced by the people in the region.

Instead of staying in their homes and feeling isolated, the club

offers activities that inspire seniors to become involved in their

community.

Please join me in applauding the 50 Plus Encouragement

Club for their outstanding work in honouring and valuing the social and

economic contributions of seniors.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Before we go to Statements by Members, I would like to now welcome the

students from MSB Regional Academy, along with their bus driver, Mr. Charlie

Bursey, and four teachers: Mr. Paul Bartlett, Ms Chantelle Bowers, Ms Renee

Moss, and Mr. Ken Robinson.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand and acknowledge

National Police Week in Canada which runs from May 10 to 16.

Since the first Police Week in 1970, this significant occasion has

allowed all Canadians to recognize the important work that police officers

do to make our communities as safe as possible for our residents.

This year's special week was kicked off with a cake

cutting ceremony at St. Mary's Elementary School here in St. John's.

There are many activities planned across the Province by the Royal

Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and I

encourage residents to come out and participate wherever possible.

Mr. Speaker, one important event that has become a

regular part of National Police Week in Newfoundland and Labrador is the

International Police and Peace Officer Memorial Service that was held this

morning at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in St. John's.

This service provides an opportunity to remember those police and

peace officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty and to

acknowledge the sacrifice they made to improve the quality of life every day

for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

While reflecting on the nineteen officers who have paid

the ultimate sacrifice in this Province, you cannot help but think about the

devastating impact that their deaths must have had on their children, their

families, and their friends.

Mr. Speaker, the police and peace officers of our

Province often face difficult and dangerous situations in carrying out their

duties and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to provide

significant support to assist them in that important work.

Since 2004, we have invested more than $1 billion in policing in the

Province and those investments continued this year with additional funding

for the RCMP to upgrade rural detachments and for the RNC to hire additional

recruits.

We have also fostered strong working relationships with

both police forces; a relationship that has led to the launch of successful

initiatives that have had direct and positive impacts on reducing crime in

Newfoundland and Labrador. This

includes the creation of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, which

on Monday announced details of its latest investigation into illegal drug

trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary have proud histories of providing policing

services to Newfoundland and Labrador and I commend them for the part they

play in making this Province one of the greatest places in which to live.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. We, too, in the

Official Opposition would like to acknowledge National Police Week in this

country and this Province, an opportunity to recognize and thank our peace

officers and law enforcement officials for the work they do year-round.

I was pleased to be able to attend the seventeenth

annual Memorial Service at Seventh Day Adventist, a very powerful and moving

ceremony, as it is every year.

It is a dangerous line of work.

We are unfortunately reminded of this all too often, whether it is the

tragedy in Moncton, or the loss of a fisheries officer just two years ago

right here in this Province. We

all appreciate government's announcements of their investment in policing,

unfortunately, the announcements about the other aspects of justice such as

prisons and courthouses are just that, announcements and nothing more.

In closing, we would again like to thank our officers,

their support staff, and their families for their hard work, their

dedication, and their sacrifice.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. I was honoured to

attend the Police and Peace Officer Memorial today.

It is a reminder of how complex and sometimes dangerous this work is,

and the great sacrifice and service our uniformed and civilian policing

personnel provide to our people.

I thank them profoundly for their commitment.

The RNC and the RCMP have been doing incredible work in

partnership with the community, including increasing the number of women

recruits, providing mental health first aid training, creating awareness

around LGBTQ issues, and domestic violence intervention.

Thank you once again for your passion and compassion in

serving the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Bravo to our police services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to stand today to inform my hon.

colleagues that the provincial government is rolling out a substantial road

construction and summer maintenance program again this year.

Some tenders have already been called, and others will be called and

awarded during the next several weeks.

Over $68 million has been allocated for the Provincial

Roads Program this year, an increase in funding over last year.

This is certainly an indication of the value we place on improving

our roads and encouraging activities that helps stimulate local economies.

In addition, over $20 million is allocated this year

for summer maintenance work. The

program encompasses important projects such as annual equipment inspections,

line painting, pothole and asphalt repairs, excavating ditches, upgrading

road shoulders, repairing culverts, and installing and repairing guide rails

and signs.

We are also focused on grading gravel roads, which

normally need attention following the winter months, as well as continuing

our brush clearing and dust suppression programs.

These activities all improve driving and safety conditions for

motorists.

Key multi-year projects for the construction season

include work on the Heart's Content Barrens, the Trans-Labrador Highway, the

Bay d'Espoir highway, the Baie Verte/La Scie road, and the Southeast

Placentia road, along with upgrades to various other roads in regions across

the Province. These projects

were tendered over two years, Mr. Speaker, to ensure an early start to work

this year.

Our crews work diligently throughout the summer, Mr.

Speaker, and investments of over $400 million in recent years have helped

maintain, upgrade and enhance hundreds kilometres of roads, as well as

repair or replace over twenty-five bridges.

This construction season is no different, and we remain committed to

providing a safe and reliable transportation network throughout Newfoundland

and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Mr. Speaker, as we have seen in Estimates, even with the early tendering

calls last year, there was lots of roadwork that was left over and did not

get completed; but not to worry, that will be done this year.

For example, through the Canada-Newfoundland infrastructure

agreement, $15.5 million of work was budgeted last year; only $169,000

spent. Not to worry, that will

be done this year; it is an election year.

Mr. Speaker, under the Canada strategic infrastructure

program, $8.7 million of highway was budgeted last year; $480,000 spent.

Not to worry, it is an election year; it is going to be done this

year. The Trans-Labrador

Highway, just over half of the $60 million budgeted last year was done.

Not to worry, it is an election year; that will be done this year

too.

Mr. Speaker, the minister said there was an increase in

the budget this year over last year surprise, surprise; it is an election

year. There is politics in

pavement, especially during election years, there is no doubt about it, and

the proof is in the pavement.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the advance copy of his

statement here today. Mr.

Speaker, since 1997 there has been almost $3 billion in gasoline taxes

collected. This year this

government is projecting to collect $185 million in transportation taxes and

fuel taxes. It is supposed to go

into roads, Mr. Speaker, and what do we get?

We get $68 million.

Mr. Speaker, I also have to comment on twenty-five

bridges. We know what the

Auditor General said how much this government is behind on road and bridge

construction: almost $900 million, Mr. Speaker.

It is shameful. I would

hate to be a driver on bridge 26 when it gives out.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Budget 2015 cuts almost $21 million from Memorial

University.

I ask the Premier: What discussions have you had with

the university on the impacts of these cuts?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As all members of the House are quite aware, and the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador are quite aware, we had some very

difficult and challenging fiscal decisions to make this year as we went

through our Budget process. We

wanted to find a balance in delivering services.

We want a continuation of services.

We want to continue our strong economy that we currently have in

Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

We certainly did not want to make a shock to any systems by massive

layoffs, like the members opposite have done in the past.

We also expect agencies and boards and commissions

extended from government as well

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

to tighten their belts and to look at ways to reduce their funds that are

received from government for their operations.

We have done that with Memorial University as we have done with

agencies and boards as well, Mr. Speaker.

We asked the Board of Regents who is in charge of those

responsibilities to make proper and right decisions that are in the best

interests of their students.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I remind the Premier maybe he should just read

his own Budget documents because the strong economy that he was just

referring to is actually shrinking and there are all kinds of projections

that he has in his own documents to support what I am saying.

My question was: What discussions specifically have you

had with Memorial University surrounding the impact of this cut?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member opposite raised the matter of the economy

and the status of this economy.

I remind the Leader of the Opposition of 2008-2009 when globally, in Canada,

we saw tremendous pressures on the economy of provinces.

Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker, was the first province to

pull out of that recessionary period, the strongest one to pull out.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

That is a testament to the decisions that we made as a government.

We know members opposite are going to make massive layoffs if they

ever take over government

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

We know they are going to do that.

They have said they are going to do that, Mr. Speaker.

We have taken a different plan.

We are taking an approach that is fair and balanced for all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The hon. Premier should know that back in 2008-2009 the

rebound in this economy had nothing to do with the actions of this

government. It was plain and

simple; it was oil royalties.

Mr. Speaker, this week when I questioned the outrageous

$1.4 million in marketing spent by Nalcor the minister said this: Nalcor

operates as a separate entity.

Last fall, when talking about Nalcor, the Premier said something quite

different. He said: As I have

said already, and I will say again, we will hold them speaking of Nalcor

accountable.

I ask the Premier: What is it?

Is Nalcor a separate entity as your minister suggests, or will you,

as Premier, hold them accountable where your minister is saying they do not

have to be?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Both statements are accurate.

They are an independent organization.

They are a Crown corporation of government.

Their only shareholder is the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are the ones who own Nalcor.

They will benefit from Nalcor for decades to come because of the good

planning and investments that we are making in the future of Newfoundland

and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the Province, I said last fall and I

say here again today, yes, I will hold Nalcor accountable.

I hold all agencies and boards, all departments accountable for the

decisions they make and the impact that they have on Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians. We will hold them

accountable and we do hold them accountable.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe the Premier should just march down and tell his

minister the same story because obviously it was quite different yesterday.

At a time when the Province is running a billion-dollar

deficit and during a freeze in government discretionary spending, Nalcor

spent as much on marketing as twelve government departments combined.

I ask the Premier: Since you are holding Nalcor

accountable, do you find this spending acceptable?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Nalcor does their operational their day-to-day

operations are done independent from government.

