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April 30, 2018

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 14

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER

(Trimper): Order,

please!

Admit strangers.

Before we begin today, I would like to draw Members' attention to the

following: As Speaker, I am the guardian of the privileges of the Members of

this House, and of the House itself. I remind all Members that being elected

comes with great responsibility. We all have a duty to those we represent, and

it is vital that we maintain the highest standards to ensure that our conduct

does not bring the integrity of our office or of the House of Assembly into

disrepute. Given recent events, I thought it would be appropriate to remind all

Members of our legislated responsibilities with respect to our Code of Conduct.

In his report, Rebuilding

Confidence: Report of the Review Commission on Constituency Allowances and

Related Matters , hon. Justice Derek Green stated: “There is clearly a

requirement for a code of conduct that articulates such things as: ethical

standards and appropriate patterns of behavior; unacceptable business practices

and inappropriate business relationships … and the recourse available to those

who feel uncomfortable about possible violations of the code.”

Justice Green went on to note that many of the codes adopted are

expressed in general, aspirational language. The intent of the code is to set

standards by which the behaviour of parliamentarians can be assessed and, in so

doing, provide guidance to them so they can order their affairs on the basis of

principle, not expediency or self-interest.

Section 35 of the House of Assembly

Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act requires this House have a

Code of Conduct that: (

a) provides guidance on the standards of conduct expected

of members in discharging their legislative and public duties; and (

b) provides

the openness and accountability necessary to reinforce public confidence in the

manner in which members perform their duties.”

Our Code of Conduct was developed by Members of this House – the Standing

Committee on Privileges and Elections. It was passed by a resolution of this

House on May 26, 2008. Since then, every Member of this House swore or affirmed

to uphold this Code of Conduct when we took our Oath of Office.

This code is comprised of two commitments and 12 principles that include,

under the Commitments: “ Members

of the House of Assembly recognize that we are responsible to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador and will responsibly execute our official duties in

order to promote the human, environmental and economic welfare of Newfoundland

and Labrador .

Members of this House

of Assembly respect the law and the institution of the Legislature and

acknowledge our need to maintain the public trust placed in us by performing our

Amongst the Principles of the Code of Conduct, I would remind all Members

that: They … “shall conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions and

spirit of the Standing Orders of the House of Assembly,

the House of Assembly Accountability,

Integrity and Administration Act , the

Members' Resources and Allowances Rules ,

the Elections Act,1991 , the

House of Assembly Act and this Code of

Conduct and shall ensure that their conduct does not bring the integrity of

their office or the House of Assembly into disrepute.”

It is a fundamental objective of their holding public office that Members

serve their fellow citizens with integrity in order to improve the economic and

social conditions of the people of the province.

Members reject political corruption and refuse to participate in

unethical political practices which tend to undermine the democratic traditions

of our province and its institutions.

Members will act lawfully and in a manner that will withstand the closest

public scrutiny. Neither the law nor this code is designed to be exhaustive and

there will be occasions on which Members will find it necessary to adopt more

stringent norms of conduct in order to protect the public interest and to

enhance public confidence and trust.

Members will not engage in personal conduct that exploits for private

reasons their positions or authorities or that would tend to bring discredit to

their offices.

Relationships between Members and government employees should be

professional and based upon mutual respect and should have regard to the duty of

those employees to remain politically impartial while carrying out their duties.

Members should promote and support these principles by leadership and

example.

This Code of Conduct has a continuing effect except as amended or

rescinded by resolution of this House of Assembly.

As noted in the Green report, “If a code of conduct is to be an important

element in a political system designed to foster public trust, it must be seen

to be more than merely aspirational; in short, there must be some mechanism for

achieving accountability.”

And further, “To achieve acceptability by the public, however, any code

of conduct that is adopted must be seen to be administered impartially and

independently of the political system to which it applies.”

To this end, administration of the Code of Conduct was assigned to the

Commissioner for Legislative Standards, who is an independent statutory officer

of this House and the accountability process for infractions of this code is

prescribed in legislation under sections 36 through 42 of the

House of Assembly Accountability,

Integrity and Administration Act .

I thank you for your attention.

I'd next like to welcome guests, and in the Speaker's gallery today I

would like to welcome Mr. Ches Crosbie. He is the Leader of the Progressive

Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Welcome to you, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

In the public gallery

today, I would like to welcome Ms. Shirley Boone. She's the Chairperson of the

Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group, which will be mentioned in a Member's

statement this afternoon.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER:

So today for Members'

statements we will hear from the hon. Members for the Districts of Mount Pearl

North, Lewisporte – Twillingate, Stephenville - Port au Port, Topsail –

Paradise, and Exploits.

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today

to acknowledge and thank the Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group for the

valuable service they are providing to seniors in our community.

The group celebrated its 20th

anniversary in November of 2017 and during that time have expanded their

present membership to over 500 members.

The group offers many different age-appropriate programs and activities

which appeal to both men and women including crafts, exercises, summer outings

and a friendship club. These activities offer opportunities for the members to

develop friendships and to have fun; however, by far the most popular activity

is the weekly card game which often has more than 200 people in attendance.

The seniors also support the community in many ways by donating

handcrafted items to the Janeway and by undertaking food drives and other

activities to assist community agencies and those in need, even as far away as

Haiti.

I quote their chairperson, Shirley Boone: Our seniors enjoy and

appreciate all the programs the group offers. It gives them something to look

forward to and gets them out and about.

Please join me in recognizing and thanking the Mount Pearl Seniors

Independence Group for all they do for seniors in our community.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Lewisporte -

Twillingate.

MR. D. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House to recognize Ms. Annie Peckford who recently

celebrated her 100th birthday.

Ms. Peckford was born on April 26, 1918, and lived in Comfort Cove until

she moved into the Lewisporte Health Care Centre four years ago. She has six

children, 13 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and 11

great-great-grandchildren. On her birthday, staff and family members treated

Annie to a big party to celebrate her long, healthy and happy life.

Ms. Peckford was described by her daughter, Annie, who shares her name

as: A good, hands-on, stay-at-home mom. She kept her children in line and did

the best she could with what she had.

Annie attributes her mother's longevity to healthy living and her love

for the outdoors. Annie senior loved working in her flower garden and berry

picking. She was a hard-working woman, although she was not big in stature, she

made a big mark.

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

congratulating Ms. Annie Peckford on her 100th birthday.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of

Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. FINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand today to acknowledge Mark Felix from Stephenville. At a change

of command ceremony held at the Gallipoli armories in Corner Brook on April 21,

Lt. Col. Mark Felix became the new commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion of

the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

It was an honour to join him, various dignitaries, members of the

regiment, as well as the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band as he took over the

role from outgoing commander, Lt. Col. Kevin Bond.

Mark previously spent six years as the commanding officer of the Army

Cadets in Stephenville. However, it wasn't until 2007 that he joined Canada's

Reserve Force. In 2009, he became one of the oldest candidates to successfully

complete the Infantry Platoon Commander's Course at the age of 47.

In addition to Mark's involvement with the Regiment, he volunteers his

time with the Community Education Network, serves as the town councillor in

Stephenville and works full-time as an economic development officer.

I ask all Members to join me in congratulating Lieutenant-Colonel Mark

Felix on this prestigious appointment, as well as thank outgoing

Lieutenant-Colonel Bond for his service.

Thank you to all who serve and who have served our province and our

country.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Swim for Hope is a 12-hour continuous swim relay, where

participants collect individual and corporate pledges.

On February 23, 2018, I attended the 22nd annual Swim for Hope at the

Conception Bay South recreational complex as the Conception Bay South Bluefins

took to the water for 12 hours to raise funds in support of cancer patients and

their families in the province.

Young swimmers, ages ranging from six to 18, are members of 11 Swimming

Newfoundland and Labrador clubs who, along with Community Challenge swimmers,

participate in the annual Swim for Hope in communities right around our province

and in Labrador.

The event is fun, requires athletic ability, involves young athletes

working as a team in an atmosphere of friendly rivalry against time constraints

and other competitive teams. Since its inception in 1996, over $2 million has

been raised through the Swim for Hope. And those funds are shared between the

Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation and the participating clubs of

Swimming Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in congratulating this great

event and very successful Swim for Hope, and we wish them another successful

year.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Exploits.

MR. DEAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to congratulate the Calvary

Pentecostal Tabernacle of Bishop's Falls on their September 23, 2016 celebration

of 90 years of good works in their community. I had the pleasure of the

celebrating this milestone with the congregation, town leadership and friends

from far and near at what was a memorable evening of song and prayer.

Pentecostalism has long been a pillar of community support and fellowship

in our province. For over 90 years the Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle has been

providing spiritual help and guidance to the community of Bishop's Falls.

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

Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle congratulations on these 90-plus years, and

Godspeed on their continued march to centenarian celebrations.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

This past weekend the outstanding achievements of the Newfoundland and

Labrador arts community were honoured at the 33rd ArtsNL Awards Gala in Labrador

City, and the MHA for Labrador West certainly represented our Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our artistic trend-setters, talented performers and cultural

professionals were celebrated Saturday at the Labrador West Arts and Culture

Centre. I congratulate all the nominees and this year's winners, including:

Duane Andrews, Artist of the Year; Eric West, winner of the Arts in Education

Award; Beni Malone, winner of the ArtsNL Arts Achievement Award; Sharon Bala,

winner of the Emerging Artist Award; the Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union,

winner of the Patron of the Arts Award; and congratulations to Jacinta Mackey

Graham, the 2018 inductee into the ArtsNL Hall of Honour.

