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June 2, 2021

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. L No. 9

The House met at 10 a.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Are

the House Leaders ready?

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Motion 7.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Municipal and

Provincial Affairs, that the Member for Lake Melville be appointed Deputy Chair

of Committees.

SPEAKER:

The

motion is that the Member for Lake Melville be nominated for the Deputy Chair of

Committees.

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's always great to be in the House of Assembly. I

would like to say, to start with, to be elected the second time – I know the

first election was short; it was two years. To be re-elected for the second time

by the people of Exploits, it's really an honour. It's an honour to be here.

I would just like to congratulate everyone else for

being re-elected and elected to this House of Assembly. It's been a privilege

and an honour to be here, to sit in and talk about the things in our district,

talk about the cares we need, the things that people need and the addresses that

they need put forward. It's really a privilege to be here, Mr. Speaker.

During the election, again, this year, lots of times

you hear the same problems, the same issues. Health care, of course, is the

first and foremost in my district, in the Central region. It's been a big issue

and still remains a big, big issue. Of course, I can't miss the 24-hour

emergency service at the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care Centre. Mr. Speaker, I've

heard it all throughout the elections. This is three times now that the 24-hour

emergency service has been beat around in our district. It was promised in 2019.

It was committed to for 2021. During the election now in 2021, again, there was

even an announcement made that the 24 hours would be reinstated in June. The

people of Exploits are really looking forward to that announcement because it's

really an issue to them.

I didn't see anything in this budget for the 24-hour

emergency service to be reinstated. Why does government keep making promises and

making election issues, but then don't carry out with their promises? It makes

me only believe that they're just trying to get a seat in government, basically,

rather than trying to do something. It's horrible; it's terrible that people are

treated like that.

Mr. Speaker, they're really looking forward to the

24-hour emergency service being reinstated in Botwood. It takes a lot of

pressure, a lot of – the stories that I've heard with regard to that 24-hour

emergency service, people from the outlying area, Leading Tickles, Fortune

Harbour, have an hour's drive just to get to Botwood on a normal day. Put in bad

weather, stormy conditions and you can put that to two hours probably – from one

hour to two hours – to get to the emergency service. Somebody with bad health

conditions – a heart attack, whatever – every minute counts. To force people to

drive an extra, I've heard a half-hour, from Botwood to Grand Falls-Windsor

then, on a stormy night, bad conditions – no, forget it. You can't do it. If you

can, you're endangering lives even more.

Mr. Speaker, that 24-hour emergency service, it's time

for the government to commit, reinstate it and do as promised in the elections.

Not just using it as political issues, political ploys but come good on their

promises and let's get that reinstated. That is still a big issue in the

Exploits District and it certainly needs to be addressed.

Also in health care, Mr. Speaker, the home care. I've

heard from some of the seniors that the dental programs and the eyeglass

programs, they have to pay more. They need dental work; there's nothing there

for them to avail of. Some of the home care services – it's stressed that they'd

like to see seniors stay in their home longer.

During the election, I was talking to one lady who was

92 years old. She said that she still feels good but really can't afford to stay

in her home. Back in 2016 her subsidy was cut. She was staying in her home, I

think her subsidy was around $119, she was telling me, but she was receiving the

benefit. When the benefit was cut, then they increased her contribution. So it's

costing her almost double to stay in her own home than what it was before and

she just can't afford to do it.

She has heat – I visit her periodically just to see how

she's doing. You go in there in the wintertime and she has the heat down. You'd

almost freeze to death when you walk into her porch. It's terrible to see

seniors being treated like that, because she can't keep warm. I know friends and

family bring meals to her at times.

To treat a senior like that who is well up there in

age, more than capable of staying in her own home – more than capable – and to

have to pay the dental cost, the eyewear cost, and then increase subsidies for

home care, it just doesn't make sense. Those are the issues and problems that

I've been hearing in my district, Mr. Speaker, and I'm sure we have them all

across the province. If we're going to keep seniors in their own homes, we

better start looking out for the seniors so that they can stay in their own

homes and feel warm, comfortable and be attended to. That certainly needs

attention.

Mr. Speaker, tourism in our district; it's an amazing

district, we've got tourism galore just starting now. Of course, June 1, the

salmon is just starting to hit the river in Bishop's Falls, and I'm starting to

think I'd like to be there myself, but, anyway, that does bring a lot of people

to the Central area in the summertime, especially the two months, probably June

and July would be the prime months, of course, for the salmon fishery. If we put

more into tourism in our area we can certainly bring people to our area from all

around. If we can't have outside-the-province visits this year, or limited, we

can certainly drag people in from outlying areas in our own province and enjoy

the beautiful scenery of the Exploits District and the Central area itself.

Once you leave Bishop's Falls and you go out through

Exploits, you can go down through Botwood. Botwood has some of the best murals

in Atlantic Canada. I'm sure a lot of people have heard about them; I don't know

how many people have seen them, but I would certainly invite you to come out and

see them this summer. The beautiful murals that they have on all of the

buildings down there, depicting the heritage of Botwood and the history of

Botwood. Seeing how I was on the hospital, I'll certainly mention the one of Dr.

Hugh Twomey, a great doctor, a great physician himself, who helped build that

community and build the hospital in Botwood, Mr. Speaker. There are beautiful

murals there.

Then you keep on going down through the rest of the

district, you have Point Leamington, Fortune Harbour, Cottrell's Cove and

Leading Tickles, all beautiful scenic area, Mr. Speaker. Rugged coasts,

beautiful beaches and beautiful people; the people themselves are wonderful to

be around. They'd help you and assist you in any way they can. Mr. Speaker,

tourism is certainly an area that we can develop and make that area a lot more

feasible for tourism.

Roads: I'll just mention a few things on the roads.

Being from that area, with regard to getting to the – if the people have to

drive to Grand Falls-Windsor and the outlying areas on the roads, that can be

treacherous at times. If we're going to develop tourism, I'm sure the roads

would need a little bit more attention. There is some roadwork that needs to be

done, Mr. Speaker.

I'm hoping to meet with the minister and hoping to

address some of the attention on the roads. I'm sure roads in every district, in

every area, everybody is looking for roads because it is good for

transportation. If we're going to increase tourism, drag people around our own

province to get them in from other areas, roads is something that has to be

addressed so people can avail of it and be comfortable with regard to driving in

the areas, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, also in the district, I know employment

becomes a big issue. I'm sure it's seen all across the province, Mr. Speaker, of

employment. In Exploits, we have an abundance of forestry, we have an abundance

of mining and I must say, yes, there is a mine started in Valentine Lake right

now. Marathon Gold is up there, they're starting to mine and that's going to

bring upwards of 400 people in capacity when that mine is up and running in

2023. It is great. That is great news to hear and to see our province taking on

mining like that. But in other fashions, we've also got lots of minerals in the

Central region, in the Exploits region. I've talked to geologists out there and

they feel that the minerals there are still untapped with regard to the

industries that could be put there with mining.

Not only mining, forestry is another industry that is

really not tapped into. It is tapped into in Central Newfoundland, of course, in

the Exploits District, the big zones 10, 11 and 12 are the big forest baskets.

There are sawmills and industry right now on the Island, of course. The West

Coast and outside Central, they do take the pulp and the timber from Central

Newfoundland and just carry it away. People in that area are just watching the

trucks full of timber and loads of timber just leaving our area when we need

something with secondary processing in the Exploits District, Mr. Speaker. It's

there, our resource is right there on our own doorstep but we're watching it

being all trucked away and all pulled away. The people feel like this could

certainly be an industry that we could tap into, Mr. Speaker, to keep

employment, to keep people in our Central area and to keep everyone employed and

create jobs.

With that, Mr. Speaker, Botwood harbour is one of the

deepest harbours on the Northeast Coast. It has potential. If shipping becomes a

problem, I'm sure the Botwood harbour, once we tapped into the mining a lot

more, use the forestry a lot more with products and the minerals we have, if we

could get all that working in the Central area, we'd have a great place to live;

economically, we would have a great place to live. Botwood harbour, if it means

shipping lanes, I mean that was a shipping lane for years with the old Abitibi

in Botwood and the papermaking. They shipped it all out of Botwood at the time

and that, like I say, again, that port is one of the deepest ones; beautiful

harbours on the Northeast Coast.

I'm sure if we needed to ship forest products, if we

can find an industry, if we need to ship our products and our mining and our

industries, if we could get something there and use Botwood as a port, we'd have

a full operation down in Exploits District in the Central region which could

avail of lot more jobs, a lot more industry in the area. We need to put more

attention on that.

Mr. Speaker, agriculture, that's another big industry

in the Central Newfoundland region. I talked to some of the farmers and the

crops that they grow are – it's wonderful to see. Food efficiency is becoming a

thing now especially with COVID. We've learned that we need to be more

self-sufficient with regard to food. I know that the government has tried to

increase the crop availability here from 10 per cent of what we have right now

to about 15 to 20. To do that, Mr. Speaker, we need to help the farmers that are

already there.

I know there was a program in place, $2.7 million for

potato farming – youth, new farmers, that kind of stuff coming in, but that

doesn't help the Central region right now. That seems to be all going to the

West Coast and other areas of the province rather than directly into Exploits

and the direct Central area.

There are experienced farmers in that area, Mr.

Speaker; they've been at it for years. They know how to grow a crop. They know

what it takes. They started off with nothing, basically. They worked themselves

up and they have experience and they have great crops in there now. Some even

have apple orchards on their farms in there. It's great to see that. I'm sure

with some help and some funding they can diversify in a lot more crops and a lot

more food, Mr. Speaker, and expand our food self-sufficiency in years to come.

To do that, Mr. Speaker, they need some assistance in

order to expand and to grow. Even irrigation in some of the areas is a problem

to them. Even if we could help with that, the water supply, especially in a dry

year and dry summers. This could be another summer that might be dry because it

seems like this year the rain, the runoff seems to be happening a lot quicker.

The brooks seem to be a lot lower so this could be a year where we're putting in

money to help – if you're putting in money to help expand the crops, well,

irrigation has to be one thing, because if we lose a crop, then our food

self-sufficiency is certainly depleted.

We need to put more emphasis on the experienced

farmers. Not only the new farmers but we need to put more money into experienced

farmers, farmers that have the ability, have the know-how to expand, Mr.

Speaker, and make this province a great place to live and be self-sufficient in

our food.

Mr. Speaker, when I go back to health, diabetic pumps

are another thing I've heard that people are needing assistance with. There are

lots of things in health care that really need attention in the Exploits

District. I know that all across this province it's probably the same. People

are looking for the same things, no doubt. Whatever district we're in, wherever

we go, people are looking for it. We need to put more attention on the people

that we have here. We need to put more emphasis on health care, growing our own

province and making our communities a lot stronger.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I'll end off by saying, again,

that anybody wanting to reach out and explore the Exploits District this year,

I'm sure that you would love to come there and, especially, take up some of the

area in just, like I said, the salmon rivers. It's great to sit down on the

salmon river in Bishop's Falls there. They have new lookouts and you can watch

the salmon. I can't get off the salmon because it's on my mind. I see the Member

for Baie Verte - Green Bay; I guess he likes doing a bit of fishing himself.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, it's always great to get up in

this House of Assembly and talk about the district because I believe in the

Exploits District; I believe in the people of the Exploits District. I believe

that we can make it work in the Central area; we can make it work in the

Exploits District alone for people. We have lots of development that can happen

there. We have people who want to make it work there, with some help from

government in those areas, to help the people along.

