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June 17, 2019

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLIX No. 5

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Admit strangers, please.

Order,

please!

I'd like

to welcome the Members back to this House of Assembly.

Today we

have some special visitors in the Speaker's gallery. Joining us is Mr. Albert

Bud Chafe who will be recognized in a Member's statement this afternoon. He is

joined by his wife Mildred and his daughters Nellie and Debbie.

Welcome

to you all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today for Members' statements

we will hear from the hon. Members for the Districts of Ferryland, Bonavista,

Cape St. Francis, Terra Nova and Harbour Grace - Port de Grave.

The hon.

the Member for Ferryland.

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today in this hon. House to recognize and congratulate the Bay Bulls to Bauline

Athletic Association on the great organization of their annual auction.

The

association holds an annual auction which raises funds for recreation and

infrastructure for the region. On June 1, I was honoured to be in attendance at

the 11th auction. This year was another great success, with over 400 people in

attendance and raising over $65,000.

Over the

past 11 years, the Bay Bulls to Bauline Athletic Association has raised over

$500,000 to help the many groups, committees, towns and communities from Bay

Bulls to the Bauline region. Many members of the 50+ Club offered their help as

well. During the auction, some leaders of the Girl Guides movement from the

region organized a dessert auction, as they do so every year, and it is always a

great success.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members of this House to join me in congratulating the Bay

Bulls to Bauline Athletic Association on yet another wonderful and successful

auction.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Bonavista.

MR. PARDY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It gives

me great pleasure to stand today to acknowledge the efforts of an outstanding

group of individuals who brought George's Brook-Milton, the gateway of the

District of Bonavista, into incorporation as a municipality and were

instrumental in the renovation of their Community Cultural House.

George's

Brook-Milton is the province's newest town, incorporated May 8, 2018. The

efforts of Glenn Ploughman, Morgan Ellis, Blanche Wiseman, Derek Elliott, Glen

Baker, who unfortunately passed during the journey, Heather Green-Bray and Sarah

Whalen began in October of 2014. This group, along with their first municipal

council and the Community Legacy Foundation, forged a partnership with the

historic Garrick Theatre in Bonavista to host over 20 musical performances this

summer by renowned musicians, a partnership that bridges the entire Bonavista

Peninsula.

These

performances are occurring in the newly renovated church, strategically located

in the town's centre, and now referred to as the Community Cultural House. This

outstanding group has expanded in numbers and are striving to make the

province's newest town, George's Brook-Milton, a proud player within the very

active historic District of Bonavista.

A huge

thank you is extended to all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for the District

of Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to recognize one of this province's elite athletes. Ward

Gosse just became a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame.

Ward grew up in Bay Roberts but now lives in beautiful Torbay.

Ward

started his softball career in 1979 and continues to play today. Some of his

accomplishments include: 11 senior softball championships; a career batting

average of .323; all-time RBI leader, 355; all-time home run leader in senior

softball; a member of 15 provincial softball teams; a three-time national

all-star pitcher, he won gold in 2012; named the second all-world team player;

ISC gold medal and tournament MVP.

He was

also selected by Softball Newfoundland as the best player for the quarter

century between 1987 and 2012. Also, last week his hometown, Bay Roberts,

inducted him into the Bay Roberts Sports Hall of Fame. He is a member of the

Newfoundland and Labrador Softball Hall of Fame.

So that

is his softball career. Ward also excelled in hockey. He played 17 years in

senior hockey and is a member of five Herder championship teams. He won top

defencemen in the West Coast league in 2003. Ward is a great athlete and a true

gentleman.

I ask

all Members in this House to join with me in congratulating Ward Gosse who has

been named one of the newest members of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports

Hall of Fame.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Terra Nova.

MR. PARROTT:

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to

talk about a group in my district called Power to Hope. It began in 2013, a

group of friends in Clarenville registered to run the Bluenose Marathon.

Inspired by a close friend's battle with cancer, they registered as a team and

travelled to Halifax. From there it grew, with the support of their community

and by making partnerships with Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation and

Young Adult Cancer Canada, the Power to Hope is able to assist cancer patients

and families across the entire province.

The

Power to Hope Christmas dinner is the main fundraiser. People come together for

an evening of food, entertainment, and thanks to the generosity of businesses

and individuals, both a silent and live auction.

It is

the largest fundraiser outside the City of St. John's for the Cancer Care

Foundation's Patient and Family Support Fund, which helps lessen the financial

stresses experienced when going through cancer treatment, such as travel, meals,

accommodation and the purchase of prostheses.

They

have raised over $350,000 for cancer-related causes. They have been recognized

with the Outstanding Philanthropist award at the Newfoundland and Labrador

Spirit of Philanthropy, and most recently the Corwin Mills Community Cares

award.

I'd like

for everyone to show their appreciation for a group that helps the entire

province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Grace - Port de Grave.

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It gives

me great pleasure to stand and recognize an outstanding volunteer, athlete,

coach, mentor and friend, Mr. Albert Bud Chafe, of Harbour Grace.

The

Harbour Grace Regatta is the second oldest continuing sporting event in North

America and much of its continued success can be attributed to Bud and his team

of volunteers who spend countless hours at Lady Lake. It is here where I first

met Bud, when he was my rowing coxswain when I was in high school. Mr. Chafe has

been participating in regattas across Newfoundland since the 1950s.

Bud's

other sporting passion is hockey. He has been involved with the Cee Bees minor

hockey association since the 1960s as a player, coach, organizer and volunteer.

It was through his leadership, where female hockey was implemented in the Cee

Bees minor hockey association.

Mr.

Chafe also served as a volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years, and has

retired to the Top of the Ladder Club which is an active group of volunteer

firefighters who help with all fundraising efforts.

Bud was

named Harbour Grace Citizen of the Year in 1983 and '84. He received the

Governor General's Award in 1993, and has been induction into the Harbour Grace

and Sport NL Halls of Fame.

Bud and

his wife, Mildred, raised eight children who have also become volunteers, giving

back to their community.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I

am pleased to stand here to recognize a project at the Bishop's Falls

Correctional Centre that is changing lives here at home and abroad.

In 2015,

with the support of the Lions Club, RCMP and Amour Transportation, the Bishop's

Falls Correctional Centre Eye Glass Program began. The program consists of

inmates sorting and processing donated eyeglasses. Over the last three years,

inmates of the Bishop's Falls Correctional Centre have processed almost 250,000

pairs of donated glasses.

Having

visited the Correctional Centre, Mr. Speaker, I've had a first-hand look at the

project in action and witnessed the pride that inmates and staff take in their

work, knowing that the refurbished glasses will help someone in need. The

program really has been life changing for all those involved.

addition to providing eyeglasses free of charge to inmates at Her Majesty's

Penitentiary, the West Coast Correctional Centre and the Newfoundland and

Labrador Correctional Centre for Women, a 2016 project with the Lions Club saw

glasses delivered to Nicaragua. More recently, the program partnered with Team

Broken Earth to send glasses to Haiti, an area in desperate need of eye care.

Locally, free clinics have been offered through Choices for Youth, The Gathering

Place and Association for New Canadians.

Mr.

Speaker, I would like to recognize the work of one individual in particular.

Jackie Warford, a Classification Officer at the Bishop's Falls Correctional

Centre, has been working tirelessly on this project and even joined Team Broken

Earth to help distribute the glasses to those in need. I'd like to thank Ms.

Warford, and Assistant Superintendent Kelly Rowsell, for their dedication to

this project that gives the ability to see.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Harbour Main.

MS. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I would

like to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. This project is

all about what it means to have 20/20 vision, both figuratively and literally.

Darin

King was Justice minister in 2015 when he announced that inmates and

correctional officers at the Bishop's Falls Correctional Facility had partnered

with the Lions Club of Newfoundland and Labrador to establish a satellite

recycling depot for eyeglasses, many of which would make their way to Haiti as

part of a partnership with Team Broken Earth. That was four years ago, when the

number of donated pairs of eyeglasses was 25,000.

Four

years later, thanks to the dedication of amazing groups and people like

Classification Officer Jackie Warford, Assistant Superintendent Kelly Rowsell,

the Lions Club, the RCMP, Armour Transportation, Team Broken Earth, Choices for

Youth, The Gathering Place, the Association for New Canadians, and, of course,

the inmates themselves, the number of processed pairs of eyeglasses has risen

ten-fold. Imagine, 250,000 refurbished instruments for seeing the world clearly,

giving people the vision they need to work, live and survive in tough economies

like Nicaragua's and Haiti's; and, even helping people right here in our

province.

We talk

about restorative justice, and nothing restores the inmate's sense of purpose

and goodness more than being able to change lives in such a profound way.

I commend the minister for continuing this excellent

and transformative program.

Thank you.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

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

MS.

COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. Congratulations to the inmates and staff at Bishop's Falls

Correctional Centre for their dedicated work on this project over the last three

years. It is truly worthwhile to get these glasses distributed to the people who

need them in this province and abroad.

I would like to emphasize that the more programs we can

introduce into our correctional institutions, focusing on rehabilitation and

skills development, the better off inmates will be when re-entering the

community.

I look forward to hearing about more initiatives like

this in the future.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and

Labour.

MR.

DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is truly an honour to rise today in this hon. House

to congratulate graduates of our province's public and private post-secondary

education institutions.

Every graduate represents an extraordinary

accomplishment, as well as a stronger, more educated workforce and that is key

to growing our society, culture and economy.

Every year, thousands of graduates complete world-class

programs at College of the North Atlantic and private training institutions.

This year is a remarkable one for Memorial University as well, which granted its

100,000th degree. Wow! The value of post-secondary education for students,

families, communities and our whole province is immeasurable.

Mr. Speaker, education is the passport to a brighter

future. I invite all hon. Members in this House to join me in congratulating all

the 2019 post-secondary graduates.

Thank you very much.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the hon. Member across for an advance copy of

his statement. My colleagues and I join the minister in offering our sincerest

congratulations to the many graduates of our public and private post-secondary

institutions.

Through hard work and perseverance, their individual

effort, along with the support of their family and friends, has culminated in

this moment. They are about to embark on a new world of adventures and

opportunities where they can begin to put their new skills to work.

