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March 9, 2016

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 3

The

House met at 2 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we begin, the Chair would like to recognize in the public gallery

today a group of Special Olympic Newfoundland and Labrador athletes, board

members and supporters, fresh from the 2016 Special Olympics Canada Winter

Games experience last week in Corner Brook.

welcome you to our galleries.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also today we welcome

Major Michael Pretty, who will be the focus of a Member's statement today,

as well as Neil Burgess and Louis Marion.

Today I'd also like to welcome to the Speaker's gallery Kyle Johnson, a

level II student from Waterford Valley High School, who is job shadowing me

today.

Welcome, Kyle.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Members' statements.

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for the

District of Lewisporte Twillingate.

MR. D. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

rise in this hon. House here today to recognize Deborah Bourden and Wilma

Hartman of Anchor Inn Hotel & Suites in Twillingate on winning the

Accommodator of the Year Award last week at the Hospitality Newfoundland and

Labrador Annual Conference.

Deborah and Wilma purchased the Anchor Inn in 2011 and have developed a

successful hotel and restaurant that provides a cultural and historic

experience to their visitors.

They

have worked tirelessly not only to improve their own business, but to

improve tourism in their community and throughout Central Newfoundland. They

have demonstrated a commitment to the long-term development of the tourism

industry through their extensive involvement and leadership at various

levels.

From

co-developing a regional map that lists and locates all tourism operators

and being instrumental in organizing the first annual Digital Arts Festival

in September 2015 as a way to extend the tourism season, these

owner/operators are great ambassadors to the region, the province and the

tourism industry as a whole.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Deborah Bourden

and Wilma Hartman on this prestigious award and the contribution they are

making to the tourism industry in Twillingate and throughout the province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for Fogo

Island Cape Freels.

MR. BRAGG:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's

a privilege to stand in this hon. House today and tell Noah Hunt's story.

Noah is 12 years old. Two years ago, what began as a simple tummy ache

escalated to a loss of 50 pounds. He was a very sick boy.

After weeks in the hospital, Noah's health took a step in the right

direction. He began to feel better. As Noah's health improved, he started to

wonder if there were things he could do to help find a cure.

This

February, Noah with the help of his parents, grandparents, family and

friends organized the first ever Noah Hunt Fishing Derby. It took place on

Spurrell's Pond and over 140 people participated in the event.

After all was said and done, the event raised over $3,700. As a reward for

his efforts, Noah has been selected as the honorary chair for the Gander

Gutsy Walk for Crohn's and Colitis for 2016.

ask all Members to join me in congratulating Noah Hunt for this

well-deserved honour, and thank him for doing his part to combat this

serious disease.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for Conception

Bay East Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

rise today to acknowledge an organization and its leader for remembering

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who served and died in various parts of the

world, during World War I. I speak of the Trail of the Caribou project team

and their leader retired Major Michael Pretty of Portugal Cove-St. Philip's.

For the past 10 years these volunteers have researched every aspect of where

Newfoundland and Labrador soldiers from World War I are buried. Their

promise was to ensure that all members of the Newfoundland Regiment, who had

died, would be remembered.

Their quest has taken them around the world to ensure all graves are

identified and marked. At each grave site the team places a beach rock and a

Newfoundland flag. They also perform a private commemoration service

including the playing of the Ode to Newfoundland, the Last Post and the

reciting of the Act of Remembrance.

Remembrance Day, Major Pretty and his wife completed the team's quest by

laying a beach rock and Newfoundland flag on the grave of Captain Gerry

Goudie of Northern Arm.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask this hon. House to join me in congratulating and thanking

Major Pretty and the Trail of the Caribou project team.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for Placentia

West Bellevue.

MR. BROWNE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today

to recognize the heroism of a young man from Sunnyside, in my District of

Placentia West Bellevue.

James Seaward was home over the Christmas holidays from his posting in the

Canadian Armed Forces at CFB Shilo, Manitoba.

After spending the holidays visiting with his parents, Warrick and Shelley,

he decided to drive his vehicle back to Manitoba. En route, while driving

through Ontario, he witnessed a car go off the road and into a lake. He

immediately stopped his vehicle, entered the water, with no regard for his

own life.

The

passenger of the vehicle, a lone woman, was submerged in over four feet of

water. He pried the door open, cut off her seatbelt, put her over his back

and carried her to safety. She now credits him with saving her life.

Mr.

Seaward continued on to Manitoba, and it was only through media reports that

his commanders at CFB Shilo learned of his act of heroism.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members of this House to join with me in recognizing

James and celebrating this act of valiance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for the

District of Virginia Waters Pleasantville.

MR. B. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

would like to make a statement in this hon. House about Lt. Col. (Padre)

Thomas Nangle and his recent designation as a National Historic Person on

February 15th by the federal government.

The

Deputy Chief of Police (Ret.) Gary F. Browne, author, historian and Member

of the National Order of Merit of Police Forces worked relentlessly for more

than 15 years to have Padre Nangle officially recognized.

Gary

was astounded that Padre Nangle's efforts for World War I as chaplain to the

Royal Newfoundland Regiment and the Director of War Graves, Registration,

Inquiries and Exploit Memorials, has all but been forgotten. Padre Nangle

was responsible for the iconic Trail of the Caribou we heard just recently

about in France and Belgium, for the

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Park in France and

for the completion of the Newfoundland National War Memorial here in St.

John's on Duckworth Street.

Gary co-authored with Darrin McGraw a riveting book

entitled Soldier Priest in the Killing

Fields of Europe: Lt. Col. (Padre) Thomas Nangle . We thank Gary for his

hard work and dedication to remember Padre Nangle for his services to all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for the District of Topsail Paradise, the Opposition Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I've had the honour of attending the

Depart with Dignity Flag Raising Ceremony at the Town of Paradise on January

4th, 2016, for Paradise native Sergeant Judy Sparkes.

The Depart with Dignity program is offered by the

Canadian Forces to personnel who have at least 25 years of military service

to recognize the member's contribution to the Canadian Forces and to Canada.

In recognition of the member's lengthy service, the individual is eligible

for presentation of a Canadian Flag which is flown according to the member's

wishes.

Sergeant Sparkes began her career 35 years ago and

included posts across the country and around the world. It also included

five years as a flight attendant where she was involved in flights with

dignitaries including the Governor General, our prime minister and the royal

family in addition to repatriation flights. She had requested that her

Depart with Dignity Flag Raising ceremony be held in her hometown, the Town

of Paradise, right here in Newfoundland and Labrador where she intends to

reside after her retirement.

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

congratulating and thanking Sergeant Sparkes for her loyal service. We are

proud to have a native resident serve our country with the dedication, the

commitment and allegiance that she has shown.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate the City of Corner Brook,

and the 2016 Special Olympics Canada Games committee, for their success this

past week in hosting the first-ever national Special Olympic Games held in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

I had the honour of participating in the opening

ceremonies on March 1 and witnessing first-hand the positive energy and

spirit that defines the Special Olympics movement.

Mr. Speaker, the Special Olympics remind us of the

importance of inclusion when providing opportunities for all people to

participate in competitive sport. They also enable us to recognize and

celebrate the achievements of these accomplished athletes.

Close to 1,000 athletes from across Canada, along with their coaches, their

friends and their family members attended the games. Mr. Speaker, I

congratulate them all. I want to recognize, in particular, the 44 members of

Team Newfoundland and Labrador and their coaches for representing us so

well.

Newfoundland and Labrador athletes earned a total of 36 medals at the games

10 gold, 16 silver and 10 bronze more than double the medals that were

earned in the 2012 Winter Games.

Mr.

Speaker, I invite my colleagues in this House to join me in congratulating

the 2016 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games athletes, as well as their

coaches, organizers, volunteers and supporters for a job extremely well

done.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

want to thank the Premier for an advance copy of his statement. I, too, had

the privilege of attending the opening ceremonies last week in Corner Brook

and was truly impressed by the organization by the event itself, but

particularly by the number of volunteers who gave freely of their time to

ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador put off a number one show.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to personally thank on behalf of our caucus and our leader

the coaches, the organizing committee, the hundreds of volunteers, the

host committee itself and the City of Corner Brook. Particularly, I want to

acknowledge Mayor Pender who gave an inspiring speech in both official

languages, which impressed the delegates from the other provinces in this

country of ours.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to particularly acknowledge, too, what this event was all

about. It was about inclusion, no doubt, in the sporting world, but it was

about comradery. It was about sportsmanship, but it was particularly about

developing friendships. You could see on the floor that night the

friendships that were developed between the athletes from Newfoundland and

Labrador, the coaches and the volunteers, and those from all over this great

country of ours.

want to particularly congratulate our athletes for not only being great

competitors, but being great ambassadors for this great province of ours.

Mr.

Speaker, to those who won medals, congratulations and thank you to everybody

involved.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

too, thank the Premier for the advance copy of his statement. I am delighted

to join with him in congratulating everyone involved in creating a

successful 2016 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games this year.

Congratulations to all the athletes, some of whom are here. In particular,

the 44 members of our own provincial team, their coaches, the volunteers and

supports. May I say, well done to Jessica Summers from my own district who

won silver in snowshoeing, one of the 36 medal winners, and she's here

today.

I'd

also like to congratulate and recognize the law enforcement torch relay on

running to raise funds and awareness of the games. I think it's a very

important thing that they do.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The

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

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, our government knows that this province is facing a difficult

fiscal situation and we are focused on reshaping Newfoundland and Labrador's

fiscal future. As we continue down the road to long-term sustainability, we

want to work together with our community organizations and bring clarity to

their current funding arrangements.

Our

government is keenly aware of the need to allow such organizations to focus

their efforts on the important issues instead of spending valuable time on

annual funding applications.

That

is why, for budget 2016-17, our government will not be making any changes to

the approximately $70 million in core funding that it provides to community

groups and grants.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. C. BENNETT:

This support will be

maintained for the next fiscal year to enable groups to continue the

important work they do, while allowing time for us to conduct a

comprehensive review of all funding for community-based organizations. This

review will also support our commitment to provide multi-year funding to

community-based organizations.

Mr.

