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May

13, 2013 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 19

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Today, before we start our proceedings, I want to welcome some special guests

to our gallery. Today we are joined by seniors from Alderwood Estates and

Retirement Centre in Witless Bay. Along with them are their chaperones Judy

Power and Katrea Hilton.

Also attending with the group today, we are honoured to have the mother of

our Member for Ferryland joining us today, Theresa Hutchings.

Welcome to our gallery.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Mrs. Hutchings, we will assure you, your son will be on his

best behaviour today.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: Today we will have members' statements from the Member for

the District of Burgeo La Poile; the Member for the District of Cape St.

Francis; the Member for the District of Exploits; the Member for the District of

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune; the Member for the District of Lake Melville; and

the Member for the District of St. John's Centre.

The hon. the Member for the District of Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate Ms Patricia (Teresa) Simms of Burgeo on being

awarded the Canadian Cancer Society's Provincial Certificate of Merit Award for

Teresa was nominated by the Western Regional Office for her numerous years of

volunteerism with the society and other non-profit organizations in her

community.

Teresa began volunteering as a Sunday school teacher in Burgeo at the age of

fifteen. She has been a confirmation teacher, vestry member with the church,

envelope secretary, member of the altar guild, and has been preparing floral

arrangements in the church for the past eight years. She volunteered with the

Girl Guide movement and became a Ranger leader. She has held various offices

with the Lioness' and she started the Sunbeams program in Burgeo twenty-eight

years ago for children aged three to five years.

Teresa became involved with the Corner Brook Relay for Life in 2005 where she

held the position of Luminary Chair. In 2009, Teresa was inspired to bring the

message to her hometown. Teresa and her team created a third-party event called

Hoping for a Cure, which has been held annually and raised approximately

$80,000.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in

congratulating this tremendous lady, Ms Teresa Simms.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. K. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate the Torbay Volunteer Fire

Department on their thirty-nine years of service to the communities of Torbay

and Flatrock.

On Saturday, April 27, I had the pleasure of attending the 39th Annual

Firemen's Ball where they recognized a number of firefighters for their service

to the department.

Mr. Speaker, there were members who received pins for five and ten years'

service. This year, Mike Matthews was recognized for twenty years of commitment

and service to the department. Mike is also the training officer for the

department, making sure they have top-notch training and equipment.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate Ray Clarke who was named

firefighter of the year. The William Manning Award was presented this year by

Mrs. Joyce Manning. Mr. Manning was the first Major of the Town of Torbay.

I ask all hon. members to join with me in congratulating Chief Mike McGrath

and the fire department for thirty-nine years of service to the Towns of Torbay

and Flatrock.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Exploits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Mr. Speaker, for almost three decades Cora Stanley worked as

a librarian with the Bishop's Falls Public Library and on September 25, 2012,

the library board held a reception marking her retirement.

Mr. Speaker, Cora was born and raised in Bishop's Falls, and in July of 1983

began working part-time as a library clerk, now referred to as a library

assistant, and in 1995 she accepted the position of librarian. Cora also taught

school for a couple of years and was always involved with children's activities

including teaching Sunday school at her church.

Mr. Speaker, Cora admits the biggest change in the library was when they

became automated and older children began visiting for e-mails and Internet

services. However, she was interested in the technology and overcame the

challenge.

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

Cora Stanley for her contribution to the community and her retirement from the

Bishop's Falls Public Library.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS PERRY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to recognize Mr. John George, who was

inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association's Hall of

Fame last June for his exemplary leadership in school sports.

A dedicated teacher and administrator during his career, Mr. George

volunteered tirelessly with the youth of Harbour Breton, coaching many types of

sports such as basketball, floor hockey and volleyball. His small school at St.

Joseph's captured 2A, 3A and 4A level championships, and also won medals at the

Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association sponsored tournaments.

Among some of the most notable achievements include a gold medal in Wabush,

1982, at the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games, and a silver medal in

Corner Brook at the 1986 Winter Games.

Mr. George was co-founder of the Coast of Bays invitational volleyball

tournament back in the 1980s, and over the last twenty-five years students from

all across the Island and Labrador have come to play in this major event for a

rural small town which Mr. George still helps to referee from time to time. This

is one of John's many volunteer commitments.

I ask all members of our hon. House to join me in congratulating Mr. George

for becoming a Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association Hall of Famer.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for the District of Lake Melville.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RUSSELL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize the passing of two great leaders of Sheshatshiu.

The passing of Ponas Nuke and Joseph Riche has led to the Innu of Labrador

losing two great leaders who worked their entire lives to achieve a better

future for the Innu people; and my heart goes out to them.

Ponas Nuke was an elder who guided many members of the Innu community with

traditional knowledge and wisdom. It is with this wisdom that many of the

decisions about the future of the Innu people are decided. Elders like Ponas

Nuke helped raise leaders like Joseph Riche who had a vision for the Innu

people.

Joseph Riche, a man I consider a friend, was that type of leader who brought

a vision for his people of a better life. He understood that the Innu could

embrace new ways for a better future, yet hold onto the teachings of the elders.

Both men were vital in achieving the Tshash Petapen Agreement, but their

respective importance in the community will be missed.

Tshinashkumitin Ponas

Iame nuitsheuan Joseph.

I ask all hon. members of the House to join me in celebrating the lives of

these Innu leaders.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, I had the pleasure of

attending CHANNAL's open house. CHANNAL is the Consumers' Health Awareness

Network of Newfoundland and Labrador and is the only consumer-led mental health

organization in the Province. Their main office is in the heart of St. John's

Centre with other locations across the Province.

It is incredible what a handful of hard-working staff and volunteers have

done to help this organization grow into an invaluable hub of peer support for

folks struggling with mental illness. They talked to me about their challenges,

their hopes, and their determination to help each other. They were particularly

concerned about the limited mental health services and housing challenges so

many face issues that are often huge factors for people coping with mental

health issues.

CHANNAL offers peer support groups based on the concept that those who have

experienced mental illness are in the best position to pass on knowledge and

support. They are experts in their own lives. The peer support teams work hard

to combat isolation and to educate the public on issues relevant to mental

health. They also do incredible advocacy on behalf of the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador.

I invite all members to join me in saying bravo to CHANNAL.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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 DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to highlight the tremendous work

that took place at the Offshore Technology Conference, which I attended in

Houston, Texas last week. This was a valuable opportunity for me to not only

discuss offshore technology with other leaders in this industry but also support

our Newfoundland and Labrador delegation of 180 offshore service and supply

sector companies who were there to market their products, skills, and services.

At the conference again this year, our Province received many accolades and

praise about the work that is taking place right here in Newfoundland and

Labrador, the quality of service from our companies, and the calibre and skills

of our people who work in the offshore.

Companies, Mr. Speaker, from all over the world recognize that this is an

exciting time to be doing business in Newfoundland and Labrador, especially in

our offshore.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to make strategic investments in our offshore, to

grow this industry, to build our prospects, because there are still many

benefits lying under the ocean floor, waiting for us to harvest.

That is why our investment in our own provincially-owned energy company is so

important. By establishing Nalcor we ensured that the returns from our energy

sector are better now than they have ever been in our Province's history.

For example, Mr. Speaker, through a $30 million investment in seismic work in

Labrador, Nalcor was able to leverage $65 million from a renowned geoscience

firm and we are getting every cent we invested back and more besides.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Even more important than that, Mr. Speaker, the

results of this seismic work are incredibly interesting, incredibly exciting,

and companies from all over the world are vying for access to this data.

This investment by our government shows our vision and plan for this

Province, Mr. Speaker. This seismic data will mean billions of dollars for

Newfoundland and Labrador in the long run and a secure future for our children.

Mr. Speaker, every oil project we have negotiated, we have generated more and

more revenue and benefits for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We will

continue to be steady and sure, do our research, and make sure that all of our

decisions on offshore activity provide the maximum benefits to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a privilege to respond to this statement today. Indeed, we do whatever

we can on all sides of the House, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians of all

stripes; we do whatever we can to promote this Province. We have seen the

success, for instance, in the tourism industry when we do that. Promoting our

Province is the right thing to do and it can create significant external

investment, too, when we do this properly.

It is important, though, that every opportunity we get we do whatever we can

and we maximize the benefits of all our natural resources, I say, Mr. Speaker.

We continue to talk about oil and gas, and primarily right now it is oil. As the

gas developments are happening around the world, we still wait and see where we

will fit into this global picture.

The Premier mentioned the employees. No matter where we go, Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians hold their own and they are held in high esteem, I say, Mr.

Speaker. We have some of the best employees. I am not surprised that in Houston,

Texas they are finding this out as well.

Mr. Speaker, it would be remiss of me today not to mention that we have seen

many successive Administrations, including this one, that has built the oil and

industry where it is in this Province. We and all Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians look forward to a bright future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I find the statement from the Premier quite interesting. I am very glad that

she was at the conference; obviously, it is important to be at that. We all know

that we have a burgeoning oil and gas industry; we know where it has come. Once

again, the government puts everything over the top. If it was so wonderful I

wonder why the Minister of Natural Resources was not with her, by the way.

The Premier talks about the strategic investments in our offshore. Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Premier to rethink about the investments in the people. They

have just let go over 1,000 workers. We have a crisis with our home care workers

right now, with workers who take care of our disabled people and senior people

being told their jobs are going to be gone because they will not put their

salaries up by twenty-five cents or something.

I am not impressed. Once again we have all the eggs in the basket of oil and

gas without any talk of diversification of our economy. This Premier is

promoting what she has here in this statement without thinking about the fact

that they have planned so badly with the billions we have already gotten that we

are now in deficit.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's South, by leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: No leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize National

Police Week which runs until May 18. This occasion provides us with an

opportunity to acknowledge the valuable work performed by policing services, and

to promote awareness of law enforcement and the community working together to

provide a safe and secure Province for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Throughout National Police Week, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police organize and take

part in activities to increase

awareness of the services they provide the residents of our Province. To

coincide with this, Mr. Speaker, we encourage the public to work in partnership

with police services by reporting crimes to assist in creating safe, positive

communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

To officially launch National Police Week this morning, I had the great

pleasure of attending a cake-cutting ceremony with officials of the RCMP and the

RNC at Holy Cross Junior High right here in St. John's. I would like to thank

everyone who was involved for making this a special event for all who attended.

