Newfoundland and Labrador Hansard — Members' Statements; Statements by Ministers — 2 May 2013 (47th General Assembly, 2nd Session, Vol. XLVII No. 14)
2013-05-02
Newfoundland and Labrador — Debates (Hansard)
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May 2,
2013 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol.
XLVII No. 14
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman): Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Statements by Members
MR. SPEAKER: Today we will have members' statements from the Member for
the District of St. John's South; the Member for the District of Burgeo La
Poile; the Member for the District of Cape St. Francis; the Member for the
District of Bellevue; the Member for the District of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune;
and the Member for the District of St. John's Centre.
The hon. the Member for the District of Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to recognize Mr. Robert Allen of Port aux Basques, who was
recently awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Mr. Allen is a native of Port aux Basque where he still resides with his
wife, Hope. He was employed with Canadian National Railway Marine Atlantic Inc.
for forty-five years where he worked as a cable splicer.
He was a member of the Marine Atlantic Safety Committee for eleven years. In
February 1977, he assisted in the rescue of two bird hunters who got stranded
one kilometre from the shoreline when their engine broke down. In his service as
a volunteer firefighter, Bob fought fires, rescued people trapped in vehicles,
assisted with body removal and identification, and administered comfort to
survivors.
In 2012, Mr. Allen was recognized for fifty years of service with the
Channel-Port aux Basques Volunteer Fire Department. He received the federal Fire
Service Exemplary Service and the Newfoundland Long Service medals. Even though
he is retired from active firefighting, Mr. Allen still helps out around the
fire hall and undoubtedly would still take emergency calls if he could.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in extending
congratulations to Mr. Robert Allen upon receipt of a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond
Jubilee Medal.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Cape St. Francis.
MR. K. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is my pleasure to stand in this House today to congratulate Ronnie Cadigan
of Logy Bay for his induction into the Newfoundland and Labrador Hockey Hall of
Fame.
Ronnie Cadigan is a gentleman on and off the ice. It was my pleasure to have
played against Ronnie for years, one of the best players ever to play the game
in this Province. In every league he played in he dominated. While playing with
Outer Cove in the Avalon East Senior Hockey League, he won seven league-scoring
titles, five MVPs, ten Most Gentlemanly Effective player awards, three MVPs in
the playoffs, eleven first-place awards, and seven league championships.
He is probably best known for scoring the winning goal in overtime in 1979
with the Shamrocks in the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League, beating the Gander
Flyers in the Herder Final. I can still remember the late George McLaren calling
the winning goal on the VOCM play by play. All fans and players who watched
Ronnie Cadigan play the game realized what a true gentleman he is in every sense
of the word.
I ask all members to join with me in congratulating Ron Cadigan, a very
respected and well-deserving recipient, and a great example of what our Hockey
Hall of Fame should stand for.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it was my pleasure again this year to have volunteered at the
6th Annual Hot Soup Cool Jazz fundraiser. The purpose of this event was to
spotlight the housing and support needs of youth at risk, and those experiencing
poverty in the St. John's region. Poverty and homelessness affect a large number
of people in our community, including youth.
The proceeds raised from this community event are in support of Choices for
Youth, the Jimmy Pratt Memorial Outreach Centre and Soup Kitchen, the
Newfoundland Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, and Wreckhouse
Jazz & Blues.
The volunteers at this event include musicians, community service providers,
business people, celebrities, everyday people, and those directly affected by
the issues. I would like to recognize and commend the organizers and volunteers
of this event for a very worthwhile and successful cause.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bellevue.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. PEACH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in this hon. House today to recognize the Mayor of Arnold's Cove, Mr.
Tom Osbourne.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. PEACH: I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, it was Osbourne, not borne.
Tom was born in St. Jacques, Fortune Bay, and his family moved to Arnold's
Cove in 1968 as part of the provincial government's resettlement program. He was
first elected to municipal council in 1977, and has served thirty-two years as a
council member, thirty of which he has served as mayor. He is one of the two
initial founding members of the Arnold's Cove area Chamber of Commerce in 1997,
and still remains an executive member of the board of directors. He served on
school council for five years, and was a leader of Scouts Canada for four years.
On April 24, 2013, I was joined by my colleague, the Member for Mount Pearl
North, and their honours, the Lieutenant Governor Frank Fagan and his wife,
Patricia, for Volunteer Appreciation Night. On that night, the Queen's Diamond
Jubilee Award was presented to Tom by His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members of the House to join me in congratulating
Tom in receiving such an award, and for thirty-six years of volunteer service.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS PERRY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in this hon. House today to recognize the outstanding achievements of
athlete Devin Benoit. Only eighteen years old, he is quickly becoming recognized
as one of the best weightlifters in the country.
At the 2013 Canadian Powerlifting Championship held recently in Richmond, BC,
Devin set three national records: for a 610 pound bench squat, a 365 pound bench
press, and a 550 pound dead lift. He also brought home the national title of Top
Sub-Junior Lifter with 418 Wilks points.
Mr. Benoit attributes much of his success to hard work, dedication, and a
personal commitment to reaching his goals; along with great support from his
coach Paul MacDonald, his parents, his community and his sponsors.
We are all extremely proud of Devin and wish him continued success in his
future endeavours. I ask all members of this hon. House to join me in applauding
Devin Benoit for earning these national accomplishments.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday I had the honour of welcoming over 100 amazing service providers
and community leaders from across Canada, to the Canadian University Queer
Services Conference. They are folks actively engaged in queer and trans
solidarity work on campuses and in their communities.
This year's theme is Intersections and Reflection: Queering Collective
Action. Activists, scholars and community leaders are exploring issues of
oppression, and ways that we can all work together to make a more just and equal
society. Last night's panel was great. They celebrated the anti-homophobia
programs in our own school system from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Dr. Kirk Andersen, Dean of Education at MUN and colleague Dr. Sarah Pickett,
Sue Rose President of EGALE Foundation, and Dr. Bernie Ottenheimer from our own
Safe and Caring Schools program in our very own Department of Education
highlighted the groundbreaking work being done right here in Newfoundland and
Labrador. They are still really concerned that the most bullied and vilified
students in our system are trans youth. There is still work to do, Mr. Speaker.
The conference goes on until Sunday, May 5, and it is open to the public.
I would like my colleagues to join me in saying bravo to MUNSU, the Grad
Student's Union, LGBTQ MUN, Canadian Federation of Students Newfoundland and
Labrador, and MUN Women's Resource Centre for organizing this great event.
Bravo!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Business and Rural
Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the hon. House today to update hon. members on the
continued work our government is doing to ensure that broadband infrastructure
is reaching rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
On March 5, I announced successful applicants under Phase Two of the Rural
Broadband Initiative and identified a partnership with EION Inc. Today, I am
pleased to provide an update and identify twenty-four communities which will
receive fixed wireless broadband access. The communities are St. Teresa,
Barachois Brook, Sheaves Cove, Lunch Point, Sandy Lake, Bear Cove (Rocky
Harbour), Castor River South, Castor River North, Shoal Cove West, Bird Cove,
Little Springdale, Red Cliff, Little Burnt Bay, Loon Bay, Highway 340 adjacent
to Loon Bay, Deadman's Bay, Route 201 near Bellevue, Bellevue, Mills Siding,
O'Donnells, Branch, Freshwater- Bell Island, Winterland, Point au Gaul, and
Allan's Island.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS: Work has started on this initiative and will be completed
by March 2014.
Mr. Speaker, our plan has led to more than 500 communities in Newfoundland
and Labrador having broadband access, and by 2014 89 per cent of the Island and
95 per cent of Labrador will be covered. We are being innovative using a variety
of technologies, such as fibre, wireless, and satellite, and continue to explore
new opportunities to invest and strengthen our Province's innovation
infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, in Budget 2013, this government committed to an additional $6.3
million for rural broadband coverage. This investment will further our efforts
to improve the Province's telecommunications environment, and we are working
with industry to identify opportunities for additional development.
Our government's investment in broadband infrastructure is now over $35
million since 2003 and has, to date, leveraged more than $116 million from other
sources
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS: for a total investment of $151 million. The result of
our efforts, along with those of our strategic partners, has been the
establishment of a high-speed Internet system throughout Newfoundland and
Labrador one that we continue to build on.
Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to advancing rural broadband
coverage and improving the Province's telecommunication environment because we
recognize that it is critical to industry success and is a central component to
the Province's innovation infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe.
MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minister for an advance
copy.
I want to tell him he does not need send to a press release to the
Northern Pen because I have already called the editor with the good news and
the Mayor of Bird Cove with the good news. I think this is a good day for these
communities and the minister has certainly delivered in this case. I am not one
who is going to quibble when the job gets done and the job gets done well. I
simply say thank you, Minister, for getting this job done.
I will be back in a few days looking for something else. If I had a compliant
today, I would say the only complaint I have is why did the minister have to
wait until the former Member for Windsor West is in the gallery for me to have
to get up and thank him?
Thank you, Minister.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Access to
high-speed Internet, the information highway, is as essential as other vital
transportation and telecommunications infrastructure. Wireless companies can
provide services to more rural and remote communities at a lower cost.
It is unfortunate that the original RBI restricted these companies, but I am
pleased to see this update. It shows progress, but this government must step up
and get the job done for the remaining 190 communities, as well as deal with
chronic capacity issues that are stagnating education and economic opportunities
in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for Fire and Emergency
Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate Newfoundland and
Labrador Housing Corporation and more specifically its Chairman and CEO, Mr. Len
Simms, who is being honoured today in Ottawa with the 2013 Canada Mortgage and
Housing Corporation Award.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. DAVIS: Sponsored by CMHC and presented by the Canadian Housing and
Renewal Association at its annual congress, the award recognizes outstanding
leadership and contributions to affordable housing.
Since joining Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation in 2005, Len
Simms has proven his unique ability to connect with the community and support
projects that provide affordable housing options for those in greatest need
while working to alleviate homelessness.
Mr. Speaker, under his leadership, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing has
modernized and improved 75 per cent of its current social housing dwellings
throughout the Province. Mr. Simms also advocates for, and facilitated increased
funding for, numerous other housing programs such as the Rent Supplement
Program, which now provides over 1,700 subsidized rental housing units in the
private sector.
