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May 10,

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 25

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

I'd like

to welcome to the Speaker's gallery today Mr. Robert Gosse and former Premier

Beaton Tulk.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements today we have the Members for Conception Bay South, St.

George's Humber, St. John's Centre, Baie Verte Green Bay and Fogo Island

Cape Freels.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today to inform my hon. colleagues about an exceptional individual from my

district who was named Conception Bay South 2015 Citizen of the Year. Recently,

I had the pleasure of attending the Conception Bay South Lions Club 45th

anniversary Charter Night where the award was presented to Mr. Robert T. Dawe.

Robert

is a former teacher of Queen Elizabeth Regional High school and also served as

public speaking and debating in regional, provincial and national levels. He

coached students for a provincial heritage award, composed plays, poems and

songs for celebrations and official openings.

Robert

authored the Prentice Hall publisher's school textbook

Resourcelines used in Newfoundland and Labrador and across Canada to

assist in improving students' reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing

skills. He is a member of the Vestry, People's Warden and presently serves as

the Eucharistic assistant at St. John the Evangelist Church, Topsail. Robert,

along with the committee, helped raise funds to install and dedicate 17

stained-glass church windows; each window being unique and telling a Biblical

story.

congratulate Robert for his commitment and achievements and ask all hon. Members

to join with me in recognizing his contribution to our community and this

province.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for St. George's

Humber.

MR. REID:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today to pay tribute to Patricia Farrell who has been Canada's number one

women's dart player for the last two years. Patricia Farrell now has her eyes

set on the World Masters tournament in London, England, where she will

participate against the best in the world this fall. No woman from Canada has

earned the World Masters title before. She is thrilled about the opportunity to

represent Canada and to play amongst the best in the world.

Patricia

has been playing darts for a long time, and 2016 marks her 30th year at

national-level competition. She knows playing against the world's best will be

intimidating. In fact, it isn't her first shot at it. She attended the World

Masters several times in the past and has placed in the top 16.

This

invitation to the World Masters is really exciting for Patricia. This has been a

good year for her. She has attended a lot of tournaments and had much practice.

So this year will be her best chance to be the best in the world in her field.

I ask

all Members to join with me in wishing Patricia Farrell all the best in her

quest to be the best women's dart player in the world.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for St. John's

Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

weekend saw the annual Atlantic Journalism Awards ceremony in Halifax and as

usual, Newfoundland and Labrador newsrooms came away with well-deserved gold and

silver awards for all our major media outlets.

I would

like to give particular recognition to a journalist who is a long-time resident

of St. John's Centre. Barb Sweet won gold in feature writing for print for her

intriguingly titled story Down the maggot hole.

And a

well-deserved award it was. The suspenseful story of a man saving himself from

what looked certain death enthralled readers from the across the country and

sparked interest in the safety issues surrounding abandoned septic tanks.

Barb

Sweet is no stranger to recognition for her work. In her more than 20 years at

The Telegram , she has won many

Atlantic Journalism Awards and several national awards, including a National

Newspaper Award in 2013 for her series on the ongoing fallout of the Mount

Cashel sex abuse scandal.

Her work

is compassionate yet hard hitting. She cares a lot and asks tough questions. Her

stories have caused investigations, changes to policy and discussion in this

House.

Bravo to

Barb and to all other local winners at this year's Atlantic Journalism Awards.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Baie

Verte Green Bay.

MR. WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to recap a thrilling championship tournament recently hosted

in my district.

The 2A

Boys Ball Hockey championship was hosted at Valmont Academy in King's Point

between May 5 and May 7. Nine teams participated in this tournament, hailing

from every corner of our province. It was an amazing event from start to finish.

The host

team, the Valmont Academy Vikings, came away with the championship after an

undefeated record of 5 wins, no losses. The championship came down to the final

seconds as the Vikings staved off the Main River Academy Warriors in the all

Central West final to a score of 7-6.

The

Vikings were victorious and celebrated with a motorcade that ran through town.

Coaches Adam Matthews and Stephen Earle credit the win to the hard work and

determination of the platers. The team, Brenden Keats, Matthew Burt, Skyler

Budgell, Brandon Burt, Douglas Squires, Jordan Janes, Kobe Welshman, Nicholas

Warr, Riley Burt, Colten Warford and Kaelan Rideout are to be commended for

their fine play and sportsmanship. Great job as always, Valmont Academy!

I ask

all my hon. colleagues to join me in congratulating them on their win.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Fogo

Island Cape Freels.

MR. BRAGG:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is

with great sadness that I rise in this hon. House to pay my final respects to a

constituent of mine who passed far too soon.

Suzanne

Brown of Badger's Quay died on Saturday, April 30, in a car accident at the age

of 37. She was a courageous and well-loved young woman who overcame countless

medical obstacles that challenged her from birth onwards.

Her

family describes her as a young woman who loved local music and puzzles, dollar

stores and board games. But, they say, her real love was bingo. Suzanne helped

her mom and dad with Beothic Arena bingo over a number of summers. More

recently, she was very fond of Monday night bingo in Centreville.

She

loved Special Olympics bowling, which took place at the Badger's Quay Lions

Club. She loved her fellow Special Olympians and their families even more. Her

community is deeply saddened by her tragic passing.

I ask

all Members of this hon. House to join me in celebrating the life of Suzanne

Brown.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

The Commemoration

of the First World War and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel

MR. SPEAKER:

Today for Honour 100 we have

the Member for the District of Harbour Main.

MS. PARSLEY:

I will now read into the

record the following 40 names of those who lost their lives in the First World

War in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Royal Newfoundland Naval Reserve or

the Newfoundland Forestry Corps. This will be followed by a moment of silence.

Lest we

forget: William Robert McNiven, Hugh Walter McWhirter, William Mead, Robert

Meadus, Dennis F. Mealey, John A. Meaney, Bernard Meehan, Thomas Melee,

Frederick Courtney Mellor, Allan Mercer, Chesley Mercer, Jasper Mercer, John B.

Mercer, Maxwell James Mercer, Nathan Mercer, Percy Mercer, Robert Mercer,

William Mercer, Joseph Mesh, Charles A. Mesher, William Messervey, William Mews,

Chesley James Mifflin, Augustus Miles, Heber John Miles, Thomas William Miles,

Victor William Miles, Benjamin Miller, Fred Miller,

George

Miller, George H. Miller, Harold Miller, William Patrick Miller, Joseph Mills,

George Mitchelmore, Isaac Mitchelmore, Samuel Mitchelmore, William Molloy,

Edward Joseph Monahan, James Raymond Mooney.

(Moment

of silence.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Please be seated.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, today, May 10, is Census Day in this province and across the country.

Early in

May, households in Newfoundland and Labrador received yellow census packages

delivered to their homes. These packages provided residents with the information

they need to complete the census online or on paper. Once completed and

returned, the data collected from the questionnaires will provide invaluable

information to all levels of government for decisions concerning our province

and our communities.

Mr.

Speaker, the census collects information about every person in our country and

the results are important to Canada, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador.

Funding formulas for major federal transfer payments to provinces, like the

health and social transfers this province receives, are based, in part, on

population counts. The federal government uses this information for the

allocation of funding, and in turn that allows us to plan for essential

programs.

Furthermore, our province uses census information in planning and monitoring

programs in such areas as health care, education and social assistance. We also

depend on census information when planning roads, waterworks, public transit and

police and fire services. Town planners use census data on households and

families to plan current and future housing needs and municipal infrastructure.

Mr.

Speaker, we all recognize that our community is changing and census data helps

us understand the demographic, social and economic information we need to

address those changes. The importance of the census to our province cannot be

overemphasized that's why we urge every resident of Newfoundland and Labrador to

participate this May in the 2016 Census.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like

to thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. I, too, would like

to encourage residents of the province to go online and fill out the Canadian

Census. The information provided in the census will be publicly available and

will guide important decisions in industry, government and private lives.

The

minister in her statement recognized that our community is changing. Indeed, it

is. I would also like to point out the minister's own budget predicts and is

responsible for job losses here in the province. The decrease in employment will

lead to population decline in our province.

Budget

2016 does nothing to encourage our young residents to stay here and start

families. The budget does nothing to bring Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who

are working elsewhere home.

Our

province needs to grow its population in order to succeed in today's world.

Instead, this budget, with its increased fees and programming cuts, has cleared

the runway for out-migration.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement. Canadians really are

glad to see the return of the long-form census which is essential to governments

across Canada in their social and economic planning. They are showing they are

doing the census fairly well, really early on.

It's too

bad this government, when in Opposition, didn't see what they see now and didn't

see the need to wait for the latest census before supporting electoral boundary

changes. It's unacceptable that they are now closing schools, relying on

outdated census figures.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to

rise in the House today to recognize Innovation Week in our province. With the

theme being Accelerating Innovation, Innovation Week brings together

start-ups, youth, business and public partners in a creative forum to connect

and exchange ideas to contribute to the growth of the provincial economy.

Over five days this week, a total of 16 partner

organizations will roll out 17 events to kick-start creative thinking and

collaboration in key sectors. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of kicking off

Innovation Week along with key innovation stakeholders in our province at the

launch event at Common Ground. The complete event

schedule is available at

www.innovationweek.ca .

Innovation has a remarkable influence on our province's

social and economic development and there is unlimited potential we have yet to

develop. That's why our government is excited to work with various levels of

government, industry and our academic partners, to align our efforts in support

of a new Provincial Innovation Strategy all with the goal of making our

economy more competitive.

Mr. Speaker, according to statistics from the Newfoundland

and Labrador Association of Technology Industries (Nati), the province's

technology sector alone includes over 170 companies, over 4,000 employees and

over $1.6 billion in annual revenues.