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate, however, as we saw in

the Estimates Committee, that the minister has slashed funding to Memorial

University and the College of the North Atlantic. This is a troubling pattern

for this government, and a more measured, effective and efficient approach is

needed to ensure the very viability

of the post-secondary system in this province.

Mr.

Speaker, in closing, I congratulate all 2019 graduates.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Congratulations to the

many post-secondary graduates completing their studies this semester. Having

been an educator at Memorial University for more than 20 years, I offer special

congratulations to Memorial and its students for reaching 100,000 degrees

granted.

The

depth, breadth and quality of programs offered at our post-secondary

institutions is quite remarkable and is made possible with support from

government.

encourage the minister to strengthen supports for our post-secondary

institutions and to do more to help recent graduates so they can choose to live

and work in our province for many years to come.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

statements by ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of

Natural Resources is on record last week as saying that federal Bill C-69, which

some call the no-more-offshore bill, will require changes to the Atlantic Accord

legislation. What changes to the Atlantic Accord legislation will be required?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

there's only one person that I know so far that is calling this no-offshore

bill; that is the Leader of the Official Opposition. What we're talking about in

Bill C-69 is how we develop our natural resources, Mr. Speaker. The minister and

I, as well as others, other premiers across the country, our Atlantic Canadian

premiers, we've been working very hard over the last three years trying to bring

improvements to the current process, which was put in place in 2012. I need not

remind people in this room who was actually the administrator both federally and

provincially at that time.

In the

old piece of legislation, CEAA 2012, it takes us three years, as an example, to

get exploratory wells done in our province. What we've been advocating and

fighting for is to reduce that timeline and make our province more competitive.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Perhaps I could help the hon.

Premier by pointing out that C-69 would give vast discretionary powers to the

federal minister of Environment.

The

Atlantic Accord states that it is an accord on joint management of the offshore.

In the opinion of the Premier, does C-69 represent a violation of the joint

management principle established by the Accord?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I

pay particular attention to the opening comments when we talked about

jurisdiction to the federal minister. In fact, it was CEAA 2012 that I currently

just mentioned actually did the very same thing and that was by a federal

Conservative government.

Mr.

Speaker, what I want to do is take the politics out of this. What we want to do

is make investment to attract investment in Newfoundland and Labrador, make our

province more competitive, doing so with protecting our environment. Right now

once the legislation is finalized – it's not yet. It should be in the Senate

either tonight or tomorrow, what we will be doing is reviewing all aspects.

Mr.

Speaker, let's be very clear if there's any violation of the Atlantic Accord, we

now have an arbitration clause in place as a result of the recently negotiated

review of the Atlantic Accord just a few weeks ago.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

It's encouraging to hear the

Premier want to take the politics out of a political offensive by the federal

government. One of the stated purposes of the Accord is equality of both

governments in the management of the resource and the pace and manner of

development.

In the

opinion of the Premier, is C-69 consistent with this stated purpose?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, there are a

number of sections within the Atlantic Accord that protects joint management by

the federal and provincial government. I can assure the people of this province,

that the principles, the intent, the purpose of the Atlantic Accord will be

upheld.

We will

resist – if in case there are any particular changes that would water down the

Accord, that is not something that I will stand for as Premier of this province,

neither will the minister, neither will anyone on this side of the House, Mr.

Speaker. The Atlantic Accord is fundamental to the development of our offshore

in a joint management mechanism and I can assure the people of this province

that is the position that we take, I take as a Premier and this government

takes.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

In light of that last

statement, can the Premier clarify does the government intend to co-operate with

the federal government in making changes to the Atlantic Accord legislation, or

does it not?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

here we go again. What I've just said is that this bill, this particular bill,

C-69, around natural development will be in the Senate either tonight or

tomorrow. Once the bill is finalized, we will do an assessment on what the

impact would be on the Atlantic Accord. I will assure the people of this

province we will stand up for the Atlantic Accord, just like we did a few weeks

ago.

A few

weeks ago, we deepened the jurisdictional responsibilities of our province,

deepened the joint management, Mr. Speaker. We'll take an overview of what the

changes could include and I will tell you we will not be making changes to the

Atlantic Accord unless it's to the benefit of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, those are

encouraging words.

Can the

Premier confirm to the people of the province that if legislative changes are

proposed, that this province should make, which undermine the principles of the

Atlantic Accord, that this province will not be giving consent?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, for the last

three years the Minister of Natural Resources and I, we've been looking for

improvements in the development of natural resources offshore. And by the way,

we talk about the offshore a lot, but it also includes mining. I should make

sure that people on both sides of the House here, we talk a lot about the

offshore, but mining's extremely important, and also falls under the

jurisdiction of Bill C-69 when it comes to environmental assessments.

So back

to the offshore and the Atlantic Accord, as I just said, once the bill is

completed, once the bill is finalized in Ottawa, we will take a look at it and

we will be making sure and seeing where any legislative changes are required,

and we'll be standing up for Newfoundland and Labrador and protecting the

provisions of the Atlantic Accord.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

information note from the Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour

stated on January 24 that the final draft report of the ex-pat survey conducted

by Goss Gilroy was submitted to the department on December 20, 2018. This was

six months ago. The contract was awarded 16 months ago.

I ask

the minister: Why is his department sitting on this report?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like

to let the hon. Member know that we're not. He has a copy of the report. It was

sent to him, I don't know, a month or more ago. It's been online since then. So

if there's any more follow-up to that, I can't answer your question any better

than that.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't

know where the report was sent but it wasn't received.

The

department has avoided responsibility for so long that the final draft report is

available on the ATIPPA website.

I ask

the minister: Why does the public have to get access to the reports, which they

have paid for, through an access to information request?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, it's very

important that we have the report finalized before we release it publicly. We

had to go through that to make sure it was finalized.

It's

released now. It's been given to the Opposition, I would think, there. But if

they need a copy, I can get them one right now; it's no problem. I can have it

over to them this afternoon.

But the

important thing about this report from Goss Gilroy is that it provided some

clarity on some information that we are looking for. It's all about anecdotal

information. And if they'd stop barbing me from the other side here, we'd be

able to get the information out here. It's really important that the valuable

information that was included in this report is not just of an anecdotal nature,

which is what we've known in the past, which is the important thing about this

report.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can

appreciate the drafts, because this one had approximately six or seven drafts

done. The first draft stated: Some of the informants stressed the issue of

unfair, inequitable hiring processes citing that these are based on, for

example, who you know, nepotism and political interference.

However,

mentions of nepotism and political interference do not appear in the final

report.

I ask

the minister: Why was this purged from the report?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, obviously, you have a copy of the report. I'm glad to see that. So

we've established that they have a copy of the report.

The

valuable information that's provided here, every one of us knows the anecdotal

information that's going around the province, why people leave and why they move

on. There are lots of reasons why people leave; some is economic, some is

opportunity, some like better weather, and that's an important piece.

One of

the things that's important is the report was dealt with – it's really hard to

hear myself think let alone – I understand why they can't listen to the answers

because they can't hear them because they are talking.

The

biggest important piece about this is the valuable information we did receive

from that, that's going to allow us to try to target approaches to bring back

some expatriates that may want to come back. You have to understand the fact

that once lives are built in other places, it's very difficult to get them to

come back, but we're going to do everything in our power as a government to do

so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, I do have a copy

of the report and, unfortunately, I had to go through the ATIPPA process to get

it.

The

first draft shared the following information from a participant. Again, I quote:

The old boys club is a problem, you either need a family member in politics or

someone needs to rub the elbows with someone in public service or someone on a

board. If you don't know them, you are a persona non grata. We weren't going to

use politics or friends to get a job in Newfoundland. People should get hired on

merit.

However,

this does not appear in the final report.

I ask

the minister: Why was this purged from the report?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

report information spans a couple of different jurisdictions and different

iterations of government. The individuals that were poled in this were

some-thousand or more people that were poled in this area for surveys. It's an

important thing. Not everybody left on our watch, Mr. Speaker. So it's really

important to understand that part.

The

information is very, very important to us. That's why we did the report and

that's why we're utilizing it for the future to try to tailor our approach to

ensure that we get individuals that are interested in coming back, to come back

to our province.

The most

important thing is the jobs plan that we've created here with Cabinet Committee

on Jobs, creating opportunities to allow people who want to come back with

meaningful employment, high paying jobs in a sector that's interesting to them.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I

go to the first draft, and it states: It is suggested that the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador review its public service hiring practices to ensure

equity in the approach and opportunity. And it further goes on to say: It will

be important to address cronyism and nepotism.

However,

this has been purged from the final report as well.

I ask

the minister: Has this recommendation that was made over one year ago been

shared with the Human Resources Secretariat? And why, again, was it purged from

the final report?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, Bill 1 was the

Independent Appointments Commission. As a government, we decided to put that in

place.

We can

laugh all we want about that from the other side, but it's very important.

That's the plan we put in place, that's why we're doing it.

Some of

the things that he didn't listen to in the previous answer to this was that it

spans multiple governments here. These people didn't all leave since 2015 when

we took office. They left prior to that as well. So they're talking about their

time and why they left. It's really important to understand why they left, but

it's even more important to what's going to be able to bring them back to this

province, if we're able to get them back here.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, I can't disagree

with his comment on previous, but I can say on April 9 here in this House, and I

quote myself, which could have saved us some money: “The common reason expats

leave and don't come back is that cost of living, high taxes and the lack of

long-term, permanent employment.” And I think the report is telling us just

that.

I ask

the minister: Do you think it's improper for government to purge complaints of

nepotism, cronyism and political interference from Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians that have moved away from home and want to return?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, that's exactly

why we put the report out there. That's exactly why we cast that the report be

done by Goss Gilroy anyway.

wanted to get the information. We wanted to utilize that to further the

intentions of how we're going to move forward with respect to bringing people

back. Because it's very, very important to figure out why they left – that's one

– but it's also important to figure out what's going to bring them back. Some of

it is jobs, some of it is family life.

People

want to live in different places for a lot of different reasons. You can

cherry-pick out of the report whatever you like, but the actuality is very

important that you figure out the information that's most valuable to us to make

sure we can reach out to them and hopefully bring them back to this province

where we want them to be.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

lovely report that I got through ATIPPA talks about the main methodology in this

study was an online survey conducted. In their own note they say the report

represents a comprehensive effort. And the quote in the report goes on to say:

across all age and all income levels, the main reason people don't return is the

lack of long-term permanent employment.