With help from Mr. Simms, funding for the Supportive Living Program
quadrupled from $1.2 million to $4.8 million to create housing supports for
persons with complex needs. He has also advocated for a $750,000 investment in
the Train for Trades Program being administered by Choices for Youth, which
provides opportunities for youth to gain skills and confidence to pursue careers
in the trades and other educational and career opportunities, to name just a few
of Mr. Simms many achievements.
Mr. Speaker, whether he is visiting with tenants, meeting with non-profit or
private sector affordable housing developers, flipping pancakes at homelessness
fundraisers, or sleeping under the stars with youth homelessness advocates, Mr.
Simms does actually keep his finger on the pulse of social housing needs
throughout our Province.
It is clear that he has a deep personal commitment to helping ensure those
vulnerable have a safe and affordable place to call home. Through his guidance
and through his leadership Newfoundland and Labrador Housing has and will
continue to break new ground and increase affordable housing options for the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members of this House to join me in
congratulating Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation CEO Mr. Len Simms
on receiving the 2013 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Award.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Member for Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for the advance copy. When we see Mr. Simms getting the
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Award and we hear the government
praising up Mr. Simms, sometimes you take it lightly, but when your fellow peers
present you with an award it is the greatest honour. I always said it. When your
peers recognize what you have done, when you are a leader across Canada, it
definitely shows the work that he has done.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JOYCE: Many times we are here in the political realm and we talk
politics, but there are times for us to recognize individuals because once your
peers recognize you on a national stage we should all be proud of
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
There is absolutely no doubt I know Mr. Simms works diligently. He works so
hard for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing. There is no doubt in the political
game there are always questions we are going to ask, but today is the day for
Mr. Simms.
I congratulate Mr. Simms because I know, personally, when you contact him on
housing, no matter how small or how big, he would always try to help you. You
may not get the right answer, but you will always get the answer.
I know on the national level last year when he came up with the new
initiatives for people with disabilities, I applauded that and I still applaud
that today. I am sure initiatives like that are why Mr. Simms was the recipient
of this award.
Personally, and from the Opposition, thank you Mr. Simms, because if you are
recognized nationally that means you are promoting Newfoundland and Labrador.
We will have lots of time to debate Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, but
today is the day for Mr. Simms.
Congratulations.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
Congratulations to Mr. Len Simms and his fantastic team at Newfoundland and
Labrador Housing Corporation. During this Province-wide housing crisis, it is
good to hear a bit of good news about social housing and our public servants who
are working so hard against such growing odds.
In spite of the work being done by the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing
Corporation, the rental vacancy rate in this Province continues to stay around 1
per cent and rents continue to skyrocket, affecting many working families, young
couples, students and seniors.
More and more people are spending more than 50 per cent of their income on
shelter alone. Many are precariously housed and live in fear of the next rent
increase, or even an eviction letter from a landlord who plans to double the
rent in response to the intense housing demand in our cities and resource towns.
The people are still awaiting their home ownership assistance program this
government promised, and yet is not delivering on.
Bravo, Mr. Simms, for your innovative work and dedication to the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador. We thank you on their behalf, but shame on this
government for abandoning the people of this Province who are caught in this
housing crisis.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The members would have realized that the last Ministerial Statement was from
the Minister Responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing. Now we are going
to have the statement from the real Minister of Fire and Emergency Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. O'BRIEN: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I was going to say, and I know that all
members should never challenge the Speaker, but I wanted to inform you that you
do not have the power to execute a shuffle, at times.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: [Laughter].
MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, any fire chief or emergency management
professional will tell you that prevention and training are two of the most
important tools available to help keep the residents of our Province safe and
protected. That is why I am once again pleased to highlight the provincial
government's upcoming Fire and Emergency Services Training School taking place
in Grand Falls-Windsor, May 25 to May 31.
Fire and Emergency Services Newfoundland and Labrador has been coordinating
these large-scale regional training schools now for five years, leading the
training efforts among communities, staff, and volunteers, and ensuring these
important individuals have access to high-quality, effective training. These
initiatives include more than forty courses options in both fire protection and
emergency management, including pump operations, exercise design, and basic
emergency management. This upcoming training school in Grand Falls-Windsor
offers a great opportunity for local emergency responders and town officials to
learn the best possible ways to manage an emergency situation.
Mr. Speaker, our government is pleased to partner yet again with the Town of
Grand Falls-Windsor and the local fire department to bring this school to the
Central Region for what promises to be another great event. Routinely, the
Central Region boasts the highest attendance rates and we are hopeful as many
organizations as possible take
part in the diverse opportunities offered.
Training school is offered at no cost to officials and volunteers in our
communities and is open to members of municipal councils, fire departments,
public works, maintenance personnel, emergency response organizations, and
non-governmental organizations. I encourage interested individuals to visit the
Fire and Emergency Services Newfoundland and Labrador Web site to register. The
registration deadline is fast approaching and applications should be received no
later than May 10.
Mr. Speaker, once again the provincial government is pleased to make up to
$30,000 available through a 50-50 cost-share arrangement for municipalities to
assist with the travel and accommodations expenses incurred in sending
individuals to training school.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an advance copy. I can say this government must have
gotten me on a good day because, Mr. Speaker, this is a great service being
offered to a lot of the managers in fire protection services across Newfoundland
and Labrador. I have known people who went through and did this program. They
appreciated and benefited a lot from the program itself.
On many occasions, Mr. Speaker, I speak at firemen's balls, and I always say
one of the best things we can do for firefighters in their towns is to have
prevention in the homes throughout the towns. With this fire prevention, it
shows how people can prevent emergencies and prevent tragedies in their own
towns, even before they occur. If they do occur, it makes them well prepared and
much more responsible in response if there is an emergency.
This is a good thing for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. This makes
our towns much safer. I congratulate the minister and the government, once
again, for offering support to municipalities throughout Newfoundland and
Labrador for these services. If our families are protected much better because
of programs like this, we as legislators are doing our job.
I hope everybody has a great event. I hope people learn from it. On one
closing note, I will just let the minister know there is a training centre in
Gillams in the Bay of Islands which can host this for next year.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would also like to thank the minister for the advance copy of his
statement. Coming on the heels just last week of Volunteer Week, we have to
thank these men and women firefighters who are there who give so much of their
time and commitment to the various communities that are out there. In some
cases, these people are gainfully employed as well, so we also have to thank the
businesses that are out there that are supporting these people who are helping
to support the communities as well. I would like to make note to thank those
businesses as well for giving the time off for people to attend this particular
course that is offered through municipalities.
At the same time as that, Mr. Speaker, sometimes the cost of these courses
can be a little bit high when it comes particularly to travel costs. I know
government is making that effort to pay for at least half of that. I commend
them for that. Perhaps for some smaller communities where we have smaller
regional firefighters that are having problems with retention, maybe this is a
little bit of a barrier to getting some of these people in there towards working
at this course, picking up this course, and adding it as part of their resum.
I would encourage government to work with Municipalities Newfoundland and
Labrador, and to possibly deal with these added costs for some municipalities.
Even though government is meeting them 50-50, sometimes that 50 per cent can be
very hard for small communities.
Thank you to the minister for that, and thank you to the volunteer
firefighters out there for their commitment.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Question Period.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Today, government released their proposed changes to the Atlantic Accord to
accommodate an occupational health and safety regime in our offshore. Notably
absent from this legislation is anything to do with Recommendation 29 from the
Wells inquiry calling for an independent offshore safety regulator.
I ask the Premier: When are we going to see movement on what Justice Wells
called his most important recommendation?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, an important piece of legislation coming before this House. I
think second reading will begin early next week. It is a piece of legislation
that further entrenches and protects the safety and health of workers in our
offshore.
This important piece of legislation, Mr. Speaker, fulfills twenty-eight of
the twenty-nine recommendations of the Wells inquiry. I ask the Opposition
Leader to direct his questions to the federal government, to ask his MPs to
direct their questions to the federal government.
This government is squarely onside in support of an independent regulator,
Mr. Speaker. We remain steadfast in our view that should happen. We constantly
advocate for the federal government to take the same view. They have not as yet
agreed.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I was pleased to ask that question from the previous Minister of
Intergovernmental Affairs at the federal level. His question to me was what is
the Province saying? I said to him well, the Province is saying that they
endorse this.
The Premier says to establish the independent safety regulator, the federal
government has to concur, as she just said, and the Atlantic Accord would have
to be amended. We were just at the table, we had the federal government at the
table, and we had the Province at the table. We were all there.
Since the Atlantic Accord had to be amended to put the independent safety
regulator in place: Why was that not part of the conversation at this particular
negotiation?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the legislation that we introduced on March 25 and that is going
to be debated next week legislation that is going to be passed in the
Parliament of Canada, this legislation out of Nova Scotia - is going to bring
about an amendment to the Atlantic Accord, which will provide a single,
comprehensive occupational health and safety scheme for the people of this
Province, tailored to the offshore.
This process started fourteen years ago, Mr. Speaker. It has been worked on
by the different levels of government, by the different C-NLOPBs, the Nova
Scotia board as well, and this is now ready to go.
The recommendation coming out of the Well's inquiry for the independent
regulator, which the Premier indicated our government supports wholeheartedly,
this is not part of that process. This will be part of a new process. As the
Leader of the Opposition just said, jurisdiction in offshore requires the
consent of both governments. The federal government is not prepared to go there.
We are and we have indicated that.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, the officials at the department said, as the minister just repeated,
that this process has been ongoing now for some fourteen years.
Since they were at the negotiating table the federal government I mean
what is the outstanding issue from the federal government? Would you please let
the people of Newfoundland and Labrador know what the outstanding issue, why we
cannot get an independent offshore safety regulator for the people working
offshore?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that is a question the Leader of the Opposition needs to put to
the federal government.
MR. BALL: We did (inaudible).
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Well then, you should demand an answer to your
question.
This government accepts the recommendation of the Well's inquiry. Once that
report was done, that inquiry was done, the recommendations were brought
forward, they were endorsed by the Federation of Labour, by other labour groups,
this government also at that time endorsed that recommendation, Recommendation
We made our view known to the federal government. We continue to make our
view known to the federal government. They do not agree. They accept that this
model is the right one for Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a model that people
are moving to all over the world, Mr. Speaker. Any other explanation needs to
come from them.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL: Well, the federal Auditor General did not audit the provincial
activities around search and rescue in our Province. As a matter of fact, he did
not audit some of the federal departments that are actually involved in search
and rescue in Newfoundland and Labrador, that being organizations like the RCMP.
