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May

25, 2015

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 19

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

would like to welcome all members back to another week of orderly debate in

the House of Assembly.

Today I would like to recognize and welcome representatives from the

Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador, along with Executive Director,

Darren Feltham.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

I would also like to

recognize and welcome Early Childhood Educators: Mary Walsh, Joanne Morris,

Gail Brinston, Valerie Collins, and Helen Sinclair.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we will hear

members' statements from Members representing the Districts of St. George's

Stephenville East, Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, Carbonear Harbour Grace,

Humber East, Virginia Waters, and St. Barbe.

The

hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.

MR. REID:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

rise today to make the House aware of an important project being undertaken

by Writer Director Michael Fenwick and a team of film students at the

College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville.

The

important project they are working on is to bring the story of the life of

legendary Newfoundland musician Emile Benoit to the screen.

Students and instructors of the Film and Video Production Program at

the College of the North Atlantic have held a casting call for people to

help create the history by becoming part of the short film about Emile

Benoit.

Emile Benoit was the talented French-Newfoundland fiddler from Black Duck

Brook known for his unique style of fiddling, along with his wit and charm.

The crew has been chosen, script written, all characters are

established, and a number of lead roles and extras have been selected.

would like the House to join with me in recognizing the important work of

program instructors Peter Buckle, Keith Bonnell, Michael Fenwick, the

students involved, and all those who have come forward to participate as

cast members. I look forward to

the film, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

One

of the most prestigious awards Canada offers to its young people is the Duke

of Edinburgh's International Award.

Established in Canada in 1963, the tri-level non-competitive program

encourages youth to set and achieve goals in the areas of community service,

skills, fitness, and adventure.

Anyone who has been involved with a Duke of Edinburgh achiever can sing the

praises of the program and tell you stories of how any given individual has

learned new skills, made a difference in the community, or achieved an

athletic goal they once thought impossible.

particular note is the COSTA initiative, which opens the Duke of Edinburgh

Program to students with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Last

Thursday, youthful achievers from all over the Province congregated at the

CLB Armory to receive their Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh's Award from

Governor General David Johnston.

Eleven of them live in my District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi and I would

like to recognize of them by name.

Congratulations to Garrett Barry, Alexandria Batten, Megan Clarke,

Joseph Eddy, Amber Hodder, Julia Outerbridge, Sarah Predham, Camille

Quirion, Abby Robbins, Alex Robbins, and Sean Winsor.

ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Carbonear Harbour Grace.

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, on April 23, 2015, I had the pleasure of attending the Town of

Harbour Grace Annual Awards ceremony where the town recognizes many of its

finest citizens. The ceremony is

dedicated to the many volunteers, athletes, and members of the community who

are actively involved in the community.

Mr.

Speaker, I especially want to recognize Courtney Coombs who won both the

1992 Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games scholarship and the Doris

Murcell Memorial Award as the female athlete of the year.

She had previously won this award in 2012.

Courtney is an all-around athlete who excels in both competition and the

classroom. She is active in

soccer, volleyball, ball hockey, and cross-country running.

She is an avid multi-sport athlete and is attending her first year of

university.

The

Town of Harbour Grace is very fortunate to have young people like Courtney

and also Adam Slade, who was chosen as the male athlete of the year.

They are the future of our communities and our Province, and to be

recognized with such prestigious awards is a testament to their abilities.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating Courtney and

wish her all the best in her future athletic and academic endeavours.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

Mr. Speaker, on Thursday,

May 21, the Duke of Edinburgh Award honoured program achievers who have

entered their Gold Standard at a ceremony with His Excellency the Right

Honourable David Johnston.

Since 1974, when the program was first introduced in Newfoundland and

Labrador, the Duke of Edinburgh Award has been instrumental in helping

thousands of young people develop qualities of leadership, personal

discipline, and strength of character.

Currently in our Province we have some 3,500 young people registered

in the program, which is the highest per capita number of any Province in

Canada.

I am

very proud today to recognize three individuals from the District of Humber

East, Dianna Alteen, Maria Filatre, and Marli Ver Mooten, who received the

Gold Standard Award at a ceremony on Thursday.

To achieve this award, these young people were required to set and

accomplish personal goals within an eighteen-month period in five different

areas which include service, skill, physical recreation, adventurous

journey, and residential project.

also want to thank the many adults involved in the program who offer

guidance and support to all of these young people.

ask hon. members to join me in congratulating Dianna, Maria, and Marli, and

all the achievers in this fantastic accomplishment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters.

MS C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

rise in this hon. House today to recognize a pioneer in many ways; Ms

Rosemary Marshall who will be inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador

Hockey Hall of Fame 2015. Ms

Marshall was among the first female minor hockey coaches in this Province,

and the first to serve as President of the St. John's Minor Hockey

Association.

She

was the only female in her class when she obtained her Level II coaching,

before forming an atom-age team in St. John's and went on to take a club to

the 1972 provincial competition in Labrador City.

In 1976, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association named her as an

outstanding minor hockey award winner.

Recognizing the need for more ice surfaces, she played a major role in the

construction of Twin Rinks and held the position of secretary for the Avalon

Arenas Association. After the

passing of her husband, Doug, in 2005 she joined with her sons, Steve, Ken,

and Ian, in the sponsorship of the Doug Marshall Hockey League.

She

was also the first female to serve as President of Sport Newfoundland and

Labrador.

ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing the legacy of Ms Marshall's

involvement in youth sports.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. Barbe.

MR. J. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker,

Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador hosted the annual Tourism Excellence

Awards 2015 on February 26, recognizing the outstanding tourism leaders and

businesses that make great contributions to the provincial tourism industry.

The Gros Morne region, in the St. Barbe district, won big.

Ocean View Hotel, Rocky Harbour, won the H. Clayton Sparkes Accommodator of

the Year Award. This award

recognizes an individual who exhibits dedication to quality service and

makes a solid contribution to the community.

Gros

Morne Co-operating Association won the JAC Tourism Champion of the Year

Award. This award is presented

to an individual, company, or organization that has worked diligently to

ensure that the tourism industry prospers.

Bonne Bay Marine Station, Norris Point, won the Sustainable Tourism Award.

This award recognizes an industry operator who has made strides in

sustainable tourism practices and continually works toward the protection of

our natural and cultural resources.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to join me in congratulating

Ocean View Hotel, Gros Morne Co-operating Association, and Bonne Bay Marine

Station on winning these prestigious Tourism Excellence Awards.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Before we go to statements by ministers, I would like to take this

opportunity to recognize one of our own.

Last Thursday afternoon one of our Pages, Raylene Mackey, was

presented with the Caring Canadian Award by the Right Honourable David

Johnston, Governor General.

The

Governor General's Caring Canadian Award was created in 1995 to recognize

individuals who volunteer their time to help others and to build a smarter

and a more caring nation.

Raylene's citation reads: Raylene Mackey has been a golf coach for Special

Olympics athletes, and has contributed her time to St. Luke's Home.

As a former Miss Teen Newfoundland and Labrador, she has improved the

lives of others through a diverse range of volunteer activities at over 160

events across the Province. She

continues to volunteer today with several local organizations.

Along with Raylene, there were ten other recipients of this prestigious

award: Nitish Bhatt, Frank Millar Ewing, Dolores Flynn, Betty Gulliver,

Josephine Anne Hickey, Keith Hillier, David Regular, Madelene Small, Melissa

Thomas, and Ian Walsh.

Please join with me in congratulating Raylene and all the other recipients.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I am

pleased to rise today in this hon. House to acknowledge the designation of

Thomas E. Ricketts as a Person of Provincial Significance.

Mr.

Speaker, I had the honour yesterday to participate in the designation

ceremony in Conception Bay South.

It was a humbling experience to stand before men and women who wear

the uniform of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, as well as all other

officers who serve in our Canadian Forces.

I commend each of them for their ability to stand up for those whose

daily lives are embroiled in conflict.

are all familiar with the story of Thomas E. Ricketts, or as he is better

known, Tommy Ricketts, as we have come to know him.

Tommy Ricketts was a teenager from Middle Arm, White Bay, who joined

the Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War as a fifteen-year-old

boy. He went on to receive the

Victoria Cross the highest award for valour the British Empire could grant

a soldier for his actions during an offensive in Belgium.

Tommy Ricketts was the youngest soldier serving with the British Army

during The Great War to receive the Victoria Cross and 100 years later we

still honour his legacy.

Mr.

Speaker, as we commemorate Tommy Ricketts, it is also important to take a

moment to remember that during The Great War more than 6,000 men joined the

Newfoundland Regiment and more than 12,000 served on land, in the air, on

the sea, and in nursing services.

It was for reasons such as these that the Provincial Historic

Commemorations Program was developed, to recognize aspects of our collective

culture and to pay tribute to the people, places, events, and traditions

that make Newfoundland and Labrador unique.

further honour Tommy Ricketts' memory and to commemorate his legacy of

valour, the Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs has

provided $25,000 towards the community park in Conception Bay South, a park

that will stand as a legacy of Tommy Ricketts' service for years to come.

Mr.

Speaker, the sacrifice of Tommy Ricketts and the brave individuals who

served is an important part of our collective identity, of who we are today

as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Their sense of duty shall never be forgotten and we are honoured to

commemorate them in this way.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. HILLIER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

thank the Premier for an advance copy of his statement.

Having been part of the ceremony yesterday, it is certainly an honour

today to be able to stand and speak to this particular project.

As a

high school teacher, Mr. Speaker, I taught fifteen and sixteen-year-olds,

and I fully understand how unprepared boys like Tommy Ricketts were when

they marched off to war in 1914-1915 but how they subsequently accredited

themselves in the European theatre of war.

Mr.

Speaker, this $25,000 will be a good kick start to our new Tommy Ricketts'

park in Conception Bay South which we are proud to develop in his memory.

Yesterday was a strategically scheduled event, and I wonder how many

more with subsequent financial announcements will take place as we get

closer to a fall election.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

too, am honoured to stand with the Premier and the representative from CBS

and honour Tommy Ricketts and his fellow soldiers

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS MICHAEL:

so many of whom were

very young and who fought in World War I.

