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May 8,

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 14

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

I would

like to welcome today to the Speaker's gallery Ms. Lucy Woodland and her

daughter, Rhodie Anne. Ms. Woodland is the subject of a Member's statement.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also in the Speaker's gallery

today we have Petty Officer First Class Brady Power from the Royal Canadian Sea

Cadet Corps 251 Southern Cross. Chief Petty Officer Power is the subject of a

Member's statement today as well.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

To our public galleries today

we welcome Cathy Dormody and Paul Westcott of the Canadian Society of Safety

Engineers Avalon Chapter. The CSSE Avalon

Chapter hosted an event earlier this

afternoon in the East Block lobby to kick off the North American Occupational

Safety Health Week.

There

are a number of students as well in our gallery from Holy Spirit High and

Villanova Junior High. These students were recognized at the event today as

winners of the WorkplaceNL's 2017 Student Safety Video/Radio Ad Contest which

raises awareness about workplace health and safety.

Congratulations and welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

As well in our public gallery

we have Ajay Pande, Chair of the Board of the Newfoundland and Labrador

Association of Technology Industries. Mr. Pande is present for the reading of a

Ministerial Statement.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

As well in the public gallery

we have Tom and Lucy Berg, who are the parents of one of our Pages, Carmen, and

they are visiting from British Columbia.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements today

we have the Members for the Districts of Bonavista, Mount Pearl Southlands,

Labrador West, St. John's East Quidi Vidi, Harbour Main, and Cape St. Francis.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Bonavista.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

honoured to stand here today to recognize the 50th Charter Night of the

Bonavista Lions Club. Celebrating their 50th anniversary on April 1, the club

was officially chartered on January 15, 1967. I know first-hand of the great

work that the Bonavista Lions Club does in my district, along with others in the

region, just as all Members present here today can attest to the work that Lions

do in their own districts.

The

evening itself was a celebration of the club's storied history. Many stories

were shared, many greetings brought, but the most emotional part of the evening

was a candle lighting ceremony for is deceased members.

There

were a number of awards presented including Lion of the Year to Anita Lane, and

a lifetime membership to Lewis Fifield. The Judge Brian Stevenson award was

presented to: John Keats, Alex Abbott, Bernice Clements, Laura Keel, Jackie

Duffet, Doris Johnson, and Calvin White.

The

Melvin Jones Fellowship was awarded to: Brenda Mouland, Michael Duffett,

Marjorie Mouland, and Sharon Keel.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the Bonavista Lions Club on their

milestone anniversary. They certainly are the embodiment of their motto: We

serve.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for the

District of Mount Pearl Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

past Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of attending the 61st annual Charter

Night of the Mount Pearl Lions Club. This group of dedicated community

volunteers have made a significant impact in my community.

Some of

the initiatives they have initiated and/or supported include but are certainly

not limited to: The annual Mount Pearl Santa Claus parade, Waterford River

cleanup, the breakfast program at Mary Queen of the World school, their annual

Mount Pearl youth speak-off, and significant contributions to the Mount Pearl

Youth Opportunity Fund, just to name a few.

They are

also contributors to the eyeglass recycling program, guide dog program and the

Lion Max Simms Camp located in Central Newfoundland. Of special note at last

week's banquet, Lion Sadie Simms received one of the Lions' highest honours, the

Melvin Jones Fellowship, and Lion Diane Ryan was selected as Mount Pearl Lion of

the Year. Also, Lion Fred Anderson received a special pin for an amazing 60

years of service to the Mount Pearl Lions Club.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in thanking these tremendous volunteers for 61 years

of dedicated service to the community.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for the

District of Labrador West.

MR. LETTO:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House today to recognize Monika Rumbolt from Labrador City, one of

33 youth ambassadors from across Canada chosen to participate in Canada C3.

Canada

C3 is a signature project for Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation. The

centerpiece is an epic 150-day sailing journey from Toronto to Victoria via the

Northwest Passage that will explore the four key themes of Canada 150: diversity

and inclusion, reconciliation, youth engagement and the environment.

Monika,

who is originally from Port Hope Simpson, is an indigenous person of NunatuKavut

who has a tremendous passion for the land and its wildlife. Raised in a very

traditional household, she has a great understanding of her culture and

heritage, and has a firm grasp on traditional way of life.

Monika

decided to embark on this journey to bring light to the economic, social and

environmental issues facing Labradorians today and engage youth in shaping the

future for Labrador and all of Canada.

She is a

strong advocate of the Inuit proverb: We only borrow the land from our

children, it is not our right to destroy it.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Monika and wish her fair winds on

her journey.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I am

overjoyed to celebrate the 100th birthday of Lucy Woodland. Lucy Patten Hickman

was born the youngest of five in Grand Bank on April 26, 1917. Her parents were

Mary Anne and Charles Hickman; Charles was lost in December 1917 with the crew

of the John McCrae.

Lucy

moved to St. John's in 1936 to complete Grade 11 and summer school and then

taught at one-room schools in Change Islands and Hickman's Harbour. In 1939, she

went back to teach at the Salvation Army College. She returned to Grand Bank in

1941. Romance blossomed; in 1943, Lucy married Gordon Woodland, the school's

principal. They had two children, Keith and Rhodie Anne, and moved to St.

John's. Lucy taught at Dawson Elementary and Reid Elementary, retiring in 1977.

She

enjoys travelling adventures by both land and sea. She watches the news every

night. She's an avid sports fan, especially hockey and curling. Her love of

shopping has not diminished. With summer on its way and new fashions in the

stores, Lucy will enjoy adding a few more items to her wardrobe. You will

probably see her in the mall in the next couple of weeks.

On with

the next decade!

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Harbour Main.

MS. PARSLEY:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to

recognize an outstanding young man from my district: sixteen-year-old Brady

Power of Holyrood, who has been a shining example of how hard work and

dedication pays off.

Since

joining the RCSCC-251 South Cross Sea Cadet Corps, Brady has gone on to excel in

a number of different areas in which a cadet can participate. This past weekend,

Brady was recognized in a number of different fields including perfect

attendance, four-year service award, band person of the year, cadet choice and a

promotion to the rank of Petty Officer First Class.

On top

of all that, he also received the Lord Strathcona Medal; the highest award which

can be bestowed on to a cadet who demonstrates outstanding performance in

physical and military training.

Under

the leadership and guidance of his officers, Brady has grown into a mentor and a

leader not only to fellow cadets, but his peers as well, all the while standing

for the core values of a cadet: loyalty, professionalism, mutual respect and

integrity.

I ask

all Members to join me in congratulating Chief Petty Officer Power on his

outstanding accomplishments and best wishes for what is sure to be a promising

future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Before I recognize the hon.

Member for Cape St. Francis, I'd like to recognize a constituent of his who's in

the gallery today: the mayor of Flatrock, Darrin Thorne.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in his hon. House today to recognize the Torbay Volunteer Fire Department for 43

years of service to the Towns of Torbay and Flatrock.

Fire

Chief Mike McGrath has been with the fire hall since day one. He serves

alongside of 40 dedicated volunteer members who are on call 24 hours a day. Last

year alone, they responded to 248 emergency calls, punched in 2,289 firefighter

training hours with great pride in perfecting and renewing their skills.

At their

recent annual Torbay Volunteer Fire Department Firemen's Ball, the following

members were recognized I'd like to congratulate Firefighter of the Year, Greg

Power; 5 years' service to Mark Konechny and Rodney Gouget; 10 years' service to

Jimmy Auchinleck; 15 years' service to John Callahan, John Coady and Jerry

Dunphy.

October, the Torbay Volunteer Fire Department acknowledged 10 years with a

satellite station in Flatrock. Again this year, the Ladies Auxiliary put off

fundraisers for the department. One was a chicken dinner where they served over

500. The department appreciates their hard work.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating and thanking the brave men and

women for protecting our beautiful towns.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Minister.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House to reflect on the cautious optimism I experienced last week at OTC

the annual Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. The projections are

looking up for the oil and gas industry, and that feeling was echoed by the many

people I met.

working with industry partners, many of whom were part of the 100-plus member

delegation from this province, and through collaboration with the Oil and Gas

Industry Development Council, we are positioning Newfoundland and Labrador

globally as a preferred location for oil and gas development.

While at

OTC this year, I had the pleasure to meet with colleagues from Nova Scotia and

Alberta and current operators including ExxonMobil and Statoil. I also met with

new entrants into this province's offshore oil industry such as Hess Canada Oil

& Gas and B.P. Canada, who were successful in the 2016 call for bids which had a

total value of $758 million in work commitments, as well, Mr. Speaker, I met

with Total and Anadarko, who are also new entrants.

I had

the opportunity to tour the Maersk Simulation and Training Facility in Houston

and was impressed by the innovation, cutting edge technology and commitment to

safety and quality that prevails throughout their operations. I also

participated in the official signing of the agreement that will see the

appointment of Alexander/Ryan Marine & Safety as distributor for Newfoundland

and Labrador's own Virtual Marine's lifeboat simulator systems, which are used

in Canada as well as globally.

At OTC,

I met with operators and industry colleagues and shared just how vast the

potential is here. Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador is considered one of the

top frontier regions in the world today with over 350 leads and prospects.

Through extensive geoscience, that includes seismic acquisition, we have quality

data on our offshore prospects which is attracting global attention.

Mr.

Speaker, while at OTC, I had the opportunity to invite delegates to Noia's

upcoming Oil and Gas Conference being held in St. John's from June 19 to 22.

This offshore conference the largest in Canada will offer the most

up-to-date information from Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil and gas

industry and provide delegates with crucial information on trends and business

opportunities.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I certainly thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement.

It's certainly positive to hear of the optimism coming out of the Annual

Offshore Technology Conference in Houston last week. The minister referenced new

entrants into our province's offshore industry: Hess Canada Oil & Gas and B.P.