All those entities play a significant role in search and rescue.
I ask the Premier: With all the components not being audited by the federal
AG, will you now take it upon yourself to call a provincial inquiry into all
aspects of search and rescue in our Province?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we made very clear in this House yesterday what this
government's view is. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is
responsible, solely responsible, for land search and rescue here in the
Province. The federal government's response, when it is requested, is a
humanitarian response. They do not have responsibility for that, Mr. Speaker.
We still feel, though, when asked, that they should respond, and we continue
to press that issue with the federal government. In terms of search and rescue
in our offshore, Mr. Speaker, that is the sole responsibility of the federal
government. They have been told by the Auditor General that there is a lack of
capacity that needs to be addressed. We want them to act.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, what I am talking about is issues that the federal
AG, the federal Auditor General, did not audit. These are provincial by nature
and also the RMCP. When you look at a search and rescue admission, it includes a
lot of people in certain aspects, some of our own provincial assets. That is
what we are calling for here.
Mr. Speaker, passing the responsibility off to the federal government to fix
the search and rescue system does not address all of the shortfalls in this
Province. One of your own MHAs was on a media outlet on Open Line this morning
saying that this is totally a federal issue. Well, that is not the case.
I ask the Premier: Why are you not accepting your responsibilities in this
very important issue, instead, deflecting it to the federal government?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this is not a question of deflection. This is a question of
demanding from the federal government that they step up to their
responsibilities. The federal government has responsibility for all of the
people in Canada, including the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, including
the people who earn their living on the sea, Mr. Speaker.
Their Auditor General and in his report he calls upon the federal
government to review the rest of the systems and to act accordingly to ensure
that this service meets all of the requirements that it ought to for the people
of this country, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the time for study is past. We need action now. In the areas
that the Auditor General did not complete he recommends that they complete and
take the appropriate action; so do we.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When I talk about deflecting responsibilities or the audit to the federal
government, well, that is exactly what the Premier just did.
We have responsibilities within our own Province. Mr. Speaker under
section
3.1 of the Public Inquiries Act, the Premier, this government, has the authority
to establish a public inquiry into a matter of public concern. We have done this
in the past. I cannot think of an issue that is more important to the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador than search and rescue.
I ask the Premier again: Why are you not using your own authority under the
Public Inquiries Act and call an inquiry into search and rescue in this
Province?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I said in this House yesterday that I absolutely refuse to play
politics and use rhetoric and spin around this important issue. The federal
government has sole responsibility for search and rescue in our offshore. Their
Auditor General has noted deficiencies that need to be addressed. Confidence by
our people needs to be restored the confidence of our people needs to be
restored. They need to know that they are safe when they are at sea.
Now, Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition continues to do what is best
for him, politically. Over here, we are going to do what is best for the people
of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. Barbe.
MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, only five months ago this government set up a
costly public engagement office to ensure departments could launch public
consultations. Recently, the Premier chastised the Prime Minister for not
consulting on changes to EI; however, with no consultation, this government
decided to collapse our school boards.
I ask the Premier: Is your government committed to consulting or not; and if
so, why weren't educators, trustees, and parents consulted before school boards
were shut down?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I repeat again: a 14,000 student reduction in
students in the Province, 17 per cent; 12 per cent less schools; school board
operations gone up by some 30 per cent, the cost of school board operations. Mr.
Speaker, it is prudent of us to examine that.
Mr. Speaker, our investment has been in front-line services, that being
students and teachers. The best student-teacher ratio of all provinces in
Canada, Mr. Speaker we are moving ahead. If the member suggests that we
maintain the school boards and then take services away from students, let him
get up and say that. There is a transition committee in place. I would ask the
member opposite and others who have suggested to voice (inaudible)
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Member for St. Barbe.
MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, in Estimates last evening, another education
cut was revealed. The minister admitted to delays in four areas of curriculum.
I ask the minister: How many children are affected by this cut?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, last night in Estimates, we were here for about
an hour-and-a-half, and I do believe that we finally got through to the member
about what professional development is all about. I do not think he understood
up to that point, Mr. Speaker.
We continue with the implementation of a language arts program, we are
continuing with the implementation of the programs around math, and as new
programs come in, Mr. Speaker, we in-service. The tune for support services is
something like $4 million that we will put into the professional development of
teachers.
I see you are about to rise, Mr. Speaker. I hope he has the second part,
because I can answer (inaudible).
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, finally the minister was able to explain what
he meant by curriculum, so one more question in that respect.
One of the solemn promises from this Minister of Education is that front-line
delivery of educational services would not be touched.
I ask the minister: Is this a broken promise, or does he not consider
curriculum to be a front-line service of his department?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, investment in front-line services; no change to
class caps; the best student-teacher ratio of all provinces in Canada; no
changes to special education services; no changes to the supports for students
with special needs. Mr. Speaker, that is investment in front-line services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS: Mr. Speaker, the people of Nunatsiavut had requested
representation on the school board transition committee to ensure that
Aboriginal interests are well represented. By looking at the transition board
announced last week, the minister has obviously ignored their request.
I ask the minister: Why did you refuse the residents of Nunatsiavut an
opportunity of full representation on your transition committee?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN: I was still thinking about in-service, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the transition team has been developed. We did receive
representation from the Nunatsiavut Government. We have two representatives who
are on that transition team from Labrador. What we will do, Mr. Speaker, is seek
input and then put it into that transition committee. Then they will make
decisions as they move forward, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS: Mr. Speaker, representatives are clearly not representatives
of the Aboriginal community.
Mr. Speaker, the Nunatsiavut Government presently provides significant
resources and financial assistance to the Labrador School Board to ensure that
school curriculum has a strong Aboriginal perspective.
I ask the minister: What guarantee can you give the students of Nunatsiavut
that their Aboriginal curriculum will be maintained under a new school board
structure?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member opposite that what the
Nunatsiavut Government has in place will remain. In fact, I can provide the
member with a letter that I responded to the Nunatsiavut Government with this
morning indicating exactly the response to what the member offered.
Mr. Speaker, the programs that are in place and the resources that are in
place will be protected under this new arrangement.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, the Premier has put aside over $50,000 for
account. This week, we heard that circuit courts in rural Newfoundland and
Labrador were shut down to save $50,000. These savings will be on the backs of
the people using the justice system.
I ask the Premier: Can you please tell us what your priorities are, social
media or access to justice?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the commitment that this government has to the people of the Province
of Newfoundland and Labrador to justice is well-known. We have made significant
investments in front-line policing, more than 145 officers over the last six
years, Mr. Speaker. We have made significant investment to the prison system,
and we have made investment to the courts.
The member opposite fully knows, Mr. Speaker, that the full responsibility
for determining where courts are offered throughout this Province does not rest
with the government. It is an independent decision made by the chief judge in
the Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, I would say that the minister knows full
well that the chief judge gets his budget from the Department of Justice and the
Minister of Justice.
In 2006, this government committed to a comprehensive review of public
prosecution in our Province. At the time, the minister said that this
independent review will be done immediately and that retired Justice William
Marshall was named to conduct the review. Seven years later it is not done.
I ask the minister: Why haven't you completed this long promised review?
Since it was never done, what compelling evidence did you have to justify the
cuts in Budget 2013?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. KING: Mr. Speaker, the decision on circuit courts I am absolutely
flabbergasted that a member would stand in this House and challenge the
independence of the chief judge of this Province. I cannot believe that a member
believes on the floor of this House that this House and this government ought to
be telling judges in this Province what to do.
I say to the member opposite, it is absolutely shameful as a trained lawyer
to stand in here and to suggest that any minister or any member of this
government would interfere with the decisions of the chief judge of this
Province. Shame on them, I say.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday, the Premier said all sides of the House ought to be united calling
as one voice to the federal government to take action on search and rescue. Yet,
a little more than a year ago when I made the very same suggestion to the
Premier in this House, she heaped scorn on the idea, suggesting my request was
nothing but pure politics.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Now that she has pulled this about-face, what
tangible actions does she want all parties to take together with her?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am not going to be baited into the rhetoric and spin. This is
a tremendously important issue to the people of this Province. There are people
working on the ocean today who are not sure that if they get in trouble there is
enough capacity to deal with it effectively and bring them safely home.
Mr. Speaker, what we need to do in this House and as Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians is to speak with one voice to the federal government to say
deficiencies have been identified. We require immediate action. We want a
detailed action plan with a time frame so confidence can be restored.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday, the Premier was asking to do that together. I am saying tell us
how to do that together with her, because we could do it together but she is not
giving us a way to do it.
Mr. Speaker, right now both the provincial and federal governments are
scrambling to make it look like they are doing something on search and rescue in
the wake of the federal Auditor General's report, when many of the issues he has
brought up were already known to us in this country and here in this House.
I ask the Premier, to table the letter her minister sent to Ottawa today to
see what they are asking Ottawa for.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I clearly stated in this House yesterday and reiterated again in
my answer to her first question what it is we are looking for. Mr. Speaker, the
last thing the Leader of the NDP should be asking me is what we are looking for
in this Province.
We are looking for state-of-the-art search and rescue, Mr. Speaker, in
standards that have been clearly identified by the Auditor General. We are
asking the federal government for a meeting, minister to minister, so we can
discuss the Auditor General's recommendations. We are asking for immediate
action with a detailed time frame so that when we know that all of the action
required has been done, Mr. Speaker, and that review is constantly in place. We
are happy to table the letter requesting that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Premier for her answer and I thank her for her offer to table the
letter, because that is the kind of thing that we want her to be asking. I am
glad to know she is doing it. I am glad to get a straight answer to my question.
Mr. Speaker, upcoming amendments to the Atlantic Accord will bring
much-needed improvements to occupational health and safety for offshore workers,
but this action is ignoring the real need, the creation of an independent
offshore safety authority.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Why Commissioner Wells' recommendation for
this independent authority seems to have had no impact on her, in spite of the
fact she keeps telling us she supported it?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, immediately on the receipt of the Wells inquiry recommendations,
this government endorsed Recommendation 29 immediately. Our position has not
changed. We have advocated at every opportunity, that the federal government
take the same response.
