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June 19, 2019

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLIX No. 7

The

House met at 10 a.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Admit strangers, please.

Order,

please!

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

call from the Order Paper, Motion 4, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm so

pleased that I have the opportunity to get up again so close to when I spoke

last because I had so many notes I wanted to go through, I didn't get the chance

to get through as many as I would like. So I'm going to start where I left off

the last time, which is how proud we were on March 7, this past year, to

announce the Terms of Reference for the independent review of the post-secondary

education system, which was announced in March, and we're so happy about the

appointment of the independent Committee of Experts to carry out the review.

This

committee has started the review, and we're very excited about the report that

this committee will bring forward. It is expected in 2020. We're not sure

exactly when in 2020. We want to ensure that the information is the best it can

possibly be, so we're not going to push any timelines to make sure they get it

done in any kind of fashion other than they said in 2020.

It has

been 14 years, Mr. Speaker, since the last review has been completed and it's

certainly timely during this time to do it. There have been many changes in our

economy, in our demographics and changes at our post-secondary institutions.

This

review will help ensure our institutions are well positioned to meet the needs

of students well into the future, address emerging labour market demands and

continue to contribute to the province's economic growth, and we know how strong

these institutions are for contributing to the economic growth right across our

province. We want to ensure this public post-secondary system can meet the

educational needs and vocational needs of students in our province.

Among

other pieces of work that the independent review will inform, will be informed

by the College of the North Atlantic's Modernization Plan, Memorial University's

Governance Review, the industry development plans that we've created as part of

The Way Forward and the ongoing work

of the Council of Higher Education, and I'm excited my colleague is on that

committee as well.

Another

priority for our government is addressing the low literacy rates, Mr. Speaker.

We understand that's a major problem in our province but not just in our

province, right across this country and this globe. So improving adult literacy

levels is key, and a key component to building our workforce and driving the

economic growth across our province.

It is

much, much more than just reading and writing with respect to literacy rates.

The development of this plan must consider such things as employability, digital

literacy and technology. The consultations we held provided input from

individuals and organizations that have insight and in-depth knowledge of the

impact that adult literacy is making and adult literacy on learners, communities

and the workplace in which is central to the success and the successful

development of a provincial Adult Literacy Action Plan. We continue to work

towards the development of the plan for this coming year. So stay tuned, I'm

hoping it will be out very soon.

Budget 2019

also provides funding for programs and services to maintain the province's

skilled workforce and to prepare them for careers in emerging industries. Some

of the highlights would be $13 million that we committed to the employment and

training programs; an additional $6.1 million to support youth in employment and

career-related activities; and approximately $700,000 is allocated to build

capacity and provide more flexible training alternatives in the province's

apprenticeship system by increasing offerings online which will also ensure that

the individuals who are trying to move through that process have the ability to

maintain work and do it on their own time and in the communities in which they

live; $161 million is available for investment through the labour market

transfer agreements, which will help people prepare for, find and maintain

employment.

I'm also

very pleased to note that the base funding for the program supported by the

Labour Market Development Agreement is increasing by more than $3 million this

year. This additional funding, under the Labour Market Development Agreement,

will be used to fund initiatives under the Labour Market Partnerships Program to

support the government's priorities, such as piloting the new training

approaches at the College of the North Atlantic and supporting the community

sector action plan.

Mr.

Speaker, last year, we launched a Student Mentorship program. It was a great

success. This program provides up to 140 students with the valuable on-the-job

experiences, and we know how important that is to get your first job and to try

to maintain that meaningful attachment to the labour force. This is a great

program, and we're happy to continue to invest in it.

Budget 2019

allocates $339,000 to expand the program to include summer career development

opportunities in the targeted areas, our industries like aquaculture,

agriculture, the tech sector, forestry, mining, the community, and the oil and

gas sectors. Our province's children and youth are our future, and we are

committed to providing them with the various opportunities to grow and succeed

in the marketplace.

Budget 2019

also, through the youth and student service program, has provided more than $6.1

million available for that investment. This funding will be used for such things

as contributing to organizations that assist youth through a variety of

services, ranging from career fairs to youth employment initiatives, focusing on

career development and education.

Mr.

Speaker, this is key. I worked with youth my entire life and it's very, very

important to give them every opportunity we can to succeed and ensure that we

have the brightest minds working within our province and making sure they stay

here, which is really, really important.

I'm also

pleased, Mr. Speaker, to note that through the Workforce Development Agreement

with the federal government, we are investing more than $13.2 million in budget

'19-'20 to support skills development, provide apprenticeship wage subsidies and

assist people with disabilities to find and prepare for employment, which is

very, very important.

I would

also like to highlight the importance of the steps we've taken to improve

workforce readiness to meet the needs of the labour force markets in

Newfoundland and Labrador. We need to be more closely working with the industry

to prepare people for jobs. I think by having these plans in place and working

in partnership with sectors and the key players in that sector is an important

piece through the Cabinet Committee on Jobs, but also it was very visionary by

the Premier to bring these sectors and attack them sector by sector with the key

players around the table, which is so very important to make sure we get it

right.

addition to the ongoing post-secondary review, $2 million in provincial funding

has been allocated over five years to implement

The Way Forward on workforce

development. We look forward to releasing this plan in the coming weeks, and I

look forward to having questions and answering questions on it at that point for

sure, but it's going to be a very good plan to come forward with.

This

plan will have dedicated staffing resources who will work with the K to 12

system and provide relevant career-development supports, including the provision

of sector-specific labour market information and products to incorporate into

the new career education curriculum with my colleague, the Minister of Education

and Early Childhood Development. Working very closely with the K to 12 system is

how we think we can impact those youth to make those strong decisions about

getting into the careers that are emerging in our province.

I would

also like to highlight the success that we are seeing with other efforts:

implementation of the actions outlined in our Immigration Action Plan. In fact,

we have reached 90 per cent of our target of 1,700 newcomers annually by 2022,

already. We anticipate that we will probably surpass that this year, which is

impressive. A full, almost, 2½ years early which is important.

Based on

our preliminary numbers in 2018, we've already had 1,530 permanent residents

make Newfoundland and Labrador their home. We're so very excited about that. As

we've talked about many, many times in this House that we're on the wrong side

of demographics in this province, it's very important that we try to turn that.

Whether that be through encouraging individuals that were from here, living

away, to come back and call our province home again, providing them the

opportunities is so important to do.

More

importantly, Mr. Speaker, is when we get the opportunity to invite people to

come to our province, and be a welcoming province that we are, encouraging them

to make Newfoundland and Labrador home, and choosing to live here in this

beautiful province is something that we're really working on and we're getting

very strong fruits of our labour from the Action Plan, the first two years, and

now we've launched our third year of the Action Plan. We're building on the

successes that we've achieved so far to date and we're moving forward with the

next set of initiatives under the Immigration Action Plan.

Budget 2019 , we're allocating $2.4

million of provincial funding and another $1.85 million of federal funding to

support the implementation of the Immigration Action Plan year-three

initiatives. We all recognize the importance of immigration in Newfoundland and

Labrador from a social, cultural and economic growth perspective. While we have

great potential and there are fantastic opportunities on the horizon, we are

also facing demographic challenges as we have always known here in this

province.

The

median age in our province is 46, but among newcomers is 29. One of the things I

always like to say, Mr. Speaker, is that when we entered Confederation in 1949

we were the youngest province, as well as the coolest province. Now,

fast-forward to today, we are now the oldest province and I still say the

coolest province in Canada, but it's one thing that we really got to fix. We

have to try to get on that right side of demographics again and steps that we're

making now with our Immigration Action Plans are working. Do we want them to

work faster? Absolutely, and we're doing everything we possibly can to move that

file as fast we can but we want to make sure we do it with a strong foundation

of the first two years of the plan, and we're now putting some wraparound

supports around newcomers when they come here to ensure they stay here.

It's one

thing to invite them to come here and welcome them here but it's quite another

thing to encourage them to stay, and retention is so very important. Our numbers

of retention are very strong in relation to our Atlantic counterparts and we're

excited about that, but there's always room for improvement and we're always

looking for ways we can improve.

We've

created the Minister's Roundtable on Immigration with the stakeholders around

the table. I'd like to commend my colleague, my previous minister of Advanced

Education, Skills and Labour, the current Minister of Fisheries and Land

Resources, for starting that Roundtable on Immigration which is really

important, and putting those key stakeholders around that table. Because the

only way we're going to address issues that newcomers are facing is to hear it

directly from the people that are implementing either services for newcomers or

the newcomers themselves.

So we

think it's much more important to listen to the people with their feet on the

ground, as they say, or where the rubber hits the road at that roundtable, which

is important. The people in House have their own ideas on what we can do to

improve and that's important. What I find even more important is the

stakeholders that work with these individuals day in and day out to ensure the

success of them staying here in this province and ensuring they raise a family

here, create employment here, and we're really excited about some of the

initiatives that are coming out of the immigration and multiculturalism

department in my department.

younger growing population helps sustain schools and the Minister of Education

and Early Childhood Development would agree with that. Whether it be child care

and all programs associated with our province, having a younger population will

help sustain those much-needed resources for all of us, which is important.

Whether

refugee or immigrant, newcomers create demand for local goods and services,

thereby supporting economic growth. And we don't have to look very far to see

that. There are many examples of newcomers coming to our province and setting up

strong businesses, whether it be The Gypsy Tea Room or HeyOrca, many high-tech

firms, all of these things are positive and employ multiple people, and not just

newcomers. Many of our own local individuals born and raised in Newfoundland and

Labrador work, whether it be the restaurant or HeyOrca, in these highly skilled

areas. Research clearly shows that bringing diversity, innovation – immigrants

are more likely to start their own business and create employment opportunities,

as I've just highlighted some.

In March

of 2017 our government and its partners released the Immigration Action Plan, a

five-year plan to increase immigration by 50 per cent and welcome 1,700 new

immigrants annually by 2022. As I highlighted, in 2017 is when we launched that

plan, so just a little over two years we've been able to almost reach our

target, 90 per cent of our target, that was established for 2022. We're well

ahead of where we thought we'd be, which is good, so we'll be setting some new

targets. I know the hon. Member for Topsail - Paradise will be interested to

know that we'll be setting those targets 'cause he would like us to be a little

higher on the targets, which is good.

I'm very

well versed in the Blue Book targets

as well. The targets are 15 per cent in the

Blue Book which they launched, which

is excellent, that's great. It's really important that we all have targets. Ours

just happened to be 25 per cent but 15 per cent is not bad either. We definitely

want to hit more than that, and I understand that he's very supportive of us

pushing the envelope to reach as many as we possibly can to help change some

trends that we're having in Newfoundland and Labrador. So, kudos to him for the

support on that and I know that I'll be getting that for sure.