Canada. I, too, and we as an Opposition certainly welcome them to the industry

here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, I would also like to note that the recent successful call for bids and

these new entrants are a direct result of the offshore geoscience, which has

been undertaken. The work, including seismic data collection, is indeed

necessary and needs to continue.

However,

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to point out that the industry is still waiting on the

release of a generic royalty regime, which our administration announced in

November of 2015. The minister said that she would release it by March 30, but

still we did not have a release. This regime is needed so that industry leaders

can plan their future development and production in our province. The regime has

been promised and is certainly long overdue.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement. It's good to see the

province engaged in the industry and its major trade shows. The growing optimism

the minister mentioned reflects the hope that the price of oil is rising, which

will benefit this province.

Good

news in the short term, for sure, but this province's long-term problem is a

dependence on offshore oil royalties. I remind the minister and government of

the serious need for a more diversified, less oil-dependent economy.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Service NL.

MR. TRIMPER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this House today to recognize May 8-14 as the 20th anniversary of North

American Occupational Safety and Health Week, or NAOSH Week.

It was

my honour just recently this afternoon to participate in the annual NAOSH Week

flag raising ceremony organized by the local

chapter of the Canadian Society of

Safety Engineering here at the Confederation Building.

Every

year, employees and employers across Canada, the United States and Mexico

recognize this special week, which focuses on raising awareness of the

importance of preventing workplace accidents and occupational illnesses.

This

year's theme is Make Safety a Habit, which is an excellent reminder for everyone

that we need to make health and safety a part of our everyday routine.

Mr.

Speaker, a good way to establish a habit is by starting young.

I was

very pleased today to see students from the Occupational Health and Safety class

at Holy Spirit High at this afternoon's event, along with the winners of this

year's WorkplaceNL student safety video and radio ad contests.

The

winners of the radio ad contest are Megan Coles and Caitlyn Coles from Holy

Spirit High.

The

winners of the video ad, from Villanova Junior High, are Michael Burke, Jillian

Ashley Howe, Jacob Kavanagh, Jefta Merkuratsuk, Justin Oake, Jessica Olford, Eli

Paulin and Daniel Scott.

I do

commend these students for their commitment to making safety a habit, and I

encourage everyone to follow their example.

working together, government, employers and employees can ensure that everyone

returns home from work, healthy and safe, every day.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I want

to thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. Mr. Speaker, we are

pleased to recognize North America Occupational Safety and Health Week. I want

to thank the organizers for today's event. It was great to see so many young

people there this afternoon, along with representatives from various safety

organizations and industry.

Mr.

Speaker, just over a week ago we also recognized National Day of Mourning. Both

of these events highlight the importance of workplace safety and remind us all

that health and safety of individuals must be a priority in the workplace and

also at home and in our individual lives.

I also

want to congratulate the winners of the student safety video and radio contest.

Make Safety a Habit is a great theme. We should make every effort to ensure that

at the end of the day everyone comes home safe.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. It is important to

educate young people and others on occupational health and safety. But I want to

remind the minister that one of the more serious provincial OHS issues continues

to be night flights to offshore platforms.

With the

Hebron GBS poised to be towed out to the oil fields and more exploration in

deepwater, this will soon be an issue again. I urge the minister to ensure

government takes a clear stand against this dangerous practice.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to

recognize our province's annual Innovation Week, led by the Newfoundland and

Labrador Association of Technology Industries, NATI.

Over the

next five days, numerous partner organizations will roll out over 20 unique

innovation-related events, bringing together start-ups, youth, business and

public partners in an effort to collaborate and learn from global innovators

about how to infuse innovation into their businesses and communities.

cannot downplay the significance of the technology sector in Newfoundland and

Labrador. According to the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology

Industries there are over 170 companies in the sector, over 4,000 employees and

over $1.6 billion in annual revenues.

It is

obvious innovation has a remarkable influence on our province's social and

economic development. As outlined in The

Way Forward , we are committed to resetting the innovation agenda in

Newfoundland and Labrador as a way to help strengthen and diversify our economy,

and to create an ecosystem with innovation that can flourish.

Already

there has been an extraordinary level of industry interest, public participation

and community awareness in the development of our new Business Innovation

Agenda. I am proud to say that we are on track to launch this new agenda in the

coming months.

Another

key initiative is our Regional Innovation Systems Pilot Project. As part of

Phase Two, regions throughout the province have been selected based on clusters

of businesses active in sectors of fisheries and tourism; forestry and

agrifoods; aerospace and defence; industrial technology development; and ocean

technology. This new system will help drive our regional economies to build a

competitive advantage by diversifying unique, localized knowledge into new

innovations.

As we

continue to work towards advancing business innovation, productivity and

competitiveness, as well as increasing research and development, we recognize

the importance of working with our industry partners. It is through a

collaborative effort that allows us to align this energy, ultimately producing a

province that is more prosperous for all of us.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for the advance copy of his statement. I want to begin by

recognizing provincial Innovation Week 2017. I, too, want to commend businesses

and individuals throughout all sectors of this province whose efforts bring

about growth and development in our economy.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the birthplace of some of the world's best

innovators and entrepreneurs. Up until recently, our province had become

synonymous with growth and opportunity in many sectors. I commend those in our

tech sector and those participating in Innovation Week, not just for their

ingenuity, but most notably for their resilience.

The

minister has stated that the Liberal government plans to reset their innovation

agenda. This is ironic considering that two consecutive Liberal budgets have

smothered the Newfoundland and Labrador economy and built barriers to

innovation. I have the utmost faith in the entrepreneurial minds that are on

display during Innovation Week, and their successes in spite of the barriers

built before them is a true testament to their talent and their ability.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. It's interesting to

hear government is resetting the innovation agenda. I would like to have heard

more details about the innovation agenda, not just generalities. The concept of

regional clusters of businesses is a good one, but what is government actually

going to do to assist in developing ideas and accessing capital for new

innovative business and employment in the regions.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the former appointed Liberal clerk signed off on orders-in-council

which transferred contingency funds to the Department of Justice to settle legal

files.

I ask

the Premier if he can state unequivocally and without reservation that Mr.

Coffey hasn't signed off on any funds for settlements that he may have had a

conflict of interest in.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm

certainly happy to stand here as it relates to anything to do with the

Department of Justice and Public Safety. Certainly, I'm willing to double-check

and verify what the Member opposite is saying. But I'm fairly confident that,

no, Mr. Coffey would not have signed anything to do of that nature.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I look

forward to confirmation of that from the minister and appreciate his answer.

Mr.

Speaker, the former Liberal clerk is not permitted to engage in legal cases

involving the government or any government agency for a 12-month period

following resignation.

I ask

the Premier: What action has he taken to ensure that Mr. Coffey respects this

12-month, cooling-off period?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is

the exact question that the Member opposite asked last week. I'll answer the

question the same way, Mr. Speaker.

As you

know, there are regulations, there are guidelines on any activity that anyone

that would work within the executive, or any politician I would say, too, Mr.

Speaker, once they leave the elected office or once you leave a position like

the former clerk did last week. Those rules apply to everyone as they would

apply to Mr. Coffey.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

question was what action has the Premier taken to ensure that Mr. Coffey

respects it, but he hasn't provided that answer. He didn't last week and he

hasn't provided it this week.

I ask

the Premier if he, Cabinet or government have taken any action to waive that

12-month, cooling-off period.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, we

haven't, but I can tell you that when you look back at the history of the Member

opposite and we all know what's happening with the PC Party right now. We're

getting a few people that are showing some interest in the leadership campaign

again. Someone is really trying to score some political points, Mr. Speaker.

We've

seen the actions, Mr. Speaker, around Humber Valley Paving that was made really

the night before, the day before when we saw cancelling of contracts and bonds

that were released to make way for someone who, at that point, the night before

at least, wanted to be the Leader of the PC Party. We've seen Len Simms move

from a deputy minister-equivalent position to run PC campaigns. That was okay.

Mr.

Speaker, this is a clear what this is, is just clear double standard for the

PC Party and the way government exists today. This is the way it is. There's a

PC standard and the standard that's set for everyone else. It's clearly what

this is all about.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to

this hon. House quite sincerely, that this is a matter of great importance to

the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

I also have to say I find it

somewhat disrespectful for the Premier to use his time, instead of answering

questions about this important matter, to use it for political grandstanding.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

I also remind the House, that

we went through three days in Question Period last week

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind

the hon. Member for Torngat Mountains that I've recognized the Leader of the

Opposition to speak.

The hon.

the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We went

through three days of Question Period last week before we found out there was an

additional file. So do we have more questions? We absolutely do, Mr. Speaker,

and we'll be asking them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the

Minister of Natural Resources, when did she find out that the former clerk was

continuing to practice law on the side while he had filed a claim against

Nalcor?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before

the minister gets up and answers the question, because I'm sure it will come

again. I just want to be very clear. I want to be very clear, Mr. Speaker, when

the Member opposite gets into a

preamble and misleads the people of this

province, we will stand up and we will push back and we will remind the

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

people of this province of

a double standard that that PC Party had for many years. We will constantly,

because it was the Leader of the Opposition, his own words last week that said

we shouldn't forget the past.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

We will not forget the past,

Mr. Speaker. It's been a double standard. There were no additional files last

week. We started very clearly answering the questions about the seven files that

were discussed with Cabinet Secretariat, with Justice and myself. Mr. Speaker,

nothing new was added.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is

coming from a Premier who campaigned on openness, transparency and ethical

operations, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, yes, I will ask the Minister of Natural Resources again: When did you

find out that the clerk was practicing law on the side because not many over

there knew about it while he was also suing Nalcor?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

learned of the statement of claim filed on behalf of a former employee of Nalcor

last week in the media.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I

say to the minister, this must have come of some concern to you.

When you

found this out, what actions or steps did you take when you found out about this

conflict of interest that you weren't made aware of?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, open

transparency and ethical accountability is what this government stands for.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

I did ask my deputy minister

if he was made aware, if there was anything there that I should be made aware of

and there was not, Mr. Speaker, and that was the action that I took and I

followed it closely.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Through

all the bits and pieces of information that we've been able to extract from

government, one that we found out was that the clerk did talk to the Deputy

Minister of Natural Resources.