I do not have an office over at Nalcor where I sit and watch their

day-to-day operations, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Yet, we hold them accountable. I

can explain that to the Leader of the Opposition further if he does not

understand it. I would be quite

happy to do that. The minister

has oversight, has a strong relationship with Nalcor, and has regular

communications and discussions with him.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, as we have done with other

organizations, we have asked them to tighten their belt and spend wisely.

Members opposite get up here in the House every day and ask for

millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions.

Last week they asked for over a billion dollars right here in the

House of Assembly. It is a good

thing they are not in charge because spending would be right out of control.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Premier obviously has dodged he does not like

this question for some reason.

I will ask the Premier one more time, Mr. Speaker, the

$1.4 million in marketing spent by Nalcor last year, does the Premier find

this spending acceptable? Yes or

no.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members opposite have come to this House of Assembly

asking for Nalcor to increase communications.

They have asked them to do more in communications.

They asked them to do a better job and have a bigger role in

notifying Newfoundlanders and Labradorians the status of the company, their

day-to-day operations of what is taking place.

As well, Mr. Speaker, as a government we expect Nalcor

to continue to look for opportunities that are going to benefit

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for years to come.

They are a company that operates worldwide in having partnerships

with companies from all over the globe.

They continue to have communications here at home.

They continue to provide communications around the globe.

They continue to make investments.

Yes, we will hold their feet to the fire on how they

spend and what they spend. As I

have said this week, as well, I will take a very close look at their

expenditures on marketing and I am in the process of doing that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am assuming by the Premier's comment that he had no

idea that they were spending $446,000 on a marketing campaign trying to tell

the people of Newfoundland that they were ready when they obviously were not

ready.

I ask the Premier: Do you support $446,000 in a

marketing campaign by Nalcor saying that they were ready when they clearly

were not?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

MR. DALLEY:

It is no surprise, Mr. Speaker, to hear the Leader of the Opposition tearing

strips off Nalcor once again.

You do not hear the one next to him tearing strips off Nalcor, Mr. Speaker.

You hear the Leader tearing strips off, but let's lay it out.

Nalcor has built for the people of the Province six

lines of business: Churchill Falls, Muskrat Falls, Hydro, Energy Marketing,

Bull Arm, oil and gas. They are

a global company where we are making strategic investments, Mr. Speaker

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. DALLEY:

and when we invest we will get a return for the people of the Province.

You have to acknowledge, yes, $440,000 is a lot of money and they

were ready, Mr. Speaker. I

challenge the member opposite to go to another Province and tell me where

they never had a power outage this year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I challenge the minister to clearly point out tell

the people of this Province who experienced a number of outages, that they

were ready on the money that was spent, I say, Mr. Speaker.

In 2012 speaking of spending money the Auditor

General reviewed public tendering exemptions.

He made nine recommendations and four of them have not been

implemented.

I ask the Premier: Why are you ignoring the AG's

recommendations and why aren't you ensuring that public money is not being

wasted?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, we take all recommendations from the Auditor General very

seriously, particularly when it comes to public tendering.

There are times when there are exemptions to the Public Tender Act,

that is quite normal. Reports on

that are regularly provided to the House of Assembly.

In fact, just over the last week or two there was a report tabled in

that regard.

We have actioned 93 per cent of the Auditor General's

recent recommendations. We

continue to act on them. There

is always room for improvement and we continue to improve, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In 2012 while you were taking those concerns very

seriously, and sometimes you are even concerned government departments and

agencies made 1,500 tender exemptions and spent $102 million on these goods

and services. In 2014,

government made another 1,500 exemptions and spent $123 million of

taxpayers' money.

I ask the Premier: Why is your government continuing to

spend millions and millions of taxpayers' money without going through a

public tendering process?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's work is important to Newfoundland and

Labrador. We learn a lot from

what the Auditor General does.

He plays an important role in the functions of government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

He plays an important role in the functions of government, and makes

recommendations.

As the Minister of Health and Community Services just

advised, 93 per cent of recommendations, since 2009, have been actioned.

Many have been fully implemented, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Some have been fully implemented, Mr. Speaker, and others are being

actioned.

If you want to start looking at individual

recommendations from the Auditor General, the Auditor General also

recommended that government should consider partnering with private business

to promote specific industry growth in our Province, but the Opposition

members are against that, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What the Premier is talking about are partnerships that

people understand what the savings are.

To date, the Premier has not shown the people of Newfoundland any of

that because he has gotten none of it done, I say.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BALL:

In the first nine months of the fiscal year 2014, government spent $84

million without going through the public tendering process.

In the same nine months, in fiscal year 2015, they spent over $130

million. That is a 55 per cent

increase in tender exemptions.

I ask the Premier: Why is there such a drastic increase

in the tendering exemptions?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, there are lots of people in our communities in our Province who

understand relationships with the private sector and how important they are.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

When it comes to business, the folks opposite this morning announced they

are going to plan to come up with a plan, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

In terms of public tenders, the process is open and accountable.

In terms of the 2012 report that the Leader of the

Opposition refers to, the exceptions account for less than 2 per cent of

total annual expenditures. Mr.

Speaker, it is important to look at the big picture; 98 per cent of

purchases are being acquired through public tenders.

The process is working.

Exceptions are being reported to the House regularly and that will continue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, some of the tender exemptions are certainly

questionable. For example, the

liquor corporation spent $11,000 on a four-month gym membership that was

given to a vendor because they were the only ones able to provide a

discounted member rate.

I ask the Premier: How confident are you that this is

the best use of taxpayers' money?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, exceptions happen from time to time and they account for less

than 2 per cent of total annual expenditures.

There are strict conditions in the Public Tender Act around

exceptions. The vast majority of

exceptions are either due to sole source

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KENT:

where there is only one source to purchase that good or service, or there

is a pressing emergency. So that

could be repairs after a hurricane, emergency road repairs, ferry breakdowns

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KENT:

purchasing of textbooks for schools.

If the members have any specific questions about specific exceptions,

then the Government Purchasing Agency would be happy to provide more detail,

Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, the federal government continues to cut vital services in our

Province without much push back from this government.

The St. John's Coast Guard Radio has already been shut down, and in

August the St. Anthony Coast Guard Radio is scheduled to close.

I ask the minister: What is government's plan to

prevent the closure of this vital marine communications service for mariners

that is so important on the Northeast Coast?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, beyond the work of intergovernmental affairs within our

government where we are constantly advocating, constantly challenging the

federal government, working with other jurisdictions to solve issues like

the ones the member raises, each and every minister in the Premier's Cabinet

is actively involved in advocating on behalf of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Whenever there are services that are jeopardized or

impacted because of cuts happening federally or elsewhere, that is of great

concern to us, Mr. Speaker. We

are constantly advocating to make sure that Newfoundland and Labrador

maintains good federal presence, receives good services, and that the

federal government honours its commitments to Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Premier and the Attorney General both committed to

action in response to past questions that I have made in the House of

Assembly.

I ask the minister: Have you even spoken to the feds?

Would you please table any proposal advanced to prevent Ottawa from

taking away another service that our people and our mariners depend on for

safety?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, the member in his previous question referenced search and

rescue. Our government has been

very clear on the decision that the federal government has made on search

and rescue in this Province. It

is absolutely ridiculous, and I do not mind standing here and saying it.

The Conservative government let this Province down and we have been

fighting at every opportunity possible.

What I would say to the member opposite is he ought to

encourage his federal colleagues to join the fight with us to see if we can

get the federal government back onside.

As my colleague, the Minister of Health and Community Services has

just said, very strongly here, every minister in this government is working

hard with the federal government to reverse some of the terrible decisions

that have been made that have had a negative impact on this Province, and we

will continue to do so. Unlike

the other members, we are not playing politics; we are standing up for the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Mr. Speaker, we are seeing a disturbing trend in the number of privacy

breaches that are occurring within government and its agencies.

Access to information records show there have been over 170 privacy

breaches in the last four years.

That does not count the most recent example of the patient's lab results

faxed to get this a dairy farmer, and the breaches in the mail outs of

the big game licences.

I ask the minister: What assurances do the people of

the Province have that all steps are being taken to protect their privacy?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, any privacy breach is serious.

Whether it is major or minor, there are steps being taken to ensure

that we learn from those breaches, and that steps are taken to ensure that

those breaches do not reoccur.

In the incident that recently involved Central Health,

I was in direct contact with the regional health authority.

We want a full investigation conducted.

We want to ensure the policies and procedures are reviewed.

If somebody willingly and knowingly discloses personal information,

somebody knowingly breaches a person's privacy, then there have to be

consequences for that, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Mr. Speaker, Central Health has confirmed that the policy was not adhered to

in the case where a fax containing patient information was sent to the dairy

farmer. So, while the policy is

in place, compliance to the policy was not.

So I ask the minister: Why wasn't policy followed, and

what steps will you take to ensure that policy is adhered to, not just in

this case, but by all health professionals in the Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, when we are talking about personal health information, we are

talking about one of the most sensitive forms of personal information.

A well-functioning health environment requires patient privacy to

always be a priority.

Health care is human-driven by its very nature.

It is subject to human nature.

There are times when a document is faxed to the wrong place, when

there is an error that occurs due to human error.

That is still serious. We

need to make sure that the folks involved learn from those mistakes, and

that steps are taken to ensure they do not reoccur.

If there is a deliberate breach of privacy, then there are very

serious consequences, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister accused me of playing politics with 911,

and I was the only person with concerns.