The Great War was also known as the war to end all wars, a reflection

of the hope of people of the time.

One hundred years on, we know that hope was in vain, young Canadian

men and women are still being sent into armed conflict.

hope as we honour Tommy Ricketts and the sacrifices of so long ago, that we

also hope for a time when such sacrifices are no longer required of our

young people.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

hon. the Acting Minister of Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. S. COLLINS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

rise in this hon. House today to proclaim May 24-May 30 as Early Childhood

Educators' Week in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This week is a time to recognize the significant contribution child

care professionals make in our Province.

Early childhood educators are the skilled professionals who are responsible

for planning and delivering effective play-based curriculum to our children

in the critical early learning years.

Each and every day these educators recognize and build on a child's

natural curiosity and imagination and evoke their learning through

activities such as dramatic play, art, and social games.

Newfoundland and Labrador, we are fortunate to have over 1,200 practising

ECEs working in many different settings and providing a variety of services.

Early childhood educators work in regulated child care centres and

family care centre homes. They

work as business operators, in family resource centres, private consulting

practices, and government departments.

No matter what setting, early childhood educators bring their passion

to educate children to the work that they do.

Their commitment and dedication truly deserve the recognition that

this week places on their profession.

Mr.

Speaker, during this week, our Province's early childhood educators will

have the opportunity to participate in professional development sessions, as

well as open houses at child care centres and also have the opportunity to

network with their colleagues and share best practices.

recently had the pleasure of meeting and talking to representatives from the

Association of Early Childhood Educators in Newfoundland and Labrador to

proclaim Early Childhood Educators' Week.

Their commitment and dedication to their profession was very evident

throughout our conversation. The

provincial government is very supportive of our early childhood educators

and certainly the work they do.

I look forward to working with them to further develop and improve early

learning and child care services in this Province.

Today, I ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing and thanking all

early childhood educators in this Province for the essential role they have

in ensuring the youngest members of our population have the best possible

start in their lifelong learning and education.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

Thanks to the minister

for an advance copy of his statement.

The Official Opposition, Liberal caucus, joins the minister in

wishing a happy Early Childhood Educators' Week to all of the ECEs in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

ECEs

play a vital role in our education system and increasingly they are

recognized for their vital role.

One of the best ways that we can ensure early childhood educators are

properly compensated for their work the best way to recognize them for

their work is to properly compensate them for their work.

In that regard we are woefully behind as a Province, despite all of

the evidence that investing in early year's education is an economic

investment.

know that for every $1 invested there is a short-term return of up to $1.80

and a long-term return of up to $17, particularly for at-risk children.

Despite that, Newfoundland and Labrador has the lowest wages paid for

ECEs.

It's

Time for Preschool report recently suggested that we had the lowest salary

levels amongst all of the provinces.

That report pointed out that we spend just 1.3 per cent of our Budget

on ECEs. We have a long way to

go, Mr. Speaker, but once again, I am happy to

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

remind the member his time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

too thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.

I am honoured to recognize and praise the highly skilled and

dedicated early childhood educators we have in this Province.

I wish them success in their activities this week, and I hope people

throughout the Province get to see what is going on.

I am

glad to see government acknowledging their contribution to our Province, but

I urge government to do what it should do, and what would really be

acknowledgement, and create an affordable and accessible public child care

program that will pay good salaries to the early childhood educators,

provide benefits to the economy, and take care of the needs of the families

of our Province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to acknowledge the important work

of Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador.

The

Conservation Corps is a provincial, charitable organization dedicated to

providing youth with training and employment in environmental and cultural

heritage conservation. It was

created in 1992 with the goal of increasing quality employment, training and

career development opportunities for young people.

Since its inception, Conservation Corps has employed more than 2,500

people through its Green Team, Intern, and other employment programs.

2002, the Conservation Corps became the host organization for the Climate

Change Education Centre, which has become a leader in the field of climate

change education and outreach.

Since its inception, the centre has been very successful in reaching various

target audiences and increasing their capacity to understand and engage in

actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

One

of these key target audiences continues to be youth and to that end, the

centre offers a Who's in Charge of Climate Change program in schools.

Through funding support of $147,000 obtained from the Department of

Environment and Conservation last year, the centre was able to reach over

11,000 individuals in 485 classes throughout the Province.

addition, the use of the Climate Change Club storybooks in Kindergarten to

Grade 6 continues to create a value-added educational package that schools

find very useful. The program

format includes all participating classes enjoying a reading of one of the

stories, followed by a short PowerPoint presentation and class discussion.

Programming for junior high and high school classes is continually evolving;

presentations are updated as severe weather events occur, new

climate-related data is released and significant discoveries are made.

As the Province continues to experience the effects of climate

change, these direct links are added to presentation materials to ensure

students can relate to the issues and understand the impacts at a local

level.

Mr.

Speaker, these are just a few examples of the way the Conservation Corps,

through the Climate Change Education Centre, is spreading the message to our

youth about climate change, and their outreach efforts extend to other areas

as well. For example, the centre

has delivered energy efficiency and climate change presentations to various

programs of the Stella Burry Community Services and the Association of New

Canadians.

The

provincial government is a proud sponsor of this important organization, Mr.

Speaker. In fact, in addition to

the funding provided through my department, approximately $580,000 was

provided last year through the Department of Advanced Education and Skills

to support its many initiatives.

ask all hon. members to join me now in applauding the Conservation Corps for

their important work and wishing them all the best as they continue with the

public education and outreach initiatives.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, I thank

the minister for the advance copy of his statement and I acknowledge the

good work of the Conservation Corps.

Education plays a vital role in raising environmental awareness, so I am

excited to see a Green Team discuss and pursue the limestone barrens

stewardship project, particularly in my district.

Programs like the Climate Change Club teach children about

environmental issues from an early age, giving them a foundation to become

good environmental citizens as they grow up and leading them to take actions

that will reduce their impact on the environment.

important as education is, actions are equally important, and this

government has cut positions at Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve, they have cut

Nature's Classroom, and they have an atrocious environmental record.

When we look to this government for action on environmental issues

like climate change, we see they are not taking the leadership role that

they should be. When will we see

the greenhouse reduction strategy on sector-by-sector emissions and a plan

for action that will have real impact for this Province?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS:

I, too, thank the

minister for the advance copy of his statement.

Congratulations to the Conservation Corps for their work educating

students about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

Across the Province they have worked hard for many years making people aware

of how to reduce emissions. They

rank second in Canada in energy audits completed per capita and had the

highest proportion of rural community audits in the country; but I ask, Mr.

Speaker, who is in charge of climate change in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Where are government's targets for greenhouse gas emissions?

This is government's hypocrisy at its worst, but I do congratulate

the young folks at Conservation Corps.

Bravo for their work; keep up the good work.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.

MS C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

November of last year the Premier instituted a discretionary hiring and

spending freeze on all departments in government.

ask the Premier: Is the spending and hiring freeze still in place?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN:

Mr. Speaker, the member

is right; last year the Premier provided some leadership to the people of

the Province and announced that we were going to be putting in place a

strategy to ensure that we eliminated all non-discretionary spending and we

were very selective on our hiring process.

We wanted to make sure that we hit our financial targets for the end

of the year.

Since that time, we have had a new Budget introduced in this House.

In fact, we are debating it as we speak now, Mr. Speaker.

This Budget, when the House approves it, will actually be the

blueprint that will help us focus our spending decisions into the year

coming and, in fact, into the next five years.

Spending from here on through, Mr. Speaker, will be guided by this year's

Budget; but, always, these are prudent financial decisions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

The

hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.

MS C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I will

ask the minister again: Is the discretionary spending freeze and hiring

freeze in place now as part of this Budget process?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. WISEMAN:

Mr. Speaker, let me

answer it again. As always

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN:

all of the decisions

that we make as a government reflect prudent fiscal management, so we will

make decisions on hiring and spending throughout this year and for the next

five years and we will be guided by a blueprint, and that blueprint is the

Budget.

Several weeks ago I read into this House a Budget for this year, but also

read out in this House and laid out for the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador a plan for the next five years, Mr. Speaker.

We will be guided both in our day-to-day decisions as a government by

that fiscal plan, our expenditure decisions by department and by agency will

be guided by that fiscal plan, and it reflects prudent decisions and prudent

spending.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters.

MS C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, what I

heard the minister say was a confirmation that the spending and hiring

freeze is no longer in effect.

The Budget documents his government have presented indicate a 1.7 per cent

increase in spending over last year.

ask the minister: When you are going to borrow $1.1. billion, why did you

not maintain a spending and hiring freeze?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN:

If the member opposite

would want to check public commentary, Hansard in this House, she would

recognize very clearly, as would members of this House and the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador, the notion of having a hiring freeze and a

spending freeze, that was not the terminology used in the fall, Mr. Speaker.

What the Premier had said at the time was that we were going to

eliminate non-discretionary spending.

still have a government to run.

We have programs and services to provide to the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. We need to recruit new

people to work in our health system.

We need to recruit new people to work within our Department of

Transportation and Works because they are having a summer construction

program.

So,

we need to carry on the business of government, providing valuable services

to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we will make prudent

spending decisions and sometimes it will involve recruiting the kind of

talent that we need to do the job, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, government

has admitted that the dome over Muskrat Falls is only half completed, and

plans for it to be finished have been scrapped.

ask the minister: What is the status of the dome, and how much of taxpayers'

money was spent on this structure?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, that is a

repeat question, so I will try to give the same answer I gave a few weeks

ago. The decision on the dome

was Astaldi's to try to advance production in the building of Muskrat Falls.

They built half the dome and then they decided to not build the other

half, and pick up in other ways in terms of productivity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. DALLEY:

So that was the decision,

Mr. Speaker, but as I said at that time there are no additional costs to

taxpayers. That is a cost to

Astaldi. So, there is no

additional cost. They have built

half to use for half the powerhouse.

The other work is going to be done the spring and the summer in hopes

of adding additional batch plants to pour more cement.

that is their approach, Mr. Speaker, but no additional cost to the project

and no additional cost to ratepayers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, government

has decided not to finish the dome construction and will leave units three

and four uncovered. They say it

will not affect the path to the first power in 2017.