Speaker, through this action, our government is providing some clarity to

these groups while we work with them over the course of the next year,

leading up to budget 2017, to help ensure they are maximizing their funding

and being as efficient as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to thank the minister for a copy of her statement. We, too,

on this side of the House obviously recognize the important role that

community groups like these play in Newfoundland and Labrador, certainly in

our biggest city to our smallest communities and to all the regions of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

congratulate the minister and her government for recognizing the importance

and making, at this time, a decision in securing that the core funding will

stay in place so these groups can look at budgeting obviously for this year,

look at providing the important service they provide, and can move forward

this year with their own budgets and continue the good work they do.

well, it is worthwhile to look at overall reviews of funding to various

agencies at any particular time to make sure that funding is maximized, it

is well executed and going where those dollars can be maximized.

it's great to see the government is starting to make some decisions. We hope

to see more in the near future.

thank the minister for her copy of the statement. Congratulations on

securing core funding today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

too, thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Our community

groups provide life-saving work to our people efficiently and with great

sacrifice, in spite of the drastic underfunding by government who downloads

more and more on them.

With

our current economic situation people will need their services even more,

yet today the minister is saying she is freezing their core funding for

another two years. This is clarity. How can the minister call this

continuing support?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The

Minister of Transportation and Works.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm pleased to rise today to provide my hon. colleagues with an

update regarding early tendering for roadwork.

Early tendering is a commitment of our government and mandated by Premier

Ball as part of the development of a multi-year infrastructure plan to allow

companies to take full advantage of our short construction season in our

province.

Over

the past number of months, much work has been done to ensure early tenders

this year, and to lay the groundwork for the issuing of tenders as early as

January in the coming years. Regional directors and engineers have conducted

assessments and rankings of potential projects. This has been followed by a

provincial assessment and evaluation to identify shovel-ready projects based

on immediate needs.

Early tendering, Mr. Speaker, is one element of a new approach that is

informed by evidence and evaluation, and is proactive and long term. It also

reflects the principles of openness, transparency and accountability.

Early tenders for the 2016 construction season will be announced very soon,

Mr. Speaker, and in the coming months we will publicly release a multi-year

transportation infrastructure plan that will outline projects for the coming

years. This plan will also reflect projects to be cost shared with the

federal government under the Building Canada Fund.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Before I recognize the

next Member to speak, I remind hon. Members that we refer to Members by

their district or their title, not by name.

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I want to thank the minister opposite for the advance copy of

his statement.

It's

good to see the minister releasing these tenders early this year. As you

know, the construction season is short. On a personal note, I've had

experience in the department. I know what pressures the Heavy Civil

Association has always been logged in to have early tenders. It's something

our previous government had committed to trying to get accomplished. So I

want to thank you for this initiative.

The

earlier the tenders, the earlier the work. It's a short season to get our

work done. Pavement is very important every year in the province.

just want to say thank you, and I look forward to seeing the tenders

released in the very near future.

Thank you.

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.

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

I am

pleased to see government follow through on this commitment, which is

something we've been calling on for years, especially the multi-year

funding.

Early tendering for roadwork ensures as much work as possible is done during

our relatively short construction season. I hope the government and the

minister, in the spirit of openness and accountability, will provide a road

construction web page similar to Nova Scotia's, which displays a scheduled

roadwork program via the government website allowing people to know when

roadwork will be performed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

first question, in my first Question Period as Leader of the Opposition, is

pertaining to a matter that's very important to Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians today.

Mr.

Speaker, the sterilization challenges at Eastern Health have gone on for

weeks. Eastern Health has now moved to handwashing to sterilize surgical

equipment. Some surgeons are refusing to perform some surgeries. I know, as

a surgeon, the Minister of Health would have performed hundreds, if not

thousands I know he's very familiar with the processes involved in this.

However, the minister has been silent, largely absent and has declined media

interviews on this very serious issue.

want to know, and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador want to know, if a

risk assessment has been done to ensure that new processes in place are

protecting patients and ensuring patient safety.

ask the minister if he has confidence in the processes that are being used

to sterilize equipment today.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

is my first answer in what I hope will be answer period.

First of all to the question about the ORs and the sterilization program at

Eastern Health, certainly it is a concern for all of us on this side of the

House, as it is for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I am happy to

report today that all ORs are functioning and surgeries are proceeding.

did meet with the CEO yesterday, with the minister and with officials of the

department. I can assure the Leader of the Official Opposition that the

minister is certainly on top of this. The fact that he may not be out in the

he is fully engaged with this. There are lessons that have been learned by

similar events that have happened across the country.

The

minister is engaged; we are very pleased. I would assure you that this is a

minister that has spent more time in the ORs than anyone else in this room.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

Leader.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

acknowledge and we fully agree that there is one expert in the room, who

happens to be the Minister of Health. When it comes to this he is, no doubt,

more knowledgeable and much more experienced than any other Member here in

the House.

But,

Mr. Speaker, the people of the province are asking for answers, and the

people of the province want to know what the status is. The people of the

province look for assurance from our government to make sure that processes

and procedures that are taking place within our health care system are safe

for patients.

ask the minister as well, Mr. Speaker, if he can tell me if there's been any

additional impact to the health care system as a result of delays in

surgeries due to the sterilization issues. Have there been more backlogs?

Have there been backups in emergency rooms? Are beds being occupied by

patients that would otherwise be occupied by new patients if surgeries had

gone ahead? What other impacts are in health care as a result of these

delays?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I say to the Leader of the Opposition when you find yourself in the

situation where you have surgeries that would be cancelled, there's

obviously going to be people that would be impacted. I guess the only other

option would be to go ahead and continue surgeries with equipment that is

not sterilized. That is not an option for people on this side of the House.

We take procedures and the safety of all our patients and the people that

actually provide those services we take that seriously.

There are certainly problems there; that has been recognized. There are

mitigation risks that have been put in place to offset the challenges that

our workers are facing today.

I'm

very proud of the work that's been done. This is three weeks into a

situation, just over three weeks in. This is something that has happened in

other jurisdictions. The minister and the officials at Eastern Health have

taken the lead on this, and they've gone out and accessed the experts in

this field. We are putting measures in place today to make sure that we can

put this to rest.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

question was: What other impacts are in health care? We realize there are

patients who have had their surgeries postponed. The question is: What other

impacts have occurred in health care as a result of these delayed surgeries?

We look forward to receiving some more information on that from the Premier.

Mr.

Speaker, regardless of political stripe, we can all agree that people come

first and our number one goal is the success of the province. We are at a

critical time as a province. The people in Newfoundland and Labrador are

looking for leadership, a plan of action to deal with the fiscal crisis. And

even Liberal insiders are publicly crying out for this administration to get

on with it, to act sooner rather than later, and are saying 15 months is too

long to wait.

ask the Premier: When can the people of Newfoundland and Labrador expect a

clear plan of action to address the current fiscal challenges?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

party and this government will be very proud to put a clear plan in place,

one that was quite different than the plan we saw and we updated the people

of this province on back on December 22 of this year. If we had continued on

the plan the past administration had put in place, the people of this

province would be faced with unprecedented borrowing, deficits of nearly $2

billion a year.

So a

plan will be put in place. What's important is the election of November 30th

saw the mid-year update coming out on December 22, and a plan will be put in

place that will be called budget 2016-2017. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker,

it will be much clearer than the plan that was announced in this very House

less than a year ago.

the way, the budget for the previous administration was announced last year

late in April, and that was after years and years of an administration with

no budget guidelines in place when they left their office. We had to start

and get to a very good start line, and we're getting there, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

Premier and his Cabinet and his caucus were elected to govern, and governing

includes making decisions and showing leadership. Instead of taking action,

this government has wasted time. They continue to kick the can down the road

at a very crucial time in our province's history.

The

lack of action is causing people of the province concern and, as I said,

Liberal Party insiders are on the record of expressing their concern of the

lack of action and decision making. Fifteen months is too long.

ask the Premier: When will he show leadership, and when will he demonstrate

to the people of the province he is willing to take action on the fiscal

realities? Do we have to wait for the budget? Can he be making decisions

today?

said yesterday in the Throne Speech he is very proud of the decisions they

made. What decisions have been made? When is he going to get on with it?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, there are a couple of critical components you must do when you make a

decision. It impacts people in Newfoundland and Labrador. I am very pleased

today that the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board made an

announcement, which was $70 million, to support core funding for a number of

associations in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

I want to go back to

decision making. Different than the previous administration, we believe in

listening to people. We do believe in consulting with people in Newfoundland

and Labrador. That will inform the budget process.

We've been just over 80 days as government right now. There's been quite a

bit of work to be done.

inherited a situation where there were absolutely no budget guidelines.

Normally, these guidelines are in place in September. In October, the

previous administration did nothing of that. So the first week in January,

that was the starting point for us. We had to make sure, number one, the

borrowing aspect getting long-term borrowing in place. It was in a

desperate situation in this province.

We've done quite a bit of work already. It will lead up to budget 2016 and

2017 and the forecasts there beyond.

say to the Leader of the Opposition, right now we will be listening. We'll

continue the consultation and you will not have to wait 15 months to see it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the Minister of Finance has stated their government will be smarter

and watch every dollar spent.

ask the Premier: What savings have been achieved since announcing in

December changes to hiring practices and discretionary spending? What is the

dollar value of those savings?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm

certainly excited to stand and answer a question on behalf of the Opposition

here today. I believe the number is somewhere in the vicinity of about $100

million, which is substantially more than the former administration's

discretionary spending freeze that took place over the course of a much

longer period. I'd be happy to provide the Leader of the Opposition with the

exact details, and also be happy to provide that to the media.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

Leader.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Well, I thank you,

Minister, for that thank you, Mr. Speaker.

thank the minister for that. We look forward to the details of that

information.

Mr.

Speaker, we're hearing a lot more from government about cutting. Yesterday,

in the Speech from the Throne, it was stated that everyone will have to

accept some level of sacrifice in the months and years ahead.

Mr.

Speaker, we had a plan to reduce the size of the public sector through

attrition with minimal impact on employees. In the fall, the Premier touted

during the election campaign that cutting jobs is not part of their plan. He

also said that under a Liberal government, public sector jobs are safe.

Now,

we know that jobs are on the table as part of everything's on the table.

ask the Premier: How many public sector jobs do you anticipate your

government is going to eliminate?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What

the Members on this side of the House have committed to is a process of fair

negotiation. We've been meeting with our labour leaders. We've had many

meetings with our labour leaders. So right now the primary way to reduce the

size of the public service would be attrition.

remind all parties in this House of Assembly that in the election platform

both the Official Opposition and the Third Party had attrition as part of

their election platform, I say, Mr. Speaker. So it will be a fair

negotiation.

