Newfoundland and Labrador Hansard — Members' Statements; Statements by Ministers — 1 May 2006 (45th General Assembly, 3rd Session, Vol. XLV No. 13)
2006-05-01
Newfoundland and Labrador — Debates (Hansard)
May 1, 2006 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLV No. 13
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Statements by Members
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: The hon. the Member
for the District of Twillingate & Fogo; the hon. the Member for the District
of St. John's Centre; the hon. the Member for the District of Grand Falls-Buchans;
the hon. the Member for the District of Lake Melville; the hon. the Member for
the District of Carbonear-Harbour Grace; and the hon. the Member for the
District of St. John's North.
The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for the District of Twillingate
& Fogo.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a friend and colleague of many of
us who sit here in the House of Assembly, who died tragically on April 16 at
Birchy Lake.
Mr. Speaker, those of us who had the honour and the pleasure to know Rick
Woodford knew that he was not only a dedicated politician, but he was a
gentleman in all respects. Rick will be remembered for his wonderful sense of
humour and his warm and compassionate personality.
Rick was the Mayor of Cormack for ten years and served for five years as a
Director of the Federation of Municipalities. He was elected as MHA for the
District of Humber Valley in 1985 and served in that capacity for eighteen
years. His contribution to his district and, indeed, the entire Province will
never be forgotten.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that all members of the House join with me in expressing
our sincere condolences to Rick's daughter, Tanya, and to his extended family.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I wonder if I may have leave to make a few comments and concur with the
Leader of the Opposition about the tragic passing of an old colleague and, I
venture to say, he is certainly a friend of mine and a friend of many people in
this Legislature.
I remember a couple of weeks ago, the morning after it happened, I happened
to be on the West Coast and dropped into Pasadena Irving, which is a business
that Rick was partner in - from time to time when I was out there, drop in and
say hello to him and see how he was doing - and I heard the news firsthand from
another former Member for Humber West, Ray Baird and his business partner, and
was shocked.
I can concur with the statements that the Leader made, there is no question,
the contribution that Mr. Woodford made to public life, in particular, the
people of Humber Valley. I know as a newly elected member in 1993, when I sat in
caucus with him, he was the type of individual who played a role with newer
members in showing them the ropes, so to speak. He became a friend of mine and a
friend of many on this side of the House at that time and remained so until the
day that he died.
We certainly do want to be associated with the remarks made by the Leader of
the Opposition and as one colleague to, I guess a former colleague now, we wish
to pass on our condolences, obviously in a very public way to his daughter,
Tanya, and wish her all the best.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
By leave, I would certainly not want to miss this opportunity to say, in a
public way, my heartfelt support for the comments of the Member for Twillingate
& Fogo and the Government House Leader in remembering Rick Woodford.
Rick Woodford, I think is fair to say, was a friend to every member in this
House, who shared the sitting in this House with him. I referred to him from
time to time as my seat mate because he was sitting right here where the Member
for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair is and we had many talks over the years about
public life and personal life. To say he was a friend to everyone who knew him,
he was a very dedicated member of this House and a very special person to his
constituents. I was very sorry to learn of his death and unfortunately was
unable, along with you, Mr. Speaker, to attend the funeral because of airplane
difficulties. I very much wanted to be there to ensure that his family and his
constituents and friends knew the esteem in which he was held by, I believe, all
colleagues in the House of Assembly.
I would certainly join with the Member for Twillingate & Fogo and the
Government House Leader and I think all colleagues in offering our condolences
to his family, and particularly, his daughter Tanya.
CHAIR: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we have just finished recognizing Volunteer Week in Canada.
April 23-29 was a full week of activities and events that highlighted the
contribution volunteers make in our communities.
Mr. Speaker, there are volunteers in every community in Newfoundland and
Labrador. A survey conducted by the Community Services Council in 2002-2003
showed that 53 per cent of individuals in our Province are volunteers!
Volunteers make an enormous contribution to our communities, to the social and
economic development of our Province, and to the quality of life of our
residents.
I ask all members of this House to join me in thanking the moms and dads; the
coaches; the Girl Guide leaders; the Meals on Wheels volunteers; the literacy
volunteers; the people who shovel the walkways or deliver the groceries to help
someone in need; the person who sits on a committee, a board or an agency of a
community; the volunteer who answers the phone or completes an income tax
return; who comforts the sick; who helps at the food bank; who reads to
children; who walks the streets giving support to the homeless; who comforts the
sick and the shut-ins. All of these volunteers, Mr. Speaker, make our community
what it is today, and I think we should thank them.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.
MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to congratulate the Grand
Falls-Windsor Heritage Society on winning the Historic Sites Association of
Newfoundland and Labrador's Manning Award for the history book, Grand
Falls-Windsor: The Place and its People , published as a legacy project for
the 2005 Centennial Celebrations.
The Manning Award for Excellence in the Public Presentation of Historic
Places was established in 1993 and recognizes the work being done across the
Province by community-minded groups and organizations. The award honours the
late Bill Manning, former Parks Canada Superintendent of Historic Sites for
Newfoundland and Labrador, and, since its inception, has been presented to
recipients from all across our Province.
The 500 page deluxe hardcover edition is divided into chapters detailing the
historical high points of Grand Falls-Windsor's evolution from 1905, when the
Harmsworth brothers chose Central Newfoundland as the location of their new
paper mill, to the present time. The book also chronicles stories of the pioneer
families of our town.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to join with me in
congratulating the Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society on winning the Historic
Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador's Manning Award for the history
book, Grand Falls-Windsor: The Place and its People .
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Lake Melville.
MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to pay tribute to a great citizen of
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Mr. Steve Ramey, who was tragically killed in a motor
vehicle accident on November 10, 2004.
Late last month, from March 24 to March 26, the first annual Steve Ramey
Memorial Female Hockey Tournament was held in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Steve was a great supporter of female hockey, as his daughter, Rebecca, is a
member of the Lake Melville Xtreme Minor Hockey Association. His youngest son,
Blake, dropped the puck for the opening ceremonies with the help of his two
older brothers, Josh and Brandon. The puck was dropped between Rebecca Ramey and
Janeil Parrott. Steve's mother also travelled to the area from Nova Scotia for
the inaugural tournament.
Mr. Speaker, Steve was a devoted father and avid hockey dad.' He spent
untold hours helping in fundraising efforts and promoting the female hockey
league. He was instrumental in the girls winning two provincial gold medals and
one bronze medal, as well as regional awards.
Steve was a great asset to the hockey community in Happy Valley-Goose Bay,
and his presence has certainly been missed, but, as everyone who knew Steve can
tell you, he had a very simple but profound take on life, and that was: "To
live life to the fullest" and "Don't sweat the small stuff."
Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House today to join me in paying
tribute to Steve and the commitment he displayed for the growth of female hockey
in Labrador.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.
MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to congratulate the Conception Bay North CeeBee Stars, the
2005-2006 Herder Memorial Senior Hockey Champions.
When the CeeBee Stars raised the Herder Memorial Trophy over their heads last
Saturday night, a thirty-nine year burden was lifted off the shoulders of every
hockey fan in Conception Bay North. The CeeBee Stars took the best of seven
final - and the first Herder title for CBN since 1967 - in six games.
Mr. Speaker, this has been a great year for hockey in our region. With the
provincial champion senior team, we also captured the region's Junior Stars
Provincials and the Conception Bay North Female Provincials.
Another important factor to make this a truly local accomplishment is the
fact that eleven of the Stars' twenty-four full-time players are from the
Conception Bay North area, an unusually high percentage for the Newfoundland
senior leagues. Having so many locals on the team builds not only team spirit,
but community spirit as well. The drive to win was apparent from the beginning.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in
congratulating the Conception Bay North CeeBee Stars, the 2005-2006 Herder
Memorial Senior Hockey Champions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDGLEY: Mr. Speaker, last night I was honoured to attend the
Holocaust Memorial Service that was held at Prince of Wales Collegiate. Seven
years ago, this House voted unanimously to establish and recognize Holocaust
Memorial Day and I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to remind all members and, indeed,
all people in our Province, how important it is for us to remember the
Holocaust. It is important to remember that 6 million people, including 1.5
million children were put to death for one reason, because they were Jewish. It
is important for us to remember that another 1.5 million people were killed
because they were disabled in one form or another.
Mr. Speaker, the service last night recognized two people for their efforts
to promote Holocaust education. Irving Fogwill was honoured posthumously for
having promoted this issue through his poetry, and Mr. Brian Vardy,
Vice-Principal at PWC, was recognized for having raised Holocaust awareness in
his role as an educator.
As we in this House take time today to remember the atrocities of the
Holocaust, we should renew our commitment to fight, not only anti-Semitism, but
prejudice in all its forms.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Government Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS WHALEN: Mr. Speaker, this week employees and employers across Canada,
the United States and Mexico are participating in events in recognition of North
American Occupational Safety and Health week, or NAOSH Week. This special week
is set aside every year for promoting a greater awareness for the importance of
preventing workplace accidents and occupational illnesses.
This year's theme is Review, Refresh and Revitalize. This is an excellent
reminder for all of us to pay particular attention to the safety of our
workplaces. Dedication to safety is an ongoing process to ensure that every
employee goes home at the end of the day after they finish their work.
Mr. Speaker, that is why we all have a responsibility to review safety
practices at our workplaces and determine whether those practices need to be
refreshed or revitalized to meet the employee's and employer's needs.
I must commend the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers for their ongoing
efforts to promote NAOSH week every year. We can be especially proud of the
local
chapter who were the ones to develop NAOSH Week and who continue to
celebrate the need for workplace health and safety. The fact that they were the
first to recognize the need for NAOSH Week and that it has now spread throughout
the Province, Canada, the United States and Mexico shows the tremendous emphasis
this Province has always placed on health and safety in our workplaces.
This morning, I was proud to once again join the local
chapter to raise the
NAOSH Week flag at Confederation Building. This flag raising ceremony shows this
government's commitment to occupational health and safety.
While this week is dedicated to reviewing, refreshing and revitalizing so
that we make our workplaces safer, Mr. Speaker, it is also important for us to
remember that workplace safety should be a year-round commitment. We have an
obligation to our family, our friends and ourselves, to continue efforts
throughout the year to maintain healthy and safe workplaces.
Mr. Speaker, workplaces all over the Province are celebrating and recognizing
NAOSH Week through many activities which promote safe work practices. I
encourage everyone to do something in their workplace this week while
recognizing the importance of workplace health and safety.
By working together, government, employers and employees can ensure that all
our workplaces are safe.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.
MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an advanced copy of her statement. We, on this side
of the House, join with the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers for their
efforts in promoting the importance of a safe work environment.
Mr. Speaker, we can never underestimate the value and importance of a safe
workplace. Dedication to safety is an ongoing process that must be forever
monitored. My own family was touched by two members, my brother and
brother-in-law, who never returned home after going to work.
Just his past Friday I participated in a Day of Mourning at the Carbonear
Civic Centre, where, in particular, a young man, a family friend, twenty-five
years of age, was killed a year ago in Alberta. These are the things that hit
home and we can take a day or a morning and raise a flag, but still, this has to
continue on throughout the year. I would recommend to the government, that the
government would serve the people of this Province well if it initiated an
occupational health and safety program in our high schools so that the young
people of this Province, when they graduate from high school, would have the
experience of having some prior knowledge of the dangers of a workplace.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The member's allotted time has expired.
MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.
MR. R. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We, too, join NAOSH in hoping they have a successful week. On Friday past I,
too, attended the Day of Mourning ceremonies held at the Union Centre in
Labrador City. I want to say that safety and health has come a long way since
the 1970s but it still has a long way to go.
Last year in this Province, twenty-five people died as a result of work
injuries or industrial disease, and that number is very alarming and still far
too high. Mr. Speaker, back in the 1970s we had a slogan in the industry called
stop the slaughter in industry, because of the number of people getting killed
in this country. I am proud to say that this Province, in 1979, became the first
Province in Canada giving workers the right to refuse unsafe work. While that
has happened, Mr. Speaker, there are still many other initiatives that have to
be taken.
We have come a long way, Mr. Speaker, but there is much more to do, and it is
not something that can be done today and fixed for tomorrow, it is an ongoing
procedure. There have to be active programs in each and every workplace around
this Province. Weeks such as this certainly go a long way to highlighting the
concern and attention that Occupational Health and Safety deserves in our
workplace.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: Further Statements by Ministers.
Oral Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions are for the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, over the past month we have heard the Minister of Fisheries when
he went out and slammed FPI for breaking the law and stated publicly that they
would be charged. We also heard him state that he was considering amending the
FPI legislation to force FPI to cross-subsidize its failing groundfish
operations. Last week, Mr. Speaker, he surprised us all when we saw a complete
reversal of all of this. We now find that he is out considering giving Mr. John
Risley and Mr. Bill Barry what they have wanted since day one, the division and
the destruction of FPI as we know it.
I ask the Premier: When did you have your first discussions with Mr. Barry or
FPI or both concerning this proposal?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know what interview the House Leader heard - House
Leader of the Opposition?
AN HON. MEMBER: Opposition House Leader.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: The Opposition House Leader, not the leader of the
party, not Mr. Bennett, who they are trying to stab in the back.
He heard a different interview that actually what I said. What I said when I
came back was that we were considering all the options for the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: What we are trying to do is come up with the best
possible solution to benefit the communities and to benefit the people in the
Province. As a result, we have an open mind on absolutely everything that is
being put forward. We are not closing the door on anything at all.
With regard to any implication or any suggestion of any collusion with Mr.
Risley and/or Mr. Barry, there have been several meetings with Mr. Barry over
the last year on the basis that Mr. Barry is still looking at Harbour Breton and
is still seriously considering it. Hopefully Mr. Barry will come up with a
solution for Harbour Breton, which the hon. member is certainly familiar with.
He has indicated he is prepared to go in there and take over the plant and use
the product from his aquaculture operations on the Connaigre Peninsula in order
to staff up the plant and restore the dignity and the pride and the workforce in
Harbour Breton, so that is the first step.
Now, if Mr. Barry is interested in looking at the assets, all the assets, of
FPI, and there is a new operator in, well, that is fine. We understand as well
now that there certainly is another party at the table who is in serious
discussions with FPI, and we certainly would not shut the door on them under any
circumstances whatsoever, so all options are open to the ultimate benefit of the
people of this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I asked the Premier when he had discussions with FPI and Mr. Barry concerning
this issue, because, just before the Easter break, in listening to the Minister
of Fisheries and the Premier himself, they said they were not having discussions
with FPI about anything; they were meeting with themselves in the Premier's
office. Yet we see, in a news release from FPI, that they did indeed have
discussions with the government. All I asked was why or when you had these
discussions. Mr. Speaker, obviously the Premier does not want to answer
questions about FPI; he would prefer to hide away and cut deals on the side.
Mr. Speaker, in order to accommodate Mr. Barry and Mr. Risley, the FPI Act
will either have to be amended or abolished outright. I ask the Premier: If this
proposal is accepted, the one that your minister trotted out last week, which
route will this government take?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, what the hon. gentleman fails to
understand is that there is no proposal being accepted; everything is being
considered. All options are being considered.
The hon. gentleman was Minister of Fisheries and part of a government for
years, and chaired an all-party committee. He seems to have all the answers now,
but we inherited what they left us. You have to remember that the management of
FPI changed under their watch. That is when it changed. The number of plants
that were closed by that particular party when they were in government is a
significant number of plants, and the problem, as we all know, there is a
significant problem with the management of FPI. That is the problem, that is the
root of the problem, so we are trying to work our way through a very, very
complex and a very, very difficult situation; but, as to accommodating Mr. Barry
or the brother of the Member for Grand Falls, or any of these people, these
people are at the table. They are at the table; we are prepared to listen to
them. If there are responsible business people in this Province then we are
prepared to consider their offers.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What I say to the Premier is, what you inherited from us was an FPI with all
plants open. That is more than I can say you are going to leave your position
with.
Mr. Speaker, if this proposal is accepted by government - the one that he is
touting, he and his minister - it did not come from us. You are the one who came
out last week and announced to the world that there was a proposal on the table.
If this proposal is accepted by government, I ask the Premier: Which part of
what we know as FPI today will be governed by the act? I ask the Premier: Will
it be the plants which will be operated here in the Province by Bill Barry and
his group of companies, or will it be the part of FPI that John Risley will
operate in Danvers, Massachusetts?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, we are not going to stand here and
speculate on a possible option that the hon. gentleman opposite is suggesting is
going to happen. As I said, all options are open. There is no sense in us
turning around and saying to you: If a certain situation happens, what are we
going to do? We will cross that bridge when we come to it; and, when we come to
it, we will have a discussion with the unions, we will have a discussion with
the communities, and we will have a discussion with all stakeholders that are
affected here.
This is not going to be something that is unilaterally done behind closed
doors, like the hon. party opposite did when they were in government, and turn
around and virtually close the Voisey's Bay deal, turn around and try to ram
through the Lower Churchill deal. This will be an open process and you will know
what is going on.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I say to the Premier, while we wait for you to examine options, we watched
Harbour Breton close and the majority of its citizens head to Alberta, we have
watched Fortune close, and those people are considering doing likewise, so if we
have to wait for you to examine your options there might not be anyone left in
rural Newfoundland and Labrador, I say to the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, under the NEOS proposal of 1999, Bill Barry and John Risley were
prepared to buy FPI for $9 a share. Nine dollars a share. Most of the people in
this Province, including many of those who are sitting over there in your
government today, were diametrically opposed to that proposal put forward by
those two gentlemen of the day. Today, the Premier and his government are
prepared to entertain a deal which would see these same two individuals buy FPI
for $4.75 a share.
I ask the Premier: What has changed since 1999, that would lead you to even
entertain such a proposal?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and
Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, what a diatribe of nonsense coming from the
Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Speaker, John Risley and company took over FPI under their watch, not
under this watch, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, from 1987-2004, FPI went from employing 8,700
people in this Province to 2,400 people. Who was the government when all of that
happened, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, FPI used to operate thirty-three plants in this Province; today
they are operating eight. Whose watch did that happen under, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker, FPI used to operate sixty-six trawlers in this Province; today
they are operating ten. Under whose watch did that happen?
What a diatribe of nonsense, Mr. Speaker!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What a rant and a rave. All we need here on the floor of the House of
Assembly is the pan of a pickup truck.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: If this government accepts this proposal, can
he tell us how many plants currently owned by FPI will continue to remain open,
and what impact these plants may have on some of the plants that are owned by
Mr. Barry which operate in nearby communities?
For example, Mr. Barry owns a shrimp plant in Clarenville. If he takes over
FPI's operation, he will also own one a short distance down the road in
Catalina or Port Union. What impact will the Barry and Risley proposal that is
on the table have on the existing operations of Mr. Barry and those owned by FPI?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and
Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, we will rant and we will roar whenever we feel
like it. I am not a bit impressed with the Leader of the Opposition and the pan
of pickup trucks, and the this and that. Do you know what? He did a better job
than I did at ranting and roaring in the back of the pickup truck, and the
footage from CBC and the other television stations would show that.
Now, am I going to respond to a what-if statement, Mr. Speaker? Absolutely
not. The Leader of the Opposition, when he was Minister of Fisheries, was known
as a peekaboo minister. He showed his face when he had something good to
announce, and crawled under the carpet when he had nothing to announce or bad
news to announce.
Well, Mr. Speaker, this minister and this government face our responsibility
on a daily basis and we will deal with it on a daily basis, but we will not deal
with what-ifs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is not what-ifs. According to the minister himself, there is a deal, there
is a proposal put on the table. This government claims that it is open,
transparent and accountable; yet, you are hiding behind closed doors, cutting
deals with the likes of John Risley and Bill Barry.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. REID: One of these days you will trot it out and say: Here is the
deal; take it or leave it - I say to the minister.
Mr. Speaker, we have heard your ministers, I say to the Premier, state
repeatedly that the FPI groundfish operations were struggling in this Province
because of competition from China, because of lack of a resource and a high
Canadian dollar.
I ask the Premier: How do you think Mr. Barry will overcome these obstacles
and keep all of the plants open when FPI could not, and what will you do to
guarantee that under this proposal all of those plants will remain open?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and
Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, we are not going to fall into this foolishness
that the Leader of the Opposition is getting on with, talking about what-ifs,
what are you going to guarantee on that?
Mr. Speaker, I assume the sun will shine tomorrow. I assume it will be a fine
day but we are not going to guarantee it and that is as silly as the question
coming from the Leader of the Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, I say to the minister, he was the one who went out last week and
talked about this proposal. It certainly was not us, and it was nobody else in
the Province talking about it because they were just as shocked as we are.