Working

with innovation stakeholders, our Innovation Plan will focus on ways in which we

can measurably advance firm-level innovation, productivity, and competitiveness

and maximize benefits associated with private and public research and technology

investments in all sectors of the economy.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for the advance copy of his statement today. We're pleased to join

with government in celebrating Innovation Week in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As the

minister said, 170 companies, 4,000 employees, $1.6 billion in annual revenues

in just one sector alone. Newfoundland and Labrador has come a long way in the

technology sector. I'm proud to state that much of this growth was because

government worked with the sector, partnered with the sector, fostered growth

and invested statically over the last number of years. We focused on real

economic diversification in a number of key sectors, but we recognize there is

more to be done in a number of sectors and I know the minister acknowledges that

as well.

At the

launch of Innovation Week yesterday, the minister mentioned the red book

commitment to develop a new innovation strategy. It's a shame that commitment

wasn't really reflected in the recent budget. There are sectors with so much

potential and it's critical that we introduce new strategies to simulate

innovation.

The new

strategy can't simply be about just funding existing programs or moving money

around.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KENT:

We need new approaches, Mr.

Speaker. Government overall needs to be innovative and government can learn a

lot from our province's innovative and passionate entrepreneurs.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

Member's time for speaking has expired.

MR. KENT:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the

minister for an advance copy of his statement. We are all excited about

innovation and creativity. We are all excited about new opportunity, but good

ideas require not only hard work but investment to be developed.

We have

heard lots of rhetoric and platitudes from government on innovation and

diversification but where are the real concrete commitments to investments in

Budget 2016? Bravo to our daring innovators and creative thinkers. I invite the

minister to attend Common Front on Thursday evening for more creative thinking.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, yesterday here in the House of Assembly the Minister of Justice refused

to give an answer right here in the House when he was asked if the proposed pay

raise for provincial court judges had been budgeted. Immediately after Question

Period when he met with the media, he confirmed the money had been budgeted.

I ask

the Premier: Will you decline this additional cost of increases for salaries for

our judges and use the budgeted funding to eliminate the closure of libraries?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

certainly happy to speak to this very important matter again. This is the

independent report that was done on judicial salaries. That's done every four

years. In fact, in this case the tribunal came back and recommended a 14 per

cent increase one that we did budget, as you would, because you cannot

prejudge the resolution that will come to this House. However, budgeting any

amount doesn't mean that you will be supporting the recommendations or voting

for them. That's something that will be done in this House. Cabinet has an

opportunity to accept, to alter or to decline the recommendations.

Again, I

look forward to having a resolution here in the House prior to June 1, so all

Members can have their say on it.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

the minister refused to answer the question yesterday. He walked out to the

media and he did confirm that the funding was budgeted.

Now I'll

ask, if they won't give an answer on libraries, maybe I'll ask this question:

Will you use these funds to offset the new Liberal tax grab known as the Liberal

levy?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I believe the Leader of the Official Opposition is prejudging what

may come out of this. As he knows, the fact that we're talking about judicial

independence and the fact that this was an independent tribunal that came up

with recommendations here; recommendations which resulted in their asking for a

14 per cent increase.

This

resolution will come to the floor of the House of Assembly, and I look forward

to the position of the Member opposite, who again, his government's position was

to ask for a 5 per cent increase. So I look forward to seeing what he has to say

when this matter comes to the floor.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, we put 5

per cent in the budget knowing that the report was coming.

Mr.

Speaker, on seniors, the Premier and his government stated during the campaign

that they will be there when they are needed by seniors. They'll be there when

they need us. He also stated that they don't ask for much except their dignity.

So I know they sometimes have difficult making decisions that will benefit the

people.

here's another option for the Premier that I'll offer up: Once you make a

decision that will benefit people, will you use the funding to return coverage

to seniors who rely on over-the-counter drugs?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member opposite doesn't quite understand how this process works, apparently,

because he's prejudging the fact that this is a matter that has to come to the

floor of the House of Assembly for a debate, it's a resolution. One, in fact,

that the Member opposite recommended a 5 per cent increase to judicial salaries,

actually, less than one year ago.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. A. PARSONS:

So he's here in the House of

Assembly asking to decline it, but just last year he was asking to increase

their salaries.

So I ask

the member opposite: Which is it?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member should sometimes probably check his facts.

Mr.

Speaker, we know that the Liberal government has hired, with taxpayers' money, a

crisis management company to help manage the mess created by this budget. When

it leaked out a little while ago, the Liberals told the House that up to the end

of March they've spent so far about $14,000.

I ask

the Premier: Can you provide an update on that amount today, and how much has

been spent to date for the services of Cathy Dornan Public Affairs?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm not

quite sure what the Member opposite is referring to when he talks about crisis

management. In fact, since we've taken over for this government it's been

nothing but crisis management from the mess that they left to us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. A. PARSONS:

I will say that obviously as

we've discussed in this House

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The fact

is as the Members opposite know, we have retained the services of McInnes Cooper

that work with us during labour negotiations, a practice that is not uncommon to

this province. We look forward to continuing on with that process as we move

forward.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Members opposite should be fully aware that you should never do through the back

door what you wouldn't do through the front door.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, we recognize

that the Minister of Finance needed help with communications. We recognize they

retained the services of a long-time Liberal to assist.

I ask

the minister: How much government funding has been spent directly or indirectly

to assist with external help on issues management, crisis communications and

media training?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As we

have discussed in this House when the Member opposite has asked this question in

the past, the services of McInnes Cooper have been retained by the Department of

Justice to support collective bargaining. In the collective bargaining periods

in 2004, and I think back in 2008, the number of government employees and

negotiators that were available was considerably higher than it is today.

With the

number of collective agreements that are going to be in bargaining this year, it

was important that we provide those supports to the incredibly talented

officials that we have inside government. The person that he references, Ms.

Dornan, is a contract of McInnes Cooper.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll ask

again. We know that this contract has been put in place. We know that part of

the contract is to provide services and according to Ms. Dornan's own website,

issues management, crisis communications, media training and strategic counsel.

I'll

again ask the minister: Directly or indirectly, how much has government spent

for external help on issues management, crisis communications and media

training?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, our focus is on

the bargaining process. As part of the bargaining process that is where the

service contract has been engaged, with McInnes Cooper. As part of that, they

chose who they bring in as a subcontractor.

Certainly we undertake the activity of collective bargaining quite seriously. It

is very important for us to make sure that we steward the available money that

the province has to spend on services in the most correct way to respect those

employees that are working for us and we do so in a way that ensures that we can

keep the most people possible working.

I'd ask

the Member opposite maybe he can explain why expenses to communications

companies doubled in the last year he was in government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

maybe we'll have to wait for the minister to go and do a scrum before we'll know

the answer, again.

Mr.

Speaker, we've heard the Premier say that spending almost a million dollars on a

study to build a fixed link was what the people of Labrador wanted. However, an

email from the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair to the Premier just in

December outlined what she felt was the priorities for the people of Labrador;

no mention of a fixed link.

I say to

the Premier: Why would you spend money now when you haven't delivered on the

commitments and requests from your own Members in your own government, or do you

just have lots of money to throw around?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you,

Mr. Speaker.

It is a

pleasure to speak on that fixed link. As you know, of course, the fixed link is

an important piece of transportation and communication for us as a government.

As the former premier would know that last year they cancelled a ferry contract

proposal RFP for over a billion dollars, which would have been 20 years. They

cancelled that particular RFP.

So the

timing for us right now is very important because I think the Prime Minister of

Canada has already alluded to the fact that there will be national funding and

there's national transportation works, and there are billions of dollars that's

in that particular project. Right now we're looking at a full transportation

strategic plan for nation building, and that's part of it, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

certainly respect the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair advocating on

behalf of the people of her district; we expect all MHAs, Members of the House,

to do the same. There are concerns outlined by the Member in her email that was

long before this devastating budget was brought down by Members opposite.

I know,

and we all know, that she's on the record being very concerned about the

$860,000 cut in health care to the people of Labrador.

I ask

the Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs: Have you addressed any of the

concerns in the email from your MHA?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think

it's very important for us to understand we are looking at Labrador. I know

yesterday some of the comments that were coming from there almost would indicate

that that's not part of the province. Labrador is very important to us and we

really need to have a transportation link, not only for the Labrador portion but

also for the province.

What

we're basically doing, Mr. Speaker, we're making some money available to look at

the possibility and the feasibility of that link for both Labrador and the

province, for the betterment of a transportation route for all of us, for the

benefit of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker, and we will

continue to do that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, for many years

we put a lot of focus on the Trans-Labrador Highway, $600 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

It sounds like what the

minister is saying is that their focus has changed. That's what concerns me and

I'm sure the people of Labrador will be equally concerned.

But, Mr.

Speaker, I want to ask the Premier: How much will your Liberal budget choices

cost municipalities? What will be the impact on towns in our province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once

again, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for giving me the opportunity to

talk about Municipal Affairs and the amount of money and that the cost ratio

hasn't changed, the MOG, and the sustainable plan hasn't changed. It is still

what they all asked for.

When we

met with the MNL leader, Karen Oldford, she was so pleased. She was so enthused.

She thought there would be a lot of changes. Not counting, Mr. Speaker, there

were three to four hundred million dollars that is going to be spent in

Newfoundland and Labrador in capital works and municipalities.

Mr.

Speaker, unlike the previous government who had three years, $20 million, who

took it upon themselves before the election spent

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. JOYCE:

$60 million, Mr. Speaker;

no care for the next year in Municipal Affairs. Shame on the previous

government!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I would

ask for order and decorum during Question Period especially.

The hon.

the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are

delighted they are keeping the cost ratios in place; cost ratios that we

developed. And we're delighted they're keeping the sustainability plan that

municipalities much need. But I can tell you the tone from Karen Oldford is very

different on her media release from the weekend than what the Member would

suggest opposite.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask: the Liberal government continues to try and sell this budget as

good for municipalities. However, we're hearing something different from our

community leaders on the ground. The Town of Conception Bay South has estimated

that the changes in this year's budget will result in an additional and

unbudgeted cost to them of $350,000 just to maintain current levels.