We have some great entrepreneurs in there that are

looking to expand and looking for businesses out there. They have some ideas. If

we keep tapping into our resources, tapping into our people, Mr. Speaker, we

will make Exploits District a great place to live and this province a great

place to be.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to

speak to the budget this morning. Unfortunately – well, it depends on how you

look at it, I suppose, whose point of view. From my point of view,

unfortunately, 20 minutes is not a lot of time, considering there are so many

things in the budget and so many things we could speak to. I'm sure there will

be lots of opportunities throughout this process. I know there are some money

bills coming as well, so there will be lots of opportunity to speak about

specific aspects of the budget.

This morning I just want to sort of hit the top of the

trees on my view of the budget at first blush. I have reached out to my

constituents seeking feedback. I haven't received a lot of feedback yet, but

it's like anything else, I'm sure we've all been inundated with emails from –

NAPE employees are obviously saying reject the Greene report in totality,

basically, don't lay anybody off and so on. We've all received numerous emails,

I'm assuming, from the NLTA and concerns that teachers have. We've all received

them from the Employers' Council telling us to get on with it and start making

the cuts and adjustments that they feel need to be made to get us on a better

track financially.

Those are opposing views. Obviously, they all have

their own interests and so on. I'm not saying that they don't have the interest

of the province at heart as well, but they all come from their own perspectives

based on – I guess where you sit is kind of where you stand so they say. That's

the expression. We get that. But some of the feedback I've received from – and,

again, not a lot thus far – some constituents of mine is they felt that the

budget has not gone far enough in addressing our fiscal circumstance.

Now, I realize again that depends on the individual and

perhaps it depends on the region of the province that you represent. But looking

at the demographic that I represent, from a general point of view, I think

citizens are very concerned about the year-over-year deficits, the huge

provincial debt and the solvency of the province. I think it's fair to say many

of them I have spoken to don't believe the answer is simply to take the easy way

out, just tax people to death and try to solve our fiscal situation that way.

They believe that we need to look at the expense side–

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The level of talking is a little too loud.

LANE:

of the financials and look at ways that we can be more efficient, more nimble

and save money.

That seems to be the general theme I've received thus

far. I realize not everybody shares that view. No matter what government does,

it doesn't matter; you're going to have people that are going to be for and

against every measure taken in a budget, generally speaking.

Let's face it, in an ideal world people want to see

better services and less taxes. That's not always possible. There's only a

finite amount of money to spend. As much as we'd like to see more money for this

and more money for that, particularly in our districts, the reality of it is

that we have a provincial debt that is crippling us. I'm not sure what the net

debt is now but it's over $15 billion for sure, maybe more than that: $16

million.

COADY:

Seventeen.

LANE:

Seventeen, there you go. Thank you, Finance Minister.

Seventeen billion dollars, with a B, just think about

that, for a population of 500,000 people and, of course, we're going to borrow

probably another billion again this year or more. That's going to bring us up to

$18 billion. That's just with the net debt. That's not with all the other

unfunded liabilities and everything else thrown in there.

It is a huge problem. It's a huge problem. The Auditor

General has pointed it out on numerous occasions. Our lenders have obviously

pointed it out. I think we all know deep inside, whether we want to admit it or

not, that action has to be taken. I think we've known it for a long time but the

will just has not been there. I understand the political pressure, I get it.

I'm sure that there are going to be some tough measures

that are being proposed that I'm going to support, depending on how they're

done, of course, and if they're done right. I'm sure I'm going to take some

backlash for supporting some of these things, but, at some point in time, we

have to realize the situation we're in financially and be willing to say that

some action has to be taken.

There were some positives that I saw in the Budget

Speech, some things that I was kind of happy to see. I was happy to see that

there's going to be a continuation and perhaps an enhancement of the specialty

courts, whether that be family violence intervention court and Drug Treatment

Court and so on. I'm certainly not a lawyer or nothing like that, but I have

sort of read up on, to some degree, the benefit of having these speciality

courts and trying to deal with people's issues as opposed to just strictly

taking punitive measures and incarceration, trying to actually deal with the

root of the problem and so on. Having specialty courts that are going to deal

with some of these social issues and addictions and everything else, I think

that's a positive move and I would certainly support it. I was glad to see that,

actually.

I was also glad to see that there continues to be a

commitment to our oil and gas industry in terms of there is some investment

there. I wish our federal government was as committed to our oil and gas

industry as we are in this House of Assembly. I am really concerned about that,

I really think that there is this sort of ideology in Ottawa that is not on our

side when it comes to our offshore oil and gas, and I think it is hurting us and

it could hurt us even more.

I think we all understand in this House the value of

our oil and gas industry and the tremendous benefits that it has brought to our

province, both from the perspective of royalties, but also employment and the

building of expertise and so on in our province. It has been tremendous for us.

Let's face it, it really has been a godsend for our province.

Unfortunately, we have been experiencing issues which

are – global issues, let's face it, it is not Newfoundland and Labrador issues

per se; these are global issues. I certainly hope we can get things on track,

but I was glad to see signs and signals in the budget that the government is

committed to our oil and gas. As others have said, and I would certainly agree

with the fact, the world is not going to be coming off fossil fuels tomorrow:

that's not reality.

I have had some people reach out to me, I'm sure others

have as well, who've said shut her all down, everything is going green, it is a

dying industry and so on. I understand the world is slowly moving towards a

green economy and many would argue that the faster the better, and I agree in

terms of global warming and so on, that needs to happen, but there is what we

would like to see and then there is the reality. I try as best as I can to deal

with reality, not wishful thinking. I think the reality of it is that it will be

around, oil and gas will be around and petroleum products will be around for

many years to come.

If it is going to be developed and it is going to be

needed throughout the world, somebody has got to benefit from it so why not

Newfoundland and Labrador. Especially given the fact that we have some of the

cleanest oil, so to speak, on the planet, so I understand, from a processing

perspective and so on. It makes sense to me that as we transition, that we

exploit as much of our product as we can to benefit our province so that we can

use those revenues to help get us out of debt and help us transition to the new

green economy.

That just seems to make good sense to me. Again, I'm no

expert in that either but it makes good sense and I was glad to see a commitment

from our government that we're not giving up on our oil and gas industry. I

would be very, very – disappointed would be an understatement if we were.

I was also pleased to see that government has committed

that they're going to be developing, I guess, a new renewed Poverty Reduction

Strategy or plan or whatever you want to call it. That's good news because there

was great progress made by the former administration. I think it was started

under Premier Williams, if I'm not mistaken, the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

They made good progress over the years, but it seems to me that it kind of

stalled. At some point in time, it kind of stalled and we haven't seen that type

of commitment for a few years. We've maintained what we've had but I don't think

we made a lot of strides beyond where we've been, certainly not enough.

I'm glad to see that government is saying they're going

to sort of renew and kick-start that process and, hopefully, in doing so we can

find ways to help lift people out of poverty and make them healthier and

contributors to our province.

The fitness tax credit: Obviously, that's a positive in

terms of trying to move from – in our health care system prevention, I guess. I

guess the only criticism of the fitness tax credit – obviously, a lot of people

in my district think that's a wonderful thing because a lot of those people are

of the income base and so on that they have the money, not all, but I'd say most

people have the money to be able to go to a gym and whatever. They're doing it

now anyway, so if they can get a tax rebate for going to the gym or for having

their kids in sports, well, then, obviously, they're going to say that's a good

thing so I'm not going to be against that.

But I would point out, I think as others have pointed

out in reaction to the budget, I'm not sure that does a lot for low-income

families and people who can't afford to – they can't afford the gym membership

and then wait for a tax credit at the end of the year. They don't have the money

upfront to even afford to go to a gym or some of them can't afford to put their

kids in sports. I know there are programs like Jumpstart and so on, which are

great programs. I know certainly in Mount Pearl all of the sporting groups, they

will never let a child who wants to participate not participate because of

money. Whether Jumpstart is available or not, they always find other ways

internally to make sure every child who wants to play can play. I certainly

commend them for that.

Again, if we want to be committed to this and going

down this road, this is a positive, but we need to find ways to make sure that

people of low income can participate in this as well, and that they have ways

for their children to avail of sports and fitness. By the way, the same thing

goes on the sugar tax issue. That's received somewhat of a mixed review in the

public. Some people are applauding it and other people are saying that you're

attacking the most vulnerable who can't afford healthy food.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad idea in concept,

but I would like to see – and I don't know how we do this by the way, so I'm

just throwing it out there as a thought more than a plan, because I don't have

one, I'll admit that. It would seem to me that if we're going to be collecting

extra money from a sugar tax, somehow that money should be diverted into some

kind of a program to help low-income families to be able to afford milk to

replace pop, healthy foods and healthy drinks. You're not really solving the

problem unless people can afford the healthy stuff. We need to be doing more to

get healthy food for people who can't afford healthy food.

It's fine for all of us here and many people who can go

up to the grocery store. We might complain. I know I go up to the grocery store

lots of times and say: Oh my God, look at the price for a few grapes or

whatever, it's ridiculous, but at the end of the day, I still buy them. I might

complain about it but I still buy them, I can afford to buy them. What about the

people who can't? Somehow, we have to do something for those people.

I was very pleased that government had announced that

they're going to be adding oversight here in this House of Assembly to agencies,

boards and commissions. That was probably my favourite highlight of the budget,

to be honest with you, on a personal level, because it's something that

certainly I've been advocating for in the last number of years and I really

believe it's the right thing to do.

As I've said in this House of Assembly in other Budget

Speeches and other times, here we are counting pencils in the minister's office

and then just approving one line on the budget that transfers millions or

billions of dollars to a particular entity. I think with the Minister of Health,

as an example, it is $3 billion – one line, a $3-billion grant to the health

care authorities. We're not even talking about $3 billion but we're asking the

minister how much he spent on photocopying in his office, which is kind of

ridiculous when you think about it. I definitely applaud that move. I'm glad you

did it. I'm glad you listened.

The electric vehicle grant, I think that's a good idea.

The feds are doing it and other provinces are supplementing the federal grant

with a provincial grant. I'm not sure if our grant is as high as some of the

other provinces, but it's a start. It helps move us down that road of a green

economy. I thought that was a positive, as well as having the infrastructure in

place across the province for you to be able to charge your vehicles. I think

these are moves in the right direction. Also, the grant to convert oil to

electric heat – that was another one.

We've maintained, of course, the $25-a-day child care.

