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June 17, 2021

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. L No. 19

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

SPEAKER:

Today we will hear statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of Labrador

West, Ferryland, St. John's Centre, Torngat Mountains, Conception Bay South and

Windsor Lake with leave.

The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to acknowledge Raeann Brown. Originally

from Postville and now living in Labrador West, Raeann is an Indigenous artist,

author and small business owner and operator of Inuky Glass Art. Raeann's

culture and traditions can be seen through her art and writing, which helps to

bring awareness of Indigenous issues and show the beauty of her culture.

Raeann started her home-based business 10 years ago,

selling her art and glass etchings online. The business recently expanded last

year into a full retail location. Seeing a small business flourish in Labrador

West is exciting, and to expand during a pandemic is encouraging to see for any

small business.

Raeann is also an author; her first book was a 30-page

adult colouring book called Inuky Art: The

Colors of Our Culture , full of original drawings, Inuit knowledge and

stories. Raeann's second book, not yet released, is a children's book called

Bedtime in Nunatsiavut , which was

chosen for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize.

I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating

Raeann Brown on her success and for sharing her beautiful work with us all.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to wish a happy birthday to Ms. Marie

Sullivan, the oldest resident of Calvert, who is celebrating her 100th birthday

today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

O'DRISCOLL:

She

was born and raised in Calvert where she still resides in her own home, caring

for herself. She was the eldest of nine children. Ms. Sullivan left school at a

young age to care for her eight siblings when her mother became sick.

Ms. Sullivan has eight children of her own, 20

grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. When her kids were young, she sewed

most of her children's clothes and was the local seamstress for many residents

in the area. She also enjoys knitting as a hobby. Ms. Sullivan can put her hand

to almost anything around the house, inside and out.

She has a great memory and tells many stories of days

growing up. She has travelled to various parts of Canada and the US, and at the

age of 95 she travelled to Ireland. She has a great interest in politics and

keeps up to date on what's happening in the province. Ms. Sullivan is still in

excellent health.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members of this House to join me

in wishing Ms. Sullivan a happy 100th birthday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

BGC St. John's, formerly the Boys and Girls Clubs of

St. John's, offers programs and services to 750 children and youth annually,

ages five 5 to 18, from two locations: Buckmaster's Circle and Mundy Pond.

Food insecurity is a serious issue in our communities

and the dedicated four permanent and 10 part-time staff work hard to address it.

Project Backpack sends children home each weekend with snacks and easy meals for

families.

One of the most needed and valued initiative is Warm

Bellies: a supper program, providing some 50 to 60 hot meals weekly to children

and youth who need them. Staff cook and serve the meals at the centre. This

program started when staff noticed that children were not going home during the

supper hour and, instead, were waiting outside their doors until they reopened,

without having food.

COVID-19 increased the need for the Warm Bellies

program, Project Backpack and many other programs offered by BGC St. John's. The

pandemic also decreased fundraising opportunities. Now, more than ever, BGC

needs our help to carry on its essential service to the children, youth and

families in our communities.

I ask Members to recognize and support the valuable

work of BGC St. John's.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I pay tribute to late Bryan Rich of Natuashish for a

lifetime of dedicated service to his people. Bryan left this world too early, a

couple of weeks ago, at the age of 27. The primary caregiver to four small

children, his heart was great and everyone loved and respected him.

Although Bryan was battling PTSD, many turned to him

for support and encouragement. He is remembered as the caring one, big smile on

his face, always saying something that made people feel better.

Firefighter, deputy fire chief of Natuashish, in the

last two days of his life, he responded to 22 call-outs – the highest number of

debris fires that Natuashish has seen.

He was a racer, with a warrior heart. Partnered with

his uncle Gregory Rich, he took Cain's Quest by storm. He raced in honour of his

late cousin, Bernice, stopping only after a serious accident broke his ribs and

bruised his lungs, ending his race by being medevaced to St. John's. He

recovered ready to race again.

I will end my tribute by quoting what he said from his

hospital bed almost two years ago: Thanks, everyone. I will return for 2022. I

got unfinished business to take care of. I wanna fight like how the women fight

for their lives. I wanna bring awareness across Canada and Labrador about

missing and murdered Indigenous women. Hopefully, next race, I'll get sponsored.

I spent a lot of money on this race that I'll never regret. Respect the women.

Please join me in applauding the life of Bryan Rich.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to speak of the many Lions Clubs

throughout the province. Mr. Speaker, 2020 represented 100 years of service in

Canada. Canadian Lions Clubs are being encouraged to complete centennial

projects to celebrate this milestone.

With the co-operation and assistance of the NL Forest

Ecosystem Management department, the 51 Lions Clubs of District N4, which is

from Gander to Pouch Cove, will be planting 10,000 trees in June. Clubs have

partnered with their municipalities, Scouts, cadets, schools and many other

community groups for this project. Trees will be planted in parks, sports

fields, cutting areas and fire-damaged areas. Lions Clubs are proud to partake

in this program which helps our environment.

CBS Lions Club will also be participating by planting

trees around the community and the new Community Garden. CBS Lions Club also

made a $5,000 donation to the CBS Community Garden project in Kelligrews to help

install a ramp around the area to make it wheelchair accessible. This annual

project will stand as a living legacy to the Lions motto, “We Serve,” for many

years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in

congratulating not only the CBS Lions Club, but all participating Lions Clubs

from Gander to Pouch Cove.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Windsor Lake, with leave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Leave.

SPEAKER:

Leave granted.

HOGAN:

Thank you to my colleagues in the House for granting leave.

Today marks the passing of a dear family friend and

resident of Windsor Lake, Helen Lawlor. Some hon. Members will know of Helen and

her life's work in health care. She was a dedicated nurse, a graduate of St.

Clare's. Helen exemplified a life dedicated to caring and service to the people

of the Northern Peninsula, the West Coast and her beloved southern shore.

Helen played an important role in the Department of

Health in the development of public health and hospital services. She never

forgot that policies were meant to provide the best possible supports to

individuals and her voice was a constant reminder of kindness, generosity of

spirit and services.

My condolences to Helen's brother, Loyola and her

family and friends.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In 2020, our government recognized the need to find an

appropriate name for the annual government holiday observed in June, which

happens to fall on June 21 this year. It is important to find a name that is in

line with moving forward and honouring the process of reconciliation with

Indigenous peoples.

We've been collaborating with Indigenous leaders to

consider possible alternatives. Recognizing that this is a significant teaching

moment and learning opportunity, we are talking about ways to engage the young

people of our province in this process.

There's no better time to have these conversations, as

coincidentally, the observance of the June Holiday this year falls on National

Indigenous Peoples Day. Accordingly, I encourage everyone to take the time to

celebrate and educate themselves on the diversity and history of Indigenous

communities in our province and take

part in activities that are being organized

by groups such as the Labrador Friendship Centre, First Light St. John's

Friendship Centre and People of the Dawn Indigenous Friendship Centre.

Mr. Speaker, we all can and must do our part to foster

deeper understanding and cultural awareness of the unique perspectives of

Indigenous communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I look forward to providing more information on the

renaming of the June Holiday in the near future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Premier for an advance copy of his

statement. Mr. Speaker, I join with the Premier in recognizing the upcoming

Indigenous Peoples Day and acknowledge the need to address the name of the

provincial holiday which occurs in June.

Working in collaboration with Indigenous groups, we

must acknowledge that First Peoples inhabited our province well before European

contact. In the spirit of reconciliation, let's nurture a better cultural

understanding and awareness of our First Peoples.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Premier for the advance copy of his

statement. It was an honour last year to raise this issue of the June Holiday in

the House of Assembly. The renaming of this day, in consultation with Indigenous

partners, is important; a small step down the road to reconciliation. To that

effect, I'm calling on all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to use this public

holiday to educate ourselves and get deeper acquainted with our history.

Like most of you in this House, my school curriculum

barely even mentioned Indigenous people, let alone featured their perspectives.

As a result of undergoing – of the past has completely distorted and whitewashed

our history. Without a balanced and informative account of our past, we fail to

understand the perspectives of Indigenous people in this province. Rectifying

this imbalance is a necessary precondition to embarking down the path of

reconciliation.

Thank you all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister Responsible for Indigenous

Affairs and Reconciliation.

DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Following along on the same theme, I would like to

bring to the attention of this hon. House that Monday, June 21 is National

Indigenous Peoples Day.

This is a day to acknowledge the diverse and unique

cultures and achievements of Indigenous peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador and

across Canada.

We are also called upon to take a sombre moment and

reflect on the 215 children from the Kamloops residential school who did not get

an opportunity to grow up and follow their dreams.

I would like to repeat that mantra which evokes in all

of us a responsibility to do better – that is – 'Every Child Matters.'

As we emerge from the pandemic, some Indigenous

organizations are planning in-person activities; others are staging virtual

events on Monday. These are an opportunity for all of us to learn about

Indigenous traditions and history.

Our government has resolved to strengthen relationships

with Indigenous governments and organizations. Through mutual respect, listening

and learning, we are making progress. The weekly meeting that the Premier and I

have with Indigenous leaders is one example.

As part of our efforts to learn from the past and make

amends, we continue on our journey of reconciliation. On National Indigenous

Peoples Day, we encourage everyone to find out how they can increase their

knowledge about Indigenous history, values and teachings.

As we join with Indigenous peoples throughout our vast

land, we hear and support their advocacy to make things better, and we share

their hopes for a brighter future.

Thank you, Nakkumek, Tshinashkumitan, Wela'lioq.

Happy National Indigenous Peoples Day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her

statement. As Canadians, we will stand on June 21 to recognize the cultures and

contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Metis Indigenous peoples of our great

country.

While we will celebrate as a country, we must also

reflect and mourn as a country. We must give pause and recognize both the harm

and intergenerational trauma inflicted on our Indigenous peoples by governments

in colonialization. Until true reconciliation is accomplished, June 21 will be a

day for Indigenous peoples to grieve past harms. Canada's history books are now

filling up with past harms finally documented.