So I'll

ask the minister: How do you expect municipalities to shoulder this crippling

budget?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, once again, I

hear the Leader of the Opposition fear mongering. It's just constant. I just

want to bring something up about the municipalities in Newfoundland and

Labrador. I hear the Member opposite always complaining nothing is good. If

municipalities were so bad off, if municipalities had such a hard time, why

didn't this Opposition, when they were in government $34.9 million they didn't

spend, wouldn't even sign the agreement with Ottawa. Now all of a sudden

standing up and going to be the big champion of municipal affairs when they had

$34.9 million they wouldn't even use in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. JOYCE:

That's what we're dealing

with here, Mr. Speaker. We will work with all municipalities in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

Speaker will not tolerate constant interruption during Question Period.

The hon.

the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

there's no answer again from the minister opposite, or advice.

So I'll

ask him again under legislation, municipalities are required to submit a

balanced budget by the end of December, every year. Now that this government has

blindsided them with significant tax increases and downloading of services,

municipalities have one of two options. They're either forced to break the law,

by running a deficit, which they're not entitled to do under law, or they have

to rip the guts out of programs and services in their communities. They're not

allowed to increase taxes and revenues.

So I'll

ask the minister: What do you suggest municipalities do to fight off this

significant increase?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just

find it strange that the Leader of the Opposition asked about debt who happens

to be an expert on debt leaving this province with a $2.7 billion debt. He's an

expert on debt.

I just

want to say and the Member should know, or he ought to know, which I'm sure he

does know, being in Cabinet if municipalities need more time to balance the

budget, they can write the department and ask the department for an extension.

That is common.

I say,

Mr. Speaker, you hear the Members opposite heckling. They know that, and just

because they wouldn't sign the $34.9 million for municipalities, it bothers

them. Just because they wrote letters in the third year of the capital works

asking all municipalities to have a letter in by November 3, knowing there

wasn't one penny in the pot, because they spent it all in two years to try to

get some of them elected shameful.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So the

answer is for the municipality to write the minister and he'll approve them to

have to raise taxes and release services from the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. That is a great answer from the minister, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, Liberals will not only close 54 libraries in Newfoundland and Labrador,

they also introduced a tax on the purchase of books. We learned in the Finance

Estimates this morning that this will also apply to our young Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians in our post-secondary institutions.

I ask

the Minister of Finance: What is the expected revenue on the tax of books that

you introduced in your budget?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member opposite for his question. In terms of budget 2016-2017, it was

filled with many difficult decisions and one of those was an HST on books.

I want

to be very clear that when it comes to our public library system, there is no

taxation on the purchase of books there. They would be eligible for an exemption

as well as in our public school system libraries, as well as the College of the

North Atlantic and Memorial University in terms of the library system. They will

be exempt.

E-books

were always taxed at the HST rate. So there isn't a competitive change to that

if people were purchasing books on an electronic basis.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Minister of Finance: What's the expected revenue on the tax

of books that they introduced in the budget?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

like to point out that the revenue that would be raised by a tax on books would

be estimated at $2.1 million.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

AN HON. MEMBER:

At least we got answers.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, I thank the minister for

the answer.

I ask

the Minister of Finance: Can she table the analysis done on the cost to

administer a junk food tax versus the revenue that would be generated from the

tax itself on junk food?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, the analysis

around the tax changes that were made as part of this budget were certainly

fulsome as the Member this morning would have heard had he asked the question in

Estimates. He would have heard the background information as to how all the

taxes and the administration costs were assessed.

As I'm

sure he is aware from his time in Cabinet, CRA provides a service that we, as a

province, can piggyback on, which provides the ability for us to collect taxes;

sadly, taxes that we need right now because of a massive deficit left by the

former administration, taxes that we can effectively collect efficiently by

using CRA as the administrator, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, in a brief by the Canadian Medical Association dated February 15, 2012,

the then association president and now Minister of Health stated regarding

taxing junk food that he believes such a measure should become part of a health

strategy.

I ask

the minister today: Does he still feel that such a tax is indeed worthwhile?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I think

the principle behind a junk food tax is a very important one for a discussion. I

would suggest, however, it needs to be part of a national picture.

I would

suggest, at the moment, the last thing we need to do is to create extra

bureaucracy to collect a tax for a marginal benefit given the fact as the

minister down the way has pointed out we have a virtual cost-free mechanism of

collecting taxes currently.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before

the budget, the Minister of Finance guaranteed community organizations that

their core funding would remain the same for this fiscal year. However, during

budget Estimates meetings, we learned the Minister Responsible for the Office of

Public Engagement is considering cuts to funding to a number of youth

organizations. Mr. Speaker, organizations are left wondering where they stand.

Will the

minister commit today to maintaining funding to youth groups who receive funding

from the Office of Public Engagement every year?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Thank

you for the question. Core funding, as the Minister of Finance has said, has

been secured for all organizations. There is funding available for

project-specific items under the Office of Public Engagement. We have had some

reductions in those.

I have

assured the Member opposite we will do our best to make sure that funding will

be carried on, as best we can, to the projects that are important to some of

these youth organizations; however, core funding has remained as it was.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, what the

minister is saying is simply not true. If a youth organization receives the same

grant from the same department every year, that's core funding. The minister is

saying it isn't.

The

minister made it clear in Estimates that annual funding to organizations like

Boys and Girls Clubs, Allied Youth, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award program,

YMCA-YWCA, Girl Guides and local community youth centres was not safe and may be

reduced.

Will the

minister guarantee today that groups who receive the same grant every year from

OPE, won't be cut?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you, again, for the question. As was discussed in Estimates, as has been

discussed since the budget, core funding for organizations will remain. There is

project funding under some of the aspects of OPE, project funding that has been

reduced somewhat. We are going to do our very best to work with organizations to

ensure the projects that are important to these organizations that receive core

funding are maintained, as best possible, within this budget envelope.

We will

continue to offer the core funding as per the Minister of Finance has said.

Within the Office of Public Engagement there is some core funding in a certain

program. In one program there were some reductions for youth organizations for

project-specific items. We will continue to maintain that level of funding as we

go forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

So the minister won't

guarantee today that core funding to these organizations won't be cut. I'm not

talking about the project funding I say, Mr. Speaker; I'm talking about core

funding to these organizations.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KENT:

The Finance Minister is

saying one thing and the Minister Responsible for the Office of Public

Engagement is saying another. I say to the minister: Don't hide behind

bureaucratic process. Whether a form has to be filled out annually or not, this

is core funding that groups count on every year.

Will the

Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement honour the Finance

Minister's previous commitment or is this the latest Liberal broken promise?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Again, I

will say exactly the same thing; the Minister of Finance has clearly indicated

that core funding is remaining. Under a particular program, the youth program,

we are continuing to have project funding. The project funding for specific

projects will be as the projects come forward.

We don't

even know what projects are going to come forward this year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. COADY:

I think the Member opposite

is confused.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. K. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, they're hiding

again.

The CEO

of MNL stated libraries are a provincial responsibility, not a municipal

responsibility. This is just one of many things MNL did not ask for, but was

provided in this budget. Municipalities are really concerned that this is just

the beginning.

I ask

the minister: How many other services will be downloaded to municipalities or

will they have to wait until budget number two?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once

again, there is no municipality in this province told, you have to take a

library. What the commitment was, within a year we will work with

municipalities. I have spoken to some municipalities. They want to find an

option for their libraries. We will help them.

For the

Member to stand up and say that this is downloading, he knows the difference. We

spoke. He's very certain of what I said. We will work with municipalities to

keep these libraries in their towns.

Of the

24, Mr. Speaker, I ask him to name one that I called personally or anybody in

the department said you have to take the library. Here's an opportunity, name a

municipality that I called and said you had to take a library. Here's your

opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Memorial University, the Heart of Darkness

costs $16, Microelectronic Circuits is

$250 and Supply Chain Logistics Management

is $304. The Minister of Finance told us in Estimates this morning

post-secondary students will have to pay taxes on their textbooks.

I ask

the minister to explain to the young people of this province why she is

shamelessly laying another burden on their already debt-heavy shoulders.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education and Skills.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, the core of the

government's strategy to ensure post-secondary education is affordable and

accessible is a low-tuition strategy. Newfoundland and Labrador has the lowest

tuition of any jurisdiction in Canada, in fact, by many magnitudes in some

respects. In fact, when you look at the other Atlantic provinces we are by far

the envy of anywhere, not only here in our own region, but across the entire

country.

addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we have the most envious Student Financial

Assistance Program of anywhere in the country. Our grants currently exceed the

cost of tuition for low-income and middle-income students by over 30 per cent.

it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Mr. Speaker, do not tax the

students. That's all I have to say.

Finance Estimates this morning we also learned details of the $20 million fund

government has budgeted to leverage federal infrastructure funding. Government

will be focusing on two areas: post-secondary infrastructure and clean waste

water initiatives.

I ask

the minister: Given the crying need we have for new infrastructure, why did she

set aside such a pittance?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education and Skills.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, the Member casts

a very jaundice eye on a $20 million fund which appears in very plain sight

within our main Estimates and calls $20 million a mere pittance. The funding is

neither sinister nor opaque; it's neither small nor ineffectual. The object of

the Member's cynicism is around a program to develop infrastructure, especially

in the strategic social sphere.

Mr.

Speaker, $20 million is a significant amount of money. We've actually budgeted

that in preparation for the federal government's announcement or in preparation

for the full allotment of the federal government's allotment. This is a 20-year

program. This is year one of that allocation, and quite frankly, it's going to

be very, very effective, and I don't think it should be viewed cynically.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, the unemployment

rate for Newfoundland and Labrador is 15 per cent. On page 5 of her Budget

Speech, the minister actually said their austerity measures will contribute to

slowing the economy and reduce jobs by an additional 15 per cent by 2021.

I ask

the Premier: What does he expect the unemployment rate to be one year from now?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I think it would

be important just to clarify and correct what the Member opposite said.

