PDF Version

April

10, 2017

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 8

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

I'm

delighted to welcome to the Speaker's gallery today Mr. Max Porter, who's the

subject of a Member's statement. He's joined by his daughter Patricia Rideout.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

M. SPEAKER:

As well today in the public

gallery we have members of the Dover Town Council: Mayor Tony Keats, Town Clerk

Yvonne Collins and Councillors Rob Wiseman and Alvin Johnston.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements

today, we have the Members for the Districts of Lewisporte Twillingate,

Topsail Paradise, Exploits, Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, Torngat Mountains

and Stephenville Port au Port.

The hon.

the Member for Lewisporte Twillingate.

MR. D. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to recognize Chloe Gale of Lewisporte. Chloe is a graduating

student of Lewisporte Collegiate and a very accomplished pianist and singer. At

the age of four, Chloe began playing the piano under the direction of Mr. Lindy

Whitt. She has won numerous awards over the years at the Kiwanis Musical

Festival in Grand Falls-Windsor, including a six-time Rose Bowl winner.

This

year Chloe won the Bernice Edwards Memorial Award for Best Piano Performance.

She also took home the Cole Award, for the second time, for the most outstanding

performance of the festival.

At the

end of the evening the Kiwanis Club presented Chloe with a $3,000 scholarship

for continued studies in a music faculty of an accredited university, for which

she will be attending Memorial University in September.

As a

result of her outstanding performances, Chloe was also recommended to

participate at the provincial Music Festival on May 12-13 at the Gordon Pinsent

Centre for the Arts.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Chloe Gale on her numerous awards

and wish her much success at the provincial competition and also in her future

endeavours.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Topsail Paradise.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, this year's winter carnival Snow and Ice in Paradise was bigger and

better than ever before. From February 10 to 19, the Town of Paradise celebrated

its winter carnival and featured events for citizens of all ages to enjoy. The

Town of Paradise came together and celebrated the splendor of winter, which

featured fun activities for adults and children alike. To name a few, some of

the events were a pre-teen dance, a family sliding day, skating, family roasting

fires, retirement centre visits and fireworks to end off the celebrations.

These

events bring communities and families together for a fun-filled 10 days of

healthy outdoor activities. I'd like to thank the numerous volunteers, the town

staff, mayor and councillors, corporate sponsors, all who had a contribution to

make this very successful event possible. Without their support and dedication,

and without everyone working together, it certainly would not have happened as

successfully as it did.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask everyone to join me in congratulating the Town of Paradise on

another successful winter carnival, and adding the quality of life to the

community.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Exploits.

MR. DEAN:

Mr. Speaker.

The

Kiwanis Club of Grand Falls-Windsor is celebrating 50 years as a chartered club

of Kiwanis International. It boasts 40 members, some with 25 to 45 years of

service.

Mr. Max

Porter, who resides in St. John's, is still a member in Grand Falls-Windsor. He

was the first president of the club and the first festival chairman.

Central

NL Kiwanis began in 1959 and had many local musicians desiring to perform and be

adjudicated in a music festival without having to travel to St. John's. Working

diligently, they held the first festival on April 10, 1961 with over 300

entries.

The

Central NL Festival is still the largest outside of St. John's. Former

participants are found globally, working within the music industry. Some have

returned home to adjudicate. The 52nd Central NL Music Festival ran from March

26 to the 31st of this year.

The

Kiwanis Club supports other organizations: the Beaumont Hamel Army Cadets, Kids

Breakfast Program, Community Food Bank, South and Central Health Foundation, as

well as other local causes.

Mr.

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

Kiwanis Club on 50 years of community service.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today to honour Andy Turnbull, a young indigenous businessman whose leadership

and vision are making a difference in the Labrador business community and,

indeed, the province.

Since

2012, Andy has been the CEO of Nunacor, a business development arm of the

NunatuKavut Community Council. Andy and his team have helped grow Nunacor into a

diversified operation, with four subsidiaries all now positioned to capitalize

on emerging opportunities.

In 2016,

Andy was honoured as one the Top 50 CEOs in Atlantic Canada by Atlantic Business

Magazine. This award recognizes the most accomplished, forward-thinking and

community-minded executives in Atlantic Canada, and it was very well deserved.

I'm

especially proud, Mr. Speaker, of Andy as he hails from my home community of

Charlottetown. I worked with him in my previous role as an employment counsellor

in various capacities, and I knew from the beginning that Andy would achieve

great success and make us all very proud.

The face

of business is changing in our province, Mr. Speaker, and indigenous leaders

like Andy are leading the way.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in recognizing Andy Turnbull and congratulating him

on all his extraordinary accomplishments to date.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today to recognize the Ethel Pijogge Memorial Spring Festival recently held in

Hopedale. I had the pleasure of participating in the opening and it was a

fantastic event.

While

there are always lots of great activities like snow sculpting, an ice fishing

derby and lots of food, the main event is the Ethel Pijogge memorial dog team

race.

I want

to congratulate Perry Voisey who took first place, as well as Edward (Buddy

Morgan) Winters who came in second, and third place went to Rex Voisey.

There

was one female musher this year; Amy Tuglavina took up the challenge and did a

great job. I'm sure she'll be back to compete again.

Mr.

Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not mention the passing of Elder Doris

Flowers. She was a tremendous volunteer in Hopedale and a number of festival

events were postponed to pay tribute to this great lady.

The

Ethel Pijogge Memorial Spring Festival brings our entire community together to

celebrate the coming of spring, our community and our unique way of life.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the organizing committee and

volunteers who make this happen year after year. They build community spirit and

Hopedale Pride.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville Port au Port.

MR. FINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, in 1885, Michael Francis Abbott started a tinsmith shop in Port au

Port. This shop progressed into a lobster canning plant as Michael partnered

with Harry Haliburton in the early 1900s. Their success saw expansion throughout

the peninsula. They owned several wharfs and transported goods to markets in

Boston and overseas.

By the

early '70s, Abbott & Haliburton was more than a household name. They now owned

seven different general stores throughout Port au Port. The business eventually

moved into building supplies where it's operated today by the fifth generation

of the Abbott family.

Last

Monday, April 3, tragedy struck as the business's main building was destroyed by

fire. The 132 year history of this family business tells a story of a dedicated

and compassionate family that met challenges head on and evolved with a changing

economy. The resiliency of the Abbott family is very much alive, as owner Bill

Abbott is already beginning the rebuilding process.

I ask

all Members to join me in acknowledging the remarkable contribution Abbott &

Haliburton has made to the economy of Port au Port and wish them well in their

rebuilding efforts.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand

in this hon. House today to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy

Ridge which took place on April 9, 1917, and the Battle of Monchy-le-Preux which

took place on April 14, 1917.

The

Battle of Vimy Ridge saw four Canadian divisions fighting together as a unit for

the first time and resulted in a victory over German forces. By April 12, the

Canadians captured Vimy and, many historians will say, this forged a new sense

of national identity.

Mr.

Speaker, despite the gallantry and the determination, over 3,500 soldiers paid

the ultimate sacrifice, and for this, we owe our gratitude.

honour the fallen, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial stands in France as a

tribute to all Canadians who served during the First World War. The French

government granted use of the land for the Memorial and battlefield site to the

people of Canada freely and for all time.

The

Canadian National Vimy Memorial is of only two National Historic Sites located

outside of Canada; the other, of course, being the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland

and Labrador Memorial, a tribute to all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who

served during the First World War.

Mr.

Speaker, this week will also mark the 100th Anniversary of Monchy-le-Preux which

occurred on April 14, 1917.

Arguably

this is Newfoundland Regiment's greatest victory, where we saw 10 men who saved

Monchy. They stood off they stand out as many heroes of the great World War.

These 10 men held off the enemy for over 11 hours before relief arrived, keeping

the Germans from advancing into the vital battlefield position.

Mr.

Speaker, afterwards, the British commanding officer declared 40,000 men would

have been required to recover Monchy had the German's captured it.

honour of this valiant act by the Newfoundland Regiment, a bronze caribou now

stands steadfast guarding the French village.

As part

of the events related to this year's anniversary, the Minister of Tourism,

Culture, Industry and Innovation is in France to commemorate and remember the

Newfoundland Regiment's involvement in the Great War. He also joins his federal

colleagues, including Prime Minister Trudeau, to honour the role that Canada

played in these significant events.

Mr.

Speaker, today I invite all hon. Members to join me in honouring our soldiers on

the centennial anniversaries of Vimy Ridge and Monchy-le-Preux.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Premier for an advance copy of his statement today. The victory at Vimy was

a defining moment for Canada. It's considered by many historians to be a

significant event in our country's progress towards full independence from

Britain.

While it

was a monumental day for Canada, it was also a defining time for the

Newfoundland Regiment whose great victory at Monchy saved so many from certain

death.

As the

Premier stated, it's undoubtedly one of the greatest victories by the

Newfoundland Regiment arguably one of the greatest victories of the entire

war. Our nation and our provincial identity was built upon the shoulders of

those brave soldiers, 3,500 of them, who paid the ultimate sacrifice; a number

that would total over 60,000 over the course of the First World War.