Today, we will live in a Canadian society that's filled

with phrases and acronyms summarizing this dark history: intergenerational

trauma, trauma that is passed down through generations in families; MMIWG

inquiry, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and

Girls; and TRC, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which created a

historical record of the residential school system and facilitated

reconciliation among former Indigenous students, their families, their

communities and all Canadians, concluding with 94 calls to action.

Residential schools – another phrase. The school system

was created to remove Indigenous children from the influence of their own

culture and assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. I quote: To kill

the Indian in the child. Another phrase: cultural genocide. The Truth and

Reconciliation Commission labelled the residential school system as a case of

cultural genocide.

Now, as dark as this history is to Canada, it is

encouraging to see the effort towards true reconciliation. As Indigenous peoples

and their communities heal, we will begin to truly begin to celebrate National

Indigenous Peoples Day.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the minister for the advance copy

of her statement. As a proud husband of an Inuk woman and the father of Inuit

daughters, I join the minister in recognizing and celebrating of National

Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21. This story – all days really – is an

important opportunity to celebrate the cultures and stories and the lives of

Indigenous people in our province and country. It's also an opportunity to

acknowledge the harms caused to these people by colonialism and continued

systemic racism.

On behalf of the Third Party caucus, I would like to

repeat the important words: every child matters. We all have a part to play in

reconciliation and it starts with learning the history of our country, taking a

critical look at the whitewashed history we are all taught in school and

respect, education and meaningful action are true paths towards reconciliation.

On June 21, my wife, daughters and all Indigenous

people have a lot to be proud of: their culture, their heritage and their

community. On June 21, our government has a lot to acknowledge and we look

forward to working with government on actions towards truth and reconciliation.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and

Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I recently had the pleasure of joining our

dedicated and professional team of wildlife experts from the Department of

Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture while conducting a caribou population survey

of the Grey Islands, located off the Great Northern Peninsula. During this

survey work, I was given the opportunity to learn more the about the

department's caribou relocation program in this region, and the well-being of 12

caribou (three male and nine female) brought to the islands in 2019. Since the

1960s, relocation programs have been carried out on the Islands to sustainably

manage caribou populations.

During the early 1990s, the Grey Islands herd reached a

peak of 578 animals, but had fallen to single digits when surveyed in 2016. This

prompted the development of a management plan.

The re-establishment of an offshore caribou herd on the

Grey Islands is significant, as it offers a means to safeguard the long-term

existence of caribou populations in the event of a catastrophic occurrence

impacting insular Island herds. It is hoped this initiative will also provide

new hunting opportunities as the herd grows.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that during the

survey conducted a few weeks ago, 10 of the 12 caribou, nine females and one

male were identified as healthy and in great shape. The other good news is that

most of the females were spotted with calves: all but one female had a calf, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, these are excellent survival rates and

encouraging news for the success of the relocation program, and the future

growth and success of the Grey Islands herd.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the minister for an advance

copy of his statement.

Mr. Speaker, the caribou population all across the

Island and in Labrador is troublesome. It is great to see government investing

in a program that allows the province to learn more about managing and

sustaining our caribou population.

Mr. Speaker, it is great news to see excellent survival

rates for the Grey Islands caribou relocation program, but we must do more as a

government to combat illegal hunting of caribou, especially the illegal poaching

of caribou by Quebec hunters in Labrador.

With that being said, it is important for government to

invest further in scientific work, including the caribou relocation program, so

that in a couple of years' time we can all come together in this House to

celebrate the population growth of caribou all across our great province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

statement and congratulate him on this news.

The re-establishment of the caribou herd on Grey

Islands is much welcomed indeed, and I'm sure the minister, though, will agree

with me, there is still much more work to be done to ensure the vitality of our

official animal.

Specifically, we need to embark on further research to

ensure that herds do not fall victim to the effects of climate change. We also

desperately need enhanced protection for the Mealy Mountain and Red Wine herds,

which are in dire crisis.

That is why the Third Party is calling today for more

provincial studies on our caribou herds to contribute toward an updated action

plan for their protection. We also ask that government enhance its wildlife

staff so that plan enactment and rule enforcement are carried out effectively.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Are

there any further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We in the PC Official Opposition note today as a

momentous day for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and the workers who have been

waiting these many months to get back to work. We thank Suncor and their

partners for finding common ground and allowing our skilled trades workers

another chance to work on this project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

BRAZIL:

ask the Premier: What are the next steps needed to get work started on this

project?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly acknowledge the kind statements from the

Member opposite and the response, and, frankly, for the fulsome debate that

occurred here in the House. I think everyone recognizes that everybody wanted

what was best for the province. There were differing opinions at times and it

got heated at times. This was the right outcome for the hard-working women and

men who work in this industry and on that platform in particular, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We recognize the amount of work that takes places

behind the scenes in these difficult situations and wish to applaud department

officials and those on the other side of the House for their efforts to make

today's announcement possible.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAZIL:

There are still some hurdles left to cross, but congratulations to everyone

involved in supporting the workers and families who rely on the Terra Nova

Project.

I ask the Premier: How much of the Terra Nova refit

will be done in this province to ensure jobs for Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, the memorandum of understanding that has

been signed with Suncor as the project operator certainly emphasizes the

importance of work here in the province. We all recognize, as does the union for

that matter, that not all the work can be done here in the province. Certainly,

the money that we are putting in will be going towards work to be done here in

the province to support, again, the hard-working women and men who work on this

platform, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Bull Arm was home to the Hibernia and Hebron platforms,

both of which employed residents from all corners of this province and generated

prosperity for many communities. Bull Arm has the potential to be a world-class

asset and to attract oil industry players from around the globe. Our workforce

is ready to go to work at Bull Arm.

How will the Premier ensure that Bull Arm is used to

support the Terra Nova refit?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We all recognize the incredible value in Bull Arm and

the fact that it has produced some incredible projects, and hopefully, it will

continue to produce more into the future.

We recognize, as a government, the value of that asset,

the value of Bull Arm and, more importantly, the value of the women and men who

work at that site, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to invest and look at the value

of this asset in our current portfolio to ensure that it is delivering the value

to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The spruce budworm is once again showing up in our

province, flying in on the wind from Quebec, according to CBC.

When insecticide is being used in other parts of the

province, it is not being employed in Gros Morne National Park.

I ask the minister: Why is Gros Morne not being

protected from the spruce budworm outbreak?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

A great question to ask in this House. A decision

that's been made by the representatives of Gros Morne park that's not really

understood or agreed to by us. The Gros Morne park will now be a breeding ground

for this infestation. We're going to spray all around it; we're going to do our

part, but we have no control over what happens in Gros Morne park.

If anyone who has any authority or has any contact

would like to reach out and express their concern to the officials responsible

for the park, by all means do it, because it doesn't have my support that they

don't spray for this infestation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Parks Canada may not be worried about their decision that will affect the rest

of the Island, but we are. A spruce budworm outbreak could affect our forest

industry and our tourist industry. Should our beautiful parks lose these trees

as a result?

I ask the minister: What will you do?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Again, Mr. Speaker, another great question.

I can guarantee you we're going to do everything we

possibly can do. We've actually enhanced our spraying program this summer. We

have a dedicated team and staff members that track the way the spruce budworm

actually gets into the province. It's up in the clouds believe it out not; it

drifts here and gets down. The West Coast is always where it lands first –

understandably so – once it crosses the Strait.

We are doing our part, Mr. Speaker. We are monitoring

this and we are going to spray for this. This happened years ago and we're

prepared to handle it again now.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Central Newfoundland has been known as the fibre basket, yet local contractors

are being denied extra allowable cuts.

Can the minister explain why this is happening?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Absolutely untrue, Mr. Speaker – absolutely untrue.

I challenge the Member to show me someone's permit who

got less wood this year. By all accounts – and from what I've been understanding

– people have an increase in their cut this year. So if the Member has someone

that has less than what they had last year, please bring it forward to me.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Mr. Speaker, with the unlocking of 280,000 cubic metres of Abitibi permits, can

the minister explain what happened to the extra timber allocations?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and another great question.

As the hon. Member would know, we have a forestry

management plan in this province in which we plan to stick to. We're reviewing

that. It's a working document; it's not something that dust lies on. I assure

you, Mr. Speaker, we have a competent crew who will tell us what out allocations

should be and where we're going.

Actually, right now, we have taken a senior forester to

work with our five major producers in this province to look at the

sustainability and viability for those organizations and their wood allotments

for years to come. We are doing our part, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Mr. Speaker, in the recent election the Liberal candidate announced that the

24-hour emergency room service in Botwood would reopen.

I ask the minister: Does he intend to reopen the

24-hour emergency room in Botwood, or did the Liberal candidate mislead the

people in the Exploits District?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The undertaking was, and always has been, that once the

staffing was completed for the new wing, the new $20-million 19-bed PCU in

Botwood, we would be in a position to assess the need and assess the staffing.

The unit has been handed over, the keys. Construction is finished and I

congratulate the contractors for the quality of their work.

We will be staffing up and we will be moving patients

in over the coming week and months, Mr. Speaker. By then, we will have the data

and the information we need to make any decisions.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Mr.

Speaker, the $6.1-million project is complete, yes.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

FORSEY:

Mr.

Speaker, the promise was not $20 million, as the minister says; the promise was

– in three promises – that the 24-hour emergency services would reopen, not to

match needs to services.

Can the minister tell us when the reopening of the

24-hour emergency services will be?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Health and Community Services.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The Member opposite has it wrong, unfortunately. If he

were to go back and retrace the comments made by myself and the premiers of the

day, he will find it is as I have stated: That when the unit is staffed and

fully occupied, there would be an assessment of the need for 24-hour emergency

services and the staffing available to provide that, and a decision would be

taken at that time. I have said that and I stand by it, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A briefing note prepared in February reveals an

increase in breeding between farmed salmon on the South Coast of Newfoundland

and wild salmon. The briefing note cites Dr. Ian Bradbury, a DFO scientist,

whose research suggests the increase is due to escaped farmed salmon.