The

unemployment numbers that she's referring to in the economic information that

was released as part of the budget referred to what will happen at the end of

the large-scale projects. Those would include Vale, they would include the end

of the Hebron construction, as well as the forecasted conclusion of the Muskrat

Falls construction. Those three projects have had a significant impact on the

overall employment in Newfoundland and Labrador, and has been known for many

years that when those projects clue up that we will unfortunately see an impact

on that particular sector. It's important that we continue to look at ways to

diversify, and I'd be happy to answer another question from the Member.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Great, Mr. Speaker.

In her

Budget Speech the minister laid out absolutely no plans for job creation. The

people of Newfoundland and Labrador want to work.

I ask

the Premier and the minister: Are there concrete plans for job creation, and how

many jobs do they plan to create then?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd

again like to correct the Member opposite. In the budget we were very clear that

there are $570 million worth of infrastructure that's going to happen in this

province. Some would say that's going to create the equivalent of 1,000 jobs

every year for four years.

Mr.

Speaker, I don't take that very lightly. This budget has a total spending

envelope of $8.4 billion, and we are very proud of the fact that we are

investing in infrastructure that not only will provide critical services to the

people of the province but will also provide employment opportunities.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question Period

has expired.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I am standing on

a point of order.

During

Question Period, the Member for Mount Pearl North quite clearly called out that

the Minister of Natural Resources was misleading and not telling the truth. Now

I understand we can have differences of opinion but such language is clearly

unparliamentary, pursuant to Standing Order 49. So I would ask that the Member

retract this comment and apologize.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I did

say across the House to the hon. Member that the information she presented today

was misleading. I did not say that

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North, are you going to address the point of order?

MR. KENT:

Yes. To the point of order,

Mr. Speaker, I don't believe my comment was unparliamentary.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

I would ask the hon. Member

for Mount Pearl North to withdraw his comment, please.

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, I didn't make

the comment that was unparliamentary.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I understand if

you need to take some time to review this matter but our position clearly stands

that the Member made a comment. He should own up to it and retract the comment

because it was clearly unparliamentary pursuant to Standing Order 49.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, it is my

understanding and maybe as the hon. Member said, to review it if the

gentleman made a comment in regard to the statement that was being made and the

information being provided, not directly to the hon. Member.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

Speaker will review the comments made by the hon. the Member for Mount Pearl and

report back to the House by tomorrow.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Presenting Reports

by Standing and Select Committees

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Mr. Speaker, the Government

Services Committee have considered the matters to them referred and have

directed me to report they have passed without amendment the Estimates of the

Department of Finance, the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Public

Service Commission, the Human Resource Secretariat, the Women's Policy Office,

the Government Purchasing Agency, the Department of Service Newfoundland and

Labrador, and the Department of Transportation and Works.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further presentations of

reports by standing and select committees?

Tabling

of Documents.

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to

Standing Orders and according to the Order Paper, I give notice that this House

do not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. today, Tuesday, May 10.

further give notice pursuant to the Order Paper that this House do not adjourn

at 10 o'clock tonight, Tuesday, May 10.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

government has once again cut the libraries budget, forcing the closure of 54

libraries; and

WHEREAS

libraries are often the backbone of their communities, especially for those with

little access to government services where they offer learning opportunities and

computer access; and

WHEREAS

libraries and librarians are critical in efforts to improve the province's

literacy levels which are among the lowest in Canada; and

WHEREAS

already strapped municipalities are not in a position to take over the operation

and cost of libraries;

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

of Assembly to urge government to keep these libraries open and work on a

long-term plan to strengthen the library system.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

I'm very

pleased today, Mr. Speaker, to stand and to speak on behalf of the residents,

some of them in my own district, all of them from various parts of St. John's;

residents who care about what's happening to rural Newfoundland unlike the

government, apparently, because they are killing rural Newfoundland by the

closing of the 54 libraries and other important and essential services in

communities in rural Newfoundland.

I don't

know if Members of the government had their radios on this morning, but they

would have heard the voices of over 100 people gathered in Fogo last night

protesting, begging and pleading that government not close their library. I

think it was the mayor that I may have heard saying, the way he put it was: Of

all of them, we have the strongest case. I'm sure the Member for Conception Bay

East Bell Island would probably even agree with the Mayor of Fogo. As bad as

it is for Bell Island, it's even worse for Fogo.

It's

impossible to imagine what the government is thinking and for the people in the

communities yesterday morning people from Bell Island were in the news. Today,

it's the people from Fogo. The people from Greenspond have been in the news. All

over the province these people are absolutely, totally confused. They cannot

understand why government is attacking them through the closure of libraries

which are essential to their communities.

What's

really interesting, Mr. Speaker, is the way in which people all over the

province, whether they're affected personally or not, are speaking out. And we

are getting petitions in our office from all over the Island and Labrador

concerned about what is going on. People are concerned about the literacy issue

as the petition talks about. They are concerned about the lack of this community

centre in their communities.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll be

happy to speak to this again.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

(Disturbance in the gallery.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Visitors

to the gallery are welcome to observe the proceedings of the House, but they are

not to

(Disturbance in the gallery.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Visitors

to the gallery are permitted to observe the proceedings of the House but are not

to demonstrate or to participate in the proceedings on the floor.

I ask

visitors to the gallery to be respectful of the proceedings in the House of

Assembly.

(Disturbance in the gallery.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I would

ask the visitors in the gallery who are disrupting the proceedings to leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's an

honour for me to rise in this House today and present yet another petition from

the very concerned residents of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

petition: To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of

Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

the people of Fortune Bay Cape La Hune need to have access to adequate health

care; and

WHEREAS

the local clinics in rural areas are the main source of medical assistance for

our people; and

WHEREAS

the government has reduced funding and closed the Hermitage clinics and

downgraded services such as dialysis and visitation to remote communities;

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

of Assembly to urge government to reinstate the services to the health care in

rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, I will continue to rise in this House every day until we see a reversal

of this decision that is devastating rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and, in

particular, the Coast of Bays region.

The

clinic in Hermitage serves well over 600 people in the immediate area of

Hermitage-Sandyville-Seal Cove, as well as an additional several hundred from

Gaultois and McCallum, Mr. Speaker, who can only access Hermitage via ferry. The

additional drive now to Hermitage, with no taxi service in place, creates a

serious issue not just for the residents of the islands, but for residents of

Hermitage themselves, many of whom are seniors.

We're

also worried about the downloading of services to Harbour Breton where we're

going to see the loss of two nurses with the closure of the dialysis unit.

People will be forced to leave their homes after 20 years lobbying for dialysis,

finally achieving it, and then to have it ripped away so quickly. People now,

they do not have the option, these patients, of home dialysis. They will have to

uproot and move to St. John's, Mr. Speaker, and in no way, shape or form is that

helping rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Again, I

ponder they were mandated by the Liberal government to make $430,000 of cuts

at Central Health. With the closure of the dialysis, the closure of the clinics

and reduction of visitation to the islands, I think the Coast of Bays region is

taking a disproportionate share of that cut from Central Health, and I truly

believe there are other expenditures within the board that can be looked at

before front-line services are cut, Mr. Speaker. People's lives are at stake.

Seniors, who have taken hit after hit after hit in this budget are getting hit

yet again, perhaps in the most vulnerable area where health care is, Mr.

Speaker.

This can

mean the difference between life or death in some cases, I have no doubt,

because of the geography of the area, the treacherous roads of the area and the

dangerous weather conditions we have at times be it fog in the summer or

blizzards in the winter. The train is not safe at the best of times, Mr.

Speaker, and so we will continue to raise our voices until we see this decision

reversed.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

a Deficit Reduction Levy is an extremely regressive surtax placing a higher tax

burden on low- and middle-income tax payers; and

WHEREAS

surtaxes are typically levied on the highest income earners only, as currently

demonstrated in other provinces, as well as Australia, Norway and other

countries; and

WHEREAS

government states in the 2016 provincial budget that the personal income tax

schedule needs to be revised and promises to do so;

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

of Assembly to urge government to ensure that the Deficit Reduction Levy be

eliminated and any replacement measure be based on progressive taxation

principles and that an independent review of the Newfoundland and Labrador

provincial income tax system begin immediately to make it fairer to

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm happy to stand in the House today to speak on behalf of the

thousands of people who have actually signed this petition. The petition

continues to circulate throughout the province. People are wanting this

government to listen to them. Although government keeps saying that we have

listened, although the Minister of Finance has said that she has listened to

hundreds of people, there were thousands of people outside this House on

Saturday, Mr. Speaker. There have been thousands of people across the province

who have demonstrated in smaller locations across the province. There are going

to be more coming up.

The

people of the province know this levy is a regressive tax. The MHAs in this

House know this levy is a regressive tax and that it's not just the levy in and

of itself, although that is one that is really burning in the craw of people.

They know how unfair it is and how incredibly unexpected it was.

When

this government talks about how much time and how much money they spent going

around the province to consult with people, it's disingenuous. I would love this

Minister of Finance to show us where people suggested this is what they should

do. I am sure no one suggested that this levy is exactly what this government

should do.

We know

we need a thorough review of our taxation system. It needs to be progressive. We

need reform. Everybody in this House knows that. We know that people are willing

to pay taxes if the taxes are fair, are progressive and that they can clearly

see how their money is being spent.

This

government is talking about transparency. I believe they want to be transparent

and accountable, but we also know that budgets are based on decisions. This levy

decision is probably one of the worst decisions that have been made in this

House in a long time, except for Bill 29 and perhaps Muskrat Falls.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Terra Nova.

(Disturbance in the gallery.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

This is

the second time the Speaker has had to rise. Visitors are more than welcome in

our galleries to observe the proceedings of the House of Assembly, but they are

not to participate in any sort of demonstration or to participate in anything

that's happening in the House, not to show approval nor disapproval.

I would

ask our visitors in the gallery to respect the traditions of the House of

Assembly. You're welcome here to observe.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Terra Nova.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

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 humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

we, the undersigned residents of St. Brendan's, wish to protest the increase to

passenger and vehicle fares on the St. Brendan's to Burnside ferry service; and

WHEREAS

it is our highway to the main land; and

WHEREAS

it unfairly taxes our transportation costs for all our living expenses; and

WHEREAS

we also feel the income levy tax on people will cause unnecessary hardship;

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

of Assembly to urge government to reverse the decision to increase ferry rates;

and

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

of Assembly to urge government to reconsider the levy placed on low- and

middle-income families.