Your own Premier stated that he also has concerns after delays in

response times in Cox's Cove and Pasadena were raised in this House.

I ask the minister: Will you tap the Premier on the

shoulder and tell him he is playing politics with 911, or agree with me and

the Premier who stated that these time delays are not acceptable when it

comes to human lives?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister Responsible for Fire and Emergency Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said yesterday, I acknowledged to the Leader of

the Opposition the seriousness of any delay in response to 911 calls.

I am not sure of the wording exactly what I said to the member; but,

clearly, in my view, the member is playing politics.

Yesterday his rant in the House was that we are not providing the

information at all and that it was a very non-transparent organization.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

As I outlined very clearly yesterday, Mr. Speaker, in

response to his question, what we are seeing in the Province is that the

Member for Bay of Islands and the Liberal Party are articulating one policy

on 911 for Corner Brook and region and a different policy for places like

St. Anthony and Lamaline and other parts of the Province, and that is not

where this government stands. We

have a policy in place based on standard operating procedures consistent

with other jurisdictions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, I say to the minister, I knew you did not have the courage to

tell the Premier he is playing politics, and Corner Brook do have a dispatch

system.

I ask the minister: With the dispatch system in Corner

Brook, why should you drag Western Newfoundland down?

Why don't you bring the rest of the Province up to their level?

Mr. Speaker, this is about saving lives and having the proper

emergency response in place.

I ask the minister: Now that your Premier has publicly

expressed concerns, will you commit to having an open and transparent

dialogue on 911 and implement a dispatch system like Nova Scotia, as

reported on page 9, of the POMAX report?

This is very serious, Premier.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister Responsible for Fire and Emergency Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Very serious indeed, Mr. Speaker.

The member stands there every single day and talks about no

information available and government not being transparent.

Well, Mr. Speaker, here is the final POMAX report.

I will table it. It is

available on the website.

Mr. Speaker, on October 20, the member opposite wrote

the Minister of Public Safety.

On October 21, the letter was responded to.

October 22, he wrote; November 5, he was responded to.

December 21, he wrote

MR. SPEAKER:

I ask the member not to use props, please.

MR. KING:

January 21, he was responded to, Mr. Speaker.

On February 17, he wrote; on February 26, he had a response.

On February 24, he was briefed; and on March 9, there was a detailed

response.

I am prepared to table it all if members of the media

want to take it and report on it.

We are being as open and transparent as possible.

The problem here is that he gets the answers, but he does not like

the answers, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge I got the reports but, obviously, there is no

decision made to put in the dispatch.

Even the Premier of this Province here stated publicly that there are

problems with it. So just

because you put it in writing, that does not mean that you are going to save

lives by changing the system.

I ask the Premier: Will you take this as a serious

matter and order an investigation into the 911 system, like Nova Scotia,

before someone dies in this Province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, it is most unfortunate that members sometimes are a little bit

over the top in their fear mongering and the comments they make.

I appreciate the passion of the member opposite, I certainly do, and

he is well known for it.

What I have said, and I will say here again in the

House, we want to find ways to have the best services for the people of the

Province. We want to make sure

that we get the best responses.

Mr. Speaker, 911 is universally known throughout Canada, throughout the

United States. We have hundreds

of thousands of people who visit us, we have people move from community to

community, and 911 is the right system.

We know that what we started on the system is a ground

system. It is a basic system

that we have started here in the Province that is now available to residents

and visitors alike. We are going

to grow on that because we are all interested and very much want the best

services for the people of the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for housing said in Estimates

yesterday that he is discussing with the Member for Lake Melville and the

Department of Health the future of the Paddon Home in Happy Valley-Goose

Bay. The Minister of Health said

this same thing in 2011. Since

its closure, $840,000 has been spent in repairs.

I ask the minister: This has been discussed for four

years; what options for the Paddon Home are you discussing with the MHA and

the Department of Health?

Anybody

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

I thank the member for his question.

I can assure you that at several points since becoming Minister of

Health and Community Services I have been actively working on the Paddon

Home issue with folks in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and, in particular, with

Labrador-Grenfell Health. The

Minister Responsible for Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs has been very

involved in those discussions and has been an advocate for the cause.

I have toured the Paddon Home facility personally.

We are currently working with the community.

We are working with various stakeholders.

We are working very closely with Labrador-Grenfell Health to assess

what options are available.

We have studied it.

We are considering housing options.

I will be working closely with my colleague the Minister Responsible

for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation as we continue that work.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains has time for a quick question.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Mr. Speaker, a unit was bought to replace the Newman's Boarding House which

closed at a cost of $825 million.

I ask the minister: Why would you spend over $1.6

million to add to your portfolio when vacant buildings like the Paddon Home

sit idle?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services for a quick reply.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, just because the building is currently empty does not mean it

should not be maintained. We see

a future for that facility in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

It is important to Labrador-Grenfell Health, it is important to the

people of Lake Melville district, and it is something that we are going to

continue to explore from a housing perspective, from a health perspective,

and from a community services perspective.

We will continue to do that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Government is pressuring Memorial University to hike

annual student resident fees by $1,000, which will be hard on rural students

who must leave home to further their education.

I ask the Premier: Why is government directing MUN to

find savings on the backs of the rural students of this Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that we

have been providing great support to Memorial University in the last decade

to ensure that they have the best tuition rates anywhere, anywhere in the

country, and we have done that.

This year, we have had a difficult Budget year.

We have had a difficult financial year, as members are all aware, and

I referred to earlier in Question Period.

We have asked all organizations, including Memorial, to tighten their

belts and find better ways to do this, to find better ways to do their

operations.

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite should also remember

that in the last decade we have invested over $300 million, about $337

million, in tuition freezes for this Province.

That is money that we spent as a government so that students did not

have to spend it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Also, in the conversion of loans to grants, Mr. Speaker, we have spent

almost $13 million so that students starting in 2016, there will be no

more loans for students.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Premier: Why does government get the credit

when they freeze the tuitions and other fees but the university gets the

blame when they have to be lifted?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just provided that information.

I will be glad to provide it again, Mr. Speaker.

It is because we gave Memorial $337 million to do so.

That is why we get the credit for doing it, because we gave them the

funding to do it. They initiated

the process, they managed the process, but we gave them the funding to allow

them to do that.

This year, we have had a difficult Budget.

We have challenging fiscal times.

We cannot be everything to everybody all the time, Mr. Speaker.

We have asked Memorial University, as we have government departments

and all agencies, boards and commissions, to look at how they do their

operations to find a better way so we can alleviate the pressures on

taxpayers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

So then he is accepting the blame.

When we say they are pressuring Memorial, they are pressuring

Memorial, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS MICHAEL:

I ask the Premier: Why are they imposing increases because of their cuts

that fly in the face of government's youth retention strategy because our

young graduates are not going to get jobs?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have asked Memorial, and all our agencies, boards

and commissions, to take a hard look at how they do their operations.

As I have said, we cannot be everything to everybody at all times.

We have asked them to do that.

Are we pressuring to do that?

I do not know if I would use that

term, pressuring to do that, but we have asked people to do the right thing.

Yes, if pressuring is the word and asking them to manage and

encourage them to streamline their operations, I think that is the right

thing for us to do as a government.

To eliminate wastage, to reduce their costs, while finding

efficiencies and better ways to operate so they can provide good services

and programs, in this case, to the students, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

I will stand here, and I am sure most members in the House will agree, that

our students attending Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador get

an education that is second to none.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, the Mayor of Botwood has had enough.

After numerous incidents with the government's secretive, privatized,

emergency placement, group home, the mayor has told them to leave town.

I ask the Premier: The privatized care of our most

vulnerable people was created under your watch, what is going on?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. S. COLLINS:

Mr. Speaker, it is important to recognize, the folks who are housed in these

accommodations are very vulnerable.

They are at risk youth and children, and we want to make sure that

the proper services are provided.

Knowing, obviously, that sometimes there are going to be issues

arise, but the contractors are quite willing to work with the communities

involved to arrive at a place.

We have to be very sensitive around this because,

again, the folks we are dealing with here need the help, they need the

service, and they need to be able to be integrated into a community.

That is what we working towards, to have a system that does just

that.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

For decades the Province's group homes operated quietly

in rural communities run by non-profit boards who hired highly trained

public employees. It is clear

the Premier's privatization plan is failing.

I ask the Premier: Will he implement an investigation

into the operation of Blue sky homes, particularly in the area of staff

qualifications and training?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is a sad and unfortunate

commentary by the member opposite, to be perfectly honest with you.

Mr. Speaker, in days gone by we had facilities in this

Province that were full.

Facilities such as Whitbourne, and we had other facilities.

We saw circumstances where we had foster children being housed in

hotels. We have moved away from

that. We developed a plan and we

are executing that plan to move them out in the community, to put them in

homes.

Is the member opposite suggesting that maybe we put

them back in hotel rooms? Is

that what she is suggesting? Is

she suggesting that we put them in homes where nobody else lives and put

them in remote areas so they cannot interact in communities?

We want the best for these young people.

They deserve a chance, Mr. Speaker, and we are going to try and give

it to them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

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

a very quick question.

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Will his legacy be the death of professional

services by ill thought out privatization schemes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier has time for a quick response.

PREMIER DAVIS:

Absolutely terrible, Mr. Speaker.

It is absolutely terrible to suggest that these young people and

these children are not being afforded professional services.

They absolutely are, Mr. Speaker.

These are very difficult, challenging cases that we have.

They are a small number.