Realizing the significant impact that we have in our province right now,

debt servicing, as it exists right now, would be somewhere around $824

million, based on the plan that the previous administration had put in

place. If that was left unchecked, you would see that debt servicing raise

to over $1.4 billion.

can tell you, if there's a way to cut the public service, it is increase

borrowing, keep having to pay debt servicing, then we will have no choice

someone else will make the decision for us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Minister of Finance has stated time and time again that everything is on the

table. In the Speech from the Throne yesterday, the Liberal administration

committed to proceeding with full-day kindergarten and also tourism

marketing. Both were announced to confirm just a couple of days before the

Minister of Finance stated that everything was on the table. They did that

to safeguard some things, and we understand that.

Did

the government really not see fit as well to include safeguarding such

services as child protection, health care and our hospitals?

So I

ask the Premier: Is everything on the table or are other matters and others

parts of government going to be protected?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What

I said back a few minutes ago, when it comes to making decisions, we had

made a commitment to full-day kindergarten. That's a commitment that we

stand by.

When

you look at the way you offer services to people in our province, no matter

what those services are, we always look for the most cost-effective way to

be able to do it, because when you do that in the most cost-effective way,

it's the way to make sure your services and programs are sustainable. That's

what we want to do. So in order to protect those services, it's important

now that we listen to the people who actually use those services.

When

you look at things like public safety, you look at things like health care,

you look at things like education, these are things we've had significant

discussion on and we will continue to do that. Because as I said in the

speech yesterday, if we simply do not change the way we do things, change

the way we make decisions, well, I can tell you what, you will see programs

that someone else will make a decision for because it will be unsustainable.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you again, Mr.

Speaker.

The

Premier is on the record as saying they have a plan. He has said: We have a

plan and people are going to like it. The Minister of Finance is on the

record as saying she wasn't sure which parts of the public service she would

eliminate until she saw the books.

So,

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Can you tell the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador which health clinics and which schools in rural Newfoundland and

Labrador are on the chopping block? Is this part of the plan that people are

going to like?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I can tell you there was one plan that the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador did not like, and they voted on that on November 30th

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

because that plan led

to many closures of health clinics. It led to many closures and loss of

services in a lot of areas in this province. The plan that the previous

administration put in place, that we reported on, as I said earlier, on

December 22 needed to be changed. It was not sustainable. It would not lead

to increased services or better services for anyone in this province. So

we're happy today to be able to work on a plan that will be sustainable,

that will be viable and will continue to supply and provide sustainable

services to the people of our province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Yes,

the people of the province did elect the Members opposite as their

government. They did choose their plan. They went to the people of the

province with what they said, they had a plan. For two years the Premier has

been saying he had a plan, and they elected him on the basis that they had a

plan. I just heard the Premier say we're working on a plan.

the Premier now saying today that they didn't have a plan when he told the

people they did and now they're only working on it?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When

you put in place a plan, as I said earlier, the important piece is to get to

a start line. It's to understand where you are when put in place things like

a budget.

What

I did on September 28, 2015, is I wrote a letter. It wasn't a long letter.

It was pretty concise, quite frankly, to the former premier, the now Leader

of the Official Opposition. Two things that I was looking for was an update

on Muskrat Falls, which was subsequently provided by the Oversight

Committee, and I looked for a fiscal update in the affairs of this province.

Well, quite frankly, for some reason I did find out on December 2 what that

reason was, because that was just after the election when I had access to

much more information.

The

former premier made a decision not to answer that letter and hid the

information from the people of our province. The stark reality is the

circumstances in our province right now are quite different than they were

last year at budget time. The Premier decided not to answer those letters,

decided not to inform the people of our province the realities of what we

face today in our province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, it certainly

sounds like the Premier is now saying they didn't actually have a plan at

that point in time. Well, maybe they did, Mr. Speaker, because at that point

in time, last year we had anticipated a $1.2 billion deficit, at the same

time the now Premier is saying he had a plan.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Premier: If you had a plan for $1.2 billion, well, where

is that plan? At least you should have that plan to be able to present to

the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, number one, on November 30th of this year the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador made a decision to give this party a mandate for the next four

years. Part of that mandate included a $1.2 billion plan. It is not a

three-month plan, or a four-month plan; it's a four-year mandate. For us to

deliver that mandate we will put together it will start with budget

2016-2017.

would say to the Leader of the Official Opposition, after 10, 12 years in

government I am surprised when you look at the significant deficits we've

seen with this previous administration, with $25 billion in oil royalties

and money from the Atlantic Accord. The fact is, are they actually proud of

the record that would lead to $15.4 billion in borrowing for the people of

this province at an unprecedented time, setting revenues at an all-time high

in this province? This is what we get after 10, 12 years of this

administration?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now

from that answer, based on the question that was asked, it almost sounds

now, well, maybe he did have a plan. Because earlier he said he's working on

a plan, now he says maybe he did have a plan.

ask the Premier: If you did have a plan for $1.2 billion, will you table

that plan here in the House?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

think it's still on the website there, so he can just do his research

(inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

Leader.

MR. P. DAVIS:

I guess, Mr. Speaker,

he's referring to the rhetoric that was combined in his Liberal Red Book, I

think what he's referring to today, because we know how academics and we

know how professors at the university felt about their plan. We'll be asking

lots of questions on their plan, I can assure you, in the coming weeks.

Well, Mr. Speaker, one of the matters I mentioned earlier, and it's very

important to the people in our province, is health care.

ask the Premier if he can confirm that the tender to construct Green Bay

Health Centre has been cancelled.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

tender for the Green Bay Health Centre came in way over the amount of money

that was allocated. It has been deferred and is being reworked to be

resubmitted.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

will ask the Premier: Did he consult with the people of Green Bay before he

decided to cancel that tender?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

consult with all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, unlike the previous

administration.

talked about a plan, well, maybe it's appropriate right now that I use my

time, and the few seconds that I would have, to talk about a long-term care

plan that the previous administration which I'm sure the people in the

Green Bay area would be interested in knowing.

the previous premier's plan, it talked about a long-term care plan. It was

actually cost neutral. So when we went looking after the election to

determine how this would be paid for, guess what, Mr. Speaker? There was no

money allocated.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We'll go down that road in the coming weeks as well. We're starting to get

some information from the Premier, information that we didn't expect to

hear, that's for sure. I can tell you that we have some further questions

that we're going to pursue on that matter.

the Green Bay Health Centre, Mr. Speaker, the Member opposite, the Premier

and his government like to consult. They haven't consulted with people

before they cancelled the tender.

wonder if the Premier can tell us: Will you consult specifically with the

people of the Green Bay area on what services will be eliminated from the

Green Bay Health Centre clinic as you re-scope that project?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Mr. Speaker, perhaps I

didn't make myself understood. The cancellation of the tender has not

actually occurred. It's simply being withdrawn, deferred, while it's being

reworked. It's still there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the premiers of the other oil-producing non-equalization receiving

provinces, Brad Wall of Saskatchewan and Rachel Notley of Alberta, are

fighting for infusions of federal funding while oil revenues are down.

Will

our Premier join these premiers in fighting for fairness so our people will

not have to endure deep cuts while revenues are drastically down?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When

you go looking for information, what's appropriate and timely is to actually

read all the documents. Stop just reading headlines; read everything that's

in the information.

What

the Member is referring to, there's been no special or unique circumstances

or money that's been allocated by the federal government to Alberta and

Saskatchewan or to Newfoundland and Labrador. What's been announced is a

$1.4 billion fund; $400 million, I'm proud to say, will be for Newfoundland

and Labrador

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

less than $400 million for Saskatchewan and the remaining goes to Alberta.

In actual fact, I think the Member opposite should know that it's not even

new money that we've heard so far.

We're all looking forward to March 22 when we'll see the federal budget that

will come out. It is then you will tell what programs are in place for this

province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, Mr. Speaker,

he's exactly right, it's not new money. This New Building Canada Fund that

was signed in 2014, originally, when it came out, they were talking about

new money for infrastructure. So it's not new money; it was money that was

approved by the prior administration in Canada to renew the Building Canada

Fund.

Mr.

Speaker, the principle of equalization is entrenched in the country's

Constitution. Quebec will get $10 billion to help it cope with the revenue

shortfall this year; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, $1.7 billion; Ontario,

$2.4 billion, as examples.

How

can everything be on the table when our Premier is not advocating for a

change to federal policy and additional revenue for Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

I can tell you one thing

that Members on this side of the House are advocating for and that is going

looking for the money that has already been announced and available to you,

like the Small Communities Fund; $34.9 million that this previous

administration just left there; never even used the $60 million that was

available, which they spent literally, or made allocations or commitments to

in two years; missed the significant opportunity to use a leveraging

opportunity on $34.9 million; did not even take the time to sign the

agreement.

have done that. The Minister of Municipal Affairs right now, I am very proud

to say we got on that right away. That will be done. It will be available

to the people of our province.

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.

The

government has been creating a climate of fear since they have been elected.

During the campaign, the Liberals promised no job cuts. Now everything is on

the table.

ask the Premier: Will he guarantee the workers of this province there will

be no job cuts?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One

thing that I know about Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, if there is a

message, they want to know something; they want to know the facts. What we

have outlined so far, really, there is no pleasure from any Member on this

side of the House announcing and talking about some of the things that we

have had to, but they indeed are the facts.

is not fearful. What it is, though, people will be engaged or offering some

tremendous opportunities and ideas for us. It is part of the consultation.

So it is not about fear really, I say to the Member opposite. What it is, it

is about outlying what the facts are, what the current financial landscape

is in our province right now.

The

other option when you think about it would be, what, to lie to the people of

our province? That is not something we are prepared to do.

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.

The

Premier has said he is talking to people and consulting. Well, he can't be

talking to the people I am speaking to. People are in fear.

During the election campaign, we all knew what was happening. We all knew

there was a nosedive in the price of oil. We were going to be deeper in

debt. The whole province knew that.

ask the Premier: Why did he keep promising things that he is now not

keeping, like no job cuts?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

the Member opposite should know, if you're following the financial situation

in our province, things have changed drastically since the 1st of November.