Do you

have any concern that the deputy minister hadn't shared that with you?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If the

Member opposite is aware of information, I did speak with my deputy minister,

Mr. Speaker, and he advised me that he was not aware that a statement of claim

would have been filed on behalf of a former employee which preserves, for

example, the rights of that employee. It doesn't necessarily mean that Nalcor

will be served.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll ask

the minister if Nalcor addressed or brought any concerns to her attention

regarding this conflict of interest.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, the Member

opposite keeps referring to a conflict of interest. The statement, I understand,

has not yet been served to Nalcor. That's what my understanding is.

Nalcor

has not brought it to my attention. They have not yet been served. It is

preserving the right of the former employee, which is their right to do so, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I

ask the minister, Minister of the Crown: When the clerk of Executive Council

files a claim against an agency that she's responsible for, does she not see

that as a conflict of interest?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm

certainly happy to stand here and speak to this again. I think it's been made

abundantly clear what happened in this case. Certainly, there was a statement of

claim filed on behalf of the client. This was done in contravention of the

contract. The matter was referred to the Premier's office, and the fact is that

Mr. Coffey has now resigned. He's tendered his resignation. So I'm unaware as to

if there's any further information, we're certainly not aware of any. We think

that this matter has been dealt with, unfortunately, as it has been.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That's

two questions I've asked the minister that others have gotten up to answer. So

I'll ask her again. She's the Minister of the Crown responsible for Nalcor. The

clerk was practicing law privately and had a lawsuit against Nalcor.

question to the Minister of Natural Resources: Does she believe that constitutes

a conflict of interest?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm

certainly happy to stand here and speak to the statement of claim which was

filed with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, but certainly has not

been served on Nalcor.

One can

talk to Mr. Coffey about that. From what I understand, I'm not even sure if he's

representing the person further and we wouldn't be aware of this. Right now, the

matter has not even been served on Nalcor.

The

Member opposite keeps talking about a conflict of interest, but I would remind

him that I think there have been decisions made in the past about premier's at

the time asking for outside lawyers to be hired to sue government. Perhaps we

can continue to talk about that matter further.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

In Estimates, officials

confirmed that inclusion grants will be reduced by $25,000 in

Budget 2017 .

I ask

the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development: How many people will

be impacted by this further cut?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, what I can say

is the overall decrease will not significantly affect our capacity to deliver

the initiatives. It is an application-based process. I said that in Estimates, I

will say it again here today. I cannot predict who is going to apply for the

program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for Fortune

Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Officials also confirmed that

capacity-building grants will be reduced by $25,000 in

Budget 2017 .

I ask

the minister: When will groups be informed that their funding may be cut with

the budget reduction?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure

what part of application-based driven the Member does not understand but it is

based on applications that we receive. We will continue to deliver the

initiatives.

actual fact, Mr. Speaker, there's still $400,000 left in that fund. There is

funding in the fund to deliver on initiatives that we anticipate we will receive

but they're application-based.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

A cut of $50,000 in

disability funding would equal the cost of a free long weekend at Marble

Mountain.

When

will the minister notify the disabilities groups of the cuts to the funding

program?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

I'm not sure that's the right

math, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, application-based. The community organizations apply for the

initiatives; we fund them application-based.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

These grants are indeed

application-based. They were cut in Budget '16 from $600,000 down to $450,000

and now cut again to $400,000. This money goes to individuals to make their

vehicles accessible, to organizations to make their buildings accessible. This

funding is needed.

How many

applications were turned down last year as a result of your cuts?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the

Member opposite for the question.

actual fact, Mr. Speaker, when I became Minister of Children, Seniors and Social

Development, what we noticed is that the previous administration was making

individuals reapply over and over and over.

So, Mr.

Speaker, the same individual probably applied in year one, applied in year two

and would have to apply again; red tape. I said enough of this. We need to

address the concerns of the individuals who need the accessible transportation.

We address the wait-list and then we reopen the application process.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

As the former director of the

Association for Community Living, why would the minister choose to slash the

funding for such groups and services when some of our hon. colleagues have stood

up for their constituents?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, the Member

opposite is fear mongering. Four hundred thousand dollars is available to

non-profit organizations to apply on these grants.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

elimination of the antiquated IQ 70 testing was committed to by the Liberal

government in their 2015 campaign platform; however, a year and a half into

their term, we have heard nothing.

I ask

the Minister of Education: What specifically has been done to date?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We're

committed to serving the people of the province. We have committed to providing

a comprehensive strategy when it comes to individuals with autism spectrum

disorder.

We know

that the Autism Society is still struggling with the 13 per cent cut to its core

funding that the previous administration made to their budget in 2013. Day after

day after day, we are being petitioned to help with their situation because of

the core funding cut that was made by the previous administration.

There's

also a very difficult fundraising environment, as they have alluded to, because

of the downturn in oil. There are very significant challenges for persons with

autism spectrum disorder today, but we're committed to the strategy that we've

said we will implement.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, in a time of

teacher reductions, cuts to inclusive learning and slashing resources, the

government seems quite comfortable to sit on their hands and ignore the

immediate needs being voiced by the autism community and others.

When can

we expect this to be done and what time frame will the minister commit to?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, as we said prior

to the budget, there are no changes to the teacher allocation formula, so there

is preparing an advertisement for some 500 positions across the province for

teachers.

We are

spending approximately $120 million a year on inclusive education initiatives at

the moment. That includes additional teaching positions that we put into the

system last year and $1 million worth of additional student assistant time. I

would argue quite a bit has been done to restore the damage that the previous

administration did to the education system in this province.

I find

it extremely ironic that the Member rises here in the House on this after they

cut the Autism Society's funding by 13 per cent in 2013.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

The minister neglects to note

that the 500 teachers being now advertised are nowhere close to the 700 with the

200 cut from last year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Also, it was this

administration who had a great working relationship with the Autism Society and

did indeed increase their funding for many years.

The

minister stated that job cuts would not come from his college review, but last

Friday there were job losses announced at CNA.

Why was

the minister not upfront with the staff from the beginning?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. BYRNE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

course, college enrolment is very important in determining what the staffing

complement should be. I would like to point out to the hon. Member, I think he

is already aware of this, there are 9,000 students enrolled annually across 17

campuses at CNA. There are approximately 1,250 employees, including 700 faculty.

The College of the North Atlantic offers 95 unique academic programs and these

95 academic programs are offered 210 of which are program offerings or classes

throughout those 17 campuses.

Today,

we know that seven of those classes or program offerings of the 210, seven

have enrolment of less than combined 40 students. As a result, there had to be a

reconsideration of some of our staffing. This is not a function of the

modernization plan, this is an annual event that the hon. Members opposite did

when they were in government as well.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

I thank the minister for

outlining the valued work that CNA does and the improvements and the necessity

for the programs in this province.

The

minister knew as of April 28 that these job losses would happen but decided to

keep it a secret. How many more cuts will come through the college system in the

near future?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. BYRNE:

Well, Mr. Speaker, the

information was conveyed by the College of the North Atlantic just recently,

conveyed to its staff, and there are still decisions and information that has to

be conveyed to affected staff. What I do know is what I do know, which is that

in 2013 that administration cut four of the complement of programs within the

College of the North Atlantic.

There

were 167 employees that were let go that year, including 131 faculty members.

ABE was cut, the emergency management diploma was cut, the nutrition and food

services management program was cut and the adventure tourism program was cut.

Enrolment at the College of the North Atlantic in 2013 was cut or reduced by

1,158 students.

No, Mr.

Speaker, this is not that.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

The minister's and that

government's process here for making decisions is based on what somebody else

did in the past. I think you need to govern based on the needs of the students,

particularly right now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

Is the minister using an

enrolment benchmark for all the college programs or he's just cutting at random?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. BYRNE:

No, Mr. Speaker, I would take

absolutely no advice from that crowd opposite as to how CNA should conduct its

affairs.

What I

do know is this: Of the 210 different classes that were offered in the 17

campuses throughout the province, there were seven classes for which the total

requested enrolment by students measured less than 40 students. It would be the

responsible thing given that those classes or those programs would be offered

in other campuses rather than to have classes offered at CNA with four or less

students in some circumstances, ask the students to consider going to a

different campus.

Forty

students were impacted and quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, that is the responsible

behaviour to take.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last

Monday in Estimates the minister said of the Ernst & Young library report and I

quote: I don't have any visibility in this report. It's provided to the library

board, not to the department. But in a recent access to information, the

department admitted it does have the report and chose to withhold it from the

public.

Minister, does your department have the report or not?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, as I told the

Member in Estimates, I don't have any visibility in the report. I'm not

reviewing the report; I'm not approving the report.

There

was an access to information request filed in accordance with the legislation

that those Members brought into the House of Assembly. I expect that they should

at least understand their own legislation that incomplete draft reports are not

released, and there is a period under which agencies, boards, commissions and

departments are permitted to allow for the finalization of the report.

The

provincial libraries board has now finalized their report. When they release it

to the public the Member will get it and I will get it.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

I'm glad the minister noted

that because that's exactly what he quoted. He said: I will get it when the

media gets it. But now he's admitting that they have a draft report.

Have you

or any of your officials reviewed the draft report, particularly as you're the

minister responsible for education in this province which the library boards

fall under?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to

be lectured by the minister who bought a ferry and forgot to buy the wharf to go

with it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KIRBY:

As per their legislation

which he seems to forget, the deputy minister, who is the permanent head of the

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, received a draft report

and responded to this access to information request. He said in the access to

information response that the report was incomplete or in draft form and

basically wasn't going to release it in accordance with the legislation.