I ask the minister: When did you become aware of this

situation?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Mr.

Speaker, I'm not sure what the situation would be that the Member is talking

about. I am aware of a briefing note, but that doesn't substantially mean or

actually mean that there is actual proof of this. There is speculation. People –

as you know and I know – would make the accusation that this happens, but right

now, I don't have any concrete evidence that actually exists.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

The

briefing note suggested, Mr. Speaker, that there was a significant amount of

European DNA found in our fish, in our wild stock, on the South Coast. That was

in the briefing note.

The research suggests there's a chance that some

operators in the aquaculture industry may have brought European fish into the

province without regulatory approval, which could result in licence

cancellation.

I ask the minister: Has this been investigated?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I assure the Member opposite we have some of the most

stringent regulations in this country when it comes to aquaculture and the

aquaculture industry. What the Member is referring to may have happened 20 years

ago. It's not happening today. We have regulatory means to ensure every fish

that comes in this province meets the standard that it should to get here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

Mr.

Speaker, we on this side of the House are very proud of the aquaculture

industry.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PARDY:

want it to be world class, which means the world-class regulations that protect

residents, environment and the industry.

What actions have the department taken to prevent

salmon escapes and protect the environment?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Great question, Mr. Speaker.

In the offshore – because we did, as the Member may

allude to, have an escape in an inshore pen in a landlocked pond earlier this

week. It's registered on the site. There was approximately, I think, 8,000 fish

escaped in a pond. DFO is dealing with that. It's being recaptured.

In our saltwater pens, we have increased the depth of

the pens. We have increased the structure of the pens and the integrity of the

pens. Mr. Speaker, we have gone above and beyond what most other parts of the

world are doing.

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow morning I'm actually meeting with

all the Atlantic premiers – not premiers; I'm sorry, fisheries ministers – who

are going to talk about aquaculture and the

Aquaculture Act . We are on top of this. We are leaders when it comes

to Atlantic Canada; we are the leaders in this industry.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

Just to share the briefing note of the sampling data that the minister's

department had received: 17 per cent of North American farmed salmon had

significant DNA attributable to interbreeding with European salmon with some

samples showing between 20 to 40 per cent European ancestry.

Recently, Mr. Speaker, we have seen instances of

alleged animal cruelty and abuse towards household pets. The last time changes

to animal protection laws were made was almost 10 years.

I ask the minister: Is his department reviewing the

Animal Health and Protection Act to

ensure it is effective and up to date?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Well, Mr. Speaker if the hon. Member had listened to an interview I did some

time ago on CBC Radio, he would know I am an animal lover. I have people that

are very competent. We are reviewing that act as we speak. We're bringing that

up to date.

I do not condone anyone who abuses a family pet in any

way or any animal in any way. We will make sure that legislation is in place to

protect the animals, and of our pets, in the future.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

are animal lovers on this side of the House as well, Mr. Speaker.

Animal welfare advocates in our province have called

for restrictions on how long an animal may be tethered or tied up outdoors.

I ask the minister: Will his department review

regulations to ensure that they are effective and, again, up to date?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

think the question pretty well answers itself: Of course we will, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BRAGG:

will take it all: cages, pens and the length of time an animal is barred in

anyway, we're going to review everything, Mr. Speaker. We're going to make sure

that the integrity and the safety and the well-being of anybody's pet is well

looked after.

If not, Mr. Speaker, I will be one of the volunteers to

remove a pet from somebody if they were abusing it. That's my past history.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk about

that today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last year, the budget for fire equipment including fire

trucks was $3 million. This year, the line item is $2.7 million. In Estimates,

the department could not tell us how many trucks will be purchased with

agreements from municipalities.

I ask the minister: How many trucks will be purchased

for this year?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question.

Just to correct the numbers. Last year, the base budget

was $1.88 million. It's $1.88 million again this year. There was a one-time

increase in that budget last year of $1.12 million, and there's an additional

increased one-time payment this year of almost another million dollars. The base

number has not changed over the last several years.

Any decision on fire trucks, obviously – the budget was

approved here yesterday and we will be making those in the near future.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We also learned in Estimates that there were 62 fire

truck applications from municipalities, valued at $18 million that came in last

year.

How many of these 62 municipalities will be left

without new equipment that they desperately require?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

He's correct. There are lots of applications. When we

do make the decisions on where the fire trucks and equipment will go, Mr.

Speaker, we will take into account all kinds of things, such as service level

that's goings to be provided, training levels, water supplies in certain area,

regional service delivery, existing fleets, vehicles in the fleet, distance to

mutual aid support, isolation factor and risk in municipalities. We will take

all of those into consideration when we make those decisions and make sure

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have the fire protection that they need.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are many rural communities in our province

operating with vehicles which are over 20 years old and they need to be

replaced. To quote one departmental official: There is a great need, no doubt,

all across our province.

I ask the minister: Will you publicly release the

analysis and the rankings which support the awarding of fire trucks and

equipment from this year's budget?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank you for the question.

I can only assume that any municipality or town that is

making an application has a need for these fire trucks and equipment. So

everybody does have those needs. But like I said, there are all kinds of various

factors that go into those assessments, and we'll consider all those factors

when we make our decision.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, according to a recent meeting with senior

RCMP officials, RCMP are facing over a $14 million shortfall in the province.

This will have a direct impact on detachments, staffing levels and response

times.

What can the minister tell this House about how the

cuts will impact police services?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

We passed the budget yesterday and there were no cuts

to the budget for the RCMP.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

HOGAN:

can advise the Member opposite and Members of this House that I have met with

the RCMP since I became the Minister of Justice and they ensure me that they

work within the budgets to provide the services throughout this province. They

are doing things to modernize the policing in this province, the same way that

this government is modernizing core services to provide efficient services at a

good cost for the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Mr. Speaker, there may not be any cuts, but it is our

understanding that funding spending limits by the provincial government have

been frozen for 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, over $14 million – that's a significant

amount of money. We hear daily from communities who lack police presence or must

wait hours for a response. We do also understand Trepassey and Grand Bank

detachments closed last year.

What other detachments are in jeopardy, and should

residents in areas like Bonavista and Conception Bay North be worried?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

HOGAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

Just to note again, the budget was passed yesterday and

the RCMP will make operational decisions about what detachments are necessary

for policing in this province. It's not a decision of the Department of Justice,

so I can't answer that question.

I will note that while provincial base funding has not

increased lately, the province has responded to several one-time funding

requests, as need, over the last several years. So if there are needs of the

RCMP and we can meet them, we will provide them with that additional funding, if

necessary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

DWYER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Geoffrey Fowlow has expressed his

intent to retire after his many years of service to our local communities. This

has many in the Arnold's Cove area concerned with their access to medical care.

I ask the minister: What is being done to recruit a

doctor or a nurse practitioner for the people of the Arnold's Cove area?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, for the question.

I'd like to thank Dr. Fowlow for his years of service

to the people of Arnold's Cove and the surrounding area.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

HAGGIE:

terms of recruitment of health care providers, in general, the regional health

authorities have taken up that cause. At one time a fee-for-service physician

was a solo business and when they close, they close and it was up to them to

find their replacement. That is no longer acceptable; it is no longer primary

care as we would like to see it. We will, of course, be informed going forward

by the Health Accord, but essentially there will be efforts to recruit a primary

care practitioner to suit the needs of that district.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It has been years and at least three ministers that the

Town of Grand Falls-Windsor has been advocating for the historic Grand Falls

House to be transferred to the town, yet nothing has been done.

I ask the minister: Why is this historic piece in

Central Newfoundland history being allowed to decay while we have an interested

party willing to take it over?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

To date, I can say that it is a priority of the town

and we're working with the town to resolve it.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure

for an update on the grant application for the maintenance and repair for the

road to Blue Beach.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know the Member has been in contact with my staff on

this. There is a condition around that, and once that condition is met I'll be

looking at that very favourably for those hard-working fishermen that use that

road to obtain their employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

PARROTT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Black Brook Bridge is located near Deep Bight on the

Trans-Canada and it's in serious disrepair. Over the last several years, there

have been several accidents, several near misses and, unfortunately, a fatality.

Local first responders all attribute this to the condition of the bridge, a

bridge – I'll add – that is on our Trans-Canada.

When will the minister commit to having this bridge

fixed correctly?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the question.

I don't have the specifics on that. I've reviewed, I

guess, roadwork, bridges and culverts, I work closely with the staff and I get

the engineering reports. When it comes to bridges I recognize that there are

many bridges in this province. I don't have the up-to-date details on that, but

I will get it for the Member, no problem.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The restoration of the Colonial Building has cost well

over $20 million. At Estimates, the Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation

Minister referred to Transportation and Infrastructure for an update on the

project. Unfortunately, during the Transportation and Infrastructure Estimates

the minister was unware, despite giving out a $1.3-million contract for further

work earlier this year.

I ask the minister: What is the latest on this project?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I am happy to answer the question because I think that

it is a very important part of our history. Being the 50th General Assembly, I

think it is something that is going to be really good to see. The work at the

Colonial Building is ongoing and we anticipate work to be completed in 2022.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there has been many questions asked in the

House over the years about the five-year roads program, but we're getting some

mixed messages from the minister.

My question is: Is the five-year roads program still a

reality or are we expecting a newer version? Because right now, there appears to

be a lot of roadwork outstanding.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think I made it clear to the Member, even in

Estimates, about the five-year Roads Plan. I'm not rolling out a five-year Roads

Plan; there will be a plan coming out in 2022 that will clearly define a

multi-year Roads Plan.

Right now, there is a lot of work being done. At the

end of May, there was over $100 million worth of roadwork going on and many

contracts. There is many being looked at right now. There are also bids and

tenders going on. So there is lots of work going on. I have met with the Heavy

Civil Association and they're pleased with what's happening.