So I

ask the minister: If the dome is not needed, and with such oversight as this

government claims, why was it approved as a necessity for construction and

ensured no delays?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, Muskrat

Falls is one of the biggest projects, I guess, most important projects, we

have ever done in our history.

The decisions to build Muskrat Falls are well documented, very public.

Also, which is very well known, is that Nalcor is building the

project, and they have project managers hired and a team through Astaldi and

so on.

the decision not to finish the dome was not a government decision, Mr.

Speaker. Nalcor made the

decision as project manager in the best interests of the project.

Our focus, Nalcor's focus, as directed, is to build the project, try

to keep it on time, and try to keep it on budget in the best interests of

the ratepayers of the Province.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, it is our

environment that will be further damaged because of mismanagement of this

government. It has been stated

in this House on many occasions that waste management is on schedule.

ask the minister: How can such an important issue be pushed down the road

another four years with continuous damage to our environment?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, there is nothing being pushed down the road by this government.

We were the government that initiated the waste management strategy.

The prior Administration brought it in with no detail, no money, and

nothing engaged in that strategy.

It was us who brought it in, in 2007, outlining clearly what we

needed to do in this Province.

We have a modern waste management strategy.

built on that to date. We have

spent $161 million in infrastructure in various parts of the Province,

working with the community in building a state-of-the-art infrastructure

project. Over the next number of

years, to 2020, we will spend an extra $61 million again in infrastructure

to complete the facilities, those depots we need around the Province for

waste management. From a

composting point of view, we recognize due to increased costs and our

financial situation, we will push that out for another five years to 2025.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

We will continue to

work collectively on a waste management strategy, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

I say to the minister,

that is little comfort to a lot of towns that are paying a lot higher costs

now, dumping fees, and a lot more dumping sites being established all over,

illegal dumping sites a lot less comfort.

hear from this government how important the environment is.

We see major increases in dumping fees, transfer of sites being

delayed again, and illegal dumping increasing.

ask the minister: With continuous delays, broken commitments, and false

expectations, how can the people of the Province have faith in your waste

management strategies?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, the

faith in our strategy is the demonstrated work we have done since 2007,

quite clearly, throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

As I said, it is a $161 million investment, $60 million-more that

will be invested between now and 2020.

We have built infrastructure in all regions of the Province to

continue to build on the waste management strategy.

As I

said, we were the government that identified the waste management strategy,

the details around it, and the dollars from the taxpayers of Newfoundland

and Labrador that we would do to build that strategy.

We are committed to it.

His

reference in regard to transfer stations being delayed is incorrect.

A tender will be closed the end of this month.

There will be $30 million for six transfer stations for the West

Coast that will be built and hopefully ready within the next twelve months.

So we are moving forward with a waste management strategy, and we

will see it completed in the years to come, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, the

Agreement on Internal Trade helps ensure movement of people, goods,

services, and investment within Canada, but the provincial government has

withdrawn from ongoing negotiations on this agreement.

The minister says even though they are not at the negotiating table,

they are in constant communications with people at the table.

ask the minister: Who are you in constant communications with, and who is

representing the Province's interests at these negotiations?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

appreciate the question. For the

benefit of the member, the director of trade agreements for our department,

Jeff Loder, represents us at the bureaucratic level.

I represent the Province, as the minister, at ministerial meetings,

which we are participating in.

The

member's question is a little dated.

We have meetings coming up in early June, which I will be

participating in, and my director will be participating in fully.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, all our

provincial economic indicators are pointing in the wrong direction.

Our economy is contracting, but with almost 78 per cent of our

economy dependent on international trade alone, this government has decided

to withdraw from all trade negotiations.

ask the minister: If our Province is not at the negotiating table, who is

representing us and the Province's interests on these important economic

issues?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, the member did not listen to the answer I provided.

We are at the table. I

just said that a few moments ago.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KING:

I am sitting at the table

and our director of trade policy sits at the table.

To be clear, we have never reneged on our right to sit at any table

where we had provincial jurisdiction to negotiate on behalf of the people of

the Province we represent.

What

we have said, Mr. Speaker, in light of the failure of the federal government

to live up to their agreement with us on the fisheries fund through the CETA

dispute, is that we will no longer provide the federal government with the

opportunity to negotiate away any rights that we own as a Province.

to be clear, we have never said we will not negotiate as a Province, but we

will not give the right to the federal government to negotiate on our behalf

until such a time as they honour the CETA agreement and the fisheries fund

deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's South.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Government recently released a tender for several million dollars' worth of

roadwork on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The problem is it calls for a new polymer mixture.

This new mixture is not readily available to contractors as it is not

supplied by the main suppliers in this Province.

Not

only has the government not put out early tenders as they promised, Mr.

Speaker, now they put out a late tender without consulting with local

industry. There was no prior

notice provided to the industry and no way for the industry to prepare for

the use of this new asphalt.

Why

would the minister call for tenders without proper consultation with

industry stakeholders to ensure they are prepared for such a huge change?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

want to make it clear to my hon. colleague across the floor; we have a great

working relationship with the industry, Mr. Speaker.

Only this morning I spoke to their executive members and we had a

dialogue around how we move forward on this project and many other projects.

I will be meeting with their executive and a number of the proponents

involved in this industry on Friday morning.

Prior to that, on Friday when there seemed to be some issues around the

availability of some of the particular contractors to get 2,000 tons of

liquid asphalt, I extended the contract until June 2, so we could have that

dialogue. We could have that

continuous dialogue going on.

might note that in 2013 we called for a tender that had 900 tons of liquid

asphalt. This one calls for

2,000, an increase, Mr. Speaker, of

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

remind the member his time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's South.

MR. OSBORNE:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, he had

a meeting because the industry is upset.

The

closing date for the tender was extended because the industry was caught off

guard. The asphalt that he has

talked about just now, Mr. Speaker, is different asphalt than the asphalt

they used last year. If the

industry was given enough notice and was properly prepared to use this new

asphalt, they would probably support it and you would not have an industry

that is upset and frustrated today.

Will

the minister commit to changing the specifications to use the traditional

asphalt that was used last year and every other year for this particular

year's roadwork and allow the industry time to adjust to the changes that he

proposed in the recent tender?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

want to make it clear, the changes in using liquid asphalt is not something

new. We have been doing it when

we did work on the Outer Ring Road two years ago around the rutting.

It is a better quality of asphalt, Mr. Speaker, to ensure safety on

our highways, particularly in high traffic areas.

That is what this Administration is all about and it is what my

department and the 1,700 staff are all about, ensuring safety on the roads.

are working with the industry, Mr. Speaker.

Last year we did contracts with 10,000 tons of liquid asphalt in

Labrador. We are going to look

at doing 2,000 tons here. If it

is a problem for the industry

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

we will have those

discussions. We will find a

solution that works for everything, but I want to make it clear, safety on

our highways, particularly high traffic areas, is our most important option

here, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, hunting

and trapping is a way of life in this Province.

Young people are best enabled to learn these skills at a younger age

and being mentored by adult family members, yet government regulations deter

young people from actively participating as we have the highest age

restrictions for hunters in the country.

ask the minister: What is government doing to address these age restrictions

and allow more youth to participate in hunting?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, growing up in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, when I turned

sixteen the first thing my father did, he bought me my first gun.

I did the same thing for my son.

So I hear what the member opposite has to say.

I have been in consultations with various industry groups.

are talking about the possibility of moving forward on this, Mr. Speaker,

but we are gathering information.

We need to do more consultations.

We need stakeholders out there to come out and talk about this.

It is a bit of a gap right now from where we are.

We are open to talking about this and we are looking at it.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

It certainly sounds

like lack of action, Mr. Speaker.

Firearm safety and hunter education courses start at age fourteen, but big

game hunting is restricted until eighteen.

In other provinces, young people can hunt with adult family members

starting at twelve for small game and fourteen for big game.

Resident hunters are taking their youth to other provinces and

non-resident hunters are not bringing their youth here for hunting trips to

the Province.

ask the minister: Will you listen to hunting groups in the Province and

lower the hunting age limits to be in line with the rest of the country?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, we have

great programs in this Province to help young hunters learn the skills of

their forefathers. This week

coming up, the rod and gun clubs here in St. John's and in Deer Lake are

going to be participating in youth shooting competitions and skills

competitions.

are aware of the differences of what is happening in other jurisdictions.

Mr. Speaker, we are having a hard look at that.

Coming from my background, it is a keen interest for me.

I have communicated this to industry stakeholders, outfitters, and as

well as other industry groups, outdoors organizations.

Mr.

Speaker, we are having a very serious look at this.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, CBC is

reporting yet another case where a family has been shortchanged by

government's botched Inclusion Strategy.

When he was asked to comment, the Acting Minister of Education said

he was pleased to see that parents were making up for the shortcomings of

the Inclusion Strategy by paying for a private tutor for their child.

ask the acting minister: If everything is working so well with your

Inclusion Strategy, why did the NLTA have to force your department to create

a joint committee to review it?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Acting

Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, several

years ago our government adopted the Inclusive Education Initiative where we

would deliver to our children in our school system special services under

the lens of an inclusive approach.

We are doing that. We are

engaged with stakeholders.

think we have had tremendous success, but I would be the first to say, as

minister, there are challenges in the system.

There are always going to be challenges.

What we do need, though, is to recognize that collectively we all

have a responsibility.

reference to my CBC interview, I am always pleased to see parents engaged

with their kids in education because I believe with the work of parents,

with supporting their kids, along with the stakeholders we have, we are

going to have the best possible education system we can have.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

On the contrary, Mr.

Speaker. The fact of the matter

is, government forced its own idea of inclusion onto our schools several

years ago. It lacked funding, it

lacked student supports, and it lacked a vision for student success.

After years of public outcry about that, I do not know where the acting

minister has been he has not heard about it, but the NLTA finally forced the

government to form a joint committee to review the inadequate implementation

of inclusive education in this Province.

ask the acting minister now: Will you provide an update, table an update,

here in the House of Assembly on this inclusive education review that has

been going on since last September, I understand?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Acting

Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, we believe

there is wide support for inclusive education.

We believe that as a society we all have a responsibility to

recognize those with exceptionalities, those with disabilities, and give

them the same chance as everybody else.