Mr. Speaker, a final question. Several weeks ago the Minister of Fisheries
stated, from the back of a pickup truck, that FPI had broken the law and it was
going to be charged, it was going to be charged, it was going to be charged! -
to quote his own words. We all know that FPI shipped unprocessed fish out of
this Province to China for processing. All we need to determine is whether you
or your predecessor gave them permission. We do not need to hire Columbo. We do
not need to bring in a CSI investigation team into the Province. All I want to
know is when the charges will be laid?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and
Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, there is a process. The process will be
followed and when the process is completed, we will see where it takes us.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions are for the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, before Easter the breakdown of the Hebron-Ben Nevis talks
received much discussion. At that time the Premier stated that he had had some
discussions with Chevron's lead negotiator from Calgary regarding the project.
I ask the Premier: Has anything new happened over the past two weeks that
would provide hope that this project might proceed? If not, can the Premier
advise what plans government has to, hopefully, get this project back on track?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I can advise the hon. Opposition House
Leader and to the members of this House, that nothing has transpired since. They
came to us at one point there, which I indicated before, to reopen the talks but
then they basically collapsed and withdrew, and that was the end of it.
In order to clarify the record, I sent a letter out, under my signature, to
the four chairs of all four companies affected, the partners, basically, setting
out exactly where we had reached in the discussions, what our understanding of
the discussions were and what we understood their position to be and left that
there for the record so that there will be no misunderstanding or lack of
clarity in the whole issue.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you.
I say to the Premier, we have asked for information. It, certainly, would be
nice if the public could see a copy of the letter so that we would know exactly
what deal was on the table here. We have requested it several times.
Mr. Speaker, Husky Energy has recently stated that they will not be moving
forward with any natural gas development until they feel the Province has
solidified the rules and royalty regimes under which they must operate. The
company's President stated that before making large investments they want
regulatory certainty to ensure the rules will not change midway through their
projects. New developments in our offshore industry are currently on hold.
I ask the Premier: When will the Province stop stalling and put these rules
and royalty regimes in place?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, I disagree on the basis of what is fact as
opposed to what is fiction, that new developments are on hold, because what is
occurring speaks to it differently. There is about $800 million going to be
spent in the next three years on exploration. Major companies like Exxon,
Chevron, for example - Conoco Phillips are in the process right now of
contracting the biggest drill rig in the world, known as the Erik Raude, to do
exploration in the Orphan Basis and potentially, in the Sub-Laurentian Basin.
With respect to the natural gas royalty regime, which is exactly what the
member is talking about, we are going through an energy planning process. I have
met with Conoco Phillips. The Premier and I have met with John Lau. We have met
with Husky Energy. They understand the process that we are involved with. We are
at the tail end of that process and we will not be rushed forward on the basis
of a request from a company to move in a direction before we are prepared to,
simply because the importance of what we are up to means billions of dollars in
revenue over the long haul for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. When we
are satisfied that we have it right, we will put it forward so it will benefit
the people of the Province, and that process is coming to its logical and
natural conclusion, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: I say to the minister, I do not know what is fact and
fiction, and I know you have commented in the past about our reliance upon the Globe
and Mail as a reliable research facility but lo and behold, there are
comments printed in the Globe and Mail business
section from the
President of Husky Oil who says this is on hold. So, I am not dealing with
fiction, I am dealing with printed statements from this gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, we have received many calls to our office from concerned
businesspeople who feel the delay in Hebron-Ben Nevis will have a negative
impact on their operations. Some have even gone so far as to say that their
offshore activity, including a planned expansion of the Hibernia field, are on
hold.
I ask the Premier: Has government been given any indication that the planned
expansion, development or exploration work will be put on hold? If not, what
interest has been shown in the parcels of land that we, as a Province, will be
making available in this year's Call for Bids?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, nobody can say for sure what is happening with Hibernia South,
whether it has been put on hold or not, simply because Exxon Mobil recently, in
the last several months, ran into some difficulty because they got a drill bit
stuck some x number of miles out from a lateral extension. That set them back
about four or five months.
Now, so everybody in the Province understands what the process is, until a
development plan application is filed with the CNLOPB, there is really nothing
to discuss or nothing to negotiate. Because of that technical engineering
difficulty that they ran into, the process has been stalled and there is no
development plan application before the CNLOPB. Once that application is before
that board, once it is there and it is evaluated, and if the board determines
that a fundamental decision is required, then it is in the exclusive domain of
the Province. But to say or make an allegation, or even to leave an impression
that as a result of the breakdown in Hebron discussions now Exxon Mobil and
Hibernia South is all off the rails, Mr. Speaker, would be equivalent to Chicken
Little saying the sky is falling or Eeyore saying: Oh, hum, we are expecting
rain tomorrow.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you.
Speaking of the CNLOPB, Mr. Speaker, that leads me to my next question. Last
year there was a dispute - and ongoing into this year, of course - between the
federal and provincial governments concerning who would be the new head of the
CNLOPB. As a result, a panel was formed and recommended that Mr. Max Ruelokke, a
very qualified and experienced individual, be given the position of Chair and
CEO. Mr Ruelokke has been waiting to assume his position for quite some time.
However, the Province refuses, I understand, to agree to this appointment
because their candidate was not selected.
I ask the Premier: Why is government delaying the appointment of Mr. Ruelokke
when all the proper procedures were followed and he was, indeed, confirmed as
the most qualified candidate?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I think I would like to share with the
hon. members of the House exactly what is going on here in the oil industry.
From our own perspective, this government's policy, right from day one, from
the day we ran the election from our blueprint, was that there were going to be
no more giveaways in this Province. We are dealing here with companies that - in
the last quarter, for example, Chevron made $8 billion. Last year Exxon Mobil,
for the year, had $36 billion worth of profits. The Chairman of Exxon Mobil,
last year, one person, one man, made $400 million in one year. Now, the request
that they made to us for investment tax credits on the Hebron project was $400
million. They basically wanted us to take $1,000 from every man, woman and child
in this Province and give it to one person who happened to run Exxon. Now, we
are not going to allow that to happen.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: When it comes to the CNLOPB, there is a process that is
taking place, but we want to make sure -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the Premier if he would complete his answer now, quickly?
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, we want to make sure that we have a person
at the head of the CNLOPB who is going to represent the interests of the people
of Newfoundland and Labrador and be a champion of that cause of no more
giveaways.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If we could only get as many details about the Hebron-Ben Nevis deal as we
get about the Chairman of Exxon's salary we would be doing okay in this
Province. Unfortunately, the Premier doesn't see fit to give it to anybody,
just keeping it under cloak and dagger again until he figures out what he wants
to do, if anything.
Mr. Speaker, since the Province began producing oil, we have attended the
Offshore Technology Conference in Houston Texas. This show is considered to be
the largest, most influential oil and gas show in the world. For the first time,
this Province is not being represented by the Premier or the Energy Minister.
Last year, the Premier stated, in a press release, that he attended this
conference because it was of vital importance to our offshore industry and it
offered an opportunity to discuss our investment climate.
I ask the Premier: Was the decision for you and your minister to skip this
year's conference a direct result of the failed Hebron-Ben Nevis discussions?
If not, why is government snubbing the conference at this time and sending an
alternate minister?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, just for the record this year is the
largest delegation that we have ever, ever sent to Houston for a conference.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Secondly, the delegation is headed by a very, very
capable minister, the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister
Ottenheimer.
Thirdly, they can't have it both ways. We have a very serious situation
going on in the fishery in this Province and I thought the place I should be is
right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Chair recognizes the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Chair recognizes the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions are for the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
Colleagues, time is passing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Chair recognizes the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions are for the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
For some time now we have been raising issues related to increasing problems
with drug addictions. I ask the minister today if it is true that people with
severe drug addiction problems in this Province are not able to get into
treatment programs and that these people, who are in desperate need of immediate
help, are being told they will have to wait at least eight months for treatment,
and also others are being told that their names are not even being accepted
right now for that wait-list program?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the member for her question.
There are 177 people at the methadone clinic in St. John's. There are
seventy people on the wait-list; that is true. That is a comprehensive methadone
treatment program. It is not just a matter of prescribing methadone drugs. It is
a very comprehensive program that treats the patients with the hope of full
recovery. There is a wait-list there; it is regrettable.
There was no methadone clinic at all in the Province until last June, when
this government put the investment in for a temporary clinic.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. T. OSBORNE: In February of this year, we opened a formal clinic. That
was only opened in February of this year. There was an anticipation, based on
recommendations from the OxyContin Task Force, that we would require a clinic to
accommodate 150 people. Unfortunately, there was a much greater demand for that.
We are aware of it, and I am looking into addressing the issue.
We have hired four additional nurses this year, which hopefully will help
address the wait-list. We have nine addiction counsellors hired this year, which
hopefully will help address the wait-list, and we are looking at other measures
to (inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My question is for the Premier, concerning the ongoing problems with FPI and
its apparent lack of commitment to the people of rural Newfoundland and
Labrador.
Last summer, the Premier refused to vote for changes to the FPI Act, supposed
to facilitate the raising of $100 million to improve the position of FPI and
finance capital investment in the Province, because he was concerned it would
amount to a giveaway. Yet, last week, he was musing over the possibility of
letting the American arm go its own way in the face of an offer by Bill Barry
for the Newfoundland and Labrador assets.
Doesn't the Premier see this as a definite giveaway, giving the takeover
group the very assets they covet, while destroying the structure that allowed
FPI to survive and profit during the 1990s and helped the Newfoundland and
Labrador fishing industry survive the cod moratorium?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the hon. gentleman knows, the reason for my voting against FPI, the
Income Trust transaction, the last time was that I had difficulty with the
wording in that transaction. I did not feel personally that all the loopholes
had been covered, but that was only my opinion and it was a free vote in the
House.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Having said that, we spent fourteen months, as you
know, in order to draw significant concessions from that particular company at
that particular point in time, so we took them a long, long way.
As for saying that we are doing nothing for rural Newfoundland and Labrador,
the hon. gentleman opposite knows that there is nothing further from the truth.
What we have done, especially with the FPI situation and the fishery generally
in the Province, you know, we have offered to put $30 million on the table right
now for early retirement in this Province, and that is a significant step which
the hon. gentleman opposite has supported for a long, long time and believes in.
We have stepped up for Arnold's Cove. We have stepped up for Harbour Breton.
We will step up for Fortune, and we will step up for communities that are in
trouble; so that is an unfair comment, that we are not there for rural
Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is not what I said.
A few months ago, the Premier and his government was willing to spend $150
million to help save 300 jobs in Stephenville at the Abitibi paper mill. Mr.