The $25-a-day child care – and I know the feds are saying they want to get it

down to $10 and a lot of people will applaud that. There's no doubt that child

care is a barrier to getting people in the workforce. No doubt about it. I think

these things will pay for itself over time, I really do.

On the $25-a-day child care – and I don't know if other

Members have gotten calls from daycare operators or whatever in their district,

child care operators, but one of the issues that I'm hearing is that there are a

number of child care operators that are not offering $25-a-day child care;

they're not doing it. They can't do it because they were charging $45 a day.

That was their business model that they were utilizing.

The government is saying we want to reduce to $25 a

day, but we're only going to give you a subsidy of, I think it is, $13. If you

do the math, if they charge $25 and the government gives them $13 – $25 and $13

is $38, not $45. They have to take a $7 cut in their revenue per child, a $7 cut

in order to offer this program.

Many of them are saying I can't afford it. Maybe if

you're a large operator and you're doing it on volume you can suck it up somehow

and make it happen, but a lot of the operators can't. They've had to say: No,

b'y, I'm sorry. There are a lot of people that are not getting the advantage of

the $25-a-day child care because their child care operator is saying: I'm sorry;

I'm not enrolling in this. I can't. If you want to try to find somewhere at $25

a day, be my guest. Of course, they can't, because there's nowhere else to go

because they're full. So people are still having to pay the $45. That is a

problem that needs to be addressed.

As I said, Mr. Speaker, when I started, all I've done

is I've sort of ticked off a few positives. I haven't even started on any of the

cuts or proposed cuts and I'm out of time already. I'm glad I'm going to have

lots of opportunities to get on that track as we move forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once again, it's a privilege to speak in this House on

behalf of the wonderful people of Labrador West. Maybe I'll take a page from the

book of my colleague there – from his response to the budget – from Stephenville

- Port au Port; I'll name all the communities in my district: Labrador City,

Wabush. There we go.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

BROWN:

know. I only have two communities, but I have more iron mines than I do have

communities, so that's a bonus there. There are four operating iron mines in my

district alone, maybe soon to be five, maybe soon to be six.

We are blessed that we have such abundant resources. I

think one geologist told me: Don't worry about buying anything or building a

home or a cabin in Lab West; you'll be good for 200 years. I'm glad to hear that

there's at least 200 years of iron in the ground around my community alone.

That brings with it a lot of opportunity. If we look at

the budget lines and stuff like that, it referenced iron ore a lot in the

budget, which I'm really pleased to hear. In it, it referenced man-years or

people-years of work, and it's in the thousands. So thousands of person-years of

work, that's a good shining light. It's a strong, steady industry that's been

around forever and a day. The first prospectors to go into the area were in the

1900s, so we always knew it was there. We always knew we had this asset in the

ground. The question always was how do we get it out in an economical way?

Thanks to the post-war boom of World War II, they found

a way to get it out. Building the railway alone was considered the greatest

railway-engineering project in the modern world, just to build a railway into

Labrador to get up onto the height of land. Ingenuity – if it's there, it's

there, and if they want it they'll come and get it. We have an abundant

resource, we have a great opportunity there and let's continue to grow that

opportunity in a reasonable manner.

We're now entering the world of the green, low-carbon

economy and even the mining companies are looking at themselves internally and

saying: How do we continue to do business and how do we do it in a green,

economical way?

Here's the great thing that I've noticed after speaking

to some people in industry, is that it's actually creating more jobs in the

mining industry by switching to low-carbon initiatives and stuff like that.

They're actually creating more jobs within their own organizations, which has

been a fascinating thing in a sense that the investment into green mining that

we all know no matter what we build or what we need, we're always going to need

iron; we're always going to need nickel, copper and the list goes on.

But how do we get it out of the ground and do it in a

way that we're not hurting the environment beyond what we've already hurt it?

This is where we need to take a strong initiative and investment to look at the

technology, the research and development.

I know last evening we were here for Estimates with the

Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology and we had a great conversation

about all of those kind of things with the staff of the department. We have to

work towards this, we have to invest in research and development, and we have to

get Memorial University on board to do that in their facility because there are

opportunities there. We have to get to them before somebody else gets to them,

because if we lose our foothold in that market, if we lose our foothold in the

change into the green economy, then we're behind the eight ball and then it's

just no good.

We have to take our time – well, not even actually take

our time, we don't have time. We need to take an initiative into investing in

these opportunities while we have the chance, while we're ahead of the game. We

have some of the biggest players in the mining industry in our province already

that are looking at these things.

I know in Labrador West, one of the mines there is

looking at the idea that: I'm burning too much bunker C, I need to stop burning

bunker C, because if I keep burning bunker C I can't trade with the European

Union because they're putting in such strict rules about even what goods they

import. They already have it on gold and silver and all of that stuff in the EU

that if these minerals are coming from an area that's not environmentally

friendly, trade friendly, treat their employees well, they won't import it into

the European Union.

Now, this is coming down onto base metals like iron,

copper, nickel and all this stuff. They're saying that they don't want to lose

their foothold in the European market, so, obviously, they have to take a shift.

These new regulations, these things are putting pressure on these companies to

actually change, and some of them are taking the initiative to do it just before

the rules come into place.

We have mining opportunities there that are saying, do

you know what? I have to stop burning bunker C. I have to convert from using

that. Well lucky for us in this province, we have hydroelectricity, which the

European Union sees as an opportunity, they say it's okay if you're using

hydroelectricity, you tick the box for environmental in the sense that you're

not burning fossil fuels and you're not releasing carbon.

Now, they're looking at technology of how can they

convert certain mechanics of their operation into green technology. This is

where we have the opportunity to invest in the mining industry and changing the

mining industry in a way that we can be the leader in the world for green

mining.

I know if you look at the term green mining, well,

you're still digging a hole in the ground, you're still doing that, but you at

least have to start with your carbon emissions and then work back on other

opportunities you can to make sure that we leave as little destruction and

little footprint in the environment we have, especially in Labrador. Labrador

has always been deemed the last natural frontier in this country. It's the last

place that you can go and still see things as they were thousands of years ago.

This is another thing, too, we have these

opportunities, we have these active operations, do it with the least amount of

impact to the environment, but, at the same time, do it in a way that when we

clean up the site and everything like that it's like it was never ever there.

That's where we have to take these things. We also look

at orphaned mines and orphaned sites and other industrial sites throughout our

province, too. We have to take the opportunity to clean it up, put it back to

the way it was so that we can also remember that, yeah, we did that, but, at the

same time, we put it back when we were done because we don't want to leave it

for another generation. I'm sure the generation behind us is already a little

pissed off with us as it is, what we've leaving them with.

We have to keep that in mind that we have a

responsibility to the environment, we have a responsibility to the economy and

we have a responsibility to the people of this province. We have to weigh those

three things very heavily on the sense that what we do over here will have an

effect with the other two and vice versa.

I always have the interesting thing that in my

community we have a cyclical market that is the iron ore market. Today is a

great day, ore is trading at – I think this morning it was 190-something tons on

the 62 per cent market, which you add premiums in, that's over

$200-and-something dollars a ton for ore that comes out of Labrador because it's

a better quality ore.

That's great, that's record highs, but, at the same

time, it creates problems; low-income people in my district usually get bumped

out of housing, contract companies and stuff coming in to do work for the mine

bumps things around. We always have people who don't work in the mining

industry, who work in the service industry, who don't make quite enough to pay

for the $2,000 to $3,000 a month apartment. We always say it's great, the mine

is doing great, but the balance is thrown off.

We always have to take that into consideration, what

you do over here is going to affect over here. So we always have to take the

effect that homelessness and stuff in my district is a little different than it

would be here, probably in the metro area. It does get to 40 below in Lab West

and it does have its challenges. Then once the mining market goes the other way

around, you'll see that homelessness and stuff kind of disappears for a little

while because those people who are charging $2,000 or $3,000 a month for an

apartment needs to get people back in their building so they drop it down to a

reasonable rate, the people move back into these apartments again and then the

cycle starts all over again.

When we do get these markets and we look at development

and all these things and all the opportunities that we do create, we also have

to put in safety nets or measures in place that keep protecting the people on

the other end of the spectrum. We need to make sure that when we're doing great,

that the negatives that come with doing great don't outweigh or affect the

people that are on the other side. We have to find that perfect – well, not

perfect balance, but we need to find a balance that everyone in our society is

protected from certain elements of other things.

We look at the housing, we look at that, we make extra

sure we have enough housing in place for when it happens, but we also have to

look at the ideas that when we are in a downturn, it is a great opportunity for

maintenance review and look at what you have to make sure that it's ready just

in case it happens again.

I always find it interesting in my district, we have a

very large population – we are one of the largest regions, communities that

don't have an emergency shelter – no barrier shelter. We don't need it all the

time but in times like this is when we need it. We find ourselves sometimes, a

single individual venturing up to Lab West to, hopefully, find that job and hit

it big, but sometimes they fall on hard times or there are other issues in the

way and they find themselves homeless, no job, trapped in a community that is

not familiar to them. It happens pretty frequently. Or they haven't hit it big

with that job yet and they get kicked out of an apartment and end up having to

leave the job because they don't have a place or don't have a vehicle.

We get these situations that we are not prepared for.

We don't have the mechanisms in place to deal with these situations like other

communities in this province that do have it. We find ourselves in these

situations that we need that little investment, we need that safety net built in

place to protect these individuals.

There are situations – sometimes it's not even a fault

of their own; it's a fault of the situation of how the markets and that work in

Labrador West. Some people are just not prepared for that. Everyone always jokes

and calls us sometimes little Fort McMurray, because we have similar social

situations that they have, but on a really scaled-down version.

We have the opportunities and stuff there. Like I said,

another big one that comes up when we're in a good high market is addictions and

mental health issues. I always tell people big money comes with big problems. In

some cases it's addictions. We've always struggled in Labrador West with

addictions.

One shocking revelation came to me one day that some of

the people in the community were finding needles and stuff around the community.

I was informed that, yeah, injected narcotics have made its way to Labrador

West. That's a scary, scary thought to think that we're going down that road. We

need to make sure that we have the net for proper drug and alcohol addiction

treatment in our region.

Gambling addiction is another huge issue that we battle

with. Like I said, big money becomes big problems. It's not unheard of,

unfortunately, to hear stories of complete paycheques put in one of those

machines. We're blessed with one thing, but it comes with its own challenges, it

comes with its own demons, per se.

It's very hard to think that we're doing so well, but

at the same time, there's a group of people that's not doing so well. We need to

make sure that we have as much social safety nets in place that we can to make

sure to minimize the impact of these things. Then, when the market does – and it

will – come down, we go into another thing where a lot more people will be

negatively impacted and we'll stretch the services and stuff very thin.

I'll take a moment, too, to talk about the seniors in

my district. We've never been a community known to have a large seniors

population, but now we do. Like I said previously to that, we're a newly aging

town. We've only been there since 1959, but now we're going on third- and

fourth-generation Labrador West residents. The second and third generations are

sticking around to watch their grandkids grow up in the community that they

helped build, but the thing is the services and the care for these seniors is

just not there. A lot of them are stuck in very large houses with large

maintenance bills. Trying to downsize into something reasonable is not there.