Mr. Speaker, we have an enormous wealth of artistic talent that has

fundamentally shaped our cultural expression and identity in Newfoundland and

Labrador. That is why we are acting on key commitment in

The Way Forward and developing a new cultural plan in this province

this year. We will also launch an Arts Accelerator Program, in consultation with

artists, to help them enhance the management, promotion and development of their

artistic practice. These initiatives build on the work our government has

already completed with the Status of the

Artist Act , which formally recognizes the important contributions that

artists make to our province.

Our government appreciates how much provincial cultural industries

contribute to the social and economic well-being of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Working with our partners in the arts, culture and heritage, we will set themes,

priorities and key actions towards supporting and sustaining these industries

over the next five years.

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

nominees and winners at the 33rd ArtsNL Awards Gala.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of

Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. Mr. Speaker, this province is internationally known for its

one-of-a-kind culture. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are creative,

passionate, incredibly talented and always entertaining. The successes in our

arts community are a direct result of the energetic performers, producers

and creators who pour

themselves into their projects.

I congratulate those who were recognized at this past weekend's ArtsNL

Awards Gala: Duane Andrews, Eric West, Beni Malone, Sharon Bala, Jacinta Mackey

Graham and the Newfoundland and Labrador and Credit Union. These recipients are

just a small segment of the arts and culture community within our province who

promote our culture each and every day.

We, too, recognize the award recipients and encourage everyone to

continue supporting our arts community.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Bravo to all

the winners and the nominees; what a stellar list they make. Each and every one

of them and all of them together are shining examples of the worth of investing

in our arts community. Every dollar invested in the arts returns money to the

economy many times over, whether government money or private. Also, it enriches

all of our people.

Thank you to all our artists who have given so much and who lead the way,

especially Duane, Eric, Beni, Sharon, Jacinta and the Newfoundland and Labrador

and Credit Union. Bravo to them all!

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, the 2018 forest fire season, which includes dry grass fires as

well, will be in effect from May 1 to September 30 on the Island portion of the

province, and from May 15 to September 30 in Labrador.

The coming season is anticipated to be especially challenging for forest

fires. With atypical conditions in many areas of the province, there may be an

increased risk of wildfires in these areas.

Mr. Speaker, people cause about 80 per cent of forest fires in our

province.

Residents should exercise extreme caution during spring burning and when

using vehicles or forestry equipment near forested land. A permit to burn is

required to burn brush on forested land or within 300 metres of forested land

during this period. Free permits are available from forest management offices

and the permitting regime serves to inform forest fire officials of a planned

fire event.

Once fire season begins, provincial fire danger maps will be posted and

updated daily on our department website throughout the fire season. This will

give people the ability to view daily fire indices in areas where they reside or

plan to visit.

Mr. Speaker, as people begin enjoying the outdoor activities that come

from warmer weather, I remind residents that we must all be extra vigilant to

prevent wild fires from occurring.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Mount Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. As Members of

this hon. House, we are aware the recent dry weather conditions in this province

have indeed been atypical and it is concerning to know that wildfires are

expected to be more prevalent. I encourage everyone in our province to exercise

extreme caution and ensure that they use and adhere to regulations outlined on

required permits.

In Estimates we learned that this budget trimmed almost $200,000 from the

department's fire suppression and communications division, hoping we won't see

any negative effects from such cuts. It is my hope that the minister and his

department not only show concern on this issue with words, but take the

necessary action to ensure that the resource and the people of this province are

protected from any harm and kept from danger.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

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

with him in urging everyone to be extra vigilant when it comes to fire in our

province's forests. I urge people to understand not only the damage forest fires

cause but the risks to professional firefighters and the many volunteers called

out to fight these fires.

Maybe 80 per cent of fires are caused by people, but 100 per cent are

fought by the brave and dedicated individuals who put their lives in jeopardy. I

encourage people this summer to keep our forests fire free and safe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, just minutes before the House of Assembly was called to

order this afternoon we learned through the media once again that another

minister in the government is no longer a minister.

I say to the Premier, the people of the province are watching very

closely. I ask him to give an explanation to the people of the province of

what's happening in his government.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I might want to ask for leave, if I get leave, if it's granted. But

certainly more than willing, as everyone in this province would know and the

leader of the Opposition would be made aware of, last week for the first time I

received an allegation on Wednesday morning. We dealt with it very promptly. We

put in place a review mechanism through the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards, Mr. Speaker, who can use outside resources that would be deemed

appropriate to address the allegations.

This morning I received complaints from MHAs about the minister that was

in question that we've taken out of Cabinet and out of caucus, Mr. Speaker.

We've addressed these promptly. We've met with our caucus to explain the

situation as best we could, always being mindful that we do so in a very

confidential way. I will say that these complaints that we received this morning

are not sexual or not physical in nature.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Premier's response, I can tell you, raises many, many questions. He's

taken a minister out; he hasn't named a minister yet.

Can he identify to the House who has been removed from Cabinet? Can he

tell us, what is the nature of the allegations against the minister?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I've made public comments that the minister under review is Minister

Kirby. I spoke with him. He's been replaced by Minister Hawkins to take on the

official role within the department. Anything specific, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure

the leader of the Opposition would understand that I will only respond to things

in confidence, not wanting to obviously expose any MHA that would have brought

those allegations forward.

We are not about sweeping those issues under the rug, what we've seen in

the past by previous administrations taking situations and have merely swept

them under the rug. We are not doing that. We are doing this; we are making

decisive actions doing what leaders should do in responding and making the

appropriate actions and decisions allowing for a review process that should

unfold in a very meaningful way.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Premier again – he said they're not sexual or not physical, I

accept that answer – what is the nature of the allegations against the minister?

I understand privacy, he doesn't want to breach privacy or who's involved, but

the nature of the allegations I think are very relevant.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The leader of the Opposition asked a question, and rightfully so, on this

particular issue. I've made it publicly known when I addressed the media

outside, these are not sexual by nature, they are not physical by nature but

they are about behaviour. They're about conduct, Mr. Speaker.

That is where they are, that's what the allegations have been expressed

to me this morning. Those are the allegations around behaviour and conduct.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last week it became known that the former minister of Education had sent

an email internally to his own caucus where he said there was no greater

violation. He was referring to speaking out and making me aware of harassment

allegations.

Is it pertaining to that? Is this part of the reason why your minister is

finally removed? Has it taken you since late last week or the middle of last

week to respond to this inappropriate email that your minister sent out?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, we must

maintain confidence in the review process that we've undertaken. As I said this

morning, the allegations came to me officially this morning. That's what's

important here.

It's important that when all Members of this House of Assembly, Mr.

Speaker, as you, in your opening comments today about the Code of Conduct, this

review process is ongoing. I've notified the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards. He will be accepting and willing to take on the request that we put

to him. He has the responsibility and the jurisdiction to do so.

Mr. Speaker, the allegations that are being addressed today were ones

that were brought forward to me this morning.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This email sent by the former minister of Education was sent last Tuesday

night after I raised questions in the House of Assembly, almost a full week ago.

Premier: Were you okay with that email? Because you still haven't made a

comment if you are okay with it, or are you not? Do you condone the email or do

you not?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, as the

Member opposite would know, that often during the role as a Premier, as role as

a minister, role as a caucus Member, often people will do things that would be

seen appropriate by some but not knowing what the full scope of what was going

through people's minds at the time, Mr. Speaker, I'm not here to pass judgment.

What I'm here to is commit to a review process that will be meaningful, will be

thorough, will be thoughtful, Mr. Speaker, and will come out the other end with

recommendations to allow this place to be a more safer place to work for all of

us that are involved.

Mr. Speaker, that's the commitment that I make. I'm not going to get into

the specifics of the allegation. I'm just not going to do that. We have an

established process. We've engaged the appropriate people, Mr. Speaker, and we

will see our way through this.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As recently as this weekend, Democracy Watch has spoken out very publicly

and stated that this email in itself was

an act of intimidation. What I just

heard – I gave the Premier just now in my question to the Premier, was to stand

up and say the email was wrong and he's failed to do it.

Mr. Speaker, we seem to be having a growing problem in the government

across the way in taking several days to deal with something. He says he dealt

with it swiftly. This email was last Tuesday, Mr. Speaker – last Tuesday.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. SPEAKER:

I remind all Members, I

will not tolerate any interruptions.

Please proceed.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This email was last Tuesday.

Premier, why did it take you so long to respond to this terrible email

that was sent to your caucus?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, I'll tell

you one thing that's been terrible. I'll tell one you one thing that's been

terrible, it brings into question the integrity of what these issues are all

about. I'm trying, Mr. Speaker, to do my best not to overly politicize the

recent events.

Why the leader of the Opposition would sit on relevant information for

over two weeks, Mr. Speaker, which he admittedly said publicly that he had

direct and indirect involvement in, why would the leader of the Opposition

deliberately sit on such important information and stand in this House and

question a very legitimate process that I have put in place as Premier and as

Leader of this caucus?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, our

government has a systemic issue here, a very significant systemic issue,

operating in a climate of harassment and intimidation that's simply not

acceptable, and he asked me why I waited for two weeks.

I ask the Premier: In October 2017, the Minister of Justice and Public

Safety was sent an email by a Member of this House where it said: I am trusting

that you will ensure that all Members of the Crown treat all MHAs with decency

and respect as per our Code of Conduct.

The subject matter of the email was concerns with bullying.

Are you okay, Premier, with your Minister of Justice failing to respond

to that since last October? My question is for the Premier.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, no, I'm not okay with that. We have encouraged people to come

forward with information and file complaints if it's deemed necessary to do so.

If they feel they have not been treated appropriately, well, I have encouraged

people to come forward.

Mr. Speaker, only a few weeks ago, a Member of the leader of the

Opposition's caucus blocked a doorway for me outside of this House and the

leader of the Opposition did not feel that was appropriate for him to do so. He

swept it under the rug.

We are taking these incidents and these allegations very serious and we

are doing something about it. We've put in place a very thorough review that can

use outside experts.