We join

with all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, along with the entire country, in

thanking those who bravely fought in the Battles of Vimy Ridge and

Monchy-le-Preux. We promised them we would remember, and that's exactly what we

have done, and I trust we'll continue to do that for generations to come. They

deserve nothing less.

We will

remember them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I too

thank the Premier for the advance copy of his statement. Whether Vimy Ridge or

Monchy-le-Preux, we must all honour the promise, lest we forget. The sacrifices

made by these young men must be remembered. To forget may doom us to repeat the

past.

French President Hollande said yesterday in marking the event, nationalism leads

to destruction. We owe it to the young men who died to remember the past, learn

to put aside our differences, and work together to ensure a better future.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday

evening Sports Newfoundland and Labrador held its 10th annual Stars and Legends

Gala. I rise today to recognize the award winners and hall of fame inductees.

The 2017

award recipients are: Senior Female Athlete of the Year, Heather Healey,

baseball; Senior Male Athlete of the Year, Sean Cleary, softball; Junior Female

Athlete of the Year, Camryn Bonia, athletics; Junior Male Athlete of the Year,

Liam Hickey, wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey; Executive of the Year,

John Cowan, rugby; Volunteer of the Year, Shane Dunphy, soccer; Coach of the

Year, Noel Strapp, wrestling; Team of the Year, Team Gushue, curling

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Official of the Year: Ryan

Garland, baseball.

This

year's Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame inductees were: Gerald

Lomond in the Builder category, gymnastics; Rod Snow in the Athlete category,

rugby); and Glenn Stanford in the Athlete/Builder category,

soccer/basketball/hockey.

Mr.

Speaker, I would like to thank the provincial sport organizations, along with

the many athletes, coaches, managers, parents and volunteers who support

athletic excellence at every level. Our government is committed to continued

support for sport, recreation and healthy living at all levels.

I ask

all Members to join me in congratulating this year's honourees for their hard

work, dedication and contribution to sport in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my

colleagues in the Official Opposition, I would like to congratulate all of the

2017 Stars and Legends award winners, and the Hall of Fame inductees.

I wish

to congratulate Heather Healey, Sean Cleary, Camryn Bonia, Liam Hickey, John

Cowan, Shane Dunphy, Noel Strapp, Team Gushue and Ryan Garland on their awards.

I would also like to congratulate the individuals introduced into the Sports

Hall of Fame: Gerald Lomond, Rod Snow and Glenn Stanford.

Our

province is indeed very lucky to have a high calibre of competitive athletes who

continually make us proud. They truly inspire those who around them to become

more involved in sport, both recreationally and competitively.

Mr.

Speaker, the Stars and Legends awards are not only great accomplishments for the

athletes, but are great accomplishments for their parents, families, coaches,

volunteers, managers and the entire sporting and recreation community in our

province as well.

I also

like to take a moment to congratulate Team Gushue on their most recent

accomplishment of being awarded the gold medal at the Men's World Curling

Tournament last evening. We continue to be proud of this rink and wish them all

the best in their future endeavours.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too,

thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Congratulations to all

of the 2017 award winners, Stars and Legends indeed, and thanks to all the

volunteers who make this possible. It is so important that we support our

province's young athletes in following their dreams and provide help to those

who wouldn't have the means otherwise just look at these results and to

honour our seasoned athletes who have illustrious careers here and abroad, and

have brought recognition to our province.

Bravo to

all for their tremendous achievements!

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Before

we proceed to Question Period, I'd like to recognize a former Member of the

House in our public gallery: Mr. Percy Barrett.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, last year's Budget 2016

created 300 new taxes and fees and in

Budget 2017 with all those fees remaining in place, except for one being

modified, excess taxes are smothering the economy and people.

I ask

the Premier: How is this your Way Forward

when the financial burden remains squarely on the shoulders of hard-working

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member opposite for the question this afternoon. As the people of the

province have come to understand, last year's significant situation that we

found ourselves in as a government required very significant action. As part of

that action, there were a series of decisions that were made to enable us to

then go to the market to borrow what was in the vicinity of just over $4.9

billion.

We had

to complete the borrowing program for the former administration, who did not

have borrowing in place. We had to complete the borrowing program for what we

needed to do for our fiscal year. Because the deficit is lower, we were also

able to borrow a little bit for the coming year.

Mr.

Speaker, the Member opposite has heard me speak regularly on a tax review. When

we complete that tax review, we will be providing the people of the province

more clarity on where taxes can be anticipated over the next number of years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

appreciate the response from the minister. The Liberals still have their hands

in the pockets of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador with this budget.

I'll ask

the Premier: What relief is there in the budget for hard-working Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians who are suffering at the extreme expense of the taxes and fees?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, one of the

things that we did as part of this year's budget was make sure that we looked at

the impacts and the reality of the Newfoundland economy, and we made very

purposeful decisions around three particular items. One was to announce a $3

billion infrastructure plan that will provide the opportunity for the equivalent

of 4,900 full-time positions every year during that plan to help with looking at

the vacuum that was created in our economy by the former administration.

We also

made the decision that it was appropriate to reduce the temporary gas tax, which

will be reduce by 12.5 cents in June, another four in December, including HST;

that's 14.4 cents. And $122 million invested in a Seniors' Benefit and the

Newfoundland Income Supplement are substantial ways that we are working hard to

support Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Budget 2017

simply continues the

overwhelming burden placed on hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

right throughout our entire province. I appreciate the minister's answers but it

doesn't tell us and it doesn't tell the people of the province what new measures

are included in the budget that will provide some relief to those hard-working

people who are struggling because of these taxes and fees.

What's

there for those people?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank

the Member opposite for providing me the opportunity to stand up again because

one of the items that we did speak to the people of the province about last week

in our budget was a rate management reserve. Our government felt it was

extremely important to provide the people of the province with the initial view,

the preliminary view, as to what we feel is reasonable when it comes to lowering

electricity rates in the future.

Nalcor

has been directed and is committed to creating these reserve funds. For those

individuals in the community who continue to feel uncertainty about energy

prices, we thought that was an extremely important thing to explain to the

people of the province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We've

been telling people for months and months years actually that their rates

will not double, and it was just rhetoric by Members opposite. They finally

agreed to tell the people the truth and tell them their rates won't double.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, GDP, investment,

exports, employment and household incomes are all expected to decline under this

budget while, at the same time, the cost of living and unemployment rate is

going to increase.

With all

indicators going in the wrong direction, why should the people of the province

suddenly begin to trust this government? Their Way Forward doesn't appear to be a way forward; it's simply a way

backwards.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I'd remind the

Member opposite that saying you're going to do something and doing something are

two different things.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. C. BENNETT:

We've actually given the

people of the province clarity.

Mr.

Speaker, the other thing I'd mention to the Member opposite when he talks about

the economy, part of what we're also trying to do is to look at, through

The Way Forward , the opportunity to

create over some 9,000 positions by achieving targets that we've established. We

are looking broadly across the economy. Mr. Speaker, the people of the province

deserve the truth; they don't deserve a false hope that was propagated by the

Members opposite.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That's

the Minister of Finance who campaigned on dozens and dozens of promises during

the election, and has not delivered on any of them has done the complete

opposite, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, on the same day

that the government announced they would partially reduce the Liberal gas tax

that the minister just referred to, gas prices skyrocketed seven cents per

litre. And as they do each year this time a year, as we approach summer, the

cost of fuel anticipated will continue to increase. People are struggling. I've

made that quite clear, and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have made that quite

clear.

I ask

the minister: Will you commit to completely remove the Liberal gas tax on June

1, this year?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, the Member

opposite is, I believe, erroneous. We have said we were going to address the

deficit, and we have done that. We have said we were going to commit to a

seven-year plan, and we continue to remain committed to those targets.

We have

told the people of the province that we will fix the stability of the Treasury

and then turn our attentions to growing the economy and supporting

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a broader way, without focusing singularly

on megaprojects and oil, and that is exactly what we have done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Their

election platform also had 33 plans to

make a plan. We haven't seen many of those yet either.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Minister of Finance to make a commitment in the House here

today: Commit not to replace the reduction in gas tax with a new carbon tax.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, the Member

opposite, I am sure, would have sat through technical briefings on Thursday

where officials would have provided him and Members of his caucus with the

specifics around our plans of the gas tax.

As we

have communicated to the people of the province, our intention is to reduce the

gas tax effective June 1 by 12 cents and another four cents on December 1. The

reason we can implement that tax reduction on June 1, is that we need to make

sure that we give the wholesalers the opportunity to reflect that price.

Including the HST, that is a total reduction of 14.4 cents.

We have

also communicated to people of the province that in the fall fiscal update we

will be giving them clarity on the remaining portion of temporary gas tax, which

is what I said last year, which is exactly what it was: a temporary tax, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At a

time when Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are struggling to get by under the

weight of the Liberal government's excessive taxes, does the minister think that

it is reasonable to reopen Marble Mountain and offer a three-day free-for-all on

the backs of the taxpayer?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and

Innovation.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member opposite for the question. This is my second time in the history of

this House to be able to stand as a parliamentary secretary and respond in

Question Period.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HOLLOWAY:

To just get to the Member's

question, we've been working with Marble Mountain Development Corporation for

the past year, and we're always looking to diversify we want to save money for

the taxpayers of this province. There are significant investments that have

happened in Marble Mountain Development Corporation.