So, I go

back and I say with reference to nepotism, cronyism and political interference

purged from the final report. This is how government has demonstrated in so many

high-profile examples over time, they've demonstrated nepotism, cronyism and

political interference.

I'd like

to know why this qualitative information in this report has been purged.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, the information

that's in the report, we're very happy with the information that's come back.

We're looking forward to implementing plans. Some of those have already been put

expats back to this province. We want them here.

We want

them to choose to raise their families here and, hopefully, that will be the

case, but sometimes when you move away and you meet people, whether it be a

spouse or a partner, and create a family, it's very difficult sometimes to move

them back to this province. But one thing is for sure, creating opportunity is

the only way that we see as an opportunity to bring them back. So that's why

this government is so committed to the Cabinet Committee on Jobs and creating

opportunity.

You

don't have to look very far, other than our record, to see that jobs are

increasing, 11 straight months of year-over-year growth in the economy.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We've

had a number of iterations of this report, and I guess the simple question here

is, it was gone out to survey individuals, to get feedback, and we did get

feedback and that feedback is excluded from the report. All we have are

categories and numbers.

again, ask the minister responsible: If we went out with an online survey that

was going to be qualitative and comprehensive, why have we not included in the

report what we actually heard?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

We have, Mr. Speaker, it's in

the report. It tells us why people left, what they left for and some of the

reasons why they may come back, which is the important piece. I can say that

more and more, each and every time I stand up here, but I'm going to continue to

say the exact same thing.

We have

the information from the report, why people left, why they wanted to leave and

why they'd come back in the future. We're hoping to use that information and,

hopefully, have some great success.

encourage the hon. Member across the way to come onboard, help us with this. We

want to get people from this province who are living somewhere else to come back

and make this their home again. We want them here. We need them here.

We're on

the wrong side of demographics, as the gentleman across the way always tells us.

We agree. That's why we're doing some things, like the Immigration Action Plan.

We've created that, put some services around the individuals who are there to

ensure that the most opportunity for them to choose here to live with their

families.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Ferryland.

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

My question is for the

Minister of Service NL.

Last

week, the people of the province were shocked to see a driving examiner arrested

in Labrador for allegedly soliciting money during examinations.

Can the

minister update the House on this situation?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Service NL.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, what I can tell

the hon. Member is that particular situation is a human resource issue and the

individual is presently off with pay while we continue the investigation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Ferryland.

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

Mr. Speaker, this is a

serious allegation involving breach of trust.

Can the

minister tell the House how this was able to occur?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Service Newfoundland and Labrador.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, in fact, it

is a very serious allegation and the matter is under investigation by the RCMP

and the individual is presently off with pay.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Ferryland.

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

Mr. Speaker, what specific

actions has the minister taken to ensure that this does not happen again?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Service Newfoundland and Labrador.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, as I have said

twice already, there is an ongoing investigation. It is a human resource issue,

so I cannot comment further on this until the investigation is completed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

question is for the Minister of Natural Resources. Mr. Speaker, Suncor Energy

has announced that the Terra Nova FPSO will be extended 10 years. This

life-extension project will take place in 2020 and allow the capture of

approximately 80 million additional barrels of oil.

Has the

minister talked to Suncor about securing this significant piece of work in

Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

We're

indeed pleased to see that Terra Nova will be extending its project. It's very

important to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. I have had some

preliminary discussions with Terra Nova as to how they're going to go about

their retrofit, Mr. Speaker. We'll do everything in the utmost possible to get

most of the work here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Some

work, of course, cannot physically be done in Newfoundland and Labrador, indeed

in all of Atlantic Canada. Therefore, they will have to go international for

some of this work and it is having to do with the size of the hull and the

repairs that are required to it.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, Trades NL is in the media again today calling on the provincial

government to do more for the industry by implementing a benefits and workforce

development lens.

Given

the slowdown in the construction sector, why is the minister sitting idly by and

allowing all of this refit work to be done elsewhere?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, I do take

offence to the words idly by. I am indeed not sitting idly by. We have done some

incredible work in the offshore oil and gas industry in this province, ensuring

local benefits, ensuring that there is work continuing.

I need

not point out to the Member opposite the fact that there is ongoing work

happening right now in Argentia with the West White Rose Project; about 96 per

cent of the workers that are there are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

I can point out that Equinor,

for example, we have a framework agreement with Equinor that'll bring 5,000

metric tons of fabrication work to the province and 11,000 person-years of

employment.

We're

working very diligently, very hard, to ensure maximum benefits to this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have

thousands of qualified tradespersons in this province now unemployed while work

is going outside of this province and outside of this country. That's not

acceptable.

Perhaps

the minister can tell the people of the province what specific progress has been

made in maximizing local construction, fabrication and procurement in the Terra

Nova refit?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

We're

anticipating shutdown in 2020 and the Member opposite knows that. We're only

just beginning to have discussions with Suncor, the Terra Nova owners, to make

sure that they understand we are looking for maximum benefits to this province.

They understand the requirements under the Atlantic Accord of full, fair and

first must accrue to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

We can't

forget how important it is to the people of this province that we all have the

maximum benefits. We've been very, very diligent in making sure the offshore oil

and gas industry understands this. That's why we've put in place, for example, a

requirement within the new OilCo to develop the supply and service industry.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS. EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The loss

of the Lewisporte freight run to the Northern Labrador communities has been

devastating to local businesses and communities.

So I ask

the minister: What work has been done to identify costs to local businesses and

to the communities before making this change to the service?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the question. Back, I think it was late April or early May,

we actually held consultations on the North Coast and introduced some new rates.

What you're going to actually see is an overall approximately 40 per cent

reduction in freight and passenger rates going north. This will be the first

time we've seen a roll-on, roll-off service actually on that run, something

that's been promised for many, many years, so we're very pleased with that.

Just

today, we have senior officials from the department and from the company, our

partner in this service, actually in Labrador doing some more consultations,

looking at the docking facilities, and we anticipate that we will start

accepting non-perishable freight next Monday, with our first run to the North

Coast on July 1.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS. EVANS:

I would just like to mention

that right now the community of Makkovik can't actually accept a new boat

because the dock infrastructure is not adequate and work will have to be done to

bring it up to grade. I just want to mention that before I go on to my next

question.

The

reason why I asked the first question about what work was done to identify costs

to local businesses and communities before change in this service is I want to

point out that the minister stated in Estimates that cold storage available in

Goose Bay for goods was more than adequate. I think he said more than adequate;

however, we've come to learn that Torngat fisheries co-operative has now to take

out a $3.5 million loan, Mr. Speaker, to build cold-storage capacity in Goose

Bay.

This

business has been in there for 30 years, so I ask the minister: Does he feel

that putting a $3.5-million burden on Indigenous fisheries co-operative is the

right thing to do, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

again, thank the hon. Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, in the

consultations, as we move forward to this new ferry, one of the things that we

took a lot consideration that took a lot of time to do was work with Torngat

fisheries. One of the challenges they would have had in previous years was

container availability. In the new contract, we've ensured that the adequate

numbers of containers are guaranteed so that companies like Torngat can actually

get the product in and out as they want to, Mr. Speaker. This is something that

wasn't in place before.

So we

will continue to work with companies like Torngat. We have a great working

relationship in Transportation and Works and I know in the Department of

Fisheries and Land Resources as well with this company, Mr. Speaker. They're a

great Newfoundland and Labrador company and we look forward to working with them

in the future.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl North for a quick question, please.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, the province

recently agreed to ban single-use plastic bags but very little detail was

provided.

Can the

minister tell us when the bag ban will actually take effect?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment for a quick response, please.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to

answer my first question in the capacity as Municipal Affairs and Environment.

The hon. Member is right, there were amendments made to the

Environmental Protection Act .

Currently, right now, within the department, we are working through policy and

regulations and we hope to fully implement the ban within the coming months.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Mr. Speaker, this government

wants to change the federal bill, C-69 to give the C-NLOPB control over

environmental impact assessments of offshore oil projects.

I ask

the minister: How is it not a conflict for the management body that promotes the

industry to also be the agent assessing possible negative environmental impacts?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

first and foremost, it is not this government that's actually promoting Bill

C-69 and the amendments. What we're actually promoting is to make our province

more competitive in protecting the environment. The current process that we

operate under, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, that being CEAA 2012, under the

current concept what you're seeing is nearly three years to get an exploratory

well approved within our province. That is really not making us competitive with

other jurisdictions.

We have

worked hard with the minister, I and others, trying to make sure that this

province is in a better position, all in compliance with the Atlantic Accord,

which is unique to Newfoundland and Labrador, making sure that we are

competitive but doing so in an environmentally, sustainable fashion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Mr. Speaker, last fall the

C-NLOPB kept a respectful distance when Husky had the second largest oil spill

in the history of our offshore. Sea birds are dying out, but the C-NLOPB won't

take Environment Canada's advice to allow monitors on platforms.

I ask

the Premier: Why should we feel confident that the C-NLOPB can conduct

independent, thorough, environmental assessments given its poor record in

protecting the offshore environment?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for

the opportunity to answer this question.

First of

all, I want to correct the Member opposite. It's not C-NLOPB's responsibility to

promote the industry. That is not one of their requirements. As a matter of

fact, Mr. Speaker, they are the regulatory body and, therefore, are not engaged

in the promotion of the industry.

To her

question, Mr. Speaker; C-NLOPB has over 30-years experience in environmental

assessments offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. It wasn't only in 2012 when that

was removed from them by the former administration. They have the expertise and

the knowledge.

What

we're asking for – and to clarify again, she asked for us to control it. What we

have asked is simply for the joint management provisions of the Atlantic Accord

to be respected.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Mr. Speaker, Husky Energy is

going to have to pay a total penalty of $3.8 million for a large pipeline spill

into the North Saskatchewan River in 2016.

I ask

the Minister of Natural Resources: How much will Husky be fined for their

November oil spill in our offshore?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much for the question.

This is

a very important topic. I'll say, first of all, to the people of the province,

that environmental protection is paramount in our offshore, as is safety. We

have to continue to ensure both every single hour of every single day, Mr.

Speaker.

I will

say that the investigation into the November oil spill is ongoing by the

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, and whatever fines or

requirements under their review will be known as that investigation continues.