Every year, May 15 is recognized as International Police and Peace Officer

Memorial Day and it is a time to honour those officers who have died in the line

of duty. This year, Mr. Speaker, a service will be held at the Seventh Day

Adventist Church on St. John's on Wednesday morning. I will be attending on

behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, our government has made significant investments in recent years

in policing services throughout the Province. Since 2004, we have invested

approximately $920 million in the RCMP and the RNC and we have seen more than

140 new officers added back to the system. The total annual policing budget has

increased by approximately $50 million during that time.

This year, Mr. Speaker, we demonstrated our continued commitment to dealing

with the criminal element by investing $1 million through Budget 2013 to create

a new provincial Task Force on Child Exploitation and Drugs. The team is a joint

effort between the RCMP and the RNC to strengthen the fight against child

exploitation, illegal drugs, and organized crime in our Province.

In Newfoundland and Labrador and across the country, members of our law

enforcement services make sacrifices in their personal lives and often face

difficult and dangerous situations.

I ask all hon. members to join me in thanking all members of the RNC and the

RCMP for the work they do each and every day. We are very proud of their

accomplishments and we are fully supportive of their efforts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. On

behalf of the Official Opposition, certainly we would also like to recognize the

great work done by police officers in our Province, whether that is with the RNC

or with the RCMP.

No matter where you live in this Province, we all know of officers, besides

the tough job that they do, they give themselves fully to their communities,

whether getting involved in volunteer activities or presentations at schools. I

am so happy to see that and see the effort that they put into making this

Province a better place. May 15 will be a solemn day as we recognize those

officers who have given their lives in the line of duty.

Again, I was very happy to hear about the investment made by the Province in

the new provincial Task Force on Child Exploitation and Drugs. I think it is a

great thing. Unfortunately, I was not so happy to see the significant gutting of

the rest of the Justice Department that also took place in this Budget. I am

hoping that the good work being done by these officers is not counteracted by

all the cuts in the rest of the system, whether it be the removal of courts,

prosecutors, legal aid, sheriff's officers. I am happy to see this on one hand,

but on the other hand we know these police officers may often be taking certain

elements off the streets and putting them into a court system that can barely

process them.

Thank you for the opportunity, and thank each and every one of the members of

the RNC and the RCMP.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I too thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. I also would

like to commend the hard work of our police services in this Province, including

those who have been injured or lost their lives in the line of duty, and who

will be honoured on International Police and Peace Officer Memorial Day. I would

also like to thank them for their dedication, commitment, service, courage, and

compassion.

There is no doubt that our police services have benefitted from increased

financial support over the last decade. Notably, that support has enabled the

police to be trained in violence prevention and mental health issues, and now to

the creation of the Task Force on Child Exploitation and Drugs. This makes it

all the more baffling that while this Minister of Justice cut the Family

Violence Intervention Court this was a vital program supported by the women's

community, the legal community, and the police themselves. They fully understood

the role this court played in the reduction of recidivism and the increase in

safety for victims of family violence, particularly women and children.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Office of Climate

Change, Energy Efficiency and Emissions Trading.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to update this hon. House on the continued work of

our government to support our communities as they combat the impacts of climate

change and help to turn back the tide.

The Office of Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Emissions Trading

developed a Municipal Government Carbon Calculator, an interactive and

innovative tool to help municipalities understand the carbon footprint of their

operations. This initiative is instrumental as our municipal governments in the

Province continue to identify ways to reduce electricity and fuel costs. The

calculator is easy to use and get employees, councillors and other community

leaders more engaged in recycling, reducing the amount of waste going into

landfills. Mr. Speaker, the calculator is available on the Turn Back the Tide

Web site.

To encourage municipalities to get involved, we launched the Carbon

Calculator this past weekend at the Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador

Symposium in Gander where my officials successfully demonstrated it before a

large group of our community leaders. To complement the calculator, we launched

the Carbon Footprint Challenge in partnership with the Department of Municipal

Affairs. Once municipalities calculate their carbon footprint they can enter to

win one of three $5,000 prizes after they explain how they would use the prize

money to lower those results. All of those contest details are available at:

turnbackthetide.ca.

Mr. Speaker, we know every dollar matters to our municipalities and this tool

can be used to identify areas where efficiencies can be found and directed to

other areas of need. This is just one initiative our government is working on to

lower greenhouse gas emissions, a key goal of Moving Forward: Climate Change

Action Plan 2011.

Consistent with government's commitment to integrate climate change into

decision making, the calculator will also be incorporated into the Tidy Towns

award from 2014 onwards.

Mr. Speaker, this government recognizes that climate change is one of the

greatest long-term challenges facing the world today. We are committed to doing

our part, and I encourage all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to help us turn

back the tide on climate change.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the advance copy of the Ministerial Statement. I,

too, attended the symposium this weekend in Gander, and it was a good symposium.

I guess one of the parts about it is when the minister got up on Friday at lunch

to speak about this proposal he spent the first fifteen minutes praising up the

Premier and talking about why people should not pick on the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I found it kind of amusing. You were out trying to promote

waste and carbon footprint but you had electricity going on for fifteen minutes

talking about that, Mr. Speaker.

The problem we have in the municipalities, Mr. Speaker, is the lack of funds

for a lot of municipal leaders to do the duties. That is why we need this

complete package for municipalities, this fiscal arrangement for all

municipalities, so they can do this kind of stuff.

Mr. Speaker, as we noticed, we are talking about the carbon footprint, I am

still waiting since 2010, the waste management disposal site is supposed to be

up and running in Western Newfoundland but that is still not done. That is

delayed until 2016-2017.

My only wish, Mr. Speaker, on the point the minister put through on this

calculator, is that it is going to be much better than the electric calculator

he used for Muskrat Falls. Mr. Speaker, if it works better than that, I am all

for it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is one thing that can be said for calculators: this government does love

calculators; that is for sure.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the minister for the advance copy

of his statement. At the same time, I think there are a lot of things that you

can do right, a lot of little things, I guess, like this that can go to make an

impact on the world.

I have to note, first off, there was a news story on Friday that broke

through Bloombergs talking about a little monitoring station on the top of Mount

Kilauea that, for the first time in our human history, picked up carbon

emissions that measured past 400 parts per million for the first time in human

history. That will tell you about the impact we are actually having on this

earth, that we are polluting it and we are slowly killing it if we do not step

forward and do something.

I want to thank the minister for that, and at the same time, just to remind

him too that while we are doing something positive here for municipalities

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Your time has expired.

Does the Member for St. John's South have leave?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is evident from the tragic loss of life last week in Labrador the gap

still exists in search and rescue in this Province. This time the federal search

and rescue resources were unavailable as three Griffons were in maintenance in

Goose Bay. Last year if you remember, in 2012, two were unavailable.

I ask the Premier: Was your government aware that the Griffons stationed in 5

Wing Goose Bay were not available for search and rescue, and were you aware that

it is not a priority for search and rescue in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, I bring the hon. member's attention back to

last week when I answered a number of questions in this House, particularly from

himself in regard to search and rescue. What we are asking the federal

government is to act now. We need action now.

In regard to your private member's bill on Wednesday, all you want to do is

study it again, but we need action. If those Griffons are out of service then we

need something to complement that service. I gave the hon. Minister of Defence

some initiatives that he could enact pretty quickly to enhance the service that

is currently here in the Province, and it is up to him. I wrote him again today

imploring him to take action, and action now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, it does not take much action for someone to pick

up a phone and say we have three Griffons stationed in 5 Wing Goose Bay that are

not available to respond to a search and rescue. That was my question, if the

minister was aware of it.

Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that search and rescue is not a priority at 5 Wing

Goose Bay and that national defence places it third behind combat services and

wing command. It took another tragedy to discover there was no helicopter

available at 5 Wing and that a replacement had to be flown in from Quebec.

I ask the Premier: In your regular conversations with the Prime Minister,

have you let him know just how important it is to inform the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador when search and rescue assets are not available?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: I met with the minister last week, Minister MacKay. As well,

I wrote him at various times. One of the things I have asked for in regard to

those meetings was detailed data from the JRCC site in Halifax. I want to know

the condition of their aircraft. I want to know the availability of their

aircraft. I want to know all the data surrounding all of the incidents and

wheels-up times. I have asked for all of that. I am expecting to get that

because he had indicated he is willing to participate with the Province in

regard to the search and rescue issues in this Province, as well as the rest of

Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member for Lake Melville admitted last week the Province does not have

the capability to carry out aerial search and rescue activities during the night

time.

I ask the Premier: Why are we leaving the people of this Province without

search and rescue capability even from the Province during the time when it is

needed the most?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, that is no different than anywhere else in

Canada, or just about anywhere else in Canada, in regard to provision of night

flying. That is provided by the military in various parts of the country and all

of the provinces, especially here in Newfoundland and Labrador in the North.

We contract helicopters that fly in daylight hours, and we contract them at a

minute's notice when asked to provide them. They are provided through a private

source. We have them in various areas in the Province, six in total I believe,

that we have access to at one call. This is no different than anywhere else in

Canada.

The 103 Search and Rescue team out of Gander complements that service in

regard to night service and night vision services. So that is no different than

anywhere else in Canada, I say to the hon. member.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, we talk about having a gold standard, a

world-class search and rescue. Simply because it is not available anywhere else

in Canada is not reason enough. We need to know when the assets are not

available; we need to know in parts of this Province that you can actually reach

somebody in the night time.

The latest death confirms yet that there are still serious shortfalls in all

aspects of search and rescue, including provincial ground search and rescue

responsibility, shortfalls that the federal Auditor General did not address.