Why is it that you have refused to do and acknowledge what your MHA has

done outside this very House only a few weeks ago?

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

We learned from the

Premier just now that he's not okay with the failure of the Minister of

Justice's responded email. Finally, after asking these questions for a week, he

just said: I'm not okay with it. That was his first words that he said.

I point out to the Premier, and I remind him of this because I reminded

him of it last night. On January 30, I wrote a letter to the Speaker, to the

Premier and to the interim leader at the time of the Third Party – not to name

her – and at the time I said, and I addressed the fact that our Code of Conduct

needed to be modernized, that our Human Resource Secretariat harassment and

discrimination policy, that we needed to do something here in the House of

Assembly.

I ask the Premier: Why did you not respond to that letter?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm going to take the opportunity to answer some of the points that the

Member put out. I could talk about investigations that he authorized into law

like to do is talk about the email and the fact that – I'm not going to get into

what was said in the email. I said I did not want to talk about the complainant

in that particular matter.

What I have said is I would love every opportunity to contribute to an

investigation to tell anything that happened, but in the email, which I believe

has been made public, I was not asked to do anything further and I comply with

that request from the individual who sent me the email.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We seem to be starting to go around a little bit in circles here because

they want to throw back, why didn't I do this and why didn't I do that. We have

an email we are asked to address with concerns of bullying.

I'll tell you what else the email said. He said: I thank you for your

time and attention, and trust that you will expect nothing less than fair and

equitable treatment of all districts by ministers of the Crown.

The Premier acknowledges today that that email was not acceptable. We

have a letter I addressed in January and I felt it appropriate to the climate

that was happening in the country today, to say that we have to look at

ourselves to find out what's happening. The Premier didn't respond. Here we are

a week later on this very same issue, when we had concerns about an email from

the Minister of Education and finally he's responding.

Premier: What's your plan to deal with this systemic issue that's

happening within the walls of your own government?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Again, I have to address some of the commentary brought up by the Member

for Topsail - Paradise. He talks about an allegation from October that was sent

to me. You'll notice the first sentence in that email – again, I don't really

want to talk about this. I indicated this in the scrum outside that I'd much

prefer to do this through a process so that everybody's privacy is respected.

The first part of this email talked about a verbal discussion, and part

of that verbal discussion was me advising any Member that has an issue should

talk to the leader of their Party to address issues like this as well.

Again, I put that back to the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

I don't see that anywhere

in the email, Mr. Speaker. It does say here to the minister, you said you've

never seen me so upset, and you're correct.

Mr. Speaker, it's clear that the seriousness of this was made to the

government. In the whole time when I asked the Premier last week when did he

become aware, he continued to give the same answer.

I'm going to ask the Premier again: When did you first become aware that

there were issues of conduct and behaviour by ministers in your own Cabinet?

Premier, when did you first become aware?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I've indicated on numerous occasions that I don't prefer to have this

play out in the public. I don't think it's helpful to any of the parties

involved. Apparently the Member for Topsail - Paradise would rather go about it

in this process. I would love to get into the content of a verbal discussion

that I did have and anything else about it but there's a process and a place to

do that, and I think that's with an independent investigation. I think there's a

proper place to have this handled.

Again, I would refer to the email which talked about districts. I look

forward to having every opportunity to talk about any involvement I may have had

in this matter, where I was told that no further action was required.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Premier: When did he first become aware that there were conduct

and behavioural issues by his own ministers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, last

Wednesday morning I was approached by an MHA. We dealt with that, as I just

mentioned. This morning, there were more complaints that came forward from MHAs

of our caucus. This is when I first became aware of the issues.

Mr. Speaker, I think when the leader of the Opposition just made mention

about acting on things, we acted on these things very promptly and put in place,

keeping in mind that all those involved needed to be or the complainants would

need to be very comfortable with the situation.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you I've met with caucus on numerous occasions,

I've met with the MHAs involved on numerous occasions. Even last night at a late

hour, I reached out to the leader of the Opposition that he just made mention

to. I've also reached out to the Leader of the Third Party.

Respecting the workplace that we live in, Mr. Speaker, and work in – what

I'm committed to do is improving the working conditions of every MHA and every

public sector worker that we have in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, the Premier

maintains he didn't learn until last week. He's had six days now since this was

first raised.

I ask the Premier: When did your staff first become aware of these

growing issues with the behaviour and conduct of his own ministers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, I will go

through the sequence of events as they unfolded, just like I did when I answered

the question just a few minutes ago. As I said in my last response, on Wednesday

morning of last week I was approached by an MHA who filed a complaint about a

Member of our Cabinet and our caucus.

We took the appropriate action; we took prompt action, Mr. Speaker. By

the end of the day, decisions were made. Again, this morning when I was

approached with a complaint, we dealt with it promptly, making sure that the

proper review process is in place and allowing the experts that would need to be

involved, the outside expertise would be available to the Commissioner to make

sure we work our way through this, and come out the other end with

recommendations that will make this place a better place to work.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To be clear, I'm not asking the Premier at which point in time a

complaint was received. My question to the Premier earlier in Question Period

was when did he first come aware. He talked about when a complaint was made. I

just asked now when did staff become aware. He's talked about when complaints

were made.

My question very simply for the Premier is this: When did his staff first

learn of issues, concerns pertaining to conduct and behaviour of his ministers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, as I've just

said, is that the first official allegation was brought to me last Wednesday.

That's what I said. I said it openly, Mr. Speaker. And we've had public

responses to those that have been involved.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, our desire would be, I think, for considering

the confidence and the seriousness of the issues that we're dealing with, is

that we deal with this in the appropriate manner. That is why we've reached out

to the Commissioner for Legislative Standards who is in a position and has the

jurisdiction based upon one of the most pivotal reports that was done in the

history of this province, that being the Green report.

The jurisdiction lies with the Commissioner for Legislative Standards

that is outlined in the Green report.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I hear the Premier that official allegations were made first last

Wednesday. What I'm asking him is when did his staff first become aware of the

concerns about conduct and behaviour?

The Premier, for some reason, is refusing to answer the question, so I'll

ask him this: Before last Wednesday, were you aware of any issues pertaining to

conduct or behaviour of your Cabinet ministers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, I'll answer

the question once again. I first became aware of the allegations, from an MHA,

last Wednesday morning. We are dealing with this promptly. We are dealing with

effectively, Mr. Speaker, keeping in mind that we must always maintain the

confidence of the individuals and the integrity of the process.

I will say it again: Last Wednesday, we started to take the necessary

steps to get through the thorough process.

Mr. Speaker, I got to remind the Leader of the Opposition though: Has he

had one conversation with his Member that sits behind him today about his

conduct outside of this very room just a few weeks ago?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So it's clear to me that the Premier well knew before last Wednesday that

there were issues with conduct and behaviour of his ministers.

My question for the Premier is: Why did you not stake any action before

last Wednesday when you knew there was a problem? Why did it take until official

allegations were made for you to make any response?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, this comes

down to a question of integrity and here we are standing in this House with

Members who were involved in this current process, Members who stood in front of

the media last week and made comments of when they first became aware of this.

Mr. Speaker, how is this ever going to improve the situation that we're

currently working in when we allow this type of conversation to occur in this

environment, when we have in place a thoughtful, meaningful, thorough review

process by the Commissioner for Legislative Standards?

We need to make sure that people are always comfortable in coming

forward. And I encourage people to come forward. And we will work our way

through this. We are not sweeping those issues under the rug; we are putting

them out there where they belong.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there is growing concern about systemic issues that are

happening within the government and regarding complaints of ministers now that

have been taken out of their office.

I ask the Premier: Will these investigations be done strictly independent

of each other? But now we know we have a bigger issue. Will there be a more

systemic review or review of systemic issues within your own government, and how

do you propose for that to take place?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, the Member

opposite talks about systemic issues, and he asked the question what is

different. What is different today is the way we are dealing with them. What is

different today is the way I am dealing with them as leader of this province.

In the past, these issues were never brought forward, Mr. Speaker. They

were deliberately kept behind the closed doors of the previous administration.

That's the difference in what we're dealing with here today. The Commissioner

for Legislative Standards will have the necessary resources, will have the

necessary time to deal with this effectively.

So the difference, as I said today, is we are being very open, we are

being very transparent with the people of this province and we're putting it out

there and making people aware, not sweeping or hiding things from the public

review.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So is the Premier saying the investigations will be made public? Is that

what he's saying, it's going to be open for public review? I'm glad to hear

that. But my question is that there seems to be a problem growing and mounting

evidence of a systemic issue within his own government. It's important to get to

the bottom of it and understand the systemic issue so it can be corrected.

So I ask the Premier: Will you allow for a larger umbrella investigation

into how these things are taking place and how your government is operating?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I said about the public comments was letting individuals, letting

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians know that I had received complaints. Once the

review process is finished and we come out of this with recommendations, Mr.

Speaker – I must always keep in mind the individuals, the families that will be

involved. It is my desire, as someone that will receive a copy of the reports,

to put them out there public. That is what I want to do. But I will only do so

in consideration of everyone that's involved. The appropriate thing to do, in my

mind, would be to get them out there, but I have to be mindful that other people

are impacted in these processes, Mr. Speaker.

We have been decisive. Within literally hours of hearing the allegations,

we had dealt with them, Mr. Speaker. We have not been sitting on them like the

Member opposite did for over two weeks.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Premier confirm that another Member of his caucus in the Liberal

caucus is currently under investigation by the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, other than

what I've said already about the two ministers that I've been talking about,

those are the only reviews that I'm aware of right now. As Members would know,

anyone – you do not have to be directed there by the Premier, but anyone – can

actually go and lodge a complaint with the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards.