Mr.

Speaker, as an MHA for the districts in this province, it is our role to bring

forward the concerns of constituents including petitions.

I recall

a Member of the Opposition in this House yesterday talked about when they were

presented with petitions they would say no, they wouldn't bring those petitions

forward. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, our government has been committed to

openness and being transparent. Certainly, I'm able to table this petition that

was given to me just one week ago while I was on St. Brendan's meeting with the

people at a public meeting.

One of

the things that you must do when you bring forward a petition is to understand

the issues surrounding a petition. Mr. Speaker, this petition speaks to the

increased cost to passengers who are travelling from St. Brendan's island to

Burnside. It's an 18 kilometre run. It provides 27 round trips per year in the

summer and 20 trips per week in the winter.

The

ferry has been in operation since 1966. The provincial government took over the

responsibility in 1979, but over the last 10 years, Mr. Speaker, the cost to run

this ferry service has been $17.8 million. There was a capital investment within

the last five years of $28.5 million for the

Grace Sparkes .

It is

estimated that it will cost $3 million this year to operate this service. The

ferry itself generates about $75,000 in revenue and the current fare is $3.03

per adult one way. That equates to a 98 per cent subsidization of the annual

operating cost.

The role

of government, Mr. Speaker, is to assist the residents of Newfoundland and

Labrador where the cost to provide the service can be financially prohibitive.

The role of a Member is to, and my role is to work with

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. HOLLOWAY:

the Department of

Transportation to advocate for these issues.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

the seniors of our province deserve the greatest level of respect and care; and

WHEREAS

the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has a responsibility to act in the

best interest of our seniors; and

WHEREAS

the government has decided to shut down Masonic Park Nursing Home and reduce

long-term care beds in this region;

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

of Assembly to urge government to reverse its decision and not bring undue

hardship upon the residents of Masonic Park and find alternative measures that

will allow them to continue to stay at the place they call home.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, it's one thing to bring a petition to the House of Assembly on behalf

of your constituents, it's another thing to stand and be counted when it really

matters. I can assure you that in light of how devastating this budget will be

for many families in my district I will be voting against the budget.

I've

raised these concerns time and time again and I will continue to do so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KENT:

When it comes time to take a

stand and vote against this budget because of issues like this, I will be

prepared to do so, unlike Members opposite.

The

issues at Masonic Park have been exaggerated and misrepresented. The fundamental

issue here is that we have a shortage of long-term care beds in this region.

It's impacting health care for all of us. We have people tying up acute care

hospital beds at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars a month that shouldn't

be there. They should be in long-term care beds.

We need

to address this. It's resulting in cancelled surgeries. It means people are

lying on stretchers in hallways. It means that people are sitting in emergency

rooms for longer.

Through

this budget the Liberal Government is reducing the number of long-term care beds

in the region. That's a fact. Another fact is that the facility at Masonic Park,

the long-term care facility, is in good shape. I would argue it's in better

shape than some of the other long-term care homes in the region.

For the

minister to suggest that the place is in a state of disrepair, it's not true. He

also said that all residents will be able to move to the Veterans Pavilion down

at the Miller Centre, also not true. There aren't enough beds to accommodate all

of them if they choose to go there.

The

minister said he is not cutting or reducing beds in this region, also not true.

We have great needs in every region of this province when it comes to long-term

care. Despite the financial challenges the province faces, this is not a time to

be reducing the number of long-term care beds. I will continue to take a stand

and oppose this on behalf of the constituents that I represent and constituents

across the province as well.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St,

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

government has once again cut the libraries budget, forcing the closure of 54

libraries; and

WHEREAS

libraries are often the backbone of their communities, especially for those with

little access to government services where they are offering learning

opportunities and computer access; and

WHEREAS

libraries and librarians are critical in their efforts to improve the province's

literacy levels which are among the lowest in Canada; and

WHEREAS

already strapped municipalities are not in a position to take over the operation

and cost of libraries;

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

of Assembly to urge government to keep these libraries open and work on a

long-term plan to strengthen the library system.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will pray.

Mr.

Speaker, once again, these petitions are coming in from all over the province

and it's very interesting. One of our most celebrated writers, Kevin Major as

I've mentioned in the House here before and I'm sure many of the folks here in

this House and at home have heard the day he heard these libraries were being

closed, he wrote and said, Today I have been humiliated by my government.

That's a pretty strong statement from someone who loves Newfoundland and

Labrador so much, as we all do in this House.

It's an

odd thing, Mr. Speaker, the closure of libraries. When does that happen? We kind

of see that in times of war. We see that in absolute times of desolation and

destitution but the closure of libraries. One must ask, when we look at this

budget, when we see such incredible cuts to services, the imposition of

regressive and unfair taxes, the lack of a plan to really stimulate the economy,

the lack of a plan for real diversification, I mean commitment of money and

resources to real diversification the only question I can ask is to what end?

What is the end goal here besides cutting, cutting, cutting? How is this

government going to pull us out of this?

We know

the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are not foolish. Everybody knows we're

in a tough situation. Everybody knows the bottom has fallen out of oil for a

while. We all know that. Everyone's willing to roll up their sleeves, but what

government is doing is no plan to pull us out of this. The plan is only to

squeeze the life out of the province, and we're seeing that. People are feeling

that. Then we have to wait for six more months for another hit.

I can

only ask, to what end, Mr. Speaker to what end? What is this government

actually planning for? Except this line-by-line cutting, cutting, with no

vision, no plan to revitalize the province, to harness the energy of the people

of the province to really pull us out of this hole and to go forward. That's

what governments are supposed to do.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call Orders of

the Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Before

the hon. the Government House Leader calls Orders of the Day, the Member for

Mount Pearl North, in presenting his petition just a few moments ago, had used

language that, in the opinion of the Speaker, is unparliamentary. It is

unparliamentary to say that what another Member in the House has said is untrue.

I would

ask the Member to withdraw his comments.

MR. KENT:

I withdraw, Mr. Speaker.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

from the Order Paper, Order 6, second reading of Bill 12.

MR. SPEAKER:

Is it moved and seconded that

Bill 12,

An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act, be now read a second time.

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

Motion,

second reading of a bill,

An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act. (Bill 12)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House today to debate amending sections of the

Highway Traffic Act . The

Highway Traffic Act regulates drivers and the use of motor vehicles on

highways, and is updated on a regular basis to ensure our roads are safe for the

people of the province.

The

proposed amendments will allow law enforcement officials to bring a charge

against a registered owner of a vehicle that is observed illegally passing a

school bus or speeding in a school zone or a construction zone. These amendments

will enhance enforcement measures to ensure offenders are ticketed. This in turn

will promote the safety of children, protect people working in the road

construction industry and deter illegal driving activities throughout our

province.

A key

part of our government's five-point plan is to support safe and sustainable

communities. Putting the proposed amendments in place will help advance that

plan. For those who are charged with illegally passing a school bus, the

proposed amendments also include increased fines. Fines for passing a school bus

that is stopped with its red lights flashing will be increased to a minimum of

$500 with a maximum of $1,200. Previous fines were in the range of $100 to $400.

Those

illegally speeding in school zones or construction zones will continue to face

fines that range from $100 to $1,500. Mr. Speaker, this is double the regular

speeding fines. Having significant fines likes these in place speaks to the

seriousness of driving dangerously in those specific areas.

At this

time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to each situation these proposed

amendments are attempting to address.

With

respect to the illegal passing of school buses, our proposed amendments support

work taking place across the departments. The Department of Education and Early

Childhood Development is currently piloting the use of external cameras on

school buses to record and identify vehicles passing a school bus, including the

plate number of the vehicle.

Right

now there are 10 board-owned school buses and one privately contracted bus that

are equipped with camera systems. These buses are in use throughout the

province. Our proposed amendments will support the pilot project and potentially

assist with getting more convictions against those passing school buses

illegally.

With

respect to speeding in school zones, the fines for these kinds of infractions

were increased in 2010 to double the amount of a regular speeding fine. This

focused the public's attention on the importance of observing speed limits

around schools. Mr. Speaker, our government hopes that the amendments we are

proposing will once again remind motorists of their responsibilities when

driving in areas that have reduced speed limits.

School

zones present a number of higher-than-normal traffic risk. Children may not

always recognize the risk that car traffic imposes. In particular, young

children may be more prone to straying in the road while playing. As well,

motorists travelling through these zones must always appreciate that they are in

a busy area.

School

zones involve high levels of pedestrian activity, crosswalks and vehicle

congestion whether school buses and/or parents are dropping off or picking up

children at the school. Drivers must show extra caution in these areas, but we

know that this does not always happen. It is our hope that our proposed

amendments will bring greater attention to this issue and enhance enforcement so

that speeding is reduced in these areas.

With

respect to reducing speeds in construction zones, a great deal of work continues

in this area. Mr. Speaker, these areas present higher-than-normal risks for

construction workers who are working near our roadways while traffic is passing.

The

Department of Transportation and Works and Service NL has undertaken a safety

initiative to bring together stakeholders from government, industry and safety

organizations with an interest in construction zone safety. This initiative is

focused on balancing the safety needs of the travelling public with those

working to maintain provincial roads and highways.

The

three pillars of safety have been identified: engineering which refers to safe

work practices, enforcement and education. Service NL, in consultation with the

Department of Transportation and Works and the Department of Justice and Public

Safety, was tasked with identifying penalties and other regulatory means to help

deter poor driving within and near construction sites.

Charging

the registered owner with an offence that is committed in a construction zone

will further this work as a measure that should support the three pillars I

mentioned previously.

summary, Mr. Speaker, the benefits we hope realized from these proposed

amendments are: preventing illegal driving practices, raising awareness and

protecting vulnerable people in higher-than-normal risk areas.