The

premise of the plan was to establish support services around newcomers with

attraction and retention by building on the existing partnerships that we have

in the community and forging many new ones in all parts of our province. It's

really important. One of the interesting things that you learn when you get in

this role that's a little different than what you'd think, most people would

think that the immigration starts and stops in the metro St. John's region, and

that's not true. More than one-third of the newcomers that come to our province

come to rural Newfoundland, which is impressive. Would we like that number to go

up? Absolutely, because we have some trends in rural Newfoundland we'd like fix,

and I see my colleagues across the way smiling and nodding their heads, and

absolutely true.

So, we

want to provide opportunities for communities, whether it be through

Municipalities NL welcoming newcomers to their communities and creating

programs. We're willing to support all those initiatives because it's really,

really important that we can try to get immigrants to different parts of our

province and calling them home because there's so much culture they bring, but

also we have so much culture in all of our rural communities that is so very

important. It is just an interesting point that more than a third of newcomers

that travel to our province settle in rural Newfoundland which is really, really

important.

Our

Immigration Action Plan – and I know my time is running short so I'm going to

try to speak a little faster maybe – is working and making some great progress

in increasing the number of newcomers to our province. The new initiatives in

this year, in year three, will enhance ongoing efforts to encourage more

newcomers to live, work and stay in our province.

These

initiatives aim to increase newcomer attraction and retention through a

concerted effort led by government, all levels of government, employers,

communities and residents. We're establishing an introductory orientation to

Newfoundland and Labrador's Indigenous peoples; supporting migrant workers in

their effort to become permanent residents in Newfoundland and Labrador, which

is something that we haven't done in the past and it's something new and I think

it's really, really important; collaborating with industry and sector

organizations to promote entrepreneurship categories in Newfoundland and

Labrador's Provincial Nominee Program, which we know we want to try to increase

that; promoting mentorship opportunities between employers facing workforce

shortages and employers who have successfully used immigration programs. We want

to make sure we build those connections between individuals that have used

immigration in the past that have had great success to organizations that

haven't and try to figure out the best way to move forward for those

organizations.

Sometimes it's an individual thing, Mr. Speaker, that organizations do that

gives them greatest success. There is no written formula for success in some of

these areas; it's different for every organization, so putting people in contact

with each other is important. Working together to support newcomer integration

and long-term retention is a key focus of the efforts in year three of the

Immigration Action Plan.

Budget 2019 we also included a

commitment of $150,000 to support newcomer women through the introduction of an

empowerment-focused employment and self-employment initiative. Just in the last

couple of seconds that I have left, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that's passed

the immigration file now and moving into Income Support, one of the things I'd

like to highlight is the fact that we've amended the employment supports

regulations to exempt payments from child support and of the Canadian Pension

Plan disabled contribution benefit and the Canadian Pension Plan surviving child

benefit for the purpose of determining eligibility for Income Support, which is

a really key point and it's going to put more money into the pockets of

individuals that really need it.

I'd just

like to thank the people in the department for bringing forth some great

initiatives like that, and I'd like to thank the Minister of Finance and my

Members on this side of the House. I encourage everyone on the other side of the

House to support the budget for some of the key things that I've highlighted in

my speech here today, but more importantly, to think about all the people that

are impacted by the Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member's time has

expired.

Thank

you very much.

MR. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Terra

Nova.

MR. PARROTT:

Mr. Speaker, thank you for

the opportunity to stand and speak today on the budget. On May 16, people of

Newfoundland voted for change. Most voted against the government and its

approach, and people gave us all the opportunity and the obligation to move

forward with a new approach.

Yesterday, an hon. Member from the other side, who I won't name, for fear of

embarrassing him, talked about mandate. Mandate is described as the authority to

carry out a policy or course of action as given by a majority to an electorate.

I'll remind again, there was no mandate; it was a reprieve. And we have an

ability right here to do something going forward.

We asked

for eight items in our letter addressed to the Premier: the immediate end of the

levy, which is regressive, according to the government's own committee;

affordable home insurance; affordable child care; affordable medical transport;

affordable insulin pumps; access to hospice care; access to school busing inside

the 1.6; and ArtsNL funding. Nobody asked for an increase in spending. What we

did ask for was a line-by-line level, and change on how that was done was the

business of the government.

Mr.

Speaker, in my Member's statement the other day I referred to a group called

Power to Hope, and I talked to them because there are several groups throughout

this Island that raise money for medical travel. Power to Hope has raised

$350,000 over the last six years. Over the last three years they've raised

$75,000 in total per year, and that actually represents 75 per cent of the

funding that comes out of the H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation family

assistance fund. If people don't realize what that fund is for, it's for

something as simple as a bus ticket in St. John's or a flight out of Labrador.

In 2008,

my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She lived in Labrador. Her

treatments were based in St. John's. So this is just to highlight some of the

things we do wrong. Because she was coming out of Labrador, she had to go to St.

John's for treatments. Those same treatments could've been done in Gander, and

eventually they were, after we fought, but she had to ask to come to Gander to

do it. Flights weren't covered. Had she travelled back and forth for all of

these treatments, it would've been substantial. Now, obviously, they are covered

to a certain amount by government, but certainly not enough for an individual to

do this on a repetitive basis.

Medical

travel is huge throughout this Island and I highlight cancer because it's the

simplest one to highlight. If you look at people from the Northern Peninsula or

anywhere outside the greater metro region where the bulk of our treatment is for

any illness, or outside of Corner Brook or outside of the major centres, people

have to travel and funding these people is essential. It's essential in the fact

that, (a), a lot of them don't have the money upfront to do this on their own,

take it on, on their own. I think if we were to look at the statistics, we'd be

shocked to find out how many people actually don't go and get the treatment they

require because they can't afford to get there. It kind of puts a two-tier

system in place, and I really think that medical travel is one of the more

important things that we need to look at going forward.

I'm not

saying that we don't help in some ways, but the reality of it is a lot of

medical travel is carried out by charities that raise money in order to help

people get there. People aren't aware of the assistance that's out there and

it's quite shameful, actually, that we don't do better for people who have to

travel places.

While I

was campaigning, we ran into a young man from Glovertown who got sick while he

was driving transport trucks working on the Mainland. He went into renal failure

in Montreal, and this government brought him back home on an air ambulance.

After he received treatment in the Health Sciences Centre, he received a bill

for $21,000 because they flew him back here because they didn't want to pay for

treatment in Montreal. Mr. Speaker, that's unacceptable in this day and age.

This man certainly couldn't afford it. He ended up off work without insurance

and didn't have the ability to pay the bill.

The next

one that really jumps out at me is insulin pumps. It's not insulin pumps as

such; it's what happens to people if they don't have insulin pumps. I'll give

you a scenario. Right here in our province today, if you have an individual who

loses a leg, as an example, the chances are, if it's a circulatory issue, within

two years they'll lose a second limb. So now they don't lose one, they lose two.

That price for prosthetics just doubled, but here's the rub: We don't cover

prosthetics in this province. Here's what we do cover.

If you,

as an individual, lose your leg, they will modify your home. They will lower

your light switches. They will lower your counters. They will pay all kinds of

money to do lots of different things, but they won't pay the $10,000 to $15,000

to give someone a limb and put them back out and make them employable. That is

unacceptable. As a result of what happens with insulin pumps, I would argue that

the highest amount of amputees on this Island comes specifically from diabetes.

Mr.

Speaker, in my area itself, just from an economic standpoint, in my district, in

the last four years, we've had a shipyard that closed down as a result of work

being shipped to another shipyard. We don't need to get into the story. We know

where it went. We probably know why it went there.

created a massive loss of work in my district, 120 jobs went into receivership.

There's an effort being made now for that plant to be sold. Nobody has any idea

what's happening, whether or not it's going to reopen. The reality of it is that

work could have and should have still been carried out in Clarenville, and it

was a decision made by the government to move that.

We had

not one but two golf courses shut down. Now, I'm not suggesting it's

government's responsibility to fund these golf courses, but it's certainly a

sign of economic times and how things are going.

Just

this morning in the media, there was an announcement that there were 44 workers

laid off at grocery stores. I don't see how that paints our future as rosy when

we're losing people in that type of employment.

Again,

this morning in The Telegram we saw

workers being laid off with the Autism Society.

There's

a lack of Internet throughout all the districts in Newfoundland. If you go to

any of the smaller communities, it's one of the major things they argue about.

Now, we can talk about tourism, trade and innovation all we want, and I do know

there's been some strides made for broadband and there is a program in place

where things are getting better, but we need to do that faster. We need to give

people the ability to communicate and bring people in.

We have

ferries cut right across the Island. In an area in my district, St. Brendan's,

four years ago they had five runs, now they're down to three. Again, we

understand – and the minister has worked with us on this and we're hoping we can

come to a compromise and find a way forward for these people. Again, how do you

promote tourism in an area where you can only go there at 9 o'clock in the

morning and can't get out of there until 6 o'clock in the evening? It's hard for

these people to move forward and really try and grow their area if they don't

have the ability for people to come and go at a leisurely pace.

Mr.

Speaker, also in Clarenville, I'd like to highlight Newfoundland Hardwoods

facility, which is a government-owned asset. It consists of, I believe, five oil

tanks which are in serious disrepair, lots of sludge in them. They are on the

edge of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to a salmon river, and they are in massive

need of some serious attention. It will be an environmental catastrophe if

somebody doesn't do something.

Throughout all our regions there are issues with bridges and roads, and we

understand there's a five-year plan in place. What I will say – and it was nice

to hear the Minister of Tourism last night speak to it – is we need to look at

roads more proactively. I think that approach is coming, but I think there are

still better ways to do it.

For

example, if we're paving through a national park and there's a contractor in

there, we should be looking at ways to pave throughout the communities at the

same time in order to save cost. We need to find ways where we can better

utilize contractors when they're in regions doing work. We struggle doing that,

in my opinion.

Mr.

Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance stood up and indicated that the levy

is being eliminated December 31. That's great, but there's no understanding as

to why the levy isn't immediately eliminated. That's what the people asked for

and it's what we should be doing.

Yesterday we voted on a bill to eliminate auto insurance tax. What was left out

was home insurance tax, and we need to find a way to get to that.

Affordable child care, if you look in this province right now at the number of

single moms and families who have mothers or fathers who have quit their jobs in

order to stay home and look after the children because they can't afford to put

them in daycare, it's atrocious – and it's an economic driver. If we can get

these kids in daycare, it creates jobs for daycare workers. It also gives

families the ability to go out and work and it makes them feel better about

themselves. All around, it affects mental health, it affects the economy and it

affects every part of our daily lives.

School

busing, it bewilders me how a government would allow a company – not allow, but

we bring companies in from outside and we have such a stringent safety protocol.

All you have to do is look to the construction of Long Harbour or Bull Arm or

any of these construction sites where people come in, and we hold them to such a

high standard of safety that it makes sometimes their work extremely more

expensive to carry out and at times it's very difficult to do based on just

specific safety protocols; yet, we let children walk on roads with no sidewalks,

traffic, no lights.

bewilders me how we force companies to spend money to be safe but we, as a

government, look at our children, our greatest asset, and we send them out the

doors and let me go. Listen, it's different in every region. We all understand

that, but if one child gets ran over, it's too much.