As a matter of fact, Members can be encouraged to do so proactively. They

do not necessarily need to go through the Premier or to go through any other

Member here; they can actually go directly there. If there's a review on the go

and there's something you wanted me to check out, I'm more than willing to do

that as well.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

According to a complaint that I received, I was also advised that the

Premier and the Leader of the Third Party also received a copy of the complaint

filed with the Commissioner, that a Member allegedly provided false, inaccurate

and misleading information in an attempt to discredit a municipal council.

I ask the Premier: Are you aware of this complaint? What action have you

taken with the Member involved?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, I'll look

for the details on the question and get back to the House here. It's not

something that I have seen yet. I'll certainly go looking for that information.

Indeed, if this exists – I'm not suggesting that it's not – all these

complaints as they come forward, we will always take them very seriously, Mr.

Speaker. We will deal with them as they come forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Those are three investigations we know of right now that the Commissioner

for Legislative Standards is engaging in with Members of the Liberal caucus.

I ask the Premier: Now that there are three separate investigations, do

you think you can do this in a large way and finding out what's actually

happening within your government?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier for

a quick response, please.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think it's important that we allow the current review process to

unfold. The Commissioner for Legislative Standards, when I met with him, felt

that he was well equipped to do this job.

As you know, I think, as the leader of the Opposition, the Commissioner

for Legislative Standards can come in without even a request from the Premier.

He can actually automatically come in because he has the jurisdiction to do

that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, we

understand that the Commissioner for Legislative Standards is investigating

harassment allegations as a necessary interim process, and that the issue of

harassment may also be considered by the Management Commission of the House of

Assembly. In other jurisdictions, legislation is either in place or before their

Houses setting out anti-harassment procedures specifically for elected officials

and political staff.

I ask the Premier: Will he ask this House to direct the House of Assembly

Management Commission to develop a comprehensive, anti-harassment policy for

elected officials and their staff?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As people in the province would be aware, we have taken significant steps

around the harassment-free workplace policy within government. Mr. Speaker,

effective in June of this year, new policies would go in place – what I'm told

by the jurisdictional scan that we've seen is some of the best in the country.

I think the Member opposite would know that I reached out to her late

last night and have a meeting that will be scheduled some time this afternoon

about how we deal with the current policies that we have in place, making sure –

I believe that we need to improve the Code of Conduct. I think we make sure that

we put in better workplace safety legislation and policy, harassment-free

workplaces. I look forward to the meetings with both leaders later on today as

we work our way through this.

I agree that the House Management Commission is one area that we need,

that can play a very effective and meaningful role as we work our way through

this.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I would like to say to the Premier that, in fact, we need a specific

policy to deal with legislators, as Nova Scotia has done, as Ontario is in the

process of doing and as Alberta has done.

The Premier has indicated that the Commissioner for Legislative Standards

will undertake an investigation of the formal complaints by MHAs against sitting

MHAs. It is our hope the Commissioner will make public the procedure he will use

to do this work so both complainants and accused will know precisely what the

procedure will be.

I ask the Premier: Will he commit to providing any additional necessary

resources to both the Commissioner's office and the House of Assembly Management

Commission that they may need in order to do this work?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. I've already said to the Commissioner that the

necessary resources would be available to him. If he needs outside expert advice

or experts in this field that he can use them; absolutely, the resources will be

there.

Also, Mr. Speaker, we think it's timely, once again, to make sure we put

in proper training, sensitivity training and so on – all important to this

overall discussion that we currently are having within this House of Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, we must improve the working environment of this House of

Assembly and I am committed to make sure that this is a better, safer place to

work.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East - Quidi Vidi for a quick question, please.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I ask the Premier – it seems he took seriously the statement of Democracy

Watch calling the message from the Member for Mount Scio to Members of his own

caucus

an act of intimidation.

I ask the Premier, because it wasn't clear from what he has said so far:

What exactly is the nature of the investigation that the former minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development is now undergoing?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, the specifics of the investigation – in my view at least – will be

dealt with more appropriately with the Commissioner for Legislative Standards.

This is not really a debate that should be had on the floor of this House of

Assembly.

Keeping confidence and integrity in the system and always encouraging

people to come forward, I think is extremely important that we allow the

Commissioner to do the work, to do the work on these particular complaints that

have come forward. He has committed to do so and the necessary resources will be

available to that office.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The current situation has created a chill and could discourage others

with a complaint of harassment or intimidation from coming forward.

I ask the Premier: What is he recommending now to individuals, whether in

this House or outside of it, who want to come forward but are uncertain about

what procedure to follow?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, I just mentioned this a few minutes ago. First and foremost, always

come forward. As I said in the past, silence is not an option. We continue to

encourage people to step up and to come forward if they feel that they have not

been treated appropriately.

There are two options that they would have available, at least from

within my caucus and, hopefully, if you have to deal with this with your staff

or someone else, that they can come forward to you, they can come forward to me

or they can go directly to the Commissioner for Legislative Standards.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions has ended.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Baie Verte - Green Bay.

MR. WARR:

Mr. Speaker, the Resource

Committee have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to

report that they have passed without amendment the Estimates of the Department

of Fisheries and Land Resources, the Department of Natural Resources, the

Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour and the Department of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the Committee

Members: the MHA for Exploits, the MHA for Fogo Island - Cape Freels, the MHA

for Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune, the MHA for Mount Pearl North, the MHA for

Harbour Grace - Port de Grave, the MHA for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi, and the

MHA for Stephenville - Port au Port.

I would also like to thank our Table Officers, and I'd certainly like to

show appreciation to Members who were able to assist as fill-ins when Members of

the Committee were busy with other House of Assembly duties.

I respectfully submit the report, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further reports by Standing and Select Committees?

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

In accordance with

section 19(5)(

a) of the House of Assembly

Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act , I hereby table the minutes

of the House of Assembly Management Commission meetings held on February 13 and

March 14, 2018.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move the following private Member's resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED that this hon. House support the introduction of a

Legislature-specific harassment policy, similar in principle to the policy in

effect in the Nova Scotia provincial legislature, where elected representatives

and their staff are held responsible for inappropriate conduct; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this hon. House, through the introduction of

a Legislature-specific harassment policy, recognize all forms of harassment,

including bullying, cyberbullying and intimidation of all forms; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this hon. House develop this

Legislature-specific harassment policy through the Privileges and Elections

Committee of this House in consultation with all Members and employees of the

House and with independent groups who have experience and expertise in handling

harassment complaints.

Seconded by the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The private Member's resolution read by the Member for Fortune Bay - Cape

La Hune is the one that we will debate on Wednesday, Private Members' Day, in

accordance with the Standing Orders.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act

To Amend The Financial Administration Act, Bill 11.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you.

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act

Respecting The Protection Of Intimate Images, Bill 12.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very

much, Mr. Speaker.

School aged children are walking to school in areas where there are no

sidewalks, no traffic lights and through areas without crosswalks which put the

safety of these children at risk;

THEREFORE we, the undersigned, call upon this House of Assembly to urge

the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure the safety of all children

removing the 1.6 kilometre busing policy where safety is an ongoing concern.

Mr. Speaker, this is a petition that I continue to bring to this House.

It's a very important petition to people in my area. I have schools in my area,

especially the new school in Torbay where it's right on the main road, and there

are 17,000 cars a day that travel along this route.

Mr. Speaker, there are no sidewalks. Now at this time of year it's not

too bad because there is a bit of room to walk but during the winter months when

the snow clearing is done, there's very little room. There are areas where

there's probably less than a foot that you can walk and this is very unsafe.

I call upon government to think about the safety of children. I

understand there's a policy in place and I understand the reason for the policy

but in some cases where there are high traffic areas and children are really at

risk, this is something that we need to address and I call on government to

address it.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS opioid addictions is a very serious problem affecting many

individuals and families in our province and the Bell Island area is no

exception; and

WHEREAS the effects of these problems have implications that are

negatively impacting many people old and young; and

WHEREAS support and treatment programs have been proven to break the

cycle of addiction and have helped many into recovery;

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

the House of Assembly to urge government to establish a Suboxone methadone

treatment plan for Bell Island which would include a drug addictions counsellor

at the hospital and a drug awareness program in the local school.

And as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is probably the fifth time I've gotten to speak to this

and I have hundreds of these. That's how important this issue is, not only on

Bell Island as part of my district, but across this province of ours. We've had

multitudes of discussions and organizations weigh in on the issue here and

things that need to be done. No doubt, what's being proposed here is something

that could become a pilot that could be used in other jurisdictions within this

province, in other communities, in other regions to address that issue.

The particular issue we have with Bell Island is because of its

isolation, and while it has a hospital there that gives us the opportunity to

actually be able to offer onsite services because it has all the other amenities

and professional services, it just lacks an actual program where Suboxone and

methadone treatment could be put in play for residents on Bell Island who have

addictions issues, and also have an addictions counsellor at the hospital.

We have a multitude of staff there that come from various backgrounds:

social workers, nurses, doctors, LPNs, all the other specialists we have, but we

don't have a particular expertise to deal with another part of our health issue

that have some major challenges. Not only is it physical health, but it's also

mental health.

So what's being proposed here is to develop a plan. It's not overly

costly, because all we're talking about is developing a plan that can work

within the infrastructure of the existing system. The bricks and mortar already

exist. The supports that would be necessary would exist.

We just need a particular individual who has that skill set, who can help

coordinate all those efforts and ensure that the services that are necessary,

but the interventions particularly, would be offered in a timely basis,

in-house. That would make it more conducive to people being able to not be

reliant on drugs and be able to get the proper treatment and get into recovery.

While we're doing that, we're saving money. Because this becomes costly

when people from Bell Island have to travel to St. John's, taking away potential

recovery time and counselling time that could be used for residents here in the

Northeast Avalon.