Overall, work is continuing and I'll continue to

monitor it. I'll tell you one thing I'll make clear to the Member: I will live

within my financial means.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I asked the minister – because this is something that

was heralded under the five-year Roads Plan – for this year is the politics out

of the paving, or are we just going back to evidence-based paving, or is this

going to be done by the choice of the minister and his officials?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I've been in the department since the middle of April

and taking a very close look at ranking systems and roads and whatever. I will

say to the Member: Whatever I say or do, you're going to accuse me of playing

politics. You ask me who played politics. Ask your leader who played politics

when he was on Bennett's Road stood in front of a pothole, up with a vehicle

with his picture on it; that's playing politics with potholes.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, last night CBC's

Here and Now reported on an egregious example of poaching on a river

on the West Coast of the Island. One poacher pleaded guilty and was fined $2,200

and prohibited from owning a salmon licence for two years; the other had charges

dismissed.

John McCarthy of SPAWN believes that illegal netting

and poaching has the biggest negative effect on our rivers and is larger than

the numbers caught by retention and catch-and-release anglers combined.

I ask the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and

Agriculture: What extra enforcement measures and resources will he deploy to

help stamp out poaching, which threatens our wild Atlantic salmon population and

takes away from the honest angler?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

BRAGG:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

A great question. Given the season, angling is open for

salmon. People are on the rivers. The best resources we have are the anglers

themselves. The more that these people can report any illegal activity that can

be seen, it is better to protect our resource. We are actively, at all times,

recruiting for our members of our enforcement division. We cover the province.

Obviously, we can't be everywhere.

I cannot speak on the DFO charges because that is DFO.

Nor do I condone anybody who does any illegal activity on our rivers, with our

wildlife, anything in this province. We are committed to catch them where we

can. We have a poachers' number, a 1-800 number that you call and report

poachers. You can do it online. You can do it anonymously, Mr. Speaker.

I encourage everybody do their part –

SPEAKER:

Your time is expired.

BRAGG:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

didn't catch a breath, Mr. Speaker –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

DINN:

or a salmon.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

DINN:

Mr.

Speaker, 1-800 numbers are fine, but we still need the resources there to stamp

out this practice.

Mr. Speaker, with the FPSO announcement yesterday,

workers and the communities who depend on them heaved a collective sigh of

relief.

Meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, in Nova Scotia, companies such

as CarbonCure Technologies are using carbon capture technology to manufacture

stronger concrete, reduce its carbon footprint and create jobs. In fact, the

company recently won a $7.5-million US prize for its work in tackling climate

change.

I ask the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology:

What more can his department, government, do to attract innovative companies

like CarbonCure to set up shop in Newfoundland and Labrador and help transition

us to a green economy?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PARSONS:

Thank you.

I want to thank the Member for what I think is a really

good question.

I'll begin by saying that I think last night was a sigh

of relief for a lot of workers in this province, a lot people, a lot of

families. I think we all feel the same that it's a step in the right direction

for these people and for our province.

But as it relates to moving forward, what I can tell

you is that we are absolutely interested in working with companies, both in

province and out of province, as it relates to carbon capture, as it relates to

green tech, as it relates to innovation.

We've got a number of different angles including an

Investment Attraction Fund, as well as the Venture Newfoundland and Labrador II

fund that will hopefully be coming in the near future, where we're able to have

an independent board that invests in innovative companies that are doing a wide

array of work. That's one thing that we've certainly being doing, encouraged by

the Premier, is trying to bring new tech here, investing in green energy,

including in our current industries such as mining and the offshore.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The entire Terra Nova deal is still conditional, and

the FPSO still has to sail to Spain for a lengthy rebuild.

I ask the Premier: Why isn't the government demanding

that work that can be done will be done in this province?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the question from the Member opposite.

It gives us an opportunity to speak about the last 24

hours and how important it's been for this province. And the fact that this

province took a stand, this government took a stand and we stood by that and we

got the best deal possible.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PARSONS:

But the Member is right. The reality is there is still work left to do and the

asset life extension has to happen. What I can tell the Member opposite – what's

very important – we've always been concerned with scope of work and work. Every

single dollar that we have committed to the partnership group will be spent on

Newfoundland and Labrador workers and on work happening in Newfoundland and

Labrador, and not a dollar of our money will be going outside of this province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West for a quick question, no

preamble, please.

BROWN:

Mr. Speaker, the Terra Nova partnership, they have taken our money, our offer;

they are wealthy oil companies.

I ask the Premier: At any point of the discussion did

we impose that all work that could be done will be done before a cent is

transferred?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would say that, yes, we did impose conditions on the

companies and on the partnership to ensure that certain criteria were met. One

of them is that we were absolutely not going to risk the Treasury here. We're

not going to risk the future of this province. The other thing is when it comes

to the asset life extension, no money of the $175 million will go towards that

if it is not sanctioned, if that project does not happen. That is absolutely

important and ensures the future of the field.

But the big thing I would say to the Member opposite is

that, yes, not one dollar of the money that is going from the federal fund – not

one dollar – will go to work outside of this province. It will be based on

Newfoundland and Labrador jobs. It will be based on people working in offices

here, doing coordination, doing planning, you name it. That was one of the

conditions, we stuck by it and we got it.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will on tomorrow move, in

accordance with Standing Order 11(1), that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m.

on Tuesday, June 22, 2021.

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that on tomorrow I will move the

following motion:

That notwithstanding Standing Order 63, this House

shall not proceed with Private Members' Day on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, but

shall instead meet at 2 p.m. on that day for Routine Proceedings and to conduct

government business; and

That any private Member's motion by the Official

Opposition scheduled for that day shall be deferred, and shall be debated on the

next occurring Private Members' Day.

SPEAKER:

Any

further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

The

current act respecting the health and protection of animals utilizes the chief

veterinary officer, along with staff veterinarians and/or a member of the RNC or

the RCMP. They also allow municipal enforcement officers to be trained.

It is the contention of the undersigned that since the

act was assented on June 24, 2010, far too few animals have been rescued or

assisted in a timely manner, due to the overwhelming demands on those parties

listed above for which the act,

section 68, lists as inspectors, and no

follow-up education initiatives exist with the enforcement efforts currently in

place.

We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to

urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to work with the provincial

SPCA to develop an appropriate and adequate system of enforcement and education

measures to assist animals in need of care. This would include inspector

training for individuals within the SPCA organization and development of a

coordinated enforcement program similar to other provinces in Canada. These

measures would elevate the welfare of animal rights and greatly enhance

appropriate and timely enforcement, while reducing the strain on organizations

such as RNC and RCMP.

When signatures were requested for this petition, Mr.

Speaker, it broke a record in the District of Bonavista, as the signatures were

coming fast and furious. I know on the one in front of me the first four names

would be: Lora Swyers, Roxanne Templeman, Jacqueline Pearce and Sherry Lee Ford.

There were hundreds of names that came forth, all appealing to make sure that

when we revisit this regulation and this legislation that we have, that we get

it right.

We changed it sometime ago and gave the mandate to the

RNC and RCMP and we know they're heavily taxed. Even without the animal welfare,

they are heavily taxed. We just said that they haven't had an increase in 10

years, while the demands on their services, conceivably and arguably, have

grown. It certainly has – that we have given the animal welfare and protection

of these domestic animals.

I would hope that the minister rightfully has opened up

the act for review. I would hope that he'll give this good consideration and

relieve the RCMP and RNC of this task and put it in some appropriate authorities

to do the job right.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture for a response.

BRAGG:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It is a great petition –

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

BRAGG:

Yeah, it's a full day's work for me today. Get my stamps, as they would say

home.

Mr. Speaker, we are actively working on that new act.

We realize where the pets are from, where they were 50 years ago, 20 years ago,

one time you could go around any community in this province and you'd see dogs

roaming. Rarely would you see a dog roaming now. People pay thousands of dollars

for these pets right now. Not saying they wouldn't abuse them.

Society has changed, Mr. Speaker. We will make sure

that our act reflects where society is today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I present a petition on climate emergency declaration,

a petition to the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We, the undersigned residents of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

EVANS:

bring attention to the House of Assembly to the following:

WHEREAS according to the document

The Way Forward on Climate Change the province is already

experiencing the effects of climate change; Newfoundland and Labrador joined the

Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and

Climate Change in 2016, but is not on track to meet its 2020 targets;

financial costs resulting from climate change will unequally impact

municipalities due to the responsibilities set out in the

Municipalities Act, 1999 .

THEREFORE our petitioners call upon the House of

Assembly to urge the government to: declare a climate emergency, establish a

task force on decreasing the effects of climate crisis while building community

resilience and consider climate in all policy and decision-making.

Mr. Speaker, I'm just going to take a couple of minutes

that I have left to speak on this petition. I remember back in the day I was

doing a research paper when I was in university. It was on the impacts of global

warming and the effects for our province. I was really surprised when I started

researching that as the Earth warmed and we have global warming, in actual fact

Newfoundland and Labrador would experience a local regional cooling.

As the glaciers melted and went into the ocean and came

south with the Labrador Current, in actual fact our waters would cool. With the

Gulf Stream coming up and meeting the Labrador Current, we would actually have

more rain, more fog, more cool weather, unpredictable weather and a lot of

different types of storms. Right now, we experience storms every so often, but

in actual fact, this can be very detrimental to our quality of life in our

province and also to our economy.

The importance of petitions like this is to make sure

that we're doing all we can to stop, slow and reverse global warming. If not,

Newfoundland and Labrador will be greatly impacted, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Environment and Climate Change for a response.

DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the hon. Member for Torngat Mountains for

bringing forward the petition again. I think it's really important that we all

talk about climate change and its effects everywhere we can, as often as we can,

and as much as we can for as long as we can.

In that vein, I'm going to try to continue to fill my

time with some of the interesting things that we are doing. I know there are

significantly more things we will be doing. Stay tuned over the next coming

years. You're going to see federal investment increase as well as provincial

investment co-operatively increased to try to address some of these concerns.