We just

built an oil rig out in Bull Arm and the motto was: Nobody gets hurt, zero. I

heard the government, I heard Exxon, I heard everybody brag for weeks and weeks

and weeks about the 43 million man-hours with zero hurt, and we send our kids

out the door and we say: you walk up that road, little Jimmy, we don't care

about the cars coming, we don't care about any of the hazards that you may face.

It's not

just about traffic, Mr. Speaker. Schools don't all get closed down on foggy

days. They don't all get closed down when it's snowing. There are inherent

dangers that those kids face walking with weather-related issues that nobody

takes into consideration.

It's not

just about traffic and sidewalks. It's about the overall situation. It's a very,

very important issue in all the districts. I know Members in front of me in my

caucus here, it's very important to them, but if you talk to people from Gander

– and I can guarantee you that the Minister of Health has heard this a lot out

in Gander, and I've heard it a lot in my district. It is a big issue.

Hospice

care; my hon. Member behind me so eloquently spoke last week about his

grandmother, and if anybody didn't have their heartstrings tugged then they

weren't listening. Hospice care is something that nobody thinks of until you go

through it.

When you

have a friend or a family member who's in the hospital sick and dying, your

family comes in and there's somebody in the bed next to them, you don't get

privacy. Obviously, when you're in that stage of your life you want a person to

have as much dignity as they can. We don't give people that dignity in every

occasion.

Now, we

do try our best. If you go around there are cuddle beds in hospitals and there

are individual rooms in some of these hospitals, but, Mr. Speaker, these cuddle

beds are so graciously donated by companies like Newfoundland Power and other

people who fundraise. Government doesn't do that, and we can't take credit for

it. It's part of the problem that we have as a government.

When we

do something good, we stand up and we brag about it. When we do something bad we

don't find a way to fix it, and it's one of the things we really need to

address. We all know we're here to do good things. That's what we were elected

to do.

We're

elected to represent the people in our ridings as individuals, and we're elected

to represent the people in the province as a whole. We're not elected to come in

here and sit down and talk about the good things we're doing. We're elected to

come in here and take responsibility for the things we're not doing. Mr.

Speaker, in this budget there are a lot of things we're not doing that the

people of Newfoundland asked us to do.

Now,

nobody on this side of the House expects the government to come in and make all

of these wholesale changes right away, but they could have taken a holistic

approach and line by line could have looked at what the electorate, all of the

electorate asked for in every riding and found ways to substitute some of this

stuff in or implement it partially. It never happened.

What

happened is the exact same budget that was presented before the election call

was brought back here. It wasn't debated before the election was called and it

was brought back in here to be passed. There was zero effort made to make

change. It's pretty simple: The people asked for change, the government went

from 31 seats down to 20, they had 60 per cent almost of the popular vote last

time around and they've got 43 per cent this time. At the end of the day,

there's no effort for change.

Mr.

Speaker, a reprieve is cancellation or postponement of punishment or an

undesirable event. That is the mandate that the government has right now. They

have a reprieve from the public of Newfoundland who are looking for better. We

need to find a way to be better, and we need to find a way to do better.

If you

have a look at our province as a whole, we have probably – not probably – I feel

we have the most beautiful province in the country. Nowhere else in the country

can you go and see mountains; nowhere else can you go see the prairies,

icebergs, whales.

In 1989

there was a lady called Josey Aimes who filed a lawsuit down in the States,

there was a movie made about her called

North Country . In 1989 she was one of the first women to go to work in a

mine. My mom went to work in a mine in Newfoundland in 1979. Now, I applaud the

Minister of Natural Resources and what they've done for diversity in this

province, but there are a lot of pioneers in this province who brought diversity

long before these projects came and we went to work with the building trades to

try and diversify. We have a brilliant group of people here. If you look at our

prominent Newfoundlanders, we've had the minister of National Defence. We got –

I won't say his name, but we know.

Anyhow,

at the end of the day, we sit here and we talk about working together, and

there's nobody in this group who doesn't want to work together. Working together

means we take the opportunity to do so; working together means that we listen to

everybody who voted – every single person. And if we do that, there's a path

forward. We need to find that path forward. It is okay to say we passed this

budget and we move forward and we try and work together after this, but it

bewilders me how loudly the people of the province spoke and how we haven't all

listened. It's what they asked us to do is listen. The electorate has given us a

mandate to work together. We have no choice just based on the makeup of the

House right now.

It's an

honour for me to be a part of this new time, and I think that the makeup of this

House will give us opportunities to find a path forward. I think that the makeup

of this House will force us to work together but that needs to start today, it's

not about after this budget is passed. The mandate that was given to this

government was a mandate for change and we need to start that right now.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Minister of Natural Resources and the Member for St. John's West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

It's an

honour to stand on this beautiful pre-summer morning and to be in the House of

Assembly addressing the concerns of the province and giving opportunity and hope

to the people of the province in terms of what's coming and what is here in

terms of prosperity.

Mr.

Speaker, there are a couple of pre-remarks that I would like to make this

morning. First of all, it is to the people of St. John's West. I knocked on

every door in the district. I spoke with many, many, many of my constituents

over the last number of months. I do door to door on a regular basis and have

the opportunity to speak to people, because I think it's the most important

thing that we can do as Members of the House of Assembly is have that one-on-one

engagement.

I can

tell you that it was important for me to hear and to listen; to understand the

concerns; to understand the perspectives of the people in my district; and to

bring that perspective to the House of Assembly. I can appreciate the fact that

they supported me again to be here, to work hard on their behalf with integrity

and to do so with their best interests in mind and in heart. I will do that, Mr.

Speaker, over the next number of years and I look forward to serving them.

I also

want to take a special moment, while I have a few moments, to say thank you to

the many, many volunteers. All of us in this House had many volunteers come out

to help. The people who gave freely of their time to be part of democracy are

something else. It really is and I'll say it is very humbling. I know that I had

personal friends, I had people from my district, I had people from all walks of

life come to assist me in making sure that I had the opportunity to speak to the

people at the door, to make sure that I had the opportunity to represent the

great people of St. John's West.

I want

to say thank you to them. I think on behalf of everybody in this room – because

we all have that moment when people come to us and say they'd like to help us.

That is a very important moment for all us because it is a challenging to ask

your friends and your family and your next door neighbours and your colleagues

to come out and help you, so thank you to all of those that did.

family, in particular, I know many people here have said that, have spoken of

their family and I want to take the moment, while I have the moment, to say

thank you to my family who have always supported me in everything that I've

done, right from the time I was a small child until now, giving me guidance,

wisdom and advice and, especially, love. I want to say thank you to them.

Now, I

want to move on to the heart of my speech, Mr. Speaker. I listened intently over

the last few moments to the new Member for Terra Nova. I listened intently to

many of my colleagues opposite over the last couple of weeks, and I want to say

two things. First of all to the Member from Terra Nova, I want to say that I'm

sorry to hear that his mom had breast cancer. My mom did as well. I know how

difficult and challenging that is to the family. I know how difficult and

challenging it is to have any kind of illness in the family because as with

every family in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador I'm sure we've seen

our share of hardship as well.

I want

to say to the Member opposite, I know how difficult it is. I hope his mom's

okay, but I did want to remind the Member opposite, as I do the people of the

province – because I like to be optimistic in my life. I like to me optimistic

about my province. I bring that attitude, I think, to this House. I bring that

attitude to my life. We're the only province in the country – the only province

in the country – to have a comprehensive travel policy for in-province medical

treatment. Think about that. We're a very small province, but we're the only

province in this country to have a compressive travel policy for in-province

medical treatment. We're lucky and fortunate that we have that.

I'll

start speaking about Natural Resources in a moment but it is because we have an

abundance of natural resources that we do bring in that revenue that does afford

us, as a province, to help one another in times of medical crisis. Is it enough?

Of course, Mr. Speaker, we could always do better. We could always do better. We

all want more. We all want better, but we are – and I want to say to my

colleague who sits next to me, the Minister of Health and Community Services,

how important that program is and how it is of benefit to the people of the

province. Thank you for the efforts and work there.

Now, Mr.

Speaker, I listened to my colleague, the Member for Terra Nova, and he talked

about, basically, the government was negligent when he talked about – he made it

seem as if government was negligent, I should say, about school children and

busing. I'll remind the Member opposite, because facts matter – facts matter in

this House, facts matter in life – that the policy is that the 1.6 kilometre is

very similar, if not the same, of every jurisdiction in the country – very, very

similar.

MR. WARR:

One of the best policies in

Canada.

MS. COADY:

I'm hearing my colleague

responsible for Education and Early Childhood Development saying it's one of the

best policies in the country, and I agree.

I will

say this, Mr. Speaker; I understand it has been a policy since 1965. I hear the

Members opposite making it seem as if this is something new. This has been a

50-plus-year policy, almost a 60-year policy. I say to the Member opposite, the

thing that we have changed as a government is allowing more courtesy busing. We

recognize that we can do better. We can do better. And that's why the Minister

of Education and Early Childhood Development has offered a more comprehensive

program to ensure courtesy busing.

Now, Mr.

Speaker, I understand how important it is, and how critical it is, especially in

inclement weather, especially when the 1.6 kilometres, which is about a 10-to

15-minute walk, depending on how fast you walk. It is important, especially for

safety, if there are safety issues, that we make sure we protect children. But

I'm saying to the Member opposite this government is doing its best to ensure

that we have one of the best policies in the country and that we do have

courtesy busing.

I am

going to say one more thing before I really turn my attention to what I'm going

to call the optimistic side of life, and what is really happening in Natural

Resources. The Member opposite talked about a responsibility for what we are not

doing. Absolutely, I take responsibility every day for what we are doing and for

what we are not doing, Mr. Speaker. As I said, can we do better? Of course we

can.

talked about a holistic approach doing a line-by-line review of the budget. Of

course, that's what we're doing every night in Estimates and multiple times

during the day. I will say to the Member opposite, I would like to work

together; I would like to work collegially in this House. I believe I represent

every person on this side of the House to say that. I went door to door to every

door in my district. I believe most people in this House did that, and what I

heard was we have to focus in our finances and make sure that we are not passing

a burden on to our children; concerned about the Muskrat Falls Project and the

true desire to work together. And that is what I bring to this House, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm

hearing actually very much thematic speeches coming from the Members opposite

around some of the things that they would like to see changed. And they talk

about working together, so let's do that. I ask that we do that.

I did

hear from him and I do see the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port is sitting

in his eat. I did remember from what he said in the House, he talked about the

people of the province have told him that if things don't go right, they will

pull the plug on their behalf and they have put us on notice.

Well,

Mr. Speaker, I will say to the Members opposite, the people of the province gave

us a mandate. I will acknowledge that it was a reduced mandate but it was a

mandate. They did want us to continue in our efforts. I do offer, and I do say

that this government is very, very interested in making sure that we are doing

better as a province, that everything that we can do, everything that we must do

to ensure our future and our present is as prosperous as possible, we should be

doing. I say to the Members of this House let us all work collegially and with

that focus in mind.