I will

say this, Husky has had to pay for all of the oil spill cleanup and all of the

monitoring and regulation up until this point as well.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MR. J. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Government wants to cut the number of environmental assessments offshore and

make exploration exempt, but seismic exploration is raising big concerns that is

a factor in the decline of many marine species.

I ask

the Premier: Will he direct the C-NLOPB to commission a study, a truly

independent study of the effects of seismic testing on the marine life it is

supposed to be protecting?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Again,

allow me to correct the record. We're not asking for exploration to be exempt.

We're asking exploration to go through the right process of going to C-NLOPB.

It's a 30- to 60-day well. It is now taking up to 36 months, Mr. Speaker, to get

permits in order to drill that. What we're asking is for a different process.

They're

currently under a regional environmental assessment, and we're undergoing a

regional environmental assessment so that all these, what I'm going to call,

less impactful geological requirements of exploration wells or seismic would go

then under the regional environmental assessment to the C-NLOPB.

Mr.

Speaker, one further point. There have been multiple studies in the effects of

seismic and they are being adhered to.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The time

for Oral Questions has ended.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

MR. LOVELESS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by my colleague, the Member for Mount Scio, that the following private Member's

resolution be debated this Wednesday:

WHEREAS

The Premier's Task Force on Improving

Educational Outcomes and the Education Action Plan both recommended

developing a phased-in implementation plan for junior kindergarten; and

WHEREAS

Ontario, the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia have implemented or are in

the process of implementing province-wide junior kindergarten; and

WHEREAS

play-based learning promotes children's natural sense of curiosity and discovery

through hands-on exploration of the world around them;

THEREFORE

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

Newfoundland and Labrador in taking necessary steps towards establishing a

junior kindergarten program.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Pursuant

to Standing Order 63(3) the Private Member's resolution entered by the Member

for Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune shall be the one to be debated this Wednesday.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

notices of motion?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I

stand on a petition on behalf of the workers on the West Coast of Newfoundland

and Labrador about the hospital in Corner Brook, which I'm great to hear that

it's going to be announced in the next few weeks.

Mr.

Speaker, I'll just read the petition:

WHEREAS

the successful proponents for the new hospital in Corner Brook are scheduled to

be announced this spring with construction anticipated to bring in the fall and,

as this is estimated to be a four-year construction period, and as there are

experienced local tradespeople and labourers in the area;

THEREFORE we, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly as follows: to

urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to encourage companies that are

awarded the contracts for the new hospital to hire local tradespeople and

labourers, at no extra cost to the taxpayers, so that they can work in their own

area, support the local economy and be able to return home to their families

every evening.

Mr.

Speaker, these petitions are from all over the province: Grand Falls, Colliers,

Holyrood and Conception Harbour. So these petitions are just not for the West

Coast, as some people tried to portray. It's given to the unions, whoever,

Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. A lot of our West Coast will get the jobs,

Mr. Speaker, because it will be cheaper, much cheaper to have people local so

they don't have to pay their room and board to bring people in.

I'm very

encouraged by the minister saying that there's 90 per cent in Corner Brook now

in long-term care. I'm not sure that's accurate. I guess John Allan might have

gave you those numbers because it's not accurate. Because, Mr. Speaker, I spoke

to a lot of the people the weekend, a lot on the weekend. I just say to the

minister, you should check that out, where he's getting that information, but I

am encouraged that they're going to try to get the local hospital for 90 per

cent of the workers.

I say to

the minister, let's see if we can get that done without any protests. Let's work

together with the unions, with the local people, with the companies, so we can

get the 90 per cent or higher. Let's try to even work for higher at the local

hospital because they are experienced, they are great at what they do. Mr.

Speaker, it would be great to have Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, as we see

here today – Newfoundland and Labrador, Trades NL today wanted all local – some

benefit agreements put in place.

We see a

poll on VOCM that 84 per cent feel that we're not getting enough local

employment for the area. So let's all work together, as I have done last year. I

worked out a deal with one of the unions, Mr. Speaker, and also with the

company, but it fell through that Monday for some reason.

So I

have no problem with stepping up and helping out to ensure that local workers

are being hired. Let's try to aim higher than the 90 per cent, but I'm

encouraged by the minister that he will work to try to get 90 per cent.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Works for a response, please.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the petition, and quite timely, Mr. Speaker, because my

first meeting of this week was actually this morning with Trades NL. We had a

great discussion about, when it comes to public procurement in this process and

when we're building public infrastructure, how we involve Newfoundland and

Labrador workers and Newfoundland and Labrador companies.

Mr.

Speaker, just last year in Corner Brook we hosted a business-to-business forum

where we brought in businesses that have sub-trades that would be people that

would be proponents and work with the companies building the new acute-care

hospital. We had, I think, almost 100 companies from this province actually

represented that day. That is one of the ways of ensuring that if the

subcontractors are Newfoundland and Labrador companies that means Newfoundland

and Labrador workers, Mr. Speaker.

It's

also important we work with the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction

Association, which we plan on doing. One of the steps coming out of the meeting

this morning with Trades NL is our next step will be to form an advisory group

or a stakeholders group, which will include Trades NL and other groups such as

the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association as we go forward, to get

that input, to see what Newfoundland and Labrador benefits agreement looks like.

Mr.

Speaker, they've come away from the CBA and now they're talking about NLBAs, and

the reasoning behind that is when we look at communities in this province, we

look at a community that stretches from the tip of Labrador to the East Coast of

the very far east of this province as well, Mr. Speaker. We had a great meeting

this morning and looking forward to moving it forward.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

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 infertility is not an inconvenience; it is a disease of the reproductive

system that impairs the body's ability to perform the basic function of

reproduction; and

WHEREAS infertility affects men and women equally; and

WHEREAS treating infertility is excessively expensive and cost prohibitive; and

WHEREAS infertility impairs the ability of individuals and couples to conceive

children and begin to build a family;

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

of Assembly to urge government to implement the program that assists individuals

and couples allowing them to access affordable in vitro fertilization services.

And as in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this issue has come up to me on numerous occasions in my own

district. I'm sure other Members of the House have probably dealt with it as

well. It's a pretty sad situation actually. A lot of families try to start a

family and for reasons they can't conceive, they go through this process.

Now, we have a fertility clinic in the province which helps them when the woman

gets impregnated. The problem is the procedure to get this done, they have to go

out of province; it's a huge cost and the province doesn't assist in the bill.

It's solely the burden of the family.

That's a sad state of affairs when some people can't afford to have a child for

those reasons. It's something that we've brought up. This is not the first time

this petition has come to the House of Assembly. We understand the limitations

on the province. There's probably not enough people availing of that service to

have our own full-fledged clinic here, yet we have the clinic to deal with them

after the fact – pre and post but not that procedure.

This is a big burden. It's an obstacle placed on a lot of young families, people

wanting children. That's such a wonderful thing to happen in anyone's lives to

have their child and

cost being an issue is affecting a lot of these people and is a very stressful.

And one other thing, you can get this done at a cost and if it fails, you can go

back again and get it done again and it's an added cost. Can you imagine how

much that adds up and how much stress it puts on a family that want the simple

thing in life of having a child?

It's

something, I think, that is money well spent. I don't think you'll get any

opposition to it. It will cost money, but at the end result – what is the

result? A happy family and I don't think we should be able to put a price on

that.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Health and Community Services for a response, please.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Infertility is indeed a challenge and a stress for some families. Just to put on

the record, the Department of Health funds the fertility clinic that the

gentleman opposite referenced to the tune of $675,000 every year. Over the last

two years, there have been 90 cases through that clinic, Mr. Speaker.

Assisted

reproductive technologies the Member opposite references, again, fall into a

category where we do not have the critical mass to maintain or gain skills in

doing that. So like paediatric cardiac surgery, we would send these people out

of the province simply for that. So I wouldn't like the Members opposite or the

public watching to think that there is no support for people who have fertility

issues.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

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

many students within our province depend on school busing for transportation to

and from school each day; and

WHEREAS

there are many parents of school-age children throughout our province who live

qualify for busing; and

WHEREAS

policy cannot override the safety of our children;

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

of Assembly to urge government to eliminate the 1.6-kilometre policy for all

elementary schools in the province, and in junior and senior highs where safety

is a primary concern.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, this has been presented a multitude of times over the last number of

years, and particularly what we've heard, and I know my colleagues here and I

know colleagues on the other side have heard the same thing when we were

campaigning, about what particular issues were important. We heard about all

kinds of things relevant to taxation and health care and all that. But relevant

to a number of families, particularly those who have school-age children or

grandparents was around safety and busing.

They

realize the general population has identified the number of cars has increased

dramatically. Speed has been increased dramatically. The RNC and the RCMP will

tell you that, that speeding is up. People will tell you drivers are distracted

of these are factors that add to potential safety issues for our children.

We've

since talked to people around what would be the best way of doing it. I know

I've had some disputes with the school district about what the actual cost would

be to implement a program such as this. We had it costing less than a third of

what the school district would say it would be.

Since

then, my learning since this question has been put out to the general public,

conversations with administrators who have called me in and said, let me

explain, Mr. Brazil, here's what I could do if I was given the opportunity to

have input. I've talked to providers of the services, bus owners, who've sat

down and said here's what we can do, here's how this would work, we have seats

that are available, the routing is off. Decisions are being made at a school

district level without consultation with the general population within that

area, particularly the school administration and the providers of those

services.

So we're

saying, and the parents are saying, administrators are saying and the providers

are saying if there was a dialogue and a discussion, the cost of providing safe

transportation to and from school would be minimal and would guarantee safety,

not adding the other disruptions that we have for parents who have to give up

their job because they have two or three or one child that has to get to school,

and the anxiety and the apprehension, or grandparents or providers or guardians

having to try to find a way to provide that type of service, and God forbid,

when we have shutdowns because of snow and that, the impact that has on

families.

We'll

have an opportunity to talk to this, but we do encourage government to seriously

look at coming up with a solution that works for all the children in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development for a response,

please.

MR. WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly appreciate the hon. Member bringing his petition to the House. He

brought up costs and the costs are considerable, and the costs are based on data

received from the school districts on current routes, schedules and usage. We've

taken the action to address the concerns. We talked about the current policies

comparable to policies throughout the Atlantic provinces and certainly

throughout the country, and we'll continue to do that.