So, Mr. Speaker, I'll have an opportunity to present this again, to talk

about some of the things that are trying to be done by the people of Bell Island

to address this. I do ask government to seriously consider putting something in

play.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present the following petition on behalf of

the residents of my district.

Mutton Bay Bridge, located in Trepassey area, is approximately 50 years

old. In 2015, an inspection identified significant structural issues with both

the substructure and superstructure portions of the bridge. This inspection

urgently recommended replacement and rehabilitation for significant maintenance

and repair.

Therefore we petition the House of Assembly as follows:

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to immediately address the most serious

issues that impact the lives and safety of the travelling public and make it a

priority for the upcoming construction season.

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue I brought up before in this hon. House.

Speaking with the residents and messages I've received, and viewing the piece of

infrastructure with them, there are concerns that relate back to – the

inspection was done in late 2015, with a call for immediate rehabilitation,

specifically related to the base and guide rails of the piece of infrastructure,

with a view, within I think it was two years, to replace that piece of

infrastructure.

We have made representation to the current minister and to the department

in regard to immediate repairs, and as well a request has gone in from the

residents in regard to some signage and some other identification maybe on the

instability of the rails on the actual structure, to ensure that the general

public are aware of that and safety is of the utmost importance.

So that request has gone to the minister. We certainly hope they're going

to respond to that. The minister, as well, when they announced the Roads

Program, I also had a discussion with the minister. And while there was no

commitment, he did say that they would look at later in the summer, looking at a

possible tender to see what the cost would be, see if there was money there that

we could actually do the rehabilitation and actually do the replacement that's

required.

I do recognize that, but I certainly urge government and the minister to

deal with the immediate concerns that have been brought forward by the

residents, look at signage and what needs to be put there for the safety of the

general public. This construction season, let's move forward and replace that

for the safety and benefit of all the residents, and all the tourists that

travels through that

section of the Irish Loop.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Orders of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I

move, seconded by the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board, that

the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means to

consider a resolution relating to the advancing or guaranteeing of certain loans

made under The

Loan and Guarantee Act, 1957 , Bill 6.

MR. 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.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

This motion is 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 6,

An Act To Amend

The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957.

Resolution

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure further to amend

The Loan and Guarantee Act, 1957 , to

provide for the advance of loans to and the guarantee of the repayment of bonds

or debentures issued by or loans advanced to certain corporations.”

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Today, we're bringing forward amendments to

The Loan and Guarantee Act, 1957 under which the Stephenville

Airport Corporation loan guarantee falls, and that's what we're speaking about

today.

The provincial government is actively working directly with community

partners such as municipalities and industry organizations to support greater

economic activity in all regions, and this includes the Stephenville Airport

Corporation.

The corporation currently serves commercial air traffic, provides

technical stop services and has two runways, a fuel farm and operations

terminal, a hanger and a cargo building. The summer season, which is quickly

approaching, is the biggest commercial traffic season for the airport with

seasonal flights programs offered by Sunwing Airlines, Porter Airlines and Air

Saint-Pierre, a year-round operator, as well as Provincial Airlines.

Mr. Chair, in January of 2018, we were pleased to learn the Stephenville

Airport would be getting $1 million worth of upgrades to its instrument landing

system from NAV Canada, a not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates

Canada's civil air navigation systems. The upgrade will allow Stephenville to

remain as an emergency or alternate landing site for trans-Atlantic flights.

Mr. Chair, myself and the Member for the Port au Port region just

recently met with the Airport Corporation in Stephenville and had a very

productive meeting. They're very optimistic about their future. One of the

valuable services that the airport provides is that it is an alternate landing

facility. For people who don't really know what that means, it means that if

we're receiving a flight in St. John's, they have to designate another airport

as an alternate landing site. Sometimes that's Gander or depending on the size

of the plane, for example, it may be Stephenville. If Gander is receiving a

flight, oftentimes Stephenville will be named as the alternate site, or Halifax

even, they'll name Stephenville as an alternate landing site.

Commercial airlines, any airline, whether it's military or commercial

airlines, need an alternate landing site in order to receive permission from NAV

Canada to land at the airport of their choice. Without an alternate site, Mr.

Chair, in the event of an emergency at the airport or in the event of some other

situation which prevents them from landing at the airport of choice, they need

an alternate site. So the value of Stephenville Airport to the province and to

Atlantic Canada is much larger I believe than what many people realize because

it is an alternate landing site for so many flights that are coming to this

province or even to Halifax.

Mr. Chair, in January of this year, Porter Airlines announced that it

would double its Stephenville

schedule from 50 flights in 2018, featuring new

spring and fall services to Halifax. By extending the loan guarantee until 2019,

the provincial government is strengthening its commitment to supporting the

Stephenville Airport in the short term as it continues to work towards the goals

set out in its business sustainability plan, with support from the Town of

Stephenville.

Part of that plan is attracting new customers to the area. Part of that

plan, Mr. Chair, is servicing some of the military flights that they currently

service. A large part of the plan is providing fuel to flights that are coming

from the States and going overseas carrying military personnel.

Mr. Chair, it is a valuable airport to the region. It's a valuable

airport for the province. It's for that reason that this government has seen fit

to extend the loan guarantee, provide the loan guarantee in the first place but

to extend it this year.

Mr. Chair, the corporation has worked to diversify in areas of business

to remain viable. Recent contract extensions with Memorial University, the SERT

program and with NAV CANADA highlight their approach. They feel very optimistic

at Stephenville Airport that things are getting better for them. They're

becoming more profitable. With this loan guarantee, they've been paying on the

loan guarantee. They've had the ability to do that.

They faced some challenges last year, Mr. Chair, but they've overcome and

are continuing to overcome those challenges allowing them to continue to put

their plan in place to allow them to become more viable. Our focus remains on

working with community partners, such as the Stephenville Airport Corporation,

to drive sector and industry growth to better diversify the provincial economy.

Government is going to continue to work with the Stephenville Airport

Corporation and the Town of Stephenville to determine the long-term viability of

the airport going forward.

I look forward to support of this bill from my colleagues in the House.

As I said, it's a very important bill because it's important to the Stephenville

area, it's important to the economy of Stephenville. We're optimistic that the

measures that the Stephenville Airport Corporation are undertaking and continue

to undertake are adding to the viability of the airport.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Ferryland.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm pleased to rise today to speak to Bill 6,

An Act to Amend the Loan

and Guarantee Act. The minister just went through some of the intent in regard

to the loan guarantee related to Stephenville Airport. I'm somewhat familiar

with this. As the former minister of IBRD we went through this process as well,

in regard to approval of an extension of the loan guarantee.

This particular bill, Bill 6, will look at taking from today's date and I

think moving to March 31, 2019, in regard to the actual loan guarantee. I know

we debated twice, I remember in 2016 – I think it might have been the last time

we did in May and December. At that time as well, we certainly spoke in support

of a loan guarantee to the Stephenville Airport Corporation.

My understanding is the bill doesn't change the amount of guarantee; it

simply extends it, as I said, to March 31, 2019. I think the amount guaranteed

is for $900,000.

When we debated this first – back in 2016 we had debated it. We had a

discussion about the sustainability of the airport, the plan, different

activities that were being looked at, the ongoing review of the airport's

operations. Certainly, to look at the airport as a centre of training, safety

and emergency response training, the options and how we continue to advance a

significant piece of infrastructure, which has quite a history, but how again

today we can take total advantage – as we possibly can – of that facility.

There was some ratification made to this, as I said, over the years. Bill

6 is moving to extend the loan guarantee out to March 31, 2019. The amount is

not changing. Stephenville Airport will continue to be operational to pursue its

interests and try and expand on activities it has there. It's guaranteeing the

loans that are currently on the books, is my understanding. Should the guarantee

be called, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will incur those

expenditures. That's the reason for this bill and for the piece of legislation.

The reason for this is, as I said, should it be called, the guarantee

would be called and the province would have to fulfill the actual payment.

That's what we're doing here today, making that commitment or extending the

commitment that already exists. That would have to go here to the House. That's

why it comes here to the Legislature for this particular act to amend the

Loan and Guarantee Act as there are

provisions in it for a specific time frame, and that time frame is up to elapse.

So this would allow it to extend, as I said, out to March of 2019.

The payment is what's often referred to as a statutory expenditure. It is

not contained – is my understanding – in the approved budget but would be paid

through a subheading in the Consolidated Revenue Fund, because actually it is

not a budget expenditure but there needs to be legislative authority to fill the

guarantee should it be called. That's why we do it here in the House in this

particular fashion.

Normally, we'd go through Estimates. The budget is debated here and it

would be voted on, but we're going through a process here in regard to a

legislative process. That's exhibited here through Bill 6.

This has gone through a couple of iterations in approving and recognizing

the importance of it to the Stephenville Airport to make sure that guarantee is

there, and this is a process to extend on that. It certainly is important to

Stephenville Airport and important to the region, the ability to remain open.

I'm happy to support and continue to enhance and increase their operations.

We know there have been some challenges in the past in regard to the

airport itself. Some of the challenges in operations dating back to when it was

first built. The American influence and trying to continue that and the service

it provides. It's certainly important. As I said, it's a significant piece of

infrastructure.

In 2016, I think the last time we had the debate here, there was some

discussion with the then minister of Finance. There were talks about a business

plan for the Stephenville Airport Corporation. I think that was completed. It

would be nice to hear some of the comments that were made in that report and how

the current government is moving forward to address some of those and I guess

support them; move a business plan and support it going forward.

There was also a discussion at the time about the use of the airport,

whether it was from a military perspective, innovation or other opportunities

that were there. I'd like to hear if any of those have been explored with the

corporation since that time, since we had that discussion back in the House of

Assembly and what some of the results were. As well, what some of the

opportunities that – we heard a lot about

The Way Forward plan, what's in there in regard to dealing with this sector

of the province, this piece of infrastructure and how it can be enhanced and how

does it fit into that plan.