I ask the Premier and this government once again: Will you call a public

inquiry into search and rescue to identify all the gaps that exist so we can

prevent more tragedies?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, we have twenty-five ground search and rescue

teams across this Province to provide a great service to the people, especially

in times of tragedy and in times of loss. They are well-trained, well-equipped

and continue to train. As a matter of fact, back in my former life I did a lot

of training with them, so I do know their capabilities.

Is he questioning that there is something wrong with our ground search and

rescue teams? That they need to be reviewed? There are great volunteers in this

Province that I have a great lot of respect for. I know our government has a

great lot of respect for them. I know that our Premier has a great lot of

respect for them.

Are you finding or are you saying something here in the House that I am not

understanding, that there are issues with our ground search and rescue teams in

this Province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, that is an absolutely, shameful response. This was

never about the volunteers. We have twenty-five great ground search and rescue

teams in this Province. My question was that even with those great people

available, there are serious gaps within the system around search and rescue.

That was my question: Will you do an inquiry, not to determine if we have

good people, but to determine where the gaps are?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, he did not listen to my response. What I want

to know from him, where are the gaps? I have been a part of that for sixteen

years in regard to the Canadian Rangers. I know exactly what is happening out

there in ground search and rescue. I helped train many individuals in the

Canadian Rangers.

If you know where there are gaps, lay them out to me. You know my number; you

can cross this House as soon as Question Period is over and let me know exactly

what they are.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One thing is that is what the inquiry would do for a start, it would identify

those gaps. The minister knows when you cannot respond to a significant inquiry

about that

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BALL: three or four hours are not good enough I say, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it was revealed late Thursday night that the former deputy

minister was paid almost $425,000 in benefits when he retired. That $425,000 was

paid leave, pension, and severance.

I ask the minister: Will you provide this House with a complete breakdown of

the $425,000 in retirement benefits paid to the former deputy minister?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is right, Mr. Speaker, in the Estimates on Thursday night we talked

about that particular issue. This was an executive level public servant who had

a lengthy tenure with this government in the status of a deputy minister

position, and in the last five years was seconded as the Director of the Council

of Atlantic Premiers for a five-year rotation. After that lengthy tenure, Mr.

Speaker, he would have been entitled to considerable benefits, as the hon.

member pointed out. Mr. Speaker, anything he got at that particular time, he was

entitled to.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I would assume, based on the comment, that the minister would not have

any problems tabling the information that I asked for.

The Premier announced on Budget day that she would be the new Minister of

Intergovernmental Affairs. The Minister of Finance said that that would occur on

June 1, yet late Thursday night the Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal

Affairs said that he does not know when this is going to happen.

So I ask the Premier: On June 1, who will be the Minister of

Intergovernmental Affairs?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, my answer to the Leader of the

Opposition is to wait and see. I am the Premier of this government, Mr. Speaker,

and members of Cabinet serve at my pleasure. When I am going to do a Cabinet

shuffle or transfer responsibilities, at the immediate time I am going to do it,

I will advise him and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador at the same time.

We said that in due course we would do the transition on the Department of

Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr. Speaker, and we are doing that. As soon as that

work is completed, I will be making an announcement to that effect.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, the Minister of Finance said June 1, so we took the Minister of Finance

at his word that it would be, so that was my question. It does have Budget

implications, I would say, too.

It is in the media today that the government secretly spend $150,000 for

public relations advice. The objective was to develop a strategic plan on

communications with a priority on the Premier's office.

So I ask the Premier: How do you justify spending $150,000 in taxpayers'

money on a public relations makeover, while we are laying off thousands of

hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There was nothing secretive about this, and we were not seeking public

relations advice. What was taking place here is that there was a review of the

communications personnel and the communications departments within government to

determine whether or not they are in line with best practices as seen throughout

the country; also to determine whether or not they were as efficient and as

effective as possible, in line with the core mandate review.

I do not think I need to remind the member opposite that communications

personnel in government are not political staff; they are members of the public

service. They are not involved in political events such as fundraisers, and they

are not involved in political speeches.

So, Mr. Speaker, this is a function within government that deals with a

division that is important, and it was simply a review to see if we could better

deliver services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, government has over forty communications staff, as

well as a separate communications branch in Executive Council and they are

good people even with all this in-house expertise, the Premier went to a

Toronto-based PR firm to spend the $150,000.

I ask the Premier: Your Budget cut programs in Education, in Justice, in

Health, are these not as important to the taxpayers as a public image?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This did not have to do with public image, nor did it have to do with public

relations advice. It is not in relation to the political functioning of

ministers. What it is relating to, Mr. Speaker, is how messages are delivered to

the people of this Province on a daily basis, whether it be in forms of news

releases, setting up Web sites, the information that people need to know. There

is nothing secretive about it, Mr. Speaker. In fact, the review included a

review of best practices in other Canadian jurisdictions.

I am not aware, Mr. Speaker, of a review like this having being conducted in

the past. It was simply a part of doing business and, like everything else,

trying to determine if services are being delivered as effectively, as

efficiently as possible; and if not, were there savings that could be found.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL: Well, I am glad the minister mentioned there is nothing to hide

behind because this question is probably one that I do not even need to use now

because the $150,000 that was spent for PR advice, you refused to release that

document.

I ask the Premier: Will you continue to hide behind Bill 29 or will you

release this document, a $150,000 document that you paid for from this PR firm

will you release this document to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this document being referred to, this review, is one that forms

part of advice given to Cabinet and that is excluded from provision under the

Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. It is clear here that it is

part of an official Cabinet record and in that respect should not be disclosed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Tonight the Eastern School District in a public meeting will

be forced to reverse itself on a decision to close two schools at Whitbourne and

Heart's Delight-Islington. This was because they failed to consult with parents

and they met a court challenge.

I ask the Minister of Education: Did the Eastern School District get a legal

opinion as to what they were doing when they closed these schools? If so, did

they provide him with a copy and will he tender it so people can read the copy?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, as I have said in this House on a number of

occasions, we have an elected school board. These are trustees who have made a

decision and now they have gotten some advice that they need to consult further

with the parents. Mr. Speaker, I have not interfered with that operation up to

this point, and I have no intention of interfering up until they make their

decisions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, last week in the Education Estimates, the

Minister of Education said that he had obtained a legal opinion as to the

legality of him closing the school boards, like he plans to do. He said that he

would provide a copy of that legal opinion. He has not yet provided a copy.

I ask if he would provide a copy of the legal opinion supporting school board

closures and tender it in this House.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, he asked for it last week and I told him I

would get it to him. He has not gotten it yet, but let him rest assured, he

shall receive it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, given that the legal opinion and the actions of

the Eastern School District failed in the face of a court challenge.

I ask the Minister of Education: What guarantee can he give this House that

his decision to close the school boards will not also fail the test of a court

challenge if it comes between now and September?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, these are elected trustees who have made a

decision, who will carry that process through. We have not interfered. We will

allow them to continue their work.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, the Department of Advanced Education and

Skills have stated that ABE students at the Waterford will receive the same ABE

instruction as they do now, at the same location.

I ask the minister: Will the College of the North Atlantic continue to

deliver this program at the Waterford?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, as we have said, the ABE program will continue in

Newfoundland and Labrador; however, it will not be offered by the College of the

North Atlantic.

One of the sites where we deliver Adult Basic Education is at the Waterford

Hospital. The program will continue at the Waterford Hospital; however, it will

not be delivered by the College of the North Atlantic.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, in an

article in The Telegram

this weekend it was stated by the Department of Advanced Education through a

press release, very vaguely, that the government will provide the same ABE

service at the same location, which would imply that the College of the North

Atlantic would be providing it.

I ask the minister: Why is a press release being released from your

department so vague, implying that the College of the North Atlantic might still

offer that program?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Advance Education and Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, when we talk about the ABE program, there is a

prescribed curriculum that is developed. That same curriculum will be delivered.

We also have a student-teacher ratio. That same ratio will be maintained and it

will be delivered at the same location. The only difference will be, and as we

have said all along, is that it will not be offered by the College of the North

Atlantic. Other than that, the same program at the same location with the same

student-teacher ratio will be offered.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, we saw the botched efforts by the government when

they took over the Abitibi mill. In Estimates, I asked the Minister of

Transportation and Works of the cost for security and maintenance for the last

several years. The minister at the time committed to give me the numbers, the

cost for the thirty-eight employees that the government hired.

I ask the minister: What was the cost for the thirty-eight employees who your

department hired for security and maintenance for the last two years at the

botched takeover of the Abitibi mill in Grand Falls?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We retained a number of former employees of the Abitibi operation in Grand

Falls-Windsor to carry out maintenance and to review the site from time to time.

They did some upgrades to the perimeter fencing. They also provide some security

services.

There was a large number if memory serves me correct, I do not have it here

in front of me, Mr. Speaker. There were more than two dozen employees. Some

received some work and had some hours, and some had very few. There were

actually some of them as I understand in the last year who never created any

hours or did any work there, even though we still had them available to us. We

still have those employees available to us should the need arise to have them or

to utilize them on the site there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Over the past sixteen months we have experienced three incidents within

provincial jurisdiction that have led to questions about our search and rescue

capabilities; two in Labrador, both of which ended in tragedies, and one in the

Grand Falls-Windsor area.

There should be two internal reports already in place which government has

not made public. We assume that this government will do the right thing and

investigate the latest death, that of former Innu Nation Chief Joseph Riche.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When is her government going to deal with its

responsibility for search and rescue on the land and in the waters of this

Province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Clearly, the hon. member does not understand the

responsibilities for search and rescue in this Province, nor in Canada. Marine

is covered off by the federal government, and then the ground and search rescue

teams are covered off by the Province, which we have twenty-five ground search

and rescue teams in the Province.