While

we're on costs, I've had the opportunity to address this with the hon. Member,

and during the election platform they came with a costing of $3.5 million based

on their reports, that's the costing that they reported during the election, and

I'd certainly like to see those figures. So if the hon. Member could share that

$3.5-million figure with me, where you came up with that, I'd be happy to have a

look at it.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I call

Order of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day, Sir.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

At this time, I would call

Motion 5, Interim Supply.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the hon. the Government House Leader – I'm jumping ahead of myself,

Mr. Speaker.

I have

received a message from the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

All rise, please.

I have a

message here dated 6 of June, 2019.

Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, I transmit a

request to appropriate sums required for the Public Service of the Province for

the year ending 31 March 2020, by way of Interim Supply, and in accordance with

the provisions of sections 54 and 90 of the

Constitution Act, 1867 , I recommend

this request to the House of Assembly.

Sgd.:

___________________________________

Lieutenant-Governor

Please

be seated.

The hon.

the Minister of Finance.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the hon. the Government House Leader, that the message and a bill be

referred to a Committee of Supply.

MR. SPEAKER:

The motion is that the

message, together with a bill, be referred to the Committee of Supply and that I

do now leave the Chair.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

The

motion is carried.

motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole Supply, the

Speaker, left the Chair.

Committee of the

Whole

CHAIR (Reid):

Order, please!

We are

considering the related resolution and Bill 2.

Resolution

“That it

is expedient to introduce a measure to provide for the granting to Her Majesty

for defraying certain expenses of the public service for the financial year

ending March 31, 2020 the sum of $2,089,149,900.”

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

The hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's a

pleasure to speak in the House today on Interim Supply. Anyone who knows me, Mr.

Chair, as many Members in this House do, know that I very much enjoy

campaigning, going door to door doing the constituency work that's involved in

being an MHA, but I'm also a parliamentarian, and I enjoy what happens in this

Legislature and the business of the Legislature and how we conduct ourselves

here. So it is a pleasure to stand and discuss the important legislation that

makes the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians better.

Mr.

Chair, I recognize that we've had a historic election in Newfoundland and

Labrador and that we're now in a minority government. Some outside these walls

view this as a hindrance or as a challenge, but I view it as an opportunity. I

see it from an optimistic point of view and I see it as an opportunity. I

understand there are going to be challenges in such a setup, Mr. Chair, but I

believe that these challenges will make for stronger legislation, stronger

collaboration and a stronger government.

I also

recognize, Mr. Chair, that with this historic election, it should lead to

greater attention from the public on the proceedings of this House. I realize

that for those who may be watching in the gallery or watching on television, Mr.

Chair, that some of those procedures may be foreign or sometimes strange.

Mr.

Chair, I want to take a moment to explain the purpose of Interim Supply, the

bill that we're debating today. It allows for the financial administration of

ongoing government operations during the interim period while

Budget 2019 is being debated and approved by the Legislature. The

bill is based on a proportion of the total amount of the provincial budget to be

voted, which this year is set at approximately $7.58 billion.

March, we passed an interim supply act, which provides funding until the end of

June 2019. That bill provided approval and Interim Supply for a sum of

approximately $2.86 billion.

Mr.

Chair, we expect the budget debate will last for several weeks. There are 75

hours of debate, including Interim Supply; therefore, in order to ensure that

people in the province get paid and services continue to be funded, we're

providing funding certainty in the event that the debate goes beyond June of

2019, which is the reason for Interim Supply.

Interim

Supply bill is to seek approval for approximately $2.09 billion in spending. The

bill will allow us plenty of time to continue debate on

Budget 2019 . The balance of

approximately $2.6 billion, after the first and second Interim Supply amount to

be voted, will be approved with the passing of main supply in the coming weeks.

addition to the funding and timing of this Interim Supply bill, it makes

provisions for the proper functioning of government finances including transfers

of funds from the Department of Finance to other departments for expenditures or

compensation for benefits and other associated adjustments; transfers from the

Consolidated Fund Service account to other departments for speciality retirement

and other payments, should they be necessary; transfers of funds to and from

various heads of expenditure to facilitate expenditures for financial assistance

as may be approved from time to time by Treasury Board.

Mr.

Chair, we received questions about calling the election in 2019, and some people

didn't quite understand, I guess, the difference between American politics and

Canadian politics. It does take up to 75 hours to pass the budget in this

Legislature, which should bring us to sometime late June or even into July.

So, Mr.

Chair, the funding in Interim Supply ensures that services continue to be funded

and our valued public service employees, along with our former employees who are

now pensioners, continue to be paid.

Interim

Supply provides necessary funding to government departments so that the ongoing

work of core public service can continue without disruption. This is truly about

ensuring the proper functioning of government while we do the work of

Budget 2019 . The new initiatives that

are promised in Budget 2019 , Mr.

Chair, will be approved upon approval of

Budget 2019 itself.

I think

everybody here recognizes that a vote against Interim Supply is a vote against

the continuation of funding for services, a vote against the continuation of

payroll for employees and pensioners. So I have faith, Mr. Chair, that this

House will not vote against Interim Supply, will not vote against the

continuation of services or the payment of our public service or our retirees.

So with

that, Mr. Chair, I'll allow debate to proceed.

CHAIR:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's

always a pleasure, of course, to stand in the House and speak on anything, for

that matter. It doesn't matter what we're talking on, but a budget issue is

always good because you can have more broad leeway in the conversation that

we're into. The budget right now is top of mind for a lot of people because it

does affect everyone and everyone's lives and what we do.

One of

the aspects of the budget that I heard when I campaigned in my district was the

first weekend and people started realizing: What happened? What do you mean the

tax is not coming off insurance? What do you mean the budget is not passed? I

don't understand. So it came as a bit of a lesson to the general public.

Sometimes they don't really know sometimes what we do in here. But it became a

point if you explained to them that the budget was introduced, but it has to be

debated and passed and what have you.

Any

changes announced in the budget are simply what they are, announcements, until

they're actually voted on. After which they become part of our budget document

and it's in force throughout the province.

One of

my commentaries became common at a lot of doors, and people mentioned to me. I

said this budget should have been their red book, if this is what they were

campaigning on, in essence. When the election was done if government had

changed, our party would have introduced our own budget anyway. Which, in

hindsight, when we look at the Parliament we got now with a minority government

and all sides are trying to negotiate some kind of changes or improvements to

the budget from whatever perspective we look at, maybe that would've been the

right approach. Maybe we should have looked at it that way and then we could've

had a more collaborative approach right now since the election, because we're

back and forth in somewhat of a negotiation anyway that's been reported over the

last week or more.

Maybe

that's where we should've been. We should've sat down and done Interim Supply

which we're doing now, had some more time and introduced a budget that kind of

meets all needs of all Members in this House in the fall sitting. But, of

course, that's not where we are and the budget was introduced last week as it

was already originally introduced in April, which brings us to where we are now

and we're funding Interim Supply to buy us more time to get the budget document

in place and passed, obviously. If the budget doesn't pass, we've got a bigger

problem out there then with a new election, which I don't think anybody wants,

by the way. But it is a reality we face and it's what you live with in a

minority government.

Some

aspects of this budget, there are good things. I don't think, as a whole, this

is a horrendous budget, but I want to remind people the same things that came in

in 2016 that almost cost the current administration power, is still in the

budget. All those tax and fee increases, those 300 taxes and fees, they're still

there. So they never changed them. In 2019 we're hearing what was there in 2016

and it's still there. The levy will go next year, the insurance tax on auto is

being eliminated but it's still there for home and commercial. HST increase is

still there. All the other fees associated with everything from drivers'

licences, you name it, it's crippling the economy. The gas tax is still there –

it's no longer a gas tax, now it's a carbon tax, but it's still 4 cents on gas,

5.5 on diesel. It's still there, and the list goes on. That's what people care

about.

colleague for Conception Bay East - Bell Island brought up today, our Opposition

House Leader here, the 1.6 busing. We heard that, I know I heard it, door after

door after door, 'cause I got a lot of young families. I have the second largest

municipality in the province outside the city, obviously one of the

fastest-growing areas in the province, and my colleague for Topsail - Paradise

shares the same problems in a new growing area, and Paradise especially and

parts of CBS, these young families, they want busing. They have young children;

they're being affected by this policy. If my district was more older-based with

a lot more seniors it probably wouldn't be such a big issue, but in my district

that's the issues.

I say

this – and I know my colleague, the Minister of Education, has heard me say this

many, many times – my voice is the people's voice. The people who we represent

in our district, those are the people that matter. It's not my issue. My

children don't require a school bus anymore. I have no skin in the game

personally; it's an issue that I think is very important to the people that I

represent. I've heard it and I continue to hear it, and I'll continue to

advocate for it. Every opportunity I get to stand in this House, regardless of

the budget or whatever opportunity, whatever relevance or leeway the Speaker or

this Chair is going to give me in this House, I'm not going to miss the

opportunity to remind people of my opposition and my passion against the

1.6-busing policy.

I will

not give up on it and I think everyone here in this House by now should realize

that every opportunity that's available, I will bring it up. I do encourage the

minister – I mean, again, I might repeat this, we have a good relationship – to

seriously consider, outside of what's happening in other provinces, what other

places – I get you do cross-jurisdictional scans. I get all that; I really do.

This

issue in this province, in those districts that are affected by it, it's a very

personal issue. It's your children. Again it's your most valuable resource we

have. A child walking the road has to come first. Forget what happens in other

provinces. I don't think the cost is where you say it is or officials say it is,

I really don't and I think it should be analyzed better, broken down, look at

whatever districts are required. Not every place needs this extra busing. There

are some areas this is a non-issue. Some areas it might only be one bus, maybe

two buses here and there.

When you

put a blanket approach and you say we need this many buses for every district,

that's not accurate. I think that needs to be done, a more forensic look, dig

down and figure out the exact cost because I believe if we compare apples to

apples and we sat down and said this is the actual cost, I think the

conversation will change. Right now we're looking at $8 million or $10 million

cost and everyone goes, whoa, but that's not where it's to. I respectfully ask

you to get your –

AN HON. MEMBER:

That's what I asked for.