I have

not seen the report; I've requested not to see the report. I will see it when he

sees it and the media sees it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, this is the

minister who instructed library boards to make the cuts by taking away their

money, then when there was an upheaval by the general public, decided we'll do a

review of it but said the review will be hands off. Yet, they designed it; his

staff were part and parcel of every one of the consultations. Now he has the

draft copy of the report but he does not want to respond to it.

Mr.

Speaker, I do ask: When will the report be released?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, the report will

be released when it is finalized. That's what I told the Member in Estimates. In

fact, that's what I've told the Member for close to a year now.

understand that the provincial libraries board has finalized the report. When

they release it to the public, I will see it for the first time, the same as he

will see it for the first time.

The

Members stood in their place time and time and time again last spring through

the media demanding a review, that this decision be reversed and so on. We have

done everything we can to respond to the public, to respond to public concern,

to respond to the concern that the Opposition has raised here in the House of

Assembly, but once again that's not satisfactory to them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, the same

minister last year, during a scrum with reporters, stated he was not comfortable

with the library decision, and later in the fall stated he had to appoint and

change the closure of the libraries.

If the

minister speaks with integrity, can he confirm that the 54 libraries have no

issue and they will continue to operate in Newfoundland and Labrador? It's a

simple question.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure

what I can add that's new to this conversation. These are the same questions,

just regurgitated and recycled. The Member should get an award. If there's an

award for asking the same questions over and over again and expecting a

different response, then he should get a medal for that.

The

funding for the public library system has been reinstated in this year's budget.

The Member spent months talking about the library closures when not a single

library in Newfoundland and Labrador has closed as a result of any decision of

this government.

There

has been a review which was asked for by the libraries board which was demanded

by the Opposition. When the report comes out, further decisions will be made by

the libraries board. If they make decisions around new libraries or library

closures, they will make those recommendations to the department and we will

deal with them then.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

House sat for only two days following the budget and closed early for Easter.

Last week, political appointments dominated the House but today we're turning

back to the budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. MICHAEL:

In 2015 the Liberal platform

projected improved revenue from economic diversification in the amount of $79

million in 2017. I couldn't find a reference to this in the recent budget

documents.

I ask

the Premier: How much is budgeted for improved revenue from economic

diversification this year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When you

look at the budget of 2016 or 2017-2018, Mr. Speaker, and

The Way Forward: A vision for sustainability and growth in Newfoundland

and Labrador that we announced last November, very soon you will see

an update again with The Way Forward .

We know for many years and it's been mentioned quite

often in this House or for many months, I would say, about what we inherited

last year. It was a very difficult time, Mr. Speaker. Some difficult choices had

to be made and I would say that responsible to some degree they were difficult

for all of us on this side of the House of Assembly.

First and foremost, we had to get the financial house in

order for this province, Mr. Speaker. Institution after institution has given

the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board, as well as this whole caucus, credit

for the work that's been done this year. There's been a list of them. We know we

have to diversify this economy.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The

hon. the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Friday's announcement was bad news for 45 College of the

North Atlantic employees and their communities.

I ask the Minister of Finance to give us the total number

of public service jobs eliminated because of this year's budget.

MR. SPEAKER: The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As was discussed with public sector union leaders just

prior to the budget, this year's budget did not have an announcement, nor does

it contain an announcement about large-scale layoffs or position eliminations as

was seen in the budget that we did last year. What we communicated to labour

leaders and we've communicated to the people of the province and we've

communicated to this House and we continue to communicate ,

that when there are minor, small adjustments that must be made in the normal

day-to-day operational decisions that needed to be inside government or its ABCs

we will make those, and the decision that CNA announced this past week was

reflective of just that.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

A job

loss is a job loss, no matter when it's announced, and jobs lost cover not just

unionized workers, but also management. We're hearing in Estimates day after day

of positions that are gone from government.

I ask

the minister: Why is she refusing to disclose the number of public sector job

losses?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For the

Member opposite, certainly I think everyone in this House is cognizant of the

challenges that individuals who are impacted by job changes and job losses go

through. I don't think there's anybody in this House, Mr. Speaker, that isn't

empathetic.

For the

Member opposite, I would suggest that when we talk about salary elimination in a

budget line, I think it would also be responsible for her to also acknowledge

that there have been, in the past, due to poor administrative oversight by the

former administration, budgets that have grown beyond what is required, and not

just budgets that impact people, but salary lines that have increased.

Mr.

Speaker, we'll continue to look for savings and budget reductions that we can

make that don't impact people.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I ask

the minister: What proportion of the job losses from the college are in rural

Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, the College of

the North Atlantic's footprint is heavily vested in rural Newfoundland and

Labrador. What is undeniable is it provides a tremendous strength to rural

Newfoundland and Labrador, but when there are classes of the 210 program

offerings, seven had enrolments of either no or very, very few students.

It's the

responsible thing to do to ask the 40 of the 9,000 students that are enrolled at

the College of the North Atlantic annually, for those 40 students that were

applied to participate in classes in certain locations, those classes being

offered in other campuses with higher enrolments; the responsible thing to do

for the college, for the students and for the community is to address that front

on and to offer those classes, but most importantly, bring in a modernization

plan for CNA, which we did.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Budget 2017

is basically a continuation of last year's harsh measures.

I ask

the Minister of Finance: Why are we still the only province with a provincial

sales tax on books? It's a shame, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, as people of the

province have found themselves and this government found themselves, last year

we were faced with some very difficult and challenging circumstances. There were

a series of measures that were undertaken to help, as the Premier has already

indicated, to ensure that we had a strong financial footing for the Treasury to

be able to go forward and do the things we need to do like diversifying the

economy.

Mr.

Speaker, the book rebate was a program that cost taxpayers' of the province an

amount of money. The decision was made last year to eliminate the rebate. It

will be reviewed as part of the tax later on this year.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question Period

has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Under

the authority of subsection 4(5) of the

Supply Act 2016 , I will be tabling an order in council which authorizes the

transfer of funds from the contingency reserve to the Department of Justice and

Public Safety for the settlement of a litigation file.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further tabling of documents?

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

George's Humber.

MR. REID:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move

the following private Member's motion, seconded by the Member for Stephenville

Port au Port:

WHEREAS

Newfoundland and Labrador has a spectacular range of biodiversity in need of

protection; and

WHEREAS

just 4.6 per cent of our province's land mass is currently protected which is

just half the overall Canadian average; and

WHEREAS

a well-governed, scientifically based system for designating protected areas has

the potential to benefit our environment, our economy and our research

endeavours;

THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED that this hon. House supports the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador designating more protected areas in our province.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Pursuant

to Standing Order 63(3), the private Member's resolution that was just read will

be the one that's debated this Wednesday.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

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

government has removed the provincial point-of-sale tax rebate on books, which

will raise the tax on books from 5 per cent to 15 per cent; and

WHEREAS

an increase in the tax on books will reduce book sales to the detriment of local

book stores, publishers and authors, and the amount collected by government must

be weighed against the loss and economic activity caused by higher book prices;

and

WHEREAS

Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the lowest literacy rates in Canada, and

the other provinces do not tax books because they recognize the need to

encourage reading and literacy; and

WHEREAS

this province has many nationally and internationally known storytellers, but we

will be the only people in Canada who will have to pay our provincial government

a tax to read the books of our own writers;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government not to impose a Provincial Sales Tax on books.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

I would

like to read this particular line again:

WHEREAS this province has many

nationally and internationally known storytellers, but we will be the only

people in Canada who will have to pay our provincial government a tax to read

the books of our own writers. Imagine, Mr. Speaker.

Last

week, I asked the question: Has government put in place any measurements or any

analysis or any process of analysis to look at the effects of the budget cuts or

the extra fees or taxes that government has imposed on their last two budgets?

And I have no answer of course. I'm wondering and, again, government must take

a look and see have our budgets been successful and what is that measure of

success.

Mr.

Speaker, I cannot imagine how in any shape this government can look at this tax

and say that it has been successful. How could you possibly measure success by

taxing books and being the only province in the country where our citizens have

to actually pay a tax to read a book? Where is the success in that with the

province with the lowest literacy rates?

When we

also look at the high rate of debt that many of our post-secondary education

students finish their education, this only adds to it, Mr. Speaker. I don't know

how they can possibly say that this is successful. There can't be any measure

that would say that this is a successful tax.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

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

there's been a identified lack of mental health services in our province's K-12

school system; and

WHEREAS

this lack of services is having a significant impact on both students and

teachers; and

WHEREAS

left unchecked matters can, and in many cases, will develop into more serious

issues;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to increase mental health services and programs

in our province's K-12 school system.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, this is an issue that's been discussed at length in the House of

Assembly and certainly by the All-Party Committee on Mental Health and

Addictions, which concluded its work earlier this year after two years of work.

I know the education critic for the Official Opposition has raised this issue as

well.

I'm

pleased to say that in the All-Party Committee's recommendations we addressed

this very issue that I know people are concerned about and rightly so. We

recognize that there needs to be a real coordination of services between the

education system and between the health system. The links have to be direct.

There have to be multidisciplinary teams that are available to support our

guidance counsellors and to support our teachers in helping young people who are

dealing with any kind of mental health issue or any kind of mental illness.

As the

petition says, left unchecked matters can develop into more serious issues. We

have many young people, very young students in our schools who are dealing with

stress, anxiety and depression, but often more serious forms of mental illness

as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you for your

protection, Mr. Speaker.

I know

that there have been some good programs put in place. There have been some

improvements made but there are still some major gaps when it comes to providing

mental health services to our students. Early identification, early intervention

and prevention are so key.

We can

save potentially hundreds of millions of dollars down the road by investing more

in providing mental health services to young people. We have a captive audience

in the school system. That's where we need to reach them.

The

health system needs to work collaboratively with the education system and make

more resources available through interdisciplinary teams that can provide the

services that are needed. That could be counsellors. That could be social

workers. That could be physiologists. That should be psychiatrists. There are a

number of health professionals who would be involved in these teams, depending

on the needs of the individual children and the individual families.