Not only is it we have to for our well-being, but we should be doing it anyway

for the people of our province and for the future generations.

We've taken action on some 43 of the 45 items that were

in our Climate Change Action Plan. I'd like to thank the staff in the department

for working so hard on that. Those will see reductions in greenhouse gas

emissions, stimulate clean innovation and growth and rebuild resiliency in the

municipalities, which is one of the concerns that were highlighted in the

petition.

We have committed to the net-zero emissions by 2050,

which is a federal government initiative. We're going to talk about some

initiatives later on this afternoon, I hope, with respect to carbon taxation.

We've also announced six programs just this past month that are dealing with

fuel switching. By 2030, those efficiencies and those changes are going to

deliver some 830,000 tons of reductions in greenhouse gases.

We've done things, little things, within the Government

of Newfoundland –

SPEAKER:

The

minister's time has expired.

DAVIS:

Perfect. Thank you.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm presenting a petition here. We, the undersigned

residents of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, bring attention of the

House of Assembly to the following:

WHEREAS according to the document The Way Forward on

Climate Change the province has already experienced the effects of climate

change; NL joined the Pan-Canadian

Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change in 2016, but it's not on track

to meet its 2020 targets; financial costs resulted from climate change will

unequally impact municipalities due to responsibilities set out in the

Municipalities Act, 1999 .

THEREFORE your petitioners call upon the House of

Assembly to urge the government to: declare a climate emergency; establish a

task force on decreasing the effects of climate crisis while building community

resilience; and consider climate in all policy and decision-making.

Mr. Speaker, we're seeing a theme here. Of course,

there are a number of us here in the House who were approached, I guess, to

present these petitions. I'm certainly glad to do so. I'm definitely not a

denier of climate change for sure. I don't think any of us are. But, Mr.

Speaker, I think we also recognize where things are going. Obviously, we welcome

the announcement, and I want to certainly join my colleagues in congratulating

the minister for his

part in getting this deal on Terra Nova.

But I think we all realize, even oil companies

themselves realize, that there is a global move afoot to move away from fossil

fuels. I believe they've indicated that they're expecting, come the 2030s, the

next decade, they're going to see the world demand for fossil fuels start to

drop. They are starting to transition.

We have an opportunity here in Newfoundland and

Labrador with all of our resources, hydro resources and so on, opportunities for

wind energy, tidal energy and so on, we can be world leaders here. I'm glad to

see that government is starting to go down that road. I certainly encourage them

to start moving as fast as they can so that we can be leaders in this regard. We

can create a clean, green economy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I won't take too long. I just want to say thank you to

the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands. I'm going to pre-thank the Member for

Lab West who has a similar petition coming forward. I won't address both of

them, but I will say that we're going to have a great discussion, hopefully,

today on carbon tax and I'll bring a lot of the issues forward in there.

I'm not, not speaking to your petition, I will speak to

it this afternoon, just not in this forum right here.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

First of all, I thank the Minister for Environment and Climate Change for

pre-emptively doing that. I appreciate him answering all these petitions,

because it's nice to see that we're taking this very seriously here in the House

of Assembly today.

We, the undersigned residents of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador, bring the attention of the House of Assembly to the

following:

WHEREAS according to the document,

The Way Forward on Climate Change , the

province is already experiencing the effects of climate change; NL joined the

Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and

Climate Change in 2016, but is not on track to meet the 2020 targets;

financial costs resulting from climate change will unequally impact

municipalities due to the responsibilities set out in the

Municipalities Act, 1999 .

THEREFORE your petitioners call upon the House of

Assembly to urge government to: declare a climate emergency; establish a task

force on decreasing the effects of climate change while building community

resilience; and consider climate change in all policy and decision-making.

It is important. Like I said yesterday, we feel climate

change and we're feeling it twice as much as the Canadian average in Labrador.

We had significant work done by Dr. Robert Way on that, on his work that he does

with Queen's University. I've seen it even this past winter.

I enjoy winter. Winter is the thing I look forward to

the most all year-round. That's being a Labradorian, I guess. We didn't have

proper ice conditions even on the interior of Labrador. We had little snow. We

had rain. We actually had a lot of rain. We never have rain in the wintertime on

the Labrador interior. We had rain on Christmas Day – actually, torrential rain

on Christmas Day. This is not normal. This is not what historic climate models

show.

We are experiencing it and it's causing so much

disruption and everything in our communities. I can only imagine people who live

on the coasts of this province and how much damage and stuff is being done by

storm surges and done by the changes in climate. We need to take action, not

only just with this but above and beyond.

It's encouraging remarks to hear the Minister of

Industry, Energy and Technology talk about they're looking at investments and

stuff in companies that are doing work to reduce our carbon outputs and stuff.

It can't come fast enough. If there's any possible way we can speed this up,

move this along faster and get to the point of addressing these issues, let's do

it. Let's band together, work together to address these serious concerns in our

population.

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call Order 9, second reading of Bill 19.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Minister Responsible for Women

and Gender Equality, that Bill 19,

An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act,

2009 No. 2, be read a second time.

Motion, second

reading of a bill, “

An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009 No. 2.”

(Bill 19)

SPEAKER:

is moved and seconded that Bill 19, entitled,

An Act To Amend The Vital

Statistics Act, 2009 No. 2, do now be read a second time.

The hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service

NL.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am very excited to bring this bill to the House

today. For those of you who don't know, part of Digital Government and Service

NL is Vital Statistics. Some people joke that it covers everyone from when

they're born to when they pass away. We are responsible for birth certificates,

death certificates and marriage certificates. We make records and do

certificates for still births and adoptions. We keep track of all the name

changes. We also administer the regulations around clergy and civil authorities

and how they perform marriage ceremonies. It is a very important part of our

province and our provincial government and a very important part of our

administrative record-keeping as a province, Mr. Speaker.

In 2017, our department put forward changes to allow an

individual, born in Newfoundland and Labrador, to have their birth certificate

recorded as a non-binary status, which was a huge win, Mr. Speaker, for our

province and for people in our province impacted by having their gender or their

sex when they're born listed on their birth certificate.

Mr. Speaker, no one should have to worry about being

judged because of their gender identification.

HON. MEMBER:

Hear, hear!

STOODLEY:

Thank you.

Since I have been minister of this department, many

individuals have reached out to me and they have been very concerned because not

everyone, up until this point, has been able to change their sex designation on

their government documents. We have a gap at the moment which we are attempting

to fill, Mr. Speaker.

If you are born in Newfoundland and Labrador or if your

birth is registered in Newfoundland and Labrador you can apply today to have

your sex designation changed on your Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

documents. If you are born in another Canadian province, you can apply to that

province to have your documents changed. If you are born in another country but

you have received permanent resident status with the federal government in

Canada, you can apply through that process to have your sex designation changed.

There is a significant gap, Mr. Speaker, in those who

are not born in Canada, who have not achieved permanent resident status, who

currently are unable to change their sex designation on their Canadian and

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador documents. That is the gap we are

attempting to close here today, which I look forward to explaining to the House.

The change we are proposing allows new and temporary

residents – and indeed anyone whose birth is not registered in Newfoundland and

Labrador – to change their sex designation via a certificate of change and this

change would apply to Government of Newfoundland and Labrador documents and

would allow the individual to use that change certificate to update records in

other jurisdictions if they so chose, Mr. Speaker.

This is a significant win for the people who have

reached out to me since I have been in this role and I am very pleased that

we're able to bring forward a change to the legislation to help those

individuals.

The certificate of change is available, as I mentioned,

to anyone whose birth is not registered in Newfoundland and Labrador but they're

living in Newfoundland and Labrador for three months. That's the criterion that

aligns with other jurisdictions. Once they're here for three months, they can

then apply for that certificate of change.

We have a specific process we're proposing for those

who are under 16 years of age. They can still make this application. There is a

few other documentation that's required that's listed in the act – which I'd be

happy to answer questions on in greater detail in Committee stage, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to thank and welcome my friend and advocate

Gemma Hickey who couldn't be here in the Chamber with us today but they are in

the caucus room. Gemma filed a Supreme Court application in June 2017 that

challenged the Vital Statistics Act under the

Canadian Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Mr. Speaker, Gemma has been a significant advocate for

change in this province. I thank Gemma for all of their efforts.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

STOODLEY:

I'd

also like to thank the numerous individuals who've reached out to me, who've

been advocating for this change. I hope that this provides some relief and

remedy to the challenges that they've been facing.

I look forward to hearing my fellow Members' comments

on this very important issue. I thank the Chamber and the House Leader for

bringing this legislation forward today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I'd like to say it's an honour again to

speak in the House. To represent the scenic District of Ferryland, it's

certainly a pleasure.

To start off, I'd like to thank your staff for the

briefing this morning. It was greatly done and thank you very much. Also at this

time, I'd like to say that we're going to be support of this for sure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

O'DRISCOLL:

Currently a person's whose birth certificate is not registered in the province

cannot change their sex designation in this province; a person born in another

province can apply in their home province; and a person with permanent residency

status can apply to change their designation through the federal government. But

there is no way for an international student or an international worker to

change their designation.

This legislation will allow residents of the province

who have been here for at least three months to apply for this change to the

designation of sex. Our legislation will mirror Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and

PEI. It's a great initiative. I don't have many other points. When we get to

Committee, we'll probably have a couple of questions.

It will cost an individual $25 for the certificate of

change, the document. If the person was born in another province, it can also be

sent to this province to update the person's records.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for the Office of Women and Gender Equality.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly am very proud and happy to speak to this

bill. Bill 19, for those of us watching at home,

An Act to Amend the Vital

Statistics Act, 2009 No. 2. Responsible departments, of course. I commend my

colleague, the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

I also commend all advocates, Mr. Speaker, of course,

for doing their part and making their voices heard. It's great to see when these

important initiatives come to the floor of our proud Legislature here in

Newfoundland and Labrador. Of course, I'm very supportive of the bill and I look

forward to all Members hopefully supporting this bill.