Mr.

Speaker, I have about a few minutes left that I really wanted to get into a lot

of what's happening in Natural Resources because it is not all doom and gloom in

this province. I'm saying to the people of the province, to the people in this

House, that things are really happening in Natural Resources. There's hope,

prosperity and jobs. So I will remind the Members opposite of some of the things

that we have been able to achieve.

In oil

and gas, $4.3 billion – think about that: $4.3 billion in work commitments in

our offshore. We have now five different companies going through the

environmental assessment process to ensure that they could drill offshore to

discover, hopefully, the next Hibernia. Imagine the impact, but imagine that

most of that spend of the $4.3 billion it will be done here in this province,

Mr. Speaker.

We, this

government, has been to attract eight new entrants in the last three years

alone, eight new companies like BHB out of Australia, like BP out of the UK ,

like HESS and Anadarko, and Total out of France. We've been able to attract them

to this area of the world, to our little, beautiful province to do work. They

want to make discoveries, so our next Hibernia is one drill away and we're

looking forward to that.

We have

650 leads and prospects. What does that mean? There are 650 chances to discover

the next Hibernia. We know what that means; it's transformative to this

province. We have four projects today that are all in one basin called the

Jeanne d'Arc Basin for those that aren't familiar. There are 20 basins. Imagine

the possibilities here.

This

week Noia, the Newfoundland Ocean Industries Association, has gathered a record

number of people I understand to the conference here in St. John's to discuss

the opportunities and the possibilities offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.

I'm

going to talk about right now there's a project under way in Argentia that is

really outstanding, the number of people that are working there. Their total

in-province, person-hours of employment is over $10 million. Think about that,

Mr. Speaker; that's a tremendous amount of employment.

I think

the last count I got was something like 2,300 people working there, building the

next platform, the next gravity-based platform. It's a smaller platform than

what we have seen because it's a smaller project in a different location, but it

is still an incredible project being built here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Skilled labour – the majority of the engineering is being done right here in our

province. It's an exciting project and we're continuing to see the growth and

development around the oil and gas industry.

Mr.

Speaker, we've just signed up an agreement last year with Equinor, and it's a

first deepwater. This is a new frontier offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. It's

deepwater and it's the furthest point forward. So it's really far from land, Mr.

Speaker. It is in a deepwater basin. Most people know about the framework

agreement that has been signed for Equinor. Equinor is now going through its

reviews and looking at how it's going to develop the project. They'll make

decisions around December and we're working with them to ensure that the maximum

benefits are accrued to the province.

So just

let me say that there is going to be approximately 11,000 person-years of

employment – 11,000 person years of employment. Now, that's roughly 1,100 people

for 10 years, and you can do the math, it's 550 people for 20 years, rough math,

but all I'm saying is a tremendous amount of employment. There's going to be $11

billion spent over the life of that field. Imagine the activity here in

Newfoundland and Labrador because of that.

Mr.

Speaker, I don't want to run out of time before I can speak to some of the other

great things. We have an $11-million Innovation and Business Development Fund

that we're investing money now to develop our supply and service industry.

Imagine the opportunity.

As we

continue to grow our offshore oil opportunity, imagine the opportunities for the

supply and service industry. So we're investing monies into developing the

supply and service industries and making sure that we can service all of the

offshore oil, and make those jobs and make that economic generation here in the

province.

I will

say one more thing on oil and gas before I go. Mr. Speaker, we had a record bid

last year, and that was – I know we've been speaking recently in the House about

the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and now Bill C-69, the Impact

Assessment Act. I will say that under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

we did have record bids last year, $1.38 billion in commitments to exploration,

and the largest single bid from a new entrant of $621 million.

So what

you're seeing is companies coming from around the world with large sums of money

to make the investments, to make the discoveries, to find the next Hibernia, to

generate not just jobs but wealth and opportunity for the province. I'm very

proud for the part that I play in that.

Mr.

Speaker, I will advise the House that I will be speaking tomorrow at Noia and I

will be speaking about Advance 2030 ,

which is our comprehensive plan developed by 150 stakeholders in the province to

develop oil and gas.

Now, in

the few moments I have remaining I want to talk a little bit about mining,

because that's another exciting opportunity. We have done an awful lot in mining

this year; 6,300 people are employed in operations and construction. That's an

11 per cent increase from last year alone.

opened Beaver Brook Mine in March with a hundred new jobs. We're investing $4.6

million in the geological survey, $1.7 million in the mineral incentive program,

and we're investing a $250,000 new investment in airborne geophysical work.

That's

coming in this budget, a $250,000 investment that this government is making so

that we can go out there, it's innovative. It's timely in that it gives a first

initial pass for new discoveries through our geological survey; timely and

efficient collection of geoscience data. That's a new investment. Coming out of

our plan for mining that we introduced last year, Mining the Future, Mr.

Speaker, that is really going to help drive growth and development in our mining

industry.

Natural

Resources also is supporting a hyperspectral imaging project that digitalizes

our provincial core samples, producing advanced data that would be publicly

available. Now, Mr. Speaker, we talked a couple of years ago about doing this.

We put it forward in our Mining the Future document that digitalizing our data

and having that data available to the world is essential.

Imagine

if you're a company in Australia and you're thinking about where your next

global investment will be and they can touch on their computer and be able to

see some of the core samples we have, and that'll drive their interests. They

can do some more advanced research and utilize our geological survey and make

the next Vale and Voisey's Bay discovery.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to touch on energy. I only have 55 seconds available to do that,

but we are developing a comprehensive plan. I told you about a plan in mining

that we have done. We've done a plan in oil. Now we're just starting to develop

a renewable energy strategy for the province. That's underway.

We've

made commitments, for example, as well, to continue to focus on getting the

Muskrat Falls Project completed. As you know, we've been very methodical and

diligent over the last number of years to get that project on track to be

finalized, and we are somewhere around 96 per cent complete.

On that

note, Mr. Speaker, I'm out of time. I thank you for this opportunity and I

welcome the opportunity to be able to again say some of the great things that

are happening in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Reid):

The hon. the Member for

Placentia West - Bellevue.

MR. DWYER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

it's my distinct honour to rise and represent the people of Placentia West -

Bellevue that gave me their confidence in this past election.

As I

said before, and I'll always state it when I get up, that this is not a one-man

job. It incorporates a lot of people from your district and from outside your

district as well.

A couple

of people I would really like to acknowledge that I never got the opportunity to

give them a proper acknowledgement, I guess, the last time is my parents. They

were instrumental in my campaign, very helpful community leaders that,

obviously, I didn't get all the votes on my own, trust me.

Some of

the things I got to do while I was in – just before I touch on the budget – a

couple of things I got to do while in my district, I got to go and attend and be

one of the reviewing officers for an army cadet corp in Norman's Cove - Long

Cove. One of the things I really noticed about them was if they run into any

kind of financial trouble or anything like that, it's actually the towns that

pick them up and help them out.

They are

about 15 strong, and what a great group. They put off a really good static

display and all that kind of stuff. It was pretty amazing to watch, to be quite

honest. Like I said, because I was pressed for time at that event I wasn't able

to go to the reception, but I certainly accommodated for pictures and everything

before they moved on to their event. I was very honoured to be asked.

One of

the big ones, that I've already actually done a Member's statement on, was the

40th anniversary of the Placentia West Development Association, which are very

instrumental on Route 210 down in the Boat Harbour, Parker's Cove area. Not only

do they operate a Tea Rose, which is a little restaurant there, but they have a

heritage grounds that they maintain and everything. They also have a medical

clinic there that's maintained, and something else that I'll touch on in a

minute when I speak about the budget.

I also

got the distinct honour to go to the fifty-plus district dinner, Mr. Speaker. I

was quite impressed with the energy in the room, to be quite honest. It was a

district dinner, so it was fifty-plus clubs from Point May to Swift Current. So

in and outside my district, but certainly people with all the same kind of

thoughts and ideals, and really good for their communities, keeping a vibrant

aged group together, and celebrating together and enjoying their time.

Again,

Mr. Speaker, some things in the budget that were a little bit disturbing along

the way were, obviously, things with seniors and stuff like that. They find

themselves a little bit below the threshold once you get hit with so many fees

and taxes and stuff like that and you're on a fixed income.

So,

obviously, there are some things there in the budget that we'd like to have

removed, and sooner rather than later would be more appealing than anything.

One

thing that I heard about while I was on the campaign trail, and I guess this was

due to budgetary constraints as well, was that there was a program brought in

for low-income people. They were trying to help, in this program, to give them

back their dignity and to help them with their teeth.

I have a

couple of constituents that came to me and said that they were part of the

program, but then once the program stopped then they weren't grandfathered in to

fruition to what the original program was. I can understand, Mr. Speaker,

cancelling the program if the budgetary constraints have to allow that, but not

to finish the program for the people that were already entered into to it, to be

quite honest, I was very, very disappointed to hear that the current government

decided to that.

Because

not only is it your dignity, your presentation of when you talk to people, but

your teeth have a lot to do with your digestion and your well-being as well. So

to stop the program and not grandfather these people in to see them through to

getting their new teeth, I think was very disappointing, to be quite honest,

because these people deserve their dignity as much as anybody else.

Another

thing I noticed when I visited Keyin Technical College in Marystown is that

there's a gap there between people being able to actually avail of

accommodations to get to school, whether there's no public transit system or

anything like that. So they rely on things like taxis and the goodwill of their

classmates and stuff like that, or probably even family members to drop them off

and pick them up.

But when

I was there, it was brought to my attention that there is an allotment and an

allowance for transportation for these students to avail of their adult basic

education and stuff like that to get them back into the workforce. But I could

not believe that the gap that kept them from getting to school every day, as

opposed to making choices of which days to go to school, was actually only $5

per student.

I really

found that to be quite appalling, actually, that we're in a situation where

we're going to give people an opportunity to go to school to better themselves,

to bring them back into the workforce and to give them back that dignity and

respect and all that kind of stuff, and then we shortchange them by $5 and it

just takes away their whole dignity again.

It's a

program that I think needs to be really looked at. We can talk about immigration

all that we want, but unless we give our constituents the same opportunities to

succeed, then I think that we're kind of putting the cart before the horse,

because it's our people I think that need the support first and foremost. Not

that I'm against immigration or anything like that, don't get me wrong. I'm all

for it if it's going to work, but it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. We have

to make sure that we can get sustainable work for own people before we can start

worrying about the many multitudes of others.

One of

the biggest things that I spoke about in my last speech here was about

attracting business to Newfoundland. Without the Internet, I think that we're

really shooting ourselves in the foot because, like I say, nobody wants to come

here from Norway and be operating down in Bull Arm and have to go over and get

on the payphone to make sure that they're able to communicate with their

colleagues.