Even when the election platforms were announced, we've seen oil prices

continue to drop, continue to erode. We've seen other sections and

industries in our province significantly challenged as well.

These are all factors that you have to put in when you put in place budget

2016-2017. It's fair. The best way to do things is make sure you understand

what it is you can afford.

Things have changed considerably in our province right now, and we will use

the evidence and the information that we have to inform the decisions that

we make in budget 2016-17.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Women and children are hit hardest in bad economic times. On February 1st,

the eight Status of Women Councils wrote the minister asking for a modest

increase in funding over a four-year period. Their funding has already been

frozen for five years, even while the demand on their services was

drastically increasing, and it's getting worse. Now, it looks like a

seven-year freeze despite increasing operating costs.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the minister: It being international women's week, will she

guarantee their request for a modest increase over four years so they can

continue their life-saving work for the women of our province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Status of Women.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Since being appointed the privilege of being the Minister Responsible for

the Women's Policy Office, I've had the opportunity to tour several

facilities and several Status of Women organizations in the last 86 days. I

want to correct the Member opposite on her comment that she made in

reference to the Ministerial Statement that I made.

There was no mention of freeze. There was clearly, clearly a mention that as

we work with community groups, we intend to explore opportunities for

efficiency. As a matter of fact, the Member opposite attended a session in

my district where she heard from an accountant that said maybe we shouldn't

have these organizations paying $5,000 accounting fees but rather a $2,500

management review. That's the things we're looking at.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

two-year guarantee of a funding freeze is not multi-year commitment in

funding.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the minister: Will she guarantee the Premier's commitment to

multi-year funding for these groups, not simply a two-year freeze in

funding?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Status of Women.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

is a privilege to get up again and explain to the Member opposite that when

you look at the money that the community organizations are spending, it is

very important we look at all of the costs they spend, to ensure every

dollar possible that needs to get into the services particularly for

families and for women and children gets there.

when a former administration has a rule, as an example, that auditing has to

happen in a certain way that puts restrictions on the amount of money that

goes forward, whether as an expense of rents that are paid, it is important

for us to work with those community organizations to ensure, first and

foremost, that women and children who are affected by violence have every

cent available to them in their service.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question

Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Sorry, I didn't see the hon. the Minister standing. Were you

AN HON. MEMBER:

No, I was just

stretching.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, on

behalf of the Striking Committee I have the honour to present the

Committee's Report, which I will now read.

The

Striking Committee appointed on March 8 recommends, pursuant to Standing

Order 65(1) and (3), that the following Members comprise the Standing

Committees of the House of Assembly for the 48th General Assembly.

Government Services Committee: the Member for Torngat Mountains, the Member

for Bonavista, the Member for Burin Grand Bank, the Member for Ferryland,

the Member for Harbour Main, the Member for Mount Pearl North, the Member

for Stephenville Port au Port and the Member for St. John's East Quidi

Vidi.

Social Services Committee: the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, the

Member for Burin Grand Bank, the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune,

the Member for Harbour Main, the Member for Mount Pearl Southlands, the

Member for St. George's Humber, the Member for St. John's Centre, the

Member for Topsail Paradise.

Resource Committee: the Member for Baie Verte Green Bay, the Member for

Cape St. Francis, the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island, the

Member for Exploits, the Member for Fogo Island Cape Freels, the Member

for Harbour Grace Port de Grave, the Member for St. John's East Quidi

Vidi and the Member for Stephenville Port au Port.

The

Public Accounts Committee will be: the Member for Conception Bay East Bell

Island, the Member for Baie Verte Green Bay , the Member for Conception Bay South, the Member for Fogo Island Cape

Freels, the Member for Harbour Grace Port de Grave, the Member for St.

George's Humber and the Member for St. John's Centre.

The

Privileges and Elections Committee will be: the Member for St. George's

Humber, the Member for Ferryland, the Member for Harbour Grace Port de

Grave, the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi and the Member for

Stephenville Port au Port.

The

Standing Orders Committee will be: the Member for Burgeo La Poile, the

Member for St. George's Humber, the Member for Mount Pearl North, the

Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi and the Member for St. John's West.

The

Miscellaneous and Private Bills Committee will be: the Member for St.

George's Humber, the Member for Bonavista, the Member for St. John's East

Quidi Vidi, the Member for Harbour Main and the Member for Mount Pearl

North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Is it the pleasure of the

House to adopt this motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Answers to questions for which notice has been given.

I'm

sorry, the hon. the Minister of Finance.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I want

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

An Act

To Amend The Financial Administration Act, Bill 4.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

An Act To

Amend The Professional Fish Harvesters Act, Bill 6.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I give

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

An Act To Amend

The Inter-Provincial Subpoena Act, Bill 5.

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

An Act To Amend The Parliamentary Assistant Act And The Parliamentary

Secretaries Act, Bill 3.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Orders of the Day

Private Members'

Day

MR. SPEAKER:

It being Private Members'

Day and almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we don't have time for petitions

so I will call on the hon. the Leader of the Opposition to bring forward the

resolution that stands in his name.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Thank you for allowing me to begin debate on this private Member's

resolution, and I'll begin by reading the resolution:

the impact of the steep fall in oil revenues on our province and that it

consider financial support to our province in order to prevent deep cuts in

services to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador;

modernize federal-provincial arrangements, including the Equalization

Program and the Fiscal Stabilization Program to more fairly and promptly

reflect our province's needs and to more fairly account for our natural

resources revenues.

That

notice was given yesterday for debate today.

Mr.

Speaker, leadership is many things and it's been defined in many, many ways.

We know that one characteristic of leadership that's constant always is the

ability to make difficult decisions. Sometimes, making difficult decisions

may sometimes strain relationships. We know that and we understand that.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are no stranger to having strained

relationships with other jurisdictions or with the country. We know that

having strained relationships, sometimes, is particularly true when it comes

to politics in particular.

Mr.

Speaker, the Premier has made a lot about his relationship with the prime

minister. I'm glad he has a good relationship with the prime minister. We

are all, on this side of the House, glad he has a good relationship with our

prime minister.

hope that this relationship will result in tangible benefits to Newfoundland

and Labrador. We hope that this relationship will result in the Government

of Canada paying greater attention to our province than we've seen in

history. We all know the history of the relationship between us and our

federal counterparts. We also hope this relationship will help, and prompt

to action to address these very important issues that we face as a province

today.

know that hasn't happened before. Our history is very long, very deep and

very colourful when it comes to our relationship between us as a province

and our federal government. If history repeats itself, and the federal

government continues to treat Newfoundland and Labrador with indifference,

similar to what we've seen in the past, then it's going to be important for

our Premier to step up to represent Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

The

people of our province have to come before the friendship he has with the

prime minister. Hopefully that won't happen. I have to stress, we're not

advocating and hoping that happens. We're hoping that doesn't happen. We're

hoping the relationship is going to be beneficial to our province.

Ronald Reagan once said, When you can't make them see the light, make them

feel the heat. That's quite often what happens when it comes to

relationships between our province and the federal government.

know the long history. Maybe it's because of our relatively small

population; we have a small number of federal MPs representing our province.

We've often had to fight tooth and nail to get attention and to get what we

believed was our fair share, to get what we believed was rightfully

belonging and that we were entitled to, that we should receive from our

federal counterparts.

That's not how it's supposed to happen. Sometimes we have these bad and

strained relationships. That's not how it's supposed to happen, that we have

to fight tooth and nail when we're in a federation and supposed to be able

to work together. We are supposed to be able to have those discussions. We

hope that happens, but in reality it is not always the way that it takes

place, even though as much as we wish it could.

The

Atlantic Accord, back in 1985, was an agreement between two PC governments,

but it didn't come easy. Just the year prior to that, there was disagreement

between the governments of the day. There was a Liberal government in Ottawa

and a PC government in Newfoundland and Labrador back in 1984 and there was

disagreement over the Atlantic Accord. There was disagreement, fighting and

battling between both governments in effort for Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians to benefit from the offshore resources that we believe we

brought into the federation. We were blocked and we fought back.

The

Opposition federal Tories at the time and actually it included a gentleman

that we all know very well and I know that we all admire, Mr. John Crosbie.

He was there at the time and he sided with us in 1984. When they were

elected soon after that, the Atlantic Accord was born. We are all better off

for it today and our province has been better off for it today.

Here

we are a couple of decades later, we remember what happened. We realized the

history of it. Again, we are facing a relationship between us as a province

and our federal government as well, our Liberal federal government that is

in Ottawa today.

Again, our government fought tooth and nail for fairness. It was by

fighting, a couple of days after that, that we got a better deal from the

Liberal prime minister of the day, Prime Minister Paul Martin. It was only

because of the battle that Newfoundland and Labrador brought to the doorstep

of Prime Minister Martin that Newfoundland and Labrador benefited and

improved on the benefits being received. Again, thank goodness for that as

well.

Voisey's Bay benefits were the product of a fight. Hebron benefits and other

offshore benefits were products of fighting and advocating for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, putting our province first and our people

first in our efforts when we went, lobbied and fought against our federal

counterparts to get what we believed we should receive from such activities.

Some

fights were not successful and in some battles we were not successful: the

redress to the Upper Churchill, the energy corridor through Quebec. I think

most generations have seen, at some point in time, what has happened between

us, the federal government and Quebec in trying to open access in a corridor

through Quebec. It has not been easy.

But

it was right to take a strong stance and a strong view on these very

important issues, because there were important benefits at stake for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. There were important benefits at stake for

our province. Failing to take a stand would have been the wrong thing to do.

It would have denied us important gains that benefited our people, the

people of our province.

Now,

we have a new prime minister today, Mr. Speaker. Prime Minister Trudeau, by

all accounts, seems to be a good guy, seems to be a nice guy. People like

him and people are liking what he's doing. Many were quite optimistic when

they saw his victory last year. There have been examples we know in the

past, as I said, when we have these relationships, but we want to have a

good relationship, if that's there, but we also need to protect our

federation.

There are other premiers we see today now. We see other premiers today who

are fighting for their jurisdictions, are fighting for their province. We

look at who is now known as the most popular premier in the country, in

Saskatchewan, Premier Brad Wall. He is fighting for his province. For

several years, Premier Wall has been seeking and looking for a rework of the

federal transfer formulas. Long before the current circumstances faced

Saskatchewan, the premier, Premier Wall, was out saying the formula's not

right and it should change.