MR. PETTEN:

Right – and get to that

point, Mr. Chair. The minister rightfully points out he asked for that in the

petition section, but I just want to remind and reaffirm that's why we've

struggled with the comeback we've gotten from the department the last couple of

years. Those numbers don't jive with our numbers and we want to see a better

breakdown of numbers then we can talk, have a serious conversation.

I still

believe that, at the end of the day, it's going to be hard for any official in

any department, especially the Department of Education and Early Childhood

Development, to go against our rationale that this policy needs to be adjusted

and it's not going to break us. It's not going to bankrupt the province. At the

end of the day, we're going to have children going to be safe, which is

ultimately what we all should aspire to do.

Mr.

Chair, back to some of the budget items and (inaudible) budget items. The budget

was brought in on the Tuesday; we were gone to the polls on a Wednesday. I heard

it after every door I went to, I heard some form or another – and when I look at

every door, every door that had any negative remarks it was: They never gave you

much time; pretty rushed. What's going on? No one had time to get ready. I don't

think that's fair.

Those

were some of the statements – not my statements; these were what people told me.

I'm sure Members opposite, because I see a couple of people smiling, heard the

same thing I would say. It felt like it was rushed, and I always said incumbency

protects you to a degree, that in a rushed election like that with a short time,

the incumbent always got the advantage. Incumbents usually have an advantage in

any election. It's not always a guarantee of winning but you're always prepared

or you should be prepared. I'll be the first to say, I was ready. I was as ready

probably as anyone in this House was ready, but I can't speak for the other, I

don't know, 70 or 80 extra over and above incumbents here – I believe about 120.

So maybe

if there were 80 new people or 70, whatever the numbers are, they were not

ready. I knew it, I seen it. We never had all our nominations done, but if you

want to do things fair and square and across the board, and to be honest, to be

open and let everyone have a fair, honest analysis of what they have to pick for

our democracy, why not give them more time?

When it

comes to the budget, why not debate the budget and let it pass. Then go to the

polls on your budget, then throw it out there: This is our budget – not a

document that we were led to believe in the pageantry of a budget announcement

here. The minister stood one day for two, 2½ hours and introduced the budget

with all the bells and whistles, but, at the end of the day, that was just an

introduction to the red book. It wasn't the budget document.

Now,

it's been introduced last week. Okay, now it's a budget document, but it was a

blueprint, or in the red book it was their blueprint. That's where people get –

that has frustrated people, Mr. Chair.

I've

stood in this House and I've repeatedly said it over and over again, the

electorate are pretty knowledgeable people. You cannot fool the electorate. I've

said over and over again as well that when election time comes, the electorate

will tell you what their feelings are. This government came very, very close to

losing power. I'm telling you, by the closest of margins when you look at the

numbers.

We're a

minority now, it could have easily been flipped around this House. Why? Because

you never listened to the people. Ultimately, this is where you lose focus. No

matter what stripe is in government: blue, red, whatever, orange, if you lose

sight of the people that you represent, you're in big trouble. I've said it,

we've said. There was a small group over here, seven people, and we got up

repeatedly, repeatedly, we kept saying the same thing.

Back in

2016, there was a filibuster in this House and we got up over and over again,

and Hansard will dictate the same

commentary: You better respect the people, people will not forget this. Do you

know what? They never forgot it, but as it turned out, good on the government

opposite, they pulled it off. Even though, like I say, it's a minority, but

don't lost sight of the fact that people's voices matter.

People

are concerned. People care about insulin pumps. People care about 1.6 busing.

People care about the levy. People care that they pay an extra carbon tax. These

things matter to people, Mr. Chair, they matter. Yet, I'm still seeing – there's

probably a willingness to agree now, to negotiate, or to be more receptive to

what we have to say, but I don't know if we're there yet. I don't know if we're

there yet.

We want

to work on a collaborative approach, but here's the budget we presented in

April, no changes. That's the collaborative approach. By the way, we're not

changing anything but we want to be collaborative. We can't afford to bring in

that crowd's options, because we want to be collaborative. Think about that.

That was said. I'm only repeating what was said publicly. That's exactly what

was said.

response when I heard it said publicly; I said, well, that's pretty good. You

want to work with us, you want to be collaborative. We're all in this together.

We're all here, everyone is happy and it's one big happy family, but we're not

changing anything. No, no., but we're going to tell everyone we're going to work

together and be collaborative.

There

are 15 districts in this caucus. There are two, possibly three more in the Third

Party, and there are two independents. Those people matter. Those districts

matter. Those concerns matter.

This

side of the House never voted for the status quo, Mr. Chair. They voted for

change. They voted for issues that are important on this side of the House. They

didn't like what they saw over there. Why shouldn't some of the issues from this

side of the House be taken into consideration when you're bringing in a budget?

If you're doing a collaborative approach –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. PETTEN:

– why not take all of our

concerns into account? Instead of having a Blue Book or a red book to come out

in a budget, let's have a new budget document that takes all of our

considerations into account. Is that what collaboration is about? At least

that's what I think it's about. I think no one in this House can dispute that

that's what collaboration is meant to be.

We had a

private Member's resolution last Wednesday, and we collaborated. We actually

came to the floor and there was collaboration, because government had their

issues, the Third Party had issues. We introduced the motion. At the end of the

day, we all collectively came to an agreement: send it back to Standing Orders

with some changes. And that was a good exercise. It's the first time I've seen

it since I've been elected, that we actually collaborated and we made a

difference. We can actually agree for the betterment.

A budget

document is no different. We never once asked for the budget to increase

spending. That was the accusation made. We can reallocate some monies within

that budget to make some of our asks realistic. We also realize every one of our

asks are not realistically going to be probably given this year. We're not

looking for the world. We're looking, though, to be treated fairly.

Again,

Mr. Chair, it's not about me, or the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell

Island. It's not about us. It's not about the Member for Harbour Main. It's

about the people we represent. I'll continue to say that as well, because that's

never lost on me.

When you

go to the doors and you knock on the doors and you ask for their support again,

they remember. They knew if you up for them. They know if you cared about their

concerns. That's what matters to people, and I can't say that enough.

politics – and I've been a political junky all my life and I've followed

politics at all levels – that's where people lose their way, because it becomes

about them. The minute it becomes about you, you've lost your way and people

will punish you for it. If you always keep focused and realize what you're here

for, what we're all elected to do – we come in here, we're Members for different

areas for a reason, because those people put us here.

They

have stuff they'd like to see in that budget. Why not? Why not, Mr. Chair? Why

can't we do that? But, no, we're going to be collaborative, but we're not making

any changes. That's what we get back.

Again,

the public hears that. People in my district heard that. I'm sure people all

across the way heard that. What's so wrong with collaborating with us? Your

actions have to match your words, Mr. Chair. Saying words is fine and dandy.

I'll go

back in my final seconds and remind the sitting government today, people are

listening, people are wise, and people are not fooled anymore. We have a very

smart electorate that pay attention. They read the news. Believe it or not, some

of them actually watch this. I learned that during the election, too. There are

people who actually tune in to the House of Assembly channel on a daily basis,

which I think is nice, because at least they get a better flavour of what's

happening outside of QP.

So, in

saying that, Mr. Chair, I thank you for your time, and I do hope government

takes some consideration and look at things in a more broader scope, because

we're all represented here evenly across both sides of the House and we should

be given that consideration.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's

nice to be back in the Legislature, back into the 49th sitting of the annual

General Assembly. I look forward now to 10 minutes, which is going to fly by way

too fast, to talk about why I'm proud to support the budget.

First,

I'd be remiss if I didn't say congratulations to all hon. Members of this House

on all sides. Whether you've got a small, mighty team or a large team, running a

campaign can be a daunting task, raising money and getting volunteers together.

You go out and you do your best. You put your name on a ballot because, I

believe, you think that you can make a difference in representing your little

corner of the world, Mr. Chair.

I've

just been through three elections, '13, '15 and now '19, and a hotly-contested

nomination in '14. So maybe I can call it four times, and it's always very,

very, very humbling. I've gone in with a pretty strong mandate every time, and

it's very humbling when people invest of their time on your campaign, but most

especially when the electorate puts their faith in you, Mr. Chair. There are

hardly any words to describe what that feels like and that never gets old on

election night. I'd be remiss if I didn't, like some of my colleagues, thank my

family. Without my husband and my daughter, I don't think I could have had the

outcome that I did. There are a lot of family sacrifices that come with public

life, Mr. Chair. There's a lot of time on the road.

If you

represent a district like I do and you go home on the weekend, that means that I

got on a plane here Friday morning after a meeting and I flew into my district,

and I worked until about 8 o'clock in my constituency office and then I drove

three hours north. Coming back yesterday, that means I get in my vehicle and I

drive 275 k back to the airport and I'm on a plane for 2½ hours, and I land and

I go to work like I did last night. Having said all that, it is a tremendous

privilege to serve the public, Mr. Chair.

The

budget this year was called Working

Towards A Brighter Future . I have to say, since we started this sitting and

we're only into our second week I look around – I'm only in public life not

quite six years but the changes that I've seen in this Legislature in less than

six years is unbelievable. It fits with one of my quotes: The only thing

constant is change. And that's true of this hon. House; the only thing constant

has been change.

I joined

a team of maybe six of us in Opposition when I came in 2013. I was the only

female on that team for quite some time. Then we went on and we worked very hard

and we won seven by-elections. I never aspired to be where I am, unlike my

colleague for Carbonear - Trinity - Bay de Verde who I think in his yearbook he

wanted to be an MHA. I never aspired to be here, Mr. Chair, but coming from the

Coast of Labrador and I guess always being a little bit vocal and advocating for

things when the opportunity opened up, when now MP Jones moved on, a bunch of

people reached out and said you should put your name on a ballot.

There

were a lot of things we did not have in the District of Cartwright - L'Anse au

Clair. We got some things, Mr. Chair, while I was in Opposition. Then we formed

government and things were not good. My former – I'm looking at the Conception

Bay East - Bell Island. He was good to me; he was the minister of Transportation

and we got some crushed stone and things like that. We were working

collaboratively back then, but recognition is not always given to that.

formed government and we thought we had a billion-dollar deficit; we had a

$2.7-billion deficit. Things were really difficult. In Cartwright - L'Anse au

Clair, Mr. Chair, the investment it was unbelievable, a brighter future. We

formed government in 2015, and from '15 to '19 Labrador has never seen

investment in its history like it did under this Liberal government; $175

million or $171 million federal-provincial in the Trans-Labrador Highway.