Mr.

Speaker, currently the Highway Traffic Act

only charges the driver with moving violations. As there is often difficulty

in catching a driver who ignores the flashing red lights of a school bus or

speeds through school or construction zones, some violators have gone

unpunished. This is a serious safety concern, Mr. Speaker.

In order

to address this issue we are seeking approval to amend the act in a way that

will open the door for increased enforcement efforts. Charging a registered

owner for a moving violation is a departure from the current highway traffic

legislation but will serve to better protect the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Other

jurisdictions including British Columbia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Manitoba,

Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island all have provisions in place for

charging the registered owner of a vehicle with various moving offenses

involving that vehicle to better protect the people of their provinces.

Further

action must be taken here in our province as well. Mr. Speaker, the safety of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians is a top priority of our government. We

continue strengthening penalties and increasing school bus safety and these

amendments will do just that. The proposed amendments are proactive steps that

are designed to increase highway safety, especially for our vulnerable road

users such as children and construction workers.

Road

safety is everybody's responsibility, Mr. Speaker. This amendment will make

vulnerable pedestrians safe through stronger enforcement measures.

Mr.

Speaker, at the press conference today we had the Royal Newfoundland

Constabulary, the Construction Safety Association, we had the RCMP and we had

the school board all supporting this legislation. I know the Member opposite,

the Member for Cape St. Francis, was also at it and I look forward to his

support because I know all Members in this House are concerned about safety in

construction zones and school zones.

welcome everybody to have a few words on this. I welcome any comments on this

here because we know, as legislators, that our job is to protect the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. We see it on a regular basis, speeding through

construction zones. We see some people ignoring the red lights and we have to

try to deter it. We also have to educate people. We have to find a way to inform

people that if you break the law, put people's lives and safety at risk in a

construction zone or school zone, you will be caught, you will be fined and you

will be penalized for that.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I look forward to the comments in the House of Assembly. I look forward

to comments from Members on this side, because this is not an issue in the House

for either one of us parties, this is a common issue for all of us in

Newfoundland and Labrador, and I welcome all comments from all Members in the

House of Assembly. I welcome their support to change this legislation.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, indeed, it is a

pleasure to get up here this afternoon and talk about this bill. I had the

pleasure this morning to go to the news conference and it was great to see, as

the minister just mentioned, most of the stakeholders that are involved were

there, whether it was construction. It was nice to see the school board

representatives, so education was represented, Service NL, and then to see both

of our law enforcement groups, the RCMP and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary

also there.

Mr.

Speaker, this bill is a no-doubter we will definitely be supporting it because

anytime when it comes to children's safety and people's safety that go to work

every day this is an important bill and people do realize that these are serious

incidents.

I can

remember I'm not sure how many years ago, but there was an accident down in

Torbay and it was related to somebody going around a bus while the bus was

stopped and somebody lost their life. So when we have young children that are on

buses in the daytime and moms and dads and family members, you just hope that

those children get home safely, and it's so important.

This is

legislation that needs to be brought in and it's great to see this legislation.

It's going to be interesting how it's going to work in the courts and stuff like

that and to see but again, as the minister already stated, that it's been done

in a lot of provinces right across Canada, so I'm sure it will work.

The

thing I want to emphasize today is as we look at this bill that we're bringing

in, it's the registered driver who's responsible. The registered driver of a

vehicle who owns that vehicle may not be the person who's driving it, but that

person should be the person that should be responsible for their vehicle.

Now,

there are some stipulations in the act where it shows that if the vehicle was

reported stolen or even if the vehicle is registered to, say, a rental company

or something like that, that obviously those things will be looked at. If the

vehicle is registered to you, then you're the one that's responsible for the

person who is driving. No matter whether you can pick up who's driving or

whatever. So that's important to know. That's it; you should be responsible for

your vehicle.

I look

at the fines that are getting increased here and, again, I support it 100 per

cent because when you look at fines that are going up from $100 to $400, what

they presently are today, to $500 to $1,200. Now it's a deterrent for anyone

when they know they have to pay a fine of that much, but in some cases, I guess,

they really don't care and a fine doesn't mean anything to them.

Hopefully, this will be a deterrent that people will look at and say I don't

know how many points or whatever, minister. That's a question I want to ask you

later on about anyway. We'll be looking at the point system and what that's

going to do. The courts have a right to look at it. They'll be the ones that

will decide how much the fine is.

Mr.

Speaker, I just look at different zones. I look at school buses. I know in my

area, and it's a problem in a lot of areas where there are a couple of lanes.

Where you have four lanes and the bus is stopping on four lanes. A lot of times

people don't stop because they think they're on a highway and they don't need to

stop, but they do need to stop. Once that red flag goes out, you have to stop.

You cannot pass a bus, no matter where you are.

The

Minister of Education gets up and he talks about how expensive it is to run

buses today. There were a lot of changes brought in over the years for safety,

flashing lights and different reflectors and everything else, to bring the buses

standards up to where they should be today so people can make sure they're as

safe as possible, people can see them and everything else. I know a couple of

speakers will get up and talk about that a little later now. It's important that

once our children get on a bus that they're safe. It's so important.

I'm

going to talk a little bit about school zones. I know in school zones, one thing

I'd like to see the Minister of Transportation could probably address it if he

gets up and speaks on this. I know municipalities do it but we don't do it on

provincial roads. In municipalities they put up speed bumps.

Down in

Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove they have two speed pumps before the school. I

know it slows down the traffic because people are not going to fly over it. Even

in other areas in my district where it's not a provincial road, they do have

speed bumps. I really do suggest to the minister, where there's a concern,

perhaps there's something we can look at. Putting speed bumps there, that's

another deterrent to slow it down.

While

you can have all the signage and flashing lights and crosswalks, people still

speed through school zones because they're in the middle of the area. So I

really believe that would help, but this today is a good thing because it's

another deterrent.

When it

comes to construction zones, Mr. Speaker, you look at construction zones today

and I look at the highways and stuff like that. People are travelling 100

kilometres an hour and all of a sudden they come upon a construction zone. If

you look today, there are not a lot of people who are slowing down. We have

workers who are out there.

I know

there have been accidents over the last number of years where people did lose

their lives in construction zones. It's not only on the highway, it could be in

the communities. People have to be aware that the reason these culverts are up,

these pylons are up, and the reason why there is signage up is because there are

people working. It's so important that we make sure people realize that this is

a very serious thing. People are out there, they're taking their lives in their

own hands.

Again,

there are some things we talked about in the bill. In the briefing we had the

Department of Education talked about they're going to try to bring in some

programs. They're going to try to educate young drivers on the changes to the

it through press releases.

The

Eastern School District, the school board district, also said they are going to

try to educate the younger people who are getting their driver's licence to

ensure that they understand the rules in places like school zones and what the

rules are when you do come upon a school bus. That is very important. Again, we

need to make sure that anyone who is out there that is not doing this properly,

just passing by a school bus, that they will get fined because it's too late

when someone gets hurt.

The

other question I have for the minister while we talked about cameras on the

buses, that there is also a cost to the operator for this. I know this year

actually, there was a pilot project that he just mentioned where there were 16

charges laid and five convictions so far this year. So any conviction is it's

a good thing.

I know

the operators are looking at the expenses when it comes to this budget with

extra costs on insurance and cost on gas and everything else. This is a safety

issue for having these cameras on buses. So I'm wondering if government is

planning on helping them pay for the cost of the cameras because there is no

cost that's too much for the safety of our children.

Mr.

Speaker, I think it's a good move. I think anytime we help with safety in our

province and help with safety to our children and our workers, this is a great

bill and we'll be supporting it.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Labrador West.

MR. LETTO:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's a

great pleasure to rise in this hon. House today to continue debate on amending

sections of the Highway Traffic Act and we certainly welcome the comments from

my colleague across the way, the Member for Cape St. Francis. It's great to see

he's in full support of that. I didn't have any doubt that he would.

colleague, the Minister of Service NL, has already spoken to many of the

specifics of the proposed amendments, so I'll begin my remarks by speaking about

the importance of bringing the province's

Highway Traffic Act in line with other jurisdictions in Canada.

Madam Speaker, traffic laws can vary significantly around

the world and throughout Canada. As noted previously by the Minister of Service

NL, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova

Scotia and Prince Edward Island have all established ways to charge the

registered owner of a vehicle that is seen committing different kinds of traffic

violations. This was done to better protect the people of their provinces.

Many of these provinces adopted stronger legislation or

stronger enforcement activities in response to tragedies. The Province of

Manitoba made amendments to its legislation after a 21-year-old was struck and

killed while working on a provincial highway in 2010. In the fall of 2012,

people in Saskatchewan were shocked to learn an 18-year-old flag person was

warning drivers to slow down in a construction zone was killed by a passing SUV.

This too led to legislative changes.

In our own province, we have lost road workers in incidents

that have taken place in recent years and now we are taking action to help

prevent such incidents in the future.

The Minister of Service NL also noted the pilot program

involving the use of video cameras on buses to record vehicles illegally passing

those buses. The minister also noted how the proposed amendments would support

the pilot project and potentially increase convictions against offenders.

Madam Speaker, it is important to note that this kind of

pilot project has been pursued in other jurisdictions as well. For example, in

the fall of 2013, a Northern Alberta school division adopted similar technology

on its buses and recorded 15 instances of illegal driving. With respect to our

own province's pilot project, we anticipate adding cameras will also support a

higher conviction rate. This is a valuable project which deserves to be

supported by legislation, Madam Speaker.

Promoting safe and sustainable communities is a key part of

our government's five-point plan for achieving a stronger tomorrow. In order to

do that, it is important that our laws reflect the best practices being used

across Canada.