That is what inclusive education is about, Mr. Speaker.

What

the member is suggesting here is that we do away with inclusive education

and we go back to segregation, because that is the difference in the two.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. DALLEY:

We either bring them in

the classroom and support them and give them the supports they need, which

is what we are doing to work with parents and to work with our stakeholders,

or we stick them out into a classroom like we used to, because that is what

the member is suggesting. Stick

them out in a classroom like they used to.

are not going to support it, Mr. Speaker.

We are going to support the kids and do all we can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. George's Stephenville East.

MR. REID:

Mr. Speaker, since the

Budget, I have asked the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills several

questions related to the future of the Safety and Emergency Response

Training Centre in Stephenville.

Recently, I met with employees at the search centre who report that

contractual staff have been told their contracts will not be renewed, and

other staff there are concerned about the long-term viability of the centre.

ask the minister: What actions has he taken to ensure the long-term

viability of this centre?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education and Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

will point out, the Member for Port au Port is having discussions with me

around the centre as well, Mr. Speaker.

would like to inform the member that I have spoken to people and had staff

discuss with people at the Marine Institute around this, and I can assure

the member the facility is not in danger of closing.

Mr.

Speaker, they do as do other institutions, you review, you revamp, and you

reorganize, making it more effective.

In this case, that is what the Marine Institute is doing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. George's Stephenville East.

MR. REID:

Mr. Speaker, the contract

training done at the search centre in Stephenville has been negatively

impacted by the short-term downturn in the natural resource sector as

companies try to contain costs.

ask the minister: Is he concerned that making drastic changes to the search

centre at this point based on short-term issues might lead to the loss of

highly skilled instructors who would be hard to replace in the future?

That would compromise the centre's ability to respond to future

opportunities. Is he concerned

about losing the staff?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education and Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, what I am

concerned about is we have a facility that is current, meets the need of

industry, and continues ongoing dialogue with industry, revamping their

education program so that the facility becomes the strongest that it

possibly can. I have no doubt

that the Marine Institute has been a proven leader in their field, and they

will do the same here, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

Mr. Speaker, the Honour

100 Initiative commemorates the sacrifices of Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians who served in World War I.

A check of the Honour 100 website leaves a curious impression.

A number of events are planned for 2014 but still nothing listed for

ask the minister: Can he update us on the events planned for this year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

have not seen the website myself recently, so I will certainly endeavour to

have staff to update the website for the member for future Question Periods

so he will be armed with a list of events that we are planning on pursuing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

As a part of the 100

initiative, government launched a program valued at $600,000 for community

heritage projects focused on World War I.

The deadline to make application for these grants was in February of

this year.

Since we have heard nothing from the government about the program, I ask the

minister: How many community groups have applied for this funding, and what

sorts of projects have been funded?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

appreciate the member once again raising the issue.

As I have said a number of times in the House, it is a very important

investment that this government has made because we recognize the value of

engaging our citizens in remembering the history of our Province.

I think I have mentioned to the member before that we are actually

taking a huge delegation of youth this year from right across the entire

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador to Beaumont Hamel as part of that

particular trip.

The

projects that the member speaks to, I do not have the detail in front of me.

Unlike other governments, this government is not into operational

issues like that. We have

officials who deal with those things.

Once projects are selected for approval, then I become aware of a

number of applications and those who are successful.

When that occurs, I suspect over the coming weeks, we will certainly

make members aware and make members of the public aware.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

evening there will be a major rally in Labrador City to support the 150

workers losing their jobs at IOC.

In February the Premier visited Labrador West and would not meet with

the steelworkers' union that represents the workers.

ask the Premier why he did not bother to meet with Steelworkers Local 5795.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

can tell you that the circumstances and matters that are occurring in

Labrador West, I consider them to be very serious.

It has significant impact on not only the company, but its employees,

a large number of employees, and also the community itself.

We have already seen the challenges that exist in the iron ore

industry, Mr. Speaker, and we are seeing what is taking place now and

watching what is taking place now between the company and its members.

Mr.

Speaker, I was in Labrador West earlier this year, and I did engage in

conversations with stakeholders in Labrador West.

The union representative did not indicate a desire to meet until very

late in trip and I could not accommodate that at that point in time.

My officials have been engaged with representatives of employees and,

as well, a mediator has been assigned and has been making progress in the

last number of months. We hope

that both sides can continue to make progress together.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Well, it sounds like he has no intention of meeting with them, which is

disgraceful. There are currently

2,400 outstanding grievances from the union that IOC is ignoring 2,400

thereby creating a toxic work environment.

ask the Premier why he has not answered the steel workers' request for an

industrial inquiry to investigate IOC's poor labour relations.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

industrial inquiry is an option that is being considered, Mr. Speaker.

I can tell you I have been in discussions as recent as coming before

the House this afternoon with the MHA, the Member for Labrador West, who is

in Labrador West today instead of being here in the House.

He continues to have ongoing discussions with both stakeholders,

representatives of employees and also with the company.

He is on the ground doing the work in his own district, where he

should.

Mr.

Speaker, we assigned a mediator from the Labour Relations Agency.

From an arm's length point of view, this is a matter directly between

the employees and the employer.

We have a mediator. Together

they are making progress. They

are meeting more regularly now than they ever have before.

We are hoping that they are going to be able to continue that, but we

are looking forward to a further update on that.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

just returned from a press conference where thirteen eminent groups,

including Research Exchange Groups at MUN, the Social Justice Co-op of

Newfoundland and Labrador, Council of Canadians, and the Port au Port Bay

Fishery Committee raised concerns that government's fracking panel is not

representative. There are no

women, no Aboriginal people, no one from the West Coast, and no medical and

health researchers and specialists on it.

They are very concerned about the lack of true consultation.

ask the minister: Will he agree to meet with these concerned groups to hear

the very important and valid concerns that they have raised?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, there is a

process ongoing where an independent panel has been appointed highly

regarded people who we feel are independent of the fracking issue, but

obviously bringing experience and knowledge.

understand the fact that you cannot have a panel with every aspect

represented, but what you can have, Mr. Speaker, is a panel that provides a

process for everyone every one of these groups, everybody who has an

opinion to make sure they share that, share their research, and share their

facts with the panel. The panel

will do their due diligence with that work and provide a report back to

government.

will make it public. Eventually,

Mr. Speaker, government will make a decision with respect to fracking.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, the minister

knows that this panel is not representative of the Province and it does not

include

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. member has time

for a quick question.

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the

minister: Will he instruct the reconstituted panel to include a health

impact assessment of fracking for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources has time for a quick reply.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, the panel

was put in place because of the current concern for the health and safety of

people of the Province. That has

been clear. It has been clear to

the panel. As I have said

before, it is independent. As

minister, I am not going to intervene with the work of the panel.

The decision on fracking has not been made.

This government has not decided we are going to frack or not frack.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

In accordance with

section 19(5)(

a) of the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and

Administration Act, I hereby table the minutes of the House of Assembly

Management Commission meetings held on February 24 and March 5, 2015.

Also, pursuant to

section 8 and

section 10 of the Public Tender Act, I

hereby table a report of Public Tender Act exceptions for the month of March

2015, as presented by the Chief Operating Officer of the Government

Purchasing Agency.

Further tabling of documents?

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Port au Port.

MR. CORNECT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

give notice that I will move, seconded by the hon. Member for Baie Verte

Springdale, the following private member's resolution:

IT RESOLVED that this hon. House condemns and seeks the immediate reversal

of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans decision to divide the

172.8 ton increase in the halibut quota equally among eight groups, instead

of respecting this Province's traditional share of 29.1 per cent a

decision that will reduce the additional share available to Newfoundland and

Labrador from fifty tons to about twenty-one tons.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

give notice that the motion just put forward by the hon. member will be the

private member's motion debated this coming Wednesday.

MR. SPEAKER:

Answers to Question for

which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Carbonear Harbour Grace.

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS on average there are over 700 moose-vehicle accidents in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador each year; and

WHEREAS approximately 10 per cent of those accidents result in serious

injury or fatality; and

WHEREAS moose-vehicle accident mitigation measures like moose fencing, brush

cutting, and hunting quotas have reduced accidents in other provinces, in

particular, New Brunswick;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to

increase moose-vehicle accident mitigation measures, including moose

fencing, brush cutting, and increasing quotas to provide financial

assistance to those most seriously injured as a result of said collisions.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I had the privilege over in Whitbourne on Thursday night to attend

a SOPAC meeting. I have to say

that group of people are wonderful people to bring the issue of moose

accidents to the forefront. I

would just like to say that the past president, they were all very good

and we have a new president of that organization, Mr. Brent Cole, and I

would like to congratulate him.

The

SOPAC group are not asking for anything out of the way here.

We went with the moose detectors.

They did not seem to work.

That cost us $1.4 million from what I can understand; anyway, it

did not work. There is a lot of

information out there within the department where those moose actually come

out to. If the government would

even consider making an approach to it or making a start at it to identify

the areas where the moose do a lot of crossing, to make a start on some

fencing.

These people are not asking you to go right across Newfoundland and Labrador

with fencing; these people are asking you to look at the circumstance of

where the accidents actually take place and to make a start on it, Mr.

Speaker. So if you took it and

you made a process on it and you made a start on it, then we can continue on

each year. These people are not

asking for anything and at all points in time, they have the best interest

of the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador at hand.

So, that is what these people are looking for, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the community of Northern Bay is a significant tourist attraction in

the District of Trinity Bay de Verde; and

WHEREAS the site of a commercial building was destroyed by fire several

years ago; and

WHEREAS the remains of this fire still exist along Route 70 in Northern Bay;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to

ensure the necessary cleanup occurs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. CROCKER:

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to stand this afternoon on

behalf the people of the District of Trinity Bay de Verde.

A number of years ago a fire destroyed a commercial building located

directly across from the entrance to Northern Bay Sands.

For those in the House who do not know, Northern Bay Sands is

probably one of the largest tourism attractions in the District of Trinity

Bay de Verde, with tens of thousands of visitors every summer.