As Minister Responsible for the Office of Women and

Gender Equality I'm very pleased to stand here and support this bill: Bill 19,

An Act to Amend the Vital Statistics Act, 2009 No. 2.

Bill 19 seeks to amend the

Vital Statistics Act, 2009 to allow residents of Newfoundland and

Labrador whose births are not registered in this province but who have been

residing in the province for at least three months to change their sex

designation.

As we saw with the important changes made in 2016 to

allow for individuals of the province to apply for a change in sex designation

as long as their birth is registered in Newfoundland and Labrador without a

requirement of surgery, it's important that we understand the same need to

change one's sex designation should not be limited to only those who were born

in our beautiful province.

Our government is one that looks at the intersectional

needs of our diversifying province and will adjust barriers in legislation

accordingly, Mr. Speaker. Many trans persons consider the sex they were assigned

at birth to be inaccurate and it is important that they are able to live their

life with the appropriate documentation.

For some, this change may mean a life with a greater

degree of safety and freedom from discrimination by holding identification

documents that match the gender in which one identifies. Trans persons face

widespread discrimination and high rates of violence. Having an accurate gender

specified on one's identification documents eliminates one of these few

mechanisms one may have to protect themselves from transphobia.

The legislative change is only one small step to

further equity for gender-diverse individuals in our province. As Minister

Responsible for the Office of Women and Gender Equality, I will continue to

collaborate with the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community to ensure Newfoundland and Labrador

is a safe, accessible and inclusive place for people of all gender identities

and sexual orientations. Particularly as we mark Pride Month, our government is

doing the necessary work to move us toward a more equal society.

Mr. Speaker, I think it's wonderful to see this

progressive legislation. I want to commend our Premier, who is very progressive

and very supportive. Again, just with the name change and the title for the

Office of Women and Gender Equality, it certainly is a formal commitment to

that. On that note, I also want to say how proud I am of our prime minister to

take these leads as well across our great country.

I won't belabour this debate because it's a happy day,

it's great legislation and I'm proud to be in the Chamber for moments like

these, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to the vote on this one.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It is a very important topic and it couldn't have come

in a better month with Pride Month being here, and I thank Gemma as well for all

of their efforts put forth up to today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

TIBBS:

It's a great piece of legislation to the government there. I commend the

minister as well and echo the words of the last speaker.

What we're talking about here, Mr. Speaker, is

inclusion. We've come a long, long way and there's still a long ways to go, but

right now we are moving in the right step of inclusion. That's what it's about,

making everybody feel comfortable, making everybody feel like themselves and not

be afraid to be themselves. Through that we have different identity processes,

like your driver's licence, your identity cards, this is what we're talking

about today with Bill 19. We need to ensure that these people have control over

their own lives and what they wish to be and not live in fear and, once again,

to be included.

The changing of the times, it is happening, a lot of

people don't understand and I think that's where a lot of the gap comes in as

well. We need to bridge gap to the people who do not understand what certain

people may be talking about or what certain people may be feeling. I think it's

incumbent on us to educate the people that want to be educated about where these

people are coming from and how the times are changing. I couldn't be happier

about it. I know we're putting a lot of work into it and so we should. Not one

person should ever feel uncomfortable or left behind and that's what we're after

here today, so I'm happy to be a part of it.

To stay relevant to the bill, Mr. Speaker, Immigration,

Population Growth and Skills is my portfolio and in order to do that we need to

attract people here. What better way to do it by going on board with the rest of

the Atlantic provinces here and letting people know that this can happen in

Newfoundland and Labrador, we are inclusive and this is the place to go. I mean,

Canada is the greatest country on the planet when it comes to inclusion. Again,

there's lots of work to go, but do you know what, I am so proud of my country,

I'm very proud of my province, the people of my province and what they've done

so far.

If we're looking to grow the population, if we're

looking for immigration to be successful here, we need to ensure a safe place

for people to go to where they're going to feel comfortable. I think this is

definitely a step in the right direction. I know we all here in the Opposition,

in the PC Party, definitely support this bill. Again, we're looking forward to

doing much more work down the road.

When I talk about educating people, those people out

there, there are a lot of people that just don't get it. You don't want to

insult anybody, by no means, but start changing with the times, because we're

changing in the right direction and do you know what? There's lots of room on

the wagon here. It's the way we're going; it's the way we're headed and it is

the right way to go.

Gemma, once again, is a great person to talk to. If

anybody would like to talk to Gemma, I'm sure they can and get informed a little

bit more. There are lots of other people around the province the same way.

I'm not going to take too much time, Mr. Speaker. I

just want to say that there are a lot of dark places in this world, a lot of

dark places where people are intolerant, where people are hateful. Not here in

Canada. In Newfoundland and Labrador, we need to ensure that we are open for

people to feel themselves and be who they want to be.

Do you know what? It might not seem like a big deal to

somebody sat at home, because they haven't gone through the struggles that a lot

of these great people, fine people go through, but just trust me, it's a step in

the right direction. To have something as what they may feel as though is as

simple as a change on an identity card could mean the absolute world to somebody

who's transgender. It's a step in the right direction.

We support the bill. I want everybody out there who may

be watching across Canada, across the world: We are the light here in

Newfoundland and Labrador for any transgender people and we will continue to be

so. I'm happy to support the bill, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to the other

speakers.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's actually a great privilege to speak to this bill.

This is a very, very important piece of legislation. It may seem like a small

change but this is a giant leap forward for our province. Following the other

amendments we've made in the past about sexual designation and stuff on Vital

Statistics documents, this is a huge step forward for people of this province.

We should be very proud of ourselves for doing this, because this is very

important. And of all months to do it, too, is during Pride Month.

I'll echo my colleague from Grand Falls there, his

statements. We are very lucky to be where we live. I grew up in a community that

in the '90s became a very inclusive community. We all have to go back to talk

about the documentary that was done, The

Death of Ray Condon . He's originally from Ferryland, but he came to Lab West

and opened our world to inclusion. We were very blessed to have him as a teacher

in Labrador West in the '90s.

Inclusion is important, and even having that simple

thing of having your correct gender identification on your driver's licence

makes a world of difference. That is inclusion; that is true inclusion to know

that even your vital statistics match how you feel, who you are as a person.

Obviously, I am supporting this, my colleague is

supporting this. This is very, very important. We should continue to find things

like this to make sure that these people don't feel excluded from our community

and don't feel excluded even by our own government. We are supposed to represent

the people. This is representing every single person by doing things like this.

Just because you weren't born here doesn't mean you

should be excluded by how you feel as a person. When you show that driver's

licence it will show who you are and how you feel. This is beyond important in

our society.

Do you know what? Any person like that, any other thing

– someone from the general population or anything like that who wants to talk

about or has an issue or something like that or finds a roadblock like this,

they should let us know. They should let us know that there is something out

there that has blocked them from feeling who they are or has blocked them from

stuff like this. Taking steps like this is important.

At the time when we did the original inclusion for

residents of the province, this seems more like a stumbling block or something

that was missed. Now, we're bringing it back, we're saying, oh, we'll fix this.

We're going to bring this back and fix the inclusion in there and make sure that

any person in this community – and after everything that happened, especially in

Mount Pearl and Paradise where we saw clear acts of exclusion, it came back

twice as much. You just look at everything that the community has done. We came

back twice as much to show people that they are a part of this province. We love

them for who they are. We're including them for who they are, and that should

never change.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I thank you and, absolutely,

this has 100 per cent of our support.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to briefly talk a little bit on this bill

as well. I don't have a lot of notes. But I just wanted to speak to the

importance of inclusion because we talk a lot about inclusive communities, we

talk a lot about tolerance, we talk a lot about equality and we talk a lot about

legal rights, but one of the things that comes up often when we're talking about

transgender persons is there's a gap there. There's a lack of understanding. A

lot of people say they can't get their heads around somebody who's transgender.

It's important to talk about that, because, for

example, myself now, I had a real good friend while I was growing up. We were in

different communities but we hung out a lot. We both identified as gay or

lesbian or whatever else anyone called us in the community. The words changed,

the labels change, the host ile , negative labels also changed. What was very

important for me was I didn't know she was transgender – see, even me, I'm

supposed to be a member of the community, I'm supposed to have a good

understand, I'm supposed to know all the right words to say, I'm supposed to

educate everybody on my friend, but I did not know she was transgender. So

growing up it was a struggle, it was a struggle for all of us. I can't imagine

the struggle he had.

Like the Member from Ferryland, I would never refer to

the Member, a man, as she. If I did, he would think I was teasing him or I was

making fun of him or I was harassing him. With my friend, he grew up being

called she. The struggles that they must have had were difficult.

A few years ago, when we were both working at Voisey's,

he actually started to transition, and I didn't know about it. I have to tell

you, I didn't know, I was shocked. I was shocked that he was transgender because

I always thought of him as a female.

It is important for us when we talk about inclusion –

do you know what I tell myself, and I say this to anyone that asks me about it:

I don't need to understand but I have to accept and I have to treat as equal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

EVANS:

you can do that, that will be the greatest thing you can ever do for inclusion.

That is so important.

I want to talk about the courage that my friend must

have had to do that, to start a transition at a workplace – at a mine. We

started to find out about it when all of a sudden there was a new locker room

with a locker in there. He had to go from using the female lockers to another

locker until he transitioned. It is so important for us to understand that.

It's another thing to accept, but what everybody here,

all 40 of us have to get our heads around, we as hon. Members, we bring forward

legislation, is that transgender people are usually silent because they are

afraid for their lives. Transgender people, even in 2021, are not safe because

even though many of us now accept, include, support and encourage them to be

free, there are people out there that will harm them. That is very, very scary.

In 2021 in Canada, a person can feel that they're threatened, that their life is

in danger. That is a fact.

Even what people think of as small incidents, like the

stealing of pride flags from schoolyards and burning pride flags, for us in the

community there is that underlying fear of not being safe, having bodily harm or

that we could actually die. That still exists in 2021.