Some people, they're widows with a bit of advanced care. There's no seniors'

home or anything that could take care of them, there's only Level 4 long-term

care.

I take the example of my Aunt Blanche. She's 94 years

old. She's currently the oldest living resident in Labrador West; first to get

her vaccine in Lab West, too. She only just recently had to go into long-term

care. She spent many years alone in a large house that was very hard for her to

maintain, until she got to the point where she had to go into Level 4 at the

long-term care facility because she had a loss of mobility. She came to the

community when she was young and she was one of the many people who helped build

it to what we have today. She stuck around because she wanted to watch all her

grandchildren, and nieces and nephews and everything, grow up in the community

that she helped build.

We have many residents with similar stories. They don't

want to leave because they helped build it. Why would they want to go somewhere

else? They want to see the fruits of their labour and watch their grandkids and

great-grandkids grow up in the community that they helped build. We're really

struggling with that. We really have a need to look after our seniors, but it's

just not there. An investment in seniors is a good investment, because they

helped build this whole province to the beautiful province we have. We need to

make sure that we look after them and put them in a place that they are

comfortable and treated with respect and dignity.

Right now, my residents, unfortunately, don't have that

opportunity to stick around. They're being told they have to go to communities

that they don't even know. They may have passed through on the TCH, but they've

never been there; they don't know anybody there and now they're asked to live

there. It is pretty heartbreaking to have to tell residents that if they want

that kind of care, they have to leave Labrador West. Like I said, we are the

most western point in this province. We are the most far-flung and now you're

telling people to leave to go 2,000 kilometres away just to have the care they

need. It's pretty hard to tell them that. We have the opportunities and we

should put the investment into looking after these people who helped build our

community.

Another great opportunity in Labrador now is tourism. I

spent a bit of time on the Gateway Labrador board. We talked about tourism and

how we can turn Labrador West into a little bit of a tourism hub. It's not our

main industry. A lot of the oxygen in the room gets sucked up by the mining

industries, but there's a great opportunity there. A lot of people want to come

and see. They want to see a haul truck or a giant mining shovel. Actually, in

this province the rarity of seeing a train does draw people to Labrador West. So

we do have some of that opportunity, but we also have natural beauty, which is

another thing.

When I was with Gateway Labrador, we talked about all

the different aspects of how to bring tourism and stuff like that. One season,

we decided to do a survey on what kind of people were actually coming to

Labrador West. We had a volunteer survey and the first category was Québécois.

One of the larger groups that did come through was people from Quebec. The

second was German or German speakers, so people from Germany, Austria and

Switzerland. They were our second-largest group of tourists to pass through

Labrador West.

It was pretty interesting to see this German group come

through. They were coming through as adventure tourists. Most of them had

specially designed retired military vehicles, modified to take them on these

very long journeys. Some of them were coming right on up from South America,

right on through and that, but they heard about Labrador, they heard about its

thing.

A lot of them were disappointed to find the road was

paved. They were always told about this great big, long gravel highway. I told

them we're grateful that it's paved, but to them, they wanted the adventure of a

gravel road, but so be it. They were always told about Labrador. I'm guessing

some of them must have been reading The

Lure Of The Labrador Wild or heard

about Leo Hubbard or the great adventurers that passed through Labrador. That's

what they wanted; they wanted that adventure of travelling into this great,

unknown territory.

It was very interesting to see that we have this market

for tourism over in Europe like we do, but it was all word of mouth. They were

all finding out about this through these stories and these things: this was just

word of mouth and it was a significant group of them. So capturing the idea of

Labrador's raw beauty as a tourism thing is possible. We should take some strong

investment into just enticing people to take in Labrador as it is and as it

currently stands as this last bastion of natural beauty and opportunity for

people in this province. It is great to see that we have that and we need to

capitalize it, not create tourism, but just use what we already have to our

advantage.

Another thing I do want to say is – and my colleague

from Mount Pearl - Southlands touched on it too – is the thing about sports and

encouraging healthy activity. I always say it starts at school. Healthy eating

habits and physical activity starts in school, because that's where people pick

up on their habits and people pick up on the different things that they do in

their adult life. Investment in school sports and the ability to have –

post-COVID – school sports and stuff, to compete with each other and to create

that camaraderie is really important.

The hardest thing for Labrador residents is to leave

Labrador to compete on the Island for sports and in the arts. There used to be

programs at one time that did help with this. I really think we need to go back

and look at that again, to give the opportunity for school sport and for school

art, to be able to travel to the Island portion of the province and compete or

show off their works as one province. Right now, the majority of it is

Labradorians are trapped in Labrador and people on the Island are trapped on the

Island.

We should have the ability to enable school sport and

art communities to travel interprovincially and meet each other and compete or

perform, because I think that comradery was a very key thing in this province,

and the idea of team sport and stuff like that, or even individual sport, but

competing –

SPEAKER (Warr):

Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member that his speaking time is

expired.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The

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

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I'll concur with my colleague from Labrador West, it is

an absolutely beautiful area. I worked as a paramedic there at the Captain

William Jackman Memorial Hospital and it was fantastic. People that are great,

and there are lots there, so.

First of all, I want to thank the people of Grand

Falls-Windsor - Buchans for re-electing me again. In 2019, they saw an

oil-covered driller from out west that came home and wanted to do the best for

his province, and they gave me that opportunity. I wanted to work hard and make

them proud and give me the second opportunity; that's what they did. I thank

them for that.

I also want to recognize everybody else here that were

successful. I want to acknowledge everybody's families – wives, husbands and

children. It's not easy to go through an election and it's much harder on them,

I find sometimes, than ourselves. So kudos to all them as well.

Why are we elected? I'm elected for Grand Falls-Windsor

- Buchans because we can't fit 18,000 people in this House of Assembly from that

area. I am here to speak for them, and that's exactly what I intend to do. When

I speak for them, I do the best I can for their interests. That's what we're all

here for. The government listens, we bring their voices forward, their concerns,

their issues, and we expect action or we expect at least an acknowledgement.

I know some time ago I presented a petition here in the

House of Assembly about bullying in schools. That can touch on mental health, it

can touch on education and whatnot. I also know that ministers are busy. This is

not to call anybody out or embarrass anybody. But when I presented that petition

a lot of parents, a lot of students, a lot of people put a lot of work into that

for me to present into this House of Assembly, to get a reaction, to get some

sort of answer. Again, it's not to embarrass anybody or call anybody out, but I

was hoping to get an answer or at least a response, at the time, from the

minister.

Now, I know the minister's very, very busy. I know he

works very, very hard. I know he's put pretty much a lifetime into our province.

I can't thank him enough for that. But it's very disappointing when we bring the

voices forward, the people we represent, to the ministers, to the government,

and we don't get a response. If there's a phone call made, there's no phone call

back. That's very deliberate sometimes to ourselves. We don't like it, our

constituents don't like it. It's not the way it should be.

I'll just remind everybody in this House of Assembly,

the ministers included, you're the minister for your department for the people

of Newfoundland and Labrador and I just want to get that straight. I might be

sitting as a minister one day and I hope somebody reminds me of that as well

because sometimes it may be needed to remind somebody of that. I appreciate the

work you do, but remember what your role is. It's a separate role from your

constituency, in my opinion. I just wanted to get that straight.

You know I don't care if you're a doctor, a lawyer, an

oil rig worker, teacher or hockey player from Bell Island, it doesn't mater,

check the ego at the door. When you come in here everybody is the same;

everybody should remain the same. Everybody should have the same goals in mind.

I'm learning as I go here, it's been two years, I

learned a lot in the past two years and I have so much more to learn, I look

forward to it. That's that, I look forward to working with the government as we

move forward for the best interests of the people from Grand Falls-Windsor -

Buchans, and all throughout the province.

The next thing I want to do, Mr. Speaker, is

acknowledge something very important throughout the world and especially here in

Newfoundland and Labrador and that's Pride Month. We just entered Pride Month

here on June 1. I want to recognize all those men and women, children, boys and

girls who find the courage to just be themselves. It's very difficult sometimes,

especially in this day and age. I want to recognize everybody who does that.

I'll give you a case in point and how hard it can be

sometimes. In 2014, I picked up my youngest son Declan, he was about nine years

old at the time, I picked him up from sliding, and we were driving home. He

looked at me and he said: Dad, I think I want to paint my room – true story. I

said: That's great son. What colour would you like to paint it? He said: Purple.

I said: Absolutely. Let's get on it when we get home and get some purple paint

and paint your room. With that he sort of looked down and he looked up at me

again and he said: Well, Dad, you probably don't want a son with a purple room,

do you? It absolutely broke my heart. We sort of knew back then which direction

he was headed.

Fast forward to the summer of 2020, this past summer

and when he came out to myself and his mom. That kid is my hero because he was

always himself. He grew up – and I tell you what, he had some tough days growing

up, like so many other people here in Newfoundland and Labrador. That kid

remained himself and stayed true to himself, when so many people are fake in

this world. Boy, he was my hero growing up. I love him to death.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

TIBBS:

There are so many like him and what they suffer through their whole lives, not

just until they get to adulthood but their whole lives, what they suffer

through, holding in what they would think to be an embarrassment or what they

would be outcast for. Boys and girls, it's a different age and time, and thank

God it is.

For any young men and women throughout my district,

Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans, there's a very modest bungalow at the corner of

Knight Street and Newhook Street. If you ever need to get away or if you ever

need to seek a place of acceptance, understanding or safety, you go to that

house. I guarantee you, I'll be there waiting for you and we'll take care of it

from there. I promise you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

TIBBS:

I'll just spend another moment on this and then we will get into some more

details.

I would be remiss if I didn't recognize our men and

women throughout the military who gave these people the right to be who they

are, past and present. Thank you so very much to all soldiers past, all the

soldiers present for working so hard, fighting, giving up your lives so my son

can be the man that he is today.

Many districts throughout Newfoundland and Labrador

face different challenges, but many districts also face the same challenges: the

pandemic. I'm not talking about COVID-19 pandemic; I'm talking about the mental

health pandemic that we face every single day. Some people face it more than

others.

The societal pressures that are put on parents today

are absolutely overwhelming. It's absolutely crazy to think about it. Most of us

in here are parents, and there are so many parents out there, but the pressures

that are on parents today can break a man or a women, absolutely.

I look back 40 years ago or 20 years ago, 30 years ago,

when I growing up, for instance, when I was 12 or 13, a $2 plastic hockey blade

at the bottom of the stick, b'y, that's all I needed at the end of the day. Now,

a parent is pressured to buy a $1,600 iPhone for their kid, because they need

it. To face those pressure and challenges, oh boy, it's tough sometimes. It's

tough on everybody, I can guarantee you. It doesn't matter which part of society

you're in; it's a very, very tough thing to deal with.