The Highway Traffic

Act is updated regularly to ensure best practices are used. The proposed

amendments are valuable, practical and defensible. In practice, police would lay

charges on the basis of a witness giving a statement about a vehicle illegally

passing a stopped school bus. We have

heard from parents and school

bus drivers that failure to stop for a school bus is too common an offence. I'm

sure everybody in this House, on both sides of the House, has seen this happen

in their lifetime. They see people passing school buses that have their lights

flashing. It puts our children at great, great risk. The proposed amendments

open the door for increased use of technology, and make it possible for law

enforcement to positively identify a vehicle and bring a charge without having

to pursue the vehicle to identify the driver.

In order

to address potential court challenges in cases where the driver has not been

identified and the registered owner is charged with a moving violation, the

proposed legislation permits two defences: one, that the registered owner was

not the owner at the time of the offence, as would be the case with car rental

companies; and two, that the vehicle was driven without the registered owner's

express or implied permission.

Madam

Speaker, there will be no term of imprisonment for a conviction or for a default

of payment of the fine for a conviction against the registered owner. As well,

if during an investigation the registered owner identifies the driver of the

vehicle to the police before a charge is laid, the decision to lay a charge

against the driver would be up to the police.

The

decision as to whether to proceed with a charge would be with the Crown

prosecutor's office. Regardless, the registered owner cannot be convicted of the

offence if the driver is convicted of the same offence. Clearly, Madam Speaker,

we are discussing legislative amendments that have been carefully considered and

are based on work that has already taken place in other provinces.

The

amendments open the door to pursue stronger enforcement while simultaneously

leaving protections in place so that parties can defend themselves should the

charge be brought against them. We have discussed these amendments across

government departments and with representatives from law enforcement. Many of

them are in attendance today. The amendments reflect the input and expertise of

all those consulted.

We now

ask Members opposite to support these amendments and join with us in efforts to

make the province's roads safer, especially for school children and construction

workers in vulnerable situations. Working together we can make the province's

Highway Traffic Act even stronger and

reduce the chance of tragic incidents in the future.

Thank

you, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER (Dempster):

The hon. the

Member for Topsail Paradise.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

It's a

pleasure to rise to speak to this bill today. It's always a pleasure to speak to

a bill that involves safety, especially the safety of our children and our

students, who we know travel throughout the province in sometimes very long bus

rides and sometimes over rough terrain, especially in the wintertime.

We know

that through changes that are coming as well in the Department of Education, we

can expect students to be on buses earlier in the morning and later in the

evening, meaning during dark times as well. Anything we can do to increase the

safety of our students we would support.

This

bill is to change primarily one

section of the

Highway Traffic Act under

section 210,

which deals with liability, enforcement and fines associated with it. Under

section 210, the legislation currently says now the owner of a motor vehicle

shall not incur a penalty for movement or operation of a vehicle if it's in

someone else's possession without their consent. The new legislation, or what's

proposed here, is a slight change to that which I will discuss later, maybe,

when we get to Committee stage.

It's

really interesting, especially to hear from the Member for Labrador West. I

appreciate his comments. Yes, any time we do safety it's good thing. At least

twice during his comments, he made reference to national standards and bringing

in line with the rest of Canada. We support looking at other jurisdictions to

see what other jurisdictions do.

It's an

interesting comment he makes because we know in busing the Minister of

Education has been on his feet here in the House during budget discussion

talking about how the cost of buses have gone up, and the cost of busing

contracts have gone up because of action we took as a government. He blamed us

for that.

What he

is talking about is what's known as a D250 standard of school buses. This is

about safety and related to the bill, I say to the Speaker. D250 CSA standard is

a national standard. When the Member opposite said, bring it in line with the

rest of Canada, we agree with that.

D250

standard is exactly what we did. D250 is not new. It goes back to 1971. It was

renewed in '75, '79 and '85. 2012 was the ninth edition of the D250 standard.

The purpose of those standards it's a CSA standard is to ensure that buses

are the safest as possible for students who have to ride on them and use them

for going back to school.

The D250

deals with certain things like bumpers, batteries, exhaust systems, horns to

make sure a horn functions properly and is loud enough and so on, steering gear

and linkages, even the turning radius of a bus it goes into, frame structure,

tires and rims and reflective material. We notice these days, Madam Speaker,

that buses today have more reflectors on them than they did before. They have

escape hatches that they never had in years gone by, standard fire extinguishers

and first aid kits, certain markings and interior lighting. The

pedestrian-student safety arm I think they call it the crossing arm that

goes out in front of a bus is part of the D250 standards.

What we

did as a government, Madam Speaker, is we moved with the rest of the country,

similar to what the Member for Labrador West said, bringing in line the rest of

the country in increasing the standard of safety for the students. We recognize

when you add safety and those levels of safety, there is an additional cost.

It's not

much different than when vehicles first started being installed with seatbelts.

There was an additional cost for that. When you changed bumpers absorption of

bumpers and crumple zones and crashing in vehicles, there's a cost that comes

with that. When the evolution of airbags came, and the advancement of airbags,

we know there's a cost for that too. We know, Madam Speaker, that there is a

cost of safety. The chance in this legislation as well as the Member opposite

referenced, there was a pilot project for cameras. There's a cost to that too,

but we also know there is the possibility and the likelihood of increased

safety.

When the

motoring public, people travelling on a regular basis who disregard school buses

it happens far too often, there's no two ways about it. It happens far too

often. I know police officers quite often struggle with the ability in having

enough evidence to charge the person responsible. Under current legislation you

just can't go and say: Well, here's the plate number and I've issued a ticket

because the bus driver said that plate number passed through a bus that was

stopped with its arm extended, its lights flashing or through a construction

zone.

You have

to have evidence to support that because witnesses as we know through history,

in cases throughout the country at all levels sometimes are wrong. Not

intentionally wrong, they don't mean to be wrong. They are mistaken and quite

often known as an honest but mistaken belief. That happens. We know that relying

100 per cent solely on witness testimony is dangerous to do. In the courts

they'll always look for other indicators, look at what other witnesses have to

say or look for other evidence.

That's

why cameras are very important, especially when you can photograph a licence

plate number. If a bus driver is driving a bus and has to memorize a licence

plate number, or a car speeds through a construction zone and a worker memorizes

a licence plate number, that's much less reliable than actually having a visual

image, a video or camera photograph or still of the particular licence plate

number; the same with the person driving because there are technologies that

allow for an image of the driver to be captured as well.

As the

Member for Labrador West said, these are some of the things that happen across

the country, that are happening in other places and should be brought into line.

While the Minister of Education has chastised us for bringing these new D250

standards forward on buses, I have no regret in doing so knowing that, yes,

while the cost is higher and we realize and understand that the tough fiscal

circumstances that exist for the government today; however, the government if

they don't believe that was the right thing to do, they always have the choice

to lower that safety standard. I hope they don't do that and I don't think they

will.

But when

the minister criticized previous government, which they always like to talk

about, for going along with the rest of the country and I would even say and my

recollection is even back to 2007 standard, prior to 2012 coming out, we were

one of the last provinces in Canada to move towards it. If I remember from

briefings from officials back in 2011 when we talked about this, when I first

learned about it, was that Ontario gave a week's notice or a month's notice it

was a really short period of time for the busing industry for any new buses

you buy and bring in, had to meet that new standard effective immediately.

We were

several years after trying to implement and move into this new standard. At one

point in time bus operators could take the buses and do modifications themselves

to meet the standard. The new standard, as I recollect, doesn't allow for that

and buses have to be manufactured. The D250 CSA standard is essentially a

manufacturing standard for safety.

Madam

Speaker, when the Members opposite, when government brings forward a bill that

is about safety, it's about safety of workers, construction workers, it's about

safety of school children and operation of school children, it's a good thing to

do. I know in my time in government as a minister I dealt first-hand with a

terrible fatality on the West Coast of a construction worker who tragically lost

his life while engaged in his duties for government, for the Department of

Transportation, and no one ever wants to see that ever happen. I didn't want to

see it happen then; we never want to see it happen in the future.

If there

is something that can be done to better protect workers, then I believe it's a

valuable investment, it's a wise investment and it is certainly worth our time

to come here to the House of Assembly to debate it and discuss it and also for

government to go through the work and bring that legislation forward.

There

has been talk in the past that charging a person for a hazardous moving

violation, as they're referred to by the courts, when you can't prove who the

person was driving, there are people in the law community who have expressed

concern in the past that it would be a dangerous precedent to set. I would

expect that if the legislation is enforced and utilized from time to time that,

at some point in time, there may very well be a challenge to the legislation.

I'm sure Members opposite have done their work; they have looked at other

jurisdictions to see what challenges have been raised when you charge somebody

for an offence when you can't identify the person who actually did the offence.

I am

sure maybe the minister when he closes debate can refer to that this afternoon.

There have been challenges in other jurisdictions in the past. Maybe the courts

have now said that it's allowable and okay and it's accepted by the courts a

new precedent had been set on it. I'd be delighted to hear if that is the case.

As my

colleague mentioned earlier, we like safety legislation. We like requiring

people to operate themselves, operate vehicles in a safer manner. We like it

when we're trying to cause people to be respectful on highways.

Remember

when we brought in the Move Over law a couple of years back, which was about a

very similar type of circumstance, about creating safety when utility workers,

highway maintenance workers, police or emergency, firefighters, emergency

medical people, it could be forest firefighters, any other emergency service

that could be on the highway. It requires the motorists to slow down and move

over.

I think

people may have forgotten about it in recent years. Maybe it's time to remind

them again of the existence of that piece of legislation, especially with

summertime coming and a much higher frequency of having workers and first

responders on our highways. Maybe it's time for the government to remind people

again of the Move Over law and the requirement to slow down and yield the

right-of-way to people on the highway, and to take a motion so that you can move

away and give them a safe working space.

Madam

Speaker, we'll be supporting this piece of legislation. I certainly expect my

colleagues on this side of the House will be supporting it. We look forward to

having further discussion in Committee.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burin

Grand Bank.

MS. HALEY:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam

Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to continue debate on amending sections of

the Highway Traffic Act . My colleagues

have already spoken to specifics of the proposed amendments and to developments

in other jurisdictions. I will now speak to the significance of collaboration

and the importance of making progressive updates to the

Highway Traffic Act .