Mr. Speaker, we have confidence in the C-NLOPB. We absolutely do. In fact,
most regimes that are responsible for regulatory oversight are moving towards
the model that is in place here in this Province now, but that was not the
recommendation of Chief Justice Wells, nor is it supported by the Federation of
Labour and people who work in the offshore. Therefore, we are working with them,
Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to say to the Premier that I followed carefully the hearings of
the Commissioner, and if my memory serves me correctly, and I know it does, the
Federation of Labour is on record asking for the independent safety authority
during this process that they were involved in, Mr. Speaker. That is public;
they did that. It is on record that they asked for it.
Mr. Speaker, the consultations resulting in the amendments to the Atlantic
Accord began long before the crash of Cougar Flight 491 or the consequent Wells
inquiry.
I ask the Premier: Why has she continued to tell us she was pushing for this
agency when it is clear the Harper government was not going to consider setting
up an independent agency, and they were sitting at the table working on this
compromised legislation that we will discuss next week?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I cannot offer up a better example than just what happened here
this time, of how the Leader of the NDP does not listen to anybody or anything.
She is on her own agenda, focused, and cannot hear or see anything else.
I said that the Federation of Labour agreed with an independent regulator, so
you did not have to do that
preamble to correct me. You were not listening, and
that is not a new phenomenon, Mr. Speaker. Offshore health and safety is one of
the most critical priorities of the people of this Province. We support the
Wells inquiry recommendations, all twenty-nine of them.
Mr. Speaker, we continue to work with the C-NLOPB to ensure that they do
everything they can without an independent regulator to ensure the people of the
Province that the highest standards of safety are followed.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY: Mr. Speaker, government's own White Paper on Public
Post-Secondary Education underscored the need to increase high school completion
rates in Innu, Inuit and coastal Labrador communities. We all know this can only
be addressed through consultation with those who are directly involved and
affected.
Who did this government consult before deciding to cut College of the North
Atlantic Adult Basic Education programs in the communities of North West River,
Rigolet, Hopedale and Nain?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Our track record on investing in post-secondary education is certainly open
for discussion, and I am very proud to stand and talk about it. We have made
significant investments in this Province over the last ten years to help
individuals leave high school and further their education, and for those who
have not obtained a high school diploma during the regular process to invest in
Adult Basic Education.
In the current process, Mr. Speaker, we will continue to invest in Adult
Basic Education because the opportunities on the horizon for people in this
Province are unprecedented. Today, individuals who have a high school education
behind them have the world in front of them. They can do literally anything they
want right here in Newfoundland and Labrador. The process that we are going
through today in this Province is making sure that the investments we are making
in Adult Basic Education, and other programs in this Province, is aligned with
that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY: Mr. Speaker, back in 2007, well before government decided to
cut Employment Assistance Services in Labrador, the PC government announced the
Northern Strategic Plan for Labrador with much fanfare. This plan for Labrador
committed to increasing career, employment, and labour market services staffing
in Labrador to help train, attract, and retain a labour force sufficient to meet
Labrador's needs.
Can the minister tell us how this government has increased career employment
and labour market services in Labrador since that strategy was released in 2007?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I understand the member was not in the House in the last couple of sessions,
and it is fair enough, so he would not necessarily be aware of some of the
tremendous investments that we have made in Labrador to support education. I can
remind him of one in particular, some $33 million through Nalcor for the
Aboriginal Training Partnership, Mr. Speaker, which provides an opportunity for
people in Labrador to avail of training support, and to gain the skills and the
experiences they need to avail of the tremendous opportunities available in
Labrador and on the Island part of the Province because of the investment this
government has made in the economy.
We have also, Mr. Speaker, invested significantly in the College of the North
Atlantic in Labrador for the same reason. This government, for the first time in
many governments, recognizes the opportunities available to the people of the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we are supporting them in that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
On Monday, the Premier led a discussion on the importance of gender-based
analysis with her Atlantic colleagues. She even issued a news release stating,
the effective use of gender-based analysis in decision making within our
government in order to help improve the social and economic status of women. She
cut 1,200 direct jobs in this Budget. The majority of front-line workers in the
public service are women.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Did she do a gender-based analysis? How many
of the layoffs are women?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the Member for St. John's Centre we had a
very good discussion on gender-based analysis at our CAP meeting in Nova Scotia.
We also had a very good discussion about cyber bullying and the people who
associate with that, that I would love to share with her at sometime.
Mr. Speaker, gender-based analysis is extremely important. It is important to
understand how life impacts on women, and that is different from the way it
impacts on men. The work that we began here in this government resulted of a
gender-based analysis of what happened on the Hibernia project, when less than 4
per cent of the labour force was made up of women, less than 1 per cent in
trades and technology. The economic engine that was driving this Province and
all of the great actions that have come from this government resulted from that
gender-based analysis.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre, a quick question
without
preamble please.
MS ROGERS: Mr. Speaker, obviously the
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
A quick question without
preamble, please.
MS ROGERS: Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Did she do a gender-based
analysis of the effects on women and children in the closing of the Family
Violence Intervention Court?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier, for a quick response.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will be happy to talk to her about it another time. Gender-based analysis
is a good thing most of the time, Mr. Speaker. It was a gender-based analysis
that brought her own leader home from Toronto to work in the Women in Resource
Development Committee. I happened to be on the interview panel.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The time for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MS MICHAEL: A point of order.
MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party, for a point of order.
MS MICHAEL: Yes, Mr. Speaker, please.
The Premier, in making her personal comments, has made statements with regard
to my return to Newfoundland in 1999 that are not true, that are inaccurate, and
I ask her to withdraw those statements. I should be the only one making
statements about what brought me back to Newfoundland in 1999.
MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order, just a difference of opinion
between two hon. members.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Tabling of Documents
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Fire and
Emergency Services.
MR. O'BRIEN: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the letter that I
wrote to the hon. Peter MacKay dated May 1, 2013, as the Minister of Municipal
Affairs.
MR. SPEAKER: Notices of Motion.
Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. Barbe.
MR. BENNETT: 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 residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS there has been an agreement between the Federation of Newfoundland
Nation Band; and
WHEREAS persons submitted applications, with the required documents, for
registration in the Band up to the application deadline of November 30, 2012;
and
WHEREAS the reported number of applications received by the Qalipu Mi'kmaq
First Nation Band is in excess of 100,000; and
WHEREAS the reported number of applicants now registered as members is
approximately 22,000; and
WHEREAS the agreement between the Federation of Newfoundland Indians and the
scheduled to end on March 31, 2013; and
WHEREAS the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band has requested, but has not yet
received, an extension to the agreement to process the remaining applications;
and
WHEREAS to date there is no decision on how to deal with remaining
applications;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to work
provide a fair and equal review of all our applications.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is an issue of fairness, an issue where
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER (Verge): Order, please!
MR. BENNETT: 100,000 people of this Province, 20 per cent of the
population, claims that they have filed appropriate applications to demonstrate
that they are in fact eligible to be considered as members of a landless band,
the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, it would be a simple matter, a very simple matter, for this
government, either through Intergovernmental Affairs, through Aboriginal
Affairs, or through the Premier herself simply to reach out and contact the
chief and the federal government and say we understand that 100,000 people or 20
per cent of the population of our Province is affected and have a claim on
benefits from the federal government. What can we do? Why is it held up? Is
there anything we can do to facilitate the process?
Mr. Speaker, I think the question
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. BENNETT: for the people who are being ignored by this government
and who have been ignored by this government for a long period of time will want
to ask this government in 2015 is: You are now coming here looking for support.
You are now looking for our votes. There are 100,000 of us. You turned your back
on us. You gave us the back of your hand when we were looking for assistance to
be properly adjudicated in our applications. Why should we support you now? It
is 20 per cent of the population of the Province, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Member for St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland
and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS students of the Adult Basic Education program at the College of the
North Atlantic do not wish to attend privatized educational facilities; and
WHEREAS College of the North Atlantic has the most accredited Adult Basic
Education program in Newfoundland and Labrador; and
WHEREAS students are concerned as to the availability of private institutions
and whether or not they can accommodate additional students;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the government
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. KIRBY: to reverse this damaging decision to students and reinstate
the Adult Basic Education programming at the College of the North Atlantic.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard this petition a number of times now. This is the
issue of Adult Basic Education programming and the cut at College of the North
Atlantic. The subsequent plan to privatize that program comes up time and again
here in the House of Assembly.
I was quite pleased last week to have a conversation with a student, an Adult
Basic Education student, in North West River. I know that student has also been
in contact with the Member for Torngat Mountains about this issue. People there
are very concerned about the impact of these cuts and whether or not coastal
Labrador communities, communities in Labrador, will continue to have this
program delivered in their communities and near their communities.
There are people on this petition from the communities of North West River,
Sheshatshiu , and Goose Bay a
good number from Sheshatshiu. There was an interesting letter, or almost a
brief, really, submitted to the Premier back on April 25 talking about these
cuts sent to the Premier by Adult Basic Education instructors. They talked
about how they believed these cuts will result in drastic changes to the
Province's college system and will have serious financial and social costs to
the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, should they be permitted to proceed.
I am not sure where the Premier is with her deliberations on this with the
Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, but there is certainly a goodly
number of individuals across the Province who have an interest in seeing this
reversed. There has probably been close to 2,000 signatures so far been
presented on this particular petition, between the ones that I have presented
her myself and the Members for Torngat Mountains and Burgeo La Poile.
So, I ask members opposite to consider having this overturned.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I remember the member his time for speaking has expired.
MR. KIRBY: Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Torngat Mountains.
MR. EDMUNDS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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 an identified need for all levels of care in all regions in
Labrador;
WHEREAS the Paddon Home is suitable for all levels of care;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to conduct
a needs assessment to identify the needs of long-term care in Labrador, and to
reopen the Paddon Seniors Home, in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, to provide all levels
of health care.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is a petition that I have tabled in this House of Assembly
on a number of occasions. I sat and I listened to the Budget address by the
Member for Lake Melville I think it was yesterday and he talked about the
Muskrat Falls Project and the increase in population that will come to Happy
Valley-Goose Bay. The last time I checked, of the twenty-eight to thirty acute
care beds at the hospital, seventeen were taken up by patients wanting to get
into long-term care.