I know

there are recommendations in the All-Party Committee report. I know government

is committed to acting on them and we'll continue to hold government to account

to do just that.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

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

Budget 2016 implemented a regressive

tax on books in this province; and

WHEREAS

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in the country to have such a

tax; and

WHEREAS

a tax will undoubtedly affect literacy rates in this province as well as

negatively impact local authors and publishers;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to immediately cancel this ill-conceived book

tax.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I won't belabour this point long today because this petition has been

brought up numerous times, but it's every bit as important today as it has been

every other time because this tax is still there. It does affect our literacy

rates.

you're adding a tax onto you're purchasing a book and that added tax does have

an effect, any additional cost on any product we buy does affect consumers

whether they buy it or not. It's sad that you have to put dollars and cents

ahead of buying books.

It's a

part of learning; it's a part of literacy. It's a very important part of

everyone's lives, especially our children's. Reading is meant to be something we

encourage and this tax is actually it's not an incentive, it's an impediment

to what should be something we take for granted.

We're

the only province in the country to have a book tax. That tells you everything

you need to know. The rest of the provinces don't have this tax, we do. The only

reason is a revenue generator, which is questionable what you're getting from

revenue because the sales obviously are dipping as a result of this.

It's

something that we do call upon government to reconsider. It does affect literacy

rates and we strongly recommend them to reconsider it.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

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

government recently cut vital funding to many of the province's youth

organizations; and

WHEREAS

the cuts to grants to youth organizations will have a devastating impact on the

communities as well as its youth and families; and

WHEREAS

many of these organizations deeply relied on what was rightfully considered core

funding for their day-to-day operations;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to immediately reinstate funding to the

province's youth organizations.

Mr.

Speaker, we all recognize that there are challenges, but in times of challenge

the important thing to do is to prioritize your decisions and make decisions

that are in the best interests of the people as a whole.

When we

look and see decisions being made like cuts to youth organizations and cuts to

groups with disabilities, while at the same time we see $50,000 being spent on

one day of consultations for The Way

Forward or nearly $50,000 on opening Marble Mountain for a free ski weekend,

then we really have to question the priorities of this government and the

decisions they are making. In our view, we certainly feel that the youth in

particular are the future. Of all the funding that does go forward by

government, youth, seniors and persons with disabilities and challenges should

certainly be a priority.

We call

upon this government to revisit their decision making and to prioritize the

people of the province, not political gain for their party.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you.

Orders

of the Day, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. A. PARSONS:

I call from the Order Paper,

Motion 3, the Concurrence Motion regarding the Social Services Committee.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's a

pleasure for me to stand in the House today and talk with regard to our budget.

I certainly look forward to further opportunity to speak as well.

Mr.

Speaker, before I get into some of the discussions with regard to some of the

positive things out of the budget, I just want to make reference to this past

weekend when myself, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment, as well

as the parliamentary secretary to Municipal Affairs, attended the MNL Symposium

in Gander.

Mr.

Speaker, at that symposium there were a record number of delegates in the

neighbourhood, close to 300. Some of the comments I want to make, some of the

Members opposite might want to listen to this because, obviously, over the last

year they've been sort of chastising this part of the House or this

section of

the House in saying that there's all kinds of negativity out there. That we're

actually afraid to go out to our districts, we are afraid to make appearances

because of the fact that people were going to be criticizing what we've done.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to let you know today, that, in fact, is absolutely not

accurate. Some of the Members opposite, some of them should probably take the

initiative that this side of the House has taken and get out and really talk to

the people that are at the grassroots and people who are doing the work to get a

real feel for what exactly is happening.

As a

matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, if I could take this opportunity, I just want to

reference our Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment. It was clearly

mentioned by Mr. Brian Peckford get this, this is important. He's the

President of PMA. He was at the symposium speaking in Gander on the weekend, and

very emphatically stated before the group, which was about 300 delegates, that

the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment is the best Minister of

Municipal Affairs that he has dealt with in over 11 years.

Now, Mr.

Speaker, I thought that was a compliment to our minister, and I'll make the

statement again. This is from Brian Peckford, the President of the PMA so it's

not somebody on our side making that statement who made the mention that the

Minister of Municipal Affairs is the best Minister of Municipal Affairs that he

has dealt with in over 11 years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

Mr. Speaker, that certainly

is a compliment.

I just

too, as a result, want to mention that in fact the Minister of Municipal

Affairs, as well as myself, along with the parliamentary secretary for the

Minister of Municipal Affairs; we made ourselves available all Friday, all

Saturday. We made it very, very clear to all members of the municipalities that

were there, that we were available. Any issues, any concerns that they might

have, they had an opportunity to address it to me as Minister of Transportation

and Works, as well as the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

I must

say, Mr. Speaker, I really, really appreciated that opportunity. Certainly, it

was an opportunity for us to listen to some of the concerns they had. These are

men and women who volunteer their time every single day to make sure the

services that are provided in our municipalities are provided to the people who

need them on a daily basis.

Mr.

Speaker, I applaud the effort that these individuals put in. Many of them have

been involved in volunteer work within municipalities for 20, 30 years. I'd just

like to recognize I know of three prominent municipal leaders that will not be

seeking re-election in September, and that includes the Mayor of Gander, Mayor

Claude Elliott, and the Mayor of Appleton, Derm Flynn, and the Mayor of

Bonavista, Betty Fitzgerald.

These

three individuals, Mr. Speaker, have made a significant contribution to this

province over the years. Many of them have gone above and beyond what is

expected in their daily duties to make sure that the residents within their

communities have the services that have been provided to them over the years.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I thought it was appropriate today, even though I'm not the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment, but I thought it was appropriate for me today

to mention this fact and certainly congratulate those three leaders for the

significant amount of work they have done for this province and providing the

service that they provided for the residents in their communities. I'm sure, Mr.

Speaker, as I speak, there are many other leaders that are in many communities

throughout this province that have provided exemplary service to their

communities and they should be recognized for that.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to continue on. I want to speak for a few minutes as well,

because I think the Member opposite I think it might have been last week, the

Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi last week or the week before

and she can correct me if I made the statement wrong, but she talked about P3s.

I think she made the comment that we do not own the asset until after the 30

years or whatever the length of time. If she did not make that statement, Mr.

Speaker, I apologize, but I thought that's the statement she made, and that's

absolutely, totally incorrect. It's absolutely, totally incorrect.

Under the P3 model, Mr. Speaker, the day that we occupy the

asset is the day that we own the asset. It's not 30 years down the road. We own

that asset when we take possession of that asset. So I want to make that very,

very clear, because unfortunately if we don't have an opportunity to get out and

correct a lot of these mistakes, then

AN HON. MEMBER:

Misnomers.

MR. HAWKINS:

Misnomers then obviously that's all people tend to believe, and that is

absolutely correct.

Now, Mr. Speaker, there were a couple of other comments

that she did make that were correct, and I don't mind admitting that. She made a

statement that as a government we can borrow money cheaper than the private

sector. It's absolutely correct. Absolutely correct; however, Mr. Speaker, one

of the things that she failed to say when she talked about that, is the fact

that we have done a value for money. When we did the value for money ,

part of the risk factor that's involved in the P3, all of these factors are

taken into consideration. So the cost of borrowing by a private sector versus

the cost of borrowing from the public sector is more expensive, but in fact that

is taken into consideration.

Mr.

Speaker, all of these factors, when the value for money is completed and all the

risk factors are included as well as the quality assessment, the quantitative

assessment, all the assessments that are done and we have been very, very

clear on this side of the House because the Members opposite keep asking us,

well, give us the full information. We're not able to do that at this particular

point in time because it is a very, very crucial time when we go through our

RFQs, we're going through the RFP process. It's like you were out there and

you're letting people know what cards you're holding in your hand before you

actually deal. That's something that we have to be very careful.

I can assure the Members opposite that when we have completed all of our

RFQs, all of the RFPs, we will make sure that all of that information will be

provided not only to Members opposite, but also to the general public. We're

looking at two major projects right now, Mr. Speaker, under the P3.

One of the sad parts about it is that we find ourselves in a very, very

difficult financial situation following us taking office back in November,

December of 2015; a very, very difficult fiscal situation, one that we had to

address aggressively, one that we had to make difficult decisions quickly. As a

result of that, it would be somewhat silly for us if we continue to do in this

government the status quo. That's not acceptable and it was important for us as

a government to look at other opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things and criticisms that we get from the P3s is

that we're not looking at all models. Let me tell you, the P3 model is but one

procurement model. The DFMD, design, build, finance and maintain, if I get my

letters correct on that, is one procurement model. And that gives us an

opportunity not only to look at new ways, in our value-for-money analysis but go

back and look at some of the traditional methods. Design and build, that's a

traditional method.

The

difference in this method is the fact we are looking at design, build, finance,

maintain. Mr. Speaker, that's where it stops because we've had some criticism,

people are saying: Oh, we're looking at opening up to the private sector and the

public sector is not going to have jobs.

I think

we've been very, very clear in saying that in those long-term care facilities,

in the acute facilities, we have been very clear that the public sector the

public sector will continue to do the services the public sector, not the

private sector. The public sector will provide those services, Mr. Speaker.

When we

look at doing a cost analysis and we're looking at the best way to provide

services, I am asking the Members opposite because there's some criticism of us

doing a P3 in Corner Brook for the long-term care facility, for the acute care

facility, are the Members opposite saying to us: Wait. We waited long enough

with the PC government providing the acute care and the long-term care facility

in Corner Brook; announced year after year, after year after year, for probably

something about eight or nine years; nothing done about it.

Are the

Members opposite suggesting to us, as a government, to tell the people in Corner

Brook to wait another seven, eight or nine years so that we are in a fiscal

position that we're able to provide that funding? Is that the message they're

sending to the people of Corner Brook? If it is, I don't think the people on the

West Coast will be very happy about that, Mr. Speaker.