There was once a time when the formulas benefited Saskatchewan, but they

don't anymore. He recognized that. He recognized the system was broken, the

system wasn't working, and he wanted it fix. Even more today, now that that

broken system is proving him right, he's now looking for a correction by the

federal government.

Mr.

Speaker, when oil markets bottomed out, his case truly became more

compelling and people started to pay attention to it. How could Saskatchewan

continue to carry the country when their oil revenues were through the floor

and they're facing what they're facing today? Why should he be paying to

subsidize social programs in Quebec, in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, in

Manitoba and Ontario when even in the Quebec example, Quebec was trying to

block the very pipelines that were needed to drive the Saskatchewan economy?

If Quebec was trying to block the pipelines, that economy in Saskatchewan is

going to deliver value, money and transfers to the Province of Quebec.

What

does Premier Wall do about it? Did he step aside, go in his office and close

his door and say we had enough of this? No, he hasn't. He stepped up his

fight, and something very interesting has happened. On the 28th of December

CBC News reported not only has

Premier Wall fought for fairness for Saskatchewan, but he's also taken a

strong stance for neighbouring Alberta. Premier Wall spoke up on behalf of

Albertans.

Now,

that's a long ways away, but he also took a stand for another province. He

talked about Newfoundland and Labrador. He's talking about the benefits that

Newfoundland and Labrador should be having from equalization, if the formula

was changed and if it was fixed so that provinces such as Saskatchewan and

Alberta, and also Newfoundland and Labrador, would benefit from it. We are

the oil-producing provinces and it's our provinces that are being impacted

the most.

Here's what he said, Mr. Speaker, 'It might be time for the federal

government, not through a direct bailout to any sort of sector, but to

realize that Newfoundland and Labrador Alberta and Saskatchewan perhaps

should be provided some of that [money] back.' He was talking about the

money that the provinces had contributed to the federation through

equalization with the contribution the provinces made during the good times.

He's saying that they should be provided some of that money back. He said it

publicly and he said it on behalf of his constituents, the people of his

province, the people of Saskatchewan.

recognizes that rejigging the formulas is difficult. He realizes that, he's

talked about that, and it's not likely to happen quickly. He said, to avoid

the challenge of trying to reach consensus on changes to the country's

equalization formula which we know can take a very, very long period of

time he's asked in his talk about the possibility of a special payment

that can be made outside of the program to alleviate the pressures that our

government, the Government of Saskatchewan and the Government of Alberta are

dealing with. He's called it a special payment.

This

is at a time when these three provinces, who are significant financial

contributors to the federation, have seen a quick shift in the economies of

these three provinces. So asking for a special payment on behalf of

Newfoundland and Labrador, and Alberta and Saskatchewan well for me,

personally, I thank Premier Wall for him taking that position. I thank him,

and I'm sure Newfoundlanders and Labradorians join with me, in him speaking

publicly on behalf of Newfoundland and Labrador and for standing up for us

and fighting for fairness.

also recall another time in the past this is not the first time

Saskatchewan has stepped up for us. They've done it in the past. Today is so

vital. It's so vital that we stand side by side with the counterparts in the

federation, with the other members of the Council of the Federation I know

the Premier recently attended meetings and I'm sure he'll share some of that

with us today; I would expect that he'd do that and that they work

together and talk about the circumstances that have changed so quickly. I'm

sure they have talked about the circumstances that have changed so, so

quickly in our province. That's sometimes what can happen; things can change

very, very quickly.

Mr.

Speaker, we know from yesterday and I know from a story on CBC, I haven't

heard the Premier say this directly, but the story indicates that the

Premier will, at some time in the future, be having discussions, but also

said he believes the Equalization Program is what it is. The story from CBC

does indicate that the Premier's comments yesterday is that at some point in

time there will be discussions.

Maybe he has already had them. Maybe he has already gone to Ottawa and he

has already talked to the prime minister. I haven't heard that and it's not

what's reflected in the story. I know stories quite often don't reflect all

the information. If the Premier speaks on this today, which I expect he

probably will, maybe he can talk about that a little bit, about the working

effort he's already done. I expect he'll do that.

what's at stake for us as a province, Mr. Speaker, is very serious, very

significant for us as the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. There are

limited opportunities for changing the circumstances we find ourselves in.

There's increase in revenue, which is taxes, as the Premier talked about

yesterday.

was asked if he was going to increase taxes. He said, well, we're going to

increase our revenue. He was asked again and he said we're going to increase

our revenue. We know that means a tax increase, unless there's some other

way through the federal government that we're going to get extra revenue. We

have to increase our revenue, we have to cut programs, reduce programs and

spending, and we also have to borrow. That's the three remedies that are

available to the government and to the Premier.

having an opportunity for additional funding from the federal government is

critical at this time. That's what this is about. This is about advocating.

This is about asking the federal government to consider financially

supporting us as a province. I believe we can do that jointly as a House.

talked at some length yesterday about the importance of co-operation. We've

stated our position that we're quite willing to co-operate with the

government. I believe the Third Party is willing to do that to benefit

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. We ask all Members in the House to support

the resolution that is on the floor this afternoon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I've

noticed and, of course, I've read the PMR that was presented today in this

House of Assembly. The former premier just spent considerable time talking

about an Equalization Program. What he didn't spend any time on, to my

knowledge, was the Stabilization Program which is also available.

I'm

pleased to say this is a program that we've been advocating on behalf of our

province already. It's a program that will be worth around $31 million. Only

once before in our history did we receive this, and this was in the early

'90s

With

that said, this is a program that, as I said, will bring in $31 million in

revenue to our province, but is really part of a program that exists at the

federal level. Many provinces would be able to access this program because

it's based on a formula that says if you see revenues that would actually

fall in your province by about 5 per cent based on the previous year so it

is really 95 per cent of adjusted revenue from the previous year you can

access this fund. I am happy to say this is a program we will be able to

access, which will be about $31 million.

There's been a lot of discussion today around this resolution about a

relationship. I think the former premier started about he said leadership

is many things. Of course it is, but so are relationships. Relationships are

something that evolve and are developed over time. I will say with the

current Prime Minister of Canada, with our federal colleagues we have in the

federal Cabinet and the MPs who represent us, we have built up a

relationship over quite a bit of time.

Will

there always be, or from time to time do we anticipate or expect we will be

able to have frank discussions and open discussions in meetings with our

federal colleagues? Of course we will. Sometimes you need a little frank

discussion, sometimes some intensity in a room, to get decisions made. I'm

guessing over the mandate of this administration, and the federal

administration, that might occur from time to time.

Rest

assured, every Member on this side of the House will stand up for the people

that elected them. We will stand up for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Taking gestures and looking for sound bites and running out of meetings and

offices and saying, well, I don't trust that guy, or you do some awkward

things publicly for the sake of getting media attention because it looks to

be dramatic at some point in time don't expect that from me right now, but

you will get very frank and honest answers as things evolve.

Well, I can tell you, right after November 30th, and prior to that, as I

said before, we started to build relationships, not just with our

colleagues, the federal members, but also with our Atlantic Canadian

premiers. This is a relationship we've been developing for quite some time.

Now,

I want to talk about equalization. As people who would know me, I like to

lay out the facts as they exist. There was a comment that was just made, and

I find it a little odd to be honest with you because it was a comment that

was made about provinces contributing to a pot or an equalization fund.

Well, I want to clarify that because there is no equalization fund that

provinces contribute to. In actual fact, this is how it works.

Equalization is a program that was put in place around 1957. It's worth just

shy of $18 billion. You get all provinces that would access this fund and

it's based on trying to find a mechanism that you could actually supply

services to the people across Canada. What you do is you compare yourself to

other jurisdictions and where you fit on that benchmark. There is money then

that is allocated out of the $18 billion fund that the federal government

put in place. That's how the fund exists. It's not as if Newfoundland and

Labrador or Ontario or some other province would write a cheque called

through the Equalization Program. That is not how it works.

The

program actually is increased based on the GDP of the country, not what

happens in your particular case within a province. It is a very complex

formula, I would say to the Members opposite. I can tell you right now, in

2007 the former administration had to make a decision because the

equalization formula was being reformed. You either had to opt into a new

formula the new formula was based on being predictable over a three or

five-year period.

was not as responsive as the old formula. What happened? The previous

administration made the decision to go into a new formula. The problem is if

you opt into a new formula, guess what? You could not come out of it.

Therefore, the natural resource revenue and so on would get included in the

overall revenue that we see within our province and it made it more

difficult to receive equalization more responsive. All provinces, by the

way, are into this new formula as it exists today, so it makes it more

difficult.

What

was not mentioned today and I will challenge why the premier did not

mention this is the formula is actually negotiated every five years. It's

a federal program. When you think about a government that's been in place

for 13 years almost, there would have been at least two occasions when the

former administration in this province had an opportunity to put what they

felt the equalization formula should look like, and they failed to do it.

As a

matter of fact, it was as late as 2014 when this administration had an

opportunity to put in place what they felt would be the appropriate program

that would benefit Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. They failed to do it.

They didn't stand up for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians then, and here we

are four months into this administration and they're over there talking

about lack of leadership?

Mr.

Speaker, I tell you, I am just absolutely bewildered that we would see

someone stand up today after four months and claim that Members on this side

are not fighting for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. It's actually not the

way it is at all. There have been quite a number of meetings. I just

mentioned one about the Small Communities Fund in Question Period, somewhere

close to $34.9 million. This is money that we will use now to leverage the

money that we have available to us. There is quite a bit of dialogue that is

happening with our federal colleagues right now.

also want to make more mention about he talked quite a bit about Premier

Brad Wall who called the election just yesterday now. We have had quite a

bit of discussion as well. The fact is when you talk about the pipeline, as

an example, yes, there is no question, I think all of us in Eastern Canada

support the pipeline, but right now Quebec is having some issues with this.

get back to the resolution of where we are and the fact that you would see a

premier from Saskatchewan standing up for Newfoundland and Labrador, well, I

bring you back to just a few weeks ago to this discussion. Most of the

national media were reporting, what? They were reporting that the Province

of Alberta and the Province of Saskatchewan were having difficulty given the

situation that we are into with declining oil royalties.

can tell you now that it wasn't long that we met with a lot of the members

of the national media. If you listen to the discussion as it exists today,

there were three provinces that get included in this discussion every single

time when people speak to the media or when politicians from Ottawa speak.