They are the most difficult and challenging cases of young people in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

For the member to bring this as a political issue about

privatization services, it is absolutely ridiculous.

These children are well cared for and they have professional services

that are looking after them, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We, the citizens serviced by Curtis Hospital located in

St. Anthony, Newfoundland and Labrador, petition the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador and Labrador Grenfell Health to retain the

midwives and allow them to continue to perform all of their duties at Curtis

Hospital.

Our midwives offer services that cannot be duplicated

and which cannot be replaced.

The level of care they offer and the knowledge and training they have in the

area of obstetrics is immense.

It will be a great disservice to the people of this area if our midwives are

no longer available to care for the people here.

Privatizing midwifery or waiting five to seven years for regulation,

as stated by government, is unacceptable.

We have an operational model of midwifery here in St. Anthony that

has been delivering outstanding care for over ninety years.

We implore upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Labrador Grenfell Health to

preserve midwifery services at Curtis Hospital.

Mr. Speaker, these are signed by residents of Sandy

Cove, Anchor Point, Bear Cove, Main Brook, Nameless Cove, St.

Lunaire-Griquet, Green Island Brook, Savage Cove, St. Anthony, a number of

communities in my constituency.

I want to point out that government, when they made this announcement well

over a year ago, their focus was going to be on privatizing this service

when they had a well working system in a public system for over ninety

years.

If we look at a very public baby that was delivered,

Princess Charlotte I believe, Kate Middleton, when she delivered her child,

the princess, it was delivered by two midwives, not the physicians who were

there on standby in case it was a more high-risk birth.

That is generally a way of which you can deliver more efficient

service and provide good care is through use of midwives.

They deal with the long-term continuity of care and through the whole

prenatal and postnatal process, the relationship that is built, and that

sense of trust.

There are cost savings as well in the delivery and

utilization of midwifery. It is

happening in other jurisdictions like Ontario.

It is well utilized in the UK, as I just mentioned.

I think it is something that we really need to focus on here in this

Province. It was working for

ninety years, but under this government they cut the service.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition

of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS there is no cellphone service in the Town of

Trout River, which is an enclave community in Gros Morne National Park; and

WHEREAS visitors to Gros Morne National Park, more than

100,000 annually, expect to communicate by cellphone when they visit the

park; and

WHEREAS cellphone service has become a very important

aspect of everyday living for residents; and

WHEREAS cellphone service is an essential safety tool

for visitors and residents; and

WHEREAS cellphone service is essential for business

development;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly

pray and call upon the House of Assembly to call on the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador to partner with the private sector to extend

cellphone coverage throughout Gros Morne National Park and the enclave

community of Trout River.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this weekend in Gros Morne National Park

the festival Trails Tales Tunes will kick off on Friday evening.

I am certain there will be government members there.

I intend on attending on behalf of the Official Opposition.

People who are going to Trails Tales Tunes this year,

by the time they get a few kilometres past Deer Lake they are going to run

out of cellphone service. There

will be spotty coverage occasionally between there and until the time they

reach Norris Point where TTT is held.

Throughout the park, cellphone coverage will be very

poor. So again we will have an

opportunity to showcase to the world some of the talent of Gros Morne

National Park and some of the highlights, but we will not have cellphone

service.

Mr. Speaker, this is again the petition of primarily

people from Trout River, but generally people from throughout the park

seeking for government to partner with the private sector to move forward on

cellphone service.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Orders of the Day

Private Members' Day

MR. SPEAKER:

This being Private Members' Day, it being 3:00 p.m., I go to the Member for

Bonavista North to begin debate on his private member's motion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROSS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

BE IT RESOLVED that this hon. House supports the

Province's new arrangement with municipalities, which provides sustainable

sources of funding to further ensure a strong future for our municipalities.

This motion refers to the new arrangement that was

announced a few short weeks ago whereby the minister announced the

sustainable plan for municipalities for Newfoundland and Labrador as a

reaction to the fiscal framework document that MNL had presented to the

government.

The spirit of this resolution, Mr. Speaker, is a wish

that this House would support the government's activities along this vein

and it would probably ensure to all of our smaller communities and larger

communities and towns around the Province that this House and this

government supports a sustainable relationship with them.

In coming together to think about the PMR for today, we

are reacting to many comments from mayors and councillors over the last few

months and weeks especially since the announcement and drawing on our

own recollections, because the speakers who are speaking to this as

government members today all have a history of being members of community or

town councils.

We have an affinity or a feeling for the

responsibilities that small towns, medium towns, larger towns, and cities

have in our Province. We

recognize that each of them, from the local service districts who have in

my district, Mr. Speaker, there are local service districts with

approximately 100 people. There

is a local service district with over 350 people in it.

There is a town council that has a there are a couple of the

municipalities that are actually smaller than some of the local service

districts. So, some of these

choices of delivering of services to the smaller regions of our Province

have been local choices over the years, and the type of government they have

there.

In thinking of this over the last few days, we also

requested an extra briefing with the Department of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs to make sure that we have the real understanding

of the arrangement, the sustainability plan for support for municipal

governments.

So the members today for Kilbride, Baie Verte

Springdale, Fortune Bay Cape La

Hune, and myself will be highlighting some of the specific aspects of that

agreement or that announcement.

I can remember, historically, thinking back to when I

was involved in municipal council, that every town, based on the MOG and the

arrangements with the provincial government towards funding for projects

most of the smaller communities when we would go to I think the letters

were NLMF back when I was a mayor.

MNL rolls of the tongue a little easier, but there were the same

concerns, Mr. Speaker.

We would get together for conferences and our

conventions and we would be talking about how in smaller communities the

MOGs were not the appropriate form of funding.

Because we were smaller we were not the regional hubs.

We did not have the business base.

We did not have the tax base that some of the larger communities

which, in recent times, the top seven or the L7, or the largest seven in the

Province, are now in a different category.

Because they are the regional hubs, they have a different tax base.

Most of their interest, Mr. Speaker, is in

infrastructure. They are

thinking more that the challenge that they have is to adequately deliver

infrastructure needs to the citizens.

There is enough of a tax base that they can handle the operating

based on their taxes.

As we look forward through the 1990s and into early

2000s, Mr. Speaker, many of the projects that towns would apply for were

really out of reach of most of the communities.

With a 50-50 arrangement, most of the smaller communities just could

not come up with their 50 per cent.

Most of the towns were strapped and they could not get a chance to

look forward.

As we move into, I think it was 2006, the program for

the real smaller communities, the 90-10 funding, really opened up the door

for smaller towns and areas of our Province; even some local service

districts who could finance the 10 per cent themselves could apply for

projects. Now, all of a sudden,

some of these smaller communities could actually invest some of their own

money, but being supported by a 90 per cent part from government would end

up being able to do some of these projects.

The larger towns still pay up to 30 per cent of projects that they

would want.

So part of the history that we are looking at here, and

I am referring to this only because I want to bring into context up to when

we are still always saying: the arrangement was not right.

The arrangement was not the best.

There is something better.

There is something more sustainable that is necessary for the future

success of local governments, to encourage people to want to be a part of a

local town council or a local service district or city councillor.

To attract the right type of people you want to make

sure that the arrangements and the relationships with government were such

that it would encourage people to want to be a part of it.

It just would not be a fighting battle all the time and that is all

you do, is you are waging battle.

You are not getting very far forward.

So we move forward to 2013, and I guess into the

mandate of current MNL President Churence Rogers, who just happens to be

from Bonavista North, which is my district at this point in time.

AN HON. MEMBER:

The right man.

MR. CROSS:

Thank you. I understand you

think I am the right man.

It was when the President of MNL met with I will call

him minister Gander right now, for the want of a better name.

An agreement was made that in two years a reaction to this municipal

fiscal framework document they were coming up with would be met.

The commitment was that in two years now it would take two years to

do the adequate comprehensive review, to consult with MNL, and to do the

back and forth that was there and the research that we need, but the

expectation was that by 2015 this would be delivered.

If I look at what MNL was looking for when they

developed their fiscal framework document last November, I think it was,

from Corner Brook at the MNL convention, they brought this forward.

There were two or three pillars of what they were looking for.

At this time, the current minister and the department accepted the

document and did the necessary work that a reaction came.

That reaction came in April of this year.

The pillars that were there is that there must be an

incremental increase in municipal revenue such that it would be sustainable

and predictable. These are two

factors that the government agreed to, sustainability and predictability.

It is very important. One

or two of my colleagues in the next few minutes, when they stand to speak,

will talk about the sustainability and the predictability aspect of this as

it deals with finances and revenue.

It also reflects that limited local tax base has to be

factored in for many of the smaller communities because they lack capacity.

Therefore, we have to look at what capacity is necessary for our

smaller towns, especially, to be able to continue and what impact might it

have.

MNL also presented with this three different groups of

priorities. Priority group one

talked about provincial tax rebates; provincial gas tax transfers; business

and municipal utilities taxes; municipal operating grant reform, we call

them MOG for short; and regionalization.

These were the five main, priority group one, asks from MNL.

There were many others in priority group two and three, but they will

be addressed too as we go through this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, when the minister and the Chair of MNL met

and had a press release downstairs in the press room, not only were priority

group one activities responded to and reacted to, there were also several,

six, seven or eight, of the extra priority group two and priority group

three requests were actually addressed as well.

If I can remember what Mr. Rogers comment was: four out

of the five priority group one requests were addressed to some satisfaction.

He said four out of five, not too bad.