Opening

up Marble Mountain for three days through Easter is really an investment. We

want to attract new people to come in and experience the hill so that, as next

year goes forward, we'll have more people that will likely take advantage of the

hill and have the ski experience.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With all

the Liberal tax and fee increases, people are struggling, and you think it's a

priority to give away free tickets and ski rentals?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Parliamentary

Secretary to the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

As I said, Mr. Speaker, this

is about an investment into an experience for people on the West Coast. Marble

Mountain has been a tourist destination for 29 years in this province, and

certainly we have over 100 small- and medium-sized businesses that also reap

benefits from Marble Mountain. We would see that by opening up and providing

more opportunity for people to come into Marble Mountain that there would also

be spinoffs and economic development opportunities for more companies on the

West Coast.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, just two weeks ago, the minister stated it was costing $5,000 a day

just to keep Marble Mountain open.

I ask

the parliamentary secretary: What will be the cost to open Marble Mountain on

Easter weekend?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Parliamentary

Secretary to the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

Mr. Speaker, yes, certainly

it costs about $11,000 a day to operate Marble Mountain, but we got to look at

that there are other things that happen at Marble Mountain. Lift passes are one

thing, but people come and they stay at accommodations, they buy gas, and they

purchase food and other things when they're in the West Coast area. So there are

all kinds of spinoffs that will come in addition to providing these free lift

passes on Easter weekend.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

So just to be clear, Mr.

Speaker, it was $5,000 a day last week or two weeks ago, now we're up to $11,000

a day. Maybe the government opposite can subsidize White Hills and our other ski

resorts in the province just like they're treating Marble Mountain, if you want

to be fair. This is ridiculous, Mr. Speaker.

At one

point, the minister claimed it would be cost neutral but then the local MHA

during an address to the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade announced that all

tickets and rentals will be free for all three days. Don't you think this is an

irresponsible waste of taxpayers' money?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, what would be

absolutely irresponsible would be to take an asset like Marble Mountain

Development Corporation, Marble Mountain itself and not maximize it to its full

potential. We had two options: status quo where we would actually see visitation

and user ship of Marble Mountain decline in future years because people were

becoming very, very disgruntled, very frustrated by the fact that we needed a

stronger customer service base here.

We would

have lost revenue by people not buying tickets in future years, but the other

thing we realized is that in order to grow Marble Mountain you have to get new

skiers, you have to get more people interested in the sport and the way you do

that you give them an opportunity.

On one

weekend one weekend a year you come out and say: Why don't you take up the

sport for a weekend, we'll offer you free lift tickets and free rental

equipment? And that is how you grow an opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER :

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It was a

great speech, but I'm not sure if it made any sense.

The cost

of living in Newfoundland and Labrador is rising faster than any other province

in Canada. The people are hurting and (inaudible) of this budget leaves them

little reprieve.

I ask

the Minister of Finance: What actions in the budget will address the growing

rate of inflation and a rate that's twice the national average?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the

Member opposite earlier, in answering a question from the Leader of the

Official Opposition, I wanted to make sure I provided clarity around the

reduction in the temporary gas tax. I want to make sure that the Member opposite

understands it's 12 cent reduction in the entire year; 8 in June and four in

the fall, in December. When you add HST to that, that's 14.4.

I would

say to the Member who just asked the question, that's a very meaningful action

by this government to help deal with the issue that he just raised.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm

still not sure what the answer to the question is. It's twice the national

average. What's government going to do about it?

The

Minister of Finance says she plans to freeze the cost to government over the

next five years. With an inflation rate of approximately 3 per cent, how much

will she have to cut to maintain this freeze on a go-forward basis?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, what we've said

is that we must spend within the context of what is reasonable based on general

revenues. The former administration chose to spend oil royalties as if they were

a guaranteed income. While we're certainly grateful that last year we benefited

from increased production and a slightly increased price per barrel, our

government recognizes that continuing to spend in a way that doesn't reflect

what is reasonable from general revenues is something the people of the province

won't be able to afford, nor will they stand for.

When it

comes to inflationary risks, what we're doing is working on changing the culture

of spending, and we're going to keep working on it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

I remind the minister the

spending increase from the 2015-2016 budget, in her own budget in order to

prevent an increase to the cost of government over the next five years, the

minister will have to cut over $1 billion from programs and services.

I ask

the minister which services are you going to cut and when will you provide the

details.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, it's

interesting, the former administration, in their budget in 2015 shared a plan

with the people of the province that had spending in fiscal '17-'18 almost at

$8.4 billion. At the end of that year, in December of 2015 and when our

government provided a fiscal update for that year, we were forecasting spending

for this year to be $8.6 billion because the former administration had failed to

forecast increased expenses, and also some of their election promises, Mr.

Speaker.

We have

taken spending down from that December 2015 number of $8.6 billion to $8.1

billion in this budget, Mr. Speaker, and we're going to be methodical and

responsible in the choices that we make going forward to continue to reduce

spending.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the people of the province will have three more years of the Liberal

levy. The Minister of Finance stated recently that the levy is law. Can the

minister confirm that the Liberal government has the ability to change the law

and remove the levy today?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, just for

clarity, the Member opposite is referring to the temporary deficit levy. As he

tax. It expires in December of 2019 exactly as we had shared with the people of

the province. We actually made some modifications last year to the deficit levy,

Mr. Speaker, to ensure that we could get out of that tax as quickly as we can.

We're

undertaking a comprehensive tax review, and we look forward to providing the

people of the province with further clarity on where our tax regime will go

within our mandate.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, I'd advise the

Minister, we didn't vote from this side of the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, Moody's, one of

the world's most reputable credit-rating agencies, says the budget delivered by

the Liberal government last week is a momentum killer. It says the spending

problem remains.

Can the

minister explain why they're not addressing this issue?

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I'm perplexed by

the Member opposite. What Moody's said, quite frankly, was that they wanted to

continue to look towards the decisions that we're going to make in the next year

to reflect that we can actually hit our target again.

I'm very

pleased that we were able to present our target for fiscal '16-'17 and meet that

deficit target, and actually beat it significantly. I'm very pleased that we

have a budget coming before this House that lowers that number from $800 million

to $778 million. I'll look forward to the ratings agencies seeing the proof of

our actions coming next year.

I can

tell the Member opposite that we are not going to disrupt the economy by massive

layoffs and program cuts; we're going to be methodical and responsible in the

decisions we make based on the best interests of the people of the province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

I can tell the minister what

did disrupt the economy is 300 fees and the levy that they implemented last

year, and the economic indicators are going the wrong way in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, this year's

budget doesn't include a buffer to protect against a drop in oil price. Last

year, you built in $125 million buffer that would be reinstated in 2018.

I ask

the minister, why leave out this year and reintroduce it in 2018.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want

to correct the Member opposite. If he took the time and I'm sure he will later

today to look at The Economy

document from last year's budget and The

Economy document from this year's budget, he will see that there are modest

improvements in key indicators not all of them, but there are some key

indicators that have improved over last year, Mr. Speaker. So I want to correct

that.

Secondly, when it comes to the oil price, we, in discussions with an economist

roundtable first one ever held in this province by a Finance Minister

discussions with our own staff, we recognize that the real risk in the oil price

is in the out-years, and that's what we reflected in our plan, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister, in your speech on Budget Day you said: The job of government is to

govern, and the fiscal crisis is not, nor should it be, our sole focus. Could

you please clarify that statement?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, last year after

some 3 months, four months, in government we were faced with a very significant

challenge to the Treasury. We made choices and decisions at that time that would

enable us to do the borrowing program that we needed to do for their year, for

our year and some of this year that we are debating in the House, Mr. Speaker.

Our job

now, after stabilizing the Treasury, is to focus on the fiscal, the social and

the economic impacts and the choices we can make to make sure we are bringing

our province, as the Premier has said, on the path to sustainability and growth,

Mr. Speaker. That's exactly what we're doing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister, you said government's job extends beyond the balance sheet. Can you

please tell us what is your plan to grow the economy?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

budget outlined, and we outlined before the budget, the $3 billion investment

that's being made over five years for multi-year infrastructure that will result

in the equivalent of 4,900 positions every year for those five years, on

average. The Premier, several weeks ago, in

The Way Forward in setting specific

targets for us as a province and as a Cabinet and as a government to achieve,

those targets, when achieved, will create some 9,300 equivalent, full-time

positions, Mr. Speaker.

Our

government is very focused on the diverse pieces of our economy to ensure that

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in every corner of our province have an

opportunity to experience growth.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Economists disagree that your plan will grow the economy.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

I ask the minister: The

Budget Speech also mentions a wage freeze; when will the Liberals wage freeze

for public service employees come into effect?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure

what economist he's talking to, but there have certainly been economists that

I've talked to and spoke to and had dialogue with who have indicated that the

choices that we are making as part of this budget are going to help and support

our economy.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to correct, again, an error from the Member opposite. What we

announced in last week's budget was a wage freeze for management and

non-unionized employees as a result of this budget and that we intend to bring

in legislation. The Member opposite is referencing a broader group of employees.