They do talk about Alberta, they do talk about Saskatchewan and they do talk

about Newfoundland and Labrador.

It's

the first time in the history of this province we see the national media

have an understanding of the importance of our province right now. So I want

to thank my federal colleagues and thank people on this side of the House

that continue to raise (inaudible) we have in the province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

I also want to say that

when you look at the situation that currently exists today I want to talk

a little bit about Alberta and Saskatchewan because that is the comparison

that we want to see. If you look at the Alberta budget right now, they

budgeted revenue of just over $43 billion. Their expense line is around $49

billion. Right now, based on the forecast that they put out on February 24th

of this year, they would anticipate a $6.3 billion deficit. Contrast that to

Saskatchewan, they put out their quarter on February 29th of revenues just

shy of $14 billion and expenses of $14.2 billion, therefore a $259 million

deficit. They anticipate even lowering that this year.

you compare that to the administration, the management and the planning that

we have seen in our province over the last 13 years, well, we have revenue

of about $6 billion and expenses of $8 billion and a deficit of $2 billion.

If you compare that to Alberta and Saskatchewan and you will tell that the

management and the planning for this province, given the volatility around

oil royalties, has been extremely different. The prior administration have

put this province in an unprecedented situation and Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians are feeling the impact of that, I will say.

It's

fine to say that you look to Ottawa as a solution, but the responsibility on

every Member in this House is to manage your own home first. Look after your

own affairs and be responsible for your own actions. I would question if the

prior administration is prepared to do that right now: look to Ottawa for it

to be totally an Ottawa solution. Well, Ottawa will be part of a solution,

but what we have to do, too, is make sure that we properly govern and we

properly manage our own affairs, get our own house in order first before we

look for support.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, there's one

other thing that I want to raise today because it is a concern about

equalization. Some of the stark realities are that when you come into a new

administration, this is the kind of information that you find.

Back

in 2005, there was an acknowledgement of $378 million in an overpayment on

the equalization 2005. Think about that, Mr. Speaker. There was $107

million of that repaid. We were overpaid, so what happens there is the

province would have to repay it.

started with $378 million. Mr. Speaker, $107 million of that was repaid,

which left an outstanding balance of $271 million. That outstanding balance

with the federal government was never repaid. We had unprecedented surpluses

in the history of our province, $25 billion in oil royalties and Atlantic

Accord money, and the previous administration did what? They ignored it,

except for the former premier. Guess what he did?

The

person that just stood up and questioned leadership on this side of the

House, what he did last year was he signed an agreement with the federal

government one that finally the federal government agreed with. What he

agreed to do was pay back the money for the next 10 years, starting in the

spring of 2016. After ignoring it for over 10 years, now, the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador are left on the hook to repay $271 million in an

overpayment that was acknowledged by the previous administration back in

2005. Completely ignored, and here we are, Newfoundland and Labrador, left

on the hook to pay back this equalization.

That

was the agreement. Finally, they were successful in signing an agreement

with the federal government. And what is it? To repay a loan based on an

overpayment on an equalization payment they knew about back in 2005.

Mr.

Speaker, the relationship with Ottawa and for people on this side of the

House, I will say it is one we will continue to foster and it is a

relationship we will continue to develop. Will we get everything we need as

a province? Well, maybe we won't. But I can tell you what, we will not be

shy of looking for and standing up for what Newfoundland and Labrador so

rightfully deserves, and we will do that. Every single person will do that,

and I challenge people on the opposite side of the House to be there with us

when we do that. We will continue those efforts and we will do that on a

daily basis.

will tell you one thing, what we will not do is we will not abdicate our

responsibilities; we will live up to and accept the responsibilities, and we

will not, as the previous administration did when we acknowledge what we

are responsible for, then, Mr. Speaker, I will say this, Members on this

side of the House, we will do it in a respectful manner. We will do it in a

professional manner, and we will not be leaving the outstanding balances and

the outstanding commitments to the next generation. We will deal with this

and we will deal with it, as I say, in a very meaningful way.

I am

very proud of Minister Foote and the job she is doing right now working for

Newfoundland and Labrador. You can expect, I would suggest, Mr. Speaker,

lots of good things will come to our province with the relationship we have.

I will tell you, long gone are the days of rhetoric, long gone are the days

of when you stand on the steps of Confederation Building and shout and rant,

because right now what is more important is that you get success in those

agreements, and we do that with the many meetings we have.

there ever comes a time when we see ourselves offside with the federal

and Labradorians.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, it is certainly a privilege today to rise to speak to this motion,

a very important motion indeed. Looking at history in this great federation

of Canada and our particular circumstances today in regard to our finances

and a very resource-based province, obviously it is extremely important to

us, as we all know, here in the House. Certainly Canada as a whole is very

resource rich with natural resources. It's important in the economics of

Canada as a whole and certainly of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Some

of the issues we face today in terms of the financial situation are tied to

world markets in regard to oil, the pricing of oil. Certainly world

commodity prices, particularly in the past number of months, the past years,

have gone to historic lows, have basically tanked. Fortunately, they've come

back in the last few weeks around the $40 a barrel, which is good to see.

But the decline has certainly been sudden; it's been steep and sustained,

and pretty much unpredictable.

many would say, internationally, it's almost a perfect storm. In other parts

of the world it's all interrelated. We see Europe was slow out of the

recession. We see the United States coming out of the recession now,

starting to produce more oil and gas, and get more self-sufficient in regard

to shale production. You look at the Dakotas and different states, the

amount of shale that is being produced through that process. That's

affecting the world market and the impact in terms of their supply and what

they have in their inventory.

China's rate of growth over the past number of years has slowed. A number of

years ago it was unprecedented, the growth in China, 7 or 8 per cent, which

was huge; but that's back again to a couple of percent. That's all affecting

issues in regard to oil.

Inventories now around the world are a glut on the market. There is not

enough economic activity to soak that up. So those are some of the things

that are happening globally now overall on this issue.

OPEC

itself in December agreed on their production cuts; they didn't do any. So

oil production states still cause challenges in regard to the overall volume

that is being produced in the world.

guess the context to put it in, Mr. Speaker, is that's out of everybody's

control and we need to adapt and try to do the best we can. It is certainly

out of our control in terms of the prices. Newfoundland and Labrador did not

cause the global issue in regard to the price of oil and we certainly can't

fix it, nor can any of the other oil producers in Canada: Alberta or

Saskatchewan. It's just part of a whole world commodity market that we've

involved with.

Being part of this great country of Canada, 10 provinces and three

territories, there are programs put in place by the federal government. And

that's a benefit of being part of a great country like Canada. There are

programs; there is assistance that is available. Historically, at varied

times, jurisdictions availed of that; other times, they don't. They don't

need to.

look back at the principles of equalization and what it's meant to do. In

1957, Canada created an Equalization Program to help the poor provinces of

the country deliver services at a level similar to the richer provinces.

That meant across the board that no matter where you lived in Canada, there

was always an opportunity for a comparable level of services and programs,

and that was dealt with through equalization. That is another great

attribute of Canada.

Certainly, when the Constitution was repatriated in 1982 by Pierre Trudeau

he ensured that equalization at that time was entrenched in the

Constitution.

Section 36(2) enshrined in the principle it is just a single sentence and

basically it describes exactly what equalization is all about. Parliament

equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient

revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at

reasonably comparable levels of taxation.

Mr.

Speaker, that is the fundamental principle behind equalization. In

Newfoundland and Labrador we received equalization up to 2008. To that

point, as we know, due to revenues and the calculation of the equalization

formula, we became ineligible at that time for the equalization. So that

made us, as we know, a have province in terms of the equalization formula.

Quite simply, we talk about revenues that were generated over the past

number of years from our royalties, basically through equalization, when you

come down, there is a sliding scale over the past 10 years. So as federal

dollars were pulled out of our Treasury, obviously, they had to be replaced

by provincial dollars. Over the past 10 years there is almost $10 million

have been replaced with provincial dollars as those federal dollars

retrieved and in 2008 we came off equalization.

the 1990s and the 2000s we received significant dollars: $1 billion in

equalization each and every year. That is certainly a huge sum, a large

amount of dollars. Well, you can imagine if that amount was coming to us

today, we would be in a much better position in terms of our financial

position.

any jurisdiction in Canada, based on their production, based on those global

factors, geopolitical factors that happened in the world, there are all

kinds of things that affect us that are not in our control. But being part

of an Equalization Program and being part of a country that has it, it means

that in time of need they adapt and the program can adapt so you could get

the true benefit from that. That is part of being Canadian. There is nothing

wrong with that.

times, various jurisdictions in Canada are part of the Equalization Program;

other times, they are not. Remember decades ago, the Province of Ontario was

the industrial heartland of Canada through manufacturing and through their

exports. Today we see them on equalization. That is fine; that is how the

program works. It balances through tough economic times to see jurisdictions

through those economic times. That rise and fall in revenue certainly makes

that happen.

When

we look at the principle, the nuts and bolts we say, of the federal

transfers, Ottawa has to figure out how to calculate those sufficient

revenues that I talked about when I spoke earlier about reasonable and

comparable levels of public service and those reasonable and comparable

levels of taxation.

That's where, as was mentioned earlier, I certainly acknowledge the Premier

when he mentioned about a very complex equalization formula and in the

legislation. Indeed it is. The piece of legislation, the

Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements

Act , has many parts to it. Many of the items identified in the

legislation, we'd know well in this province or any jurisdiction in regard

to different programs that are available to us.

Part

II talks about stabilization.

Part III is Administration Agreements,

including things like tax harmonization, several transfer payments.

Part V

is other payments, the Canada Health Transfer.

within the context of that legislation is a whole range of programs that any

jurisdiction avails of. It gives us a list of formulas, a list of rules and

a list of regulations in terms of how that's administered. These rules are

changed or adaptive. I guess that's what we're talking about here today in

terms of the particular position the province may find itself in. That

within that program, within various aspects of it, whether it's the

stabilization side or somewhere else, it's a regulatory or a policy change

that could be adapted to meet certain circumstances of any jurisdictions in

Canada. That's what it's meant to do.

it's never a wrong thing to say we're going to go to the federal government

and have a discussion about a need we have at a particular time for a

province and how a current program can be adapted to do that. This program

allows it to happen. It is important that we lobby the federal government,

we advocate to the federal government, and we have that discussion.

congratulate the Premier he said about the good relationship he has with

the new prime minister; that's great. We have seven Liberal MPs in Ottawa,

so let's use that to move forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Yes, it is great, so

let's see what the return is going to be. Let's use that and work on this

issue collectively and see where we can go with it, because that's what we

need to do. We need to work together to do it.