Speaker, my information is that the current market value of FPI is considerably
less than that, perhaps a half. Why isn't the Premier willing to make a
similar commitment to acquire the shares of FPI and return it to a
publicly-owned company to ensure that its mandate is carried out to protect
fishing communities in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and to have a marketing
structure for our products throughout the world?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, it is the firm belief of this government
and the people who sit on this side of the House that, where possible, the
private sector should run these businesses, because they are the best ones to
run these businesses.
Having said that, the fishing business is a very, very tough business, a very
difficult business. Even the Leader of the Opposition will acknowledge that, it
is not an easy business to operate, and the people who are in that business are
having difficulty doing it. The last thing that the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador should be doing is to get involved in owning and controlling and
operating FPI. It does not make good sense.
What we want to try and do is work with solutions, with communities and with
people in the private sector, in order to make it as efficient as possible and
create the most employment for people in these communities. So, this government,
generally, is not going to go out and buy FPI. I have stated that before; I will
state it again.
MR. E. BYRNE: Nor Abitibi.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Nor Abitibi, or anything else for that matter. That is
not our philosophy, and we stand by it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, on a final
supplementary.
MR. HARRIS: Mr. Speaker, the Premier knows that it was FPI, under the
leadership of Vic Young, that helped with the marketing arm in the U.S. to help
these communities survive throughout the moratorium. Why isn't such a
structure a viable alternative now, even for a short time, to get the control
back over FPI instead of having it head out to the Americans and to Risley and
the others who are trying to acquire it?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, what we are trying to do is keep as close to this as possible,
as I said earlier in a previous answer, to try and keep all options open. If
there is a party or parties, or a group of people who are interested in looking
at the Newfoundland and Labrador assets, then we are prepared to consider that.
We were also looking at trying to purchase other quota to shore up communities
like Fortune and to shore up communities like Harbour Breton.
We are actively pursuing a significant aquaculture project right now in this
Province, that could happen, that would have a huge impact on this Province. As
well, what we are trying to do - and the single most important thing we are
trying to do - is to make sure that we protect these quotas so that these
fishing quotas stay in Newfoundland and Labrador under our control, and that is
our goal at the end of the day.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The time allocated for Question Period has expired.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Committees
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HARDING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Resource Committee have considered the matters to them referred and have
approved, without amendment, the Estimates of Expenditure for the following
departments: the Department of Business; the Department of Environment and
Conservation; the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Aboriginal
Affairs; the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development; the
Department of Natural Resources; and the Department of Tourism, Culture and
Recreation.
As Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the
opportunity to thank the members on the Committee as well as the House of
Assembly staff, the ministers and officials from their respective departments,
for their co-operation and participation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDGLEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Social Services Committee have considered the matters to
them referred and have approved without amendment the following Heads of
Expenditure: the Department of Education; the Department of Health and Community
Services; the Department of Justice; the Department of Municipal Affairs; the
Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, and Labrador Affairs, and
the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.
Likewise, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the members of the committee and
the minister and staff for the expeditious way in which these committees were
handled.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Presenting further reports by standing and select
committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Tabling of Documents
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Pursuant to
Section 49(2) of the Financial Administration Act, I wish to
table the attached list of Temporary Loans that are raised under
Section 48 of
the Act since the last report to the House.
Also, Mr. Speaker, pursuant to
Section 55(3) of the Financial Administration
Act, I wish to report that there are no guaranteed loans paid out by the
Province since the last annual report to the House. So there are none to be
tabled. It is necessary to indicate that in a report to the House.
Also, in addition, and pursuant to
Section 55.1(2), I wish to report that
there has been no guaranteed debt of any Crown corporation or agency assumed by
the Province since the last annual report to the House.
MR. SPEAKER: Further tabling of documents?
Notices of Motions.
Notices of Motion
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
MR. J. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a
bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The City Of Corner Brook Act, The City Of
Mount Pearl Act, The City Of St. John's Act, The Municipalities Act, 1999 And
The St. John's Assessment Act." (Bill 14)
Also, Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to
introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Municipalities Act,
1999." (Bill 20)
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Mr. Speaker, I hereby give notice that I will on tomorrow ask
leave to introduce the following private member's resolution:
WHEREAS the cost of prescription drugs is rising and is an increasing
proportion of health care spending from all sources, and now exceeds the cost of
doctor's services as a percentage of overall health care costs; and
WHEREAS drug therapies play a crucial role in the management of disease and
treatment for illness or other medical conditions and can avoid hospitalization
or other institutional care while providing a better quality of life; and
WHEREAS current access to prescription drugs depends on a mixture of public,
workplace and private plans and according to the Canadian Diabetes Association
up to 35 per cent of our population has no access to a drug plan at all and must
pay for drug therapies with their own resources, which in many cases are
inadequate; and
WHEREAS there are opportunities to provide greater fairness of access to drug
treatments and to save money for the health care system by having a more
comprehensive system; and
WHEREAS government has taken an important step in the recent Budget in
recognizing the importance of access to prescription drugs for those of low
family incomes;
BE IT RESOLVED that a Select Committee of the House of Assembly be struck to
inquire into and report on the feasibility and options with respect to the
development of a province-wide comprehensive system that would ensure that all
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have access to a prescription drug plan.
MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motions?
The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.
MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,
"An Act To Amend The Provincial Court Judges Pension Plan Act." (Bill
MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motions?
The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
MR. T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,
"An Act Respecting The Practice of Physiotherapy." (Bill 19)
I further give notice that on tomorrow I will ask leave to introduce a bill
entitled, "An Act To Amend The Child, Youth and Family Services Act."
(Bill 18)
I further give notice that on tomorrow I will ask leave to introduce a bill
entitled, "An Act Respecting The Delivery Of Health And Community Services
And The Establishment Of Regional Health Authorities." (Bill 11)
MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?
The hon. the Minister of Government Services.
MS WHALEN: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave
to introduce the following bills:
"An Act To Amend The Occupational Health And Safety Act." (Bill 9)
"An Act To Amend The Securities Act." (Bill 10)
"An Act To Repeal Obsolete Acts And To Amend The Highway Traffic
Act." (Bill 17)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?
The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave
to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Environmental Protection
Act." (Bill 16)
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
On behalf of my colleague, the Minister of Justice and Attorney, I give
notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce the following bills:
"An Act To Amend The Sheriff's Act, 1991." (Bill 13)
"An Act Respecting The Convention On The Settlement Of Investment
Disputes Between States And Nationals Of Other States." (Bill 12)
MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?
Answers To Questions for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to present a petition on behalf of the councils on the north
shore of the Bay of Islands. Also at the meeting there were members from the
Town of Mount Moriah and the Town of Massey Drive. I checked with the Clerk of
the House and the petition is in order.
I will read the petition:
WHEREAS Council is opposing the continued use of the Wild Cove dump site;
WHEREAS the site creates a mess of garbage along the roadway from Wall Cove
to Ballam Bridge;
WHEREAS the smell is particularly bad in summer;
WHEREAS any tourists who visit our area don't have a good impression of the
area right from the start, having to drive through the litter along the roadway
and ditches;
WHEREUPON we the undersigned are opposed to the Wild Cove dump staying in
operation for another twenty years.
And as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that has been ongoing for a number of years.
The Wild Cove dump site, as we know, is under the jurisdiction of the City of
Corner Brook. Everybody was of the understanding that the dump site was supposed
to be closed in the next two or two and a half years. We understand now that the
City of Corner Brook is making representation to the government to have the dump
site continue on for the next twenty to thirty years. This was done without any
consultation, any collaboration, or any discussion with any of the councils on
the north shore that I have met with.
This is an issue that, on one hand, all governments, us included, were hoping
it would be closed within the next two years. We are saying that you should
improve tourism and improve the health of your water. There is a stream running
right by the dump site which is heavily polluted. There are areas in the town
where you see dead gulls on a regular basis along the side of the road. The
whole road from Ballam Bridge to the dump site is strewn with garbage. In the
summertime and in the spring it is an eyesore just to drive through.
I have written the Minister of Municipal Affairs asking him to meet with the
towns. I don't know if the minister received the letter. I have also written
the Minister of Environment and Conservation for him to also meet with the town
councils that are affected.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, there have been some discussions in the media
lately about this issue, and I can assure both ministers in the House that there
have been no discussions take place with the councils on the north shore of the
Bay of Islands. The Massey Drive Council: There were a few representatives from
that council at the meeting. They are concerned.
As we know, and as the minister is well aware, there was a study done - I
think it was completed in 2003 - about regional disposal areas. There is a piece
in the paper from the Great Humber joint Council. Since then, there has been no
discussion whatsoever on this proposal. The proposal itself was to take all the
regional disposal sites outside any municipality, have it as a region and run it
as a committee, but we see, with the Robin Hood Bay dump area, the whole plan
that was put in place in 2003 will not be followed.
Mr. Speaker, I will be presenting this petition and I will be presenting
petitions in the near future, as I get them, on a regular basis. I have almost
1,000 people signing petitions and I just thank the Speaker for allowing me to
present the petition.
MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?
The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It gives me great pleasure to rise and present a petition on behalf of the
citizens of Rose Blanche-Harbour Le Cou and Diamond Cove with respect to the
possible - and I say possible - closure of St. Michael's Elementary School in
that community.
The school has been in existence, of course, for many, many years. It is a
Kindergarten to Grade 6 school. The older children have been bused out for some
time to the community of Burnt Islands, which is seventeen or eighteen
kilometres away. Of course, the smaller children, for very logical reasons, have
always been kept in the community. They are much smaller and it is much more
difficult to transport them.
Now, the Western School Board, which is headquartered in Corner Brook, of
course, controls the educational system in Southwestern Newfoundland, actually,
to Corner Brook, the Northern Peninsula, right on down the South Coast. They
have done a study, an assessment, of all the schools in their region, and there
is a possibility that this school, St. Michael's in Rose Blanche, may be
closing. There is going to be a meeting on May 18 in the community of Rose
Blanche, which will be attended by the school board officials. The Director of
Education, Dr. Elliott, and the board members, will be in the community of Rose
Blanche on May 18 to listen to the community. I applaud the board for doing
that. They have not made a decision, as is sometimes done here, to say that your
school is slated for closure and it will close on such-and-such a date. In
fairness to the board members here, they want to be fully informed before they
make a final decision at their June meeting.
Now, I have had an opportunity to review the information, the statistical
information, that the board has circulated to date concerning the age of the
school, the number of kids, the declining enrollment that is anticipated by the
year 2010 and so on. There is a lot of information that we do not have and, on
behalf of the residents, I have written to the board again asking if they would
forward me the information. I have also written to the Minister of Education and
asked if she could be at the meeting on May 18, because she represents the area,
number one, right next door to the District of Burgeo & LaPoile, and she
has, as well, many rural communities in her district that may or may not face
the same fate in the future. As a new Minister of Education, I think it would be
very important and prudent if she, in fact, could be there.