This

past Saturday, I had the opportunity to spend most of the day on the North

Shore involved in a community cleanup organized by Stella Johnson from

Northern Bay. While we were

there we took some time to look at the site of the former commercial

building. Just last week, I had

the opportunity to speak to the minister about this building and he assured

me he would have his officials go and take a serious look at it.

This

fire happened, I think, it was three years ago and the remnants of the fire

still stay there today. It has

even gotten to a situation where what is starting to happen now is people

are using it for a waste disposal site.

They are bringing in other garbage and leaving it on the site of this

former commercial building.

Mr.

Speaker, I call upon the government and I ask the minister to please, as

soon as possible, go to Northern Bay, look at this situation, and take the

necessary steps that are required to clean this up.

Not only is it an eyesore, it is a safety concern with large metal

objects, sharp objects, and so forth.

Also, there are environmental issues.

It is surrounded by running water.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister to immediately have a look at this

facility.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

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 Route 510 from L'Anse au Clair to Red Bay is in

deplorable condition and requires immediate upgrading; and

WHEREAS the condition of the highway is causing undue

damage to vehicles using the highway and is a safety hazard for the

travelling public; and

WHEREAS both residential and commercial traffic has

increased dramatically with the opening of the Trans-Labrador Highway and

increased development in Labrador; and

WHEREAS cold patching is no longer adequate as a means

of repair;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly

pray

SOME HON.

MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS DEMPSTER:

and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador

SOME HON.

MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I ask members for their co-operation.

MS DEMPSTER:

to immediately allocate resources to Route 510 from L'Anse au Clair to Red

Bay that allows for permanent resurfacing of the highway.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

This is not a new petition, and the problems still

persist. I was thinking as I

drove over it again this past weekend and I am zigzagging out around and I

am jamming the brake, very dangerous, big jagged potholes, many, many times

I have talked about the people who have to drive over this pavement that is

almost forty years old,

that is extremely dilapidated, that to my knowledge is not even on the radar

yet to be resurfaced.

have talked about the school children who have to be bused over this, the

ambulance people; but, as I was standing to speak, I thought of something

else. They are not residents,

but they are very important people in our Province; their Honours are coming

to the district and I am going to be hosting them in the district for

several events this weekend. On

Thursday and on Friday the Lieutenant Governor and his wife are going to

drive on this road, Mr. Speaker.

It really concerns me for their safety.

They are driving over a road they are not used to.

It is absolutely atrocious.

Maybe if I start on Monday, maybe by Wednesday we can get another few bags

or a tractor trailer load of cold patch down just for some interim

life-saving measures there, Mr. Speaker.

It is really is that bad; I am not exaggerating.

The road is atrocious.

This past week was the first time I have driven over it in weeks that I have

not lost a tire.

Mr.

Speaker, I know that there are three projects that are ongoing right now in

Labrador the infamous eleven kilometres after the bungle from Humber

Valley Paving is still not done; that is being finished.

I know there is some pavement on the Goose Bay north end and there is

widening and upgrading north of Lodge Bay; but this road has to be

addressed, it has to be factored in, it is a danger to the travelling

public, to the residents who live there.

We are coming into tourist season and we are going to have people

driving and towing motorhomes.

Mr.

Speaker, I am fearful to say it, but it is a matter of time and lives are

going to be lost on Route 510.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. HILLIER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

have a petition for brush clearing on the Manuels Access Road.

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 Route 2 on the Conception Bay South Bypass Road is the second

busiest highway in the Province; and

WHEREAS we must ensure the safety of the residents who use the access road,

especially when driving at night; and

WHEREAS brush clearing can reduce the risk to drivers from the local moose

population;

We,

the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to

allocate funding to include brush clearing for the Manuels Access Road.

Mr.

Speaker, this is a petition that I have brought forward on several

occasions. As I said, this is

the second busiest highway in the Province, some 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles a

day. We have been looking for

brush clearing here for some time. Our

last response from the Minister of Transportation and Works is that yes, in

the next batch of tenders, there may be brush clearing for this

section of

highway.

Mr.

Speaker, the last batch of tenders as I have mentioned here before, there

we nine projects all nine went to government districts.

will just give you an example.

When you leave the Manuels Arterial Road and take Pitts Memorial Drive down

towards St. John's, we have the District of Kilbride on our right, the

District of Paradise on our left, and the first thing we see is that brush

is cleared from the median going down to the highway.

Then brush is cleared to prevent moose coming off the Glencrest

development. Then as we go

further towards town, brush is cleared to keep moose from coming out of the

backyards of Southlands. We turn

around and come back, we pass Admiralty Woods and brush clearing is done on

the backyards of Admiralty Woods to keep the moose from coming out of the

backyards of those houses.

Mr.

Speaker, as we get up into Ruth Avenue, the brush is cleared in the median

in Ruth Avenue, to keep the moose from coming off the parking lot of Bigs

they hang out there at Bigs all the time.

As we come further towards Conception Bay South

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. HILLIER:

brush is cleared to

keep moose from coming out of Donovans Industrial Park.

It is time for us to get some brush clearing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. HILLIER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

There are many private conversations going on.

The Speaker is having trouble hearing the person recognized to speak.

I would ask again for all members for their co-operation, please.

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South, to continue.

MR. HILLIER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

was saying, we are taking a trip from downtown and working our way back

towards Conception Bay South, and following where the brush has been cut.

The last area I mentioned was Donovans Industrial Park, Mr. Speaker.

With all the moose coming out of Donovans Industrial Park it is a

danger coming along the highway, and I ask that government give us the same

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

remind the member his speaking time has expired.

The

hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the Strait of Belle Isle is a very important transportation link

between Labrador and the Island of Newfoundland; and

WHEREAS both commercial and residential traffic is continuously increasing

because of the opening of the Trans-Labrador Highway, and increased

developments in Labrador; and

WHEREAS the existing ferry service can no longer effectively handle the

traffic; and

WHEREAS there have been many interruptions in the ferry service, especially

during the 2014 winter season;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to

complete a comprehensive feasibility study for a fixed link across the

Strait of Belle Isle that would include a geological assessment and a full

cost analysis.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, any society that has ever developed and thrived has been developed

on advanced transportation links.

If we look at what is happening and what Quebec is doing, they are

investing in Route 138. There

are hundreds of millions of dollars in the Plan Nord under a Liberal

government in Quebec that is looking at moving transportation north.

No matter what happens, transportation will flow north.

So we have an opportunity to act and create a great circle route.

The

petitioners here are asking for government to take on and conduct a

comprehensive feasibility study to look at what the geology is like and a

full cost analysis. What we had

was a pre-feasibility study that is not as comprehensive in terms of

information.

we look at the opportunity that exists, we look at in St. Anthony there is

international shipping.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

If you talk about

being able to come in through Labrador, go across the Strait of Belle Isle

in a fixed link and come down the Great Northern Peninsula, you could go to

St. John's and you could end up going out through Argentia, or you could

come right down the West Coast and go through Port aux Basques and make that

great circle route, how transportation can flow effectively.

Just like how government is saying this is how electricity is going

to flow, we have to make sure that goods and services and flow of people can

also be moved in a similar way.

This

is why we really do need I have been speaking up for having Newfoundland

and Labrador connected by a fixed link for quite some time.

I certainly support it.

Government does not know how much it is going to cost because government is

not willing to even do a feasibility study; yet, it will do feasibility

studies and cost analysis for a number of other projects they have put

forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

So they do not have

the interest, Mr. Speaker, on that side of the House to look at advancing

transportation networks in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Quebec government certainly does.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

would like to call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, that the House approves

in general the budgetary policy of the government, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

We are continuing debate

on the Budget Speech, the amendment.

recognize the hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I am

very pleased to have the opportunity to once again speak to the Budget; a

Budget that we have been dealing with here in the House now for a number of

days; a Budget which causes great concern to us and to people in the

Province; a Budget which this government is bringing in and has brought in

and we are debating, which is making the people of the Province pay for

their errors, making the people of the Province pay for the situation we are

in, in this Province with regard to our fiscal situation, making the people

of the Province pay for their poor planning.

That is what this Budget it all about, Mr. Speaker.

The

$1 billion deficit is a deficit on the backs of the people because this

government spent the last year since 2003, this party has been in

government. They have been here

for something that has never happened in our Province before.

They are here because they themselves took the money that has been

earned by the workers of this Province, the money that has been earned in

the offshore, the money that has come in, and they spent it without any

planning.

That

is the problem, Mr. Speaker, they spent it without any planning, no planning

for the future. Knowing they are

dealing with a resource that we have no control over in terms of the money

it brings in, knowing the oil that comes from our offshore is something that

is part of a whole global system, and they and we or nobody else has control

over how much money that is going to bring in; yet, spent it since 2003.

Yes, it did some wonderful things.

I am not going to deny we needed a lot of work done.

never had this money before but it still should have been spent with

planning for the future, knowing that at any moment with the fluctuating

prices for the price of oil, that we could be in the situation we are in.

It was not a surprise to anybody else, yet they behave as if: Oh, my

goodness, look at what happened.

All of a sudden the price of oil dropped.

Well, that is what happens to the price of oil.

Yes, it will go back up again and then it will drop again.

have a Budget they are calling

Balancing Choices for a Promising Future .

Well, I have read this Budget.

I have read so much of the Budget, the Budget Speech itself.

I read the Speech from the Throne, that happened before the Budget.

I have read the documentation that goes with it.

We have started the Estimates.

would like to know what the promising future is that the government is

talking about and I would like to know what the balanced choices are,

because it seems to me the balance is against the people of the Province,

Mr. Speaker. This is what really

disturbs me. The balance is

against the people of the Province.

would like to talk about some of the things that are in the Budget and how I

see them affecting people in this Province and how I see them affecting

people in my District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, Mr. Speaker.

one of their documents, one of the Budget papers is called Investing in

Health and Wellness. The

government talks about, Recognizing the importance of ensuring there is

sufficient capacity to meet a growing need for long-term care, Budget 2015

provides approximately $700 million in long-term care and community support

services, including home support and personal care homes.

They

then go on and talk about all the ways in which they are going to spend that

$700 million, but because the government has not put plans in place, because

they have not done careful mapping out of the needs and put a whole program

of long-term care and home care in place, their Budget is hit and miss.