A lot of

these businessmen and women also, as a lot of us in this House I'm sure do as

well, like to electronically communicate with a lot of people and do a lot of

business while we're en route to the next meeting. Sometimes we have a couple of

hours between meetings and stuff like that. So, as efficient people, we try to

utilize every piece of our time. But it's pretty hard when you're in the middle

of an important phone call and you have to pull over because you know coming up

around this turn there's no Internet service or there's no cell service.

It's

disappointing to know that we're going into 2020 and this technology has been

available to us for some 30 or 40 years that we're not availing of and it

doesn't seem that we have a priority put there in order to do that. It's not

only business that needs the Internet and the cell service, Mr. Speaker, it's

also big for tourism, as my colleague across the way would probably attest.

When

somebody comes here from a foreign country or anything like that, they want to

talk to their loved ones. They want to FaceTime with their loved ones. They want

to be able to get on WhatsApp or whatever and let their loved ones see where

they are and all this kind of stuff, but if we don't have the cell service and

we don' have the Internet service that's just not possible. So it's not

attracting those people that are more tech savvy than certainly me, that's for

sure.

The

biggest thing with the Internet service I think instead of doing these pilot

projects and stuff like that, the Internet is not going anywhere and it's

something that's proven to globalize the world and to bring in more specified

markets. If we can attract those more specified markets, then maybe it will bode

well for our economy as well.

The

biggest proponent in this that needs the Internet is actually our constituents.

We're living now, basically, in the dark ages. I have a lady in Brookside that

has to go her front window, her big bow window to make sure that her text is

going to go through to her daughter because it's an important text; or if they

want to download something, they can't download anything without going to a

certain area in the house and stuff like that.

It's too

far behind the times and it's something that I think we can certainly accomplish

with very minimal cost, for the simple fact that we have private companies that

are here doing this business that are getting a stipend off each and every one

of our constituents. At some point in time, I guess, we have to stand up to them

and let them know that there's a price to doing business here in Newfoundland as

well.

When we

talk about the Internet when it comes to constituents, I think the biggest thing

about it is, too, one thing that we are missing here is that we are an aging

population, which these are the people who want to talk to their grandchild and

stuff like that, and their sons or daughters or in-laws or whatever. With an

aging population, this is giving them that social development that we so desire

and we so need.

It's not

only for our seniors, but for our children and for our business leaders and

stuff like that in our communities, that if they can avail of the Internet, at

any given time without having to worry about where the service is or if they're

in or out of service or anything like that, then it will bode well for them and

their confidence of being global partners and being able to set up businesses

globally and stuff like that through the internet. We need a reliable Internet

service. We need a reliable cell service and that should be a major, major,

major priority for this government.

As we

were told through this election mandate that changes are needed and the status

quo is not good enough. So if we could find money just before the election to

get ready for an election budget that wasn't passed, then we can certainly find

the money to prop up our constituents to make them feel like they're living in

the 21st century, Mr. Speaker.

Another

big thing, obviously, with the Internet service, which can't be lost on us, is

that it would be utilized by the emergency response teams. This one piece of

what I've explained here this morning with the Internet service, this one piece

alone should be enough to fund it to whatever it's going to cost. It doesn't

matter about the cost at this point because these people need the support. They

need to be able to communicate with each other, and the people that are in

trouble or in distress need to be able to communicate with the emergency

response teams as well. This is, like I said, the 21st century and we're living

as if we're still in 1948.

One of

the real great honours I had while accepting this position was I was invited to

go back to RCSCC 121 Mary Rose in Marystown, which is a sea cadet corps that I

actually was a part of as a kid. I was quite honoured, to be quite honest,

because there were so many young people that were engaged in the actual campaign

that it brought me great joy to know there is actually a future of people that

are interested in government and interested in what we're doing here in this

House.

I so

humbly represent those people as well. Although they're not able to vote for me

or anything like that, I feel a deep connection to them as well. I really feel

that if we show our youth some respect, it'll come back to us tenfold or even a

hundredfold, because they feel worthwhile, they feel worthy, they feel a part of

the community, and that's what grows people into becoming community leaders.

When an adult shows a kid some respect, then that kid will take that and take it

to heart, because they know this person went out of their way to be nice to them

when they probably didn't have that in their life so much before.

So, Mr.

Speaker, showing respect to our youth is how we engage them and bring them on

board. Whether they vote for us or not, they're a part of our society. They

deserve our respect and they deserve the services of the 21st century, like the

Internet, because all their friends do, every other kid in the world their age

does. They have to use it for school projects, to find out what clubs are

available to them in their local service area. It gives them an opportunity to

probably get a little bit more involved in their community as well. I think it's

high time the Internet and cell service was looked at in a deeper light instead

of these pilot projects. I think we can go out on a limb here and say that the

Internet is working.

I'm just

looking down through. One of the biggest things – I just heard my colleague

talking about the oil and gas industry, the service in the oil and gas industry

and stuff like that. As a one-time offer towards the coffers, I would like to

express my sincere opinion on where we should be going with this, just for the

simple fact that if it is a one-time thing then we've noticed extra and we're

able to expand some oil fields, but if this is a one-time thing then it needs to

be utilized to the best of our ability for the people of the province.

I don't

think we need to keep focusing on where contracts can go outside this province.

I don't think we have to compromise on how much steel is going to be promised to

us and all that kind of stuff. If the project takes an extra three or four years

and we're doing it ourselves, then there's still no issue there. The thing about

it is if we're using our local contractors and we're using our local

tradespeople, by the time we hit first oil with Bay du Nord or anybody like that

then it's profit, because the economy is already going because we built the

project. So we have to focus that way as opposed to the giveaways.

I was

born in 1970, and since 1970 we've given away our fishery, forestry, mining,

just about everything that came into existence for us that could have given us a

lot better future. The biggest giveaway we've given to date, really, is our

human resources.

If we

look at the economy here in Canada, the two big powerhouses right now are

Ontario and Alberta, and both are right chock full of Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians. So it's not like we can't do this ourselves. We know we can do it

ourselves. We just got to have a government that stands up and got a backbone to

make sure that it's our people who are benefiting from this and that we can

bring those expats in to give them the jobs and give them Alberta money as

opposed to making them take the hometown deal. Give them the money they deserve.

There's a lot of money going to be rewarded from this oil and gas exploration

and from drawing first oil.

The

Premier has stated a few times here that he's trying to put the province in a

better position. Well, the first thing I'm going to say to the Premier on that

side is a true leader won't keep making reference to past governments after

making government himself. So it's time to take responsibility. It's time to

look at your own budgets of what you've done in the last 3½ years and make that

better. We do want to work with the current government over on this side but

we're not going to have everything just kind of thrown out as status quo when

they were obviously given a mandate to make some changes.

So with

that being said, the last thing I'd like to say is I take a great honour in

being named the critic for Children, Seniors and Social Development. I look

forward to working with the minister in that portfolio and I look forward to

representing the people of the province, not just my own district, by accepting

that portfolio.

Like I

said before, Mr. Speaker, the issues in my district are really not much

different than any of the provincial issues, but what I would like to state to

the current government is that the status quo is not good enough. It's enough

with the giveaways. It's time for us to start rewarding our people with our own

resources and moving us into the 21st century by helping everybody as opposed to

just a few.

Like I

said, there's a lot of money tied up in a lot of big projects here in the

province. I just hope the government holds those companies to task when it comes

to looking out for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

Barbe - L'Anse aux Meadows.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

wonderful opportunity to address the budget here today. Interesting commentary

from the Member opposite speaking about particular giveaways. I can't leave it

unaddressed, because it was only the Minister of Transportation and Works, the

former minister, the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island who had

awarded ferry contracts in Romania to have work that could have been done at an

idle shipyard in Marystown that was – or Harbour Grace or other areas in the

province, but that work was done outside the province. There are many areas of

which we have value, and we've been working very diligently with Marystown to

unlock opportunities and potential to create economic value within the region.

I want

to say, first up, that I want to thank the people of St. Barbe - L'Anse aux

Meadows for their faith in me and their support in the election and returning me

to the House for a third term. I had the opportunity of going door to door and

knocking on 5,000 doors in the district in sixty communities and hearing

first-hand concerns, issues, ideas and opportunities.

Every

community is a little bit different in terms of where some of their

opportunities would lie. I would say that during the election, I had the

pleasure of having the Premier come and tour a shrimp plant in Port au Choix. It

was really positive to see some of the implementation that the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources had taken to see the benefits of CETA and work with

companies to bring an industrial shrimp deal to this province, so that

industrial shrimp that would've been processed in Iceland or Denmark or other

European countries, now being processed on the Great Northern Peninsula and

other areas of this province.

It's

adding value to the local economy and creating additional employment, and that

is really positive. These are the types of initiatives that we must continue to

take. So I commend the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources for making that

particular deal. The residents of the Great Northern Peninsula are benefiting.

One of

the devastating impacts that I had to deal with as a newly elected MHA was, just

the day prior to the election, we had a fire in Black Duck Cove with Gulf

Shrimp. We actually lost the Black Duck Cove shrimp plant in totality. I have to

say, the Departments of Municipal Affairs and Environment, Fisheries and Land

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

Service Canada provided a very quick response in being engaged with community,

working with displaced workers and those who were totally devastated by the

loss.

We'll

continue to work with the community to provide support, training, advice to help

them attach to the labour force, but also work with the company as they work

through their plans. And it is our goal to see the facility rebuilt, because it

is so important to the economy of the Great Northern Peninsula. The fishery is

the backbone and it is a major employer in and around the region, and this is

why when we look at innovation, we look at opportunities and the Atlantic

Fisheries Fund that was successfully negotiated by this government of $100

million to be supporting where we go forward and help plan for fisheries in the

future.

The

budget has an exciting investment for Port Saunders and the Great Northern

Peninsula area. I thank the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women for

listening to the groups and women's groups in the area, by

Budget 2019 having an allocation for a new Status of Women Council

for the Great Northern Peninsula. It is certainly an area where we have not had

that level of service and engagement in this region. So having that new office

and programs and supports to help women certainly puts a greater focus on their

leadership and the role and the support, and I commend the minister for taking

that initiative and being able to find additional funds in

Budget 2019 to make this a reality. I'm certainly supporting our

budget as we go forward.

We've

seen some investment in major road infrastructure on the Great Northern

Peninsula. Conche road, the first time in 50 years, is seeing pavement; Route

433 to Englee, Roddickton area; the route to L'Anse aux Meadows also saw

repaving; and Port au Choix, which had a 60 per cent increase in tourism visits

that's been sustained over the last two years, has also seen repaving.

The

federal government recently, their Standing Committee on Transport,

Infrastructure and Communities, basically made a recommendation to endorse a

fixed link which would be one of the greatest economic enablers for the Great

Northern Peninsula and Labrador, and Quebec as well, with the completion of

Route 138. This can help create a great circle route and ensure that there is

greater predictability of movement of goods, services and people, and also

create significant opportunity, and be a great nation-building exercise when the

Island of Newfoundland can be connected to Mainland Canada, mainland North

America, hundreds of millions of consumers. That will open up many doors for

business to be more competitive and enable more opportunities.