Equalization should be able to adapt with a year, within a shorter period of

time. The current status is it's almost five years by the time you get to a

three-year average, to a two-year review. It's pretty significant in terms

of being able to adapt to current circumstances. I think that's what we're

saying today.

Based on unprecedented changes in the resource-based industry like oil, it's

not just unique to Canada, around the world, that we should be able to be

adaptive within this formula to meet the needs of Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians as we move forward as being a part of Canada.

One

of the areas to look at would be the Stabilization Program which is within

the Federal-Provincial Fiscal

Arrangements Act , and that's one area that we're proposing that we

certainly look. That's what the motion speaks to, that we take a clear

direction on looking for that and looking for extra funding to come from

that.

well, the Stabilization Program is pretty outdated in terms of when it was

originally formulated several decades ago. The calculations look at per

capita of individual, and its $60 per capita per individual within a

jurisdiction. That was probably put in place several decades ago. Those are

the kinds of things we can look at to get modified, to bring it in line with

today's costs and expenditures. That would allow us to look at accessing

greater funds through the program.

Right now, I think the way it looks, based on some discussion in the past,

approximately $30 million would come to Newfoundland and Labrador under the

current arrangement. Obviously, that's not something that would be it's a

small amount but looking at meeting our needs, there's a greater discussion

needed to be had on how we can access greater funds to assist us through

this program.

look at the program as a whole, and other provinces in what they're seeing

in terms of dollars; $30 million is projected under the current arrangement,

what we would see in terms of accessing that program under the stabilization

fund. Other jurisdictions to avoid catastrophic budgetary decisions use

that money to offset those programs and services, the cost that I talked

about earlier that is guaranteed which is in this formula.

you look at jurisdictions, Nova Scotia this year will receive in

equalization approximately $1.7 billion. All of that kind of stuff,

sufficient revenues this will allow Nova Scotia to get sufficient

revenues, reasonably comparable levels of public service, reasonably

comparable levels of taxation, which, as I said earlier, is the ultimate

goal of equalization that's entrenched in the Constitution, which I said is

a tremendous asset as being part of this great country we call Canada.

New

Brunswick as well, about $1.7 billion this year for that same reason, to

assist them in terms of what they are doing. Manitoba, approximately $1.7

billion to meet those needs of revenues to provide the reasonable,

comparable level of public service, and that's so important.

That

means all jurisdictions, as I spoke earlier, this is a means to allow that

everybody across this great country is comparable in terms of the services

and what they receive, and to allow them to do that. That's in times of

economic difference in terms of their ability to raise revenues. We go

across this country in decades, and in the past number of years various

parts of the country, whether they're manufacturing, whether they're oil

producing, based on what's happening in the world, their abilities to drive

revenues could go up or down. That's what this fund is here to do.

What

we're saying through this motion is government, and collectively us, need

to, with the federal government, work collectively and say it's time to take

a look at this. We need to see a better return from equalization at this

time in terms of what's happened here. It needs to become more relevant,

more responsive.

Three, four or five years are not responsive to particular historic economic

downturns, we'll say. It's got to be more responsive and that's what we're

saying. I think through this motion and collectively, all of us, coming

together and supporting this motion, I think we can get there. I think we

can make it loud and clear that we want to work together. It's important to

work together to get us where we want to go.

Federal Minister Bill Morneau has recognized in the past our situation is

unusual and requires intervention. In the House of Commons he mentioned that

we are talking about how we can help people who are facing real challenges

across the country, middle-class families across the country, people in

Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador. So there is a

recognition by the federal Minister of Finance that, indeed, there is an

issue here to be dealt with.

Saskatchewan MP referenced the fact that leftover money for infrastructure

does not make up for the unfairness in the formula. So we need to lobby to

make sure this is adaptive, it can meet the current needs. Three, four or

five years is not just going to cut it and it shouldn't. It's a part of

being Canadian. It's part of being a member of the Canadian federation and

we certainly should get a response to it.

ask all Members today to carefully consider the motion and certainly support

the motion. At the end of the day, this is about the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador. It's not about any political stripe, but it's

about the province. It's about working together to achieve what we need to

achieve in our great Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER (Dempster):

Order, please!

The

hon. Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Once

again, Madam Speaker, I stand in this House as an honour. I thank the people

of Humber Bay of Islands for electing me in the House of Assembly.

This

is the first opportunity, Madam Speaker, to welcome the people who were

elected for the first time to this hon. House, the House of Assembly. I can

tell you that it's an honour and it's a pleasure. If you look back it's

unique, not a lot of people get the opportunity to serve in this hon. House

of Assembly. So to all the new Members in this House I see one in the

Opposition, I welcome him also, to all the Members on this side: enjoy your

time. We're here to serve the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, Madam

Speaker. We're here to try to help make this province a better place.

honestly believe, and I said it before, every person in this House is here

to make the lives better for everybody, no matter what side of the House

you're on. Sometimes, Madam Speaker, we may differ, but I just want to let

everybody in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador know we will work

together when we need to as a government. We will work with the Opposition,

we will work with the Third Party, because when we got elected, we got

elected to represent the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, every single

person in this province.

congratulate everybody on being elected.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Madam Speaker, I just

heard the Member for Ferryland, his speech, and I agree with a lot of the

things he said.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

I honestly did. We've got

to work together on this, Madam Speaker. The only thing, he should have

advised his leader. He should have advised his leader before he got up

what a nice speech you just gave and how we all got to work together, but

you listen to his leader almost being condescending.

hear Brad Wall, we hear the Premier of Alberta, but where's our Premier? Do

you know that our Premier, the Premier of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador, had more meetings with the Prime Minister of Canada than the last

three premiers combined?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

They stand up, Madam

Speaker, they stand up and say, well, it's time for him to stand up, be like

Brad Wall, stand up and speak for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Madam Speaker, consultation, you go up and explain a case. That's how you

get things done. It looks nice going down, ripping the flag down it looks

good, it looks great. Everybody wants to get behind you, how we're

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

I'll

just tell you about that, Madam Speaker. I'll just tell you about ripping

down that flag. I always remember this, and a lot of people I just want to

make sure I got the figures right here. I heard everybody coming down,

coming off the steps down there

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Madam Speaker, here's

what we got: we got a $2 billion advance from the Atlantic Accord. That's

what we got. All this big idea that we got this $2 billion extra cash coming

into the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Members opposite

over there cheering. Either you did know and you cheered and misled the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador, or you didn't know because they kept

you in the dark.

I'll

just give you some facts here, Madam Speaker. The $2 billion that came in,

it was advance payment in July 2005. Year ending March 31, 2006, there was

$322 million put aside for that year. March 31, 2007, $219,218,000 was put

aside from the Atlantic Accord. March 31, 2009, there was $152,785,000. The

province no longer qualified for equalization for the remaining balance of

the $2 billion advanced to be recognized, and they were out there telling

our Premier that you should stand up for the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. I always said one of the biggest flaws, one of the biggest

fallacies, is when it came down to that, when we were fighting for that.

Madam Speaker, I have to say, you were part of the government. The Member

for Corner Brook was part of the government who signed that and gave that

money, and everybody knew. The Member for Corner Brook even stood up and

said it was an advance on the Atlantic Accord. The premier at the time and

all Members opposite stood up, and you're here trying to tell our Premier

you have to stand up for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker

AN HON. MEMBER:

Madam Speaker.

MR. JOYCE:

I'm sorry, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I have to say if you want to follow on with your tactics

you heard the Leader of the Opposition and the Member for Ferryland, he

spoke very well on it.

you want to listen to the Leader of the Opposition and I don't know who

can remember this. Can you remember the last time he was in Ottawa? He stood

out in minus 20 or so, and what did he say? You can't trust Stephen Harper.

What a way to build bridges. What a way to go up and have consultation. What

a way to go up and sit down and say let's work together for the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. That's what he did.

Madam Speaker, our Premier brought it up today, they are trying to come

MR. KENT:

(Inaudible).

MR. JOYCE:

The Member for Mount

Pearl North said he put something into it. I hope what he puts into it is

honesty about the hospital in Corner Brook.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

That's what I hope he

puts into it, Madam Speaker. Honesty in that water to let the people know

about the hospital in Corner Brook.

This

is a major issue, Madam Speaker, for all the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. This is something you can't stand up, as the Leader of the

Opposition is trying to say, that you're not fighting hard enough. This is

not something you can stand up, this is a long-standing process, Madam

Speaker.

The

next time that Newfoundland and Labrador and it's because the lag when

you're in a deficit for three years, with the oil revenues dropping for

three years and there's a lag, the next time right now that we're going to

be qualified for equalization, I think, is 2018-2019.

AN HON. MEMBER:

MR. JOYCE:

2019-2020, yes.

Madam Speaker, we can stand up here and the Leader of the Opposition can

stand up, but what we need to do is we need to work with our counterparts.

We need to work with the federal government. We need to work with everybody

possible to change the equalization formula, if need be, to reflect the

realities of all the provinces and territories in Canada.

Madam Speaker, there's another thing that I took offence to from the Leader

of the Opposition, that our seven MPs aren't doing their jobs. I was shocked

by that because if anybody knows Judy Foote

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

she doesn't take the

back steps with nobody for Newfoundland and Labrador. If people know Judy

Foote like I know Judy Foote and I won't even get into Yvonne Jones

because I don't have long enough in the day to talk about her and about how

she stands up for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Madam Speaker, Judy Foote will work with anybody to better the lives of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

This is what we need. We

don't need the Leader of the Opposition standing up and trying to demean our

Premier who just got in three months ago, and all of a sudden saying you're

not standing up with Brad Wall, you're not doing this. The approach that the

previous government took just didn't work it just didn't work.