We have, and I have, met with the federal minister only last week. I have

written him on several occasions and I wrote him again this morning. I will keep

pressing him to provide the proper and adequate service in Newfoundland and

Labrador, through either the military, or augmented with private industry,

whatever it takes. We want adequate search and rescue in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I point out to the minister that marine means the water that the Island is

in. I am talking about the water that is on the Island and on Labrador. The

people of the Province want actions, not words, which we have just gotten again,

Mr. Speaker, from the minister.

I ask the Premier: Will she please tell us what their plan is to improve

provincial search and rescue capabilities?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, this is a serious issue for the Province and I

am appalled that people in this House are questioning the credibility of our

ground search and rescue teams in the Province. There are twenty-five

well-trained volunteer groups across this Province providing great service in

conjunction with the RNC and RCMP, and have done a fabulous job for over

twenty-five or thirty years that I have been involved with them. Now, to have

people in the House up questioning their integrity and the service they provide,

I cannot believe it.

I will continue to press the federal minister in regard to the services the

federal government provides not only to this Province, but also the rest of the

other provinces and Territories in Canada. I will keep doing that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

This government has engineered a crisis in this Province today regarding home

care. Home support workers across the Province are receiving letters from their

employers saying they will be out of work on June 30. Some businesses are

fearing closure.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Why is this government refusing to take

responsibility and work with the agencies and the union on this issue?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, our home support agencies are private businesses in this

Province. They set their own terms, they negotiate with their workers, they set

their wages, et cetera. That is not our responsibility. That is the work they do

and we are not party to any of those decisions.

Home care is very important to us in this Province, Mr. Speaker. That is why

we invest up to $160 million every year in home support. There is still a Home

Support Program available in the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In 2007, I was asking questions around the extremely high employee turnover

of home support workers, and at that time government increased workers' salaries

approximately by twenty-five cents an hour. Now we have the government refusing

to acknowledge that support for workers is still needed, and many may lose their

jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Has she done an analysis of what this

situation will do to people who need home care and on the possible impacts to

the health care system?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I must remind the member opposite again that she is talking

about a private business association in this Province. What we are concerned

about is the home care that is needed for the people of the Province. We still

have our self-managed component of that care in place and it is something we are

exceptionally proud.

Mr. Speaker, we serve more than 8,200 home support clients a year. Any of the

disputes that happen outside within the home support organizations are just

that. Those are disputes within their organizations themselves.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

All the minister is doing is listing off facts which have nothing to do with

the fact that they know they were involved in helping the agencies to be able to

give the salaries that they were giving.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When is this government going to produce a

real strategic plan for dealing with the long-term and home care needs in this

Province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is unbelievable that the member opposite should ask what we

are going to do about long-term care in this Province. Mr. Speaker, there is no

other government that has ever invested as much in long-term care as this

particular government has.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Mr. Speaker, in terms of our investment around long-term

care, around home support, and around any of the programs that we have put in

place we are second to none, Mr. Speaker. I would venture to say it in fact, I

know it to be a fact from when I am attending any of the meetings that I do with

my provincial counterparts, they are constantly looking for our input, our

direction, and how it is that we are accomplishing what we are accomplishing

here in Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

I find it absolutely appalling that somebody from our own Province would

criticize what the rest of Canada (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's Centre.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Home care agencies in Newfoundland and Labrador negotiated a four-year

collective agreement giving small incremental increases to home care workers.

Historically, the government gave an adequate adjustment to cover the rise in

cost to service delivery. Last year, government provided only half of what was

needed and there is no commitment for this year. Already one agency has notified

its workers that it is closing and there are rumours of more to come.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Will she provide the resources needed for an

adequate adjustment for fee for service to home care agencies?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I suggest that she consult with her leader when they are putting

together questions because the same question was just asked.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you.

In any case, Mr. Speaker, it is not our responsibility to get involved in

negotiations between private business and their workers. Mr. Speaker, if private

business wants to go out and negotiate something with their employees, then they

really ought to check and see if they can afford what it is that they are

negotiating. That is not our responsibility. It is the responsibility of the

business itself.

Mr. Speaker, we are offering home care in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Mr. Speaker, these agencies are providing that service on

behalf of the government; the government sets the service fees.

Mr. Speaker, the minister's department is telling seniors and some of our

most vulnerable people they will have to do self-managed care for home care if

agencies close.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS ROGERS: Hiring and supervising their own home care workers.

I ask the minister: In the absence of a universal home care program and with

home care agencies in communities closing, how will the minister provide safety

control and case management for some of our most vulnerable citizens?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wondered how long it would take her to get to universal again.

It is the same mantra we hear in this House day after day after day; no idea how

anything is going to be paid for except the taxing that the leader talked about

on Open Line the other day, taxing of the population to pay for whatever it is

that we are going to do.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS SULLIVAN: We are offering home support in this Province, Mr. Speaker.

In fact, the self-managed care is availed of by at least 50 per cent of the

population. Not only is self-managed care a very viable option but it also

offers more hours of care for those who need it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Mr. Speaker, the Comprehensive Arts and Science Transfer

program at College of the North Atlantic allow students to save thousands of

dollars while completing their first year of university in or near their home

towns.

Can the minister confirm that college funding cuts will not impact the number

of seats or the cost of tuition for the CAS Transfer college university program?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, the College of the North Atlantic introduced what

is known as CAS, the course that bridges students sometimes between high school

and the college, and we are very proud of that program. It does support many

students in this Province. The College of the North Atlantic will continue to

offer programs where there is capacity to offer these programs and to provide

the best service possible to the students of this Province.

Mr. Speaker, this government is also committed as well to a tuition freeze to

ensure that people who attend our public post-secondary institutions, whether

Memorial University or the College of the North Atlantic, have the lowest

tuitions in Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Mr. Speaker, the transition program is not the transfer

program, so I encourage the minister to familiarize herself with the calendar

for the College of the North Atlantic.

Resource facilitators who provide services to students with disabilities are

among those who have lost their positions with government's program destroying

cuts to College of the North Atlantic.

Who will provide supports and accommodations to students with disabilities at

the college now that these positions have been cut?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, the College of the North Atlantic provides

excellent service to the students who attend that facility.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, the college will continue to offer programs that

help meet the labour market demands of this Province to be able to enable its

students who graduate to be able to take up and fill in the gaps of this labour

market.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you, the students who are at the college this year,

the students who will be there next year and into the future, will continue to

receive that same excellent quality service.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North, without a

preamble, a quick question.

MR. KIRBY: Did the minister realize that she would be targeting students

with disabilities when she decided to gamble with the future of the college with

these program-destroying cuts?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, for

a quick response.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: Mr. Speaker, this government has invested more in post-secondary

education in this Province than any other government in the history of this

Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SHEA: To hear the member talk about the fact that we may not be able

to accommodate or facilitate or provide excellent services to people with

disabilities is absolutely pathetic, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The time for questions has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe, the Chair of Public

Accounts.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to table the first report of the

Standing Committee of Public Accounts.

I can advise this hon. House, we reviewed the entire Auditor General's report

last year and met with the Auditor General early in the year to hear from his

audit officials on every item. We wrote to all of the entities that were covered

by the Auditor General, and we had hearings on five of the entities. Three were

full-day hearings; two were half-day hearings.

Mr. Speaker, I can also advise that the person who has the most institutional

knowledge, in my view, dealing with this is not mentioned in the report, and

that is Ms Murphy. Our committee is absolutely indebted to her assistance in

putting together this report and in running public accounts over the course of

the year.

I can advise the House, Mr. Speaker, in spite of people of differing

political affiliations, every decision was arrived at by consensus. In addition

to the report, the committee put together a practice and procedures manual

because we were operating in a manner more or less like by hearsay or by common

law or by past practice. So, in addition to the report there is a full practice

and procedures manual available for this year and for coming years.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, seconded by the Member for Port au Port, do read the following motion for

debate on our next Private Members' Day:

BE IT RESOLVED that the hon. House supports the establishment of a task force

on child exploitation and drugs, a joint effort between the RCMP and the RNC.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Answers to Questions for Which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, a petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of

the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the offshore of the West Coast of the Island of Newfoundland is

recognized as a region containing potentially billions of barrels of oil; and

WHEREAS hydraulic fracturing could be an accepted and effective method of

petroleum discovery and exploration, and is compatible with the protection of

the natural environment and water sources when executed within the context of a

comprehensive regulatory framework; and

WHEREAS the petroleum exploration sector needs the certainty and confidence

of a stable regulatory regime; and

WHEREAS with that regulatory regime, oil discovery and industry development

could proceed, unprecedented economic opportunity, and bring people home to a

currently economically challenged region; and

WHEREAS the undersigned support property-regulated exploration and

development of oil and gas resources in the Province;

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

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

introduce a regulatory framework immediately under which hydraulic fracturing

could proceed safely, and move this industry forward in Western Newfoundland.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell by the addresses but also the names of these

individuals, they are actually from the Port au Choix area. The end of the Green

Point shale formation ends in Bellburns and that is approximately sixty or

seventy kilometres by road and probably less by water to Port au Choix.

This is an area maybe three-quarters of an hour drive north of the northern

most extension of the Green Point shale formation. There is significant interest

in the Great Northern Peninsula that this development proceed; that it proceed

reasonably and responsibly but that it proceed. The residents in the region are

very concerned that the project be stopped or that the oil companies lose

interest or feel that they cannot proceed because they are not provided with

adequate regulations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS students of the Adult Basic Education program at the College of the

North Atlantic do not wish to attend privatized educational facilities; and

WHEREAS College of the North Atlantic has the most accredited Adult Basic

Education program in Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS students are concerned as to the availability of private institutions

and whether or not they can accommodate additional students;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to reverse this damaging decision to

students and reinstate the Adult Basic Education programming at the College of

the North Atlantic.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker this petition is signed by nearly 400 constituents of mine from

St. Anthony, Goose Cove, St. Carols, Green Island Cove, Green Island Brook,

Great Brehat, Cook's Harbour; there is also a signature from Forteau, Labrador,

and Mary's Harbour.