We've

seen in the budget where the automobile insurance tax is being removed. We

debated this bill in the House of Assembly retroactive to April 15. This is

positive news for consumers. They'll be able to have more disposable income that

they will have in their pockets, and that was a commitment of

Budget 2019 . We've also seen a focus on health care in

Budget 2019 , with various initiatives

around mental health and addictions, implementation of

Towards Recovery , and how important it is to enhance these services.

There's

a primary health care team that has been committed for St. Anthony and area, and

we'll continue, as I've heard from many constituents, the importance of health,

given the aging population, but also to look at where we can work with the

private sector where investment can be created like the Great Northern Port

Project, the Crémaillère Harbour on the Great Northern Peninsula, as that looks

to move forward and the investors can unlock international opportunities and

attract major companies to come to the Great Northern Peninsula. It can create

future economic prosperity in and around that region that already has the second

largest international container port that would link into Europe. The largest

would be Argentia in my colleague's, the Minister of Service NL, district. There

have been a lot of great things happening in Argentia, a robust level of

activity and business that's happening. We would also like to see where we can

create that level of industrial activity and industrial park on the Great

Northern Peninsula as well.

So we

work very diligently to unlock all of the opportunities and

Budget 2019 commits more than $16 million for research, development

and business innovation; more than $10 million for Regional Development Fund for

economic development infrastructure, marketing, research and capacity building.

And

we've seen where's there been some great investments in co-operatives such as

the Port aux Basques partnership with Leading Edge Credit Union in terms of

their child care centre, that was a great partnership where the department was

happy to support; the St. John's Farmers' Market, the co-operative there; the

Farm and Market Clarenville has seen significant investment and support through

the department; the Fogo Island Shorefast Foundation and co-operative has seen

support.

Mr.

Speaker, $3 million is announced in the budget, of which we're partnering with

the Minister of Natural Resources in that department to create a Digital Ocean

Innovation Centre of Excellence. There's tremendous capacity, if we look at the

oil and gas sector in our offshore, but we also look at the ocean economy as a

whole. We have 53 per cent of Canada's ocean economy in Newfoundland and

Labrador. We have an incredible amount of companies and capacity working with

offshore oil and gas, working with sensing technology, artificial intelligence,

robotics, aviation and aerospace and defence, as well as the aquaculture

industry. The Member for Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune would certainly highlight

success and growth and how it's been able to create tremendous benefits on the

South Coast of this province. Together, we look at all of these ocean

opportunities that exist here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The

budget also committed $2.5 million towards the construction of a new

36,000-square foot facility at the Marine Institute's Holyrood Marine Base. And

I was present with the Minister of Natural Resources and the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour to highlight this and where there's

incredible growth, because Holyrood itself has a start-up community, they also

have this educational opportunity where you can connect closely to the ocean.

There's more opportunity there and this is why we partnered with the Marine

Institute with making this investment. It's more than a $20-million investment

once it comes to completion.

There's

$500,000 in the budget to implement a new approach to investment attraction as

well, so it could be very direct and very targeted. This was a recommendation

based on the McKinsey report to look at where we can go and seek out direct

investment or make attraction in various sectors of the economy.

Highlighting some areas like our defence and aerospace industry, it is an area

that has a lot more opportunity. This is why we have $200,000 committed for a

feasibility study to explore opportunities, to expand the maintenance repair and

overhaul in the airline industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. That was also a

recommendation that came out of the McKinsey report.

We have

$250,000 in Budget 2019 to launch an

ocean technology competition; $250,000 to support social enterprise outreach.

There's also $200,000 to support the Drive Program offered through the Community

Business Development Corporation, CBDCs, which offers loans to young

entrepreneurs up to $10, 000. They're throughout the province. There's a network

of 14 CBDCs and metro business opportunities to make 15.

I was at

the launch of the Youth Ventures Program, seeing how inspiring it is to have

young entrepreneurs look at their first opportunity to make their own money, be

their own boss. Whether it's the lemonade stand, whether it's the lawn care

business, art or other endeavours, there's capacity for people to get access to

low-interest loans through this supportive program with the CBDCs to create new

opportunities.

We also

will partner with credit unions in the province to pilot a small business loan

guarantee program and look at the extension of a cellular service pilot project.

The

Member opposite, the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue, had talked quite a

bit about Internet and it's certainly a priority for us. His district will

receive a number of areas of Internet upgrades that have been previously

announced. We made it a priority to leverage federal funding and other supports.

In fact, TCII was able to leverage nearly $40 million in federal service – with

service providers to improve Internet access in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Projects

continue to be implemented and by doing so this improved access to high-speed

Internet allows hardworking Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to become more

engaged in the digital economy, seized with business opportunities and connect

with friends and family around the world. This investment will help make a

significant difference in enhancing productivity and competitiveness in many

rural and remote communities across our province.

Last

year, we launched a cell service pilot project to expand wireless coverage in

communities throughout the province. In collaboration with service provides and

local proponents, TCII has supported 10 projects to expand wireless coverage in

communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

It was

very pleasing to see that 4,000 constituents on the Great Northern Peninsula in

17 communities in the St. Anthony basin region will see a benefit from the

elevation of two towers, one in St. Lunaire-Griquet and one in Raleigh that will

open up cellular service to a World UNESCO heritage site. Fifty independent

businesses along the route of Routes 436 and 437 will see a greater enhancement.

It's going to lead to business growth. It's going to lead to younger people

wanting to move in communities that didn't have cellular service otherwise, and

help the visitor who is coming be able to way find, get information as well.

There are all kinds of reasons why we should be investing in cellular service.

We saw a

great partnership in the Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair district where the

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment and CSSD had highlighted that six

communities, including the World UNESCO heritage site in Red Bay, will see

coverage.

The

Member for Stephenville - Port au Port has a project that is supporting the

francophone community in economic development in La Grand'Terre and Three Rock

Cove, Mainland there.

We also

see where I was with the Member for Cape St. Francis. He was quite delighted in

Pouch Cove to see investment in that district; as well as the Member for

Placentia - St. Mary's, to talk about the support for Riverhead and a number of

communities around St. Mary's where they will have cellular service.

The

Minister for the Status of Women has seen an investment in the community of

Lord's Cove. Lord's Cove is a unique example of where a small investment in a

trail has led to development in Sandy Cove; also saw business growth in the

community; has supported tourism and also innovation through the Wave Energy

Research Centre; and partnerships with the College of the North Atlantic.

We're

seeing activity happen in small communities, and that's the exciting things we

want to continue to see. As well, how communities on the Burin Peninsula are

benefiting from Grieg in and around the region through places like – is it

Lamaline or Lawn that's –

AN HON. MEMBER:

Lawn.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Lawn is seeing the cages

being designed and built. We see other companies that are accelerating growth

down in the district, with Grand Bank in Dynamic Air Shelters. Very wonderful

companies that I've had the opportunity to tour with the Member. I'm very proud

of the initiatives that are happening.

I think

as Members of this House, we are certainly all proud of our districts and the

communities and the highlights of what's happening from an economic point of

view. You only have to look to the Member for Bonavista to see and talk about,

as we did in Estimates last night, the robust business growth that's happening

there.

In 2016,

there were only 80 members of the chamber of commerce of that area. Now there

are nearly 160 members; that's 80 more members. There were 60 businesses that

started up in just over two years on the Bonavista Peninsula.

This is

the type of activity and this is the climate that we're creating that's

conducive. So for Members opposite to get up and talk about doom and gloom and

how bad things are, there are good things happening in all regions of

Newfoundland and Labrador. We're seeing it, and this has happened since we have

formed government in 2016, where we've seen this business growth on the

Bonavista Peninsula. They've capitalized on their cultural assets and small

business growth and collaboration, and we look at where those opportunities are,

whether they're through regional innovation systems pilot projects, or whether

they're through trade activities or whether they're through industrial

activities.

Our

department is very, very diverse in the types of initiatives we undertake and we

support, because we have our tourism and cultural division and parks, business,

regional development and diversification. Tourism has grown to 20,000 jobs, up

from 18,000 from the last time the exit survey was done. So we've seen growth in

that area.

We've

seen last year 3.6 million trips in the province by residents spending nearly

$570 million. So combined resident and non-resident tourism spending in

Newfoundland and Labrador reached $1.14 billion last year. That's incredible.

Nearly

700 articles were written – and the Member for Gander will certainly love this –

by Travel Media about Come From Away

in 2018. That reached an audience of $110 million. This is a promotion, an

advertising about Newfoundland and Labrador that we did not have to buy. Tour

operators are expanding tour packages and offerings throughout the province.

We've hosted two promotional events in London at

Come From Away and we want to keep

hearing from our visitor experiences and those opportunities.

We also

had, through our tourism development initiatives, 24 opportunities, experiences,

sessions, 900 operators, potential entrepreneurs, municipalities and

stakeholders that have been engaged in this process.

continue to see where there's $1 million in budget 2019-20 to support an

investment in the growing art scene that we have here in this province. So we're

making Arts NL a grant program, $2.9 million up from $1.9 million because we

have incredible contemporary arts, arts organizations for the creation,

development and supporting artists.

The film

and television industry has seen robust growth: $50 million in production last

year, a record; 650 full-time equivalent jobs. This is why we've added $4

million to the equity program. We've doubled that since we formed government.

We also

support the technology sector through our Technology Sector Work Plan, made

incredible investments, whether it's through equity, loans or others to attract

investment and grow the economy here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I thank

everyone for my time to address Budget

2019 .

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Like I

say, I always remind, it's a pleasure to get up and speak in the House for the

people you represent, because I think it's important for each and every one of

us to stand in this House and not only speak what we feel about the budget, but

every time we speak in this House we speak for the people we're representing.

I'll say

it every time I stand, it's something that should be repeated, because it's not

us speaking. We're speaking on behalf of the people who elected us that we

represent in the House of Assembly. It's something that I don't take lightly and

I'm very proud to do. So on behalf of the residents of Conception Bay South,

it's always a pleasure to stand in this. Like I said, it's a privileged job.

Sometimes we don't say that enough, either, but it's not everyone who gets this

opportunity to sit in this House and represent their districts.

It's a

very humbling experience, but it's one that I think we all should never lose

sight of the fact how important our jobs actually are and how people depend on

us for a lot of things to make a difference in their lives. Not only in our

districts, Mr. Speaker, but provincially, and as we all are critics for

different portfolios, we hold government to account and individual ministers.

But it's all about making life better for residents of the province. I don't

think we should ever lose sight of the fact of what we come here to do.

Mr.

Speaker, on the budget document, the budget speech we can go any angle. I'd like

to go back to some commentary I had when I debated Interim Supply the other day.

And it comes down to the fact of the budget document that was introduced in

April and the one that was reintroduced last week and we're now debating here

today, an ask that we as a caucus, as an Opposition, entirety had put forth –

but I know our caucus put forth a list of requests to the government opposite,

the Premier and the Minister of Finance, and all those asks are legitimate asks

and we get the comeback that they're expensive.