The residents of that area of Rose Blanche, Diamond Cove and Harbour Le Cou
are, of course, very rational people and, when the meeting takes place on the
eighteenth, there are no concerns here about anybody getting out of hand or
anything like that. These people will be very well prepared. They will be very
rational in the presentation of their arguments and, in fact, they will not even
be arguments. They will be good, rational reasons and justifications as to why
any thoughts of possibly closing St. Michael's at this time are totally
inappropriate and out of order.
I am very pleased to raise this issue on behalf of the residents, and if I
get an opportunity in the next couple of weeks, again, before May 18, I will
certainly take the opportunity to give further information to this hon. House
and to the Minister of Education. Hopefully, members of the board will be
listening as well so that, when we go there on the eighteenth, everybody will be
fully informed, ears wide open, approach this thing logically, patiently, and I
am sure that, in the end result, St. Michael's will still remain open.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?
The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.
MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Today I rise again, the same as every other day, on behalf of the people of
the Buchans area. It is unfortunate that the Minister of Transportation and
Works, last week, made several announcements regarding upcoming upgrades and
expenditures on the Trans-Canada Highway and also on our provincial road system
but yet, regrettably, he did not announce any money for the upgrades to the
Buchans Highway. I do not understand this, and I do not think there are very
many people in Central Newfoundland who would understand what he has done, or
what he has failed to do.
At least when the former Minister of Transportation and Works was in that
position he did offer a small amount of money to fix the sides of the pavement
that were cracked, but this particular minister, representing a government that
left $600 million of a surplus on the table, decided, in their wisdom, or lack
of wisdom, not to put any money into the Buchans Highway. I do not understand
it.
We have a Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development; she has 152
people in her department trying to generate and improve the economy of our
Province. Yet, in the Estimates Committee, when she was asked directly by the
critics on this side of the House how many jobs has her department created since
she has taken over that role, she said: I will have to check on those numbers
for you. She said: I will have to check on those numbers for you.
In other words, you have a government here that is three years into the
mandate; they are looking for an opportunity, so they say, to develop the
economy of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Here we have a situation where the
economy is new. In the Millertown area and the Buchans area we have two mining
projects up there that are going to create 250 permanent jobs. It is looking
them straight in the face and they are not acknowledging what this new money
will do for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the taxpayers of
this Province. They say on one hand that they are supporting rural Newfoundland
and Labrador, but on the other hand they show no evidence that they are.
We have a road up there that is impossible for the traffic to go over, and it
has gotten that way over the past two years because we have heavy equipment
going to the Duck Pond mine site. We also have heavy equipment coming over the
road, hauling logs. Now we will have barite being shipped, as well as ore from
the Millertown mine, the Duck Pond mine.
This government, who have lots of money in the bank and are trying to
generate the economy in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, are shutting the door.
It is regrettable, it is short-sighted, and I do not know what to do to get this
minister to loosen the purse strings. I guess I will have to go directly to the
Premier, and I intend to do that this week.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?
The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to present a petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled. The petition of
the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS conditions on Route 70 passing through Victoria and Salmon Cove is
badly in need of repair; and
WHEREAS the traffic travelling over this road includes school buses,
commercial trucks and patients going to and from hospitals; and
WHEREAS this route is part of the Conception Bay North Highway and it has
deteriorated over the past three years;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, call upon all Members of the
House of Assembly to see that this
section of road is brought up to proper
standards.
And as is duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this petition was circulated by a representative of the
residents in that area, Mr. William Clarke. Mr. Clarke took it upon himself to
go door to door on that particular stretch of highway and asked me to present it
here to this hon. House, to see if some action could be done.
Last fall, there was approximately one truckload of asphalt put in some of
the potholes on that particular road. Over the winter, all of that has been
knocked loose or shaken out of position and put over on the side of the road.
The potholes are there bigger than ever. The amount of damage that has happened
to vehicles, people with struts and tires broken on their cars on this
particular main piece of highway is certainly unbelievable. The number of
complaints that is going into the depot in both Heart's Content and Bay
Roberts is unbelievable.
Mr. Speaker, this particular
section of road is of vital importance to the
residents of that area because it is the main link. It is not a secondary road,
it is a main link. The road itself is the main means of transportation for the
residents of the North Shore, Perry's Cove, Kingston and down to Old Perlican.
It is the main link to the Carbonear General Hospital, as well as to the Health
Sciences Centre. When somebody is sick and distressed in an ambulance, the
drivers of the ambulances have to slow down their vehicles to make sure that
there is no further damage being done to the patient.
Mr. Speaker, this particular
section of highway is a main artery from the
number of fish plants on that particular shore, transporting the fruits of the
labour of the workers in that particular community. It is of vital importance
that this product be brought to the market as quickly as possible, the frozen
product. When we drive over this particular road, as I do on a regular basis
visiting part of my constituency, it becomes obvious that this road has been
neglected. It has not been touched, except for that one load of asphalt that I
interceded upon for last year. That is the only bit of asphalt that has gone on
there and that, too, has deteriorated.
Mr. Speaker, again, I realize my time is coming short and I will be saying
more of this over the days and weeks to follow.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
CHAIR: Further Petitions?
Orders of the Day.
Orders of the Day
CHAIR: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Before I move to Orders of the Day, I do want to give notice under
Section
66(3), I believe, of the Standing Orders of the House that the Private Member's
Motion that we will be debating on Wednesday will be the one that was put
forward today by the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I do want to move, if I may, first of all Motion 4,
pursuant to Standing Order 11, that the House not adjourn at 5:30 and Motion 5,
pursuant to Standing Order 11, that the House not adjourn at 10:00 o'clock,
first and foremost.
CHAIR: The motion is that the Government House Leader has moved that,
according to Standing Order 11, the House not adjourn at 5:00 o'clock today,
Monday.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.
Carried.
The second motion is that this House not adjourn today, Monday, at 10:00 p.m.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With that, Mr. Speaker, we will move to Order 3, what is commonly known in
the Budget Debate as concurrence debates which, essentially, deal with all the
Estimates of the House per department. So, today, we will begin with Order 3,
Concurrence Motion related to the Government Services Committee.
MR. SPEAKER: The Chair recognizes the hon. Member for St. John's Centre.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, if I could, I would like to just have a few remarks about the
Government Services Committee. I would like to, first of all, start off by
thanking the members of the committee for their time and their efforts during
the meetings that we had. As people would know, there are members on the
government side as well as members on the Opposition side. I would like to thank
Mr. Sweeney, Ms Marshall, Mr. Oram, Mr. Forsey, Mr. Andersen and Mr. Langdon who
all were members of that committee.
We had, I believe, Mr. Speaker, three or four different meetings. We reviewed
a number of departments and, for the public, I will name the departments: the
Department of Government Services, the Public Service Commission, the Department
of Finance, and the Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat were all departments
that came in and presented before the committee and gave all members of the
committee an opportunity to ask some questions.
The process, Mr. Speaker, I will say to you, I believe is a good process. It
gives us an opportunity, with the Budget documents, to have all the officials
from each of the departments that I mentioned, come in, sit before the committee
and answer any questions that we may have where we need to get a little bit more
clarification on where the public funds, the monies of the people are being
spent. The members of the committee, in all cases, had a number of questions for
the minister and for the minister's staff who came and appeared before us. It
allowed us an opportunity to shed a little bit of light into some of the
spending practices of the different departments, and, at least, I guess, give us
some comfort that the monies that were being spent were monies that were being
spent well.
In some ways, Mr. Speaker, I guess it resembles a little bit of the Question
Period because it gives the members an opportunity to ask some questions that
are not really obvious what the answers may be and, with the minister and the
officials that you have there before you, you have an opportunity to bury down a
little bit into the Budget documents and find out a little bit of detail about
how each of the departments are working.
At that, Mr. Speaker, I will conclude my remarks and allow an opportunity for
the debate to continue.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: Further speakers to the concurrence motion for the
Government Services Committee.
The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate an opportunity to have a few words again in the Budget Debate
here. It had been in the process last week, or a couple of weeks ago here, and I
got myself all wound up and found myself, very abruptly, the time was up and I
had to sit down. We did not get an opportunity to say all we would have liked to
have said.
Of course, the Budget is probably the single most important piece of work
that a government does in the run of its administration. Everything else that we
do hinges, in one way or another, on the Budget itself, because, of course, if
you do not have the approval, as a government, to spend the money or to raise
the money, we do not have too much that we can do. That is why I think
everything else that we do as a Province pretty well hinges as to what we end
up, ultimately, with in that document.
We have heard a lot of things about this Budget that was brought down by the
minster here some weeks ago. We have heard people say, of course, that there
were a lot of good things in that Budget. We even had some people over on this
side of the House saying that there were good things in that Budget. I do not
disagree that there were some good things in the Budget, but I also do not
believe that the Budget was as good as it ought to have been. I think we have to
be very careful. I use the word deceptive in the sense that you can be fooled by
what is in this Budget. I am going to give some examples as to why I think we
have to be careful when we hear government say: great Budget and leave it at
that. You have to peel back a few layers of the onion, as they say. In fact, I
use the word onion - peel back a few layers of the onion because once you do,
you will come across a few things in this Budget that might make you cry. I
believe that this is an opportunity to say and show the difference here between
what government says is in there and fleshing out the arguments and giving more
details as to what it is actually all about.
I will give you some examples here. It talks about the extra money in the
Budget. Yes, indeed we should have extra money in the Budget. You wonder: Where
did all of this money come from? Some people might think: Well, my God, they
were magnificent managers in this Province in the last year. They were so good
that they took us from a massive, massive deficit position to all of a sudden
having a surplus, and they did it all themselves. Of course, one needs only to
listen to any of the media these days, and you hear everywhere - TV, newspapers,
radio, wherever you listen - that the price of a barrel of oil has gone from
$30, a couple of years ago, to over $70. Now, as good as this government is, of
course, I do not think they could influence the price of a barrel of oil. They
might wish they could, but I do not think Premier Williams and his government,
as good as they are, can influence the price of a barrel of oil.