When I

started representing this hon. House in 2013, I left my community and I was

driving on gravel road for the first couple of hundred kilometres on my way to

the airport. When I did hit pavement it was 40-year-old, very dilapidated

pavement. Now, as of just last season, we had 122 kilometres of new pavement. It

never gets old for me. When I land at the airport and I'm driving home – and

it's something that most of the rest of the province took for granted. Who's

excited because when they're travelling through their district they're driving

on pavement? Well, I can tell you it was refreshing for me.

We were

very, very challenged with our broadband communications. I stood in the

Opposition for two years and I was on my feet every single day presenting

petitions about how challenged we were around telecommunications. We had hotels

that couldn't log online, very basic things, unless it was somewhere after

midnight and before 5 a.m., to see what tour buses and groups were looking to

book into their establishment. In January of '18, the largest broadband

announcement in all of Atlantic Canada was made in my district, $12.6 million,

and that was another project that the province was happy to partner with the

federal government on.

There

was very little cell coverage in my district. Just last November, November 18,

the Premier came up and we were very happy to announce a partnership, my

colleague from TCII was there, and the president of NunatuKavut and the chair of

Nunacor, and we went into Red Bay, a beautiful little community in my district,

World Heritage UNESCO Site, home of the Basque whalers, and we announced

cellular for six communities, Red Bay and five other communities a little

further north, and we're hoping that's going to come in June. Amazing progress

and we're not talking years and years, from 2015 up to 2019.

A new

ferry went on, the Qajaq W went on

this winter, bit of a rough start, very heavy Arctic ice, and there were

questions in this hon. House, and why is the boat not capable of following an

icebreaker and things like that. I had the privilege to get all dressed up and

get on one of these little helicopters, go out and spend some time on one of the

icebreakers and I got to see first-hand what the ice conditions were like in the

Strait of Belle Isle. I never saw anything like it in my life, when the Coast

Guard was bringing up solid and having to go back and go forward.

What's

happening now, Mr. Chair, now that the ice is gone, that ferry is running pretty

much on

schedule every single day and we're getting lovely emails and feedback.

No vehicles are being left behind because we have the increased capacity from

240 to 300 passengers. We have increased our commercial traffic, and we have

increased our passenger capacity.

So, I've

had the opportunity to make the first run myself and everybody that I talked to

was talking about the new ship, how quiet the vessel is, and it's all been very

positive, Mr. Chair. We've waited a long time for that.

In many

regards, Labrador is now only opening up to the rest of the world, Mr. Chair.

Tourists want to come. Our numbers are at record levels and, as we build our

infrastructure, as the road gets completed to Goose Bay, people are going to

come in through on the Northern Peninsula and leave down through Lab West on the

Quebec side at the other end and not have to circle back.

I told

the story many times about an old guy that I ran into in my community in

Charlottetown. He was down changing a tire on the gravel road in his fancy

motorhome. I said you didn't mind taking that thing down here. He said we've

wanted to see your part of the world all our lives. I'm 83. He said the wife is

over 80, and we're out of time. So they came. Just imagine what's going to come.

That's just an indication.

I'm

looking at the Member for Cape St. Francis who visited my district last year and

he thoroughly enjoyed it. So, Mr. Chair, there's more of that. There are so many

things I could talk about, what we have done as a government for communities of

mine like water and sewer, like fire and emergency services, like putting fire

trucks into communities, like putting community buildings in, working in

partnership with people like NunatuKavut Community Council, like working with

the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company Limited who is an absolute model

for success I believe that this whole province can look at.

Mr.

Chair, there are so many things. I could spend all afternoon talking about the

good things that a Liberal government have done for Labrador, have done for the

people that I represent in the beautiful District of Cartwright – L'Anse au

Clair and it is for all of these reasons, as we continue to finish the

Trans-Labrador Highway, that's a high priority, and to continue to invest in

communities, I am more than happy to support

Budget 2019 because we want to continue to build on the success that

we've seen in recent years.

Thank

you again for the opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

MS. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

It's an

honour to represent the people of the District of Harbour Main in the House of

Assembly. I want to thank the people for electing me. I feel privileged and

proud to serve on their behalf. I'm also proud to be a part of this caucus with

so many talented and dedicated representatives from all across this great

province. Our caucus, under the distinguished leadership of the Member for

Windsor Lake, will work hard to ensure that each of their districts realizes its

full potential and also holds this government accountable.

The

District of Harbour Main represents a portion of Conception Bay South,

Conception Bay Centre and a portion of Conception Bay North – all picturesque,

scenic, historic and undeniably beautiful places to live. Because of our

proximity to St. John's, many of our residents commute on a daily basis for work

purposes and post-secondary education. Our proximity to many of our major

industrial sites like Come by Chance, Long Harbour, Bull Arm and Argentia

provides employment to our hard-working tradespeople whose skills, training,

background and wealth of experience is recognized by all provincially,

nationally and worldwide.

The

potential in our region is vast and unlimited but, unfortunately, at the present

time, it's untapped and underutilized, so there are indeed important issues that

need to be addressed. First of all, let's talk about jobs, not only in my

district but in the whole province. We are seeing skilled, qualified

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians not getting the jobs they are qualified to

hold, being overlooked and displaced in favour of outside workers;

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians not getting the first option or opportunities;

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians watching as outsiders take the coveted

positions they deserve.

Mr.

Chair, I heard these concerns repeatedly, these frustrations at the doorstep

during the election campaign and I continue to hear these concerns, as I meet my

constituents and the workers throughout the towns and communities in which I

reside.

Also of

particular importance are issues that I've heard relating to our seniors. The

sad reality in our province today is we have a changing demographic. More and

more, our population proportionately has a growing number of seniors and

decreasing number of births, so our health care policy must reflect that change

in our society. We need a broad and all-encompassing outlook on the health of

our citizens. So isn't it true, Mr. Chair, our quality of life is very much

determined by the quality of our health? Quality health care means reducing wait

times for surgeries, for example, making emergency rooms more efficient. Mr.

Chair, I heard those concerns from our senior citizens at the door and continue

to hear them day to day.

Access

to quality health care for seniors is suffering and, Mr. Chair, our seniors are

struggling. That was made loud and clear as I campaigned in the District of

Harbour Main. We must always look for ways to support our seniors and not only

support and care for them, they must be made a priority. Sadly, I've heard from

the people in the District of Harbour Main that that is not the case now, nor

had it been under the current administration.

So not

only seniors though, Mr. Chair, many of the constituents of Harbour Main told me

that they are struggling to make ends meet. They are overtaxed. Excessive

taxation was a common complaint that I've heard. They're taxed to death. They

want to eliminate the levy immediately – not prior to the legislated date,

immediately. It is a regressive tax. Even the government's own Independent Tax

Review Committee acknowledged that.

Nor can

the people afford to live with the sales tax on homeowner's insurance, along

with the sales tax on car insurance. We know that the money people save on

insurance tax and the levy will be reinvested ultimately in the economy and this

will generate economic activity, jobs and revenue.

Mr.

Chair, I've also heard loudly and clearly from the people in the District of

Harbour Main that we need to remove the age cap to ensure Medicare covers the

cost of insulin pumps for all persons with Type 1 diabetes, not just current

users of insulin pumps – a real concern for people that I've met in the District

of Harbour Main. This investment in access to care will produce long-term

benefits for people and savings for the province in the long run.

course, as has been mentioned already by my colleagues, another very pressing

issue in the District of Harbour Main is the 1.6-kilometre school busing policy.

We cannot put a price on the safety of our children. Why, Mr. Chair, is this

policy still in place in view of the real and present risk that it presents to

our children? Many of our schools, particularly in rural districts like my

District of Harbour Main, have schools in areas that require children to walk on

dangerous highways simply because they live within the 1.6-kilometre regulation.

Mr.

Chair, finally looking at Budget 2019 ,

what's behind the numbers? We all heard from our Finance critic, the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port, in his response to the budget. He described the

real decline what actually is happening in our communities and our cities and

towns in Newfoundland and Labrador. And it's not just numbers and statistics; it

is young people leaving, families leaving, ultimately a future slipping away.

The loss of people in our province is a critical problem. By 2036 if we do

nothing, according to the Population Project at Memorial University, our

population could fall to under 470,000 people, from 525,355. This will not be

enough of a workforce to sustain the services at current levels.

Mr.

Chair, we are a province so rich, so rich in opportunity, so rich in resources,

so rich in our people, but most of all, rich in our most valuable resource: our

young people. As a university teacher for the past number of years, I witnessed

first-hand in the classroom the talented, qualified, exceptional young

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who have to leave this province to seek job

opportunities elsewhere. Young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are

concerned – they're worried about jobs, about the economy, about the high

unemployment rate, about the crippling debt. We need to ensure that our young

people can find opportunities at home. We need to foster an entrepreneurial

environment so that our youth can stay here and prosper.

addition to my duty as MHA for the people of Harbour Main, it is also an honour

to have been appointed Justice and Public Safety critic, as well as critic for

the Status of Women – important portfolios which I shall carefully examine,

question, scrutinize and critique in accordance with the responsibilities and

expectations that goes along with such a responsibility as being critic in the

Official Opposition.

Mr.

Chair, we must find ways to create an environment whereby our young people want

to stay. We must nourish an environment and support and foster an environment

that is positive in that regard.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll

just stand and have a few words on the Interim Supply and let people know that

Interim Supply is just in case the budget don't get passed by the end of June,

that all the duties of the employees, payments that the government would have to

make and payments to the employees, will continue on. This is just a measure in

case the full budget is not approved, so we're debating what they call Interim

Supply to make sure that there is no services cut and every employee will

receive their benefit.

Before I

go on, I just want to thank the people of Humber - Bay of Islands for their

support. When people know in the last year, year and a half, the situation that

I was in and decided to run as an independent and win with almost 70 per cent,

it's a true testimony to the people that they know the work that you do, what a

person does, so to all the residents in Humber - Bay of Islands, all the people

who supported me, I thank you very much.