So I guess the question, Mr. Speaker, is if you add another 3,000 to 3,500
people to the workforce in Lake Melville that will increase the population by at
least one-third, putting all that much more strain on the hospital. Now, we
would like to believe there will not be any workplace injuries, but sometimes we
are a little too expectant. Accidents do happen and they will happen.
The other thing, Mr. Speaker, is that we have a building here that needs to
be upgraded without any large amount of expenditures for the simple reason that
it served as a long-term care facility before it became idle and sitting dormant
with the electricity and the lights still turned on. I am hopeful this
government will take a serious look at this petition and utilize the building
that was set up for the use people are wanting it for now. That is, to reopen
the Paddon Home for long-term care.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland
and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Regional Economic Development Boards diversify, grow, and
strengthen economies throughout the Province by providing training
opportunities, marketing advice, proposal writing, leveraging funds,
collaboration, and other means; and
WHEREAS the federal government's decision to cut funding to the Atlantic
Canada Opportunities Agency is resulting in the elimination of funding to the
RED Boards and their termination in May 2013; and
WHEREAS 75 per cent of the operational funding for the RED Boards, roughly
$3.6 million, is provided by ACOA with the additional 25 per cent from the
provincial government; and
WHEREAS the Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development has
millions in their suite of programming, some of which has poor uptake; and
WHEREAS just 1.5 per cent of the Business Attraction Fund of the Department
of Innovation, Business and Rural Development was used in 2011-2012, $366,800 of
a $25 million budget
We the undersigned petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to
commit to bridge funding in its 2013 Budget, which may come from the Business
Attraction Fund, to help preserve the RED Boards in Newfoundland and Labrador
who provide support to municipalities, communities, organizations, and
businesses.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, it comes at a very sad time. The Nordic Economic Development
Board in my district is coming to a close. It has to close its doors, yet it was
an organization that was actually bringing value to the communities, far more
than what it was costing government to operate at both levels. Just recently
they adapted through the economic stimulus fund, the Economic Action Plan, $1
million for a woodlot in the region.
We had a statement by the Minister of IBRD on rural broadband. Well, it was
this RED Board that had funding through the federal government, over $3 million,
to put broadband in thirty-six communities on the Great Northern Peninsula. The
provincial government only had to contribute pennies in comparison, just a few
thousand dollars, for this project.
They are missed opportunities when you do not have these entities on the
ground, like when it came to connecting Canadians through rural broadband. They
committed over $200 million across the country and 219,000 homes in multiple
provinces; but in Newfoundland and Labrador, we received nothing through that
rural broadband. We certainly were eligible. That is quite a shame.
What we really need, Mr. Speaker, from this government is funding for these
types of organizations to be there on the ground. We need funding, and not photo
ops.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad to stand here and enter this petition to the hon. House of Assembly
of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled:
WHEREAS Newfoundland and Labrador currently has the highest unemployment rate
in Canada; and
WHEREAS the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador anticipate a labour
shortage of 70,000 people by 2020; and
WHEREAS eliminating the career practitioner knowledge base is contrary to
attaching people to the labour market; and
WHEREAS EAS agencies are grassroots hubs in communities providing services
like skills development, resume development, interview skills, facilitating
attachment to the labour market and the community; and
WHEREAS EAS agencies have been serving thousands of people for years building
expertise and rapport; and
WHEREAS loading the workload of 226 employees onto 139 AES employees would be
an overwhelming expectation, increasing staff turnover, and thus decreasing
rapport with clients;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to reverse
the decision to cut funding to EAS agencies in the Province.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to stand and enter this again today. I have seen
from the Ministerial Statement by the Minister of IBRD that petitions do work
because we have wireless access now in Bird Cove. I know the Member for St.
Barbe has been asking for that, petitioning for that, and he got it.
I am going to keep doing this in the hopes that government will come to their
senses, hopefully in the next month. We have over 200 employees who are in the
last month of employment with EAS services because government has made a very
short-sighted and ill-informed decision to put these people out of jobs.
Again, when you think about the labour shortage we have here in this Province
and the fact that these people helped take many of our individuals, many of our
citizens, trying to get education and trying to get out in the workforce, and
helped them with that, to take them out of rural communities is absolutely
ridiculous. Even when you look at the John Noseworthy report that we paid
$150,000 for, John had a number of things to say about how the Province has
handled this.
Mr. Speaker, these people, their time is running short and they know it. They
have not been given any instruction on what to do with their clients. I know the
Advanced Education people are calling these people at the EAS agencies and they
are crying because they have not been given direction either by the minister or
the department.
Again, it speaks to the entire department as a whole, which is just a
horribly mismanaged and cobbled together department. It is an absolute failure.
Unfortunately, I do not see it changing, but we will continue putting in
petitions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Standing Order 32.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
In accordance with Standing Order 32, are you making a motion with a mover
and a seconder?
MR. KING: Seconded by the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that we move to Orders of the Day.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. KING: Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1: That This House Approves
in General the Budgetary Policy of the Government, the Budget Speech.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLEJOHN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is always great and it is always a privilege to stand in the
House and speak to this Budget. I want to thank, once again, the great people of
the Port de Grave District for electing me back in 2011 and providing the
confidence in me to do this.
Mr. Speaker, there has been a whole lot of conversation going on here in the
last number of weeks, through Interim Supply and through the Budget Speech and
the Budget presentation itself. Now we are back to the main motion of the
Budget, a non-confidence motion, I believe.
Mr. Speaker, once again I just want to talk about some of the things I have
heard over the last number of days and weeks. It was with some great interest
that I sat here and listened to the Minister of Natural Resources and the former
Minister of Finance. He spoke about the influences of the world economy and what
the world economy, basically, has to do with Newfoundland and Labrador.
You know, Mr. Speaker, when you are out there talking to the ordinary citizen
in my district, they do not understand or realize the impact that the world
economy has on a small Province like Newfoundland and Labrador. Unfortunately,
what goes on in the world certainly has an impact.
I heard one of the members across the floor the other day talk about the
impact of the world economy in Europe and the European debt crisis. Well, Mr.
Speaker, the European debt crisis certainly impacts what happens to us,
certainly the downturn in the United States economy over the last number of
years and the housing crisis in the United States economy over the last number
of years. Mr. Speaker, all of those things have had significant impact on what
has happened with Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, some people and I have heard it said by Opposition members
have said we are the victims of our own success. We have heard many times in
this House about six, over the last eight budgets, excluding this one, were
surplus budgets, Mr. Speaker, record surplus budgets. We did have lots of money
and we became a have Province.
Mr. Speaker, by becoming a have Province means that now we pay our own way
and we do not receive billions of dollars from the federal government. Mr.
Speaker, that has an impact on our bottom line. When you lose billions of
dollars in transfer payments, that is what that means. We are a have Province
and we pay our own way now. We do not get subsidized by the federal government.
In a small Province like ours, certainly that has provided some challenges.
When we talk about surplus budgets, six out of the last eight years, we talk
about a have Province. Also, it is challenging for the average person out there.
We talk about a booming economy but when we talk about a booming economy we also
talk about tax revenues, and we heard the Minister of Finance stand up here and
talk about tax revenues. We have to remember that only 17 per cent of the people
pay 70 per cent of the taxes, and that is a challenge, Mr. Speaker.
We have heard from some members of the Opposition as well: Did we consider
raising taxes? Who do we raise taxes to, Mr. Speaker? They accuse us of having
the highest corporate business tax rates. They say we need to raise taxes, but
who do you do it to? We already if you listen to them say have the highest
business tax rates, so we are limited. We are limited in that, Mr. Speaker. We
need to, but we do have a high economy. People have jobs, people are coming
home.
I want to give you this example, Mr. Speaker. I have family friends, Mr.
Speaker, and they moved to Ontario many years ago, back in the early 1970s, I
believe, and they have always wanted to live in Newfoundland. They raised their
children in Ontario. They went to school in Ontario. These people always wanted
to come back home. Their sons and their daughters wanted to come home.
Mr. Speaker, they did. They have had the opportunity in the last year to come
home. One of the sons decided to come home and started in real estate. He
started in real estate and did very well for himself. He was in a previous
position with a firm in Ontario, and he is now a foreman. He took a job recently
as a foreman in the Vale project in Long Harbour. We have young people coming
back who had no association outside of mom and dad.
Another person is his brother, Mr. Speaker. His brother always loved
Newfoundland and Labrador and wanted to come back to Newfoundland and Labrador
to work, but could not find a job. He came back recently and bought a home in my
district. They both have bought homes in my district and are looking to build
new homes and have new family. One of the brothers just recently had a newborn
and the other brother is expecting a newborn. They came back because they have
confidence in the future of Newfoundland and Labrador, and he is now working
with a local distributing company here driving for them.
Mr. Speaker, these are examples of people coming back home because they
believe we have a bright future here in Newfoundland and Labrador. The
statistics prove it out. We have more people working in Newfoundland and
Labrador today than any time in our history. They are also making higher wages
than we have ever made in our history. That says something to our economy. Our
economy and business prospects must be good. People are hiring.
I know in my district, Mr. Speaker, there are jobs. There are people hiring
all the time and jobs are expanding. There are new potential job opportunities
coming to our district. People are looking to come. We have a housing boom
basically throughout our district and it even overflows, I would suggest, into
my colleague, the hon. Member for Harbour Main, because he has been experiencing
the same things in parts of his district and we kind of intertwine together.
So, Mr. Speaker, in simple terms, yes, we are victims of our own success. We
are victims because we have had six surpluses in nine years. We became a have
Province. We do have a booming economy. We have more people employed than ever
before. All of that is true. Nobody can argue that. That is true. That is just a
simple fact.
Then, Mr. Speaker, there is always the "but". What happened? Why are we
facing the debt that we are facing? What happened? Why the core mandate review?