We are

looking at opportunities. We're looking at opportunities to provide assets, to

provide buildings today, opportunities to invest today so that the people on the

West Coast, the people in Central Newfoundland, when we're in the position to

make that announcement, will see results. They will see investments and they

look at opportunities and they will see results. I think that's important for us

to understand that decisions that are made are in the best interest of the

residents of the province.

Mr.

Speaker, sometimes if you sit back on this side and you listen to what's

happening and what some of the comments are from the other side, you'd swear

that we're over here trying to find ways how can we find ways to make things

miserable for people? That's not true, Mr. Speaker. That is absolutely not true.

We are

finding and trying to find ways to position this province so that we have a

future; a future for our children; a future for our grandchildren. Not a future

that is going to be burdened with debt forever. Some of the Members opposite may

not really fully understand what financing is all about or fiscal

responsibility, what that's all about. Because if you look at the situation we

were in when we took government, you would wonder: How could this possibly

happen?

Well,

Mr. Speaker, it did. I've often said I've never been a quitter in my life. But

when the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board released and we

talked about our challenges and what we were faced as a government, and I looked

at last year, at the numbers, we started to work through in order for us to

provide the necessary funding so our employees could be paid, so their salaries

could be paid, when you get to that point, Mr. Speaker, you can't get much lower

than that.

That's a

serious, serious crisis situation. What were the alternatives? We were told very

quickly by bonding agencies, by banks, that you have a certain period of time to

start showing us that you're getting your house in order. Mr. Speaker, we worked

hard at that.

I want

to make the Members opposite realize and know as well and we've said this in

the past that generating revenue is not the only means to balance a budget. We

have to look at not only revenue generation; we also have to look at

expenditures. And that's what we're looking at.

Mr.

Speaker, when the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board last year,

when we talked about and in Treasury Board looking at forecasting to get us to

the position we are today and looking at what money we had to cut with regard to

getting us to that position, I was somewhat skeptical, Mr. Speaker, to say the

least, at that time; however, our minister has performed above what's expected.

We are

now in a position that other agencies we're not looking at us as a government

saying we're doing great; we're looking at independent agencies that are telling

us that. We're looking at C. D. Howe saying that we are on the right course.

We're getting recognition from agencies such as the Bank of Montreal. These are

credible agencies that are giving us a report card on really what we've done the

last year and it's very positive.

We're

not there yet. We've got a lot of work to do. We will continue to work hard, Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of the people of this province. I think it's very, very

important for all of us to realize that today, in today's climate, with all of

the uncertainty that's out there and the volatility that's out there, we have to

be very, very careful that we perform our fiduciary responsibilities, I would

say on both sides of the House.

Both

sides of this House have a fiduciary responsibility to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador, and I think it's important for all of us, and I'm

sure we do I'm sure everybody within this House, Members opposite and this

side of the House take their responsibilities seriously.

Mr.

Speaker, we have to find ways in which we work together. I know we have to and

fro in this House, Question Period gets lively at times, but I think it's

important for all of us to realize that we are a very, very small province when

it comes to population, but a huge province when it comes to geography. That is

one of the challenges that we have. How do we balance our small population with

our large geography?

Mr.

Speaker, we all understand and realize that every single person living in this

province deserves and expects the same level of service, no matter if they live

in Northern Labrador, if they live in a southern part of the Island of

Newfoundland and Labrador, if they live in the beautiful Burin Peninsula.

provide services. We provide ferry services to 11,000 people. Do the math on

that, Mr. Speaker. We realize that in order to do that it's costing this

province $84 million a year.

AN HON. MEMBER:

How much?

MR. HAWKINS:

Eighty-four million dollars a

year.

Mr.

Speaker, I think we all realize the significant challenges that we face. I'm

optimistic that we are going to face these challenges and I'm also optimistic

that we are going to overcome the challenges. We're going to seize the

opportunities that we have. We're going to seize these opportunities, we're

going to make the best of it and we're going to position this province, going

forward, to be a province that we are all proud of and a province that our

children and our grandchildren will not be saddled with a debt for their entire

life, but will have a positive outlook to this province. Because, in all due

respect to our friends from another province, this is the best province to live

in, in Canada.

MR. SPEAKER (Warr):

Order, please!

I remind

the hon. minister his speaking time has expired.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good

afternoon, I'm pleased to have a chance to rise in this Concurrence debate,

which is going to happen a few times during the budget approval process. There

are three committees that will all debate a Concurrence Motion, which gives

Members an additional opportunity to speak to the budget.

I know

that Members of our caucus are eager to have another 20 minutes or so on each of

the Concurrence debates to say a few words about what's going on related to the

budget and the impact on people and families in our districts, but it also gives

us a chance to talk about other issues that might be of concern to the public,

as the Minister of Transportation and Works just did.

I'm glad

to have another opportunity to rise and speak, and I'm sure a few more of us

will do so as the afternoon continues. I'd like to begin by talking about an

issue that was in the media last week and also an issue that I'm personally very

concerned about. I think lots of Members of the House are very concerned about,

and that's the issue of opioids and the fentanyl crisis that has hit

Newfoundland and Labrador in a major way.

While

there are a number of elements of the whole issue that I think the Minister of

Health and Community Services and I very much agree on, there are some

differences of opinion we do have in terms of how this crisis should be handled.

Sometimes it's difficult in the to and fro of Question Period to fully

articulate those issues and to fully explain why we may have a different point

of view.

I'm

going to take a few minutes during this debate this afternoon to talk a little

bit more about the issue and to identify specifically the suggestions that I

have for the minister. This is an ongoing issue. It's a growing issue. While

there was an initial opioid action plan that I played a role in developing and

the minister released in the last six months or so, it's a work in progress.

There's still more work to be done. There are changes that do need to be made if

we're going to effectively respond to this crisis.

Just to

put it in perspective how serious this is: In British Columbia and Alberta the

two hardest hit provinces so far fatal overdoses linked to fentanyl soared

from 42 in 2012 to 418 in 2015. In the first 10 months of 2016 in British

Columbia, 332 deaths were linked to bootleg fentanyl. Between January and

October of last year in Alberta, 193 deaths were linked to fentanyl, out of 338

opioid-related overdose deaths.

Global News

first reported in October

2016 some new statistics from Health Canada that showed an increase of more than

40 per cent in the number of street drugs testing positive for fentanyl across

the country in 2016 compared to 2015. In Ontario, more than 700 people died in

2015 from opioid overdoses. They were not all fentanyl related, of course, but a

good number of those deaths in Ontario were indeed fentanyl related.

In March

of this year, it was reported that deaths linked to fentanyl more than doubled

to 29 in Manitoba last year. Granted, Manitoba is a bigger province in

population than Newfoundland and Labrador, but it's certainly a much smaller

province than Ontario, Alberta or BC, the ones I've talked about so far.

Twenty-nine deaths in Manitoba over the past year, last year, which was more

than double the previous year.

Ontario, fentanyl was the leading cause of opioid deaths for the first time in

2014, and those are the most recent figures that I could find. Several

communities like Toronto, Kingston and some communities in the Niagara region

have been hit with a spike in fatal overdoses, even in the past number of weeks.

Now, Mr.

Speaker, there have been two recent deaths in Newfoundland and Labrador. The

minister and I both acknowledge that two is too many. We're both grateful that

many lives have been saved, thanks particularly to the great work of our first

responders who've been heroic in their efforts to combat this crisis. But any

deaths are too many deaths and I fear this is not being dramatic. I

legitimately and genuinely fear that there's going to be more despite our best

efforts, despite government's best efforts, despite the efforts of first

responders, despite the efforts of the community workers and the groups on the

ground who are working to tackle this crisis.

I think

there are some more things that can be done. I think there are some more things

that should be done and I do have some specific recommendations for the minister

on what that might look like. The minister said in a media interview with

The Telegram back in January that

we're not downtown Vancouver and that the crisis wouldn't hit Newfoundland and

Labrador in the same way that it's hit BC, Alberta or Ontario. But when you look

at our relative population, I would suggest that the crisis is real and the

crisis is here. Any gaps that we can identify should be addressed because that

may indeed save lives.

When I

did some research on what's happening across the country on this issue, I was

pleased to see the Ontario government in March make a decision to distribute

naloxone kits free of charge at over 1,000 pharmacies throughout Ontario. That

covers a large number of communities, a large number of geographic regions

throughout Ontario. Most people in Ontario and most people in Newfoundland and

Labrador have some connection to a pharmacy and to a local pharmacist.

The

challenge with the plan here in Newfoundland and Labrador is that the kits are

only available in pharmacies if you have the money to buy them. They range in

price from $60 I've heard $60, I've heard $70, I've heard $85. This is a

commercially available kit, it comes in a fancy case and it retails for around

that price. The kits that are less fancy but do the exact same thing, that have

been bought en masse by government and distributed in the province, cost a

fraction of that. They cost $14 or $15 is my understanding.

Yes, the

minister acknowledged last week that there are places around the province where

you can get these kits if you call 811 and go through that process. Part of my

concern with that approach is that there are other places where these kits can

and should be made available; pharmacies are a perfect example. I think that

approach taken by Ontario is indeed the right approach.

Part of

the reason I believe it's the right approach is that we have opioid clinics, we

have pain clinics, we have addictions clinics throughout the province. In my own

community, on Commonwealth Avenue in Mount Pearl, there is an addictions clinic

that sees about 100 patients each and every day of the year. Three hundred and

sixty-five days a year that clinic is open.

There

are other clinics, primarily attached to private pharmacies around the province

where a similar circumstance exists. They're not all as big as the clinic on

Commonwealth Avenue or the larger one, which I believe is on Lemarchant Road,

but there are a number of these all over the province. I think there are

something like 50. Those clinics don't have these kits.

Now,

that said, a clinic can buy a kit and probably would have to do so given the

work they're in. But if we're going to really tackle this crisis and we've got

pharmacists who are trained and who are already dealing with segments of the

population that are very much at risk here, then it would make sense to engage

them in being part of the solution and make kits available just like Ontario has

done, and cover the cost of that.