There are a number of people who are quite concerned because on the Great

Northern Peninsula, for hundreds of kilometres, the College of the North

Atlantic in St. Anthony was the only location where they could actually access

Adult Basic Education. I had written the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills with this concern and there is no guarantee, based on the response, that

Adult Basic Education would be offered in St. Anthony. We see enabling

legislation with "may" and "shall" and when we hear of things that may be

offered, well there is no certainty.

I am very concerned. The loss of Adult Basic Education in my district, in an

area that has a high number of people who do not have a high school equivalency,

this is something that is essential, it is important that this service be

provided, and the petitioners are asking for this decision to be reversed.

This is the second time I have presented such a petition and I know that a

number of other members of this House, including the Member for St. John's

North, have presented.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A petition to the hon. House of Assembly for the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents

humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS home care allows the elderly and people with disabilities to remain

within the comfort and security of their own homes; home care also allows people

to be discharged from hospital earlier; and

WHEREAS many families find it very difficult to recruit and retain home care

workers for their loved ones; and

WHEREAS the PC Blue Book 2011, as well as the 2012 Speech from the Throne,

committed that government would develop a new model of home care and give people

the option of receiving that care from family members; and

WHEREAS the government has given no time commitment for when government plans

to implement paying family caregivers;

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to implement the new home care model to

cover family caregivers.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is a petition that is mostly signed by constituents of mine

who reside in Burgeo, where I happened to be the weekend. One of the things that

actually came up while I was down there is they asked about this home care

program, since it was something we brought up in Question Period. They said: It

is funny because we were promised this in the election and then we were promised

it in Speech from the Throne. They said: Well, something must be happening

because they actually put some money aside for it in the Budget.

It was a very specific amount. It was $6.1 million this year and $8.2 million

next year. If you are putting specific figures like that in, you must assume

there is something very specific lined up. Upon questioning, we have still

actually had no answers as to when we are going to see this. I am one of the

many people in this Province who is sitting here waiting to see when the

government is going to live up to this promise. Now, we know it was announced in

the Budget and hopefully we would have heard something. It was good news amongst

the sea of bad news that was the 2013 Budget.

Mr. Speaker, we have asked about it. We keep getting answers that range from

very soon to very, very soon. I was assuming we might have seen something

perhaps in June month, given the figures and if you pro-rate them. We have had

no commitment and I am not aware as to whether there is any planning. I hope I

am wrong. I hope something is going to be done. I hope government lives up to

this as-yet-unfulfilled promise.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the process of slickwater hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects

hazardous chemicals into rock formations to extract oil, and is polluting

groundwater and air across North America; and

potential environmental impacts of shale oil and gas extraction in Canada,

including fracking; and

WHEREAS Quebec, Nova Scotia, and a number of US states have halted fracking,

and others are introducing regulations specific to fracking; and

WHEREAS it is incumbent upon the provincial government to ensure our natural

environment is protected from harmful industrial processes;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to impose a moratorium on slickwater

fracking until it develops comprehensive regulations and ensures each proposed

project undergoes a conclusive environmental assessment to determine whether it

is safe for the environment, the integrity of water supplies, and human health.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, again I stand in this House to present this petition asking for

a moratorium, amongst other things. The people have been responding from the

West Coast, the Port au Port and Stephenville area, Noels Pond, St. George's,

Corner Brook, and I could go on.

Mr. Speaker, I am not going to belabour this point too much, but I will say

this: UNESCO will be discussing the state of conservation for the Gros Morne

National Park at its conference. The thirty-seventh session of the World

Heritage Committee will be meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia between June 17 and

June 27, 2013 on the topic of Gros Morne Park, and the state of conservation

there has become an issue to UNESCO.

Now, I cannot say it any plainer than that, the risk to the tourism industry

that is going to be occurring on the West Coast, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. MURPHY: Again, I present this to the House of Assembly on behalf of

the people concerned here. This concerns all areas of the Province and indeed

these people are speaking on behalf of people generally worldwide who are

concerned with the fracking industry. It is time that government acts. UNESCO is

going to be paying attention to this one in June month.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As per Standing Order 32, I move, seconded by the Minister of Natural

Resources, that we move to Orders of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER: It has been moved and seconded that we move to Orders of the

Day.

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.

Motion carried.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, just to remind the House by way of notice that the private

member's motion shared a few moments by the Member for Conception Bay East

Bell Island will be the one that government will table for debate this coming

Wednesday, Private Members' Day.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Environment and

Conservation, Motion 6, pursuant to Standing Order 11 that this House not

adjourn at 5:30 p.m. today, Monday, May 13, 2013.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. KING: Further, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of

Environment and Conservation, Motion 7, pursuant to Standing Order 11 that this

House not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. today, Monday, May 13, 2013.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that this House not adjourn at 5:30

p.m. on Monday, May 13, 2013.

It is furthered moved, according to Standing Order 11, that the House not

adjourn at 10:00 p.m. on Monday, May 13, 2013.

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.

Motion carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, at this time in Orders of the Day, we will move to Order 2,

Concurrence Motion. I call

section (

b) debate on the Resource Committee report

from Estimates.

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will stand today just to have a few words on the debate on the Budget, the

Concurrence debate here today.

Mr. Speaker, the first item I am going to speak about is the Kruger mill in

Corner Brook. I am going to have a few words on that today because, as we know,

it takes in part of the district in Corner Brook, and the Bay of Islands. It is

very vital to the economy in Western Newfoundland and Corner Brook in general,

Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the first thing I would like to say starting out is I would like

to commend the Minister of Natural Resources, the former Minister of Finance,

the Member for Humber West, myself, and the Member for Humber Valley, that we

all worked together to try to keep this mill viable for Western Newfoundland and

the integrated sawmill industry not just the mill workers, but the whole

industry in Western Newfoundland.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say, we worked well. There were times we had some

heated discussions and debates on it. There were many times when the

discussions, we had to be very careful because it was a nip and tuck if this was

going to succeed. If we were going to come up with a plan

MR. MARSHALL: It is not over yet.

MR. JOYCE: and it is not over yet, I say to the Minister of Natural

Resources. I agree, it is not over, but I have to commend everybody involved.

Mr. Speaker, I have to take exception to some things members of the Third

Party made. It has been at me for a while and now that we are at this stage. I

took personal exception when the Member for St. John's North Tweeted that I was

trying to work with the government to break the unions in Corner Brook. That

personally bothered me, Mr. Speaker. That personally bothered me because for

him, the Member for St. John's North to send out Tweets all across this Province

saying that I am in cahoots with the Member for Humber West, the Member for

Humber East, the Member for Humber Valley, to try to ruin our family and friends

in Corner Brook is irresponsible. It is not true.

I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that after reflection he did apologize. There

was no Tweet sent out saying it was not true, he just apologized. So, that

bothered me for the longest time. I confronted him on it. I asked him for any

proof, he could not make any proof because it never happened.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing that bothered me more and more about all of

this, as I was trying to work with government, which we did do, and the Member

for Humber Valley was working with everybody, is when we had the heated debate

about the mill. We heard the Leader of the Third Party and the Member for St.

John's North and I know at the time when they were going off questioning

government, questioning my integrity, they never met with the union once.

To me, that was a personal reflection on these members who, at the mill out

in Corner Brook, were saying: Okay, if it survives we did it by raising all the

issues. If it went down under: Oh, we told you so. Mr. Speaker, I personally

took offence to that, because I have no problem whatsoever, if we are going to

do something, let's stand up and say we are going to work together and let's

stick to our guns on it.

Mr. Speaker, again, I had to bring up that issue. The Leader of the

Opposition, the Member for Humber Valley, put out the stipulations on the loan

itself, so I do not need to go over them again. I just wanted to speak on that

because it was an issue that was close to me. That was an issue I took

personally and that was an issue that was absolutely, categorically, positively

false.

Now the Member for St. John's North, I hope, will publicly stand up and say

it was false. I hope the Leader of the Third Party will stand up now and say

with all their ranting going on about the mill in Corner Brook, at the time she

was making it, Mr. Speaker, they never met with the local mill unions once,

never met with them once.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell this story because if it is all right to put out

false information about the Member for the Bay of Islands which is absolutely,

categorically false, let me tell you about the Member for St. John's North, the

meeting he had with the union. Let me tell you about the so-called meeting he

had.

He went out on the long weekend. He called one of the guys up and said:

Listen, can we get together and have a chat? He said: Well, boy, it is a long

weekend. Let's get together and have a chat. This is factual, this is facts. He

said: Okay, boy, we will meet you at the Local 64. I will call one of the boys.

One of the guys showed up. They sat down for two or three minutes. They

discussed NDP things because they just had discussions with the party.

The Member for St. John's North said: Oh, I have a phone call; I have to take

it. He walked out through the door and never walked back into the meeting. He

never walked back in, and he has the audacity, Mr. Speaker, to put out on his

Twitter that I was out trying to break the union, after doing that.

Mr. Speaker, I will not dwell on that any more, but once again it is not over

yet. It is not over yet, but I have to say this is a prime example of where

government and Opposition are working together. We made a commitment that we

would stick together and work with the mill, and I know I am speaking

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I am speaking for the Member for Humber Valley, that we will

honour our commitment and try to work this through so that we can do the best we

can for the people we represent. Put partisan politics aside and do what we can.

I commend both members from Corner Brook for that, and the Minister of Finance

at the beginning.

I remember we had a meeting at the time with the Minister of Service NL about

the pensions. I remember it was a heated discussion. Do you know one thing about

it? It was very heated. It was an intense discussion. Some people may think I am

pretty quiet but sometimes I can speak my mind, Mr. Speaker. At that meeting I

was adamant. The minister at the time was arguing back at me. Do you know not

once was politics ever entered, it was the issue. Guess what? We got it

resolved; all of us together got it resolved.