He was very impressed with the reaction there of how this government

has tackled this problem and come back with a very, very adequate answer at

this time.

Some of the communities asked, well, how are these four

pillars, the four priority one group items, how are they going to impact for

my community? Well, the

community sustainability partnership with the HST rebate will see a rebate

for HST expenditures that the town would make for purchases they would use,

come back to the town over a three-year, phase-in period.

Just to give an analysis here for three communities in

my district. Community A is the

Town of Greenspond, population 300.

Over the three-year period, based on the 2013 spending of that

community and the rebate they would have received, they would see in

2015-2016, $1,855 based on 2013 spending.

Again, this would change depending on what the spending and the

rebate that they would request would be.

It sounds like a small amount but that is at 25 per cent.

In the second year as it is phased in, it is almost

$10,000; it is $9,806, Mr. Speaker.

In the third year, 2017-2018, fully implemented, it would be just

short of $17,000. Then it is

going to be annualized. So that

amount, approximately each year for a small town of 300 people, really helps

with the town's budget.

When you look at the sharing of the gas tax for that

town of 300 people, in the first year at 0.5 cents per litre, the second

year it is 0.75 cents per litre, and the third year it is one cent per

litre, Mr. Speaker. In the third

year it would get to about $15,000 and then that would be annualized, again

based on spending.

So a small community of 300 people would have an extra

revenue of $32,000. That is new

revenue, Mr. Speaker, that they would have to help with some of the needs of

the town. It is not going to be

said, oh, we will drop our taxes because now we have some extra money coming

from government. This is

supposed to be new funding.

We have to be accountable for the funds we take in and

the requests we make. We must

know that in order for any town they have to invest this in priority areas

of funding. They are not going

to lower any rates of taxes that they might have at the present time.

They must also have a plan in place to recoup any receivables they

have on their ledger from town citizens.

It is going to need to be something that will be clear and

accountable as we go through.

Now there are a couple of other communities I will get

into. I will probably look at

one other now, a town of about 2,000 people.

I will not go through all of the small specifics, Mr. Speaker.

In the third year, a town with 2,200 people would have about $85,000,

based on the HST rebates and spending patterns they would have had for 2013.

Then extra revenue from the sharing of the gas tax would add an extra

$30,000. Really, that town would

have just short of $116,000 new dollars to be able to invest in projects or

services for their community.

It does not take long when you stand on your feet for

fifteen minutes to expire. My

other colleagues will stand in a few moments, Mr. Speaker, to speak about

this. I encourage members from

the Opposition and Third Party to support this motion as well.

I look forward to coming back at 4:45 o'clock to close debate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member said they hope the Opposition and the other

parties will support it. I

suppose we will; we put most of the recommendations in it, Mr. Speaker.

We have been pushing it for years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Finally government came to see the light on this Community Sustainable

Partnership fund. So, of course,

we will be supporting this.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. JOYCE:

There are some people here, Mr. Speaker, who want

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

I know, Mr. Speaker, they get pretty rowdy, even when you stand up and try

to support an initiative through the government.

That just shows how low and desperate they are.

Mr. Speaker, there are some people I would like to just

acknowledge because this has been ongoing.

I know the Member for Gander, the former minister, pushed that for

years. I know; I was with him

and had many meetings with him on it.

I know he is not a minister now, but he pushed this for years, and I

just have to recognize that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

I will tell you another person who does not get a lot of credit for this

here because this helps a lot of our towns, all of us.

Anything that is going to help towns in Newfoundland and Labrador we

have to work together and we have to try to provide support.

Another person who put a lot to it and you could ask

Churence Rogers, Mr. Speaker is the Deputy Minister of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs. She

worked diligently on this. You

can ask the people that she dealt with; she kept this together.

So I just want to acknowledge the work that she did also on this.

Mr. Speaker, Churence Rogers and his staff worked hard

for all the municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Also I have to recognize Churence and the staff at MNL for their

dedication, and the current minister who worked at this.

This is going to help all of us in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I just want to make sure that we recognize the people who put time

into it.

The good thing about all of this, Mr. Speaker, is a lot

of those proposals that we put in, we stood up in this House, we asked

questions about it, and we even made proposals to the government on how to

improve the towns in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I am proud and this is how democracy works that the government

took a lot of those initiatives.

I am proud that we stood shoulder to shoulder with MNL and worked with

government to get these initiatives.

There are times that we had to stand up and we had to

raise the concerns, and we did, as an Opposition.

I know I spoke to a lot of the towns; there is a lot of work left to

do. I made the statement at the

press conference that this is a first step, but we will build on it.

The Liberal Opposition, if we are lucky enough to form government, we

will build on this, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

We are not just going to sit down and rest on our laurels.

We will find ways to build and make our towns stronger, make our

communities stronger, and give some incentives to people to put forth names

for elected positons in municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I would be absolutely remiss if I did not

bring up that Wednesday I stood up down there and I said yes, I support

this. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I think

it is a good initiative. We will

build on it. At no time did I

know but I know the members opposite, or at least the Cabinet, knew that

there was a going to be a 2 per cent increase in the HST.

At no time did we know that.

When we stood up and I went up to the symposium Thursday night and

Friday, a lot of municipalities were very upset that on one hand, Wednesday,

we were given this amount for the first year; the next day, it is just all

taken back, without any knowledge.

Mr. Speaker, that just shows why you have to keep this

government's feet to the fire.

That just shows why. I can look

at some of the issues of what they can do with the funds.

I use the 911, for example, in the municipalities.

What can you use the money for?

Mr. Speaker, 911. A lot

of people want their systems, so now they might be able to use the funds to

build a better pager system or some way for a dispatch system in their

municipalities. I mean, that is

one of the ways they can spend this extra fund.

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of ways that they can use

the money and there are a lot of opportunities for it.

I am just going to go through a few highlights of this agreement.

There are going to be rebates on the provincial portion of the HST;

25 per cent beginning in 2016, increasing 57.1 per cent in January 2017.

That is up to $1.9 million in 2015.

This is well-used money for the municipalities.

They are going to be able to do a few things; they are going to be

able to maintain some of the systems that they have.

Mr. Speaker, revenues from the gas tax, also we can go

through that but then again they are going to get a portion of that.

I agree with the member who just spoke and just said that they got

four out of the five priorities.

They actually did. There is one

more I think it is taxes on utilities; utility tax is the fifth one that

they could not get done.

Mr. Speaker, they were pleased.

This here is a good first step for the municipalities of

Newfoundland. It took long

enough to come. I am definitely

not going to make any accusations because I am just glad that it is done.

It may be an election year we asked for this three or four years

ago. It was promised back in

2008-2009, but it took five years to do it.

It may be an election year, but who cares.

If you want to make the municipalities strong people see through

it, Mr. Speaker, but we have to work through this now and make sure that we

build on it. Do not say this is

the end all, be all and we have to wait now another four years before we do

anything else with it.

Mr. Speaker, the Municipal Operating Grants will remain

at $22 million over three years.

The member also mentioned about having a bit of predictability.

That is a good thing.

That is a good thing for the towns in the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador. Instead of each year

waiting for this list to come out sometimes their budget is done by the

time they get it, and then they have to go back and make changes to their

budget, Mr. Speaker. so this

three-year predictability is good.

I know many towns that support this, Mr. Speaker, so at least they

know for three years what they have to work with.

That is a good initiative.

Mr. Speaker, one of the concerns that I have in this

here is the $1 million for the water quality.

Here is the point; there are 215 boil orders in this Province.

Do I think for one minute and I would not put anybody on the

opposite side, in government, in position to say that they are going to be

able to solve all of the boil-order advisories in the Province.

I would not say that because I know if we are lucky enough to form

government I cannot stand up, or anybody on our side even be able to stand

and say we can solve all of those issues.

I cannot say that; I would not expect anybody in government to be

able to stand up and accuse anybody of saying that they should be able to do

it. It is a difficult situation;

it is. Because of surface water

in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is difficult.

Mr. Speaker, the problem I have with this is that there

is $1 million, they are going to go through three sites, but there is going

to be testing until 2019. It is

going to begin October 1, 2015 to March 31, 2019 to provide funding for

three regional service boards to engage regional water and waste water

operators.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is a good initiative to help

solve the boil-order advisories, but I think we could do it quicker.

I think we have to find some way to do it quicker.

All of the municipalities out there that are expecting some

assistance for their boil-order advisories, just to let them know that this

pilot project, the results will not be made the absolute earliest is 2019,

Mr. Speaker. That is a long ways

away to ask people to wait.

I encourage government, is there any way you can speed

this up? Is there any way we can

expand this program? Safe

drinking water is one of the essential parts of living in Newfoundland and

living in the world. We need

safe water, Mr. Speaker. It is

essential. We need it.

When you come up with this here, Mr. Speaker, it is

just too long to be waiting to come up with a pilot project and only going

to do it in three sites. I urge

the government to see if there is any way they can build on this here and

not wait until 2019. See if

there is some way we can do it now.

If we are going to make safe drinking water in

Newfoundland and Labrador, I know the Official Opposition will do whatever

we can to support the government on this through the municipalities.

It is a major issue brought up to me on a regular basis, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, here is another initiative, To access

municipal operating grants and the provincial gas tax revenues, each

municipality must submit a

summary of its taxes receivable balances to the

Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs .

I agree with that. I will

just try to put it down in the terms if I was talking to myself, who, a lot

of times in municipalities, I was never a municipal councillor.

When I am talking to myself, I ask people to put it

down so I can understand it.