We have to make sure that it's not tolerated and it's

not accepted. We need to make sure there are things there for people to feel

safe. Including it in our legislation so that somebody could have their proper

gender on their driver's licence – with me, I open up my driver's licence and

one thing I'm really proud of is I have a motorcycle classification. I love

looking at that.

I used to drive a lot – no, I can't say that because I

don't know if I'll get in trouble. Sometimes people drive without the right

qualifications, not that I would ever do that. It's important for your identity

to have your identity recognized by the government as correct.

I'm going to end there, Mr. Speaker. I just want to

thank everybody who made this possible, who brought it forward and for people

supporting it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll say from the onset that I will certainly be

supporting the bill as well. I thank the minister for bringing it forward.

Mr. Speaker, as has been said, this is really all about

inclusion. For me, it's about an inclusive society and treating everybody in our

communities and in our province with equality. I think that's a laudable goal

and I think it's something that we should be striving for in everything we do.

It's a struggle and it's going to be up to people like ourselves, community

leaders and municipal leaders, to be continuing to drive that message home of

equality and inclusion.

It's going to be, I think, important that equality and

inclusion is something that's taught in our schools at a very young age. As time

goes by, I think we're going to see more and more of it, particularly with the

younger generations, if they're taught right in the very beginning. I know for

myself growing up – and I'm not alone, because there are a lot of people in this

House of Assembly who are probably my vintage or thereabouts. A lot of you are a

lot older than me, but a lot of you are within my vintage, I would suggest. When

you talk about inclusion and acceptance, when you talk about those things, there

are a lot of good people here in this province, a lot of good-hearted people. I

believe most people are.

But the reality of it is that there is also – and let's

not kid ourselves – homophobia in our province. There's racism in our province.

There's Islamophobia in our province. We all know that. It does exist. A lot of

it, I think, is born of ignorance. I think there are a lot of people that are

probably homophobic and, perhaps, racist in some ways. Not necessarily in a

cruel and a hard-hearted way, it's just that they don't know any different

because of some of the things of how people were raised and so on.

Our kids – or in my case, our grandkids – when they

start playing tag and so on, they will be going eenie, meenie, miney, mo and

they will be catching a froggy by the toe. When I was growing up, it wasn't a

froggy and I'm sure a lot of people know that. It simply wasn't. During my

generation, I'm sure there are people here who can remember watching

All in the Family . That was suppertime

TV. That was reality.

Thankfully, we've evolved and, over time, those things

have gone away and society has shifted; we see a lot more moves towards total

inclusivity. Whether that be current members of the LGBTQ2S community – and I

apologize if I got that wrong because I think it might have changed a little

since then, but that's what I'll refer to it as. Whether it be that, whether it

be inclusion in terms of persons with disabilities, I know we've made a lot of

strides there. I have a person in my district, Craig Reid, who has made

tremendous strides in terms of inclusion for persons with disabilities and

access.

Or whether it be, like I say, the LGBTQ2S community and

the strides they've made – thanks to the efforts of people like our former

colleague, Gerry Rogers, who was here with some of us and was one of my

colleagues – or whether it be Gemma Hickey. I've gotten to know Gemma over the

years as well and they've done tremendous work. They have. I can remember myself

and Steve Kent, actually, meeting Gemma down on Pitts Memorial Drive. They

walked right across the province. Myself and Steve walked from Pitts Memorial

Drive downtown to Mount Cashel, but we were there as a little part of that

journey.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

LANE:

Were you there? Okay.

He didn't walk; he was there to cheer when we arrived.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

LANE:

Oh,

he ran. But myself and Steve did walk in part of that and some others.

I know that Gemma has done tremendous work in relation

to these issues. Gemma certainly has to be commended for that, for showing that

courage and that leadership in that regard. It's important that we all respect

that work and that we all do our part, as community leaders, to continue to

endorse the idea, the concept of inclusion – total inclusion for everybody,

regardless of gender, regardless of ability, regardless of race, regardless of

colour.

We're all equal. We can all fit in. We can all live

together harmoniously. That's the task that we have as a society to evolve,

knowing, as I said, that there will be some amongst us who will not agree with

that. That's up to them, I guess. I don't have to agree with them and I don't,

but we have to continue on nonetheless.

This is a small step – well, I shouldn't say that. From

my perspective, a piece of ID and a marker is a small step for me because I

don't have to live that and I don't pretend to because I don't. When we talk

about understanding, sometimes people say: I don't understand. I believe as our

colleague from Torngat Mountains said, not understanding what it means, whether

you're transgender or whatever the case might be, and it's true, I think unless

you're that person – if you're not transgender I think it's hard for you to

truly understand.

You can try to understand, which I try to understand,

but I can't say I totally understand. For me, it's not even really about the

LGBTQ2S+ community, per se. That's what is being addressed here, but I look at

it from a bigger picture. I look at it from a picture of an inclusive society

for all, regardless of what our differences are, that we can all live together.

With that said, Mr. Speaker, I'll certainly be

supporting this. Again, I thank Gemma and others who have forged the way and

made a number of significant – I will say – improvements in our community and in

our society. This is one way that we can continue to foster this change, it's

one way we can show our support and I'm sure if there are other things that we

can do here in this House of Assembly that would promote peace, harmony,

inclusion and love for our fellow human beings, I'm sure that everybody here

would certainly do that and I certainly will.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting the bill.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Seeing no other speakers, if the minister speaks now she'll close debate.

The hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service

NL.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It has been a pleasure to bring this legislation

forward to the House today. I'd like to thank my fellow colleagues who spoke:

the Minister Responsible for Woman and Gender Equality; the MHA for Ferryland;

the MHA for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans, my hometown; the MHA for Labrador

West; the MHA for Torngat Mountains; and the MHA for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

Thank you very, very much for your kind words and your supportive words for

these proposed changes.

I'd think to thank the team at Vital Statistics who

liaise and help the people of the province with their various administrative,

certifications and documentation needs. I'm sure that they will do an amazing

job in helping, I guess, this transition. Once this receives Royal Assent, it

should be in place relatively quickly so the people of the province can work

with the registrar and team to change their certificates, assuming this vote

passes.

I would like to thank all the individuals and the

advocates who reached out to me and my department in support of this and asking

for this. Please let me know if you have any other feedback; if there is

anything else that we can do.

Thank you, Members of the House, I'm hoping for a

unanimous vote this afternoon on Bill 19 but I'll have to wait and see.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

the House ready for the question?

The motion is that Bill 19 be now read a second time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt this motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

The motion is carried.

CLERK (Barnes):

bill,

An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009 No.2. (Bill 19)

SPEAKER:

This bill has now been read a second time.

When shall the bill be referred to a Committee of the

Whole?

DEMPSTER:

Now.

On motion, a bill, “An Act To Amend The Vital

Statistics Act, 2009 No.2, “ read a second time, ordered referred to a Committee

of the Whole House presently, by leave. (Bill 19)

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance and

President of Treasury Board, that the House resolve itself in a Committee of the

Whole to consider Bill 19.

SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that I do now leave the Chair for the House to resolve

itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider the said bill.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole, the Speaker left the Chair.

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Warr):

Order, please!

We are now considering Bill 19,

An Act To Amend The

Vital Statistics Act, 2009 No. 2.

A bill, “An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009

No.2.” (Bill 19)

CLERK:

Clause 1.

CHAIR:

Shall clause 1 carry?

The Chair recognizes the hon. Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Chair, I appreciate the opportunity.

I just have a couple of quick questions. The first one:

Will all Canadian provinces recognize this certificate of change document?

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The document of change that we'll provide will be, I

guess, a legally binding document from the Government of Newfoundland and

Labrador. We believe that most provinces – we're one of the first to allow

individuals to change their sex designation to non-binary as well. We're not 100

per cent sure that each province but most provinces will accept the certificate.

Although, I guess, the first and easiest path would be for someone born in

another province to apply to their home province. That would allow them to

change their documents.

There is a process whereby all the provinces talk

together so that if someone changes their name there's a common record kept. The

existing process is in place where the registrars of all the vital statistic

divisions across the country speak and communicate and keep track of everyone.

Those same processes would exist for this. This would be a legally binding

document from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Can a person apply before they come into the province

for three months and then have the certificate of change become effective on

their three-month anniversary of being a resident or do they have to wait the

three months to apply?

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Currently, as the legislation is written – I'll just

read this first section: “A person who has reached the age of 16 years and whose

birth is not registered in the province may apply to the registrar general to

change that person's sex designation where they have been ordinarily resident in

the province for at least 3 months.”

Mr. Chair, I know that our registrar of Vital

Statistics is very accommodating and regularly works with members of the general

public on a range of unique situations related to our Vital Statistics

documentation. I'm sure that our registrar could certainly work with someone in

advance of them coming, but they do have to be a resident for three months

before the certification could be awarded.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

Any

further questions?

Shall the motion carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, clause 1 carried.

CLERK:

Clause 2.

CHAIR:

Shall clause 2 carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, clause 2 carried.

CLERK:

it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative

Session convened, as follows.

CHAIR:

Shall the enacting clause carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, enacting clause carried.

CLERK:

Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009 No. 2.

CHAIR:

Shall the title carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, title carried.

CHAIR:

Shall I report the bill without amendment?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Motion, that the Committee report having passed the

bill without amendment, carried.

CHAIR:

The

hon. Deputy Government House Leader.

DEMPSTER:

Mr.

Chair, I move that the Committee rise and report Bill 19.

CHAIR:

The

motion is that the Committee rise and report Bill 19.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye,

CHAIR:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and

ask leave to sit again, the Speaker returned to the Chair.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay, Chair

of Committees.

WARR:

Mr.

Speaker, the Committee of the Whole have considered the matters to them referred

and have directed me to report Bill 19 without amendment.

SPEAKER:

The

Chair of the Committee of the Whole reports that the Committee have considered

the matters to them referred and have directed him to report Bill 19 without

amendment.

When shall the report be received?

COADY:

Now.