I will not speak on that, Mr. Speaker, any more, but guys let's all work

together to ensure that we fulfill this.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Now I am going to speak about the hospital in Corner Brook,

Mr. Speaker. Last Thursday night I heard the Minister of Health making comments

in this House saying, I do not want the hospital. I have always learned and

you learn as a very young person but you grow out of it when you are about eight

or nine. I grew out of it when I was about eight or nine years old. I was told

by my parents when I was about eight or nine that if you cannot attack the

argument, attack the person. What kinds of statements are made by the Minister

of Health saying that the Member for Bay of Islands does not want the hospital?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. JOYCE: I do want the hospital, but I want the right hospital. I want

the hospital that was committed to. I want a hospital that is going to satisfy

the needs of Western Newfoundland, people in Labrador, all around, Mr. Speaker.

That is what I want.

For the Minister of Health or anybody else in this House to ever refer that I

do not want what was committed to the people of Corner Brook, to the people of

Western Newfoundland, to the people of Bay of Islands, for all the people that

this hospital will serve is absolutely, categorically false. It is ludicrous.

What I say to the Minister of Health who is still over there, Mr. Speaker,

she has not stopped. I tell the people, she has not stopped again. Every time I

stand up and speak about the hospital, instead of discussing the facts that I

put forward, is attacking me.

Let me tell you something. I will tell you a small little detail about me,

Mr. Speaker. You can attack me but if I think I am right, I do not give up. I

say to the minister, you can attack me as much as you like. You can come on and

you can say what you like

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Direct your comments to the Chair, please.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you.

Can you tell the Minister of Health, Mr. Speaker, that she can attack me as

much as she likes, she can call me whatever she likes, she can stand up and make

all these ludicrous statements, I will not give up on what was promised to the

people of Western Newfoundland and to the people of Corner Brook.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I say to the Minister of Health, attack the arguments, not me.

This is bigger than me. This is bigger than the Member for Humber West.

Collectively, this is a project that is going to come back on all of us. This is

why I am bringing it up, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I went through this whole scenario before on the hospital. I am

going to have a few more tries at it, because once the Request for Proposals

comes out it is going to be too late. Once it is out, it is too late.

Mr. Speaker, I asked the Minister of Health, in Estimates no, in Question

Period, sorry - how many surgeries have been cancelled in Corner Brook Western

Hospital because of a lack of acute care beds? I never got an answer.

When you are making a decision of something which is so gigantic and

important to the people of Newfoundland, wouldn't you know that? You should know

that. These are the questions that are being asked of me, because people who

were directly involved, residents of Western Newfoundland who had surgeries

cancelled, are saying: How many surgeries were cancelled? I do not know, but I

will ask the minister.

Guess what? I cannot get answer. I know there is not zero. I know there are

surgeries cancelled. Are there ten a month? Are there two a month? Are there

fifteen a month? I do not know, Mr. Speaker. I honestly cannot get that

statistic.

I think that is an important point we should know if we are going to make a

decision. If the minister does not know, God bless the people out in Corner

Brook who do not know. The minister should have that, Mr. Speaker.

Another question I asked the minister who could not give me the answer. I

even asked in Estimates, also. I gave him a second kick at the can three days

after I asked. I know the Member for Humber West is over very attentively

listening to this. He knows this because it is going to rely on all of us. What

is the readmission rate for Western Newfoundland as compared to the Province?

What is the readmission rate?

Guess what, Mr. Speaker? When I asked that question in Question Period and in

Estimates, they could not give me an answer. This is in Hansard. This is not the

Member for Bay of Islands standing up and just giving some statements that are

just out of blue. These are questions I asked in Hansard, the public record, and

I could not get the answer. I could not get the answer.

Then the bigger question: How can you make this decision on the hospital and

the number of acute care beds, which has decreased by about twenty-two or

twenty-four beds, confirmed how can you make a decision of this magnitude

without having that information? How can you do it?

Do you know what I was told in Estimates? When the Estimates are typed up, I

am willing to share with anybody in the media. I am willing to share with the

Member for Humber West, the Member for Humber East, and the Member for Humber

Valley, or anybody. I will say it again because I am only going to have another

few opportunities to push the need to make sure we get the hospital that was

committed to and that is going to serve the needs of Western Newfoundland, Mr.

Speaker. We were told the rate people are being admitted in the hospital, the

time of stay and post-surgery, will be decreased by 25 per cent. That is in

Hansard.

The Member for Burgeo La Poile was at the meeting also. That is in Hansard.

I have to ask the question: If there is an issue that the wait time or the time

spent in hospital can be reduced by 25 per cent, how can you guarantee the

people that it is going to be effective? How can you guarantee the people in

Western Newfoundland that the services are going to be in the communities? How

about if you have someone up in the Northern Peninsula who do not have access to

a doctor, how about if you have someone in some remote part of Western

Newfoundland who does not have access to home care, how can you guarantee that

the services are going to be there, that you are going to rush them out to

hospital by 25 per cent more time even people in Western Newfoundland now are

very concerned; they feel that they are moving out of the hospital quicker than

they are actually ready to go to the hospital because of the lack of services,

medical services, support services within their communities.

Mr. Speaker, I am willing to bet, because I know the facts in this, that if

you look at the readmission rates for Western Newfoundland, it will support it

now that the highest admission rates in this Province is in Western

Newfoundland. We are going to rush them out 25 per cent quicker. What is going

to happen? Their readmission rates are going to go higher and we have less acute

care beds to handle that.

Mr. Speaker, this is not me; this is fact.

AN HON. MEMBER: Not what we were promised.

MR. JOYCE: Not what we were promised.

I heard the Minister of Health say on many occasions: Well, how come no one

else is talking about it? Well, I will just let the minister know there is a

public meeting Wednesday night. Fly out to the meeting Wednesday night and hear

some of the concerns that the people have. Wait until the petitions start coming

into this House, if you ever keep it open long enough. Keep it open long enough

and see the petitions that are going to be coming in from people in Western

Newfoundland.

The meeting is organized by Israel Hann on Wednesday night; the same person,

Mr. Speaker, when the long-term care facility the Member for Humber East and

the Premier was saying was a great health care advocate for Western

Newfoundland. Let's see how great he is going to be now when he organizes this

meeting, how many of the government members are going to go out and show up at

the meeting and listen to the concerns.

This is not attacking government. Mr. Speaker, if this health care facility

met the needs of Western Newfoundland, from the information that I was given, to

all the people in Newfoundland, all the health care professionals, I would be

out supporting it, like I am doing with the mill. I would be out supporting it.

I say to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, you want to get the facts? Let's

look at the readmission rates. Look at the number of decreased acute care beds

and how many surgeries are being cancelled because there is not enough now and

we are going to take in a bigger geographical area. That is not me. Everything I

am saying here is in Hansard. It is in Hansard. It is the official record of

this House. So once it is in Hansard, you can go on what you have been told.

Mr. Speaker, there is another (inaudible) and I hear the Minister of Health

again; she just continuously attacks me. Attack the issues, produce the number

of surgeries that were cancelled in Western Newfoundland, lay it on the table

here, lay it on the table what the readmission rates are, lay it on the table

the number of acute care beds are going to be cut in Western Newfoundland, lay

it on the table, Mr. Speaker. Where are the reports? There are reports.

So instead of standing over there and attacking me, lay it on the table, all

the facts for the people in Western Newfoundland do you know why, Mr. Speaker?

Because what I am saying is correct.

Mr. Speaker, in Estimates I asked the Minister of Transportation and Works

for the two copies: the Hatch Mott MacDonald report on the initial design of the

hospital, and the Stantec. The Minister of Transportation and Works committed to

giving me those two reports, over two weeks ago. Guess what? I still do not have

the reports. I asked the Minister of Health, Mr. Speaker, in Estimates: Can I

get the two reports? She said: Well, I have to check with the Department of

Transportation because they are co-authored reports. I said: He already said

yes. Well, I will check with him.

That was a week ago. That was three weeks ago when she first committed, a

week ago when she said she is going to check with the minister. She is sitting

next to him in the House every day for the last three weeks, but do not have

time to ask should we give him the report. So, I am going to rely upon the

Minister of Transportation and Works and his good words, which are in Hansard,

that he will give me a copy of these reports.

I am shocked. When you want to talk about something that is so vital to the

people of Western Newfoundland their health and I have to stand in this

House and fight to try to get the reports to see what is being offered. I have

to actually now keep on struggling to try to get reports to show the people of

Western Newfoundland what health care facility is going to be built so people

could have a look at it and make up their own judgement.

You just heard the Minister of Finance earlier talking about some

communication: We have nothing to hide. People of Western Newfoundland cannot

get a copy of those two reports so we can sit down and say, okay, here is the

report that was done, here is the report when Stantec went in to downsize the

hospitals, here is the reason why we cannot get it. You just cannot get it.

There is a commitment made to me as a member in this House that I would have it.

I still cannot get it.

Once I get it, who is going to have it? The people of Western Newfoundland;

that is who I am fighting this for. It is the people of Western Newfoundland.

One of these days, I am sure I am going to need this facility. I am sure the

Members for Humber West and Humber East are going to need this facility. Guys,

we have to get it right, Mr. Speaker.

I know the Minister of Natural Resources, the Member for Humber East when he

talked about the long-term care facility, when the beds were decreased from the

original size down to a lower size. When the minister quoted himself, and I have

the quote here if the minister would like to refresh his memory when he said:

We made a mistake with the long-term care facility, we cannot make a second

mistake.

I agree with you, you corrected it. Why should we have to go through the

mistake? Why don't we do it right? The minister said we corrected it. That is

why we are building an extra 100 long-term care beds now. That is what should

have been in the initial one. We corrected it, but we should not have to go and

have it corrected.

I say to the Minister of Natural Resources, who I am sure is concerned about

health in Western Newfoundland. I am sure, there is no doubt. I am not saying

you are not. I am definitely not. The Member for Humber West also, there is no

doubt, we all are. There is absolutely no doubt. I am not disputing that one

bit, I have to say.