The price of goods, services, food – my colleague from

Mount Pearl - Southlands alluded to it earlier – they're not in line with the

money we're making now. Not us, but people in general out in the province. It's

a struggle for a lot of people. If you want to see something absolutely

heartbreaking, when you go to Dominion and Sobeys – I'm a bit weird, yes; I am.

I'll go to Sobeys and Dominion intentionally. I'll spend hours there. I will.

Just talking to people, of course, and observing people. There's nothing more

heartbreaking than watching a senior citizen pick up something, put it in their

cart, think about it, look at it and put it back on the shelf; a senior, a

person on low income.

When you're standing in an aisle and you're trying to

decide whether you can buy something or not – food, not just buy something or

not, but buy food – that's absolutely heartbreaking when we've hit that point.

There are so many contributing factors that go into it. The people of this

province and the people of the country – and, again, I'm not putting blame on

anybody, because this has been going on for eons, way before anybody that is sat

in this House of Assembly.

The people of this province right now are surviving;

many are not living. That's not the way we should be living. It's just a

survival game right now and it's very, very sad to watch. It is so sad to watch.

Forty years ago, many families lived comfortably with one person, whether it be

a mom or a dad working, and then the other person staying home. It created that

family dynamic which seems to be missing the past few years. I think that's

something we have to get back to because it's much different today than it was

back then. I would love to see it now again.

In this year's budget, I'm very happy to see the $2,000

family Physical Activity Tax Credit. It's going to get people moving, hopefully.

It's going to get those kids out. I think it benefits about 3,500 families. It's

fantastic to see. It's something we need because, again, it's heartbreaking to

see a child who cannot participate with his or her friends because of a money

situation. It's heartbreaking and you know what? These are the things that I

talk about. I'll never be the smartest person in the room, and I can live with

that, but my heart absolutely breaks sometimes, and that's exactly why I'm here.

I've lived some of it, so these are the things I enjoy talking about.

It's what we see on the faces each and every day.

Again, this is going to sound a little bit different, but you drive through the

city, stop at a traffic light and just look at the car next to you. Just look at

the worry and anxiety on people's faces as they try to think about how they're

going to get through the next day. It's hard to think about. It's hard to do.

We're with the people of the province and we have to work better here together

to make sure that they're taken care of as well.

The sugar tax: I'd like to touch on that for a second.

It may sound great on the surface, but I'm just wondering how this would make a

difference for healthy, affordable food when it comes to the people that we're

trying to put it in effect for. Right now, I don't know if it gives them more

price on something that's terrible, instead of bringing down the price of

something that can be very good for you.

The tobacco and alcohol tax is another thing. You know

what? It's not that I disagree with it, it sounds great in theory, but we have

to keep in mind, too, the implications. There are families out there, and men

and women, who are going to have these substances no matter what. If they have

to take from another portion of their family's income, that's exactly what

they're going to do. We need to keep these families in mind as well. It sounds

great on the surface, but if it's going to start taking away from a kid's hockey

registration or whatnot, that's something we should consider moving forward when

it comes to these taxes, and have certain things in place to help these people

out as well.

The tax increase to people making over $135,000: people

need to pay their fair share of taxes, absolutely. In doing so, I just want to

recognize those hard-working men and women throughout Newfoundland and Labrador

who work hard every single day and pay their taxes. I want to thank them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

TIBBS:

Absolutely, it's great. I take my fair share, absolutely. The rotational workers

that put it on the line every single day. Whether they're in Uganda, whether

they're in Scotland, whether they're in Alberta or anywhere else, these people

go away and every tax dollar pretty much comes home right here. It's fantastic.

I did it for 17 years as well. I didn't mind doing it. I was happy to bring all

that money back to my province.

These people, rotational workers, we need to make sure

that we keep them as happy and engaged as we possibly can. They just had a very

rough year, as everybody has, but I know rotational workers who, cumulative,

haven't seen their families in three months over the past year. They sacrificed,

they did what they had to do, but I want to recognize those rotational workers

and let you know that our hearts are with you as well.

My portfolio is Immigration, skills, labour and

population growth, some very important line items when it comes to moving

forward in this province. Immigration: I want to thank anybody who comes from a

different country to come to our beautiful province to work, work hard and

contribute and to see the benefits of living here. It's absolutely fantastic.

We have some great people out my way. Some very close

friends of mine, Rahul and Jibin – these gentlemen come over and, boy, they work

very, very hard. They hunt and they fish. They love it here. It's exactly what

we want because we have to stop this revolving door of bringing in the

immigration and sending them out the other way. We need to try to keep them

right here, in my opinion the most beautiful province in all of Canada.

Skills and labour: We have a huge skill set right here

in Newfoundland and Labrador and we need to make sure that we let everybody know

that. The men and women of Newfoundland and Labrador – when I worked out West,

there were two requirements when I applied for just about any job. The first

requirement was, of course, where are you from? Newfoundland and Labrador?

Great, you just ticked off one box because we know how hard working you're going

to be. The second requirement was do you have a family? Absolutely, because they

knew that you would have to stick around and work for a paycheque. I just want

to recognize the skilled labour unions, the skilled labour people we have in

Newfoundland and Labrador and thank you for everything you put in.

The community benefits agreement: We've been talking

about it and kicking it around since I've been here since 2019, and I'm sure

well before me throughout different administrations. I keep hearing that, yes,

it's something we're working on, something we're working on. Are we working on

it? Let's see the progression on this. Let's see the progression to the point

where we can start putting Newfoundlanders and Labradorians first, the people

that actually work here.

I am still dumbfounded by the people putting up drywall

in the Corner Brook hospital brought in from out of province. It's still mind

boggling to me. I don't read it in a report, I talk to the people over there,

that work there and they're telling me the exact same thing. I'm just wondering

how we got there. I know it's not an overnight fix, but it's something – I keep

hearing: We're working on it; we're working on it, working on it. Where is the

progression? Please show me the progression so I can at least add something and

we can start putting Newfoundlanders and Labradorians first.

Population growth, two questions: How do we keep people

in this province? I constantly hear young people nowadays, I can't wait to get

out of this hole – can't wait, can't wait, can't wait. We need to keep these

people here. If we don't keep our young people here, the province is done. It

truly is. The second, of course: how to get new people to come to our province.

How do we attract them? How do we let them know that Newfoundland and Labrador

is well open for business and this is the place where you want to be?

Those are some questions I put forward when it comes to

population growth, because that is the sustainability of our province moving

forward. There are a lot of contributing factors around it, but for the most

part, population growth, more revenue, if we can get some good people here

working, back to work, I think that we're going to be just fine.

Putting people first and employment in Newfoundland and

Labrador, how do we do that? Well, put people first. Crown Lands: there are so

many issues with the department of Crown Lands it's not even funny. I would

venture to say that 30 per cent of the people that call my office have an issue

with Crown Lands.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, some people would say we

are at a disadvantage because of our spread-out population of 525,000 people.

It's a unique opportunity for us to have land, for us to have a cottage. So how

is it that it takes two to three years to get a piece of Crown land? That's

still beyond me. I still have never had an answer for it.

I've heard people say, oh, no, it only takes 60 or 90

days. I challenge anybody in this province who has gotten a piece of Crown land

in 60 or 90 days, let me know, please, because I haven't had one person in my

district who got it in 60 or 90 days. They're waiting years, so that's something

that I think that we should get a handle on as well.

The outfitters here in the province, they just had a

hard year. I want to acknowledge the outfitters. I just had an outfitter in my

district show me the receipt he had for two guys that wanted to come from Texas.

They had to pay for their own flights, five days, for two caribou and two moose

coming up this fall. Hopefully they get to see it. Thirty-six thousand dollars

for the two of them. That's amazing revenue to bring into the province.

Hopefully, the outfitters get to do their thing coming up now in the fall, open

up, and we have a great fall hunt with those guys as well, and girls.

People with disabilities; seniors, once again; the most

vulnerable, for the most part: This is why we pay our taxes; we try to keep them

in mind. It's incumbent, I feel as though, on all Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians, too. Let's not just shut ourselves in and say: Do you know what?

It's not my problem. It's all of ours issue. You know the ones that are the most

vulnerable in your communities.

I'm not just talking to the MHAs; I'm talking to

everybody in Newfoundland and Labrador. If you know somebody who might

appreciate a bowl of soup or a phone call or something like that, reach out to

them. It's incumbent on all of us. That's what Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

have been known for: to take care of each other. I know we can do that, because

we've done it in the past and we can do it again.

Data centres: In Grand Falls-Windsor in 2016, we had a

proposal for data centres to come. It would have brought hundreds of millions of

dollars over years to the province. At the time, for one reason or another, it

wasn't done. Dame Moya Greene mentioned it when we had a conversation, that this

would be a great place for data centres. I think it's something that we have to

address moving forward. I think it's something that can be brought here. When

you talk about technology and the future of this province, something like data

centres can definitely benefit us here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Great things are going up in the Grand Falls-Windsor -

Buchans District. Marathon Gold and the mining, I can't thank those people

enough for coming up. They have been giving so much to the communities already.

It's fantastic to see. Of course, the employment is what we're going to have. I

thank the government for taking the right steps and getting Marathon Gold up

there and keeping them engaged. They're very happy, from what I'm hearing, so

I'm very happy as well.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank everybody

for doing their part and stepping up. I want to encourage the people across

Canada, across Newfoundland and Labrador. We just went through over a year of

hell. Seventy-five per cent of the population is about to get vaccinated almost.

This place is about to open wide up. Have the best summer of our lives. Travel

around this province; see what it's all about. See the people. Have a great

summer.

In closing, to all of us inside the House of Assembly,

I encourage all of you, please, remain humble in your jobs.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm going to have just a few words on the budget and

the issues today.

First of all, I always, forefront, like to thank the

people of Humber - Bay of Islands for their support once again. It's pretty

difficult running against two parties, but I always said that when you stay in

touch with the people who elected you, they will reward you. I do have and I did

have a great working relationship with all the town councils and all the working

groups and the firefighters, all the seniors' groups. I just want to recognize

them and thank them for their support.

As I said before, back to 1999 when I first got

elected, I'll make two commitments to the district: I'll be available and

dependable. Those are the only two commitments I ever made in the almost 30

years in politics. I just want to recognize the campaign team, Donny Johnson and

the campaign team for getting me elected, again. Sometimes it's a tough chore to

get me elected, but it worked out. Thanks Donny and all the crew that helped

out.

First of all, I say to the Minister of Finance, you've

got a tough job. There is absolutely no doubt about it, you have a tough job.

You'll be criticized, you'll be ridiculed and you'll have people coming at you

from all fronts. I've been there back with Hubert Kitchen, and it's just the

nature of the job. I say to all the people of the province, all the interested

groups, all the unions, let's do it in a way that is constructive for

Newfoundland and Labrador.