Madam

Speaker, the province's Highway Traffic

Act was updated in 2014 to clarify the rules of the road related to

roundabouts. The act was also updated that year to make the use of bicycle

helmets mandatory on all provincial roads. Further amendments were made in 2014

to require motorists to move over when approaching emergency vehicles.

Madam

Speaker, every Member in this hon. House has likely seen school buses bringing

children to and from schools in their districts. Every Member has likely seen

men and women carry out vital roadwork in construction zones where speed must be

reduced to protect these vulnerable workers.

We are

talking about positive changes that will bring our legislation in line with laws

in other provinces for multi-use of best practices and prevent tragedies like

those that have occurred in the past.

present, Madam Speaker, the fines charged in this province for the offence are

lower than many other jurisdictions. With the proposed amendments, fines for

illegally passing a school bus will increase so that they range between $500 and

$1,200. Previous fines were in the $100 to $400 range.

Madam

Speaker, promoting safety is a high priority for our government, and I am sure

that all Members share the priority we place on mitigating danger and minimizing

risks. As my hon. colleagues have mentioned in their previous remarks on this

bill, there are special efforts underway to curtail poor driving practices and

make sure everyone honours their responsibility to drive safely.

We now

have a great opportunity to support all of this good work by continuing to make

important updates and amendments to the

Highway Traffic Act . Working together we can improve our legislation to

ensure the safety and well-being of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians now and

into the future. I hope to see the co-operation of all Members opposite as we

undertake these amendments, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the

merits of this bill.

Thank

you, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Madam

Speaker.

I'm very

happy to stand today and to speak to Bill 12,

An Act to Amend the Highway

Traffic Act, and I would like to commend the minister and his department for

bringing forth this bill. It's a very important bill, because this can be a

life-saving bill. Hopefully it's not so much about punitive measures, but more

so about precautionary measures and preventative measures.

The

bill, as we know, contains two types of changes to the

Highway Traffic Act . The first one is changing the rules of the

road, and that's

Part V of the act. That allows the registered owner of the

vehicle to be held responsible for three specific moving violations.

The

second change is raising the minimum and maximum fines for passing a school bus

and for school zone speeding. It's so important. So many of us work in a much

more fast-paced environment than we did years ago.

We know

there are more cars; there are more vehicles on the road than years ago. There

are more people driving faster than there were years ago (

a) because many of our

roads are in good condition so it allows for that. Also, so many of us are

rushing. We're rushing, rushing all the time.

Many

families have, perhaps, two-income earners and people are rushing back and forth

to take kids to school or to go to work or to pick up kids from school or to

take kids to soccer. It's really tough so people are rushing and rushing and

rushing.

I can

remember in '70s when we saw the great introduction of more and more personal

computers and we thought, ah, we are going to have more of a paperless society

and we will have more leisure. We were promised we were moving towards a

four-day workweek. It didn't happen.

Now,

with the introduction of more and more technology, we have more paper. Not only

that, the boundaries between work and home life have completely blurred because

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I ask

Members to take their side conversations outside or keep the noise level down a

bit.

Thank

you.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

So many

of us are rushing, rushing and rushing. These kinds of measures, I believe, are

really important. Again, they can be lifesaving.

The

second change is raising the maximum fees for passing a school bus and for

school zone speeding. Officials confirm both, but only one fee

schedule for

school bus passing showed up in the copy of the bill we received.

The

three specific moving violations we are looking at today, that we are looking at

as a change in this act to amend the

Highway Traffic Act , are speeding in a construction zone which I'm sure many

people perhaps even many people here in this House have done. I think

through the work that folks working on our highways, through the work the police

have done, through increased signage, we are becoming more and more aware of it.

I tell

you, I'm deterred when I know I halt when I know I slow down because I can

be somewhat heavy on the pedal there.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Shame.

MS. ROGERS:

I know. I am ashamed. I am.

But I am

so grateful I have to tell you

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. ROGERS:

I am so grateful for the

signs on our highways that remind us. I'm sure I'm not alone in this House. I'm

sure I'm not alone in this province. I tell you I have learned. I am so grateful

for the signage, for the cautions and for the warnings that are put out to us to

make sure we don't drive in an irresponsible manner. Again, so many of us are

really rushing around trying to accomplish much.

The

speeding in a school zone, how is important is that. We all know, particularly

in unexpected places, kids can pop out on the road. I'm sure all of us have had

children in our community or children in our lives who have been hit on the

road, sometimes with really drastic consequences.

I think

the speeding in a school zone is really, really important. I'm glad to see this

change here. I would like to see a school zone, the hours and I spoke to this

in the House about two years ago when we were looking at speeding zones in

school zones. I would like to see that those rules are in place 24 hours a day

(

a) because it keeps reminding us; and (

b) because children are at school after

hours. Sometimes it's just up until 6 o'clock. Sometimes it's on weekends.

Sometimes if there's a play going on or a basketball game, we have our kids at

the schools until 10 o'clock at night.

I think

to extend those hours to 24 hours, seven days a week is not going to really

hamper our lives, but it might save a life. I think I would like to see that

policy enacted.

The

third moving violation is passing a school bus stopped with red lights flashing.

When I was a young girl my Cousin Debbie, six years old, was killed by a driver.

When the school bus was stopped, the red flag was out. She walked in front of

the school bus to cross the road and she was hit by a car. She was killed at six

years old.

Our

family knows that devastation. Not only did we lose Debbie and every time I

see a school bus stopped with the red flag out, I think of Debbie. Thank God for

those red flags. Thank God that we have those to remind us. Every time I see one

of those school buses I think of her, but I also think of Uncle Tom and Aunt

Bette who never fully recovered from that accident. They never fully recovered.

I'm so

happy we are looking at more measures to slow us down, more measures to make us

more cautious. Not that I'm happy about the punishments, although I think that

they become a deterrent, but the responsibility to take the caution to everyone.

I'm so very happy for a number of reasons to stand in this House today to

support this bill.

Currently, in

section 210 of the act holds the owner of the vehicle responsible

for traffic violations except in the cases of moving violations. Only the actual

driver can be charged except in cases of moving violations. Sometimes the driver

can be held responsible but sometimes the driver is not caught or sometimes it's

really hard to identify the driver. So that becomes a whole grey area.

What

this is doing is enabling our enforcement officers to hold responsible the owner

of the vehicle. Sometimes the owner of the vehicle is not the driver. So then I

believe we have a pretty fair justice system that can then deal with the

ramifications of that.

What the

changes in this bill allow for will allow the owner to be charged for these

three moving violations when the identity of the car can be determined. More

often than not, the identity of the car can be determined, but often the driver

can't, if something is moving quickly.

remember once driving near a daycare area and there wasn't a sign that said I

should slow down. I was preoccupied and I was rushing to go to a meeting because

I'm always rushing. A parent waved me down and said to me: Do you know you're

near a child care centre? I thought, you know what, yah. I was so happy that

parent slowed me down.

This is

another way to slow us down. That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. It's a

responsible thing. The elements in this bill, the suggested changes in this

bill, are about lifesaving measures, are about making our community safer, not

only for kids, but for all of us.

Where I

live, and in my District of St. John's Centre, there are so many children who

walk to Holy Cross Junior High, who walk to Bishop Abraham Elementary school,

who walk to St. Teresa's School. As our schools gets bigger, as this government

closes more of our schools and then the traffic gets more congested because

there are more kids packed into schools and the population is denser, then we

see more children spilling out onto the street or more children walking to

school.

For

instance, in my District of St. John's Centre, oftentimes in the winter the

sidewalks are filled with snow or there are snowbanks and these kids are walking

on the street. It's very interesting, in my district, particularly on Penneywell

Road, when the snow is piled up, when there's snow on the sidewalks, what

happens is there's also parking on both sides of the street. There are more cars

in this area now then there were even 10 years ago. The traffic is dense. The

foot traffic of the children walking to school is dense, and they're walking on

the road.

This

kind of legislation is so important because things have changed. More cars on

the road, more people in a hurry, more people scrambling, more children also

being bused to school now because some of the schools have closed. So I think

this legislation is very timely. Again, because of what's happening in our

community. Whether it be denser populations in our schools than the kids are out

on the streets, there are more kids out around the streets than in schools, or

whether we have more kids being bused to schools because their schools have been

closed and so they're being bused to schools by school buses.

In the

cameras on its buses. They were able to take a photo of the vehicle and the

plate number. I guess that's how the police also can identify offending vehicles

and eventually offending drivers. I am sure that for any of us who have been

caught speeding and have been ticketed or lost demerit points, it really makes

you think twice.

Since

the pilot project started there have been 16 charges and five convictions.

Officials were not sure how many changes there were before the pilot project

started because records are only kept for 18 months, but this sounds like

progress. Again, it's not only about punishment, it's about prevention.

The bus

driver cannot usually identify the driver of the car which needs to be done for

moving violations but now with this, currently for speeding to catch the driver

the police have to use radar with two cars. Now they will only need a camera.

They will determine if charges are laid in cases where a bus driver or someone

says the car was speeding or passing a bus and they provide a licence number. It

may not be enough evidence, but it may be. So, this is great. The cameras will

solve this.

With

these amendments, the bus driver can report the licence number to the police

with proof from the camera and the police will decide whether or not to lay a

charge. People will try to use the defence that the car was being driven without

their consent. So it will be up to the police to determine if the proof provided

by the owner is sufficient. Then I imagine it goes further in our justice

system. So this is great.

Penalties, most fines are minimum or maximum and I like this approach. This is

an approach that is being used in our courts, in a number of specialty courts.

If you accept responsibility, you get a minimum fine. If you say: yes, officer,

that was me; yes, I agree, I was going too fast; or I passed a school bus, yes.

Well, your fine may be more on the minimum side. If you go to court and contest

and lose, the judge can impose a higher fine. In some cases, the police may

request a higher fine.

I think

this is a good thing, but that will happen only if you lose. So it's not a

deterrent to actually go to court if you feel that you are