I'll

just get into, briefly, the three concerns that I heard in the district. One is

the hospital, and I'm glad to hear from the Premier that an announcement is

going to be made in the next couple of weeks. Number two is try to get as many

local workers as we can on the hospital, and I'm encouraged by the minister that

he's aiming at 90 per cent or higher. And the third thing that I'll speak of

very briefly today, but I've got a lot more to say later, is the way I've been

treated in a year, year and a half.

When you

get a Mrs. Mighton, 92 years old, standing at the door and say, I'm some vexed

at them women and that Ball man. When you get Fred and Nancy Carbury, good

friends who never got political, when I knocked on their door and seen them out

in the garden, and they said don't give up – don't give up, we can't let

injustice be served in this province. So I will go on further about that later

because that's a personal thing that they insisted. And I have to say, Dale

Kirby was out with me for four days door-knocking, and I'm glad he was, because

it was good at least for him to see people out in the district talking about how

we all got to be treated fairly in this House of Assembly, and I'm glad Dale

came out and I'm glad he saw face to face what people really thought and said.

I won't

get into it because it's a sideline for me, but I will continue on and I will

follow up and I just give you an example: text messages from Mark Browne. There

was a certain individual on the phone when Mark Browne called me about the text

messages, and I hope that when this is made public, I hope that individual is

going to have the courage to stand up, because there was another witness on the

phone. When the Premier stood up publicly and said there's no foundation to

this, we're going to find out what foundation there was, but, anyway that's just

some of the incidents that happened.

We all

talk about we have to have a respectful workplace here. Just imagine, I just say

to anybody, respectful workplace, just imagine if one of your colleagues sent

another colleague a text and it said: For eff's sake, you can't believe a word

he says. Is the cyberbullying?

How

about they turned around and say: Well, I feel like smacking him up the side of

the head – the budget was announced March 27, the allegations started April 8

after – but when I get those millions, he's getting some smack then. Is that

cyberbullying?

That's

what I had to face by the way, just to let everybody know. Anyway, on the

District of Bay of Islands, I'm just glad the hospital is going to continue on

and I'm glad that we're going to get 90 per cent local workers also.

Mr.

Chair, I was speaking to the Minister of Transportation and Works about a lot of

the roadwork that needs to be done on Route 450. The minister has agreed that we

will sit down and he will come out and have a look at it. Part of it is due to

the flooding that we had. There was some major work that had to be done in the

John's Beach area and the Frenchman's Cove area. Because the weather came early

last year in late October, early November, they couldn't complete the work, so

that work is started again this year.

It's no

good now to just go do the pavement because a lot of that is going to be tore up

anyway so the minister has agreed, and I thank the Minister of Transportation,

for that commitment to come out and have a look and see what he can do to help

out with Route 450 in the south shore of the Bay of Islands.

Capital

works is also another big issue in the district. I just want to just let

everybody know that there will be an announcement soon according to the minister

– according to Gudie Hutchings, some of the announcements made for the West

Coast. I don't think any of us from the West Coast can attend because of House

of Assembly is open, but there will be some announcements made with some of the

funding that was approved. I'm assuming then, for all the province, that all the

Members will be made (inaudible).

We hear

in this House, we're talk about collaboration, and it surprises me – it actually

surprises me. I always thought we always collaborated. Sure we get up and we

have our different points of view but if people in the general public were here

– and I know when I was the minister, how many times we had meetings with people

in the Opposition. Sometimes we disagree and we get up on our feet and we do

disagree on issues and points and that's

part it, but the majority of times

people always work together in this House.

Do you

see how many times there are people on this side over talking to the government

Members and government Members over talking to the Opposition? Not only because

the Liberals are in power, but when the PC government was in power, I worked

well with Kevin O'Brien. I worked very well. Darin King, I worked very well with

Darin King. So this idea that there's no collaboration in this House, that we're

always fighting and bickering, that's just not true. We always work well

together – always.

I asked

the Member for Cape St. Francis: How many times was he in my office? I remember

what we did on Bell Island, the big water treatment that you needed done, the

Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island, and the same thing happened to me

when we needed funding down our way. It's the same thing. There's always

collaboration. Sometimes when we disagree on points that don't mean that we're

not working together. We are working together.

So I

feel very strong that the government will maintain its power for a while and I'm

sure there's going to be a lot of to and fro. There are going to be a lot of

differences, but I know from the people of Humber - Bay of Islands who bring

their concerns to me and I'll bring them to the House of Assembly, they have no

worry that I will be speaking up and I will be working with the government to

better the District of Humber - Bay of Islands, and I will continue to do that

as I've done for many years.

Mr.

Chair, there's one thing that I find very strange in this House is that when you

go speak to a government Member and you feel that you're not being listened to,

you speak up and all of a sudden there's a bit of friction, that's not always

the case. A lot of times you have to speak up to let people know that you're

raising these issues. And a good one for me, a great one for me, and not from me

but I wish it was just resolved, are the workers in the hospital in Corner

Brook.

If I had

a commitment today that the workers in the hospital will be hired on somewhere

across the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador to go through the local trades

people – I know the iron workers up in the Member's district, the iron workers,

what they are saying give us – we always got a local preference. We'll do what

we can to help out. That's not a lot to ask. It's not a lot to ask.

And

there may be discussions in it about the cost and you may have to travel. If you

have to travel away and you don't have to pay for that travel, you don't have to

pay the accommodations when you're away, what would that equal to if you stayed

home? So that's an easy $5 to $10 taken off the bill if you got local people

staying home. That's the way that we worked it out last year with the iron

workers and the company.

The iron

workers, to give them credit, they were going to put in an extra $100,000. So

these are the big differences that I find on how we can collaborate and work

together and I look forward to that.

I know

in the capital works area, Mr. Chair, there are still areas in Lark Harbour with

no water and sewer, absolutely none. Now, partly it's due to back in the '90s,

when they were offered funds, they wouldn't take funding. They had a plebiscite

and said no, we don't want water and sewer. So partly, it is their own doing,

but now we can see a lot of funds going into the Town of Lark Harbour and

they're very pleased.

I was

down to a seniors' party this week and they couldn't be happier that the tender

was let because the community hall, at times, runs out of water. We all know the

value of a community hall in a town. There are weddings there. That's where you

have your firemen's ball. That's where you have a lot of functions. The seniors,

a lot of the town councillors, a lot of the youth that's where they all go. So

they're very pleased with that.

I'd be

remiss if I didn't mention all the volunteers in the Humber - Bay of Islands,

all the first responders, a lot of community groups, recreation groups that work

so hard for the town. I know that we work with government themselves to help

out. And I shouldn't say this but I was just dealing with the minister for a

JCP. I can't make the announcement but I think the Town of Humber Arm South will

be very pleased that they'll be getting a JCP to help with the community garden

and things around.

That's

the type of collaboration, that's the type of things that's going to benefit the

community and bring the youth involved. So we're looking forward to that

announcement and, hopefully, the funding will be approved soon.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair, and I look forward to rising again.

CHAIR:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters - Pleasantville.

MR. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm very

happy to rise in this House of Assembly again today to speak about

Budget 2019:

Working towards a brighter future . I'd like to thank the hon. Member

for Humber - Bay of Islands for trumping the announcement here today, but that's

good. We're happy to work together with all Members in the House of Assembly to

try to get good projects out of the door for people in our community.

First of

all, Mr. Chair, this is the first time I've had the opportunity to get up and

speak during debate since the election happened. So I just want to say a huge

thank you to the people of Virginia Waters - Pleasantville for entrusting me

with this fantastic honour again. I will try to do my very best not to

disappoint.

I also

owe a few thank-yous to the volunteers, many of whom are friends and family.

When they started as volunteers, they definitely became friends of mine

throughout the campaign. They gave so tirelessly of their time and talent. As we

all know, none of us in this House would be here if it was not for the fantastic

individuals that gave so freely of their time, so thank you very much to people

who helped me in my district and to the people who helped my colleagues and the

Opposition and my colleagues from across the other side of the House.

I would

also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to two individuals that were

candidates in Virginia Waters - Pleasantville again this year. I'd just like to

say a big thank you them for the hard-fought campaign and clean campaign that

they ran as well. I wish them the best of luck in all their future endeavours

and I know we haven't heard the last of those two strong women in our future as

well.

Like

many of us in this House, I wear a couple of hats, but the most important hat I

wear, as always, is the MHA for the historic District of Virginia Waters -

Pleasantville. And I always say historic because it has existed since 2015, and

I was very excited that it was created. I've had the pleasure of representing –

and some may argue in this House – the best district and people in this

province. I know that will spark debate, but I always say that's for sure the

best people in this province.

Being an

MHA is all about people, and many of us have said that many times in this House.

Being out in the community, working with your schools and organizations to help

them in some small way make our communities a better place to live and work and

raise a family is very, very important to each and every one of us.

I could

not agree more with the Member for Bonavista, as well as the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development, that children need sports

infrastructure near their school grounds. That was a very good point made by my

colleagues, and I'm excited that I was able to, and pleased to, work with some

community groups in my district such as the St. Paul's track and field complex

group. This group have been working for a track and field complex for more than

15 years, and I'm so excited that we will be making an announcement in a very

short while about that.

Also, a

new playground for East Point Elementary to the tune of $80,000 – this

investment is not only for the students, but also for the entire community,

something we can all be proud of. East Point Elementary does fantastic work,

like many of our schools, but they have a unique aspect. There's so much more

diversity in this school. More than 17 different countries are represented in

that school family.

While

I'm talking about schools, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize and say a huge

thank you to the students that voted for me in this past election under Student

Vote NL. I was so impressed that I had all my schools in my district

participate: Mary Queen of Peace Elementary, East Point Elementary, Vanier

Elementary, as well as St. Paul's Junior High. I think this program –

MR. LANE:

(Inaudible.)

MR. DAVIS:

Sorry?

MR. LANE:

Who did they vote for?

MR. DAVIS:

Oh, en masse, en masse.

I think

this program is a perfect way to encourage young people to get involved in the

political process and take an interest. I was so humbled to receive such a

strong mandate from these students, and I promised that I'm not going to let

them down as well. And the hon. Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands was razzing

me about that, but I think he would've got a good number from his schools out

that way too.

encourage every resident of Virginia Waters - Pleasantville that may have an

issue to please reach out to my office any time and I will do everything I

possibly can to support you to get some resolution to those issues that you may