We did hear in the Throne Speech, of course - they took credit for a lot of
stuff in the Throne Speech, too. We heard a lot about the Olympic gold and so
talking about flowery language and optimism. Everybody in this Province took
their hats off and pounded their chests about the accomplishments of Brad Gushue
and the rink from this Province in the Olympics, and so we should have and they
should be very proud of them and we ought to be very proud of them. There was a
pretty close link between a lot of the words I heard in the Throne Speech and us
winning the Olympic gold almost. In fact, the Premier took credit from
everything in the Throne Speech to even Rex Goudie. I believe that was actually
read here - I know it was read here - by the Lieutenant Governor here in the
Speaker's Chair where we took credit for just about everything, that
government. I am sorry to say, folks, this government had very little to do with
some of those things. They had very little to do with the price of oil, but
fortunately, because we are producing some oil and because the price more than
doubled, we ended up with money in the coffers that this government was in a
position, as they should, to do some things for the benefit of the people in
this Province.
Let's look at some of the things they did not do, or some of the things
they are trying to take credit for. For example, two years ago when they brought
in a Budget here in 2004 - the election was in October of 2003. We did not have
any session in the fall. They had their first session in the spring and they
brought in a budget - fees. Everything you pay for in this Province, from a
birth certificate to a death certificate and everything in between - everything,
and I mean everything - went up, to the tune of $28 million. This government put
$28 million worth of fee increases on the backs of the people two years ago.
Now, people tend to forget things sometimes and just need a little reminder.
That was in 2004, and we all paid them. As I say, birth certificate to death
certificate, you paid it. If you drove a car, you paid it. If you had a trailer
on your car, you paid it. I mean not only paid, you paid for the increases.
Sure, they even have snowmobiles involved and everything else. You cannot go
anywhere in the Province now unless you get tagged with a fee for something.
What happened in 2005? Lo and behold, the government left that there. As a
matter of fact, I think they tagged on a few more fees. I did not know they
missed any in 2004, but I do believe in 2005 they might have even found a couple
of more to increase, and they took that $28 million out of your back pockets.
So, what did they do this year in their Budget? They said: Whoa! We are going
to be good this year. They went out and actually pounded their chests, and the
crowd on the other side of this House had been over there for the last month
patting themselves on the back because they gave back to the people $1.2
million. Yes, sir, we are some good! But I call it slight of hand. I take $28
million from you in 2005, I take $28 million from you in 2004, but in 2006, I
say: I'm the nice guy. I am going to give you back $1.2 million. My God, some
of it that they gave back, I mean, I am sure the people of this Province really,
really were significantly impacted by it. For example, they cut the fees on the
polar bear licence. Now that was a great one. I have all kinds of people in the
Burgeo & LaPoile District who went out and bought extra turkeys and extra
cars because they had their polar bear fees cut. Yes, Sir, all kinds of them.
Now, that is what this government took credit for.
I will give you another one, a far more serious issue, the cancer clinic. The
former Administration had the cancer clinic in Central done, planned, drawings
done, monies in the Budget 2003. This government comes in in October, 2003,
scrapped. Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, you are not getting your cancer clinic in
Central. In fact, I do believe we were here arguing about it in the spring of
2004. Shocking! Only when the Premier actually saw a video on the media about
people sitting in this place in Central with five-gallon water tubs in front of
them that he finally relented and said: Maybe we went a little bit too far. I
mean, that is a pretty serious poke in the eye that you have to get in order to
become reasonable and understand what is going on in this Province. What did
they do after? We are going to give you back the clinic. A great thing! We are
going to give you a clinic in Central for a cancer clinic but, ladies and
gentlemen of the public, do not be fooled. That was given two, three, four years
ago and taken away from you by the same crowd who are now saying they are great
fellows, ladies and gentlemen over there on the other side of the House, great
government because they are giving back to you something that they took away
from you.
The auditorium up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, my colleague, friend, the Member
for Torngat Mountains talked himself blue in the face over here in the spring of
2004, the spring of 2005, until finally in the spring of 2006 the government is
over there jumping and screaming and saying: We are finally going to give you
the centre for Happy Valley-Goose Bay. But I do not think the people of Happy
Valley-Goose Bay really got fooled. They know that it was approved back in 2003
and got cancelled by this government. They know that.
I will give you another example, more closer to home for me, the weigh scales
in Port aux Basques area. Five, six, seven kilometres outside of town. Now, mind
you, we have - I believe at last count - 197,000 tractor-trailers that were
coming off the Marine Atlantic; eighteen wheelers, big loads, tons and tons and
the government says we are going to close that down. We do not need that. The
first entry point into the Province, we are going to close that. We have to do
it, fiscally responsible. Forget about safety. Forget about anything else, and
this member right here talked myself blue in the face telling the Minister of
Government Services that this was a bad decision, this was unsafe. Not only was
it unnecessary, this was unsafe. We get up today and rave about workers' comp
and so on and things. Yes, but when we pointed out to her a very essential and
important piece of safety in our Province, the weigh scales - an inspection
station by the way, you just did not weigh stuff. The sign, which I gave the
Minister a copy of a picture, showed an inspection station. Well, ladies and
gentlemen in this Province, we did not have any inspections done on any of those
197,000, other than a set of portable weigh scales from time to time that got
whipped out, if they happened to catch them.
What did we see this year in the Budget? We see the government raving, the
minister making an announcement, saying: We are going to put the weigh scales
back again, now; thank you very much. Sometimes, you know, not only the people
in government - I do not care what government it is - have all the right answers
and all the right ideas. Sometimes government do not have any, to an issue. We
are seeing that today in the case of FPI, we saw that in the case of Abitibi, we
saw that in the case of Harbour Breton, that there is a bankruptcy occurring in
the government when it comes to solutions. Sometimes people make a very valid
suggestion but, no, you are not part of the government so dare you suggest
anything that might be beneficial. Anyway, I am glad to say the minister came to
her senses after getting numerous copies of safety violations, traffic accidents
out in Western Newfoundland, and said: We are going to open it again.
I notice - and this ties right in with this government - if you go through
the literature and you listen to the media, the word strategic is the most used
word of the Williams' Administration. I think someone is keeping count of it.
Somebody sent me an e-mail that, so far, we are up in 1,352,000 references that
they have seen since October, 2003, with the word strategic. In fact, the
Minister of Government Services, in opening the weigh scales, said this is being
strategically reactivated. They could not even say we are just going to open it.
They had to say we are going to strategically reactivate it.
I always believe in common sense, myself, and common language. If you are
going to open it, open it. I also believe, don't make the people think that
you just did a great thing. You are giving the people back - and I don't just
mean the people out in Port aux Basques - the few jobs that are going to be
created. That is very much appreciated by anybody in rural Newfoundland, God
knows. The people of this Province deserve the safety elements that we have, but
you are only giving them back something that you stripped them of. That is what
you did. Don't take credit for something that you stripped them of.
Another example we hear in the last few weeks: Driver licence examiner for
Burgeo, going to go in every few days and test people who want to get their
driver's licence renewed, and do their photographs.
Now, I would doubt that anybody who lives inside the overpass, as we say,
have ever had that concern about how to get your licence renewed. It is probably
something that you take for granted. We run down to the corner some morning, we
have to get a passport, or we have to get a blood test on this, or we need an
MRI, or we need a driver's licence, and we take it for granted, but the people
in Burgeo and Ramea could not take it for granted. It was something that they
looked forward to, they worked their
schedule around. It was the cheapest, most
efficient way that they could get it done, but it was essential. You cannot
drive without it.
What used to happen after we saw government cancel it? I will tell you what
happened. We saw the residents of Ramea, Grey River, Burgeo, anybody who had a
driver's licence, what did they have to do? They had to get on the ferry in
Ramea, and pay to get on the ferry, mind you. They had to drive or find some way
of transportation from Burgeo to Corner Brook, which was three or four hours
away, and guess what, ladies and gentlemen? They could not do that in one day
because we do not have the transportation system to allow them to do all of that
in one day if they had to. So these people had to take time off work, if you are
lucky enough - and there are very few right now, I would say - to have a job, to
go to a place like Corner Brook or Stephenville to get your picture taken or to
get your driver's licence renewed. Imagine. Now, forget the fact that
government had yanked up the fee on it anyway. We already dealt with that here
this afternoon. Forget the fact that you are just paying more to get it, and you
are paying more for gas, and if you do not have a relative in Corner Brook you
probably had to find somewhere to stay, and you had to pay the ferry to get over
there, that is what this government put the people of that particular area
through for two years.
This member stood up here repeatedly and said: How can you justify doing such
a thing, for what it costs? Every Newfoundlander and Labradorian is entitled to
certain basic services that we have. If you are going to charge them, or
overcharge them, you ought to provide them with the service. If you are going to
yank up the fees, there is a presumption that you are going to give the people
the service they need for the fees they are paying; for example, driver licence
examiner. So, we got that put back. It is not giving you something you never had
before; my social conscience came awake and I have realized that I am going to
do this out of the goodness of my heart because you good people on the South
Coast deserve it. They are giving them back something that they always had, so
don't go gloating too much, and taking too much credit about what you did
there. So far, I believe that is five items I have gone through, that this
government touted the Budget about and took credit for as being graced up.
Now, there is another one - oh, there are lots of these. I am only just
getting started. Unfortunately, in this part of debate, I only get twenty
minutes, I do believe. The teachers, press releases coming out of the Minister
of Education: We are leaving 151 teachers in the system. There are 152 who could
come out, but we are not going to touch them. We are going to leave them in
there.
Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? In 2004-2005 they did not tell you about
the 500 they took out. We do not hear about that in 2006. All we hear in 2006
is, we are going to let you keep 151 and we are not going to touch them because
we are such firm believers in the education of our children.
Well, I say to the government again, you have to tell it like it is. You have
to tell it like it is, because the people will only be fooled for so long. When
people get the factual understanding of what really happened, they will see
through this government. You may well be leaving in 151, but don't go patting
yourselves on the back and pounding your chest, because you already took out 500
teachers in the two years before that.
Leary's Brook, another example. I believe the Member for St. John's
North, great credit for this, open line shows and press releases and everything
else. Leary's Brook was approved. Another one of those things that was
scrapped by this government when they took office, put it back in the Budget and
go out and pat your chest and say: Look what I gave you. Well, thank you very
much. Thank you very much for giving us what had already been committed to and
budgeted earlier but you, yourselves, scrapped.
Marine Atlantic Inc., and I will only touch on one little issue right now
about Marine Atlantic, and that is to show the hypocrisy. We get government
here, in the letter they sent to the leaders when they were running in the
federal election back in December or January, saying: Here is our wish list of
what we want. We want an automatic rollback commitment from the federal
government that Marine Atlantic ferry rates will automatically be 15 per cent
reduced, right now, as you take over. Whoa! All of a sudden you go over and you
flip over the provincial Budget and you look under ferry rates and I see an
increase. So, it is okay to ask the federal government for a 15 per cent
decline, freeze, immediately -
MR. JOYCE: Insist upon it.