If he has information that he wants to share and let me know exactly where he

got it, I will be sure to answer that question.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

There is

a lot of chatter going on amongst Members. In particular, I point to the Member

for Conception Bay South. I'm asking the co-operation of all Members in the

House. The only person I wish to hear from is the person identified to speak.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for clarifying that. I take, from that statement, that there will

be no wage freeze for the public service in the negotiations here, which is good

for them to hear, no doubt.

Budget 2017

identified $283 million in savings. I ask the minister to provide some detail on

where these savings will come from.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President or Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I want to again

take a moment to correct what the Member opposite said in his

preamble. We are

in active bargaining with our public sector employees. Some of them are in the

process of active bargaining, some are getting ready to go into active

bargaining, and some have actually moved into the conciliation phase.

The

Member opposite has not had, to my knowledge, the privilege of sitting at those

tables, nor has he had an opportunity to look at the issues that we have put on

the table as the employer, or what the employees have put on the table through

their representatives. I ask the Member opposite to stop making assumptions on

facts that he doesn't have, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

It takes

close reading of the Budget 2017

documents to learn that it basically is a continuation of the choices government

made in last year's disastrous budget. I'd like to get confirmation of details

about some of the hardship that people in the province will continue to face.

So I ask

the Minister of Finance: Will she tell the people of the province her forecast

for year-over-year change in the average household income in the coming year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, the information

that the Member opposite is asking, I don't have at the top of my memory in this

particular afternoon session. I will be pleased to provide her with that

information once I speak to officials.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

I'm shocked with that answer

from the Minister of Finance, Mr. Speaker. All she has to do is open up the

economic indicators booklet and she has her answers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. MICHAEL:

I ask the minister: Will she

tell the people of the province her forecast for year-over-year change in retail

sales in coming year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure

what the Member opposite is trying to achieve with her questions. Just like she

referenced that I could look at the numbers in the book, which I don't have

memorized at this particular point

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. C. BENNETT:

the Member opposite has the

ability to look at that as well, Mr. Speaker, and it's in the document.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind

all hon. Members that props are not permitted in the House.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

We know

that they are in the document, and that's exactly why we would like the minister

to tell the people of the province exactly what the future of the province is

looking like right now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. ROGERS:

I do believe that the people

of the province want to know.

So I ask

the minister: Will she tell the people of the province her forecast for changes

in the cost of living in the coming year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, as

you'd know, there's an exhaustive amount of work that goes into preparing a

budget. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board has

outlined answers to the people of this province in some very detailed economic

indicators that are in the book. The Members opposite are quite aware of that

book. It's online right now. It's available right now; they have it right now.

They're complaining that this information is not available.

Mr.

Speaker, the minister put that out there to the people of this province quite

clearly on Thursday. So stop the fear mongering; the information is out there.

There is nothing that this minister is withholding.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Absolutely, that information is in that book, and let's ask the minister now to

tell the people of the province her forecast for changes to the unemployment

rate in the coming year.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

minister has already told Members in this House; she's told the people of this

province, Mr. Speaker. What I would like to know, in an interview by the

economist from the NDP, the economist who gives advice to the NDP, who stood in

front of the media with the Member opposite right next to her, she said clearly

to the people of this province that they want to see thousands of reductions

within the public sector. Is that your wishes, I say to the Members opposite? Is

that what you said? Because I had that discussion with you outside on Thursday.

So why

doesn't the Member opposite tell the people of this province where you stand; do

you support your economic advisor?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

It's a mystery to me, Mr.

Speaker. We don't have an economist in our caucus.

I ask

the minister: Apart from the changes to the gas tax

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Order,

please!

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I ask

the minister: Apart from the changes to the gas tax, do the increases in

hundreds of fees she announced in last year's budget remain in effect?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, our province and

our economy is going through a transition, and the reality is that that

transition is a result of multiple megaprojects that are coming to an end, poor

planning on behalf of the former administration in diversifying the economy and

our government is focused on making sure that we can do everything we can to

support the economy.

Moving

on the gas tax, when we still have a $778 million deficit, is an important

decision to support the economy. Investing $122 million in a program that helps

low-income individuals and seniors, a program that the Members opposite refused

to talk about, is an investment in our economy.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question Period

has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give

notice that I will move as the Member for Topsail Paradise, seconded by the

Member for Cape St. Francis, the following private Member's resolution for

Wednesday, April 12:

BE IT

RESOLVED that this House condemns the government for maintaining all but one of

the 300 tax and fee increases they imposed on people in last year's budget,

while failing to be forthright and accountable in disclosing information and

while failing to nurture the conditions for economic growth across Newfoundland

and Labrador.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the private Member's motion put forward by the Member for Topsail

Paradise will be the motion we will bring forward on Wednesday, Private Members'

Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

government has removed the provincial point-of-sale tax rebate on books, which

will raise the tax on books from 5 per cent to 15 per cent; and

WHEREAS

an increase in the tax on books will reduce book sales to the detriment of local

bookstores, publishers and authors, and the amount collected by government must

be weighed against the loss in economic activity caused by higher book prices;

and

WHEREAS

Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the lowest literacy rates in Canada and the

other provinces do not tax books because they recognize the need to encourage

reading and literacy; and

WHEREAS

this province has many nationally and internationally known storytellers, but we

will be the only people in Canada who will have to pay our provincial government

a tax to read the books of our own writers;

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

of Assembly to urge government not to impose a provincial sales tax on books.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I've stood in this House numerous occasions, almost every day that the

House has been open in this session, with this particular petition that is

signed by people from all over the province. They are academics. They are

writers. They are people who don't have a whole lot of money but acknowledge how

important it is, how important literacy and reading is to the people of the

province.

Mr.

Speaker, one of the most regressive, short-sighted, ridiculous taxes that have

ever been imposed in the history of this province and this government just had

the opportunity to rescind this tax, and what did they do? They're continuing it

on a tax that makes no sense whatsoever (

a) to the well-being of the economy,

to the well-being of booksellers, to the well-being of writers and to the

well-being of the general population.

We all

know how important literacy is. We all know how important education is. Some of

the people who are bearing the brunt of this unseemly tax are students. Some of

whom are paying an extra few hundred dollars a semester for their textbooks,

already students who are burdened with all kinds of expenses and to impose taxes

on textbooks where it's not done anywhere else in the country and we know how

incredibly important it is, education particularly, in a time like this in our

economy. It makes no sense, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

the Adult Dental Program coverage for clients of the Newfoundland and Labrador

Prescription Drug Program under the Access and 65Plus Plans were eliminated in

Budget 2016 ; and

WHEREAS

many low-income individuals and families can no longer access basic dental care;

and

WHEREAS

those same individuals can now no longer access dentures;

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

of Assembly to urge the government to reinstate the Adult Dental Program to

cover low-income individuals and families to better ensure oral health, quality

of life and dignity.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, moments ago, we heard another Member raise concerns about one of the

cuts that we experienced in the previous budget that still remains in this

current budget that was recently announced. That related to the book tax that's

now in place. Well, the cuts to the Adult Dental Program and to the Newfoundland

and Labrador Prescription Drug Program should not be forgotten either.

This

budget, this year, is just as hard on low-income families and just as hard on

seniors living on fixed incomes in our province than the last one. Of the 300

new taxes and fees, only one was partially adjusted; the other 299 remain in

place. So that's what we're dealing with in this year's budget.

People

are finding it harder to live here. People are finding it harder to work here.

This year's budget does nothing to address those concerns. So today, I'm rising

to present this petition on behalf of low-income families, on behalf of

low-income individuals, particularly seniors who are struggling with the cost of

living and struggling to meet some of their basic needs.

During

the previous administration, the Adult Dental Program was created. There was

major expansion and improvement to the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription

Drug Program. So it's really hard to watch that being undone in the last budget

and again in this year's Liberal budget.

Seniors

are dealing with increased costs for home care. Home care hours were cut over

the past year as a result of Liberal government decisions. There were cuts to

the Prescription Drug Program that affects seniors, low-income individuals and

others as well. There was a reduction in diabetic test strips that are available

to individuals living with diabetes in our province.

As I

said, people are dealing with an increased cost of living as a result of changes

that this government made. This budget is no better than last year's budget.

People are still struggling and some of their basic needs will no longer be met

as a result of decisions by the Liberal government.

There is

a better way, Mr. Speaker, and the decisions that have been made by this

government are just simply irresponsible and people deserve better.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

the US Center for Disease Control now estimates that Autism Spectrum Disorder,

ASD, affects one in 68 children, which represents a 30 per cent increase from

the estimate of two years ago; and

WHEREAS

early diagnosis of ASD is essential because there is a critical developmental

period when early intervention is vital for future success of children with ASD;

and

WHEREAS

in other provinces, an ASD diagnosis can be made by specialists certified and

trained in ADOS;

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

of Assembly to urge government to allow other specialists trained and certified

with ADOS to make the Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I've been years with people who have children who are on the autism

disorder spectrum. I have people who teach them. I have members of the Autism

Society. In so many ways, for years, I've been hearing from them about the need

for getting early intervention. So this petition will be timely unfortunately,

it's been timely for years and that's not acceptable, Mr. Speaker.

We have

got to start making sure that we do a much better job in early intervention for

the good of the children, their families and also of society in general. We have

the long wait times for children needing assessment and more of them would get

assessed if we had more people doing the training. Here in this province yes,

one new other pediatrician was added to the list for doing assessments, but we

have a much greater need than that. Without increasing the people who are doing

it and you do that by making sure that specialists are certified and trained.