Let me talk about some of the misses, Mr. Speaker.

They do not like to hear about the misses but the misses are there.

Let's talk about a couple in my District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi where

the man of that couple is in poor health.

He himself has a bad heart condition.

He underwent surgery for that heart condition and he requires home

care. What happens is his wife

gets ill. She goes into

hospital. She goes through her

treatments in hospital and she is told she can go home.

She said, well, I cannot go home, I need help.

I have to be taken care of.

Well, you have a partner, you have a husband,.

Yes, but my husband requires home care himself and he has his come

care. He cannot take care of me.

So,

she sits in a bed in the hospital for two to three months trying to get this

sorted out. She is being told,

well, if you are not going to go home you have to go into a long-term care

facility. She said, but if I can

manage at home with home care, why can't I get home care?

She was told, well, your husband has home care.

Mr.

Speaker, that is a miss, and that is a real situation.

That family did not give up.

Eventually somebody used their head inside of the health care system,

and eventually somebody realized let's get the home care in place.

It did happen. So now

both of those people are at home and they are getting the home care they

need.

Mr.

Speaker, why should they have to go through that kind of situation?

Months of being in torture, months of being unhappy, months of

feeling insecure, months of not being together as a couple.

This is not acceptable.

When government talks about $700 million in long-term care and community

support services, they do not think about planning.

is the same way, Mr. Speaker, that we saw today.

We had family members, people outside the House of Assembly today,

and they were protesting. Why

were they protesting? Because

they are the parents of children who are autistic.

What were their signs saying?

Their signs were saying: inclusion, not exclusion.

What did that mean? Those

signs were getting at another example of where this government takes one

step, does not do planning, does not do an analysis, and makes a mess of

things.

When

they started inclusion in the educational system, when they started their

wonderful model of all students at all times being in a classroom together,

called it inclusion, and then did not put the resources in place to make

inclusion work. What one of the

mothers outside today said to me: It is not inclusion, Ms Michael, it is

exclusion. Because when my son

acts up, when my autistic son cannot take anymore, and maybe children are

teasing him or maybe he just cannot take any more in the classroom and he

gets worked up, he is the one who gets sent home and the rest stay in the

classroom. So he gets excluded.

have a constituent in my district, Mr. Speaker, whose son is autistic.

He is now at home, and has been at home for months.

Apparently, there are hundreds of children in this Province now who

are at home because the schools they are in do not have the resources to

enable those children to be in the classroom.

Instead of something being done to get services for them, they are

now being excluded because the schools do not have the resources to keep

them in the classroom. They are

being excluded now.

These children who are so-called included in the school system, in actual

fact, are worse off than they ever were.

Because before when they were not in the one classroom with all other

students all day long, they actually had people who were working with them.

Now, in order to be in the classroom and nobody is saying they

should not be there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS MICHAEL:

The parents are not

saying it either. What they are

saying is, where are the resources to help them be in the classroom?

one of the parents said to me today, there are times they have to leave the

classroom. It is not a matter

that it is even good for them to be in that one classroom all the time.

Where is the flexibility with regard to the needs of those children?

I have not one, I have several people in my district who have come to

me about this issue and it is getting more extreme.

This

is another miss. They like to

talk about the wins. I am

putting out there right now the misses, the things that are not working.

Let's look at something else. I

have in my district the new St. John's long-term care facility.

We all know about that facility, a beautiful building.

It is state of the art.

There is absolutely no doubt about that, Mr. Speaker, it is state of the

art.

What

is happening? We have a facility

there where thirty of the beds are still not open.

They have been in that building for months.

Thirty of the beds are still not open.

Those beds are not open because we had inadequate staffing.

Many

of the people from my district are in that building, and I have the families

of those people getting in touch with me.

They are upset about the fact that their loved ones are in that

facility and they are really happy to have their private room and happy to

share a washroom with only one person.

There are all kinds of things about it that are good.

It is wonderful having that building, but we have a government that

once again did not do any planning.

They did not plan for what the real needs were going to be in that

building.

have spoken already in this House, and I have asked questions in this House

with regard to the staffing levels of the long-term care facility.

We know and the government knows, and Eastern Health knows

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):

Order, please!

There are significant conversations on both sides of the House.

I ask hon. members if they could respect the speaker and either take

their conversations to corners of the House or outside.

Thank you very much.

The

hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

appreciate your intervention there.

As I

was saying, we have a long-term care facility that does not have enough

staff in it to take care of the needs of the people, and Eastern Health is

recognizing that.

is really interesting, Mr. Speaker, they have been having over there

regularly, and this is a good thing, regular meetings called family council

meetings. They have the family

council meeting once a month.

One month it is in the east wing, and one month it is in the west wing.

They have to do that of course because there are so many people there

that even to try to have one meeting covering both wings at the same time

would make it difficult for people attending.

So they go back and forth.

One month after the other, they have these family council meetings.

the February meeting, Mr. Speaker and I understand this also happened at

the March meeting, but at the February meeting, I have the minutes here in

my hand the families raised concerns about what was happening at the

long-term care facility. They

raised concerns about understaffing.

They raised concerns with regard to high nursing absenteeism since

the move from Hoyles Escasoni over to the new facility.

They have raised concerns about continuity of care.

In other words, in one night or one day even they may see one nurse

on duty and the next day that nurse is not there, it is somebody different.

The same way with an LPN, the same way with personal care workers,

they do not have continuity.

Another issue that has been raised by them is lack of physiotherapy.

Another issue raised by the family is lack of recreational

programming. These are very

serious concerns, Mr. Speaker. I

have to say at least the minutes reflect that the staff gave the reasons for

their concerns. They said your

concerns are valid and the reasons they give are very disturbing.

They told them the truth.

They told them that, yes, we have a whole unit that is not open.

We recognize this is a problem.

We have concern for the families.

Our recruitment team is doing extensive recruitment and we are

starting to see successes, but it is a mess over there.

Here

you have the families at least were not nobody tried to deny it, they gave

them the reason, but it is a sign of the lack of planning, Mr. Speaker.

The same way with the continuity of not the continuity, that too,

but the one I wanted to look at, the families raised the issue of the lack

of physiotherapy. They were told

by the staff that there was a vacant physiotherapy position at the new site

since October of 2014. It had

been recruited for several times with no success and they were told that one

was coming. It is solved, one is

coming. Still months away, but

it was coming.

The

other thing that they raised, Mr. Speaker, was the lack of recreational

programming. Again, nobody

denied it. Everybody recognized

there is a lack of recreational programming.

They were told that the therapeutic recreation department has not had

a full complement of employees since moving to the new home and have been

down by three to four employees.

Mr. Speaker, this is not good enough.

have also had a letter from one of my constituents whose mother is in the

home. What she has described,

others have described to me as well.

She has put it in writing, a long letter, about a seven-page long

letter describing how her mother cannot get out of bed, she is alone in her

room, and this daughter does go in as often as she can every day.

The things that she discovers, sometimes 3:00 in the afternoon her

mother still has not been seen for her personal needs; a tray laid down for

her and nobody coming back to help her eat it; not having had her bath yet

at 3:00 in the afternoon not the fault of the workers, Mr. Speaker, and

this is what I want to make clear; it is because there are not enough staff

in the facility. That is the

reason for this reality.

This

woman, because of the lack of recreational facilities, she is not getting

the kind of recreational outside of her room that would stimulate her, so

she is very unhappy.

The

things that are going on and it is not the staff.

It is the understaffing that is the issue; understaffing not just

with regard to LPNs, understaffing not just with regard to nurses, but

understaffing also in the specialized areas the specialized areas, as I

just named, physiotherapy and recreational programming, just to name two.

The minutes of the meeting, the family says, that the manager of the

therapeutic recreation department is currently conducting a review of

service delivery to the facility.

Group exercise is a program on units presently, so they do get to

have fun and fitness. It is

called group exercise.

individual attention to the needs, no individual attention to somebody, for

example, who needs help getting out of bed.

You have people who are in bed and if they were able to be out

around, maybe in a wheelchair, they would be happy to do it, but not enough

of them are getting the opportunities to do that.

Mr.

Speaker, this is the legacy of this government so far.

Having been in power for twelve years, their legacy is a legacy of

half measures, not doing long-term planning, not recognizing that you have

to have a strategy has many phases to it and pieces fit together.

You just cannot put a piece in here, a piece over there, and a piece

somewhere else. You cannot say

we have a program to help families who want to take care of their own person

who needs long-term care and we will pay them, we will give them some money,

and, on the other hand, tell a person whose husband has home care and she is

in hospital you can go on home because your husband has home care.

She required home care herself.

They

are not putting all the pieces together.

They do not do planning.

They do not look at the long term.

They do not put in place all the pieces that are needed.

Inclusion we have heard about inclusion in school.

Oh, that sounds like a great idea, but who bothered to look at the

fact what did that mean. What did it mean in terms of resourcing?

What did it mean in terms of the needs, not just of the children who

had special needs, but what did it mean for the needs of the children who

are in the classroom, who want to be there with their fellow students who

have special needs, but also they too need to learn?

So what does it mean?

What does inclusion really mean?

What

we demand of this government is some real planning, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

remind the hon. member her time has expired.

MS MICHAEL:

Yes, my time is up.

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Trinity Bay de Verde.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

pleased this afternoon to take my second opportunity to speak to

Budget 2015: Balancing Choices for a

Promising Future . Mr.

Speaker, I am first going to start by talking a little bit about my district

and move into my critic's role before I look at some of the information the

government has provided us when it comes to Budget 2015.

is always a pleasure to stand here and represent the people from Trinity

Bay de Verde. A district which I

have had the privilege to represent just since November, but it is indeed a

pleasure. Mr. Speaker, always,

in Trinity Bay de Verde, the first thing that comes to mind when you speak

is the fishery. It is by far the

most important industry in our district, with three plants.

One in Winterton, one in Old Perlican, and one in Bay de Verde doing

shellfish, and another plant in Old Perlican involved in the groundfish

industry. The groundfish

industry is one that we need to be prepared for.

As the groundfish stocks replenish, we have to ensure that we are

ready for that stock and ready to market that stock.

hear from the critic on our side for Fisheries all the time talking about

the failure of the government.