I remember when Clyde Wells made a statement and people

criticized him. He said: If I put horns on my head and I put a devil's hat on,

is it going to change the issue? The answer is no. So what we should do is go

after the issue. This is an issue, collectively, for the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador. This is no individual issue here in this province, in

this House of Assembly. It's an issue for the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

We're going to have disagreements, definitely. We're

definitely going to have different points of view, that's just the nature. We're

going to have interest groups coming at the government, we're going to have

unions – which they should. That's their role. That's their role, to put their

thoughts forward for their membership.

I remember – I said it before, and I'll keep repeating

it every opportunity I get – in 1992 when there was a major fiscal crisis and

everybody was concerned that the Liberal government was in power that if you

went off and made the necessary decisions you had to make, that you had an

election coming up, and I remember I said to Clyde Wells, and I said it in this

House many times, going to Gillams when I brought it up to him again, some of

the peoples' concerns. He said: I'd rather lose the election with honesty than

win with dishonesty. When he ran in 1993, he received more seats than he did in

1989, even after the situation that he had to face and that he did face.

Honesty, with it all, is a very big part of it.

I'll just go through some of the issues that I know out

on the West Coast and bring them forth and how to deal with it. One of the

biggest issues – and it's a tough issue; it's a federal-provincial-municipal

issue – is housing. It's a tough issue. Social housing, it is definitely a tough

issue. This just can't come on the minister's back or in his department, this is

collectively with the federal government. As much as we put into social housing,

as much as we put into repairs, there's still a great need for it in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

If there's one thing that would help the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador, who sometimes are struggling or sometimes just can't

meet the demand that they need for their families, is housing. I don't have the

solution. I know there's money put forth on a regular basis, but if we can solve

the housing issue, if we can help more people to get into housing that they can

afford, that they can say this is ours, they have some form and some type of

stability in their lives, it will make this province much better.

I don't have the answers. I don't think government has

the answers. This is an approach with the federal government, a long-term

approach with the federal-provincial-municipal governments and social groups in

the areas. That's the number one issue that would change a lot of lives for

families and kids in this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is housing.

You hear it up in Lab West, it's the same condition.

This is not a knock because I've been in government, out of government and this

is continuous, but that's the biggest issue that I hear is that we can help

people in Newfoundland and Labrador if we ever get a strategy where we can get

social housing where people have stability; stability in their lives so that

they know here's what I have to pay for rent, here's what I can do and the kids

have this sense of belonging and the kids have a sense that they're stable. It

will make some difference. How we do it, I think that is something we all have

to put our minds to and work it out.

Of course, then there's COVID; we've been lucky in

COVID. I'm sad that we had a few deaths through COVID, but a lot of front-line

workers all throughout the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador – what COVID

made you aware of more so than before are mental health issues. Again, I know a

couple of budgets the province worked on that. We need a mental health strategy.

There are always underlying – often mental health issues. This is not just

mental health because someone has an issue today; this is a long-term strategy

because mental health issues are long term. Once the issue is (inaudible) and

they're struggling and you get help, you can't just say, okay, you're good now,

just cut it off.

If one thing that COVID has shown in the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador is that our mental health strategy has to be updated

and helped. We probably need a lot more social workers; we need mental help

crisis teams. Housing and the mental health issues during COVID have been two of

the major issues that you hear of people.

You always hear people want to come back to the

province and you deal with the COVID through the Department of Health and

Community Services. But when you hear the people on the end of the line or when

you're chatting to them and they're going through a rough time with the COVID,

of course, we all know, away from their families, then you can't do the things

you can do and, financially, it kicks in. It is a tough time for a lot of

people.

I just want to bring that up to the government. Again,

this is no easy solution – absolutely no easy solution whatsoever. This is no

criticism of our mental health workers, no criticism of the Department of Health

and Community Services as we speak; it is just something that has reared its

ugly head much, much more than it ever has before. You hear it, you see it, you

speak to people and you try to deal with it.

I noticed on many occasions that we're talking about

the economy and oil and gas. You hear some people on one spectrum say let's get

rid of oil and gas, but I always ask the question when they say let's just get

rid of it, drop it right away – the question is: How are you going to pay for

the services that you want? It's a big issue.

There is another thing when you're talking to the

youth. The youth are moving to a green economy. Us old fogeys like it or not,

they're moving to a green economy. What we have to do is put initiatives in

place; put some good strategies in place because the younger generation coming

up today, I can assure you, will find a way to turn our province into a green

economy. They will. It may take 10, 15 years but they will.

I heard the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans

talk about keeping our youth. One way we can keep our youth is to put in place

some kind of strategy for more initiatives for the green economy. They will

develop it. I can assure you, they will. If you want to find some way to keep

the youth home, that is the way to do it, to set up an initiative that they can

roll up their sleeves and show us – listen, this is a new world here now. We

will show you how it's done.

I have confidence in the youth. I know a lot of the

youth that want to stay in Newfoundland and Labrador will do whatever they can

to stay in Newfoundland and Labrador. As a government and others, I would say we

need just to put it in place for the youth to expand and to grow themselves, and

Newfoundland and Labrador will be a much better place – and off the fossil

fuels, but it can't be done overnight.

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to go through a few things in

the budget here. I'll just pick up a few highlights of the budget. Of course, we

know we're facing tough times. If there's any advice that I can give the

minister, if you want to take it, it's be honest with – and I know you will –

people up front. Tell them, here's the situation.

I can assure the minister – and I know my colleague,

the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands, said it – I have no problem supporting

government in any good initiative for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I have no problem, if there's a good initiative or if there's something that we

have to do as the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, standing up and

supporting it shoulder to shoulder with the government, if it's going to be

beneficial to Newfoundland and Labrador.

I know myself and my colleague from Mount Pearl -

Southlands discussed this. We're not here in this House to always criticize the

government; we're here to help the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and

help our districts. We had many discussions on this. This is not us and them;

this is all of us together. I know I'm speaking on behalf of my colleague from

Mount Pearl - Southlands, that we will support the government in any good

initiative. Any tough decision that you have to make, if it's in the best

interests of Newfoundland and Labrador, you won't just hear me or my colleague

stand up and criticize because we might get a few brownie points. It won't

happen. It just won't happen. I want to put that out there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

JOYCE:

Mr.

Speaker, I just want to talk about a few things. I just made a few notes on the

Budget Speech that the minister made. You look at the Newfoundland and Labrador

Centre for Health Information: that's going to be brought into the core of

government. I remember going back a nice while; we had them in the Public

Accounts. There were pay increases going down at that centre.

We asked who gave you permission. The chair, who sat

right here – they were sitting right here, right in front of me. They sat here

and they said, how did you get that? Oh, we spoke to the minister, with a wink

and nod, and said go ahead. We said, well, did you get anything in writing? No.

The pay increase was so huge that it even stuck out for the Auditor General.

Just to be able to do it on their own because they're not under government and

they're off on their own.

We were astonished. We said who gave you permission? It

says in the guidelines that you have to get approval from the minister. I'm not

going to get into who the minister was or anything like that, it's just why some

of this makes good sense. The chair, who sat here, said, yeah, I spoke to him

and he winked at me and said okay. That was it. If you ever look at the pay –

I'm sure the Minister of Finance looked at the pay scales down there. It's

unbelievable. They can do it without any questions asked, just walk in.

Bringing that into core of government and putting them

under the same scale as government will save a lot of money. I know it will be

much more beneficial to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

HON. MEMBER:

Already being done.

JOYCE:

What?

HON. MEMBER:

Already being done.

JOYCE:

Already being done? Perfect. That's great news I'll say to the minister.

The other thing is the 911. I had that all arranged

before and we backed off on it. I won't get into the reasons why. I don't have

the figures here now, but I would be willing to bet they have a surplus in their

account, a large surplus. I'm willing to bet right here right now, they have a

large surplus.

When 911 was set up in Corner Brook – and I'm not

knocking Corner Brook. Does anybody in this House – and I asked the minister of

Finance and I asked the minister of Transportation at the time, how did the City

of Corner Brook get being paid by 911 without ever going to tender?

Do you know how that happened? These are the kinds of

things that cost the taxpayers money because they upped their phone bills. Do

you know how that happened? A wink and nod between the minister of Finance at

the time and the mayor of the City of Corner Brook. Let's put it in the City of

Corner Brook, never even went to tender. They're paying the City of Corner Brook

annual rent for 911 in Corner Brook. Plus the City of Corner Brook is getting an

administration fee from 911 and the taxpayers don't even know they're getting

it, so bringing that under core government.

I remember visiting an ambulance service out in

Clarenville. I remember looking at their system they got for ambulance and for

calls. It's well advanced more than 911 – well advanced. You have callers, you

have professional people on the line – 911 callers are great, too, they're

great, but they can track the call, they have a system of what questions to ask.

Yet, for some reason, everybody was protecting their own little territory at the

time; that 911 couldn't come into core government.

I applaud that move and when it's done look at the best

services that you can apply for 911. I advise whatever department in Municipal

Affairs that comes under to look at the best way to supply those services. That

alone will help a lot in the areas around their concerns with 911.

I applaud the workers. I know a lot of them in the

Corner Brook area, but the way it was set up and even right now, still paying

the rental fee to the City of Corner Brook without any tender, whatsoever, and

paying an administration fee to the City of Corner Brook, and the taxpayers of

the province are paying for this all over this province; their cellphone is

paying for that right now as we speak. That's good moves.

I also noticed in the thing: “A House of Assembly

committee will be created to review financial statements, budgets, and the

annual reports of Crown corporations and organizations.” That is a great

strategy; a great move. The only thing I'll ask government on that is to give it

some teeth. Just don't have them come in and say: Okay, here it is. Make people

answerable to the decisions that they make when the funds are given out.

It's a great strategy. I'm sure once we sit down, a lot

of the issues, a lot of concerns that we do have will be taken care of, a lot of

questions you will have. But there may be some questions there that will be

questionable and some things that you may be able to offer suggestions. We all

know, once we know there's oversight then people are more thoughtful and more

apt to make sure that they got everything done in a proper manner.

That is a great idea, and a great suggestion is that

give it some teeth to whoever is on the Committee. I know the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands has been pushing this. I've been hearing this in my ears for

a long while, about him pushing to have this oversight Committee. I'm glad that

the government listened to it and will respond, but give it teeth so that you

can hold people accountable and make suggestions for improvements.

Another good positive thing – and I'm not going to get

into the financial part – is bringing the school boards under the Department of

Education. We hear it here – and I have been trying this for years and even when

you're in government people always got their – but with government we can do

this now. I'll tell you what it is: when people who have coached sports like I

have and been around and I hear it with the youth, do you know one thing we

don't do in rural Newfoundland and Labrador? We always talk about health for the

kids, but we don't open the schools past 3:30 or 4 o'clock.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

JOYCE:

rural Newfoundland and Labrador, if you want healthy kids, what do you do? You

give them access to facilities. Do you know right now we can't get the schools

open past 3:30? They go home. Ball hockey, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics,

anybody who wants to go in, it can't be done. I will say to the minister, if you

want the youth to be healthy, get the schools open in the nighttime, in the

afternoons so that the kids can be healthy and be athletic.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I recognize the hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think people kind of cringe when I get ready to speak

because it is all doom and gloom, but my district has so many gaps in services

and infrastructure that if I want to speak on the reality of the conditions in

my district, it has got to be doom and gloom.