As I said when I got up, we support this. It's a process we go through

every so often to look at supporting the Stephenville Airport. This loan

guarantee allows the operation to continue to function and, hopefully, through

initiatives of the private sector and through government creating an environment

for that facility to grow and expand, it's certainly what we'd all like to see.

On this side, we support the minister in regard to Bill 6.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for St. George's - Humber.

MR. REID:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's great to get up to speak on this motion here today in the House.

Although I don't represent the District of Stephenville - Port au Port where the

airport is located, the presence of the airport has an impact on the district

that I represent as well. So I just want to take a few minutes, I won't take my

full time probably, but I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about why I

support this motion and why I support the airport and why I think it has a

future.

First of all, Mr. Chair, the infrastructure at the airport is second to

none. It's a very positive thing that this airport has going for it. As many

people will know, many people listening at home will know, this airport was put

in place as part of an American Air Force base during World War II.

It's one of the largest airports in the world; it can handle some of the

largest aircrafts in the world. The minister had talked about how it is an

alternative airport for many flights from Gander or Deer Lake, or St. John's or

Halifax, but many people may know that – just to give a sense of the scale of

the airport, at one point, it was an alternative landing site for the space

shuttle. It's one of the largest facilities in the world and the infrastructure

there is something that we have and we should make the most of, Mr. Chair.

I'm very encouraged that the airport board is looking at ways that they

can take advantage of this infrastructure that they have. One of the things

they're doing is they're looking at providing a place where fuel stops can

happen. Because they have the possibility to land some of the largest aircrafts

in the world, particularly military flights that are going across the Atlantic

can stop there, refuel and leave pretty easily. So they are pursuing those

possibilities in terms of military flights, and I think that's a very strategic

sort of approach to the future of the airport.

The other thing I think that's very positive about this airport and I

think part of the possibilities for the future of this airport is search and

rescue. I think the location of this airport provides a large scope of coverage

for any search and rescue operation that we are located there. I think that's

something we, as a province, and myself and the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port are interested in pursuing. We've talked to people

within the department of industry, trade and innovation about as well.

That's another sort of positive aspect, another

reason why I think this motion here to provide the loan guarantee is important.

It allows the airport to explore some of the possibilities there.

Another reason for optimism about Stephenville

Airport is the training facilities that are already there and the possibilities

that other training facilities might want to locate there. If you look at the

SERT Centre, which is the Safety and Emergency Rescue Training Centre of the

Marine Institute, it's located at the airport there in Stephenville; it takes

advantage of some of the facilities that are available. I talked to people who

work at the centre and they're very positive about the future of the centre and

the type of training and type of work that they do there.

I think there are opportunities for further

development of military training there and maybe a possibility of other search

and rescue type

programs with the College of the North Atlantic as well. So I think there are

possibilities where the training that can happen at this centre is a possibility

as well.

The other thing why I think this piece of legislation and extending this

loan guarantee and allowing the airport to continue to explore other options is

I think we have a lot of possibilities in this area, the whole Bay St. George

South and Bay St. George area. I think that depends on having a package of

infrastructure there that allows us to take advantages of economic opportunities

that might be there.

We've got the former Port Harmon, which is also part of the American base

facility that was there. A new group has taken that over and they've rebranded

it the Port of Stephenville, and I think that, combined with the airport,

combined with some of the other infrastructure and transportation facilities

that are in the area provide a package that is attractive to investors and

businesses who are looking for somewhere to locate with those facilities. So I

think that's very positive for the airport as well.

So I just wanted to add my voice to those who are supporting this motion.

I've met with the Airport Authority a number of times and I've very encouraged

about their approach to the future of the airport, and I just want to say I

support this motion and I support the Stephenville Airport.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very

much, Mr. Chair.

I'm just going to have a few words on this today. I know that we are

going to support this motion, and it's very important to the Stephenville area.

It's a part of the province perhaps that with a good business plan and a good

outlook that this airport can bring some new things to the region.

The Member who was just up a few minutes talked a little bit about what I

want to talk about. The airport itself has one of the largest runways and can

accept world-class planes. Sometimes if you look at some of the airports that

are around – the runway, I know St. John's just recently expanded theirs, but

there are some crafts, especially military crafts that can't land there. So

Stephenville would be a great spot to be able to – because anytime any of these

aircraft or anything is coming to the region it brings economics to the whole

area, whether it's fueling an airplane, whether it's servicing the airplane. It

could be something from food supply or anything at all. So the more impact we

can have to the Stephenville Airport, I'm sure that it will be great for the

whole area.

Right now, in the world today, I know there are some large military

crafts that have a problem landing here in St. John's. With an airport in our

area – I know the Member for the Stephenville area is there now. I don't think

you get as much fog and stuff as we do here in St. John's, so it may be another

reason why that airport could be used. I know Gander has a couple of long

runways also.

Search and rescue is always a huge part of who we are as Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians. I know, again, that would be another great area that we could

be able to use and expand what we have already in the province. I'm not too

sure, I know when we debated this back a little while ago – we debated it back

in, I think it was 2016, and we debated in May and December. There were also

talks back then about a business plan that needed to be put forward and what we

were doing in the area to make sure that we get the most and the best that we

can get out of this facility.

Mr. Chair, I had the experience of going out and looking at their

training centre. I had a son, actually, who went to school out in Stephenville

as part of SERT and training to be a firefighter. The facility out there, when I

looked at it, it was a fantastic area. It was second to none.

The training that's done out there is great, it's unbelievable. Mr.

Chair, I can remember back when I used to look up to the Torbay airport – and it

caused a huge amount of problems at the time. They had this big tank up there

they'd catch on fire and drive all this smoke up in the air and stuff like that.

We later learned down the road there were a lot of contaminants in that.

The solvent they were using to put out the fire was called p floss at the

time. That's caused a huge problem in my area because it caused contamination in

the ground; it went down to the ground. There's a huge issue right along the

airport fence over there now with this thing called p floss in some of the

rivers.

I saw the tank that they used out in Stephenville and it's massive. It's

pretty impressive when you look at what they do out there for training. I know

there are a lot of people interested in becoming a firefighter. I would imagine

the school is pretty well packed all the way through.

If you look today, I know young people that went out and did this course.

Some are hired in Alberta right now in different projects. I know young people

that are working at Long Harbour now and went and did this course at the same

time that I was out there. It's a great training facility. It has all the parts

to be a great training facility. Maybe that's another part that I know when the

Member for Stephenville gets up – maybe he'll discuss what the business plan is

out there.

Again, anything we can do to expand anything in the province – at that

time when I was out, I was very interested to know there were people from all

over Atlantic Canada that came to that training course, not just Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians. Actually, there was a couple there from Nova Scotia. The

facility itself, the certification out there is recognized I think right across

Canada as one of the top areas to do that.

Again, it's an important facility and we have to support it. It would be

great to see the things we can do to probably increase revenues at that airport

and make sure it is prosperous. I'm not sure, but I arrived in Deer Lake this

year and I was amazed by the amount of traffic that was in Deer Lake. I'm not

sure what the usage is right now at the Stephenville Airport and where it is,

but anything we can do as a government to promote any area of the province.

I'm sure the Members out in that area want to do what they can to

advocate on behalf of the airport to this government and to all of us here to

make sure the facility stays in place. Like I said, it's a world-class facility.

There are needs for it right around the world when it comes to military use or

search and rescue. It's a great area for search and rescue.

Any revenue that does generate through the airport has a trickle-down

effect. What it does, it'll trickle down to local businesses. It'll trickle down

– any time you see activity at a facility, you can always see there's going to

be – whether it's the fuel. The fuel may require that the truck comes and then

the truck needs service, too. So there are tires – anything that you can do.

It's very important that there's a good business plan put in place. It's

important that the airport is supported by this government, which we're doing

here today. I don't think there's going to be any Member or anyone vote against

this today because it's a good opportunity. That's really the thing that I hope

through the airport authority out there and whatnot, that we take advantage of

every opportunity that becomes available to this airport.

It's a region of our province; I know the Stephenville area. There's a

lot of activity there in Stephenville. I remember one time I went out to

Stephenville, I had to go to a hockey tournament. I was impressed with the

number of businesses that were in the area, and it offers everything.

Also, I know the airport is a major, major part of that whole area. So

it's important for any region of our province, when there is a facility like an

airport or anything in that area, that we support it and we make sure the

mechanisms are put in place so that it survives. It's important to every person

in that region. The trickle-down effect it has to businesses in the area is

amazing.

As an Opposition, I'm sure we will be supporting this motion. I just say

to the Member, when we did this debate before – and I can remember doing the

debate – we talked about a business plan and the importance of what that

business plan looked like so that people in the area would know the future

investments or anything else may come to the area, to make sure there is – to

understand: Listen, this facility is alive, it's well. It's important we show

the whole area that the airport has the confidence of government and its

officials to say that this area is going to be a place where business is going

to be done, and that government supports it and we all support it.

You know what, the big thing about anything like this, I'm sure all

persons in this province, we support each other and we're huge people that do

that.

So I think this motion today is going to be passed and the loan guarantee

extended to when it needs to be extended because it's an important thing for the

region and of the province. I know I will be supporting it and I'm sure our

caucus will too.

Thank you very much.