It has been a constant failure of this government to market and to plan.

We have not planned for the return of the cod fish.

We are going to pay for that when it does return in our waters.

The

other industry that is developing in Trinity Bay de Verde is tourism.

I can remember back maybe ten to fifteen years ago where it would be

very hard at that point to find accommodations in Trinity Bay de Verde.

Mr. Speaker, we have some world-class facilities, world-class

accommodations now in that district and some amazing infrastructure and

tourism attractions.

spoke to a petition earlier this afternoon that had to deal with one of

those locations, and I will just go back to it for a minute.

It is about the abandoned building in Northern Bay that burned down

about four years ago, and it is directly across from the entrance to

Northern Bay Sands. I am pretty

sure everybody in this House, if they have not visited Northern Bay Sands,

they are familiar with Northern Bay Sands.

I do call upon the government again and the Minister of Environment

to ensure that this cleanup takes place sooner rather than later.

also have Salmon Cove Sands in our district.

That is probably the two most prominent beaches.

We have Baccalieu Island, we have Bay de Verde heritage house, Old

Perlican heritage house. Mr.

Speaker, I am going to miss somebody if I start naming things.

also have Pitcher's Pond golf course in Whiteway, which is a lovely

nine-hole course. Anybody who

has played it will quickly understand that Pitcher's Pond is probably one of

the hardest nine-hole golf courses you will find anywhere.

I see the member

MR. K. PARSONS:

I played it twice

last weekend.

MR. CROCKER:

The Member for Cape St.

Francis played it twice last weekend.

So thank you for spending some of your money in Trinity Bay de

Verde, Sir. It is probably one

of the hardest nine-hole golf courses you will find anywhere.

There is no forgiveness, to anybody who understands golf.

Mr.

Speaker, that is a little bit about the tourism industry in Trinity Bay de

Verde, but there is one thing that comes out of Budget 2015 when it comes to

tourism and Trinity Bay de Verde that is a little concerning.

Mr. Speaker, 2016 will mark the 150 anniversary of the successful

landing of the transatlantic cable in Heart's Content.

In last year's Budget, the government did allocate some money for

some improvements to the museum.

Even today, those improvements to the museum are taking place and I thank

the government for that, and the people involved in the 150 celebrations in

Heart's Content would certainly thank the government as well.

The

troubling thing coming out of Budget 2015-2016, Mr. Speaker, is there is no

special line allocation for the celebration of the 150 anniversary of the

landing of the transatlantic cable.

Again, I met with this group on Friday in Heart's Content to talk

about the planning and where the planning had come thus far.

They are concerned not seeing a budget line item on funding for the

celebrations in 2016.

Mr.

Speaker, I urge the government and I urge the minister to ensure this

significant anniversary next spring or next summer actually I think July

27 is the day when a lot of the activities are going to take place, that the

government become an active partner in this and ensure the proper funding

for the celebration of the 150 anniversary of the successful landing of the

transatlantic cable takes place.

Mr.

Speaker, that is a little bit on the district.

I will come back to the district again when I get my next opportunity

to speak to Budget 2015. I am

just going to take a minute now and go into my critic role.

I am the critic responsible for business and rural development in the

Province. We have had some

exchanges here in the House with the minister over the past few months about

some of the activities around the Business Investment Corporation.

The

minister likes to point out the history of the loans.

He stood in the House, I guess two weeks ago, and said how 97 per

cent of the loans the department had written off were loans from previous

Liberal Administrations. The

minister did not really look at those numbers too closely because he would

have found that the number is not 97 per cent, it is substantially lower.

When

you talk about the loans of previous Administrations, you are talking about

the significance of the Fisheries Loan Board, Mr. Speaker.

The vast majority of the loans that have been written off over the

last ten years by this government were Fisheries Loan Board loans that date

back as far as 1968. We look at

comments made here of loans from past Administrations, but I was not even

born when some of these loans were lent.

Mr.

Speaker, when we look back at that, some of the information is not totally

clear to the people at home.

Some clearer information, we go back to the 2013-2014 annual report of the

Business Investment Corporation.

The financial statements for the Business Investment Corporation show loans

and equity in 2013-2014 of $36.3 million and a decline in value of $26

million. That is a decline of 73

per cent.

makes you wonder sometimes, Mr. Speaker, as somebody who comes from a small

business background what government is doing in some cases when it comes to

protecting taxpayers' money. On

March 31, 227 of the loans from the Business Investment Corporation of a

portfolio I think somewhere in the 550 loan portfolio were past due by

ninety days.

have to look no further than other jurisdictions in the country.

If we look at Nova Scotia and their Department of Business and Rural

Development as an example of how they handle taxpayers' money when lending

it for business development. In

Nova Scotia, it is an arm's-length organization very similar to what we have

here in the Province in our Research and Development Corporation that lends

money to businesses.

One

thing you will not find at an announcement or a ribbon cutting in Nova

Scotia when it comes to taxpayers' money, from the Department of Business,

is a Cabinet minister. In Nova

Scotia, the government removes themselves from business investment.

It is no different than we do somewhat with our Research and

Development Corporation, but in Nova Scotia, the government removes

themselves from the day to day lending.

think as we go forward, Mr. Speaker, it is something we should look at as a

Province when it comes to lending to small business.

I absolutely support government playing a role in business and

lending to businesses. There are

many, many success stories from this Administration, and from

Administrations past, of businesses that have been successful with the help

of government. I certainly

support government's role in helping with business development.

Mr.

Speaker, I am going to move away from there again a little bit now and talk

the eight pillars of this year's Budget.

First, I am going to look, Mr. Speaker, back three-and-a-half years ago at a

blueprint from this government in the 2011 election campaign.

I will just read some of the stuff I found in there that I thought

was interesting to point out to the people and just remind them of some of

the promises the government made just three-and-a-half-short years ago.

They

start off on page 3 talking about a reasonable approach to debt management.

Well, they have managed to get the debt from twelve years ago at $9

billion to what will be, if you look at the pillars of the new five-year

plan, to over $14.7 billion in five years' time.

So, they have managed one thing they have done on debt management

is they have managed to increase it.

Page

4, Population Growth Strategy. I

hear the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair get up day after day and

talk about the Population Growth Strategy, or lack thereof.

That strategy has been a strategy that has seen our population

decline, Mr. Speaker, since we had this last blueprint.

They

brag about, on page 5, the Residential Energy Tax Rebate.

So three-and-a-half years ago they took some time to talk about it,

but, obviously, in Budget 2015 the residential tax rebate was eliminated.

Focusing on Teachers well, they focused on 77.5 teaching units this year

and here in the House last week were not able to give us a clear answer on

how many actual teachers will not have a job to return to in September, so

there is a focus on teachers.

Post-secondary, tuition freeze: Another commitment that the government has

always stood on its feet and talked wonderfully about tuition freezes year

after year after year, but this year the minister stood on his feet and said

well, hold on, we are hands off on the tuition freeze; that is a decision

for Memorial. In the 2011 Blue

Book it was something we could certainly talk about, but now it is a

decision for Memorial.

Student Housing: The 2011 Blueprint talks about student housing.

One of the increases in this Budget which concerns me as an MHA that

represents rural Newfoundland is increase to housing and the cost of student

housing, because it is the students from my district and from the vast

majority of the districts of members on this side of the House who avail of

student housing. So again, it is

the rural student who is going to pay for this increase in housing cost.

Then

there is another interesting section,

section nine in the Blue Book, it is

called Labrador. They talk about

the Trans-Labrador Highway, a highway that has pretty much gone nowhere

since the Humber Valley Paving debacle.

We got set back and as I think the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair today had a petition talking about the deplorable conditions of the

road and we hear it day in and day out.

As a link this past winter, the ferry was stuck for days and days on

end that the people of Labrador could not get across or we could not get

back over and the movement of goods is severely hindered.

is interesting while I am on Labrador for a second, I will just go off a

little bit from the blueprint.

Back in the early winter, I had the opportunity to spend the day at the

Northern Expo here in St. John's and there were interesting conversations

with small business owners from the coast of Labrador talking about the lack

of purchasing or local support that they were receiving from Muskrat Falls,

the development. We are not

buying local when it comes to Muskrat Falls, Mr. Speaker.

We have wholesalers here in the Province who were shipping, I think

up until that point in February it was nine pallets for this year in.

In one day alone, they counted fifty tractor trailer loads coming in

from the Quebec side.

The

government talks about a moose management strategy.

It is an interesting strategy.

In two petitions here in the House of Assembly this afternoon it

talked about a moose management or a lack thereof strategy.

The Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace referenced so the SOPAC AGM

he attended last week. Like he

said this afternoon, I think to quote his number it was $1.4 million they

spent on the monitoring system.

Everybody in this Legislature had some opportunity in the past five or six

years to drive in over the highway and look at the flashing light signs.

The ironic thing is on the bottom there was out of order.

They were out of order.

The out of order signs actually became permanent.

They were permanent.

There was a permanent out of order sign.

Usually out of order is just like a sticker.

These

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. CROCKER:

Yes.

AN HON. MEMBER:

They are still

working out in Gander (inaudible).

MR. CROCKER:

On the West Coast they

are still yes. So it was a

permanent out of order sign. It

was quite interesting.

The

government talks about its ferry strategy.

We see where a ferry strategy for Labrador has gone, Mr. Speaker.

It has gone back to the drawing board.

This

is another interesting one. This

one, Mr. Speaker, really hits home for me in my district and I know other

rural districts. Digital and

Cellular Telephone Services: We will work with service providers to develop

a plan to expand digital and cellular telephone access to more regions of

the province. That was in 2011

that statement was made.

looked at an ATIPP request back again, I think in March, and it showed that

government has not been talking to anybody when it comes to cellphones.

They say it is a federal responsibility.

We agree. We recognize

the fact this is a federal responsibility, but it is a provincial

responsibility for government to advocate on behalf of the people.

We should be at the table telling the federal government that we need

a strategy and we need adequate cellphone coverage in our Province.

Mr.

Speaker, they also go back in 2011 and talk about the need for

re-establishing a fisheries loan board.