The questions go on. In simple terms, Mr. Speaker, the world we have heard it
said many times in this House has become a smaller place. Not only has the
world become a smaller place, but our country in general has become a smaller
place. What happens in the world and what happens in other provinces and
territories in our country certainly impacts on the bottom line of the Province
of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier of the debt crisis in Europe, and we can see it
everyday on the TV. If you get the national news, every night on the national
news we see something that involves the debt crisis in Europe. Mr. Speaker, that
has had an impact on Newfoundland and Labrador.
We also talk about the US economy, Mr. Speaker. For years in the local news
the US economy has been going through a housing crisis. They have been trying to
get back on their feet. Their recovery has been slower than expected, but this
has an impact. The United States is our major trading partner, and this stalled
US economy has certainly had an impact on us.
What has happened, Mr. Speaker? The result of some of that is there are lower
oil prices. Lower oil prices certainly had an impact on what happened here. We
are a commodity-based Province, Mr. Speaker. We look at commodity-based products
and all of them have gone down. All the prices have gone down.
We have very little control over that, Mr. Speaker. You have heard the
Minister of Finance here many times say we have very little control on what the
price is. We look for the best advice that we can get. We go to the markets. We
talk to the right people, but, Mr. Speaker, things can happen. It cannot always
be foolproof, and oil pricing is not foolproof.
Then, Mr. Speaker, we also had the impact of lower mineral prices. We talk
about the emerging economies of the world. We talk about China, we talk about
India, we talk about Brazil, but, Mr. Speaker, even the emerging economies of
the world, these emerging economies are slowing down; therefore, they are not
requiring the minerals. They are not requiring our iron ore. They are not
requiring the product. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, the price has gone down.
Mr. Speaker, there are good reasons why we have this I will call it a bump
in the road. I think the fairest thing we can say is this is a bump in the road
and we need to work our way through it. Mr. Speaker, the bump in the road is
fairly drastic. We all recognize that, but it is a bump in the road. You could
nearly say it all came together; it could be the perfect storm.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot ignore the fact that this world economy has had a
major impact on our bottom line and I have outlined some of the reasons here.
Let's go a little closer; let's come back to Canada. Let's come back to Canada
for a little while and let's just look around our country. I try to compare
apples and apples; I try to compare similar economies. When we look at commodity
economies in Canada, two provinces come to mind: the great Province of Alberta
and the Province of British Columbia. They are commodity-based provinces.
About a month ago, Mr. Speaker Alberta, who would think it? The Alberta
government brought down a $6 billion deficit. Consider that, a $6 billion
deficit. Did you ever think there would have been a day in our country that
Alberta would bring down a $6 billion deficit, and then not only a $6 billion
deficit, but borrow $5 billion?
So, Alberta: a $6 billion deficit. BC: Prior to this election, Mr. Speaker,
on a recent visit that way and talking to some friends there is BC. In BC we
are looking at an $8 billion to $10 billion deficit. Both resource-based
economies, both similar to ours I would argue, and both suffering the same
problems that we are suffering. Commodity-based pricing has gone down; be it
oil, be it minerals, or be it whatever it is. Commodity-based pricing has gone
down; therefore, provinces like us find ourselves in a deficit situation.
Mr. Speaker, it is very difficult to understand this. Then we look at our
industrial heartland, the great Ontario, our industrial heartland where all
things were produced; cars, manufacturing galore. They are even struggling.
Ontario, in my last forecast when I looked at these notes, was looking at
something like a $12 billion deficit.
Mr. Speaker, we are not alone. Our friends in the Atlantic Provinces, New
Brunswick, they brought down recently I believe a $4.5 billion deficit. It is
not like we are out there going on our own; we are not the only Province
struggling with deficits. The country is struggling with deficits and it is all
based on commodity pricing.
It is based commodity pricing, I say, Mr. Speaker, and we have to address it.
It is a bump. I believe this year in the Budget the Minister of Finance
suggested that the average price of oil would be somewhere around $105. When I
looked yesterday, Mr. Speaker, Brent Crude was at about $103.80, so we are a
little bit below our forecast; but again, with an increase of maybe $1 or $2
over that $105, we may be in a better situation at the end of this fiscal year
than the half a billion dollars that we projected to lose.
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of factors. I am trying to remind the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador today that we are not alone, that it is across the
country and around the world. What happens in our country and around the world
certainly has impact on where we are to in terms of this Budget.
Mr. Speaker, the former Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance have
also said we did put aside some cash. We did it from these surpluses and we have
used that to our benefit, Mr. Speaker, and using some of those surpluses to
benefit and create and stimulate the economy.
I remember the other day the Minister of Natural Resources talking about we
had the need, when we went into recession, to stimulate the economy and we used
some of that surplus money to stimulate the economy to get us through the
difficult years. That is what we have been doing now, Mr. Speaker. We have to
get through a difficult year or two, and we will. We will get the cash and we
have made some great investments to make sure that our future looks bright.
Mr. Speaker, we are not in isolation as I just said. We are not in isolation.
Our provincial and territorial friends are facing some of the same struggles.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, these are difficult times, but we are in a good position to
sustain ourselves through this downturn. We have a way out and it is through
sustainable energy. When we talk about sustainable energy, we have to talk about
our Energy Plan. The architect behind our Energy Plan in most of those years, or
had a good finger on it, was our Premier.
One of the pillars of that sustainable Energy Plan that we have taken a lot
of criticism for, Mr. Speaker, but we believe it is a great investment. It will
return over $20 billion to this Province over the life of it. Fifty years from
now, we will have $20 billion back. It is an investment and it is an equity that
we will get a return on: Muskrat Falls.
Mr. Speaker, I think we were proven out that people supported Muskrat Falls.
That was proven out, Mr. Speaker, because recently when the poll came out it
showed that 66 per cent of the people in this Province supported Muskrat Falls.
In my own district and my colleague from Harbour Main in his district because
we share events; we go to many events together. They nearly call us Mutt and
Jeff because we show up at so many events together. Again, Mr. Speaker, when we
have gone out people have taken us aside and they have said Muskrat Falls is a
good thing. It is creating jobs, it is creating work for our Province, and it
gives our children and our grandchildren a bright future.
Mr. Speaker, when I look around my side of the room, and I know on the other
side I see the Opposition House Leader I saw him only yesterday; yesterday,
his wife and young boy were in. We all have young children, myself included, Mr.
Speaker. I have two growing boys; one just starting high school and one in
elementary school. I believe investments like Muskrat Falls, like Vale,
investments like that have a bright future and will provide a bright future for
all of our children.
I have heard of other people saying, in the last couple of days, some of my
colleagues saying I believe the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture talked
about his children and the fact that we have investments and we have job
opportunities here that will keep their children and his children in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Children today and young people I see a lot of young people and I talk to a
lot of young people, and they are optimistic. They are optimistic about staying
in Newfoundland and Labrador. I have a young nephew who is an electrician,
working in Long Harbour. Sometimes I wish I were making the money he was making
because he is doing very well for himself. He is back in school right now doing
his journeyman. Mr. Speaker, another prime example of young people being able to
stay home and live at home, live in the community that they were born and
raised, raising a family planning to build a house this summer, Mr. Speaker.
These are the things that are going on and these are the stories we need to
tell.
Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss in my last couple of minutes if I did not talk
to a couple of things that came out of the Budget that I was really proud of.
For many years, in my prior life in municipal government I was working very
hard, very hard trying to secure a school for Coley's Point Primary, a new
school a fifty-year-old wooden structure school built in the early 1960s, Mr.
Speaker. I was very proud to see in this Budget of 2013-2014 a commitment by
this government to construct a new school for Coley's Point Primary really
proud, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLEJOHN: It took a lot of hard work, but we are going to have a
new school in Coley's Point for over 420 children from K-3, Mr. Speaker a
great commitment on behalf of this government. I am very, very proud to stand
here today and say long overdue, but we got it done and in a few years we are
going to have it done.
The other thing, as we close, Mr. Speaker, I remember for years going through
our district and driving down to go to fish plants in Port de Grave, an economic
engine. The fishery, the crab fishery, and the shrimp fishery are an economic
engine in our district.
Mr. Speaker, that road was atrocious, but through a commitment by this
government that road is now paved. The economic activity and the boom that has
been created there has been great, and it has been greatly appreciated. There is
not a day goes by, and my colleague can once again say this, that someone does
not thank us for the work we did on that road.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLEJOHN: In closing, Mr. Speaker, we have heard and we are going
to continue to hear the bad things, some of the hard, and the strife, but there
are a lot of good things that came out of this Budget. I thank you for your time
today.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is an honour to stand in this House and use my last opportunity to speak
to Budget 2013 on this afternoon. I have had a couple of opportunities to speak
to this Budget, and had an opportunity yesterday to speak to a private member's
resolution that was pretty much along the same way, Mr. Speaker.
I just want to cover off as many things as I can. Three opportunities of
twenty minutes go by very quickly when you are talking about something as
expansive and wide affecting as the Budget. So I cannot get as deep as I would
like to, but I am going to try my best.
I want to talk about a number of things. We have had plenty of opportunity to
speak about the negative effects of the Budget, and I am sure I will speak to
some of that again. I want to speak to some of the other issues, just the
practical effects of some of the budgetary decisions, good or bad, and how they
are going to affect us.
One of the big topics I want to bring up, and this does affect the Minister
of Municipal Affairs and it affects many people on both sides, is the
resettlement package that was a part of this Budget. As someone who actually
handled the legal work for resettlement back a few years ago for Grand Bruit, I
saw what went into that from the legal perspective, the money that went to the
people, and the decisions that were made. This decision to up the Budget from,
say, $80,000 for an individual up to $250,000 for an individual, it is hard to
tell whether that is a positive or a negative. What I have chosen, as someone
who does represent a rural district, is I am leaving it to my constituents to
decide whether that is positive or negative.
The fact is there are certainly pros and there are certainly cons. We all
understand how big a change that is and how big a decision that is. It is
something they are not approaching lightly. All I would say to members of
government, especially the Minister of Municipal Affairs, is that we need to
make sure we treat these people with the utmost respect and work with them as
quickly, diligently, and expeditiously as possible. If this process is going to
happen, that we work with them.
I do not know about everybody else, but I have spoken to people in my
communities who I represent that this could relate to. Right now, all I can say
is that in many cases they are being torn apart. This is such a huge issue, some
people want to stay, and some people want to go.