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

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

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

I'm happy to stand here today and speak to Bill 6, which is dealing with

the extension of the loan to the Stephenville Airport; something we first talked

about in this House in November 2016. I think we talked about it two years

before that actually, but the last time we spoke about this was in November 2016

when at that time, once again, we had a request for an extension with regard to

the loan, extending the expiry date. At that time it was to extend the expiry

date to March 31, 2018, and now it's to extend the expiry date to March 31,

I think it's extremely important that we support this bill. My colleagues

who've already spoken have made extremely good points. I think we really need

right now to be in this province doing whatever we can to support the smaller

communities, the rural communities to make sure economic development for these

communities is supported as much as possible by government as we can do. We know

we have a board out there in charge of the airport that is extremely involved in

finding various projects, various activities that can happen at the Stephenville

Airport and are being very creative in things they are coming up with.

The Airport Corporation is extremely important in the overall economy

there. When we first talked about this here in this House, some of us weren't

even here at the time. The House talked about the fact that the airport was on

the verge of bankruptcy and needed financial assistance at that time from the

government.

Studies were done, analyses were done. I understand the government hired

Ernst & Young to review the financial situation. They did recommend filing for

bankruptcy protection. Again, time to restructure, which the board did. They

certainly have put a lot of effort through their restructuring over the years

into finding ways in which to keep the airport alive.

I think it's extremely important that those efforts are recognized here

by this House. It has played an extremely important role in the past, in the

life of the West Coast, and I think the possibilities are still there for that.

We have to be looking for ways in which new employment opportunities are

created. I think that's extremely important in order to keep our younger people

here in the province and keep our younger people on the West Coast of the

province.

We have to stop the drain from different parts of the province to the

Avalon Peninsula. We have to make sure there are possibilities throughout our

wonderful province. I think certainly looking at the Stephenville Airport as

part of that development is more than warranted.

We may disagree on various political positions, but I think we all have a

desire to see our population grow, which it isn't doing right now. It's

shrinking. It's been shrinking every year for the past few years. We want to

look at employment growing, which it isn't. That too is shrinking. We want to

see unemployment shrink as employment grows, and that isn't happening.

Right now, in the documents that are part of the budget, the book called

The Economy paints a pretty

straightforward picture in our province right now. The facts come straight from

the Department of Finance that all the things that would be indicators of growth

in the province are actually going downwards as indicators. The things that

would be really bad for economic growth are increasing such as unemployment and

our gross domestic product going down.

We have so many indicators that really should concern us, negative

indicators. The things that we can do to help something like the Stephenville

Airport and the airport authority to come up with plans and projects that will

not only be good for the area – they just can't be things that are going to be

good for a small company, but not good for the overall area. They have to be

projects that are good for the people of the area, especially of Stephenville,

but there's a much larger area that depends on the economy of Stephenville.

Stephenville is a hub. Increasing that potential so that the people of

Stephenville, the businesses of Stephenville and the people and the businesses

that are part of that hub all benefit from what's going on is extremely

important.

Using this time, using right now the bill to speak to this is important

for us. It's important for us as a province. We don't have plans in place and

this is one of the things that bother me. Government talks about its

Way Forward but I still don't

see plans that are absolutely spelled out and showing how we're going to get to

where they say we're going to get.

While this is not part of a government plan, per se, and it

certainly isn't, it's an opportunity for government to show that it does care

about what's happening in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. It's an opportunity

for government to help an area that I absolutely believe continues to have

potential in this province.

There are so many businesses that could be put in place out

there. Just from the perspective of tourism and the absolutely beautiful natural

beauty that we have and the history of that area, the history of more than one

culture living together in that area over the years – several cultures living

together over the years – there's so much that could be done. Who knows in that

way, what, from the tourism perspective, could be done at the airport as well,

Mr. Chair.

Yes, I do support this bill. I'm happy to be part of voting

for the Stephenville loan being extended to March 31, 2019.

Thank you.

CHAIR: The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Stephenville -

Port au Port.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FINN: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's certainly a pleasure to stand and speak to this

important motion before the floor of the Legislature today .

Mr. Chair, as you noticed, I guess during the course of debate from the Members

opposite there were quite a few of my colleagues who came over to offer words of

encouragement to me. They know how passionate I have been about not only

Stephenville, being the Member and so fortunate to represent the residents of

the District of Stephenville - Port au Port, but also passionate about the

airport. I think many Members of our Cabinet are full-well informed of the

operations of Stephenville Airport Corporation and I certainly greatly

appreciate their support as well.

Mr. Chair, Stephenville Airport is a provincial asset. It is not just a

regional asset; it is not just an asset to the Town of Stephenville and to the

surrounding communities. Certainly it plays a very pivotal role in that regard;

however, it is a provincial asset.

I say that because, as was referenced by Members and my colleague from

St. George's - Humber, any time we see weather patterns that disrupt this

province, which we're certainly prone to, Stephenville and the West Coast, with

exception to some increased precipitation of snowfall in the winter, it

certainly tends to avoid the fog. From Gander on in, you'll often see when St.

John's has a bad weather, Gander will as well.

The Member for Ferryland actually did reference that. I believe that the

Member for Cape St. Francis did as well, and thank you very much to both those

Members for their support on this bill.

Stephenville is 97.5 per cent of the time fog-free. It's certainly

amazing to live in the Town of Stephenville, some-97.5 per cent of the time

fog-free. I'm just having a chuckle because I can see the smiles from some of

our Members opposite as they're living in the city and, of course, used to some

of the fog. But I will digress. That's certainly an important asset and an

important reason why it is considered an alternate. It's considered an alternate

for all of the airports in the province.

Mr. Chair, anytime an aircraft takes off it has to have two alternates.

One of them has to be what's called an achievable alternate. An achievable

alternate has to be a destination that is within 30-minute proximity of flying

time, and this is directly where Stephenville finds itself. I referenced before

when we debated this bill in 2016 in May, and again in December of 2016,

Stephenville is in a very unique position in terms of Atlantic Canada. If you

were to take a protractor and draw a circle, Stephenville is strategically

positioned to respond to emergencies, be it in Labrador, in Quebec for that

matter, and to our neighbouring provinces in Atlantic Canada in the south, Nova

Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick and even the upper part of the Eastern Seaboard of

the US – a very strategic position.

With respect to the operations, some of the things that the board have

been doing, the Members in the Opposition – and again, I thank them for their

support. The Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi just referenced it as well.

Certainly Members are keenly interested in some of the business plan efforts

with the Stephenville Airport Corporation.

What I can tell you, Mr. Chair, the history of Stephenville Airport puts

it in the position where it requires this financial backing. This financial

backing is a loan guarantee that ensures the operation can continue to be

ongoing. The reason it's in that position is due to the devolution of Transport

Canada. Transport Canada devolved itself of various airports all across Atlantic

Canada in the 90s. In doing so, Stephenville was one of these areas that were

affected. Stephenville survived for a number of years on its own and its own

efforts, and then did eventually require some government support – not unlike

other communities and other industries in the province.

But what I can tell you about some of the ongoing work, the increase in

military traffic has just been amazing. We have two retired colonels, one with

the United States Air Force and one with the Canadian Forces, who has been

serving as a special advisor in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Two of these retired

colonels have been providing direct assistance to the airport board and actually

recruiting some of the military traffic.

What's appealing to the military traffic, and I'm specifically talking

about C-17s and C-130s, what's very interesting about them is they enjoy the

landing in Stephenville due to the quick turnaround time they see. You can

imagine if a military aircraft landed here in St. John's this afternoon – St.

John's is a very domestically busy, commercial, passenger-traffic airport.

Stephenville on the other hand, while it does have commercial traffic and we

have seen some increases there, which I'll reference in a moment, the commercial

traffic and domestic travel is a lot less than that of Deer Lake, for example,

and St. John's.

So as a result, the military traffic prefer to stop in Stephenville, have

a quick refueling station, and move on. They've previously engaged in military

training exercises there. There are some great initiatives underway right now

with the Town of Stephenville's new economic development officer to increase

some of the military training capacity that we have in Stephenville.

So the military traffic is one thing that has increased as a result of

their business plan. We've also had some increased traffic with Porter Airlines,

who offered a Christmas service this past season for the first time. Porters

been around now about four or five years. Just a few months ago, they announced

that the due to the increased commercial and passenger traffic to the Halifax

market they've doubled their flights. They've actually just about over-doubled

their flights. They use to offer 23 flights a season; they're moving up to 53

flights this year.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Hear, hear!

MR. FINN:

I heard support here from the

Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation. Certainly someone who was

very positive in receiving that news. The Minister of Tourism, Culture Industry

and Innovation, as well as the Finance Minister, as well as the former Finance

minister, as the Premier have all been actively engaged and have all directly

met with myself and the Stephenville Airport Corporation, the board members

there and the mayor. So that just, I think, speaks volumes to the support and

understanding of the ministers, their awareness and the significance of this

bill.

Mr. Chair, in addition to our provincial government support, the

municipal support has been extremely strong. The Town of Stephenville has come

onboard to assist with the purchase of some equipment. We've had some great

federal support, Mr. Chair. The federal government and the Member of Parliament

for Long Range Mountains, MP Hutchings, has worked with her colleagues in the

federal government to ensure that we'll have a brand new ILS system installed.

That is an instrumental landing system. That is something that is absolutely

integral and paramount to the ongoing operation of the Stephenville Airport.

Also as mentioned, the MUN school has a SERT team, emergency response

training system there. The Member for Cape St. Francis alluded to the fact that,

in fact, his own son had studied at the school there. The training is bar none

some of the best in the country and certainly the top in Atlantic Canada.

Recently, the Stephenville Airport Corporation renegotiated a lease for

an ongoing five years up to 2020, with a five-year renewal with Memorial

University for that particular place. The Airport Corporation actually just

reached a brand new collective agreement with its union members at the airport.

This is the first time since 2004.