These

kits can actually save lives. The cost of these kits is rather minimal and they

can save lives. One of the challenges I would say respectfully that I have with

the current action plan is that there is no mention of any role or no mention of

any involvement for pharmacists. When we're talking about pharmacists, we're

talking about professionals who see people every day who are at risk.

Pharmacists are trained to give injections. We made changes to their scope of

practice when we were in government to allow that to happen. They can also

provide much needed education to those that need instruction in how to use a

naloxone kit, for instance.

There

are some groups on the ground that is doing incredible work as well. I think of

the SWAP program here in this region that's been very involved in distributing

the naloxone kits. There's a program called Street Reach, which one night a week

in my own district makes kits available and does other great work for people

that are dealing with homelessness and other challenges in our community.

I know

that people can call 811 and register for a kit. I had people call and actually

test that theory, but it was clear when we did that work that the process needed

to be tightened up. It sounds from the minister's comments late last week, that

there have been some positive changes made as a result of us raising issues and

asking questions which is part of our role, and if it takes raising those issues

in the House of Assembly to bring about that change then so be it.

Even

with some improvements that have been made to the 811 protocol to distribute

these kits, I don't think enough is being done. I think there are other ways to

make these kits more readily accessible to those that might need them. The

problem with the 811 approach is that it won't reach some of the most vulnerable

people that could potentially need access to a naloxone kit.

In a

case like my own community, you've got an addictions clinic with 100 people

visiting it each and every day, and there's no kit provided. The only time one

of these government kits is provided in my community is on Tuesday nights in the

basement of a local church when Street Reach runs a drop-in program. So for

those couple of hours if you happen to overdose there's a kit readily available,

which most people wouldn't even know in our community; otherwise, it's not

available. An addictions clinic would seem like a logical place to start but

there are other places where I think kits could be available as well like our

high schools, for instance.

When we

are talking about fentanyl overdoses, we're talking about a matter of minutes.

The naloxone kits need to be available almost immediately. I'm certainly not a

pharmacist or a doctor, but there's a precise amount of time where this

treatment could potentially be effective and save someone's life.

The

challenge is if there are young people who are experimenting with drugs of any

kind, based on what's going on in our own communities today and based on what's

going on across the country if you look at the trends, then any person, but

particularly we're talking about young people in our schools, they could be

experimenting with another drug that they would believe to be less harmful or

serious or risky, that could be laced with fentanyl. So having these kits

available in our schools seems like a logical part of an action plan to tackle

this immediate crisis that's growing.

Speaking

of schools, I also pointed out last week that I think there are changes needed

to our approach around education and awareness on this issue. I pointed out some

challenges that exist with the fentanyl info sheet that was sent by government

to schools. I expressed that I didn't feel it was well written or well

presented. It actually referred to inaccurate information in the media, sort of

downplaying the media reports on this issue in recent months. I'm not sure

that's a helpful approach in dealing with this crisis.

So I was

pleased to hear the minister say that's now being revised. That there are

changes going to be made to the educational materials, but simply sending a memo

to schools is not going to be sufficient in tackling this issue because there

are a lot of people at risk right now. Again, I don't think that's being

dramatic at all.

While

our first responders have been absolutely heroic in dealing with this challenge,

the prevention and early intervention efforts can't just simply focus on first

responders, as important as they are. What about parents who know their kids are

in trouble? Let's do whatever we can to make these kits as readily available as

they can because they've already saved lives and they can save more.

What I'm

simply asking the minister to do, and asking government to do, is involve our

pharmacies, involve our high schools. We have kits that haven't been

distributed. So let's make some more kits available in places where they

logically should be available, and that could indeed save lives.

pointed out last week in Question Period that training hadn't yet been

conducted. Despite months of plans to do so, training hadn't been conducted with

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers. Well, I'm pleased to report that late

last week online training started for officers and kits were distributed to

officers. I assume it would take several days to reach all shifts, but I know

there were officers last week who were on duty, who received online training and

were also provided with kits following us raising the issue and questions being

asked.

There

has been some positive change over the past week but still not enough. We need

to do more in terms of education. Making sure all of our first responders are

trained, have access to kits is obviously important. I'm confident that will

happen, but we also need to make these kits available in our pharmacies. We also

need to engage our pharmacists who can be part of the solution. We need to make

the kits available in our schools as well. It's sad that that is what's

required, but I really believe that is what's required and that is what will

save lives.

I have a

few minutes left, and I want to share something I received from somebody who

works at an addictions clinic in our province. She sent me a note in recent

days, and these are her words, not mine, Mr. Speaker.

It's sad

that people are making such negative comments on Twitter about addicts. I always

say that those that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I hope and pray

that they themselves don't have kids or family members that may be harmed by

this coming tsunami.

Newfoundland and Labrador's population is not the same as BC or other provinces,

I agree, but if you reverse your thinking, every family in Newfoundland and

Labrador will be affected. Maybe not directly but, so far, someone knows someone

who knows someone that has an addict in their family. If they say they don't,

they are in denial. Do the math; 14 overdoses and two deaths in seven days in a

small population of 500,000, compared to the number of overdoses in the

population of BC in one week, I'd say that could be comparable.

They

really don't understand that this is a disease. Because of their brain

chemistry, they now require some sort of opioid every day. It's no longer a

choice for them. This is not a lifestyle they can change without medication and

help. We treat our diabetics and cover insulin. Why is naloxone not covered as a

regular benefit? Is one disease more important than another?

Take the

money that we're paying for that phone call to 811 and put it towards more kits

and education. There's your money for coverage. I've now met many addicts and I

can say 100 per cent that there's not one of them that I've met so far who would

choose this lifestyle again, if they had a choice to do it all over again. So

much more education is needed. I'm so disappointed in some of the responses.

I have

addiction patients that would love to give back to their community. They would

talk to students. They want their story to be heard so that it will hopefully

prevent another from going down that road. They would love to mentor younger

addicts. They want to work. They want to be productive. One of the patients said

to me today, this disease has paralysed her; she's stuck. Is that not a cry for

help? And there are a lot of people who need help.

And

we're not talking about the 1970s stereotypical view of what a drug addict is.

The world has changed. As that person who works with people dealing with

addictions outlined, these are people who are in our community who perhaps none

of us would ever suspect would be dealing with an addiction issue caused by

opioids. That's what we're talking about.

On top

of that, we now have a situation where some of the drugs on the street have been

laced with fentanyl and something as small as a grain of salt, that kind of

amount of fentanyl could actually be lethal, which is why this is such a complex

crisis.

There

are more things that can be done; there are more things that should be done.

Outside of Question Period, if we have an opportunity like this to talk about

the issue in a sensible way and outline some of the things that could actually

be done in a constructive way to make government's opioid action plan better,

then I think we've got a responsibility to do that.

I know

that the minister took some exception to my comments in the House and in the

media last week. I stand by my comments. They might be more succinct than my

comments this afternoon, but they're not much different in terms of the content.

We have

an opportunity to improve education inside and outside our schools. The

information that's been provided to educators to date is not adequate. We need

to move quickly to make sure that they have the right kind of information in the

right kind of presentation to touch young people in our schools.

We have

trained pharmacists who can give injections. We have trained professional

pharmacists who can identify people who may need these naloxone kits. We have

pharmacists that can provide instruction and counselling to patients or parents

of patients or loved ones of patients who may need to know how to use a naloxone

kit. We should do what Ontario has done to make those kits available through our

pharmacies free of charge.

Sadly,

Mr. Speaker, once again, I call on government to make these kits available in

our schools as well. Simply saying call 811 and register and drive to some site

that, in some cases, could be a great distance from your home, that's not an

appropriate solution when we have that's part of the solution, but it can't be

the only solution when we could make these kits readily available through

schools and through pharmacies, and working with other community partners as

well. At the very least, our 50 addictions clinics should have these kits

available and they should be provided by government.

doesn't look like I'm going to get much time to talk about issues related to the

budget because the clock is about to wind down. I'd like to finish by thanking

those who are working in our communities on the ground to try and tackle this

crisis, groups like Street Reach, groups like the SWAP program and the AIDS

Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador and also our first responders who have

gone above and beyond the call of duty to save lives. But if some of the steps

that I'm talking about this afternoon are not taken, I fear that more lives

unnecessarily will be lost and there is more that can be done.

I'm glad

to have a chance this afternoon to rise once again and really urge the minister

to listen to those suggestions and hopefully act on them. They're not just

coming from me, Mr. Speaker, they're coming from workers on the ground in our

communities, they're coming from our province's pharmacists and they're coming

from others who want to be part of helping us tackle this very serious crisis.

Thanks

for the opportunity to participate in the debate this afternoon.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Labrador West.

MR. LETTO:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's a

pleasure for me to rise here again today and speak to the motion. I would like

to start by talking about what the Minister of Transportation and Works referred

to earlier, and that's the symposium that took place in Gander this past

weekend.

course, as we all know, it's organized by Municipalities Newfoundland and

Labrador, by the board of directors under President Karen Oldford her board of

directors and the wonderful staff that work at MNL. It takes a lot of work to

organize such an event. This annual symposium has been going on for some time.

This year, if not the record attendance, it certainly was very close to it.

There were over 300 delegates registered for the symposium. It goes to show that

there is still considerable interest by municipal leaders in this province to

support and to represent their communities to the best of their ability.

As the

minister alluded to as well I was there, as well as the Minister of Municipal

Affairs and Environment and the Minister of Transportation and Works and also

the Member for St. George's Humber was there for a short time. I was surprised

that actually there was nobody there from either Opposition Party. Normally,

they would have an interest in this because it's their Members as well that are

attending those sessions. I must say this year there were some great topics and

a great interest in the sessions that were organized by the board.

Mr.

Speaker, I think one of the things that I notice every time I go to these

meetings is the amount of municipal experience that's in the room. This being an

election year, I fear that we're going to lose a lot of that experience that's

there. Although there were some younger people there, we need to get that

interest going and get people motivated to run in municipal elections and to

represent their communities.