Why have the people of Western Newfoundland through me have to fight with

this government to get a copy of the reports to see exactly what facility they

are going to get after being committed to by the Minister of Transportation and

Works? Why? If there is nothing to hide, lay it on the table. Here is what was

committed, here is what we planned, here is what the Stantec report did, and

here are the reasons why. Then we could have an informed discussion.

Mr. Speaker, I will have another opportunity to speak about other things plus

the hospital at a later date.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for your time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CROSS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was listening intently to the Member for Bay of Islands as he was speaking.

I do like his reference to the idea where he is willing to cross party lines

sometimes for the good of certain things, to be able to make things work and

cross these lines. I also refer to potentially that there were other times when

he does not cross the line so easily and maybe a more open mind might help with

some things. I will say most times he has an open mind.

Unlike the Third Party, I remember sharing a panel interview with a member of

the Third Party in the beginning. I was impressed by something she had said. The

member mentioned that we come to office now and we are going to be more

concerned about being a proposition party than an Opposition party. I doubt if

there is very much proposition comes from the Third Party. It is easy to talk

that talk, but when we try to ask them to walk the walk or to put it in

practice, or to explain their plan, or to tell us how they are going to do it,

we end up with a lot of fertilizer for the money tree.

The purpose today is to talk about Concurrence Motions for the Resource

Committee. I would like to make a comment about the Chair of the Resource

Committee, the hon. Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CROSS: His organizational skills and his ability to manage time

effectively made him a very effective Chair of the Committee.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CROSS: I would like to also mention the ministers and the officials

who attended many of these sessions. I give you some indication for our

listeners in TV land today. The Resource sector met in Estimates Committees for

some twenty-one or twenty-two hours plus. For all of these hours, the ministers

and their officials were asked questions. It is almost like a Question Period.

It is like a search for answers, and many answers were forthcoming throughout

the Estimates.

Mr. Speaker, this is the third time I have been on my feet talking about the

Budget in some ways. It is always great to be able to stand up here and express

my viewpoints, the viewpoints I hear from the residents of my district. We

realize everyone has ideas, everyone has opinions, and everyone can put it up

when it counts, but it is always important to know that everyone should have

that open ear and should be able to listen.

In the Resource sector Estimates, we met in five departments: Advanced

Education and Skills, and the total expenditure in that department is a whopping

$935 million

AN HON. MEMBER: How much?

MR. CROSS: Nine hundred and thirty-five million dollars.

Environment and Conservation department, although the amount of money spent

there is a fair degree lower, is a very important department. In that

department, we discussed the Estimates of some $41 million. In the Department of

Fisheries and Aquaculture, we talked about $34 million of expenditure by this

government. In IBRD, we talked about some-$94 million. Natural Resources, again

the number went up, $635 million we discussed. Tourism, Culture and Recreation,

we discussed some-$65 million, for a grand total of $1.8 billion.

The Opposition members and government members could ask questions of the

ministers and their officials on every line item for $1.8 billion. That $1.8

billion represents 23 per cent of our budget allocation, approximately a quarter

of the Budget.

Government Services sector also has about 20 per cent, which leaves the

largest amount of about 60 per cent of the Budget for the Social sector

Estimates. Of course, we know the Social sector Estimates include the Department

of Education, and the Department of Health and Community Services which takes

the biggest chunk of the Budget.

One message, Mr. Speaker, that I am not sure which minister I can relate this

back to for the most part, which minister I can carry this comment back to, but

there was something mentioned by one of the ministers, and it was not in the

Estimates Committee but it was through some questions here in the House. It may

come to our Minister of Finance, when he was defending some of the Estimates

right here on the floor of the House a few days ago. He made a statement, Mr.

Speaker.

Now, I probably corrupted this a little or got it in the information for

dummies

section for this, but basically the comment means, you cannot do the

same stuff with the same people in the same way any more. We have to respond to

things differently today. We have to change the practice of how we do things. We

have to change the focus of how we do things. We have to, in any way, attempt to

change our outcomes.

That is what this is all about. It is not much point for us to sit down and

discuss options of occurrence or options in our Estimates Committees if we do

not have the goal that we, at the end of all of this, are going to change the

outcomes. If you look back at this and say: We cannot do the same stuff with the

same people in the same way any more.

Let's just look at a couple of our departments. Municipal Affairs just open

your ears for a second and listen about Municipal Affairs. What have we heard

for the last year or so from MNL and from mayors and leaders in our communities?

That we have to change the way we are doing things. We have to have that open

ear. We cannot do the same stuff with the same people in the same way, and what

did our minister figure out? We changed the way we use our budget this year in

the Department of Municipal Affairs. It has been expounded on so many times I

do not have to go into the details but we have changed the way we do things.

That shall change some of the outcomes of what we need.

Health care: When we talk about the scope of practice of our health

professionals, our doctors, our nurses, our nurse practitioners and our licensed

practical nurses, we cannot do the same stuff with the same people in the same

way forever. We have to change. If we are going to be effective and efficient,

we have to change how we do the service.

The same goes for education, post-secondary education and Adult Basic

Education, and for Tourism. The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, we

cannot do the same stuff with the same people in the same way any more. How true

is that for the fishery? What would we be able to do if we did not have the

foresight to change how we do things with the people we do them with? We would

never have this wonderful development that we have in the South Coast with the

aquaculture industry in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CROSS: I have travelled to the South Coast because I have family

there. Like the member from Mount Pearl North, I have family in other parts of

the Province as well. They are not just all stuck in Bonavista North. I actually

visited the Bay d'Espoir area. It was amazing, over the last twenty years, to be

going there on a constant basis and visiting the farms, visiting the sites, the

hatchery and in the grow-out sites, out in the bay.

Not only is it a great place for energy and recreation, it just revives you

when you are out on the bay down there, but when you see how far things have

come from such meagre beginnings you know that this statement is true. That we

have changed the way that we do these things. We have changed the people who are

doing it and we are not doing it in that same way again.

Innovation, Business and Rural Development: A week or so ago I stood here and

we talked about how we have changed the way the suites of programs are offered

to the clients in our Province. How we have looked at all the umbrella

organizations that there were and now we have twenty-two suites and programs and

opportunities and all kinds of different application processes put under two

umbrellas for commercial and development partners. By doing it that way, we have

changed the stuff we are doing. We have changed the people we are dealing with

and the way we are doing it. This government is responding to these things.

I would like to take a few moments, I am sort of shifting gears for a moment,

but I really would like to look at one department and how it connects somehow

I just want to introduce a few things. After sitting on all of the Estimates

Committees, we were sitting there and you sort of get motivated to say I have to

learn a little more about this or I have to dig in a little more about this

because I need to know a little more about it.

I started digging a little bit into travel and tourism in our Province. It

sort of got peeked when I attended the Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador

convention; I was at part of it a few weeks ago. I just want to share some

things that I sort of uncovered, I guess, in travel and tourism and then how

some of that will connect to Bonavista North. Then from there, we can look at

how it can apply, maybe, to the whole Province and look at the outlook. If I can

get through in the next eight minutes that aspect, I will have done about half

or a quarter of what I intended to talk about when I stood up today.

You can never pace yourself, you always have to have more information than

you know you are going to get to, just in case you run a blank and I think I

did that the last time I stood up at one point, so you need to be prepared.

I really want to mention some of these things now about travel and tourism,

how it applies to doing things differently with different people again, and how

we can really get some good, positive actions in our Province.

Maybe I should say one other thing. I had a real good friend who was a

teacher; we taught in school together. I was the art teacher at Lester Pearson

Memorial High a few years ago and in the class next door was Mr. Mike Bragg. We

had these thin metal walls that you could almost hear through. So lots of days I

heard what Mr. Bragg was teaching and Mr. Bragg heard what I was teaching. He

had a saying, after he retired, that I tried to use a little.

He would get his students in class I hope Mike might be listening today; if

not, I am sure some of his family in Greenspond are. Mike had a way of

motivating the students. He would say: Okay, my lovers sit up now. Mr. Bragg is

going to take you on a little trip. Close your eyes and just turn on your

internal PC viewer in your imagination, let it run on your eyelids on the

inside, and as I talk about this, you pay attention and you form your picture of

what we are talking about. As we get to the Bonavista North part especially of

this in a few moments, I would like for you close your eyes, turn on your

internal PC viewer, and on the inside of your eyeballs have a look at some of

the tourism things that are going on in Bonavista North and in this Province.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. CROSS: I am not sure. It depends on what brain you have. I am sure

there is lots of high def on this side. I apologize.

Travel and tourism: We all know and we have all heard about the global

recession and everything that has hit us in 2011 and 2012. Despite all of the

worldwide economic problems there have been, there was still record levels of

travel around the world in 2012. International travel to Canada in 2012 rose by

1 per cent and US customers coming to Canada were up for the first year after a

nine-year trend of being lower every year.

It indicates, through some of this, that travel and tourism for our Province

has great potential. The two components for the industry, for tourism, in this

Province combined last year to break the $1 billion barrier.

AN HON. MEMBER: How much?

MR. CROSS: The $1 billion barrier. What a minister!

Of this $1 billion that was income in our tourist industry, there are two

types. There are the stay-cations', as my friend Barb from Long Island would

say, where you stay in the Province, you travel around the Province, and you

keep your money in Newfoundland and Labrador. Fifty-eight per cent of the income

in tourism in 2012 was by stay-cationers', people from Newfoundland and

Labrador who decided to stay home and spend their money.

Mr. Speaker, up almost 10 per cent to 42 per cent for 2012 were the

non-residents, the new money. That is not money in our Province. It comes right

into our Province and they spend it when they get here. They bring it with them.

That was up to 42 per cent. There was growth shown in every single region in the

Province, with just over 500,000 people spending that money, visitors from

outside.

Of the people who came in, air passengers took care of 71 per cent of the

spending. So, 71 per cent of that spending came in by flights. Seventy-eight per

cent of the visitors came in that way. All of it is up 7 per cent to 360,000

people in 2012.