I certainly do not fault government for putting this option out there. A lot
of people think it is great and the option should be there. We need to make sure
that it gets done in as respectful a manner as possible, and these people get
the opportunity to really think it out.
I am sure it is not an easy task for members on the government side, it is
not easy for us, but it is one of the things that were not expected in this
Budget. It is out there, it is getting talked about. I know the department is
getting numerous phone calls on it. I just hope it gets handled as painlessly as
possible for these individuals.
I talk about these phone calls where you are seeing families who are not
talking to each other. You are seeing brothers and sisters living in the same
very small, remote communities. One has a different opinion than the other and
they are not talking to each other right now. It is tough, so I just hope that
it gets worked out for the benefit of all the individuals. It is something I
felt I needed to bring up here, as I do represent a district that has rural
communities and has had them resettled in the last five years.
Another thing I wanted to bring up, one of the questions that get asked of us
all the time is what would you do? What would you do, Mr. Speaker? We are saying
you are cutting this, you are cutting that, and members on government side say
well, what would you do? I am just going to bring forward some of the
suggestions that I would have on some of the issues. I will leave it to the
public, and I will leave it to the people to decide whether they are reasonable
or not.
I have always said the fact is we are where we are because there was
overspending over the years. That is not a surprise to anybody. I know it was
discussed at the Cabinet table for years now. The spending is unsustainable; the
AG even brought it up. It is tough once you start these things to turn them
around. I have always said that you really need to streamline from the top, it
cannot just be the front lines.
Something I brought up in Question Period today and I think it is a
reasonable question; the Premier has allotted in her office I think it is either
believe is filled yet, but it was allotted for in the Budget. I mentioned
yesterday in the House there are a number of circuit courts in this Province;
Burgeo, Bonavista, Springdale, Harbour Breton, Labrador, that are cut and the
savings this year was $50,000. I have to ask where the priorities are. Is the
The Premier has opportunities with a number of communications staff in her
office, and I know she needs communications staff. When you compare the two and
their hometowns, in their communities. I am not talking about full-time courts;
I am talking about circuit courts. I am talking about courts that come very
rarely.
I will just give one example of an individual I dealt with who was charged
with a regulatory matter. It was not a criminal matter, but it could have been a
traffic ticket, it could have been a charge under the Health and Community
Services Act, stuff that is carried out by Service Newfoundland and Labrador of
a regulatory nature.
This person had to drive and I will use someone in Burgeo who actually had
to drive two hours each way. They had to take a day off work; they had to find
alternate child care for their kids. They had to pay for meals; they had to pay
for gas. The Burgeo road is not a great road, so it is wear and tear on your
vehicle let me tell you, Mr. Speaker.
All this to go in for a first appearance, to go in and have the matter heard.
Not every matter do you need a lawyer for. It is not like you can pay your
lawyer to appear for you. You can go in and do it yourself when it is a small
matter. Have a first appearance and then come home at tremendous cost to you
personally, and then to go in the second time and find out that you actually got
a ticket and your fine was $50. Your fine is $50. When I asked that question of
the minister in Estimates, I asked that I was kind of thinking I might get an
answer back that justified to me this was necessary, but the answer I got back
was $1,000. One thousand dollars was saved by cutting it in Burgeo.
When I asked the second question when it was cut in Bonavista, the answer was
$600. I am not trying to say this to be facetious, but our coffee budgets and
our paper budgets in some departments could be cut to allow for people to have
justice in our rural communities, I think that is a fair question to ask and
that is a priority that I would ask. That is one suggestion I would make.
When I talk about the fact that we had the Muskrat Falls party here just
before Christmas, and I know it was a momentous event to government. I know they
wanted to celebrate it, but they had to have known that the crunch was coming,
that people were going to lose jobs. When you take the $16,000 it cost to have
that party, that was a circuit court in Burgeo for the next sixteen years. The
next sixteen years could have been paid for with that cost.
Those are decisions that we probably did we not know? That comes back to
sometimes when we question the planning. We have to question the planning when
you make an expenditure like that. When you look at something as big as the
Department of Health budget, which is in the billions, and it is hard to trim
that down, but when you look at a decision that cost $16,000 and it could result
in people having access to front-line services, I think we have to look at that.
When we talk about the glossy ads that were sent out for Muskrat Falls that
cost almost $500,000, almost $500,000 to put information out there, partisan
information really, and when you make that decision and I know government made
it, but we had to have known that come March we are going to be putting pink
slips out to well over 1,000 people. It is not just the effect on these people.
It is their families. It is the people they serve. It is their communities. We
all know the effect. This was not something that was limited to urban and it was
not limited to rural. It affected everybody.
I would say, and it is just my opinion, that the loss of a very well-paid
provincial government job, a civil service job in a rural community, has a huge
effect. It has a huge ripple effect. When I see, just in my district alone, the
jobs that have been lost when you are talking about Employment Assistance, which
is a third-party agency, or when you are talking about conservation officers,
clerical clerks, front-line services, and probation officers getting moved, and
when we talk about RCMP getting pinched, Mr. Speaker, these are decisions I
think should have been considered when we are expending those funds. I think we
could have done it in a better way.
Even the glossy ad that was sent out saying ten things you need to know about
the Budget, these things come with a significant cost. I know in the grand
scheme of things when you are talking about billion-dollar budgets these costs
may be small, but they add up. They add up and they could have saved a job here.
If it could have reduced that number by one I think that would have been worth
it, if we could have said look, we are going to use the other methods of
conveying information rather than the glossy ad saying ten things we need to
know about the Budget. Some would say they are misleading because they might say
some things but there are a lot of things that were not on them. That is not
what I am getting at. That is not what I want to talk about.
I know government members have a job to do. I understand that and I know you
are getting the calls. I know there is a difference between what you do here in
the House and what you do in your district. In the House you have to act a
certain way and portray a certain enthusiasm and energy. That is fine. Do you
know what? It goes both ways. We are all doing it, but we are all getting those
calls from people who had their job cut. These are not people who were hurt, the
part of the civil service explosion of the 2000s; these are people who had jobs
that were there for decades that are now cut.
Again, I go back to conservation. Jobs people had in these communities for
years and years, and they are gone. They are gone like that, the snap of a
finger.
It comes back down to the planning. I know the Budget document itself, Mr.
Speaker, was sent to the printers at 6:00 a.m. on Budget day. When you send
something out at 6:00 a.m. on Budget day it shows there are a lot of last-minute
things going on. I know we could say we were trying our best to reduce the
impact and there were a lot of tough decisions. I am not saying anything about
that. I know it was tough, but I have to question the planning that got us here.
This is not planning just in this last year; this is planning over a number of
years.
One of the things I have heard a number of times and many government members
referenced it in their speeches, and that is fine, is they talked about the
state of the Province when we took over in 2003; the state of the Province.
Maybe back when Clyde Wells took over in 1989 he lamented the state of the
Province he took over from the Tories. I do not know. We keep talking about the
state we found it in.
What I would say is this Administration, like the Administration before and
the Administration before, were in long enough to make changes. They have been
in there ten years now. It is time to start accepting responsibility for the
decisions we have made, a lot of them made in the last ten years. It is time to
stop casting the blame on governments before. We could all do that, but there is
no point in that. We need to move forward. We need to talk about decisions we
are making now.
One of them is the Sustainability Plan. I hope it works. I hope the
Sustainability Plan works. Again, I think it is suspect. I think the fact we hit
surplus in 2015 is no coincidence, the same year as the next provincial
election. I think the changes had to be made, but I question some of the
decisions that were made by this government as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I do not have a lot of time left. I am trying my best to cover a
lot of the issues, not just issues in my district, but issues across the
Province. I will just touch on one of them.
One of them is education. I have significant doubts about the amalgamation of
the school boards. We all know the amalgamation of health boards has come with
detriment. It was supposed to bring with it tremendous savings and it actually
cost us more.
I do have fears about the amalgamation of the school boards and putting them
all together into one in St. John's. I do not know if that is going to work.
Obviously, it is no different than 3:00 o'clock in the morning on the December
night when we talked about Muskrat and I said I hope this works. I hope for the
sake of me and I hope for the sake of my child and my grandchildren that it
works because if not we are all in trouble and nobody wants to see that. All we
can do is hope the decision made is going to pan out for the benefit of the
people of this Province today and tomorrow. Education is one of them. I do not
think it is there, but that is just my opinion. I hope I am wrong.
We talk about a number of things when it comes to health care. Health care
has taken a small cut this year compared to what is possibly coming next year. I
have significant concerns about a number of things in health care.
One of the things that have been promised is the new hospital in Corner
Brook. As someone who lives in Western Newfoundland and Labrador, someone whose
child was born in the current hospital, and as someone who hopes to live in
rural Newfoundland and Labrador for a long time, I need that hospital. I want
that hospital. Any insinuation otherwise is ridiculousness at its highest, but
we have concerns as residents of that area that the promise that was made will
be kept. That is what I want to see kept, but not just kept, the original
promise. Not a rightsized or downsized health centre, we want the one that is
going to suit us all. That is what I want to see.
The Member for Port de Grave, who I have great respect for, spoke and he
mentioned that he met me, my wife, and my son in the hallway. He did, and we had
a nice chat. What I can say is right now my wife, child, and I live in rural
Newfoundland and Labrador. I still live in Port aux Basques, all my life; I hope
to continue living there. What I want, and I think all members on this side
want, is my son to live there. I want my son to be able to do that.
My fear with this Budget, with some of the cuts, is that it is going to
contribute to the decimation of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. When we talk
about some of the decisions, and it is tough, when we talk about EAS, Adult
Basic Education, and when we talk about stuff like the RED Boards, these are all
little things. It is not all at one time. This is probably the greatest show at
one time that we have seen in sometime, but they are having a huge effect.
Members opposite will say great things are happening in rural Newfoundland
and Labrador. There are great things and we need more. There is potential when
we talk about the projects there, the projects that are coming, and the
opportunity for people to live at home and only have to commute to Labrador, or
Bull Arm, or the West Coast if that play ever moves forward. There are
opportunities rather than commuting, as they do now, to Alberta, Ontario, and
everywhere else. I want to see that and I want to make the decisions that help
keep us there. That is why I say any of these cuts have a terrible, terrible
effect on small towns and small communities. I put that out there. I hope that
all of our children can continue to live, thrive, and have services in rural
Newfoundland and Labrador.