When you

see people like Mayor Elliott with 27, 28 years of experience in municipal

government; Mayor Flynn who represented both the Town of Wabush and the Town of

Appleton, 32 years of experience, it's a long time in municipal government and

he was also president of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador. Mayor

Fitzgerald from the beautiful, historic Town of Bonavista, this is her last year

and she will not be seeking re-election. So when you put that together, you're

looking at about 60, 70 years of experience that is gone out the door. As we all

know in any of those organizations, that experience is not easy to replace.

One of

the things I want to touch on from the weekend, Mr. Speaker, was the session

that was held on Saturday on regional governance and the consultations that will

be happening this fall around the province on a regional governance model. I

want to congratulate the Regional Government Advisory Committee which is

organized by our department with representation from around the province, from

MNL, from PMA and from other organizations that have put forward several

proposals and recommendations for how municipal government would look like in

this province.

We all

know, and everybody who is imminent in municipal government today realizes and

knows that the present form, system of municipal government is not sustainable

in this province. We have to change how we do things and how we look at things,

but one of the things that really was discussed was the makeup of what a

regional government would look like. Besides the existing municipalities that we

have, the 276 municipalities that we have around the province, there are many

local service districts and non-incorporated areas.

The

proposal from the committee is that these local service districts and

non-incorporated areas would be included in any form of regional governance

model that would be out there. How that would be done would be around those

governance would be spilt up around where there is a certain population criteria

and the sustainability of certain areas, certain regions, certain

municipalities, certain towns, certain LSDs in the province.

One of

the things they put forward, Mr. Speaker, was the proposed or I should say,

not proposed but some of the suggested boundaries around how regional government

would look like in this province. It was astounding to me when I saw the map

that was done for the province around this, how similar it was and many of us

in this room would remember, certainly the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune

would remember, the makeup of the regional economic development boards that we

had in this province.

We had,

I think it was 21 REDBs in this province, or 20 sorry, 20. I'm getting my

numbers mixed up because what the proposal is for regional government is 21. So

we would have to assume, and if you see the makeup of the map, the proposed

regional governments around the province are very similar to the makeup of the

regional economic boards that this past administration saw fit to get rid of.

Regional

economic development boards around this province, for the most part were very

successful. I know one, certainly around Green Bay, was one of the most

successful ones that ever was created. The Coast of Bays and some areas around

the province were very, very successful, but the previous administration had

destroyed all that and got rid of the regional economic development boards

during their mandate. It's amazing really, how close the boundaries were when we

looked at the proposed boundaries for the regional government.

Well,

Mr. Speaker, there's a lot more to come on that because this fall there will be

consultations around the province throughout the I forget the number now, but

all areas of the province will be covered and there will be public consultations

whereby members of the public will be invited. One of the areas that is being

encouraged is the people who live in LSDs and unincorporated areas because they

would probably be the ones that would be most affected by any form of regional

government in this province.

So I

look forward to those consultations and what the final recommendations will be

from these consultations and how municipal government will look in this province

in the future. There's a lot of work to be done yet. I must say, our department

has worked very hard over the past few months to get where we are today through

the Regional Government Advisory Committee. To see the work that's been done in

such a short time is really amazing.

Mr.

Speaker, again, I want to go back to some of the rhetoric that's coming out of

the Opposition parties regarding the 2017-2018 budget where they claim it's only

a continuation of the 2016 budget. Well, there are a lot of things in this

budget, in 2017-2018, and that came quite clear this past weekend in Gander with

municipal government.

Municipal government is looking forward to the next few years because there's a

lot of work being done. We know water and sewer projects are a priority for us

as a government and certainly for municipalities as well. When we look at,

especially around clean drinking water, we are making progress, Mr. Speaker.

One of

the things that's gone unclaimed or not being said enough is the fact that

boil-water advisories. For the first time in 12 years, Mr. Speaker, the number

of boil-water advisories has dropped below 200. So we must be doing something

right when you talk about what we're doing for our municipalities across this

province.

We will

continue to invest in municipal infrastructure, Mr. Speaker. In fact, the budget

says $100 million for municipal infrastructure over the next three years through

the Multi-Year Capital Works and the Municipal Capital Works. That's just two

pots of money.

One of

the things we've done as a government and the minister makes it quite clear

and who has done a fantastic job with the Department of Municipal Affairs and

Environment is the fact that he's managed to leverage federal dollars to bring

into this province, especially when you talk about water and waste water. We all

know where the waste water regulations are and how important that is to our

environment, and to be able to treat waste water going into our ponds, our lakes

and our bays. It's a priority for all of us. Municipalities recognize that as

well.

There

are all kinds of pots of money out there that we've been able to leverage for

the next three or four years from the federal government between the Building

Canada Fund, through the waste water and water fund. It's important for all our

residents because we need to have strong communities in this province.

One of

the things that municipalities are quite pleased about is the fact that we've

been able to during these tough financial times, tough fiscal restraints that

we have in place maintain funding for the municipalities. In fact, we've

increased it, because through we've maintained the $22 million for Municipal

Operating Grants. We've maintained the $23.3 million to maintain the HST rebate

program for municipalities.

This

year we've increased to $7.1 million for provincial gas tax revenue which is

increased to one cent now per litre this year; $6.5 million in provincial

funding to assist in repairs and response to the 2016 Thanksgiving rainstorm

event that we were able to leverage from our contingency fund, our slush fund

that they were so quick to contradict us for; $2 million for a Special

Assistance Grants Program to assist communities with emergency and small capital

needs.

It was

only last week, Mr. Speaker, that I had the privilege to represent the minister

down in Pouch Cove for a $3.8 million project for clean drinking water, where

the Member for the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis was in attendance and

recognized our efforts as well, I might add, for being able to get to the point

where we could finally finance that project, which has been ongoing for many

years. We were able to announce that last week so the people of Pouch Cove can

have access to clean drinking water and get off boil water advisories. That's

our priority, Mr. Speaker, as a government.

So don't

say to us that the 2017-2018 budget is just a continuation of 2016 when we had

to bring in the strong measures to deal with the fiscal mess that we were left

with, because that's not what we're doing. Mr. Speaker, what we are doing is we

are accessing funds whether it's through the federal government or other means

to be able to deal and address the issues that still face this province, and

waste water and drinking water are certainly two of the top priorities that we

need to address.

As I

said, Mr. Speaker, it's the first time in 12 years that boil water advisories

have dropped below 200. I don't know if people realize what a major

accomplishment that is. To say that this budget is just a continuation of the

cuts that we put in place in the last budget is totally false. It's a lot more

than that; it's dealing with the issues that face our province. I could go on

and on.

I tell

you, this past weekend, the mayors and councillors that were there representing

their communities recognized that. They applauded the minister for taking the

action that needed to be done, and both ministers, by the way, made themselves

available to meet with many municipalities to deal with the issues.

Mr.

Speaker, one thing I wanted to do is to go back to what I spoke about last week

and the report from the C.D. Howe Institute, who is probably one of the most

renowned financial institutes in this province the fact they recognized that

the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Newfoundland and

Labrador and the Finance Minister, the Premier and the Cabinet are making the

right decisions to get our fiscal house in order and to get this province back

on track.

When you

look over the past number of years, the ratings that the previous administration

had gotten around accountability and transparency and releasing the numbers,

it's really, really amazing that we've managed to survive at all. When you look

at getting a grading in 2011-2012 of F, D in 2012-2013, D in 2014-2015 and an E

in 2015-2016; but, in 2016-2017, Mr. Speaker, we are at a B.

So to

say, the rhetoric from the other side, that we're not doing anything to help the

people of this province is really false, Mr. Speaker, because we are doing what

we can with the fiscal resources that we have available to us. I guarantee you,

when you come into office and you're faced with a $2.2 billion deficit and if we

hadn't addressed that, it would have grown to $2.7 billion, serious decisions

had to be made, and we made them.

The

institutes, like C.D. Howe, recognized that they had to be made. They have

complimented us for taking the mess in hand and dealing with it, and dealing

with it in a responsible and accountable manner, which is what government should

be doing, Mr. Speaker. It's not about doing what's right, politically; it's

doing what's right for the province, for the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

couldn't go on. The deficit just could not continue to grow. When you look at

what C.D. Howe has done and what they've reported on, that we are on the right

track. It says the one area in which the report marks potential improvement is

with consistency in the preparation of Estimates.

Now,

we're all going through these procedures in Estimates. I must say that I've

attended a few of them and some good questions are being asked. But, more

importantly, some good answers have been given. The ministers, I guarantee you,

and the departments are well prepared, because they have the answers and their

answers make sense, Mr. Speaker. They are responsible answers, and it's a

responsible way of dealing with the finances of this province. Because no way

could we have continued on down the road that we were headed. It would have been

a road to disaster.

Just as

another example: In the 2012 fiscal accountability report, Newfoundland and

Labrador was ranked among the provinces that do not present straightforward and

comparable figures in their budgets or Public Accounts. The lack of fiscal

accountability was consistent. Newfoundland and Labrador was consistently in the

lowest ranking among the provinces.

So this

was at a time, Mr. Speaker, when we had money and we had the finances to deal

with the issues of the day. Yet, the accountability and the transparency of the

previous administration was pretty well nil according to the C.D. Howe

Institute.

Mr.

Speaker, again, municipalities this past week that were there recognized that we

had tough decisions to make. One of the things we keep hearing from them and

from many people in the province is that they talked about us, we've only been

in office for a year and a half and, basically, what they're saying is one year

in office can't fix what 12 years of mismanagement created. That's that bottom

line, Mr. Speaker. One year in office and you can't expect us to solve every

problem that was created for the last 12 years of mismanagement in this

province.

We've

come a long way. Municipalities, I must say and the minister was there over

the weekend, and I know he talked to several mayors and councillors, as well as

I did, because I know most of them on a personal basis. They recognize the fact

that we had very toug