Air travel to Labrador, to the Big Land; Island domestic flights have a lot

to do with it I guess with the travel for development and the travel for

businesses going there, but the business activity in the Labrador region

increased by 27 per cent in 2012 air travel in that area increased by 27 per

cent. That is one way to get there is by air.

Let's consider by sea. We are an Island, we know that 29 per cent of our

visitors who came here came by our ferries, or they came by cruise ships. This

is a different way of doing things. Really, this is a way that the City of St.

John's and the City of Corner Brook also, believe it or not, Mr. Speaker,

about three years ago we had a cruise ship stop right outside of New-Wes-Valley

in Bonavista North. A small cruise ship decided to anchor off; they came aboard

on their little tiny rubber boats and dinghies. They came in and they

experienced the frivolity and things that we could offer in Bonavista North.

In cruise ship traffic, there were 39,000 unique cruise visitors. How do you

define a unique cruise visitor? That means that person, no matter which way they

came to Newfoundland for 2012, was only counted once. We had 39,000 unique

cruise visitors, up 15,400 in 2012. The City of Corner Brook had 30 per cent

more than they had the record year that they had was 2007, and last year they

had 30 per cent more than that.

I only have two minutes left, so I have to run through the Bonavista North

part of this really quickly. Okay, turn on your inside PC viewers. This is where

you are really going to need them. Imagine that you are in Indian Bay waters on

the Southern end of Bonavista North, some of the most famous fishing, trout

fishing, and skidooing country in the world.

In Musgrave Harbour there is Banting Park, Dr. Frederick Banting. It was a

tragedy that his plane crashed and he passed away. His name now has become

synonymous with Musgrave Harbour. There is a Banting Park there which has a

replica of the plane; built in Wesleyville, I must say. The plane was built in

the marine centre in Wesleyville and it is there.

The Barbour Living Heritage Village at Newtown is something I can spend three

hours talking about I guess. It is right out only a mile, a mile-and-a-half

straight across the ocean from where I am living. There is very, very much

activity there with not one, not two, but three replica houses.

They have a waterfront premises there that was replicated from a big fishing

store back in the early years. There is a seal oil factory built indoors with a

full size schooner that you can go down in the hold in, all built indoors. It

should have a real good connection with what is happening in Elliston on the

other side of the bay where my friend from Bonavista South is setting up.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CROSS: We have the Greenspond Courthouse. We actually have the real

Random Passage trails on Cape Island, because that is where Random Passage was

written and where Bernice Morgan lived. We have the Gander River Development

with the lodges, and hunting and fishing. Beaches, have we got beaches, in

Musgrave Harbour, Lumsden, Windmill Bight, and Cape Island.

Have we got festivals; we have the Muddy Hole in Musgrave Harbour, the Salmon

River Days in Indian Bay, the Crab Festival where you can meet Seamore the crab,

or Beothuk Bob in New-Wes-Valley, or the Celebration by the Sea in Lumsden, or

Come Home Year this year in Centreville-Wareham-Trinity.

I am trying to create a tourism ad for Bonavista North. I know I am out of

time and I am going to have to finish this when I get my next twenty minutes on

the main motion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Verge): The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member for Bonavista North paints a fairly pretty picture of the

Estimates meetings, the committee meetings, but I do not recall, Mr. Speaker,

the Member for Bonavista North, or any of the other government members who were

sitting on that committee asking any questions of the ministers who were sitting

on the front bench over there. I do not recall any questions coming from them.

I will just give you one example of my experience when it came to the

questions, or discussion regarding Income Support. The substituting minister for

that committee, the Minister of Justice, was unable or unwilling I am not sure

to answer any questions about the percentage or volume of calls that get

answered regarding the provision of Income Support.

The minister was unwilling or unable to answer questions regarding the number

of vacant front line positions in Income Support. It was noted that a number of

front line staff at the Student Financial Aid Division had been let go as a

result of the recent cuts. The substituting Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills on the Resource Committee was also unable or unwilling to answer

questions regarding the volume of calls that get answered or go unanswered on

that committee.

So, I did not get all the answers I wanted on that committee. Maybe the

Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, or the Minister of Justice, or

somebody will stand up at some point and give us the answers to those questions

because they are important questions. I do not recall any of those sorts of

questions being asked by any of the government members on that committee.

I wanted to take some time to talk about the cuts to College of the North

Atlantic because I think they are momentous in the depth at which they cut. Take

only the campus in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, I read last week that approximately

half of the staff there, somewhere closing in on half of them, have been let go

or going to be let go at that campus. It is a campus where government has seen

fit, the college has seen fit to build a residence so that people can go and

attend there. People I have talked to feel like it is a serious diminution of

the status and stature of that campus.

The college system in Newfoundland and Labrador did not really start to build

steam to grow until the post-Confederation years, unlike a lot of provinces in

Canada. That was of course aided by federal spending. Funding that came from the

federal government under a variety of different federal acts after

Confederation. In 1958, the construction of many of the former district

vocational schools was announced by the provincial government here. Between 1963

and 1965, no less than twelve new campuses were opened.

I believe it is really interesting. We used to joke about this when I was

involved with the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Students, that in all

of those former district vocational school campuses you can go in and somewhere

in the building, somewhere on the premises, there is a plaque basically

proclaiming the opening of that location by former Premier Smallwood. That is

certainly his legacy by and large.

Vocational and applied programs have taken many forms over the years in our

system, and the former district vocational school campuses have been reorganized

a number of times. They were combined into regional and community colleges at

one point. Then of course in the 1990s they were all combined to form the

provincial college, which is now called College of the North Atlantic.

I think that over time, especially in the 1990s, the system took a beating.

The government at the time saw fit to remove a lot of the trades programming or

not to invest in the trades programming at the college. I think that is a really

good example of a period where government did not value the college, and I fear

we are going back into that period again now.

Fortunately, what our predecessors built in terms of a college system, a

vocational and an applied programming system, is durable. It is durable just by

virtue of the fact that it exists and offers such high quality programming

today.

In fact, our college programs here are the envy of other provinces and they

are indeed the envy of other countries, to the extent that the State of Qatar

has contracted with College of the North Atlantic to deliver programs that

originate here by a good number of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and other

Canadians and internationals, in the State of Qatar. That is something we should

be rightly proud of. We should be investing then in the college system as

opposed to divesting government from the colleges.

I say that because I was a little struck when the Member for Conception Bay

East Bell Island got up last week and said that this was all short-term pain

for long-term gain. I would argue that it appears to be short-term gain and the

long-term consequences could be quite significant.

The previous speaker, the Member for Bonavista North, I note that he got up

some time back, I believe it was in the Budget debate, and he talked about how

our constituents, the general public, had been spoiled by the nature of

government spending prior to this year. Somehow they were spoiled by the

programs and services that government was providing.

In Grand Falls-Windsor, the Adult Basic Education program is going to be

removed and the Comprehensive Arts and Science Transition program is going to be

stopped there. Where they spoiled at the College of the North Atlantic in Grand

Falls-Windsor? The staff, the students, and the general public, were they

spoiled there?

In Gander, they have lost their Adult Basic Education program, too. Where

they spoiled? Were the people of Gander spoiled? Were the students and the

instructors there spoiled, the staff at that campus? In Corner Brook, they have

lost four programs: Adult Basic Education, Environmental Technology, Adventure

Tourism, and Electronics Engineering Technology. Where they spoiled? Were the

people of Corner Brook spoiled by having these programs? Were the staff and the

students at the campus there spoiled by having these programs so we had to

remove them?

I mentioned Happy Valley-Goose Bay; they are losing Adult Basic Education.

They are losing Automotive Service Technician. They are missing the first year

of Engineering Technology and they are losing Office Administration. Were they

spoiled and they had to have those programs removed? Were the staff and the

students at that campus spoiled? Maybe somebody can get up and tell us.

At Ridge Road, just up the road here, Telecommunications Software Electronic

Engineering Technology is being taken away from the campus. The Academic Support

Centre is being taken away from the campus. Were they spoiled? Were the people

who were served by that campus spoiled? Did they have too much that they had to

have these programs taken away from them?

In St. Anthony, represented by my colleague the Member for The Straits

White Bay North, they are losing Adult Basic Education and they are also losing

a first year of Engineering Technology. In Bonavista, Adult Basic Education is

being taken away, as is Office Administration. In Bay St. George, they are

losing Adult Basic Education, Visual Arts, Hospitality Tourism, and Community

Studies is being changed to an alternate year, an alternate year of intake.

MR. LANE: (Inaudible).

MR. KIRBY: I do not know if they were spoiled, I say to the Member for

Mount Pearl South. He is yelling over there. I do not know if they were being

spoiled, I say to him. If you folks think they are being spoiled, get up and say

that get up and say that.

MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn): Order, please!

MR. KIRBY: In Port aux Basques, Adult Basic Education is being cut and

the Comprehensive Arts and Science Transition program is being cut.

In Burin, Burin is probably the hardest hit by these cuts. I was down there a

few weeks ago. As I said here in the House of Assembly before, they said we have

three members of Cabinet: the Premier, the Member for Grand Bank, and the Member

for Burin Placentia West. We all thought they were going to go to bat for this

area and we would not know they are in there.

They are losing Adult Basic Education; they are losing the Comprehensive Arts

and Science Transition program. They are also losing the first year of

Engineering Technology and they are losing Business Administration. That is a

lot to lose. That is a lot of instructors and that is a lot of students. Some

would say they were spoiled, but I do not think so.

In Placentia, they are losing Adult Basic Education and they are losing

Comprehensive Arts and Science Transition program as well. They are losing a

Machinist program. It is interesting that we are losing the Machinist program

there because precision machining and tooling should be in demand, the period we

are in now, if we have a white-hot economy or a blue-hot economy or red-hot

economy, or whatever the particular political rhetoric is this week. We should

need more people trained in precision machining and tooling trades like

machinists, but we are losing that program.

In Seal Cove, they are losing the Adult Basic Education Program and they are

losing the Oil