They do not have to be pediatricians to do this. If we start that, then children

will get their diagnosis earlier, they will get intervention, and they will be

able to take a much better

part in society in general, especially in the school

system.

Youth

and adults with autism this is the big issue who have an IQ of 70 or more

are not eligible for services offered to people with intellectual disabilities,

such as job coaches, life coaches, supported living and caregiver respite. What

we need is not an IQ test because it's well known that many people with ADS have

very high IQs. What we need is a functionality test that measures social

interaction and self-care abilities because that's the major issue that these

people are dealing with.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the

hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

there's been an identified lack of mental health services in our provincial K-12

school system; and

WHEREAS

the lack is having a significant impact on both students and teachers; and

WHEREAS

left unchecked, matters can and, in many cases, will develop to more serious

issues;

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

of Assembly to urge government to increase mental health services and programs

in our province's K-12 school system.

And as

is duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I've had an opportunity to present this numerous times. When I look at

it, right now it's come from at least 15 different communities, from the North

Coast into the Northeast Avalon. These here are coming from places like Port de

Grave, Bay Roberts and Bareneed. So it shows that parents, educators, the

general public, have a real concern around this. We've come a long way,

particularly with the All-Party Committee on Mental Health where they identified

a number of interventions and a number of solutions, once enacted, that will

start addressing some of the issues around mental health.

Some of

the issues were around early detection, early intervention and early supports. I

know a number of people who presented to the committee have noted that. Some

were educators and some were parents who had ran into some stumbling blocks over

the years in not being able to have their kids identified with potential

services that were needed. Educators were frustrated that those services weren't

available when they identified the needs for the students.

what's being asked here is that if we're going to solve and we're going to

address the issue of mental health and make better awareness so that we can

partner with other agencies that can provide particular services, we need to

start at the younger ages. We need to identify particular issues or particular

signs that may need to be addressed early so that they don't flourish into

something more serious and have a more dramatic effect on those individuals and

our society as a whole and it then, in turn, has an effect on their ability to

be productive citizens. If they're having problems within our school system,

that obviously is going to have an impact on whether or not they're successful

in that, what role they play in post-secondary, what role they play in the job

market.

The

intent here is to identify a lot of good things that are happening in mental

health. The awareness is out there. Everybody agrees we need to address it.

What's being said here is don't just deal with the immediate, serious issues

that we're having around mental health issues that have been identified by

particular older groups. What we're saying is if we start addressing them at the

early ages, we're going to do a better service for those who are engaged. We're

going to ensure that they have a better opportunity to be productive citizens.

We're going to, in the long run, in the economy of scale, save money for people

in our province.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I'll have an opportunity to speak to this again, but I think it's a

very important thing and it goes well with the mental health awareness program

that we're moving forward.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

Orders of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister for Municipal Affairs and Environment, for leave to introduce a

bill entitled,

An Act To Amend the Public Service Pensions Act, 1991, Bill 7,

and I further move that the said bill be now read the first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded by

the hon. the Government House Leader that he shall have leave to introduce Bill

7 and that the said bill be now read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Motion,

the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a

bill,

An Act To Amend The Public Service Pensions Act, 1991, carried. (Bill 7)

CLERK (Barnes):

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Public Service Pensions Act, 1991. (Bill 7)

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 7 has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 7 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I moved,

seconded by the Minister of Service NL, for leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Accountability, Integrity And

Administration Act No. 2, Bill 8, and I further move that the said bill be now

read the first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded by

the hon. the Government House Leader that he shall have leave to introduce Bill

8 and that the said bill be now read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Motion,

the hon. the Government House Leader to introduce a bill,

An Act To Amend The

House Of Assembly Accountability, Integrity And Administration Act No. 2,

carried. (Bill 8)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

House Of Assembly Accountability, Integrity And Administration Act No. 2. (Bill

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 8 has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 8 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Minister of Service NL, for leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Revenue Administration Act, Bill 9, and I further move that

the said bill be now read the first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded by

the hon. the Government House Leader that he shall have leave to introduce Bill

9, and that the said bill be now read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Motion,

the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a

bill,

An Act To Amend The Revenue Administration Act, carried. (Bill 9)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Revenue Administration Act. (Bill 9)

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 9 has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill read a second time?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 9 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

from the Order Paper, Motion 1, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, it's certainly a privilege to rise today to respond to the Budget

Speech 2017 and go through the outline of that speech. I want to go back and

look at the Speech from the Throne and how that ties into the budget.

Before I

do that, I just wanted to, on a separate note, on behalf of myself and our

caucus, pass along best wishes to Minister Judy Foote, who is one of seven MPs

that represent us in Ottawa. We understand in the last week or so she's stepped

away for personal reasons. We certainly respect that, but as parliamentarians,

whether we're provincial, whether we're federal or what political stripe we are,

we recognize the hard work that's done by everybody. From our perspective and

mine and our caucus, I just want to pass along the best to the minister and her

family and wish them well and that she will be back to work soon and things

would work out for her. I just wanted to say that, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of us

and our caucus.

So here

we are with Budget 2017 . We've gone

through, obviously, last year with the Liberal administration coming into office

and setting up or telling us they're setting up a roadmap to lead us to where we

need to go. In doing that, they laid out a budget last year which was heavy on

the revenue generation side in regard to taxation and fees. We were told from

there that there would be an interim budget later in the fall that would deal

with the expenditure side of the ledger, but details were short on that and I

don't think we ever got there in regard to having that balanced approach.

I think

what we've heard over the past year is that while there is recognition of a need

to increase revenues, there was also a need to look at our expenditures and do

it on a more balanced approach. As we know, every tax or every fee that's

implemented, that takes dollars out of the Newfoundlanders' and Labradorians'

pocket. That dollar that's not there is not there to be spent and is not able to

drive the economy and drive the activities in our economy, certainly every kind

of business that we have and service.

that's really a critical point. I think as I go through and have discussions

this afternoon, I'll certainly talk about the economic indicators, where they

were in 2016, where the projections are, where they're going in 2017, and

obviously that's tied right to the economy and how we continue to grow our

economy. Obviously, in this province over the past decade, our administration

through significant megaprojects, significant growth, significant training in

regard to people to meet that labour market demand we saw a rise in household

income, the whole range of things that certainly made the return to

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians greater.

Now

we're seeing a period where the economy is starting to slow in regard to some of

those projects, but as well we've seen an international, global slowdown in many

respects and here in Canada as well. Where we're tied to commodities, natural

resources, obviously something like oil when that happens, it takes its toll,

and it has. I guess the issue is then how do you deal with that and how do you

lay out a plan and how do you give confidence to Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians, to businesses, as well to investors, not just here but in Canada

and around the world that they want to continue to invest in Newfoundland and

Labrador and drive our economy. That's all part of the whole picture that a

government needs to lay out and give confidence as to what they can do and

they're willing to do.

So I

want to go back for a few minutes and just talk about the Speech from the Throne

which opened the 48th General Assembly. In the parliamentary process, the Speech

from the Throne lays out the vision of the administration at the time and where

do you want to go, what are the pinnacles that they think are fundamental to

moving the province forward. That could be on the economic side; it could be on

the social development side. All of those collectively are what it is they need

to do to continue to grow the province.

As we go

through the documents, the Speech from the Throne, which was laid out a while

back, there are general themes that went through this. When you look at the

themes that are in the document then, as the budget came down last week, you

look to see how they match up and how they're going to meet those themes and are

they taking it on in regard to having success and how we perceive it will be

success through the direction they're taking.

We heard

commentary: We will do better with less. Everybody in terms of being financially

prudent in regard to the delivery of service always wants to look at, especially

in the public domain, how can we most efficiently deliver services; how can we

be innovative; how can we make sure we get the best bang for every dollar we

spend because it's taxpayers' money and we live, as we know, in a very

geographically diverse province.

We look

on the Island and the various communities, harbours and coves, towns and cities,

very dispersed. So then you look at somewhere like Labrador, which is just under

probably 30,000 people and how the disbursement of the population is there. So

there are a lot of challenges in terms of delivering services and how we deliver

those services. Things like health care, things like road infrastructure and

ferry services, all of those things make the challenges in regard to supplying

those services, sustaining those services over a long period of time. Doing

better with less, yes, it's a great statement, but we need to know and need to

see how that's going to be delivered and what the plan is to do that.

As well,

there's reference in the Speech from the Throne about collaboration, which is

great again. You're going to collaborate, you call in those that are involved in

communities and organizations and you get the perspective on what they think

needs to be done and where they think things need to go. But again, it's about

getting that collaboration, getting an input, and then having the leadership to

make those calls and to lay it out what you're going to do.

In many

cases, or, in some cases, that plan may not be popular with everybody, but

that's part of the governance and moving forward in laying that plan out.

People, at times, may not appreciate it, may not understand it. I should say you

need to make them understand them. They may not agree with it, but they will

respect the fact that you have laid it out, it's clear, there are pillars, there

are areas and milestones you are going to reach over the next current year or

years in your mandate. Then you show them how this is going to better for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in terms of growing our province.