My time is especially getting short now. I just want to say a few more things
and I have a number of notes here. There are so many things that I could talk
about.
It is not my belief, Mr. Speaker, that this is a good Budget for the people
of Newfoundland and Labrador. I know we talk about stuff like the deficit that
was projected just a couple of months before the Budget came down. It was going
to be around $1.6 billion, and then miraculously it ended up being about $500
million. When you see that, and I say this not just for myself but for the
common person who I have talked to, they say how did they find that much? How
did they change that much in such a short period of time to get to this effect,
to make this happen? My answer is I do not know, Mr. Speaker. I do not know what
they did. I have to question it.
A lot of the things that we talk about contributing to this deficit, reduced
oil production, this was all known. This was not a surprise, we knew this was
coming. This was talked about around the Cabinet table for years. It is
unsustainable. We know it is coming, but there was no political will to make it
happen. Right now it looks like the political will carries us to 2015 and then
we continue on with the Sustainability Plan after.
I say to this government, you have been in a long time; you have to take
responsibility for the decisions you have made that have led us to this. These
decisions were not part of the Administration before you. I say there are a lot
of prominent members of former PC governments who are upset too, because some of
the comments that come from government members are: Oh, the state we found it
in. That reflects on them. They feel bad about this, too. Cabinet ministers from
the 1980s say: Do you know what? This reflects badly on us and we do not like
that. We do not appreciate that.
The other thing too, Mr. Speaker, is that there has been a lot of revenue in
this last decade, revenue that was never there for any government before. That
was there, and do you know what? It has allowed this government to make huge
investments in roads, schools, and hospitals. Nobody ever takes that away.
Nobody takes that away but what we must question is when we have I heard a
couple of members on the other side say: Well, if we have the opportunity to
create jobs we are going to create jobs.
When we are flush with cash we are going to create jobs, but the problem is
not the creation. It is the sustaining of the jobs. It is keeping the jobs. We
brought people home and unfortunately there are people leaving again. There are
people leaving again right now. We cannot just say, well, somebody lost a public
job; they are going to fit into the private sector. Some will, but it is not
that easy, Mr. Speaker. It is not that easy. The skill set for a Conservation
Officer does not always transfer into another good job in that area. These
people are going to be forced to leave, many at that stage just before
retirement.
Mr. Speaker, all I can say is I have put my views across. I am trying my best
to be reasonable and logical. It is not about shouting back and forth. I am
doing this because this is how I see it. I think some of the decisions made were
rash. I hope that the planning going forward will allow us to keep this Province
as great as it is because nobody ever disputes that or doubts it, but we have to
be careful because the decisions we make, no matter big or small, are going to
make a huge difference.
I say to this government, obviously I will not be supporting this Budget and
I hope this will be a lesson as we move forward in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HEDDERSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, it is an absolute pleasure and an honour to be standing in this House
today to speak about the Budget. Mr. Speaker, just to remind people, this has
probably been the fifteenth or sixteenth time that I have stood in this House to
talk about a Budget coming down, so that makes me perhaps one of the more senior
here in age.
Mr. Speaker, Budgets are
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MR. HEDDERSON: I heard some comment over there that I will ignore.
Mr. Speaker, I would say that in sitting back and listening, things have not
changed a lot. In my experience, I have been on that side of the House as an
Opposition member and I fully understand what is happening. God forbid that an
Opposition member would get up and say something good about the provincial
Budget that we brought down. That is almost like the kiss of death.
I would say to the people out there, you have to basically understand the
position they find themselves in and trying to undermine the efforts of the
government. Undermine is a good word. Mr. Speaker, from what I am hearing, you
would swear that we were living in a place with no hope, that we were living in
a place where we were doomed, and that we were living in a place where nobody
had a chance to reach their potential.
Nothing, I say, Mr. Speaker, could be further from the truth. This Budget is
one of those moments where a government takes stock of where they are and where
they want to go, and make decisions to move forward in a manner which is in the
best interests of the people of this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I just listened to the member as he spoke about change. He referred to the
resettlement of some of our communities. We have an understanding as a
government that things do change and we must be responsive as a government to
that change. There are communities out there that are cognizant of the fact that
they may have to move on. As a government, do we go out and force them to move
on? Absolutely not, Mr. Speaker, we would give them the opportunity to make
those types of decisions that are most important to them and give them the
resources they would want in order to move somewhere else.
The point that I am making is that things do change. That change is an
important aspect, and resistance to change obviously causes a great deal of
stress in many people's lives. Again, Mr. Speaker, change is so, so important.
Over the last nine years this government has basically brought about
tremendous change to this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, change that was
welcomed, change that was necessary, change that has altered our course in
history. These nine or ten years I would not say ten years, Mr. Speaker,
because when this government took over in 2003 there were tremendous challenges.
The best way to describe those challenges is that there had to be a lot of
catch up, not that you put on your French fries or anything, Mr. Speaker, but
catch up in the way of making sure that any deficits that were before us in
infrastructure, for example, could be addressed, because without addressing
those deficits we would be stalled. There was no way we could move forward in a
way that would be in the best interest of the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador, and we did move forward.
We moved forward in a very positive way, making sure that as we moved forward
we were doing everything that was necessary to get us to a place to where we are
today, a place where I believe it was described in the Speech from the Throne
as a juncture, and an important juncture. We had just come off a record number
of surpluses.
I give credit to our Premier, I give credit to our former Minister of
Finance, and certainly our current one, to bring attention to the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador that there are times when you have to do what is
right. Not necessarily what is popular, I say, Mr. Speaker, because from what I
am hearing from the other side of the House is that we have not been stewards of
our Province in a proper sense, that we have squandered away what opportunity
was presented to us. Again, Mr. Speaker, nothing can be further from the truth.
The rebuilding of this Province over the last decade was absolutely
necessary. We make no apologies, Mr. Speaker, for the investments that were
made, and investments that were very, very important. All I have to do, Mr.
Speaker, is point out to you, and to the people of this Province, the amount of
the investment. We rebuilt it, and it was a lot of bricks and mortar. It was not
only about bricks and mortar, because we had to rebuild in other areas as well.
We had to invest in social programs to make sure that in rebuilding, with regard
to the bricks and mortar, we were also building capacity within our people. We
all understand how you can have the Taj Mahals, but if you do not have people
who are basically able to move forward with the skill sets that are necessary
and with the opportunities that are necessary in order to eke out a living in
this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we would have failed. So our social
programs were most important.
As well, what was hanging over our heads, Mr. Speaker, was our debt. I am not
talking debt and the operating on a year-to-year basis. That was somewhere
around $750 million, I think, in 2003. It was the long-term debt, the debt that
you carry from year to year. So, we, as a government, as stewards of this great
Province of ours, made the right decisions in moving forward with the right
plan, and that got us to where we are today. Again, as I pointed out, we came to
a juncture that we needed to make some really hard decisions, and these
decisions are evident in the Budget we have put before the people of this
Province right now.
Again, Mr. Speaker, our investments in health care, as an example. In 2003,
we were looking at $1.2 billion. In 2012, you are talking about $2.9 billion.
You are looking at a percentage of something like 142 per cent. That is what I
call an investment and an investment in an area that it absolutely needs to be
in. In Education, we were looking at about $700 million per year as a budget
back in those early days. Today, we are looking at $1.2 billion, a 71 per cent
increase.
When you look at infrastructure, and people ask, what was your plan for
infrastructure? Mr. Speaker, you would have to be absolutely blind not to see
back in 2003 what needed to be replaced. Do I have to tell you about the state
of the schools? Do I have to tell you about the state of our hospitals and our
buildings? We know, we saw, and we basically started to knock off, bit by bit.
Our roads; I do not think any of us can forget about the travel across this
Province on the Trans-Canada Highway between St. John's and Port aux Basques and
the state of that highway and, again, key investments in infrastructure. We were
looking at probably $154 million back in 2003. It is upwards now to $744 million
in this current year. Mr. Speaker, look at something like 383 per cent but
necessary. We have knocked off a lot of it, but that is not to say we do not
have a long ways to go yet.
With regard to buildings, we were investing about $78 million a year in
buildings. That was back in 2003. Currently, we are looking at $509 million
annually that we are looking to put into our buildings to make sure they are up
to scratch. Maintenance I remember as a teacher back in the late-1980s or
early-1990s. They were good times, but when we looked at the buildings, I think
fifty-five cents seems to be the amount of money that we were getting per square
foot. That was totally inadequate. We paid a price for it because not
maintaining those buildings in the 1980s and 1990s came back to haunt us in 2000
and in the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Then it was about $11 million for maintenance of our buildings. Guess what it
is today? It is $117 million because we know the lessons that others should have
learned. If you do not maintain your buildings down the road you are going to
pay for it.
The member just previous to me speaking stood up and talked about his son and
how when he looked at his son he wanted to make sure the decisions of this
government would ensure his son had a place to live in rural Newfoundland, had
an opportunity to live in rural Newfoundland, and had an opportunity to grow up
as he grew up on the West Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. I can assure the
member your thoughts are our thoughts here on this side of the House.
Our decisions are always based not on our needs right now, our needs as
politicians, or our posturing that needs to be done. What we base our decisions
on is the very thing you drew attention to, and that is on our future
generations of Newfoundland and Labrador. That is where we need to go. That is
where our Premier is bringing us and insisting on us going. She knows as well as
the rest of us know that if you lose sight of that, you lose sight and you lose
your compass, you are on the way out that door there.
We have to because we know. I reference the debt I just talked about. Do we
want to put on our children and our children's children $10 billion, $12
billion, or $14 billion worth of debt, ever increasing? Absolutely not.
So if you ask about some of the hard decisions that we make, and if it is
going to be this or that, as the Opposition likes to try to dumb it down to just
this number or that number, that is not what this is all about. This is all
about making sure that the future is secure for the future children of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, in getting back to my original thoughts, we looked at I think it
is anywhere between $5 billion and $6 billion that has been strategically
invested in the needs of this Province to be positioned to where we are right
now. On the debt, the best way to try to tell the people of