What I can understand in the municipalities is that you cannot take the

money that is coming in now, the extra revenue, and lower your taxes.

I agree with that. I am

not saying a lot of municipalities will, but if they find a crunch what they

would do is take this extra money that is coming into the gas tax, they

would lower their current tax level, and subsidize what they are already

spending.

That is a good safeguard to ensure that municipalities

cannot lower their taxes. You

have to keep your level tax base and the money you get; it will be extra to

build on your services. That is

a good thing. That is definitely

a good thing, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, another issue that we brought up and I

know the Liberal Opposition made a request is Crown lands.

Crown lands, I know there is some mention in it.

We heard here about the volatility of oil in this House.

One way that we can generate revenue, one way we can have economic

stimulation in around the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is through

Crown lands. We have to make the

Crown lands in municipalities we have to make them available to the towns.

Let them do the economic development.

We have been preaching that for years.

We made a presentation and in comes some form.

They could not put in exactly what we put in.

They could not do that (inaudible) just take it from when we made a

presentation. They just could

not do it. They had to put it in

some form, but they did not go far enough, Mr. Speaker.

They did not go far enough.

The government did not go far enough because the towns have been

saying for years, and maybe because they got rid of the RED Boards.

Maybe they do not believe in economic development out in rural

Newfoundland and Labrador, maybe they do not.

Once they cut the RED Boards, they do not believe in

economic development. Maybe they

do not have confidence in the towns.

Maybe they do not have it, Mr. Speaker, confidence in the towns to

ensure they are given Crown lands somehow, to sell it at a price, to

stimulate the economy in a lot of those towns.

Maybe they do not have the confidence.

That is why, Mr. Speaker, they could not go any further.

Mr. Speaker, another initiative the Liberal Opposition

has brought up, and this comes right from our leader, the Leader of the

Opposition, is that he is going to have a yearly every year he will sit

down and have a symposium with all municipalities in Newfoundland and

Labrador. Mr. Speaker, this is a

commitment this Premier made.

This is how important our leader views the

municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador, he will not fly in on a

Saturday at 2:00 o'clock, speak at 3:00 o'clock, and gone by 4:00 o'clock.

Our leader has committed on a yearly basis to sit down with MNL, sit

down with all the mayors of municipalities all across Newfoundland and

Labrador, sit down once a year to hear their concerns not fly in, sit down

and have your dinner, and walk on out through the door.

That is leadership, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

That is one of the major issues with Municipalities Newfoundland and

Labrador, they said over the years.

Do you know what they always said?

It is hard to be listened to.

I am glad of the pressure that this government has been brought into,

and I am definitely not going to bring it up because it is in an election

year that it was done. I would

not bring that up, Mr. Speaker, but it is coincidental I say.

Mr. Speaker, I see my time is near.

Once again, if this government is going to bring anything in that is

going to support our municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador, I will

support it. I know the Liberal

Opposition will support it because we are here for the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. We

are here to build our communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Above all, Mr. Speaker, none of us can forget, what we are here for is to

serve the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Kilbride.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday when I spoke in the House of Assembly in Budget

discussions, I mentioned that our government is dealing with issues.

One of the biggest issues that I did not mention yesterday was this

issue of a new fiscal arrangement with the municipalities.

I did not mention it yesterday because I knew this was going to be

debated today in a private member's motion, so I did not do it then.

I deliberately left it out.

This issue of new community partnership and new

municipal fiscal arrangement has resulted from two years of significant

research, analysis, and consultation.

Our government committed to reviewing the previous framework in 2013,

and two years later we delivered.

I want to take a few minutes now and mention and give

credit to some people who did a lot of work on this.

My colleague, the Member for Gander, was mentioned already by the

Member for Bay of Islands. He

should get a lot of credit for this because he was the man who, I would say,

spent the most time at this. He

spearheaded it, and he did a tremendous job.

Not making this a paid political announcement, but he would be a

great federal member when he runs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DINN:

I would also like to mention the other ministers who worked on this.

Our present minister, my colleague and friend from Ferryland, and

also I would like to mention the people from Municipalities Newfoundland and

Labrador who also did a great job on this.

They stuck with it and they came up with a plan.

Municipalities in this Province have always had

challenges dealing with every day service delivery and infrastructure needs.

It seems there is never enough money to do what is needed.

Tax revenues Mr. Speaker, I find it very difficult to talk when

there are people talking.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Order, please!

MR. DINN:

It comes from my teaching background.

When I was teaching I did not want youngsters carrying on a big

racket. If they did, I had the

class after class. Anyway I find

it difficult, so could I have your protection?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Kilbride.

MR. DINN:

I just mentioned that municipalities always had difficulty getting enough

revenue to do services and also to do infrastructure needs.

Tax revenues and the collection of tax revenues was always a problem.

There are municipalities here in this Province that have a lot of

outstanding taxes that are due to them.

It is very difficult to collect those taxes.

I want to mention St. John's as an example now.

Some of you might think St. John's is a poor example, being the

largest centre here in the Province.

St. John's is probably better positioned than most other

municipalities in this Province.

There are others in a similar position, but St. John's has a large tax base.

It has the staff and the people working there who are able to send

out tax bills, they are able to collect the taxes, and if you do not pay

your taxes not long after you get a letter, a standard letter, saying we are

going to cut your water off.

I also remember a man had a piece of land down by Third

Pond he lived in Vancouver

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. DINN:

Third Pond is down by the racetrack in the Goulds.

The city sent him a letter one time that they were

going to cut off his water. His

water service was about five miles away from him, so they would have had a

job to cut that off, I think.

Anyway, the City of St. John's has the people in place

to collect their taxes to make sure that they get enough money to carry out

these services. They also have

money to carry out snow clearing, garbage collection, water and waste water

treatment and whatever else has to be done.

Remember, St. John's is an old city.

There are parts of St. John's that are hundreds of years old.

It has aging infrastructure.

Actually, when I was at City Council for

twelve-and-one-half years I can remember one of the engineers saying to me

one time that there are water pipes in the ground in St. John's that are

actually so fragile that the only thing that the water is actually going

through is the gravel that is around them.

If somebody disturbed that gravel, the water would just come up.

Probably that might be the reason why they have so many water breaks

in the city at times.

St. John's also has areas that do not have services.

Some of you may not realize it but there are parts of Kilbride, parts

of the Goulds, other parts of St. John's that do not have water and sewer.

I live in the Goulds. I

used to be on a well for the longest time.

I have water now, but I do not have sewer services.

There are people on the Back Line in the Goulds on Petty Harbour

Road, a lot of people who do not have any services at all.

I have to tell you this, I do not get many calls about

it. People do not phone and say

we want water and sewer because there is a reason why they do not call any

more. St. John's has an

assessment policy which states that if the services go by your door and I

guess a lot of municipalities have this you have to pay a certain amount.

People have found out that it is cheaper to fix your septic problems

and your water problems than to get services passed by your door.

There are areas parts of Brookfield Road does not

have services; Ruby Line does not have services; the Back Line do not have

it; Blackhead, which is a part of St. John's, does not have services.

There are many parts of St. John's that do not have services.

So, there are hundreds of people in St. John's without water and

sewer services. St. John's would

need a lot of money to put the services into these areas today at the price

of servicing. Also, it would

need a lot of money to fix the old infrastructure problems that they have.

So what I am getting at is this: St. John's is not

unlike other municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

St. John's needs funding.

They need it as much as any other place, if not more, in this Province.

They are ready to take any money that comes available from the

provincial government, the federal government, or wherever else they can get

it, because they need it. I

think I heard one time that St. John's could need as much as half a billion

dollars to put in the infrastructure that they need.

This new fiscal arrangement that we are talking about

here today is going to give St. John's some more money it needs.

St. John's will get $6 million or $7 million in the next three years

when this is being phased in.

In 2008, our government revised the municipal capital

works cost-sharing framework.

Small communities with less than 3,000 people were given a 90-10

arrangement. Communities with

3,000 to 7,000 were given an 80-20 arrangement.

Populations over 7,000 were given a 70-30 arrangement.

Our government is now paying 90 per cent, 80 per cent, or 70 per cent

of a lot of the municipal projects that are taking place in this Province.

Since 2008, St. John's has taken the money that the

Province has given and rather than using the 70 per cent ratio, St. John's

is matching every dollar it gets, dollar per dollar, fifty cents or every

dollar, they put another dollar in.

They are doing much more work than they normally would have done.

The projects that St. John's is doing are usually under multi-year

capital programs, not the regular provincial capital works program but

they are getting a lot more done.

Prior to 2008, the municipal capital works cost-sharing

framework was 50-50. Many

municipalities, especially the smaller ones, could not even afford the 50

per cent, as we all know. Many

of them did not even apply.

Today, with the 10 per cent and 20 per cent, capital works are much more

attainable, and many projects have been done since 2008.

Now, with the announcement recently made by our

government, municipalities will have even more revenue.

They will receive a portion, or a rebate, a partial rebate of the

provincial portion of the HST, and a share of the provincial government's

gas tax revenues.

It also contains a commitment to leave the Municipal

Operating Grants at its present level of $22 million for the next three

years. The 2008 capital works

funding arrangement also stays in place.

So we did not take that arrangement away.

That still exists with the new agreement that we have.

Municipal Operating Grants I want to speak about them

for a minute. Municipal

Operating Grants are obviously meant for operations.