So it's

key that it's laid out. Collaboration is always good, but at some point you have

to say, okay, we have collaborated, we have spoken to the parties concerned and

everyone else, so let's move forward now with direction. Let's explain to the

people what the direction is and move forward.

The

roadmap that was announced by the current administration,

The Way Forward , this was released and after some time actually 17

months in office now talked about three phases of action, and talked about

tangible issues and tangible items to be reached. The first six months was

referencing and focusing on securing our footing and rapidly implementing

initiatives to reduce spending and support economic growth.

We had

questions today in the House of Assembly talking about that economic growth

component, which we haven't seen a lot of over the 17 months this current

administration has been in office. Yet, the Speech from the Throne talks about

we are well on our way to addressing the challenges facing our province. As I

said initially, the budget that was brought down dealt with one side of the

ledger, dealt with revenues and raising revenues, and we certainly questioned

the depth and scope of doing that when you're comparing it to activity in the

economy and how we continue to drive the economy and do what we need to do.

It goes

on to say that we are entering the second phase of

The Way Forward Realizing Our Potential , which spans the next 18

months and focuses on actions to reverse negative socioeconomic indicators that

prevent economic growth. That's what I have referenced, and I'll speak to that

later when we look at the economic indicators. I will compare 2016, what we saw,

and look at the projections for 2017.

In most

cases, they are not where we want them to go, and in cases where there is some

indication or some positive indication that they are moving in the right

direction, I think we are lacking the documentation and information on how we

are going to get there, and what those indictors are reflective of.

As we go

through the Estimates in the House of Assembly over the next several weeks and

those out there that may not be familiar with that, when a budget is brought

down, the Estimates are where the departments come in here to the Legislature,

the Opposition and government Members sit on Standing Committees, and those

Standing Committees review the actuals which come in, which were directed and

confirmed after last fiscal year, what the Estimates were, what the actual

expenditures were. They're confirmed; they're discussed. As well, the new

Estimates for this particular year are discussed and it's an opportunity to tie

the government, the various departments, the ministers, to the actual direction

given in the Speech from the Throne and as well through that budget how they're

going to achieve that.

So it's

a fairly lengthy, extensive process. If the ministers and the government are

willing to release that information on what their intention is, it certainly

provides for transparency which is intended to provide for the public to get an

understanding of how their money is being spent and what the directions are as

we're moving forward.

According to this, the 18 months was to look at reversing negative socioeconomic

indicators. If we're entering the second phase now, that's going to be up to the

three years of their mandate to look at those socioeconomic indicators which

seem to be lacking in terms of getting to the initiatives that we were supposed

to get to very quickly, according to this document.

The

third phase talked about is to look beyond those 18 months, I spoke of, in

creating long-term conditions for growth in the province by investing in the

future; talks about redesigning government services to fit demographics of the

future; and investing in children and youth.

Redesigning government services, I not sure really what's meant by that, but the

demographics piece is something we're all quite familiar with here in

Newfoundland and Labrador in regard to we have one of the fastest aging

populations in Canada and the parameters that go with that in providing services

and I talked about that before in regard to the challenges in our province is

something we certainly need to work towards to make sure we have efficiencies

but we can still provide those needed services to Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians wherever they are to in Newfoundland and Labrador and that level of

service can be provided.

Investing in children and youth, again, as our demographics move forward and a

larger portion of our population is 65, 70, those older people in terms of our

population, we need that growth from middle-class families, from young families,

young children that is much needed in terms of growing our economy and you want

people to stay here, to even come back, ex-pats, or even people to move here for

what we have here in Newfoundland and Labrador and to grow their families here.

That's

all about sustainability. The one point on that we have talked about all the

taxes last year, and that's all about creating the environment and that's why we

said it was too much, too soon in regard to doing that and not having an

economic plan to drive the opportunities here, not being positive about what the

options are and that our future is bright we have some challenges, but we need

to see our way through.

Young

families need to see that. They need to hear it. People that are just getting

into a post-secondary institution, doing training, they need to see that there

is a positive future, understand there is and there will be options. We need

them to stay here, we need them to live here, buy houses, raise their family

here because that's how you create a province and that's how you create

sustainability.

The

Speech from the Throne then went on and talked about a stronger economic

foundation. It talks about improving the conditions necessary for private sector

job growth and economic growth overall. A whole-of-government approach to

creating the conditions necessary for new private sector job creation and

economic growth, this is about a sustainable economy that is a priority.

I don't

think anybody can really disagree with that. Certainly, from our side over here,

we believe the economy is the ultimate priority. You have a solid economy and,

from that, you generate wealth through taxes and other means, whether it's

royalties through developing your natural resources and, through all of that,

you're able to provide services and programs to the province and to

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who continue to stay here and contribute to our

economic and social fabric of the province. So it's important that it is a

priority and we work towards ensuring that goal is reached.

Another

reference is that jobs be a top priority; strong economic conditions and

opportunities. Again, getting back to people in our province that either is

going through high school now and seeking to do a program through

post-secondary, they need to see that there is opportunity and we need to

support them in doing that.

I know

through our time in our administration in terms of looking at young people

coming out of post-secondary with high debt loads, some of the wealth that we've

created we directed towards Memorial, other post-secondary institutions, to look

at offsetting the costs of student loans. As well, we went so far as looking to

offsetting student grants so they didn't have to pay it back. The higher portion

of the funds going into student grants, when students finished their program,

that wasn't something they had to pay back, and they had a step up in hopefully

staying in the province, finding employment and not having a heavy debt load.

And that

was the provincial component, not the federal. Anybody familiar with it, the

student loan program, there are two components; there's a provincial and

federal. That was directed certainly at the provincial component and we believe

it is money well spent. At times, we get ridiculed for spending and programs we

spent on, but for us that was one to drive the issue that it talks about here,

talks about sustainability, talks about youth, talks about post-secondary and

talks of building that strong foundation so people want to stay and live here

and raise their family.

The

document also talks about setting targets for sector growth, which is very

important. It talks about industries like agriculture, forestry, aquaculture,

tourism, immigration. All of those are important aspects of our economy. We

often refer to the fishery where, 500 years ago, people settled here for the

sole reason of an inshore fishery and, from there, we grew all the harbours and

coves across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Certainly our forestry is significant in regard to the creation of our province

and what we've done over the past hundreds of years. Then we've evolved into an

oil and gas industry here in the province. Back when there was a Progressive

Conservative government in Ottawa, Prime Minister Mulroney at that time, there

was an opportunity offshore for development. It was one of those times when the

federal government stepped in, partnered with one of the provinces at a time

when it looked like the first development offshore in the agreement wasn't going

to survive that he stepped in, put in significant dollars to make sure that the

partnership and the developments of oil and gas industry in Eastern Canada could

flourish.

We know

what that has done for Newfoundland and Labrador. It has transitioned us into a

whole new industry, created great wealth. Even in this budget, even though we

were criticized for being addicted to oil and I think the Premier said one

time oil wasn't a policy some of the things we've seen today in regard to

hitting the targets of the government of the day is that it was hit basically

through over $400 million in oil revenue that came about.

I think

the prediction for last year in the budget for this year's royalties from oil

was about half a billion dollars, but due to production going up I think four

times in 2016 from what it was in 2015, four times the production, with the

barrel of oil going up no one has control over that but, because of all that,

the current government of the day got over $400 million in unexpected revenue

and really, because of that, were able to hit their targets. So that's important

and it'll continue to be important. I'm glad to see it in the Speech from the

Throne, the oil and gas industry.

Certainly from our time and our administration, we invested heavily. We created

the entity of Nalcor, the corporation, to bring all those natural resource

assets under one, to drive wealth for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. One

component with that was oil and gas development. That went every way from taking

equity shares in production platforms to investing in exploration, investing in

seismic work and we're certainly seeing the return on that today in over $30

million in excess that went into that that allowed that data to be available and

for the province for the first time to really have control over the technical

date of our offshore and what exactly is out there.

In the

past, we'd never know, so we'd sell land claims and they'd be purchased by oil

companies. We didn't know what was really in the land claim. They could sit on

them for an extended period of time, but by this investment we were able to hold

that knowledge and change the environment that these lands sales developed in,

where we could basically have that information and knew upfront what those lands

sales were and what the content was in the seabed and what the opportunities

were.

That's

led to hundreds of millions of dollars in commitments with purchasing those land

sales that they would provide exploration; invest over a period of time to grow

that industry. It's oftentimes a long process from the time of the seismic work

to the bids, to looking at more drilling, exploration, what's the overall

content of a basin and then getting to the point of the investment to do the

production. So all of that is part of it and sometimes it is long, but you need

a continuation, you need a linear path of continuing to do that so we can meet

those activities and continue to go.

The

current Minister of Natural Resources recently I think they called from another

rounds of bids, so that's all positive and that's good and that needs to drive

our industry. When you look at some of that seismic work I talked about, you go

back and look at Norway 40 years ago, and even some of that seismic work we have

today is equal to or even greater than what they saw on the North Sea with

Norway. So when you look at the amount of wealth and the opportunity that was

driven by that and it's not only the hands-on component of the drilling

exercise, it's all those companies, it's all those supply companies, the

technologies, the innovation

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER (Dempster):

Order, please!