SPEAKER:

Now.

When shall the bill be read a third time?

COADY:

Tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

On motion, report received and adopted. Bill ordered

read a third time on tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move that Motion 1 be now called from the Order

Paper.

SPEAKER:

The

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

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Deputy Government House Leader,

that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means to

consider a certain resolution and a bill relating to the increase in carbon tax.

SPEAKER:

The

motion is that I do now leave the Chair for the House to resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole, the Speaker left the Chair.

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Warr):

Order, please!

We are now debating the related resolution and Bill 21.

Resolution

Be it resolved

by the House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure respecting

the imposition of taxes on carbon products.”

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of

Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, the carbon tax was first initiated on

January 1, 2019, in response to a national goal to reduce greenhouse gas

emissions. This was a federal initiative, which required all provinces and

territories to implement a carbon pricing system.

Leading up to 2019 the federal government gave the

provinces a choice: to either develop their own carbon pricing system or be

subject to the federal carbon pricing system. Now, Newfoundland and Labrador –

and most other provinces – operate under a hybrid carbon pricing system

consisting of both a performance standards system, GHG emissions caps for large

industrial facilities and a carbon tax for most businesses and individuals.

Today, as part of our budget, we are looking in this bill to increase – under

compliance of the federal system, the federal carbon tax – the carbon tax to $30

a ton.

Now, Mr. Chair, allow me to say that Newfoundland and

Labrador did a tremendous amount of work. When the federal government were

imposing the system for carbon tax we wanted to make sure that we had some

exemptions under that system and to ensure that the federal backstop didn't

apply, that it wouldn't impact too much our economy.

At the time, we were able to ensure that there were tax

exemptions for some carbon product usage and I'll give you some of the examples.

There's an exemption, for example, for eligible fishing and farming activities,

for offshore petroleum exploration, for government for its own operations, for

aircraft, for fuels – and this, I think, is very important because Newfoundland

and Labrador does utilize fuel for home heating, so there was an exemption for

home heating – and for gasoline used for electricity generation. I've already

mentioned about the fishery, but I'll also say vessels and boats used by a

fisher in commercial activity, for construction equipment and for manufacturing

equipment.

We were able to put in some exemptions because we were

able to negotiate with the federal government for imposition of our own system,

Mr. Chair. I think that's very important to our economic well-being that we

maintain that system. If we don't do the increases as prescribed by the federal

government, then we'll be deemed non-compliant and the federal backstop will

apply; therefore, those exemptions would no longer be.

The cost of the increase, going now from $30 a ton to

$40 a ton, is roughly 2.21 cents per litre and 2.68 cents per litre for diesel,

which is a light fuel oil. I will say that, for example, a 50-litre fill-up will

cost approximately an extra $1.27 for gasoline and $1.54 for diesel.

Now, as I mentioned, this is a federally imposed carbon

tax. We have made some arrangements with the federal government to have some

exemptions to ensure a robust economy. Other provinces have already moved to

implement their $40 per ton for 2021; I'll name a few: Ontario, Alberta,

Manitoba and New Brunswick, for example. I will say that Nova Scotia and Quebec

have a separate system. They have a cap-and-trade system, so it's a little

different from the rest of the provinces in the country.

Mr. Chair, I don't want to confuse the two, but I want

to say the carbon tax, again, a federal tax, 2.21 cents per litre, roughly $1.27

on a 50-litre fill-up. I will say that I think we all respect the fact that

climate change is real. We've already spoken today in this House about the

effects of climate change and the importance of addressing climate change.

This province has a very robust plan to get to net zero

by 2050. We have a robust plan for ensuring good economic growth while also

ensuring we are recognizing that industry does have a tremendous impact on

climate change as well, and they are subject to their own legislation. I'm just

trying to make sure I have the right title for the legislation. I don't have it

quickly in front of me. It's a separate piece of legislation and I don't seem to

have it in front of me, but it is a separate piece of legislation to ensure that

large industrial users have their responsibilities under climate change as well.

This is our responsibility, I think, as Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians and, indeed, as Canadians, to ensure that we are focused on

climate change. This is, again, an implementation of a federal tax – a federal

requirement, I should say – an implementation of a federal requirement under the

carbon tax. It will be about 2.21 cents per litre or for a 50-litre fill-up

about $1.27, and most other jurisdictions have already done that.

I will leave it at that. I'm sure there will be other

opportunities for discourse and for review. I thank you for the opportunity to

present this today as part of the budget.

CHAIR:

Thank you.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Torngat

Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to take a little time to talk about Bill

21,

An Act to Amend the Revenue Administration Act No. 2, and better known as

the carbon tax. I'm just looking at the carbon tax now, it's mandated by the

federal government, we're going to increase it up to $40 per ton and right now

we're at $30 per ton. Of course, people are interested at looking: Well, how is

that going to impact me? Gasoline at the pumps will go up by 2.2 cents a litre,

which doesn't seem like that much, but for low-income families and small

businesses that could be significant. Also for people out there who barbecue or

who have their propane fireplaces it will go up by 1.5 cents a litre. There are

also a lot of other hydrocarbon products out there and fuels that will be

impacted, and the list is there. They don't readily come to mind when we're

discussing it in the general population.

What we have to recognize with this tax is I think the

intent of this tax is to stop global warming and what it's going to do is by

taxing they're hoping it will slow the consumption of the fuels and, basically,

the emissions. So we want to slow and we want to stop. But, for me, taxing at

the pump is not the most effective way to do this, to accomplish this and, also,

it's not the fairest. When I'm looking at any government change, I always say:

Now, who is this going to impact? Is that a fair division? Is that going to

actually impart an equal distribution of the cost or the impact?

Much can be said about the consumption of all these

products that are going to be taxed. It's out there, it's in the news, talking

about global warming, consumption and the resulting carbon production emissions.

There is a lot of evidence being put forward now about what's actually happening

in terms of global warming, the impact to our environment, the impact to our

communities, the impact to businesses, the impact to infrastructure, plants,

vegetation, food and all those things. It's important for us to act and I think

the intent of the carbon tax is to slow, stop and start reversing global

warming. That's important and I support that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

EVANS:

Thank you.

When you look at slowing, stopping and reversing global

warming, we have to look at the elimination of the sources, and the consumption

of hydrocarbons really is the source. That's really what happens: carbon is

released into the environment.

This tax is applied at the pump, so when a person goes

in and fills up their tank, they pay the tax on that tank of gas. The end-user

is paying that. The problem I have with this tax is that it doesn't matter if

the person who is filling up their tank makes $13,000 per year or $130,000 per

year; they're paying the same amount. That's really impacting low-income

families and their access to transportation. That's one of the issues I have

with a carbon tax at the pump. When we're looking at reducing consumption, we

should also make sure that we're not impacting our low-income families from

being able to actually drive and to be able to actually go distances. I come

from the District of Torngat Mountains and transportation is a huge hardship for

my district. So I know about those impacts.

Also, small businesses. The difference between a small

business and a large business, a multi-million dollar business like a national

chain and a small mom-and-pop business, on that tank of propane they're going to

pay the same amount and on the refueling of their vehicles they're paying the

same amount. That's just one of the issues that I've always had with a carbon

tax.

I'm not saying that because I don't believe in global

warming or I don't believe we should be doing things. I think that we should be

leaders in Canada and in our province. It's very, very important for us. But we

can't lose sight of how this is going to impact.

Also, another thing, when we're looking at the

low-income people in our province we need to make sure that we're supporting and

making sure they have quality of life and that we're not harming them by taxes.

When we look at that they don't have the option, most times, to go out and buy a

vehicle that uses an alternate form of fuel, like electricity, because the cars

are so expensive. Low income, living day to day and paycheque to paycheque, they

can't just go out and buy a $60,000 electric car or a $30,000 electric car

because the gas-powered vehicles are so cheap. Most low-income families actually

struggle to buy a new vehicle, so they usually buy second-hand. The problem with

them trying to buy a second-hand vehicle is there are not very many second-hand

electric cars on the road and that are well maintained and that is not going to

create a lot of problems for them. So we need to address that as well.

Another thing, too, is we also need to make sure that

the infrastructure is there. If we're going to try and discourage people from

using gas-powered vehicles we have to make sure the alternate sources are there

and also the infrastructure to support the – electric cars are basically the

only alternative right now. So that's very, very important for us.

With that being said, I do understand the need to

actually try and reduce the consumption of fuel. I do understand putting on a

carbon tax but, like I said, I just wish that we would find alternate ways to

alleviate some of the tax burden on our low-income people. Because, as far as

I'm concerned, this is not a fair tax. Just looking at the things we were

talking about, in terms of global warming, that's the whole point of the tax, to

reduce the consumption of the fuels. But I have to also bring up, to me, making

sure that our low-income families have access to transportation is near and

dear.

In my district, right now, we went through a hard

winter where we couldn't actually use snowmobiles to drive between the

communities and taking us to Goose Bay where the Trans-Labrador Highway is

located. We didn't have that option. There was a very short window because we

never had a regular winter where we had a good freeze and a lot of snowfall. The

ice was unsafe. There was very little snow so we couldn't use snowmobiles. We

had to fly. Everybody knows a return ticket from Goose Bay to Nain costs $1,000

for one person.

Everybody is waiting for the spring when the ferry

starts to operate. Transportation: low-income families, waiting, waiting to

travel. Right now, what it is, is there is a restriction on who can actually get

on the ferry that's going to my district. The ferry leaves Goose Bay, it goes

into the community of Rigolet, the community of Makkovik, the community of

Postville, the community of Hopedale, the community of Natuashish, the community

of Nain and then stops all points back.

When she leaves Goose Bay, it takes a week for her to

go up and back. During that one week, if you want to travel, you have to be on

that boat or you have to wait another week. Now, the problem is, the normal

capacity for that boat is 150 passengers that can get on. During COVID, it was

restricted down to 83 because of the transportation regulations at the federal

level.

What's happening right now is that people are calling

up and they're not allowed to travel to the N