In addition to that, NAV CANADA, actually, which operates in the

Stephenville Airport, has just recently renewed their contract with an increase

financially, I might add, as well. I think when you look at these entities to

that magnitude with respect to education, with respect to NAV CANADA, the

commitment from the federal government, a renegotiated union agreement with the

members there, all of these things speak volumes to the continued growth the

excitement and the passion that those entities have and the belief they have in

Stephenville and in the Stephenville Airport.

Mr. Chair, moving forward, I personally will continue to meet with the

board. I'll continue to fight for the Town of Stephenville. I'll continue to

lobby my government, my Members, the Premier and others involved. The Minister

of Finance, after having had his visit, is certainly looking forward to coming

back and seeing some of the measures that have taken place to increase the

traffic and to increase the capacity at Stephenville Airport.

Mr. Chair, with that, I will conclude. I notice I have a short moment or

two left. I certainly want to thank all the Members that lent their support to

the conversation today. I look forward to this bill passing unanimously.

On a personal level, as the Member representing the district, a sincere

thank you to all of you understanding the importance of supporting our

municipalities, no matter where they are located in this province. The

Stephenville Airport supports the entire Southwest Coast. For the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety, from Port aux Basques, air ambulance travels has

increased. We see folks that get airlifted in from Stephenville to St. John's

for various medical emergencies. Those numbers are increasing due to an aging

population. Individuals come from as far as two hours away from Burgeo, from an

hour drive to Cape St. George, an hour and 45 minutes down to Rose Blanche, Port

aux Basques.

Mr. Chair, this is strategically located to be an asset for the entire

Southwest Coast but, more importantly, an asset to the entire province.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, resolution carried.

A bill, “An Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957.” (Bill 6)

CLERK (Barnes):

Clause 1?

CHAIR:

Shall clause 1 carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, clause 1 carried.

CLERK:

Be 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:

An Act To Amend The Loan And

Guarantee Act, 1957.

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 Bill 6 carried 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

resolution and a bill consequent thereto, carried.

CHAIR: The Chair recognizes the hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee rise and report

the resolution and Bill 6.

CHAIR: The motion is that the Committee rise and report the

resolution and Bill 6.

Is it the pleasure of the Committee 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 and report Bill 6

carried without amendment, the Speaker returned to the Chair.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper): The hon. the Chair of Committees; the Member

for Baie Verte - Green Bay.

MR. WARR: Mr. Speaker, the Committee of Ways and Means have

considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to report that they

have adopted a certain resolution and recommend that a bill be introduced to

give effect to the same.

MR.

SPEAKER: The Chair

of the Committee of Ways and Means reports that the Committee have considered

the matters to them referred and have adopted a certain resolution and recommend

that a bill be introduced to give effect to the same.

When shall the report be received?

MR.

A. PARSONS: Now.

MR.

SPEAKER: Now.

On motion, report received and adopted.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I

move, seconded by the Minister of Health and Community Services, that the

resolution be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded

that the resolution be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

This motion is carried.

CLERK:

Be it resolved by the House

of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure further to amend

The Loan and Guarantee Act, 1957 , to

provide for the advance of loans to and the guarantee of the repayment of bonds

or debentures issued by or loans advanced to certain corporations.”

On motion, resolution read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I

move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Health and Community Services that the

resolution be now read a second time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded

that the resolution be now read a second time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

This motion is carried.

CLERK:

Second reading of the

resolution.

On motion, resolution read a second time.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I

move, seconded by the Minister of Health and Community Services, for leave to

introduce a bill entitled

An Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957, Bill

6, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded

that the hon. Government House Leader shall have leave to introduce a bill

entitled

An Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957, Bill 6, and that the

said bill be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

This motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board

to introduce a bill, “An Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957,”

carried. (Bill 6)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957. (Bill 6)

On motion, Bill 14 read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I

move, seconded by the Minister of Health and Community Services, that Bill 6 be

now read a second time.

MR.

SPEAKER: It is

moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a second time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour?

SOME

HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER: All those

against?

This motion is carried.

CLERK: A bill, An

Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957. (Bill 6)

On motion, Bill 14 read a second time.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I

move, seconded by the Minister of Health and Community Services, that Bill 6 be

now read a third time.

MR.

SPEAKER: It is

moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour?

SOME

HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER: All those

against?

This motion is carried.

CLERK: A bill, An

Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957. (Bill 6)

MR.

SPEAKER: This bill

has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and that

its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act To Amend The Loan And Guarantee Act, 1957,”

read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

Continuation of the

Budget Speech.

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's an honour again in this House of Assembly to stand and speak to the

2018-2019 fiscal budget that has been presented and we've been debating.

I have the privilege tonight to spend the evening with the Minister of

Health and his officials as we go through the Estimates on the Department of

Health and Community Services and get a real indebt understanding of the

particular programs and services, the dollar figures, the impact, positively and

negatively, they may have and changes that may have occurred from last night

year's fiscal to this year's fiscal.

For those who may not be familiar with the Estimates process, it's an

opportunity for Opposition parties, with their researchers, after going through

the budget, to go line by line with the minister, and the minister has all of

his key staff to ensure that any questions asked, particularly around the

financing of the budget line, are explained and outlined. If there are some

particular nuances that need to be clarified, that it can be done there. So

there's no misconception or misunderstanding of exactly what each line means and

what the differences are between what's been budgeted, what actually was used,

to what was the difference between last year's budget and why the changes take

place.

So it's a key opportunity for everybody in Newfoundland and Labrador to

get a full understanding of exactly what each dollar figure means. We get to the

exact amount that – the budget at the end of this whole process gets to be

adopted by the Members of the House of Assembly. I'll have that privilege

tonight, to sit down and go through the various funding sources.

Some of it is base salaries. Some of it is special project money. Some of

it is research money. Some is obviously in the Department of Health. For those

who may not be aware, the health authorities are obviously a big chunk because

while they're arm's-length from government, they all fall under the fiscal

responsibility of the minister and the department and all of the programs and

services they offer; all the specialists we have, all the doctors we have, all

the health professionals in every sector that are part and parcel, the

administration of equipment in most cases, and some of the other particular

partnerships that are developed there.

We'll have an opportunity this evening. I'm looking forward to discussing

that with the minister and his officials, and getting some better clarification.

What that does lead to is then over the next number of days there may be some

particular questions for further clarification that we can discuss.

Some of it then can relate to policy. The norm in Estimates is you don't

too heavy into policy. It's more about the dollar figures because it's

Estimates. It's about the financial bottom line and balance sheets in each of

the line department or each line heading. We'll go through that tonight.

I'm hoping it does generate some particular questions around policies and

how the amounts of money being invested are going to improve our outcomes when

it comes to, particularly, around health care. I'm looking forward to that.

We'll have that discussion, and no doubt over the next few days we'll continue

to have those types of discussions.

As I said, the last time I spoke to the budget, fair is fair and you give

credit where credit is warranted. You challenge where you think there's been

either let down on something or no due diligence. In this case, there are a few

areas here I've got to note that I think are improvements into how we address

improving people's lives in Newfoundland and Labrador. By the government taking

the monies they have and investing them in the right areas they get better

outcomes, particularly some of the ones here that I mentioned before.

I want to go back again because I think people need to be aware that

there are some positive things coming here. Particularly in the education field,

and more relevant to at-risk youth, particular support mechanisms for inclusion;

all the things that are relevant to issues to improving our education system for

all students, administrators, teachers.

All those who are involved in the education system, but particularly also

for peace of mind for parents. The ultimate is so that students themselves are

comfortable, have the supports and services they need. If it's not something

they need, it's something their friend or their classmate may need, or their

neighbour may need, or it might be one of their siblings need to better improve

the educational experience and their ability to move to the next levels in

education.

We had bantered back and forth over the last number of months on what was

going to happen with the recommendations from the Premier's task force on

education, which the 82 recommendations, all very fluent, all reflective of the

dialogue that people had, the written dialogues, the public dialogues that

people had. Some of the agencies or particular interest groups that wanted to

ensure their views or their issues or their recommendations were taken into

account. Obviously, the quality of the people on the task force was second to

none with their backgrounds. So it was easy for them to be able to take that and

put it in a proper presented mechanism that outlined exactly the different

things that needed to be done.

I was pleased to see at the end of it – there are three things that

change when you do any process here. One is accepting there's a challenge that

needs to be addressed; two, is putting in play the set of recommendations; the

third, and just as important, probably more important for the outcomes, is to

actually put the resources where necessary to ensure the recommendations are

obtainable and will have the desired outcome.

While it's nowhere near it, we all know in five or six line departments

in this government you could double their budgets and still be short in being

able to provide services that people feel are needed and in some cases are

instrumental if they're going to improve people's quality of life.

In education, there's no difference. We've touted here and sometimes we

banter back and forth about how much money was spent over the years.

I know the Member for Topsail had mentioned it last week in his statement

about at the end of the day what you don't hear any more is schools being shut

down in the morning because of mould, because of heating issues, these types of

things. They were a prominent thing for years. In the '80s, '90s, even early

2000s, until we said, you know what? There are ways of offering quality

education, and we have by far the best educators around. By far we have a

multitude of programs and services, but to be able to provide those in an

adequate setting that you get the best bang for your dollar, you have to also

have the infrastructure.

I'm not always a big promotor of bricks and mortar. I still think we have

enough out there in our society to be able to not reinvent the wheel or not

spend money on bricks and mortar but put it better into the resource that is

either the individuals that we need from a professional point of view or the

extra other supports through partnerships; but, when you invest in schools you

eliminate five or six of the big issues that you would have. The school can

become your centre where all the other programs and services can also congregate

to ensure the community has access to that.

Again, the first line of defence when we're dealing with young people and

our students is that they're in a safe, caring environment, and that's conducive

to learning. Well, we could do that. As we built new schools, we better used

technology that we couldn't do in previous years. We've also ensured that the

health of people in the school system was improved. And we also had th