I ask

Members for their co-operation to keep the noise level down in the Chamber.

Thank

you.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

So it's

all about that innovation and that ability to drive activities for business.

It's about almost the intellectual business knowledge or the intellectual

industry knowledge where innovation is grown out of a need to drive activities

in the industry. That's very important.

Then

that knowledge and expertise can be exported around the world. That's why, from

Norway, you see a lot of companies that are supply companies, they have great

knowledge and expertise, and they're using that all over the world. We see

Newfoundland companies starting to do that now an ability to take that

knowledge and expertise and send it around the world or to do it here locally to

supply the industry.

We have

our fourth production coming soon, we hope Hebron that will come. That will

be our fourth, but it's unlimited in terms of how many and what will happen over

the next number of decades, in terms of the opportunity. Based on the seismic

work and what we're seeing, we have someone like Statoil who's further out in

another basin, it's deepwater and there are some challenges with that, but

that's where the innovation comes. Anything will be overcome and it bodes well

for our province and for the industry as a whole.

The

other one is certainly the tourism sector that is talked about here in regard to

what's taken place. In our last days in government, we'd gotten it up to $12

million to $13 million in regard to investment with tourism. We're somewhere in

the range of a billion dollars that was returned to the economy based on that,

based on our culture, our landscape and what we have to offer here, whether

ecotourism and all those other things that we have that people come to see.

As well

and I'll speak to it later in my own backyard in my district, Mistaken Point

received UNESCO designation last July. We have some challenges with that, and

I'll speak to it a bit later in regard to this budget and if it's going to deal

with those challenges. But that's another jewel in the crown of what we have to

offer here in Newfoundland and Labrador. I think it may be the fifth UNESCO site

here in the province. I think there are 18 maybe in total in Canada.

So it is

unique and it has huge opportunity, but the key is you have to have a plan to

maximize those opportunities. It's all part of the economic plan, it's all part

of sustainability, and we need to make sure we're focused on that to get it

done.

Other

industries that are mentioned here, the aquaculture industry an industry that

is continuing to grow, with significant opportunities here in this province.

Over the last decade, we've done tremendous investment. It comes to mind

somewhere between $28 million and $30 million that were invested by the province

into the aquaculture industry, which leveraged over $400 million in driving the

industry and driving the activities. So that's important. That's how you partner

with the private sector to grow industry off a new industry and provide

opportunities, especially in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

I know

my colleague from down on the South Coast, all of those down there seen

tremendous change in the activities down there in the communities. When you go

back and look at the cod moratorium in '92 and what happened back then in regard

to the fishery, the wild fishery in many respects, cod, groundfish, and what

devastation that had and here you have an opportunity to invest with

aquaculture, invest with the private sector and that has led to a dramatic

change and a dramatic shift in providing that partnership and getting a return

on it.

I think

last year, if I remember correctly, there were about 24,000 or 25,000 tons of

salmon. Then there's also the whole mussel component of wild farming that's a

huge part of what's happening. It's all good too: blue mussels, world renowned

from what is being produced here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

There's

huge growth, huge potential in the aquaculture industry. I know in the summer of

2015, our administration had to work with Grieg Seafood out of Norway and there

was a MOU signed. Nothing has been confirmed to date; it has been 18 months.

That's a tremendous opportunity, somewhere around a $250 million project. It

would be another significant player in regard to the aquaculture industry here

in the province. Marine Harvest, a significant Norwegian player in the

aquaculture industry, has also become a player in the province in regard to

industry. They bought into Gray aquaculture that went into receivership my

understanding is they bought their assets. They are a significant player and

they'll bring great opportunity to the province as well.

haven't heard from this government on the Grieg project. I do note, though, in

one of the documents for the budget in the capital investment component, they do

reference the sites being built in Placentia Bay and they do reference the fact

of the facility being built in Marystown. So I'm a bit curious on that one.

There's been no official announcement on either one of those, yet in the capital

projects, in one of the documents, they are listed. So we'll see where that

goes.

There's

been concern in terms of environmental assessment, but I think any industry

needs to have strict and stringent environmental regulatory framework, and it's

through working with all concerned that we have the best regulatory framework we

can have, especially when this is going on in other jurisdictions. I think it's

important we maximize the opportunity to have that regulatory framework, but I

think it's also important for economic development. I think we can do it well

with the aquaculture industry, provide that strong regulatory framework and move

the industry ahead.

With

those two I mentioned, with Cooke, Marine Harvest and Northern Harvest, if I

remember correctly, all of those collectively will give a volume, if you will,

to the industry to allow the supporting companies to grow and flourish. Again,

they're building an industry and I certainly encourage the current government of

the day to continue to pursue it because we have seen huge advantages to it, and

I think there's certainly more to come.

The

other one in the fishery is the one we talked about as the wild fishery, the

ground fishery, which, as we know, has been a centerpiece of our economy for

many years. Since '92, the ground fishery has certainly lost its footing here,

if you will. Some of the changes we're seeing now in the shellfish industry,

some of the cuts in shrimp and some of the cuts in crab have seen that industry

decline. Obviously as the biomass for groundfish and cod start to come back,

there's a look towards how we transition. That's not an easy process when you

look at the current return and the value of the shellfish industry and how you

transition that into a ground fishery.

That's

going to take a lot of work and it's going to take a focus. I know the current

administration I know in our time we had worked through CETA. We knew at the

time what was coming. We knew we had to transition. We knew there had to be

significant dollars spent. That's why, for relinquishing MPRs, we agreed that

there would be a partnership with the federal government and the provincial

government to get those monies to work on, really, five pillars that are

fundamental to transitioning industry, and to use that money to do it.

Now,

unfortunately, we didn't receive that. The current administration recently

announced $100 million of an Atlantic Fisheries Fund. I think this year there's

maybe $5 million in the budget to leverage we're not really sure what we're

leveraging because, as they say, details are scanty. There is $100 million for

the Atlantic fund, and that's a bigger fund.

Anyway,

the point is what we had focused on was that distinctly we had MPRs. No one else

in Atlantic Canada had used them, but it was distinct to CETA. That is why we

negotiated the 70/30, $400 million fund that we could use to transition. So we

will see what happens, but it is certainly disappointing when you look at what

is in the current budget in regard to the amount of money, provincial dollars,

and to try and leverage federal dollars and what that amount will be. It is time

to get on with it.

I notice

in the Speech from the Throne it talked I think it was in the minister's

original letter about a Fisheries Advisory Council. I understand that's in the

process. After 17 or 18 months, I'm not sure where that is to or whether it's

appointed, but it's certainly needed. Some of the things it was going to look at

were cod revitalization, how you deal with that and how you support all the

value chain in that industry, whether it's harvesting, processing or marketing.

The

reality is the whitefish market has been what would you say? Over the past 20

years, 30 years has other whitefish now that's used. Some are farmed and some

are out of the wild, but there's a replacement that has gone on. We need to

re-establish ourselves in the market. We need to have a steady supply. It's not

an industry anymore that will have cod block. It has to be top quality, it has

to be fresh, it has to be frozen and put into the market. So there is a whole

process to that, to change the way of doing things.

Arnold's Cove, there is a state-of-the-art cod plant there. I've seen some of

the things that they have done, and how they have been doing top-quality product

to get it into market. That's what we need to do. It needs to be a 10- or

12-month industry, the fishery. It needs to be fresh or fresh-frozen to bring it

into market. I have seen the Icelandic operation and what they have done. They

send fresh cod into the Eastern Seaboard; fly it in, Icelandair; within 48

hours, it's out of the water, it's fresh, flown into the Eastern Seaboard and

it's gone into the market. So if they can do that, we are a lot closer. We can

certainly do that as well.

Those

are all the things we need to take on and I certainly encourage the government

of the day to get on with it and do what needs to be done to maximize the

opportunities. Even with the backdrop of what we are seeing today with the

shellfish industry, we need to start that process.

We also

need to be cognizant of the ecosystem and some of the things in regard to the

research that has been done. I think when we had our fishery, it was 800,000

metric tons. The recent study done by DFO was up around 300,000. We are not at a

level yet where it's a full-scale commercial fishery that could drive the type

of level and scope we would need. We need to be careful in regard to when do we

start that commercial fishery, what it's going to look like and the breadth and

scope of that. That's something we need to be very careful of.

With

that, goes the issue of science. From our time and our administration, some of

that royalty money we had based on the federal government and their lack of

science and activity over the past 30 years in getting out of groundfish and

science, we had chartered Celtic Explorer

out of Ireland; had done significant work in regard to the groundfish. I think

it's the Bonavista basin or somewhere in that area in regard to the traditional

spawning ground of the cod.

They

used to come for several weeks a whole group of scientists. A lot of those

scientists now are with the Marine Institute. We've developed probably one of

the top groups of scientists in Canada at the Marine Institute here. There were

people that did their masters and Ph.Ds here on groundfish. In Canada overall,

we probably got the best group of scientists for groundfish in the country and

they are right here at the Marine Institute. That's investment. That was done

through the Marine Institute and giving young people the opportunity, and they

would be involved as well with the Celtic

Explorer in that experience.