Well,

that's fine. Some of them may be a cost. Some may be more costly than others. We

never did ask for the spending to increase, we asked for a reallocation of

spending. Operate within the same budget, operate within the same monies.

Because in 2015, when this government took office, spending has increased year

over year over year, they'll say that it's because of borrowing costs, the

financial costs or this cost or that cost, but their actually spending has

actually increased every year. Their spending now is up by $7 million or $8

million, if I'm not mistaken, from 2015.

It's a

gradual incline. They're not operating like a government that's watching their

spending. The revenue side was meant to increase when they nailed everyone with

300 taxes and fees, but it's something – and we have economists in this House,

but I'm not an economist, but I do talk to lots of people and I do have a

common-sense approach. If people feel good about everything, they'll spend.

If you

have more money in your pocket, if you feel you're getting a tax break here or

you're not paying tax here, generally, it's an upbeat feeling. You'll spend

more. You'll make that purchase. You'll buy that car. You'll go shopping. You'll

go to the restaurant. It all works hand in hand.

It's

simple economics. That's the basics of all economics. You talk about your

economic indicators being up and down, forget all that. Forget all the technical

jargon. The bottom line is whether you're a business, whether you're an

individual, if you feel good about the economy in the future, you will spend.

You will invest. It's a very common-sense approach, Mr. Speaker, and no one can

dispute that.

We don't

feel that way in this province. Little windows of bright light shines and

someone say: B'y, the price of oil is going up. That's good, and everyone is

saying maybe we're around the corner. Everything is brightening up. Then you see

the price of gas go up and then you go and you're nailed with taxes here and

taxes there and everyone goes: Well, why? It's a depressed economy. When people

feel that way – and we all heard it, my colleagues and Members in this House has

said, we were on the heels of a provincial election, you listen to what people

tell you at the door.

I've

said it, I campaigned for my colleague in Topsail - Paradise, the Leader of the

Opposition, the Member for Mount Pearl North in by-elections in between 2015 and

2019, and in my own election, and what I heard at the doors was: taxes, taxes,

taxes. What are we going do? How are we going to resolve this? I don't see a

future. What about my children? I have teenagers; I have young adults. How are

they going to live here? If they go, I'm going.

That's

what I heard and I spoke with three other electoral districts, and the Members,

I'm sure, can back up what I'm saying because I knocked on the doors with them

and we all heard the same thing. I'm sure if you went you to anywhere in the

province, you would have heard the same thing, Mr. Speaker. It's not a new

complaint. It's not something new that just came up yesterday. It's not new.

This happened in 2015.

People

might say we were troubled, financially. I don't think anyone disputes that, but

we're an oil-based economy. With oil, comes those fluctuations. You head out

west in Alberta, Saskatchewan, they felt the same thing we felt, but they never

folded the tent. They never said shut down everything, the gloom and doom, we're

going bankrupt, we're on the verge of bankruptcy, tax everyone, tax, tax, tax –

no, they never done that.

They

actually increased spending because they wanted to instill confidence in the

individuals that live in their respective provinces. They wanted people to say,

you know what, we are going through hard times, but we're with you, we hear it,

we know what we got to do, we got to weather this storm, that's what we're going

to do and that's how we're going to weather this storm.

Here, it

was the sky was falling. I've said this many times in this House and I'll say it

again, the black cloud has not left. There's still a black cloud over this

province, as much as the government opposite want to think life is good, we're

on the verge and we're coming back.

It's

interesting, in April, prior to the election being called, it was announcement

after announcement after announcement. That doesn't work anymore. Again, that's

insulting the intelligence of the electorate. It's their money, it's not our

money. It's the public's money. We're instilled with the confidence of the

people to come into this House, the 40 Members and vote – it's their money, it's

not ours. I have no authority to anything outside of what I get paid. It's their

money. And for anyone to come in on bended knee to a minister and say thank you

so much for helping me out, Sir, or Ma'am, that's ludicrous. It's not their

money, it's none of our money. It's the public's money.

So you

spend $350 million in three days prior to an election being called. Now, who's

the fool? It's not the people, 'cause they see it, and they told me, and I'm

sure they told others. It's the people opposite who decided that this was the

strategy we'd use. It's insulting, Mr. Speaker. I still find it insulting. I'm

not only the Member for Conception Bay South, I am a resident of this province,

too. I'm a taxpayer, I'm like everyone else that walks these streets. I shop and

I eat and I drive the same roads we all do. I'm a normal citizen like anyone

else. It's our money. We care. So when I speak, I'm speaking for the residents

but I'm also speaking for me, too. I found that insulting.

remember going home after, I guess, day three, when we were up to $350 million,

and day three, Wednesday, wasn't over, I remember thinking these are the things

I don't like about politics. And I was quoted as saying that; I remember saying

that outright. I didn't like it. I never did like that. I with the former

administration, they used to make these announcements and think that everything

was wonderful and we all had rose-coloured glasses on, and I didn't like it

then. So I'm not being partisan, I'm just generally saying that – and I said it

back then and I'm saying it now – I didn't like that.

Like,

who do you think you're fooling? First of all, it's not your money. It's the

public's money, and the public are concerned but they want something to rise

them, they want something to lift them up. They listened for four years: blame,

blame, blame, blame. That got old. The previous administration, that wore out.

You crowd, that didn't have any legs. Believe it or not, I can't believe it, but

I've heard it a scattered time from the previous administration in this session.

It astounds me.

When I

look around, there are a lot of new faces on this side of the House – a lot of

new faces, a lot of fresh ideas. Yeah, they're with the PC Party. A lot of the

new faces on the other side that were never around when the Upper Churchill deal

was signed, do I blame them because of that? It was done under a Liberal

administration, or any other deals that went wrong with a Liberal or a Tory or

whatever. You move on. Faces change, attitudes change, ideas change, faces

change.

At the

end of the day, all of us are put in here by the people we represent, to come in

and make a difference, to do what's right, do what they think is right; but, not

only that, to speak what people want you to speak about. They gave us a job to

come in here and represent them. I got my marching orders. I not only get it

from my wife, Mr. Speaker, but I get them from others as well. They wanted

certain things. We all get them – most men do anyway, I know that.

I heard

loud and clear what I heard at the doors. It was 1.6 busing, it was insulin

pumps, it was levies, it was taxes and it was the condition of the roads. All of

those things were there but most people, when I had a conversation with them,

they were very realistic. They understood the financial situation the province

is in. They didn't want me to recreate the wheel.

They

wanted me to bring their voice in here, and I try to do that to the best of my

ability every single time I get that opportunity because, really, that's what

we're here for. We're not here for me. It's not about me or anyone else here.

It's about the people we represent. Their concerns are very legitimate.

I know

back in 2016, the infamous 2016 budget, that a lot of people in this province

shook this Legislature. It was one of the worst, probably the worst budget ever.

We were bombarded with email after email after email. Actually, in the

filibuster we got up and read out those hundreds and hundreds of emails because,

you know what, those people deserved to have their voices heard.

Do you

know what that done? The people were happy. That was their voice; that wasn't my

email. I used to pick up the emails and read them out. I used to make it clear,

that's not me. That's this person, that's this person. That's what they wanted.

Did it change anything? No, but at least they felt they had their voices heard.

It's on record. It's in this Hansard

here. Their concerns were brought to this House.

Election

day is when you file your concerns, you file your complaints and you give your

proper assessment. It's not polling, it's election day.

We seen

what happened over there on May 16, very close. Now, they did pull it off. It's

a minority but they're still in government and they have the right to govern.

But I certainly hope after May 16 they listen better, because I hear it, I still

hear it, people were surprised. People were shocked that they pulled it off,

this Liberal government pulled it off.

Again,

that's not my words, that's their words. I have reasons for that. I know a lot

of Members opposite. There are a lot of good Members over there. There are a lot

of good people. There are a lot of good representatives on that side who've done

good work and deserve to be here. That's not the issue.

The

issue is we submit seven, eight recommendations that we felt was important from

the Members opposite here. We're in this House, the majority of the population

as we sit here, and I've heard it said many times this week, 57 per cent of the

province voted for this side of the House. So these concerns are very legitimate

because you're getting them from, basically, a majority of the province. We

submitted our letters and we got back that it was too costly and you're going to

drive the deficit up. Like, there were black clouds over it.

Then we

hear the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board telling everyone

we're going to work together. We're going to do this together. We're in this

together. We're all singing 'Kumbaya.” We're in this together. But what is he

really saying? It's lip service, Mr. Speaker. Then you go and present the same

budget. You're not willing – we got the letters back and forth. There's no

movement.

Does the

province want another election? No, they don't. I don't want another election.

My residents, I represent, don't want another election. It just shows you the

arrogance is still alive and well. That's what it shows me. How long this goes

on, who knows. It's hard to convert from being a 31 seat majority and it's

dwindled down to 27 to a minority. I get that, and your mindset. It's a job to

switch that like the flick of a switch, but they'd better soon start listening.

I'm speaking for the Official Opposition, and other Members on this side of the

House are going to get frustrated eventually as well.

that's my caution to the wind. You dodge bullets. You'll dodge this bullet

because I don't think anyone wants another election. I'll tell you right now, we

want our voices to be heard. We want our districts to be heard. We want the

concerns that our residents have to be heard loud and clear, and we want them to

be given the same consideration as any Liberal district in this province. Are

they getting that right now? I don't know. I question it. I seriously question

it.

I don't

think it says for every district over there but I think there are some districts

and there are lots of evidence could say – I could be corrected, but I think I'm

pretty close to being right on that. I speak to a lot of people, and it's easier

sometimes when you're in the right district. I get that too, but you're in a

different climate now. We're in a different world. This is a new order now. It's

the first time in 40 or 50 years we've been like this, and the last time it

didn't last very long, but I think we all want to work together. I think the

public wants us to work together.

We want

to be respected. The residents we represent want to be respected. They don't

want to listen to this – again, the general public, the residents of this

province are smart people. They're intelligent. You can't fool them with their

own money, you can't buy them with their own money. They're a very intelligent

electorate. You hear it at the doors. These people are pretty wise. They catch

on to stuff. This stuff don't fool them. They can't be fooled.

Mr.

Speaker, when I went around – speaking of the electorate. When I went around and

knocked on doors – again, this is probably another bit of caution to the wind,

I'm sure. You may have heard it yourselves when you knocked on your doors. When

I went to the doors, one of the first things I'd hear was: Never give you much

time. That's pretty rushed. You had Victoria Day weekend. You had Mother's Day.

What

other event happened?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Easter.

MR. PETTEN:

Easter. There you go – Easter

weekend.

That

benefits incumbents. I've said this before, that would benefit an incumbent.

That was the plan. Get this done. Limit it. Get it out. Four week election,

which really it's not four weeks. Get it done. Get it over with. Before people

know what happened, it's done and over and we'll save our skin. That's why we

had the May election, and listen, it worked. By the slimmest of margins it

worked, but don't ever think the public didn't catch on and didn't knew what was

happening.