MR. PARSONS: Insist upon it, as part of a written document -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. member's allotted time has expired.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the opportunity. I am sure I will get opportunities further on,
in other parts of the debate, in the next two or three weeks, to have more words
about the Budget.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: Further speakers to the Concurrence Debate.
The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just want to offer a few words on the Budget. My colleague from Burgeo
& LaPoile did such a job on the cloak-and-dagger of the Budget and all the
hidden things in the Budget, of why we should feel so good, it is almost like
being taken hostage and then falling in love with your hostage taker, because
they are doing so good giving back all the things they had cut out of the Budget
under false pretenses.
When you speak about the government here in Newfoundland and Labrador these
days, it is almost like you are some kind of a traitor, that you can't stand
up and express your view, or you are all wrong or you are not with it or you are
negative, you are not giving people hope. When you do bring up certain issues
that are relevant to your area, Corner Brook, Bay of Islands, or around the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, for three years now I have heard: Oh, it
is your fault, it is always your fault. The government has been in power now for
almost three years and all we hear is: Oh, it is your fault. Only for you, we
would be able to do all the things we have done.
I just look at some of the things, and I will just follow on from my
colleague from Burgeo & LaPoile. Take out in Corner Brook, the idea of
Herdman Collegiate: This issue has been ongoing now since 2000. It has come to
the forefront just recently when the motion was passed to close one high school
and make one super school in Corner Brook. Under the direction of the school
board this was allowed. They went to the Premier and the Minister of Education
who got out in Corner Brook and said: Oh, no, we would love to do it, because we
understand the concerns of the parents. We know that the social impact study
wasn't done, we understand that all the issues haven't been ironed out, but
we can't do it because it would cost too much if we cancelled the tender. Then
when you open the Budget here, 2006-2007, what is in the Budget? Seven million
dollars for Herdman. The tender was never called. Yet out in Corner Brook, a
month ago - and the Minister of Education can stand up and justify it if she
wants to - the perception was that the tender was called for Herdman Collegiate
and that it couldn't be stopped because of that.
The enrollment was up for the high schools. All that information was
presented to the Premier and they turned around: Well, the former government did
it. The former government gave approval in principal, once there was a social
impact study done, once there was a complete realignment of all the school
systems in the Corner Brook area, not just one or two. When you say that the
former government did it, and we can't stop it, it is just absolutely not
true. When you say that the tenders were called out there for Herdman
Collegiate, absolutely not true. The money is announced in this year's Budget.
We look at the long-term care facility, Mr. Speaker, something that is
needed. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the long-term care facility
in Corner Brook is needed. It is a project that I am proud of is going to be
done. Then the perception of it, saying that it is going to be done - the
Premier is out there saying it is going to be done by 2007. He turns around this
year and puts $16 million in the Budget, which is a fair amount of money, but
when you look at the size of the project - the Minister of Health here in the
Estimates - and Hansard will show that the facility will not be completed until
the fall of 2009. That is the minister's own words. Here are the people out on
the West Coast - on one hand the Premier is saying it is going to be built by
2007, we are going to get a rush on, and here is the minister in the Estimates
saying the long-term care facility is going to be built in 2009. I have it in
Hansard, that you said the long-term care facility will be completed in 2009,
Sir. I will show it to you.
MR. T. OSBORNE: (Inaudible).
MR. JOYCE: Oh, you never said it. So, 2009. When is it going to be done?
In January?
MR. T. OSBORNE: (Inaudible).
MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, that is just the perception that is given out in
Corner Brook. Then we look at the dementia units out in Corner Brook. Here is
another situation where - the big announcement. We are going to start building
the dementia units. Here is the minister again in the Estimates - and you can
check Hansard yourself, minister - that there is no plan to start the building
right now. There is no money in the Budget. They are going to build them in
stages over the next three years. That is not what was said out in Corner Brook.
You are probably being straightforward, and I take you on your word. I honestly
do, but the perception out in Corner Brook, when the announcement was made, is
that they are going to be build right away. That the money was going to be there
in this year's Budget and they are going to be built and included with the
long-term care facility beds. When you sit here in the Estimates and say that
you truly believe that, I have no problem with that because I do take you at
face value. I honestly do. The perception in the media in Corner Brook is that
they are going to be built right away. So people are out expecting these eighty
or ninety units to be built right away, and we find out from the minister that
they are going to be built over three years. There is no money in this year's
Budget and they are going to be built in phases. That is not the perception that
is out in Corner Brook, I can assure you.
Now, look at the roads, the Minister of Transportation and Works. A lot of
times we do get into a heated discussion, and I say to the minister - even in
Hansard, when I was speaking to the minister. I wrote the minister three times
asking for a meeting concerning the roads in the Bay of Islands. Three times I
wrote him. I do represent the Bay of Islands, I do it to the best of my ability.
I have yet to get a response from the minister that he even received my letters
- not a response. Three times I wrote that minister asking that he meet with me
to discuss the concerns, the conditions of the roads and the other safety issues
in the Bay of Islands and I have yet to get a response. That is serious to me,
Mr. Speaker, that is a serious issue because there are a lot of safety concerns
that happens in any rural part of Newfoundland and Labrador on a regular basis
and it is major concern when the minister is over there laughing at it. When I
wrote him three times - not only me, every council on the North Shore wrote him.
Still, they have not received a response.
Then we turnaround and we talk about the minister standing up and saying it
is the most money we put into the roads program ever, the most money ever. That
may be true, but the part that he is forgetting to say is that there was $12
million last year that was not spent. How much of that was going to be spent in
rural Newfoundland and Labrador that was not spent, that this year should be
spent if we get the tenders called? Once again, where is it going to be spent?
I see last year up in Massey Drive - and I questioned the minister in the
Estimates here - $400,000 given to the Town of Massey Drive, and what does the
mayor say? Not for safety concerns. It is not because there are road conditions.
There is only one road going up Massey Drive. There is a safety road coming out
to hook into Lady Slipper Road. It is to open up development. So, $400,000 of
money from Transportation and Works is gone into Massey Drive to open up
developments. Here, in the Bay of Islands, we cannot even get a response from
the minister, who is supposed to be representing that area, to sit down and have
a meeting with the elected official.
Even in Hansard, I asked the minister in Hansard: When will there be an
announcement made for the Bay of Islands for roads? He said by the end of April.
Guess what? It is May 1 and there is no announcement. I have the Hansard here
where the minister told me that all the announcements should be made by April
30. The Bay of Islands will be done by April 30 but there has been no
announcement made. Here is the Hansard, Mr. Speaker. That is the kind of
arrogance that I find with this government: Okay, we can take it. We are high in
the polls, but the safety of the individuals in the towns are just not taken
into consideration.
I wrote the minister last week again about another major safety concern in
the Bay of Islands. It is about the gabion baskets that are coming in Halfway
Point and going out towards Lark Harbour and York Harbour that were put in eight
to ten years ago. They are a safety hazard. Some of the gabion baskets, stopping
rocks on the steep hills from going on the roads, were actually destroyed. There
are rocks, as we speak. I know the minister received letters from several
residents who hit cars with big boulders in the middle of the road because the
gabion baskets are not fixed properly. There is no work being done to them,
whatsoever, as we speak. As we speak, there are rocks still running off these
gabion baskets where there was damage on the road.
I spoke to departmental officials and department officials have informed me
that they are still trying to get funding to fix the gabion baskets. This is a
major safety concern for the people of Bay of Islands. A major safety concern
and we cannot get the Department of Transportation and Works to step up to the
plate and provide safe roads to the people of the Bay of Islands. It is a shame,
I say, Mr. Speaker. It is absolutely a shame! Then you turnaround and tout and
say how good everything is going in Newfoundland and Labrador, how good our
roads program is when there are roads here - the minister is well aware of it,
of the major safety concerns.
I think of the road in McIver's. Last year I had a major battle with the
former minister on the road in McIver's. I had to write him, I guess, three
times. First, they denied that they received the letters. Finally, after getting
confirmation that they received the letters and speaking to the minister two or
three times myself, finally the road was done. Mr. Speaker, as I told him at the
time, it is going to be done now, just to say that in the public's perception
they were doing something. The road, as we speak right now, is just as dangerous
now as it was last year because the road was not done properly. I wrote the
minister at least three or four times on that road in McIver's and, Mr.
Speaker, I have yet to get a response. No, no, that is not true. I got one, one
out of three. Some generical response saying: Yes, okay, we understand the road
conditions will be put in their priorities. I still have yet to get a meeting
with the minister to discuss it.
These are the kinds of concerns that I have with the Budget, in general, in
the District of the Bay of Islands. My colleague, the Member for Burgeo &
LaPoile, brought up some very good concerns about how it is the cloak and dagger
budget. Schools in the Bay of Islands now, they are stripped down. All the
teachers are down now saying they are bare bones. They are saying, we are going
to keep everybody in, after taking out 500 teachers over the last two years.
Then we are supposed to turn around and jump up and say, yippee, what a great
government! - after stripping it down.
Employees being laid off - and I know the minister is going to say now about
the highway depots, that they have no effect on the roads. With eighty-five
people being laid off again - up to 125, actually, being laid off now, with
highways again - we are going to be back again this year.... I know the Member
for Baie Verte -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. JOYCE: I know the Member for Baie Verte is well aware of the concerns
of the highway maintenance in his own district. I know the member had a lot of
calls last year when the equipment was not ready for operation, when the snow
was flying down in his own district. That minister can speak around the round
table in Cabinet. How can the Minister of Transportation and Works turn around
and say it had no effect on highway maintenance, when the minister, the Member
for Baie Verte, himself, had a lot of calls, a lot of concerns, that the roads
and the highway equipment were not up to standard, not ready to go?
I am sure the minister - and I know the member personally - I know the member
expressed concern in the district, and in and around the Cabinet table, that the
maintenance was no done on the equipment last year. The equipment was not ready
down in his district; yet, the Minister of Transportation and Works will stand
up here in this House and say it had no effect on highway maintenance, it had
absolutely no effect.
I heard, last week, the Member for Exploits, when he got and read his
prepared speech -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The Chair would ask members if they could keep their conversations, the noise
level, down a little bit. The Chair is having difficulty hearing the hon. the
Member for Bay of Islands. I ask the members for their co-operation.
MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member for Exploits got up just before Easter and read his prepared
speech that someone wrote up for him, and touted all of the good things in
government, and everything that is going on in government, and he turned around
and talked about how good everything is. Guess what? The Mayor of Botwood was
out talking about another service cut in his district in Botwood. What did the
member have to say to defend it, for the district? Oh, well, when people go in
and get their permits down in Joe Batt's Arm, or whatever name the community
was, hopefully they will drive up and go through Botwood and spend their money,
shop, and sit down and have a meal. That is the response from the Member for
Exploits.
How about all the woods workers that were laid off? Did we hear any outcry?
Did we hear any concern about the wood workers laid off in his district? Not a
word, not one word.
So, when you hear the members opposite stand up and say how rosy everything
is, how great everything is, when they are there reading their prepared speech,
you know it is not totally true because, when you pick up the media and hear the
mayor all upset because there is another service taken out of his town down in
Botwood, that was the fourth or fifth one. The courthouse was gone, social
services was gone, another department was taken out, and the member is standing
up: Everything is still fine; there are no services being taken away from rural
Newfoundland and Labrador.
I say that is why, when they are on the opposite side, and you have the
perception that everything is just fine, you have to look beneath the words and
look at the actual facts.
The Member for Exploits could not even get the letter from his own minister
about the harbour development down in Botwood. He could not even get his own
minister to write the letter.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. JOYCE: He could not even get the minister to write the letter. We had
calls from councils, asking us to bring it up in the House of Assembly because
the member was too ineffective to get the letter from the minister, and
everything is rosy. Everything is just rosy in the town. Everything is just
rosy.
We hear, today, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture saying: Oh, we can't
go talking what-ifs. We can't go talking what-ifs. Guess what, Mr. Speaker?
When the Leader of the Opposition, the Government House Leader, right here, the
Member for Twillingate & Fogo, back in December, was talking about the
cutbacks coming from FPI down on the Burin Peninsula, what did the minister say?
Oh, he is just fearmongering. Oh, he is just out putting people at unrest. He
should not be doing that.
The Member for Twillingate & Fogo was saying: Well, let's make a plan.
We know it is coming. Don't you go fearmongering down there. It is Christmas.
Don't go doing that to people down there. Guess what? Guess what? There are
1,200 people laid off and the minister is back there now saying: Oh, we will try
to do something with FPI. We can't talk about what-ifs. It was last December
when the what-ifs were brought to your attention and we are still waiting. We
are still waiting.
We go out in Stephenville now. We go out in Stephenville, and we are talking
about the mill out in Stephenville. The minister was out there in Corner Brook,
I believe it was Easter Monday, and made the announcement out in Corner Brook
that the government had Mo Nazir hired on, or somebody hired on, looking at
trying to buy a buyer for the mill. Did you read what the union had to say?
AN HON. MEMBER: Buy a buyer?
MR. JOYCE: To find a buyer for the mill.
Did you hear what the union had to say? They have no idea what the government
is talking about. They have no idea. For two months now, they cannot even get
hold of someone in the government to speak to. That is what the union is saying
out in Corner Brook, the union, the mill, the mill union. They might have met
with them Friday, after this piece was in the paper. They might have met with
them after Friday. If you want a copy of what they said, they said: Here they
are, out there now, stripping the mill. It is supposed to be done by union work,
and it is not being done by union work. Where is the government standing up for
union workers? Where is the shoulder to shoulder again of everybody? Why is
everybody now, all of a sudden, washing their hands like they did with Harbour
Breton, walking away from Harbour Breton, turning around and walking away from
Stephenville? Now, all of a sudden, down on the Burin Peninsula, everybody is
washing their hands, walking away from the Burin Peninsula, saying: Oh, no, no,
FPI has bad management.
Did that just happen all of a sudden, that FPI has bad management? Where were
they when they were trying to change the ownership to 15 per cent? The former
Minister of Fisheries, before he got the boot out because of the raw material
sharing, where was he when he was on the committee? Every day, the minister - he
is not a minister - the Member for Bonavista South, who should be a minister,
where was he when we were going around with the hearings, every day, that it
should not change? There should not be a 15 per cent share. It should not
change. They should keep it. They should kick them out of the Province.
What happened? What changed it? I asked the Minister of Transportation and
Works, remember when the Premier was down in Marystown, what he said? How he is
adamant against it; they should not change the 15 per cent ownership. It should
not change. It should stay here in Newfoundland and Labrador. What changed? What
has changed? There are 1,200 people down there now out of work. What are we
doing about it? Absolutely nothing, but once again we are going to take this and
try to pass it off to something else.
Mr. Speaker, I know my time is near and I just want to clarify a statement
that I made in the Estimates to the Minister of Tourism. In the Estimates, I
brought up that the Arts and Culture Centre in Corner Brook cannot hold
provincial tournaments. The information that I received was not true; it was the
college. So, the statement that I made in the Estimates was not true. The
information I was given was false, and I just want to clarify that to you and
your staff, that at the Arts and Culture Centre they can have provincial
tournaments. It was the college that cannot. I pass that on to the minister,
because I did bring that up in the Estimates as a concern expressed to me.
Mr. Speaker, thank you for the time. I will be back on the Budget again.
There is lots more to talk about, smoke and mirrors, in the Budget, and I thank
you for the opportunity.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I listened with a great deal of interest, believe it or not, to
the Member for the Bay of Islands this afternoon. It is one of those rare
occasions when I find myself compelled to listen to what he has to say.
AN HON. MEMBER: You were spellbound.
MR. TAYLOR: I was spellbound, I say, Mr. Speaker. I was spellbound, no
doubt.
Mr. Speaker, the Member for the Bay of Islands was wondering about what-ifs.
He talked about the fishery, he talked about roads, he talked about weigh scales
or former member -
MR. E. BYRNE: What if they had put $60 million into roads?
MR. TAYLOR: Yes, what if they had put $60 million into the provincial
roads program when they were in government, Mr. Speaker, instead of the $23
million they had in the program in 2003? What if they had spent $60 million on
the roads in 1997, instead of the $6 million that they spent? What if they had
done that? What if, in 2003, they had repaired the weigh scales out in Port aux
Basques?
Mr. Speaker, the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile was standing up here this
afternoon talking about how we closed down the Port aux Basques weigh scales.
Well, the Port aux Basques weigh scales did not operate for a year before we
came to government because there was a few thousand dollar problem with it.
There were a few thousand dollars required to fix it. So, Mr. Speaker, we did
not close the scales. The scales were closed for a year before we got to
government. We just officially closed them. They had them unofficially closed.
They did not weigh a truck on the Port aux Basques scales for a year before we
closed them down.
Now, Mr. Speaker, what if they had spent the $5,000 or $6,000 and repaired
the scales and kept them open? If they saw such value in the weigh scales at
Port aux Basques, in the inspection station at Port aux Basques, surely it was
worth spending $5,000 or $6,000 to capture some of those 170-odd thousand trucks
that pass by there every year. Those are the kinds of what-ifs they should be
asking themselves. What if the Member for the Bay of Islands had ever made it
into Cabinet? Now, isn't that a scary thought.
Mr. Speaker, I listened also to the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile talking
about the provincial government's decision to increase ferry rates in the
Province. He contends that was at odds with our position that we have outlined
to the federal government on the Marine Atlantic service from North Sydney to
Port aux Basques. Well, Mr. Speaker, I say once again: What if the federal
government were subsidizing the service across the Cabot Strait to the tune that
the provincial government is subsidizing the ferry service throughout
Newfoundland and Labrador? We subsidize our ferry service somewhere around 87
per cent. Somewhere around 87 per cent of the cost of running vessels in this
Province is borne by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and only about
13 per cent of the cost associated with travel on our vessels and shipping goods
on our vessels is borne by the people who actually use it. That is a fact.
Compare that with the federal government's position. What is the federal
government's subsidization rate? I cannot give the exact number but it was
somewhere in the -
AN HON. MEMBER: Fifty (inaudible).
MR. TAYLOR: Fifty-seven. I was going to say around 60 per cent.
Fifty-seven per cent is what the federal government subsidizes the Marine
Atlantic service to this Province.
Mr. Speaker, our position is not at all at odds. Our position to the federal
government and our position on our provincial ferries are not at all at odds
with each other.
I say furthermore, Mr. Speaker: What if the provincial government had, as a
government, prior to 2003 - I listened to the Member for the Bay of Islands
talking about our depots, talking about the condition of our equipment, talking
about the condition of our snowplows and what have you.
MR. E. BYRNE: How much did they spend?
MR. TAYLOR: The Member for Kilbride and the Minister of Natural Resources
said: How much did they spend? How much did they spend on vehicle acquisition
when they were in government? Mr. Speaker, I believe the number when we took
over was about $3 million. Three million dollars is what they spent on vehicle
acquisitions. As a result of that $3 million expenditure or lack thereof, we
find ourselves with a very aged fleet of snowplows in this Province.
What did we do since we took over government? Even when we did not have much
money, we increased it. We increased it last year to $6.5 million, and this
year, Mr. Speaker, we have it up to $10 million. What if they had done that?
What if they had figured out a way of getting a better deal out of the federal
government? They talked today about how great it is to have $70-a-barrel oil and
how lucky we are. Well, Mr. Speaker, if we did not have a new deal on the
Atlantic Accord, it would not matter if it went to $1 million a barrel.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: If we were still operating under the regime that they
operated under, the $71, $72 and $75-a-barrel oil would be coming in through one
side of the ledger, Mr. Speaker, and going out the other side of the ledger to
the federal government, which was what was happening prior to 2005.
Mr. Speaker, yes, we are in a very good position right now, I would say. We
are in a very good financial position compared to where we were a couple of
years ago, but it has very little to do with $70-a-barrel oil on its own. It has
everything to do with the renegotiated Atlantic Accord that we have been able to
capture the money from the $70-a-barrel oil.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: If they were still in government, Mr. Speaker, it would still
be coming in, we would still be in the poor house, we would still have
$70-a-barrel oil today and we would still have the federal government clawing
back the bulk of it just like they were when they were in government.
As the result of the negotiations by the Premier and the Minister of Finance
and this government, we are in the position today where we have been able to pay
down $2 billion on the Teachers' Pension Fund. We are in a position now, Mr.
Speaker, where as a result of paying down that $2 billion on the Teachers'
Pension Fund we will realize about $180 million a year in saving forever. What
would they have done? I suspect they would do the same thing as they did with
Term 29, when they took the $8 million that we were supposed to get guaranteed
in the Terms of Union, Mr. Speaker, $8 million a year forever - and what did
they do? They took thirty years, Mr. Speaker, took a ten-year penalty, and they
spent the money right away. What did we