There has been no action.

That is gone, and I do not profess to know as much as the Member for

Carbonear Harbour Grace when it comes to the fisheries, but the FTNOP I

believe has been somewhat of a dismal failure to say the least.

spoke earlier on about tourism and the value of tourism in my district and

throughout the Province. One of

the things they talked about three-and-a-half years ago in tourism is

signage and a strategy for uniformity in signage.

I believe three years ago, they went out and removed a lot of signs

and there was a strategy. In

three years' time, we were going to have finger boards.

I think that has failed.

The

next one and I am getting towards the end of the blueprint.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Where is all of this

coming from?

MR. CROCKER:

This is the Tory

blueprint from 2011.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROCKER:

These are not my notes.

Page

56, Respecting Our Seniors this is a very interesting one.

I sat in this House three weeks ago, I think, when the Member for

Conception Bay South entered a private member's resolution on one Wednesday

calling for the establishment of a seniors' advocate.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible) supported

that.

MR. CROCKER:

No, unfortunately they

never. One member from the

government actually got up and said seniors had enough.

MR. REID:

(Inaudible).

MR. CROCKER:

Exactly, I say to the

Member for St. George's.

Just

last week, after so much pressure coming from our side of the House and from

the Member for Burgeo La Poile talking about it, government has at least

now reinstated that a senior, not only a senior, but people in our Province

can actually not only get a half a set of dentures now.

So after pressure from the Member for Burgeo La Poile in Estimates

and in other places

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROCKER:

the respect for our

seniors came back a little bit.

So now seniors who require dentures can at least get a full set.

Mr.

Speaker, another thing they talk about is Care At Home.

I think that was the family caregiver program.

The family caregiver program has been non-existence from what I have

heard. I have not heard tell of

anybody getting up and championing the family caregiver program in any

recent time.

Policing and corrections, Her Majesty's Penitentiary well, we know what

happened to Her Majesty's Penitentiary and we know what happened to the

courthouse announcement. The

government went late last fall and announced a new courthouse for downtown.

No doubt we need one, but there was never anything done with it.

There was never a plan.

It was an announcement. It was

never a plan to replace the courthouse; it was an announcement.

How many announcements have we had to replace Her Majesty's

Penitentiary? It is just

announcement, after announcement, after announcement.

AN HON. MEMBER:

The Waterford.

MR. CROCKER:

The Waterford Hospital,

the same thing. The Corner Brook

hospital we all know $40 million for the Corner Brook hospital to date,

with $9 million this year for the Corner Brook hospital.

Well, I can assure you that will not go very far.

Mr.

Speaker, my time is running out and I wish I had some more if someone

could give me some leave because I only got through the Blue Book and I

wanted to go in and talk about some points of what the Liberal Party has

said we would do as a government, so I will save that for my next speech.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. RUSSELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

do each and every time I stand on my feet in this House, I would like to say

again thank you very much to the people of the great District of Lake

Melville. From Sheshatshiu in

North West River up to Goose Bay into Mud Lake and into Churchill Falls, the

people have always been there to stand by me.

It is an honour and a privilege to represent them in this House and

in the daily activities of government, and it is an honour and a privilege

to get into the district each and every time that I possibly can.

Mr.

Speaker, I am going to start my commentary today again with just a little of

discussion about the district itself and some of the things that have been

happening. Last weekend not

this weekend past but the weekend before that I was in the great community

of Churchill Falls at Eric G. Lambert High School and we had the high school

graduation there. Nobody puts

off an intimate affair like the people in Churchill Falls.

I get to say that, Mr. Speaker.

It is a company town.

What they have is a very small number of grads and everybody takes part, but

they had a wonderful ceremony, a wonderful plan for the safe grad.

Everybody participated there.

just want to say for my fourth grad in a row at Churchill Falls, it was a

wonderful, wonderful experience put off with all the class and all the love

and support for those students that you would expect from the people of

Churchill Falls.

Mr.

Speaker, I just want to say one other note about that graduation ceremony in

Churchill Falls, Mark Critch the famous comedian, born Newfoundland and

Labrador responded to a student's request to be the guest speaker at the

Churchill Falls graduation. You

can imagine that now in very isolated central Labrador you have Mark Critch

coming in to address the dozen or so graduates.

It was wonderful, Mr. Speaker.

Even then in that speech by Mr. Mark Critch he talked about our

tourism ads, the Davis government, and a few of the things that we are

doing. I also got roasted a

little, which was my pleasure to be done by such a famous Newfoundlander and

Labradorian as well.

the kids of Churchill Falls, congratulations to them and all the best wishes

in the world. We hope the very

best for them in their continuing education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. RUSSELL:

With that, Mr. Speaker, I

will move on to the grad that happened in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this past

weekend at Mealy Mountain Collegiate: eighty-five grads.

In stark contrast to the small intimate session that you have with

Churchill Falls, in Happy Valley- Goose Bay, eighty-five grads a very big

affair, if you will. It is very

hard to get that many kids organized and all that.

just have to say, just the way it was handled, the professionalism of all

the teachers, the wonderful things that the students had to say about the

teachers and vice-versa, the same as every other school in this wonderful

Province, Mr. Speaker. Even with

the teachers who jumped up for big flash mob in tribute to the kids, it was

a wonderful affair.

will say my own daughter, Alicia, graduated amongst that eighty-five.

I love her very much and wish her all the best but congratulations

to every grad as well. They had

a wonderful evening, a very well-planned-out safe grad with very, very high

attendance, I will say. I will

commend every committee, whether you are organizing the proms, the grads,

the safe grads, all that stuff, it takes a lot to get stuff like that done;

and time and time again we see people come out, give of their time, and

companies, of course, around the various communities always throw in there

to make sure things happen too.

That is certainly the situation with Nalcor in Churchill Falls, as well as

the business community around Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

So,

with that, I just want to touch briefly on another project that has been

happening in Lake Melville. We

have a woods project between the Minister of Natural Resources and Labrador

and Aboriginal Affairs. I will

say, Mr. Speaker, what we did was give a little tribute to the low income

and the seniors in the District of Lake Melville by coming together with the

two departments and putting a substantial amount of wood Muskrat Falls

wood, I will add, cut from the transmission lines to put that in the

communities of North West River and in Happy Valley-Goose Bay as well for

seniors and low income.

the community of Sheshatshiu we have put a substantial amount of saw logs

there to continue on with our sawyer training that we are having in that

community as well. So I just

want to say thank you to the minister for supporting our community.

Thank you to all the people in Nalcor who worked together to make

that happen so we can have a little bit easier access as a tribute to the

people who have paved the way for us our seniors, our elders in those

communities. We are very

appreciative of that.

will say in commentary to the program, too, the wood was put there for

everyone. I just want to

reiterate to the people out there who might catch wind about this or hear

they might hear about the project, they might be availing of the project,

taking a little bit of wood, but the bottom line here, the intent was for

low-income people and seniors.

So, we do not mind everybody going in there and grabbing a stick of wood or

two, if the need is there, but we would like to make sure that the community

puts it up to each and every one of us to make sure that we know who that

wood is there for, and if you do see people who are perhaps maybe taking

advantage of it, please just have a word with them, let them know what the

intent was just to reaffirm why that wood was put there, Mr. Speaker.

with that I am just going to talk a little bit more about some issues that I

see with the Nunatsiavut Government and our community freezers; up in

Labrador and we see this across a lot of places in the North as well, even

into Lake Melville, so I will go through Torngat Mountains into Lake

Melville. We have community

freezers, Mr. Speaker. It is

odd, if you look at this year's Budget and you talk about the additional

$320,000 that this year's Budget puts into monitoring the caribou herds up

in Labrador a couple of weeks ago actually I was in Yellowknife and I

talked with the Premier, Peter Taptuna, of Nunavut about the caribou

situation in Nunavut as well. It

is not isolated to Labrador. We

are feeling pressures across the entire North of all the herds.

We are doing a great job of monitoring the herd, Mr. Speaker, through

Environment and Conservation. We

are continuing to put that investment there.

This year's Budget is no different but the trends are the same, very

alarming, and whether we are talking about weather patterns, there are many

different theories out there.

The

elders are talking about predation, they are talking about insects, and they

are talking about permafrost.

There are many decent and different conversations happening depending on the

region you are from, but the result is the same, Mr. Speaker.

I applaud this government's initiative to continually look at those

natural resources such as the caribou herds in Labrador and to keep a focus

on, again, monitoring and the mediation of any type of work activity that

happens in Labrador so we can continue to have a focus on that herd.

With

that, Mr. Speaker, just talking about the Nunatsiavut Government and the

Inuit Community Corporations in my district, specifically right now I am

going to talk about NunaKtiget, run by Gary Mitchell Gary, a very famous

musician, is always out there playing for charitable events.

God love Gary. Gary runs

the NunaKtiget community freezers and we have partnered with them through

Advanced Education and Skills this year and the Labrador and Aboriginal

Affairs to make sure that they have extra access to not only a little bit of

farmland to do a little bit of farming for the seniors in our communities,

but also some dollars to purchase some country food, if you will, some fish,

some berries, some things for our elders, very special stuff, Mr. Speaker.

When

people get up in age, and whether they are at the long-term care facility or

they are taking home care workers into their own homes, a taste of the good

life, I will say, where they happen to have a set of experiences and

memories associated with fish that they got on the land or meat that came

from the land, partridges, wild berries, wild meat, fruit, vegetables, all

of that stuff, it is a very, very worthwhile initiative.

I just want to say to Gary in NunaKtiget you are going an excellent

job there taking care of our seniors in our communities.

Keep up the good work.

Time and time again, I will be there and this government will be there to

support your initiatives. I just

want to say well done to everybody involved, Mr. Speaker.

Moving on now, I see my time ticking away as it always does.

We are sitting here now in the House listening intently to each other

talking across the way. I could

not proceed any more without talking a little bit about some commentary from

the other side.

The

Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi got up.

I was just surprised because what we are getting is usually we get

the venom, Mr. Speaker, we get the negativity, the depression.

I keep using that word depression because it is as if everybody's

sole intent when speaking on that side of the House is to get up here and

make sure people have fear in their hearts.

They do not feel