I want to say a couple things, sitting in Opposition a

big part of your role is to critique the government and to hold the government

accountable. A lot of times when you have a district like mine that has been

neglected and has so many gaps in services and doesn't have adequate

infrastructure, a lot of times it becomes negative.

During the election, the ongoing never-ending election

from – I don't know if I can say it – hell.

HON. MEMBER:

Pretty close.

EVANS:

Pretty close, yeah.

It was a good bonding time for me and my mother because

we were bubbling together. My mother is older and it was a good experience. We

talked about the Minister of Health because we were dealing a lot with Level 5,

we were at Alert Level 5; we were locked down. I already said this to the

Minister of Health because I took the time to talk to him. She said: You know

the Minister of Health, he's a good doctor. He's a good man.

People see me out there in the media, and people see me

questioning in the House, and part of my role is to be critical because in my

district there are huge gaps in health services, which the minister has

acknowledged. I just wanted to tell people that when you criticize people,

that's one thing, but when you critique a government on their delivery of

services that everybody needs, it's a different thing.

My mother's comments about the Minister of Health, when

he was a doctor, was he was a really good doctor. He had a wonderful bedside

manner. He was very caring and compassionate. I think she said, again, he was a

very good doctor. I just wanted to acknowledge that.

When we look at the team that we have looking after us

during COVID, we had a really great doctor, as our Minister of Health, and we

had Dr. Fitzgerald.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

EVANS:

want to acknowledge that. It's not always about criticism and it's certainly not

personal criticism, attack on people. This is something we need to be aware of,

especially at budget time. I just wanted to make that point that we do

appreciate you, Minister of Health – I can't say his name. The people of

Labrador really appreciated you as a doctor.

Moving on now, also I just wanted to talk a little bit

about the search and rescue inquiry that's ongoing. The reason why I wanted to

say that is I think it's important to explain to people.

Back in 2012 when Burton was missing and the community

of Makkovik and the neighbouring communities rallied around and went and helped

and searched; people came down from different communities, going around on

Ski-Doo, in the back of komatik boxes looking for this 14-year-old boy. We never

successfully found him and it was heartbreaking.

People were upset and people were angry and people

protested including myself, all my siblings and everybody. It was so dramatic.

Now, we look, nine years later, and the inquiry is going on; you can hardly get

anyone to comment on it. But I want to explain to the people that it's not

because we lost interest. It's not because we don't care. It's not that we're

not upset. It's important to make that distinction.

Actually, I thought about it last night and I wrote it

down so I could go back to sleep. I said that time moves the pain and

overwhelming loss that we suffer to a place that's not quite – and I couldn't

put a word on it. But time moves that pain to a place where it's not as

crushing. Nine years: to describe how we feel now with time, that pain and loss

of what happened to that young boy that was family and community to us, it

created like a veil, a transparent veil that you could look through. It covers

you but it's always there. You never forget it, that loss that's there.

That pain has changed now to that veil and it's not a

crushing feeling, it's not a knife that stabs you anymore. A lot of people who

go through extreme grief and loss know what I'm talking about. So when the

people in Makkovik and the people on the North Coast are not screaming out on

Facebook, not going to the media talking about the long delay of this inquiry,

it's not because we don't care about what happened to Burton Winters. It's not

because we don't feel the loss. It's not because we're not angry that it took

three days for aerial search and rescue to come and find him within a half an

hour of entering the airspace of where he was. It's important for people to

realize that, but also it's important for people, especially people in

government and people who make decisions on when an inquiry actually happens –

it's important to realize that you're impacting people's faith in the system. I

have to tell you, we don't have much faith in systems. We don't have much trust.

We really don't.

It's important for people to realize that because

sometimes in politics it's a strategy to draw things out. We'll wait them out.

Eventually they'll forget about it and they'll move on, they'll turn to

something else. The media does. We know that. The media loses interest in a day.

That strategy really betrays people's trust. It does. It's important for people

to acknowledge that and talk about it.

Also, just looking at the memory of Burton Winters – 14

years old. When you read about it, they say that he perished because his

snowmobile broke down. His snowmobile didn't break down. Basically, he drove

until he got into the rough ice; I think he ran out of gas. Then he walked for

19 kilometres. If he could have found refuge, he would have actually saved

himself.

It was a long delay. We have to realize that the

inquiry is not about being negative or criticizing; this inquiry is supposed to

be about finding answers to make sure that our children don't suffer the way

Burton Winters did and our families don't go through that loss. So that,

eventually, the pain is more like a veil than a sharp knife stabbing you. Even

though you feel anger, you don't actually come out and talk about it.

I saw it in the eyes of people this winter. As an MHA,

I didn't know if they want me to talk about it. Also, when the inquiry was

coming up, I wasn't sure if they wanted to put forward all those concerns,

complaints, issues and questions. It was just kind of like we just have to let

it be just so that pain doesn't come back. We just have to try and hope that

they do a good job of this inquiry because, if not, it's going to happen again.

Anyway, moving on to our budget – 29 pages. Everyone's

complaint is it's light on the details. I think it's nine sentences for

Labrador, right at the end of the book. It's almost like they forgot: Oh my

goodness, we forgot about Labrador, we have to stick something in there. I'm

being facetious, but anyway.

I'm pleased that there's mention in the budget about

the Nain airstrip. I'm hoping it's a mistake where it says the prefeasibility

study, because we've been waiting now years for the feasibility study. I could

be critical and I could say I'm still disappointed with the provincial

government's failure to step up to cost share. That really created this long

delay.

I went to Nain with the MP for Labrador. The federal

government was willing to step up and cost share. In her words, in front of the

Executive Council, she said that up to 70 to 80 per cent of the cost of the

feasibility study – because they were so concerned of the ongoing delays. Now we

have the $3 million, the cost share, but still we have to go through the

feasibility study. Then, they're going to start construction if the money is

there.

A lot of people in the province don't understand why I

keep talking about the Nain airstrip. The Nain airstrip doesn't have night

lights.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

EVANS:

During non-daylight hours, they can't medevac. You can call search and rescue,

as the former minister of Transportation said, but we all know that often, when

you call, they're not available. Even if they're available, it takes time to

mobilize. A medical evacuation is a medical emergency. It's disappointing that

it took so long and it is still going to take a few years, so people's lives

will still be in jeopardy.

There is also harm that doesn't result in death due to

delays. If anyone doesn't believe me, they should listen to a young guy from

Nain who was struck by a snowmobile in the head. In actual fact, he was being

interviewed one day, when we were talking about the Nain airstrip, and he talked

about what the doctor said to him about his condition being legally blind. Some

of it is actually the impacts to his brain and how things could have been

different if he could have been medevaced out sooner.

In addition to that, we have conditions that if you

don't get timely emergency care, it can impact your organs. Organ damage –

irreversible organ damage. It's so important that we have that ability to

medevac. If we had the road, the Trans-Labrador Highway connection, we could use

ground transportation. It would be so important.

That moves me to the next item in the budget that I

want to talk about: the prefeasibility study for the road to the North Coast. I

have seven minutes left; I'm just going to read it so it's in

Hansard . Page 29: “Construction of the

Trans-Labrador Highway is nearing completion. Paving of the highway continues

with a $22.1 million investment this year and we anticipate this vital road

network will be completed over the next two constructions seasons.”

My entire District of Torngat Mountains, the North

Coast, five Inuit communities, one Innu community, either it's going to be

divine intervention where we're going to have a paved highway within the next

short period, or we're not a part of Labrador, because that's the way I

interpret the language. In actual fact, if we're not a part of Labrador, we're

certainly not a part of this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

With a road – a road brings so much. A road will bring

so much to my district. It would actually help with housing insecurity. A

building lot right now, the cost of putting in a building lot, not the land, the

cost of putting in a building lot costs $250,000, another $200,000 to $250,000

on top of that, so the cost of a house right now on the North Coast is probably

going to be $400,000 to $500,000; a half a million dollars for a small, modest

house.

Who can afford that? Also the fact that we don't have

road access and we don't have the freight boat from the Island, our building

materials and all of our costs have gone up. Even with repairs, now a lot of

people can't even afford repairs to their house. It's difficult. It's very

difficult for people.

I'm really glad that we have the announcement of the

$200,000 in last year's budget. I was disappointed that there was no real work

done on it, but, hopefully, this year, we'll get to actually do the

pre-feasibility work.

Anyway, I'm trying to be positive. I should talk about

the resilience of our people since Confederation, since Joey and the government

brought us into Confederation. It's hard to do that when I look at the gaps, the

gaps in services and infrastructure development. This didn't happen overnight;

this happened over a long period of time, where we didn't get equal access to

services and to infrastructure. Money has to be shared and has to be divvied

out. I think that actually a lot of it never came to the North Coast but went to

other regions, and over time the gaps got bigger and bigger. You just have to

come to my district and see it.

Now, cellphone service is a luxury. We don't have

cellphone service in Nain. There's a short radius where they put in a short

satellite box on the tower and they do have some cellphone service, but the rest

of the North Coast don't have that. It would be nice. On the North Coast, we

don't have real high-speed Internet. Also, in some areas the infrastructure is

so old that even when the technician comes in, he can't repair it. We get 0.2 to

1.9 megabits per second.

I was in Rigolet trying to be on Zoom, 10 minutes for

it to load and then it worked, but when I tried to do something after hours, I

couldn't get it to load. I wondered then, well, what's happening with our

post-secondary students who are doing courses online? What's happening during a

lockdown when we're trying to have our kids in school? Are they really asleep

and just pretending to watch the tablet that does not actually have anything on

it?

It's also hard to be uplifting and feeling all good,

warm and cozy when the lack of highway access and the removal of the freight

boat have driven the prices of food up. I showed the picture around of the four

pork chops for $28 in the winter. Another one just came up, three freezer-burned

chicken breasts for $44. Now, these are actual pictures. They're a little bit

extreme, but the cost – I can tell you how much coffee costs in Nain because one

of my main staples is coffee.

The issue is 215 little bodies were found buried at a

residential school, and it's a reminder to us that there was real harm done at

residential schools. Not everybody was able to overcome that, and a lot of

people had problems and they didn't do well in life and their children didn't do

well in life. Now, we sit back and we blame them; we blame them for being

alcoholics, we blame them for domestic violence, we blame them for abuse and we

blame them for the inability to parent. It's sad. Even people who were able to

be good parents and able to actually overcome a lot of the hardships, they're

not all there. They're not all whole.

When you look at those 215 little graves – well, it was

actually a mass grave – one thing I want to point out is that with residential

schools, children came home, but they weren't whole. They never really came

home. When you go to boarding school at the age of five –

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Order, please!

Your time has expired.

EVANS:

Yes, thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Immigration,

Population Growth and Skills, that we now adjourn debate.