There's another issue I have, Madam Speaker. They're all saying this

happened overnight. There were two opportunities, I think. It's done every

five years, I think, the Equalization Program. How come we never heard of

this before? Do you know why? The biggest fallacy was when they got the $2

billion. Everybody said, well we still have our equalization going on until

2012. It wasn't. They had it they had it.

For

the Members opposite all of a sudden saying, now we have to go up there and

we have to start dragging down flags, we have to stand up in the snowbank in

minus 20 and tell the Prime Minister of Canada that you can't trust him,

you'll never trust him again. Madam Speaker, it just doesn't work that way.

It sounds good and it feels good, but did you get any results? That's the

question you have to ask yourself.

This

has nothing to do, Madam Speaker, with who's going to shout the loudest and

who's going to haul down the flag the quickest. This is about getting

results. I can assure you that our Premier has already had several meetings

with the prime minister of Canada, and I can assure you he's had many

meetings with all of our MPs. I know the MPs for Newfoundland and Labrador

just last week were in Corner Brook. They sat down with all of us in Corner

Brook to discuss all the issues we had. I can assure you that Newfoundland

and Labrador is well represented.

can work with all the other provinces in Canada, Madam Speaker, but we can't

do it alone. I know our Premier has been saying that from day one. He said

we have to work in a union with all the provinces and territories in Canada,

and mainly, the prime minister. This doesn't happen overnight. There will be

some discussions on changing the equalization formula, and I know we're

going to be well represented at the table.

So I

ask the Opposition and when I was on the Opposition, Madam Speaker, I

always said there are times you need to fight, there are times you need to

stand up and that is your role as the Opposition. There are also times you

need to stand with the government to fight together, to bring it in a

certain way. That doesn't mean going out in the media and trying to

embarrass somebody.

did it with the shrimp. I know that committee has started up again. We did

it before on many occasions. We did it with the all-party on the mental

health issues, Madam Speaker. This is what we need to do. There are times

when we need to come together as people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Forget the politics. In four years' time you'll have a chance to get rid of

us, or the people of the province will have a chance to get rid of us, Madam

Speaker. Until then, it is very crucial that we work together. Right now, as

we all know with the drop in oil prices and other issues in the province

and Alberta, which affects Newfoundland, people not working there are

major financial problems facing us, the people of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

heard our Premier mention, Madam Speaker, this didn't happen overnight. The

Opposition, some would say and I'm one of them who will say that they let

it move on. The last two opportunities they had they never brought it up.

They never discussed it. It wasn't an issue. Now all of a sudden, three

months in, it's this big issue that we're not doing enough as a government.

Madam Speaker, I know my time is up, but I can tell you one thing: I know

the Premier of the province. I know him well; I know him as a person. For

the Leader of the Opposition to stand up and try to demean his position here

because he's not standing up with Brad Wall, if anybody ever heard when

they were bringing up Saskatchewan and bringing up Alberta, Newfoundland was

right in the midst of it. They were right in the midst, Newfoundland and

Labrador.

When

Ottawa talked about the financial crisis, they were talking about

Newfoundland and Labrador also. So if the Leader of the Opposition wants to

try to demean our Premier because he is not standing up for the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador, Madam Speaker, he's the only one in this province

who doesn't notice what our Premier is doing. He's doing it in consultation

with our seven MPs and he's doing it in consultation with Judy Foote, who is

our liaison and Cabinet minister.

will make changes. It will take time, Madam Speaker. So I ask the Opposition

and I ask the Third Party we all need to work together. The financial

problems of Newfoundland and Labrador are grave. We can point and throw mud

at each other all day long; it won't solve anything.

feels good standing up here bantering back and forth, Madam Speaker, but it

won't change anything. I call on the Leader of the Opposition, instead of

throwing over all the mud, let's sit down and let's try to work together

like we did on the shrimp, like we did on the All-Party Committee on Mental

Health.

say to the Leader of the Opposition: Here is your opportunity. You asked us

to work with you before. We did on the shrimp. We did on the mental health.

Here is your opportunity now to stand with our Premier of Newfoundland and

Labrador, who is standing with all the other premiers in Canada and the

territories to say let's work together, let's make changes to reflect the

realities of all the people in Canada, Madam Speaker, all throughout Canada.

I call upon the Leader of the Opposition.

will say one thing to our Premier: You can listen to what you like from the

Leader of the Opposition. I can tell you he's leading this party over here.

He's leading this government, Madam Speaker, and every step of the way he is

informing this caucus of what is happening.

The

Leader of the Opposition, here is the opportunity to come on board and help

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. We encourage you to come over and help us

because we need your help. We need everybody's help in Newfoundland and

Labrador. We need everybody, Madam Speaker. That is what we need and that is

what we need to do. We support our Premier, the Premier of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

hon. the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much,

Madam Speaker.

I am

delighted to stand this afternoon and speak to the private Member's motion.

I don't know if I'll be as colourful as my colleague from Humber Bay of

Islands, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Service Newfoundland and

Labrador. Entertaining or not, I do have things to say and I look forward to

saying them. I hope I will be able to do that clearly.

The

private Member's motion we have in front of us is interesting. We are in a

difficult time in this province; there is no doubt about it. But we're in a

situation that has been caused because of wasting an opportunity. That's

what we're into right now in the province.

When

you look at the first part of the resolution, that we will ask the

revenues on our province and that it consider financial support to our

province in order to prevent deep cuts in services to the people of the

province, I mean that's right; it is a serious situation. But it means that

we had poor management going on when we had oil money coming into this

province hand over fist. That's what I mean when I talk about a wasted

opportunity.

The

wasted opportunity is there should have been long-term planning. Neither

party in this Assembly, either the governing party or the Official

Opposition, seem to understand what long-term planning is. When the current

Official Opposition was in government and the oil money that was coming in

was something that was unprecedented in our province, then we should have

been looking at the long term. We should have been doing what good financial

advisors say to individuals who start making a lot of money for the first

time: Don't spend it all; make plans and make sure that you have money in

the bank as you're also using the money because, if you don't, you could end

up in trouble.

On a

personal financial level, I hear people talking about young workers,

especially young men, who start making big money in the oil fields, for

example, over in Alberta. They start spending and they buy two or three

vehicles and money is coming out through their ears and they don't plan for

the future. Well, you know, that's what happened here in this province. It's

a bit embarrassing that we have a resolution that's recognizing the mess

that we've been put in.

don't hear anything from the other side now, from the government side,

that's showing that they understand any better what that mess is in terms of

our responsibility for it. Now, that's not saying I'm against the

resolution; it's not. But we have to be honest about why this resolution is

here.

When

it comes to the equalization part, we all understand and some of the

former speakers have pointed it out how complicated the whole Equalization

Program and Fiscal Stabilization Program are. They're not simple; they're

extremely complicated. I agree that there needs to be a review of those

programs.

When

we, for example, became a have province, what wasn't recognized and isn't

recognized in the formula is that we had been decades and more than decades

of being a really poor province. People in the province were poor. The

province itself was poor. We had failing infrastructure in every way. We had

schools that were falling apart. Our roads were in a mess. We still have

roads in a mess. We have a school that is being closed on the Northern

Peninsula, if the school board gets away with doing it, closing a school

with a road coming out of that school that you wouldn't even send a cart

over. You wouldn't even send a cart over with a horse pulling it, the road

is so bad. So we still have a bad situation in this province.

There is absolutely no doubt that when money started coming in there was a

lot that had to be done, but it should have been done carefully and with

planning, instead of having a government that started to spend like drunken

sailors because that's what went on, without planning, without care.

AN HON. MEMBER:

That's not nice.

MS. MICHAEL:

Well, whether it's nice

or not, it's true. It's a reality, so you're going to have to accept that

reality. There was more than one premier involved with that. There was a

history of premiers involved with that. One in particular who loved to spend

and who didn't do any long-term planning and who went off and left a mess in

the hands of his own colleagues, as far as that goes. That's a reality.

Those things are realities. Let's name the realities.

that's what we're dealing with. We should, in actual fact, be having a

feeling of shame that we wasted the golden opportunity when the price of oil

was where it was. It may never reach there again. So we have wasted that

opportunity. What do we do?

Yes,

we can say that we want to have a review of the formulas, a review of the

Equalization Program and Fiscal Stabilization Program, and I think we

should. I really encourage the government to vote for this and to really put

that on the table and say that they're going to work for it, but we know

that's not going to happen overnight. Change is not going to happen

overnight. So we need to look at the present.

do know that the federal government, with the provincial governments, is

looking at the whole infrastructure funding. So we are going to get money

coming in to help with that part, but what else it is? Are there other

things that we are missing?

think this resolution is actually missing an important thing that we need to

be looking at. What are the other ways in which the provinces receive money

from the federal government? What are other ways in which we receive money

from the federal government?

The

big one, of course, is through our Canada Health Transfer, and that is

something that does exist. From 2004 to 2014 we had a Health Accord between

the federal government and the provinces that guaranteed a certain level of

federal health transfers to each province with a 6 per cent increase every

year.

That

Health Accord expired in 2014. So what has happened is we are now under a

formula that was imposed on the provinces by the then federal government. It

wasn't a new formula that was worked out between the federal government and

the provinces; it was actually imposed by the Harper government, which was

the government of the day. The new formula which was put in place is going

to cost our province, over the next 10 years, $491 million. So $491 million

more will have to come out of our provincial coffers if we are going to

maintain the services in this province that are needed in health care.

we are going to restructure our health care system to be a community-based

health care system offering primary care on a community level, we are going

to have to spend almost another half billion dollars out of the provincial

coffers because of what was done in 2014 when the new formula was put in

place.

where is our government right now on this? I am not hearing very much from

our provincial government. I am not hearing anything from the Premier. I am

not hearing anything from the Minister of Health and Community Services on

this.

The

health ministers met in January of this year and health transfers were

discussed. We got that through the media. We know that British Columbia

proposed tying health care funding to demographics so that provinces with a

larger proportion of seniors would get more support. I think that is a good

thing, but not everybody at that table agreed to it. Where was our province?

Did our province fight that? It is more than demographics with regard to

seniors that we need to look at, because one of the reasons why our per

capita spending is higher than other parts of the country is because we have

such a small population spread out over such a land mass. We all know that.

We say it over and over, and it's a reality. That is a reality.

why should a formula not take into consideration that it has to be more

expensive for Newfoundland and Labr