It was determined in 2013 that the seven largest communities in

Newfoundland and Labrador had enough tax bases to do their operations so

they were taken off the MOG list.

The $6 million that they were getting from the Province was then not

just taken and kept in the coffers of the Province, it was added to the MOGs

that the other smaller communities were getting so that the MOG total became

$22 million. We are going to

keep it at that.

Since the largest seven communities were mostly in need

of infrastructure money, large communities, the seven largest in the

Province, their biggest need is infrastructure money, not operating money.

What we did when we took them off the list for MOGs we gave in

2013, a $25 million infrastructure fund was set up for these seven

communities. This was equal to

four years of MOGs or Municipal Operating Grants.

So something was given to them.

In 2014, a year ago, another $250 million multi-year

capital works program or infrastructure program was announced.

The biggest portion of this money is going to and started to go to

those seven larger municipalities.

Under the new fiscal arrangement, rebates will be provided to

municipalities and local districts of 25 per cent of the provincial portion

of the HST beginning in January 2016.

It will increase to 57.14 per cent in 2017.

This will provide $1.9 million in new revenue this year.

It will provide $10 million in 2016-2017, and over $17 million

annually every year after that.

Government will implement sharing of provincial revenue

for gasoline tax with municipalities based on a per capita basis.

In the first year, this year, it is going to be half a cent a litre.

This will equate to $3.6 million in new revenue for this year.

Next year, in 2016-2017 that is going to go to three-quarters of a

cent per litre which will mean that they will have $5.3 million.

In 2017-2018 and after that, every year it will be $7.1 million.

That is a lot of money for municipalities, especially the smaller

ones. I should mention here too

that under the HST rebate, the partial rebate on that, the ones who will

benefit most from that would be the larger municipalities.

The smaller ones will get a bit more from the share of the gasoline

tax.

These new initiatives are on top of everything else.

We did not bring in these new programs and take away from others.

For instance, we did not take the $22 million in Municipal Operating

Grants, eliminate them, and take that money and apply it to the new

programs. All of this other

stuff stays in place.

This new community sustainability package contains

other aspects as well, as other members have said.

There is a million dollars invested in the next three-and-a-half

years to provide funding for the three regional service boards to engage

regional water and waste water operators.

These operators will work with a pilot group of communities to

address their water and waste water infrastructure operations and monitoring

challenges.

To further assist communities in the area of clean and

safe drinking water, a consultant will be engaged to focus exclusively on

solutions to reduce the approximately 200 boil-water advisories.

Now, that has been a problem for years.

We heard about this now a number of years.

This government has taken steps now to try to solve those problems,

eliminate that number and bring it down as much as we can.

Because I am sure some of those boil-water advisories are due to

operational issues, issues that might be around some equipment that is not

used or not used properly.

I think when this consultant gets involved, he will

focus on these areas and they will find out if things are being done right

or not. You will probably see

that these 200 or so boil-water advisories will be reduced down.

Now, there may be some, like was

mentioned before, that might be more serious and then you can focus on them

also.

I will conclude by saying that this new fiscal

arrangement is another one of our government's ways of dealing with issues.

Our Premier saw this as an issue and he is dealing with it.

This is a plan that the municipalities want and are in favour of.

This is not just something we are bringing in.

This is something that the municipalities want.

They are very much in favor of it and you can see what their

reactions have been in the last week or so.

What I am going to do to conclude, I will encourage all

of the Members of the House of Assembly to support our private member's

motion today and say yes.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am happy to stand here on a Wednesday afternoon on

behalf of the lovely people of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair who elected me

and speak to the PMR this afternoon on the Community Sustainability

Partnership plan.

Mr. Speaker, I do not think anyone on our side here is

going to find the overarching we are going to find fault with that, but I

will identify a number of concerns that we have.

My background, coming from a small community with lots of issues,

with many people living on a fixed income, seniors, only so much to pay,

only so much you can take back from the taxes, so I do bring a fair bit of

knowledge I feel to this PMR today.

In addition to being the deputy mayor in my community

for a number of years and heavily involved there, I was also very pleased

for a period of time to represent all of the communities in Labrador on the

provincial municipalities board.

I certainly have a great rapport there.

My colleague for Bay of Islands talked Churence Rogers.

We could talk about Craig Pollett there and all the valuable work

that they do. They are the

experts.

Mr. Speaker, here in the House we have a little

knowledge on all the different things, but when you have somebody who works

only in that area, they are the experts, they work day in and day out to

find solutions, how we can possibly sustain communities, help keep them

viable and alive; these are the people, when they put forward

recommendations, that we need to be listening to, Mr. Speaker.

MNL wanted this for a long, long, time this community

sustainability plan. Mr.

Speaker, what we are talking about is something that was promised back since

2008. We are well into 2015.

So yes, election year it was said already here earlier is not

always a bad thing. I can tell

you as a leader in my community when we knew an election year was coming up,

we went after things. So it is

not necessarily a bad thing. We

see some of that here again today, Mr. Speaker.

I have to mention the Member for Gander here in the

House today because I worked with the Member for Gander and we were

successful on a number of projects.

I know that he did some great work around the Municipal Operating

Grants. In the community that I

was in at the time, we had a number of larger projects come through and you

have to credit where credit is due, and I certainly appreciated that.

Mr. Speaker, the motion, the PMR community

sustainability:

BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House supports the

Province's new arrangement with municipalities, which provides sustainable

sources of funding to further ensure a strong future for our

municipalities.

I am sure we all want that.

We need to give more onus to municipalities.

Mr. Speaker, so much of our Province is rural and sometimes I feel

that using the rural NL concept to attract tourist to the region, sometimes

I feel that we may have to stop that because there will be no rural left if

we do not reach out and support.

Just to put it into context here, when we are

supporting rural communities, we are talking about people who volunteer.

The people who are here in the House of Assembly representing their

districts, they are paid for the things that we have to put up with, for the

things that we deal with every single day, but in those small communities we

have people who volunteer. Many

who get recognized through awards at MNL who have given ten years, who have

given one decade, two decades.

Mr. Speaker, I have three communities in my district

right now that are dealing with emergencies, people who are called out in

the middle of the night waterlines break.

We are talking about when they put together their budget.

A lot of times they only have so much revenue to put together their

budget with. Things like this

happen throughout the year that they are not prepared for.

That is why many times I go on their behalf to the department and

say: There are roads washed out, waterlines broke.

Do you have an extra $10,000?

Do you have an extra $15,000 to give those towns to help them?

That would go a long, long way in supporting those communities.

What really, really saddens me is when we sit here day

after day and we hear about millions, hundreds of millions, in wastage like

we heard about today in Question Period.

I think about these small communities and just how far a small amount

of money could go for these small rural municipalities in particular.

So we see here on April 29 the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador and Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador

released the details of its new Community Sustainability Partnership plan,

something we had been pushing, advocating, and lobbying for here in the

Opposition promised since 2008, Mr. Speaker.

So we were very excited that rebates on the provincial

portion of the HST would be provided to municipalities and local service

districts; 25 per cent beginning in January 2016.

What happened, Mr. Speaker?

What the government gave on Wednesday to a very large degree, they

took back on Thursday.

We got excited.

We were very happy, Mr. Speaker, to see that support, that revenue

that is desperately needed to be used in the community, to enhance

communities. The picture changed

significantly within a twenty-four hour period, Mr. Speaker.

We see the community sustainability plan was released on Wednesday,

the day before Budget 2015. Then

the Budget came down.

Mr. Speaker, following the release of the Budget where

we saw the HST increase to 15 per cent, the net gain to municipalities was

significantly reduced. I heard

from a number of mayors and municipalities after that.

They had gotten all excited, thought they were going to have a little

bit of extra money now to work with and we see the net gain was

significantly reduced.

Mr. Speaker, the 25 per cent rebate for the first year

effective January 1, 2016, based on 8 per cent provincial portion of the HST

would have seen 2 per cent rebated to municipalities.

It would have seen 2 per cent.

Once the HST is raised to 10 per cent for the provincial portion, the

25 per cent rebate means that municipalities will now pay 7.5 per cent PST

compared to the 8 per cent today.

So what are we left with?

What are we left with for municipalities that we had a big hoopla

about the day before the Budget?

The net gain for year one now becomes 0.5 per cent.

Half a per cent is the net gain.

These municipalities that are struggling wonderful people in these

small towns doing everything they can to contribute, to keep the place they

call home alive and functioning, Mr. Speaker, and we see the net gain is now

half a per cent. It is much less

than they had anticipated the day of the announcement.

The other thing, Mr. Speaker, in addition to how things

change from what they gave on Wednesday to what they took back on Thursday,

is it is going to take three years.

Municipalities that are out there struggling now, it is now going to

take three years to fully realize the benefit.

That is a concern.

In year two, we know effective January 1, 2017, the

rebate on the PST increases to 57.14 per cent, but as I said, the full

impact of the rebate will not be realized until year three.

This means municipalities will continue to pay approximately 4.3 per

cent on all purchases once the rebate is fully implemented Mr. Speaker,

4.3 per cent on all purchases once the rebate is fully implemented.

Mr. Speaker, we come to the gas tax.

I am not going to dig in and find fault with the gas tax revenue.

It would be difficult to find fault with a municipality getting a

share of the provincial gas tax.

One criticism I would have would be the amount of the rebate.

Again, I have issue, and I have heard from many municipalities that

have issue with this phase-in of over a three-year period when the need

among municipalities is there right now.