The sad

reality is in probably another week they would have really caught on and

registered, but I'll leave it at that. That's what I heard at the doors. They

were insulted. They were absolutely insulted.

They

were also insulted about the $350 million that was spent in three days. None of

that was lost on them, but they also still talked about what happened in 2016.

Do you

know another issue that came up at the doors? The $40 million. The minister

opposite will always say: We never gave them nothing. See, Mr. Speaker, there's

a pretty simple concept there, too. No, you're right. They never wrote a $40

million cheque, but it's $40 million in tax breaks. So we're getting $40 million

less. Whatever way you slice it, you're getting less.

So,

yeah, indirectly, we're going to give them $40 million, to a multi-billion

company, I guess. This company is big. We didn't need to do that. We've argued

that. We still argue it. We didn't need to do that. Why did we do that? There's

never been a rational excuse given. All the while, though, there's scandal

written all over it. It's been on the fringes of a scandal, but we've never been

– well, the AG is at it now, so maybe we'll get to the bottom of this. The

general public can't get over that. I heard that. I was not surprised because

different sections talk about different things. They were totally, totally,

totally taken up with that issue. We challenged it; our Leader challenged it.

I had

questions of the Minister of Transportation. We all kind of delved into it.

There was something not right here. We couldn't get the answers, but hopefully

the AG will. Those are the things. That's when I say sometimes you can look in

the mirror or you don't have to look in the mirror, but you can live in this

world, this fancy world where they don't see it. Unfortunately, a lot of them

are still not seeing it, and that is very frustrating. Again, not to me, the

people I represent.

I hear

it, and I've said this, too. I think every Budget Speech I bring it up because I

think it's important, too. Probably several times a week, depending when the

House is open, I go to the local Tims. I'm a Tim Hortons coffee drinker. I go to

the local Tims and I go in. I don't go to the drive through, I go in and I sit

down at a table. This table is all retirees. They're retired engineers,

teachers, there's a doctor in it, actually, it's former politicians. I sit down

in the morning when I get an opportunity, and I have to tell you, there's no

better input you'll get.

There

are Liberals and there are NDPs and there are Tories, and there are people, I

don't think, who likes anyone in government. They all give me their views. It's

not only that, there are some people who can't stand anyone in this Legislature,

but I found it very interesting. The dynamics – and they'll have their own

debates while I'm at the table. It's not like they're all for and against me,

it's very interesting.

Ironically, I've used that a lot of times. Some commentary I've had with those

people in this House, and it's a lot of factual information. It takes you out of

the bubble. I always say the bubble is a big problem in politics. It removes you

– and what the public are really seeing, it's really eye opening.

Again,

that's one thing I learned. I learned this from seasoned politicians who were in

this House many years ago. They gave me some advice on the dos and the don't

dos. That was one of the big things they gave me: don't lose touch with your

district; don't lose touch with the people on the ground. They're the people who

put you there. They liked what they seen when they seen you the first time.

They're going to like what they see if you don't change. Don't change, be true

to yourself, be true to the residents you represent and you'll never go wrong.

Mr.

Speaker, I continue to hold that. I'm in my second term now and I'll continue to

advocate for that. Every opportunity I get up to speak on a money bill or a

budget bill, I will not resist to say that here again, over and over again. I

thank you once again for the opportunity to get up and speak.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this

time I would adjourn debate on the budget motion.

And

prior to recess, I would call from the Order Paper, Order 3, third reading of

Bill 1.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I would move,

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

1,

An Act To Amend The Revenue Administration Act, be now read a third time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

Bill –

MR. A. PARSONS:

One.

MR. SPEAKER:

– 1 be now read a third time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

The

motion is carried.

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Revenue Administration Act. (Bill 1)

MR. SPEAKER:

This bill has now been read a

third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the

Order Paper.

motion, a bill, “An Act To Amend The Revenue Administration Act,” read a third

time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 1)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We're

about to recess until 2 p.m., but just a reminder to all Members, that I believe

immediately following the recess there will be a recommencement of the Finance

Department Estimates that – Executive Council, sorry. Executive Council

Estimates that were paused as of yesterday. So I would remind all Members that

this House will now sit for Estimates after the recess.

MR. SPEAKER:

I seek direction from the

Government House Leader.

So when

might we reconvene, at the conclusion of those Estimates?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, we're recessing the

House now until 2 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER:

Okay.

MR. A. PARSONS:

In the interim, there will be

a continuation of the Estimates that were paused yesterday.

MR. SPEAKER:

I gotcha.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

All right, thank you.

This

House does stand in recess until 2 o'clock this afternoon.

Thank

you.

Recess

The

House resumed at 2 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Admit strangers, please.

Order,

please!

I'd like

to welcome the Members back to this afternoon's sitting.

First of

all, it gives me a great honour to welcome in the Speaker's gallery, to my

right, Mr. Rod Deon. He is a navy veteran of the Second World War and he'll be

recognized in a Member's statement this afternoon.

Welcome

to you, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Some other special guests to

my left, also in the Speaker's gallery, joining us today are members of the

Premier's Youth Council. The Premier's Youth Council was created in 2017 with a

mandate to provide advice to the Premier and the provincial government, bringing

a youth perspective to select topics important to youth and the government's

agenda.

The

Premier's Youth Council members are appointed through a merit-based process led

by the public service commission. There are currently 24 members from all

regions of the province. Joining us today, we have: McAuley Bellows, Lauren

Carter, Frankie Leonard, Radhika Verma, Katie Wells and Will White.

Welcome

to all of you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements

today, we will hear from the hon. Members for the Districts of Lewisporte -

Twillingate, Fogo Island - Cape Freels, Conception Bay East - Bell Island,

Harbour Main, and St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

The hon.

the Member for Lewisporte - Twillingate.

MR. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to recognize the Kinsmen Club of Bridgeport and area. On

Saturday evening, I had the privilege to join members and guests for the 36th

Annual Installation of Officers and year-end banquet.

I would

like to extend congratulations to Kin Randy White for winning the distinguished

Kinsmen of the Year Award.

Mr.

Speaker, the Kinsmen motto is: Serving the Communities Greatest Needs, and this

chapter has truly lived up to that motto.

During

the 36-year history of the Kinsmen Club of Bridgeport and area, the dedicated

service of current and past members have contributed to over $750,000 being

donated back to the community and region. In addition to donating to local

residents, schools, sports and youth groups, the club also donates to the

Janeway, Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, the Children's Wish

Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, Kids Eat Smart Foundation, Dr. H. Bliss

Cancer Centre, and CF and MS just to name a few.

I ask

all Members to join me in celebrating the contributions and success of the

Kinsmen Club of Bridgeport and area.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Fogo Island - Cape Freels.

MR. BRAGG:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the local service district of

Stoneville and enjoy the company of the great volunteers there. This past

Saturday they celebrated Stoneville days, their annual community festival. The

day was enjoyed by everyone who took part.

The day

started with a parade of the brand new fire truck through town. This might not

sound like a big parade, but this was the first new fire truck for the

community. The sense of pride from the chief and volunteers was overwhelming.

The firemen were so excited that they took their own ride in the truck before

taking the kids. As a former chief, I was as happy as they were.

Over the

past year and a half, these volunteers fundraised over $45,000 towards the cost

of this truck. Mr. Speaker, that amounts to a lot of cold plates, moose burgers,

ticket sales and other various collections. I would like to extend thanks to

these volunteers for their hard work and commitment to their town and

surrounding area.

I wish

them well, Mr. Speaker.

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.

Mr.

Speaker, I stand today to acknowledge two amazing women from my district. I

speak of Ms. Kerry Churchill and Ms. Dana Metcalfe, who are the architects

behind such endeavours like WINK, Women Into Networking Kindness, and the

Breastless and Beautiful calendar project.

WINK is

an organization that supports and motivates our community through active

participation by volunteerism, fundraising and acts of kindness for persons in

need.

The

Breastless and Beautiful project not only raises money for the Dr. H. Bliss

Murphy Cancer Centre, Patient and Family Support Fund, but serves as a beacon of

inspiration for the individuals and their families who are battling breast

cancer. Mr. Speaker, each month's photo is very artistically and creatively

taken and tells the amazing story of the physical, mental and emotional

obstacles they have overcome. To date, the project has raised over $100,000 for

support to breast cancer patients.

Mr.

Speaker, another project that was driven by these women was the Chain of Bras

project that saw a chain of bras stretch two kilometres along Signal Hill to

raise awareness and money for support of breast cancer patients.

Mr.

Speaker, these are only a few of the things these women have done to support our

residents. I ask all Members to join me in congratulating and thanking Kerry and

Dana for their leadership and courage.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Harbour Main.

MS. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

I am

pleased to stand and recognize one of the largest communities in my District of

Harbour Main, the Town of Holyrood, which was incorporated in 1969, and this

year celebrates its 50th year anniversary and Come Home Year. Much of the month

of July has been dedicated to the recognition of the incorporation of this

historic town. Numerous events for young and old alike are being held.

Holyrood

is a town that continues to grow rapidly and boasts both its historical past and

its growth as it attracts many newcomers. With its vibrant municipal council,

Holyrood continues to expand and offers many opportunities to its residents. For

example, Holyrood has continuously found a way to evolve from a proud history to

building an ocean innovation ecosystem creating a sustainable and progressive

future.

I would

ask all hon. Members to join with me in the celebration of the 50th anniversary

of the incorporation of the Town of Holyrood and Come Home Year 2019. Holyrood

is a true example of a place that demonstrates continuous growth and vitality

and exemplifies what it means to be a town of distinction in our great Province

of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. COFFIN:

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted

to recognize Mr. Rod Deon, a World War II navy veteran and outstanding community

volunteer.

One of

the surviving veterans dispatched to the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, Mr. Deon

recently travelled to France for the 75th anniversary of this event, one of 45

people who took

part in a special commemoration ceremony with Veterans Affairs

Canada.

Born in

Nova Scotia in 1921, Mr. Deon worked as a hull technician, or shipwright, before

enlisting in the navy. During D-Day, Deon was aboard the

HMCS Ottawa .

Mr. Deon

is also a celebrated artist and was honoured with a Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Medal in 2012 for a wood carving he did of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 for her

coronation.

dedicated volunteer with the Royal Canadian Legion, many people recognize Mr.

Deon from selling poppies every year. He has spent a half a century working on

the annual poppy campaign. Mr. Deon proudly states he served so we could be here

today.

We are

humbled by your actions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

recognize Greg Roberts, Barb Genge and Christopher Hickman on recently being

inducted into the 2019 Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame.

Greg

Roberts is chairman and president of P. I. Enterprises Group; however, this

native of Triton is known more as the owner and CEO of Mary Brown's

incorporated. Today, there are over 150 Mary Brown's restaurants from coast to

coast, and the number keeps growing each year. Mr. Roberts credits his father as

the most influential figure in his life, and his most valued mentor.

Mr.

Speaker, through her entrepreneurial spirit and community involvement, Barb

Gen