SPEAKER:

accordance with paragraph 9(1)(

b) of the

Standing Orders , the House do stand recessed until 2 p.m. this afternoon.

Recess

The House resumed at 2 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Admit strangers.

Order, please!

Statements by Members

SPEAKER:

Today we will hear statements from the hon. Members for the Districts of Harbour

Main, St. John's Centre, Topsail - Paradise, Placentia West - Bellevue and

Torngat Mountains.

The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On Sunday May 2, I had the honour of attending a food

drive at the Star of the Sea in Holyrood. The food drive was in support of an

initiative called the Little Free Pantries. These are little roadside cupboards,

little mini food banks, if you will, which have been springing up all over the

Avalon Peninsula with the goal of helping people who may be struggling with food

insecurities. They operate on a take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can,

no-questions-asked basis. The District of Harbour Main has many pantries

throughout the district in communities like Upper Gullies, Seal Cove, Holyrood,

Avondale and Colliers, just to name a few.

Ms. Charlotte Wade, one of the volunteers who has led

this initiative in Holyrood, has worked in the food industry her entire life.

She recognized that people were in need, some were struggling to make ends meet

and many unable to put food on their table.

I ask all hon. Members to please join me in recognizing

the founders of this worthwhile initiative, people like Charlotte Wade of

Holyrood. This initiative is growing rapidly throughout the province and I am

proud to say has a strong presence in many of the communities that I am pleased

to represent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

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

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Buckmaster's Circle Community Centre is

more than a not-for-profit; it is the heart of the community and has been

serving residents in the Buckmaster's Circle area since 1993, creating a sense

of belonging and connectedness based on support and respect.

Three dedicated, full-time staff provide social,

educational, recreational, health and employment programs and services to

everyone within the community. Partnerships are essential in meeting the

centre's broad mandate. With Eastern Health's support, the centre maintains an

on-site clinic staffed by a Public Health nurse and part-time nurse

practitioner. Newfoundland and Labrador Housing provides a family support social

worker, one of two positions shared between five St. John's community centres.

COVID-19 required the centre to be creative and change

program and service delivery. During the pandemic's peak, staff provided

outreach services to families and seniors living alone, made check-in phone

calls, provided breakfast bags to school-age children, delivered food hampers to

single-parent families, supported families with technology for school, ensured

residents filed their income tax returns and much more.

I ask Members to join me in recognizing the small but

mighty staff at Buckmaster's Community Centre and their commitment to the people

they serve.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Ryder Rowsell, a Grade 6 student at Paradise

Elementary, has been growing his hair out since Grade 2. After years of growing

his hair, Ryder has decided it's time for a cut and see his hair turned into a

wig. Not only is he cutting his hair, but he is raising money for Young Adult

Cancer Canada.

Ryder, along with his mother, have been working on a

project and created a GoFundMe page, Ryder's Epic Haircut For Kids With Cancer,

with an ultimate goal of raising about $5,000 by June 23. Ryder says: when

school is out June 24, I'm going to come to school that day with a new backpack,

a new haircut and everyone is going to look at me and wonder, who is that?

Young Adult Cancer Canada, founded in 2000, serves

young adults affected by cancer. Over 8,000 young adults are diagnosed with

cancer in Canada each year and its programs help young adults who have been

recently diagnosed and are currently receiving treatment or have survived

cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Ryder on his tremendous

effort to bring awareness and support to Young Adult Cancer Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

DWYER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I sit in this hon. Chamber today to show my

appreciation for a project that was completed by the Grade 5 to 7 students at

Swift Current Academy in our beautiful District of Placentia West - Bellevue.

I had the privilege of being included in a virtual

presentation of their deep-learning project. The students' concern was the

speeding that takes place on Seaview Drive through their community. This is the

main road that runs through their community, which is a part of Route 210, but

is indeed the main road in this picturesque Town of Swift Current.

The Grade 5 to 7 students created surveys for the

residents to complete, tracked the number of speeding cars at various times of

the day, organized an awareness walk in their community and also made posters

with the slogan: Slow down. This is a community, not a racetrack.”

I am incredibly proud of these students for stepping

up, recognizing an issue within their community and coming together to create

change and become part of the solution. You're all true community leaders.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I'd like to pay tribute to Travis Winters in

Makkovik, Nunatsiavut, for his quick action and bravery that saved his uncle,

Harold Winters. Travis and Amos Fox were out in a boat near Lance Ground when

their speedboat broke down. Travis's Uncle Harold was nearby and was able to tow

them back to Makkovik. They remained in their boat during the tow.

Close to home, the strain of towing the boat caused the

risers to break away, releasing the tow line. The rope snapped across Harold's

body, knocking him into the frigid water. This created a very dangerous

situation. The unmanned boat, with motor still running, circling Harold in the

water.

Harold was at risk of being hit. Icy waters also

exacerbated a medical condition, impacting Harold's ability to stay afloat,

while putting him at risk of drowning. Travis's large boat made it impossible to

be able to row over and rescue Harold in time to prevent him from being struck,

or worse, slipping below the surface.

As the unmanned boat made its third pass, it was close

enough, so Travis took a great risk and jumped into the boat, resulting in minor

injury to himself and thereby being able to save his Uncle Harold.

Please join me in applauding Travis Winters for his

bravery and courage.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

HOWELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, September 28 is municipal election day in

Newfoundland and Labrador. This is an excellent opportunity for residents to get

involved in their communities.

Prior to entering provincial politics, I had the honour

to serve as the mayor of St. Anthony, and before that, as a councillor for

several years. It was a rewarding experience. It was incredibly busy at times

and certainly not without its challenges, but it did provide me the insight into

the importance of local government.

The Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs has

been preparing for the election through providing support to municipalities and

guidance on the election process and legislative requirements. A circular has

been sent to towns with information on municipal mail-in balloting and the

department is providing elections training.

Several municipalities are considering and making plans

for a mail-in option, in light of the ongoing COVID pandemic. While the vaccine

roll out is going very well across the province and we reached an incredible

milestone with the 300,000 first doses –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

HOWELL:

we do recognize that mail-in ballots is another option to make voting as

accessible as possible to all residents.

Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, or MNL, as we

say, is also an excellent resource for communities and is encouraging

participation through the Make Your Mark campaign. We are pleased to provide

$20,000 to MNL to support this work.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all those currently

serving on councils and acknowledge the recent appointments of Amy Coady-Davis

as president and Trina Appleby as vice-president of the board of MNL. I wish

them both well in their new roles.

I ask all hon. Members to join me in encouraging all

citizens from all backgrounds to consider putting their names forward for

election in the fall.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the hon. minister for an advance copy of her

statement.

Mr. Speaker, all of us on this side of the House join

the minister in encouraging everyone to run in the upcoming municipal elections

on September 28.

As a former mayor, myself, of the beautiful Town of

Pouch Cove, I have seen the benefits of municipal representation first-hand.

There is perhaps no greater service than to have your boots on the ground and

represent your friends and neighbours at the community level. Many of my

colleagues on both sides of this hon. House have gotten their start, so to

speak, around the council chamber.

I do hope that the department will endeavour to

encourage more women and gender-diverse candidates to step forward and offer

themselves for this upcoming election. Historically, very few women and

gender-diverse candidates have been elected at all levels of government. I look

forward to seeing the minister roll out her plan to address this issue in the

coming weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

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

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of

her statement.

I want to give my best to all of the candidates across

the province and the election officials, and thank you for participating in

upholding our democracy.

It's wonderful to see that the municipalities are

accounting for the realities of COVID and are putting a plan in place. It will

serve them well to have their mail-in ballot plans in place and ironed out

before the election. I hope Members of the government are also learning to care

about voter rights in the province during this interaction.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister Responsible for Women and Gender

Equality.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I am pleased to recognize the recent

groundbreaking appointments at Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador. For the

first time in the organization's 70-year history, the top two volunteer roles

are held by women.

President Amy Coady-Davis, who is a Councillor with the

Town of Grand Falls-Windsor and Vice-President Trina Appleby, who is Deputy

Mayor of Torbay, will help guide Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador as

they work to represent the interests of the province's municipal councils. In

1951, there were approximately 50 incorporated municipalities in Newfoundland

and Labrador. Today, there are 276.

Mr. Speaker, the Office of Women and Gender Equality

recently collaborated with Equal Voice to present a campaign college, which was

designed to help women and gender-diverse folks learn more about running for

elected office. I was very impressed by the number of participants who expressed

an interest in being involved in municipal politics.

I am hopeful that women and gender-diverse individuals

look to the appointments of Ms. Coady-Davis and Ms. Appleby, as well as the

leadership of my colleagues the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs,

the Member for Mount Pearl North, as well as the Member for Cartwright - L'Anse

au Clair as positive signs. As we strive for more diversity amongst our elected

officials, we encourage folks with a range of backgrounds and experiences to

seek elected office, including in the municipal elections this September, and

provide residents of our province with the representation they so rightfully

deserve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her

statement. On behalf of the Official Opposition, I would like to recognize Ms.

Coady-Davis and Ms. Appleby on their appointments as the leadership of

Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador. I would also like to recognize the

work of Equal Voice as an advocacy and action group who work tirelessly to

support, educate and champion women and gender-diverse individuals as candidate

in our electoral systems.

As the September municipal elections approach, I add my

voice to those who wish to see more gender diversity in municipal leadership

across the province. I want all those who's considering candidacy to know that

my phone and email are always open to them. I'm happy to support them and truly

encourage them to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

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

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for an advance of her

statement. I would also think to extend our sincere congratulations to Ms.

Coady-Davis and Ms. Appleby on their groundbreaking appointments to

Municipalities NL.

Our caucus knows the importance of having a strong

contingent of women leaders at the table. When our boardrooms, town halls and

Assemblies are truly representative of communities they serve, their decisions

are all the wiser for it. That's why we are disappointed to see that in this

year's Estimates: “… grants to equality-seeking organizations, including Women's

Centres, Regional Coordinating Committees Against Violence and Indigenous

organizations …” took a cut of $405,000.

Once again, this government does a fine job of hitting

all the right talking points but little in concrete action.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Infrastructure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud – along with my colleague,

the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture – to speak in this hon.

House today to recognize seven employees in the Department of Transportation and

Infrastructure who provided safety and assistance to our neighbours in Ontario.

Officials in our department work with our colleagues in

the Department of FFA to provide forest fire services throughout our province.

However, when there were multiple forest fires burning

in northwestern Ontario last month, seven crew members and two CL-415 water

bombers travelled to the Mainland to join firefighters in that province.

For five days, captains Scott Blue and Ian White, first

officers Sandra Curlew and Paul Carter and aircraft maintenance engineers Neil

Murphy, Robert Hebbard and Jared Walsh left their friends and family behind to

help protect lives and homes in Ontario.

As a member of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire

Centre's Mutual Aid Resource Sharing agreement, Newfoundland and Labrador

provides additional firefighting assistance to other parts of the country when

needed. It's reassurin