The distribution mechanism does appear fair, which would see 50 per

cent of the monies distributed evenly among the 276 incorporated

municipalities and the remaining 50 per cent on a per capita basis.

This is much the same as the federal gas tax revenue.

When we talk about regional water and waste water, it

looks great. Three pilot

projects, they are going to put a million dollars in to see what we can do

around that. I think it is 215

boil-order advisories. A million

dollars is not a small chunk of change.

We just debated Bill 1 here in the House, Bill 1.

That was just to clean up the mess from Bill 29.

So, if we are talking about waste water, we can also when I hear

the word, waste, I just think of how much wastage happens here that could go

and be stretched far and wide to benefit small municipalities that

contribute so much in this Province into the small communities.

It is very, very sad.

We see the total amount of the MOG will remain at the

$22 million for the next three years, and that is essential.

If we are not going to provide support to these people who are out

volunteering in the small communities, we are not prepared for the extra

mess that we would have to take on our hands.

We have to offer support.

Mr. Speaker, these volunteers, they sit at little

council chamber tables and they have to make decisions on mill rates.

I have communities in my district, the mill rate is up to nine,

charging nine. There is only so

far you can go with the taxes.

They have to have support from government.

There is only so much revenue, there is only so much tax base in

these small communities, and they have to balance books.

These same people, Mr. Speaker, go out on Saturday

evening in their little community and they line up in grocery stores and get

their groceries from the same people they might have had to cut off their

water from that week. It is not

easy decisions. That is why it

is important that as a government we provide support.

We provide all the support we can to those municipalities.

MR. SLADE:

First level of government.

MS DEMPSTER:

First level of government. My

colleague for Carbonear Harbour Grace is very familiar with this, Mr.

Speaker. He came from a

background in municipal politics, like me.

They are the front line, often doing very, very difficult things.

In the community where I come from, Charlottetown, we

have the only shrimp processing facility in Labrador.

You might think, well, there is a wonderful agreement.

Charlottetown must have lots of money

to pass around. I just share

that as an example. We are on a

gas chlorine system. It is very

expensive to run. So, no, I can

speak from experience when I say that community does not have any extra

money to put into making the road around their community driveable.

In mentioning the shrimp plant, I want to say on the

bigger picture that is why government needs to be doing all they can to

support LIFO. They need to be

beating down the doors in Ottawa, because it is the plants in our community

that are helping to keep the communities viable.

So, when we look at a bigger picture we can see how it all fits

together.

The CSP, Mr. Speaker, allows for three pilot projects

in the Province that would see three certified water operators being hired

on a regional basis, Western, Central and Eastern.

Again, a very long time frame.

It was already said here in the House today, we are going to see

three pilot projects that are going to drag out until 2019.

Water issues; too many people today in Newfoundland and

Labrador cannot go and take a nice clean glass of water, a basic essential

which we need to keep us alive, cannot go and have a clean drink of water,

like I just did.

Aging demographics; a population of just over 500,000

people and 93,000 seniors. I

know we are getting a number, we are getting a couple in my district now, of

those POU/POE water treatment places.

There is one in Mary's Harbour working well.

Now there is going to be one coming to Cartwright and Charlottetown,

but when you have older people in their homes, Mr. Speaker, it is hard to

get out and get your buckets and go and get your drinking water.

You have to depend on other people to do that.

I do not know if there is any particular reason why the time frame

was put in there to drag this study up until 2019.

How effective the pilot project will be, well it remains to be seen.

All we know, Mr. Speaker, is that this government has

been in power since 2003, twelve years.

They have had twelve years to do something.

MNL have been asking and asking.

It was promised since 2008.

They have had twelve years to do something and now, finally, they are

going to make a move.

All we are hearing, Mr. Speaker, basically since we

came back into the House this spring is we did not do things right over the

last twelve, but stick with us because we are going to do this in the next

three years or in the next five years.

We now have a plan. That

is what they are telling the people of the Province and people see through

it. They do, and I am hearing it

everywhere I go around the Province.

Mr. Speaker, on this side, I can speak for my

colleagues, we are very happy to support the PMR.

I have tried to identify here through my few minutes of standing some

of the shortfalls in the partnership, especially around the HST, and in this

first year municipalities only collecting back 0.5 per cent.

Crown lands; they are going to give some autonomy now

to the towns for Crown land at fair market value with over five years to pay

it off, but that is not exactly what MNL was recommending to this

government. MNL was recommending that

the towns be able to access lands at less than fair market value.

I believe we need to revisit that.

Government needs to go back and take a look at that.

We need to do all we can to support the municipalities in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I just want to say how privileged and

honoured I am again today to stand in this House of Assembly to represent

the people of the District of Baie Verte Springdale.

It is always a humbling experience.

No matter how many months, years, or days you spend in here it is

truly an honour, Mr. Speaker.

Also, I would like to thank my colleague, the Member for Bonavista North for

bringing in this motion which I suspect all of us will support today.

My voice is a little bit raspy, Mr. Speaker.

I do not think I am going through puberty.

Mr. Speaker, before I begin I certainly want to

acknowledge the outstanding work, the stellar work that was done by former

ministers and mayors as well. As

you know, about two years ago we embarked upon a new Fiscal Framework

Review. I am happy to report

today, two years hence, we have delivered on that promise.

I just want to say a great big thank you to all the

stakeholders out there, MNL, all the towns and stakeholders, and of course

the former ministers for partnering.

They have all come together with one common goal to help communities

to be more sustainable, Mr. Speaker.

As a former mayor, as I mentioned last week; four years

with the town of Springdale and seven years total experience at the

municipal level, it is a very interesting level, Mr. Speaker, as you would

know and many colleagues in this House.

I look at the Member for Cape St. Francis and several others, the

Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace over here, who have experienced a lot

at the municipal level. It is a

very challenging job but it is rewarding, I must say.

In the midst of a shrinking tax base and aging

infrastructure and, of course, we have high expectations among the people

as well, Mr. Speaker, to expect quality services and quality programs.

So, they should. The

people should expect good, quality services these days.

As a former mayor I understand, I sympathize, and I

empathize. I know where small towns

are coming from, I know where medium-sized towns are coming from, and I know

where large communities are coming from.

There were a lot of interactions around the Province during my seven

years' experience at the municipal level.

Mr. Speaker, so we welcome at the municipal level I

am sure every mayor, and I have talked to a lot of them in my district, over

thirty-four communities thus far, welcome these new streams of revenue that

we just announced as part of the Community Sustainability Partnership.

It is over $46 million over three years and that is nothing to sneeze

at. That is super.

That was good timing, Mr. Speaker.

Somebody sneezed.

Before I go off this topic, Mr. Speaker, with respect

to the revenue, the sharing of a portion of the HST rebate, and the sharing

of the gas tax, just let me tell you again a couple of examples: King's

Point over a three-year period, rough figures, will receive $53,000; Middle

Arm, $36,000; Westport, $39,000; Smith's Harbour, $3,152; Fleur de Lys,

$42,000; La Scie, $82,000; Springdale over $180,000; and, Beachside $34,000,

almost $40,000. That is huge and

every municipality does appreciate that.

That is a new revenue stream.

I must also emphasize too that this Budget as well,

Budget 2015, kept the MOGs intact as I think it was over $22 million.

There are no decreases in towns receiving MOGs.

About a couple of years ago we made increases.

I believe if I am not mistaken, over 80 per cent of communities

received increases in their MOGs.

They were ecstatic, they were thrilled to hear that and see that.

That is intact as well, Mr. Speaker, and that is good to know.

When we are dealing with municipalities and trying to

keep municipalities vibrant and economically sustainable, we are not only

talking about revenue streams, which are very important, Mr. Speaker, but we

also like to talk about the kind of supports, capacity building that we can

wrap around small communities, medium-sized communities, and mayors out

there. It is so important to

them.

I might add, Mr. Speaker, I so appreciate the work of

mayors, councillors, and the staff out there.

They do a stellar job in moving their communities forward.

It is a lot of heavy work.

It is grunt work. It is

right at the beginning, the first level of government, the municipal level.

It is very difficult because there are times when you have to make

decisions that probably even go against your mother or your friend.

You always try to make decisions as a mayor or as a council in the

best interests of the whole community to make sure your community goes

forward and grows together, and becomes more economically vibrant, as you

would know, because you were a mayor of Bay Roberts, I think.

With respect to some new initiatives in this Budget

2015 pertaining to the Community Sustainability Plan, CSP, I would call it,

Crown lands is a good example, Mr. Speaker.

As a government, we will utilize provisions in the Lands Act

regarding the creation of reserves so that we could help municipalities in

acquiring Crown lands at fair market value in a phased-in approach so it

could be developed.

The conditions of the Crown lands reserve, Mr. Speaker,

will allow that community to purchase parcels of Crown land at a market

value within the reserve areas and phased over a five-year period, which is

very important, as finances warrant, or as the demand warrants.

This will further the municipality's ability to avail of economic and

social development, as you would know, and to grow their communities in that

area. What is the importance of

that step? Well, it offers the

community more flexibility and a more affordable approach so that

communities would remain sustainable and economically vibrant.

Another initiative or phase of the Community

Sustainability Partnership, CSP, I would call it for short, is all about

infrastructure as well, Mr. Speaker.

As you all know, most of our communities in the Province have aging

infrastructure. We do have an

aging infrastructure or an infrastructure deficit right across the nation of

Canada, as you would know. In

our communities no matter where you go, Springdale, Baie Verte, wherever you

go all across the Province, we have agin