Unfortunately, I think that was cancelled under the current administration. I'm

not sure where we are in regard to the ground fishery. I know the federal

government in last year's budget did talk about the fact that they were

investing back into science, so that's good DFO. To date, I heard a local MP

saying he wasn't sure. He expected there to be 18 or 19 scientists. We've asked

and my colleague for Cape St. Francis has asked the minister how many of those

are here; are they at the White Hills; where are they; and are they on the

ground here doing the work that we need to have done.

It's not

only for the ground fishery; it's for the whole ecosystem. It's for shrimp,

crab. We know now and we always knew, but we never really focused on it;

that's all interconnected. So if one species goes up, the other goes down, much

like the shrimp and the cod. As well, the whole issue in regard to seals and the

abundance of seals and the effect it's having on the ecosystem.

certainly implore the current government of the day here to get started on the

science and the requirements that's needed which is important, as I say, for the

fishing industry and what it's meant to this province and what it's going to

mean and will still mean for hundreds of years to come.

mentioned earlier about aquaculture, and the document speaks as well about

seizing the opportunities in aquaculture in getting up to 50,000 metric tons

annually. In my days in the fisheries, we did work to upgrade the aquaculture

management plan, I think it was called. We agreed that that's where we needed to

go. As I said this year, the amount of production of salmon is maybe 23,000 or

24,000 metric tons, and we need to continue to grow that. There are huge

opportunities.

As well

I said about the expertise we developed at the Marine Institute in regard to

scientists, but in Bay d'Espoir too we also developed a state-of-the-art

facility down there to monitor the industry, have technical people, scientists

as well who oversee the aquaculture industry and do the research, the testing

and all those things they need to drive the economy and have the expertise is

the big thing that we need.

We spoke

about oil and gas as the preferred destination; the document talks about that

and I can agree with that and the work that's been done. One of the things I

will say in 2015 or just in late summer, we had brought in a royal regime at

that particular time. You need to be competitive because the oil companies want

to know what the lay of the land are, what the rules are, what's the royalty

regime, so they can factor all that into their cost; and when we negotiate in

terms of benefits agreements, it's very clear to them what it is and,

internationally, they're aware so you know when you're coming to the

jurisdiction of Newfoundland and Labrador what some of the rules of the games

are.

Back

then, the then minister of Natural Resources and our administration had

announced that. At that time, the current premier who was the Leader of the

Opposition, if I remember correctly, did indicate that he was going to adopt it

or he thought we could move forward with it because it's very much required. If

I remember correctly, the current Minister of Natural Resources we had asked

about it a few months back and I think the response was March 30, but to date I

don't think we have a royalty regime. So I would certainly urge the minister and

the folks on the other side to get to it, get it done. It's very important.

As I

said, we had it arranged. In mid-2015, there was a framework announced. While we

partner with the oil and gas companies and folks around the world who want to

invest, we need to make sure that with any royalty regime is the best possible

return we can get for the people of the province. They are our resources and we

need to partner, but we need to make sure that we're stringent and we certainly

don't give up any more than we should to continue to grow developments of our

oil and gas sector.

that's important. You talk about economic development and an economic

development plan, that would be key to that to continue to drive the activity,

not only here off the Island but certainly off Labrador. We know that through

the seismic work and work we've done in regard to natural gas and oil, there are

significant findings as well, so it bodes well for the industry in general.

mentioned before, and the document talks about, the modern seismic acquisition

activity. That needs to continue and we certainly support that in regard to

driving economic opportunity in the province. There were successful bids, as I

said, with the Offshore Petroleum Board, a call for bids in our offshore bids,

with total commitments of almost well over $700 million. I think at that time

that's probably one of the biggest or one of the largest that we had at that

particular time.

Again,

we've seen new entrants come into the province's offshore oil and gas industry.

Other sectors that this speaks to are our mining sector, promoting opportunities

in the mining sector. We've seen shipments being significant, almost $3 billion

in 2017. We continue to see the commodity market bounce back with iron ore now

up over $90, and that bodes well for that industry as we move it forward.

There's

further interest in terms of mines in Labrador. As I mentioned before about

investors and creating that environment where they're welcome, we create that

competitive environment where they want to invest here, we certainly need to

continue to do that to make sure they will invest and want to invest their money

here in our province.

There's

also been some focus on agriculture to promote food security. I certainly agree

with that. As well, it's not only food security, but it's economic activity that

may be untapped. I think there's a huge role play there when you look at what

we're self-sufficient in. It's not a lot when you look at the bigger picture,

but it's certainly something we need to work on.

I know

when I did the Lands Act review or

our government did it back in 2014-15, in Crown lands there was reference then

to agriculture, access to lands, and municipalities having access to lands. Some

of that was adopted by the current administration I know they've worked on it

with agriculture as well. But it's about making that availability, and if there

are opportunities there, you can certainly drive it.

The

tourism sector as well, in regard to an economic plan, has given huge returns

back to the province in regard to the activities and what's been happening over

the past number of years to the point in time where we're almost up to around,

up or down, over a billion dollars, and I think it employs almost close to

20,000 people, which is significant in our tourism industry. It is very

important, and we need to continue to push that and to grow and see what the

government's plan is in regard to sustainability.

Interestingly enough, those ones I've mentioned are ones that we've driven

through our administration over our 12 years in government here in the province.

Tourism, we heavily drove; the aquaculture industry, we got it to the point, we

transitioned it into a legitimate industry to drive growth, unprecedented levels

of growth; the oil and gas sector, driving that in regard to getting equity with

firms to grow the industry. As well, I've talked about seismic. All of those

things are important.

I don't

know if we've seen it over the past 18 months with the current administration.

They seem to be following on what we had started, but in terms of being

innovative and looking in other areas, we haven't seen a lot of that. And that's

important for driving industries, whether it's current or new ones that we can

drive. So hopefully, we'll see something new, but we're 18 months in now and we

haven't seen a lot to date.

As well,

they spoke to innovation and supporting social enterprise. Local groups on the

ground, whether it's cooperatives who drive activities, which can play a

significant role; non-profit groups can really do great work. I know in my area

you look at groups like the Petty Harbour Fisheries Co-op, we got Colony of

Avalon a lot of social enterprise groups that are doing great things the

Edge of Avalon in Portugal Cove South. A whole lot of groups that do a lot of

great work as part of that social enterprise and drive economic activities in

communities a lot of it, some is related to tourism, some is not, but it

really drives economic activity, which is extremely important. It's just one

other avenue of a collection of a whole lot of avenues that you need to have a

buoyant economy.

The

speech then talked about a strong labour market that underpins a stronger

economy. We know when the major megaprojects over the past decade, we saw times,

and because it was so competitive with other jurisdictions in Canada skilled

trades. We certainly invested heavily in skilled trades to make sure we can get

apprentices through the various levels, no matter what the skilled trade was,

and put significant dollars into that to make sure they can get to the red seal

and get through those apprenticeship levels. So that's where we used money

smartly to drive economic activity, but make sure the labour supply is there and

can be taken care of. That's all apart of driving the economy as well. We have

to do and that have to continue to do it.

The

document talks about the fact that as part of

The Way Forward , which is the government's economic plan, delivering

better services to residents. Service improvement must underpin decisions.

That's all great, but to date we haven't seen a lot of return on that or what

the actual plan is. We did see in terms of better services, the Minister of TW

went through a process of a multi-year planning and an earlier tendering of

roadwork in 2017. I had discussions with him with regard to issues that were

relevant to my area. That's all good.

But some

of the years, interestingly enough, as he got towards the next provincial

election, it seems like there's less and less on the list. One of the things

that we had asked for and we never did get, and my colleague had asked for it,

is the whole assessment. What we got, we got a list of roads that were assessed

and that's why they got funded, but we didn't see an assessment of all the

roads. So if he didn't get an assessment of all the roads, how do you know who

got the priority and who should have got priority?

I know

he talked about taking the politics out of it and all that, and that's good; but

if you don't give a good, comprehensive list of all roads, where they were

ranked and match that to what the priority of the list are, it's kind of tough

to be open and transparent and say, okay, okay, I understand it, I get it. To

date, we haven't received that list. I said my colleague, the critic, certainly

asked for it several times. Again, in terms of long-term planning over five

years, if we can get the list, it's probably something that will work well.

Supporting a Healthier Province: That's a kind of approach that is needed when

you look at some of the indicators in our province, in some of our health a

lot of the health indicators, we don't do that well. It's certainly lifestyle,

working with our youth. I know a lot of programs that we had started in regard

to assisting youth to be active because that's when it really needs to start and

becomes a way of life and promote it through our poverty reduction program and

the significant dollars that was spent on that, that transcended just about

every department in government to try and support youth and families in healthy

living.

Like I

said, the Speech from the Throne is high level; it supposedly gives some

indicators of what the priority of the government of the day is. It goes on to

talk about supporting the environment; supporting community organizations;,

supporting indigenous people all relevant, obviously supporting women;

supporting seniors, children; and inclusion as well. So all of these are

laudable in terms of the direction and what it is you want to do. But then it

comes down to, through a budget or through a

Way Forward plan or whatever plan you want to talk about, it's a

roadmap to how we take all of that and how we're going to operationalize it, if

you will.

You need

to do that through clear direction, you need to do it through communicating and

you need to do it through balancing a budget that doesn't stifle the economy,

yet allows innovation and allows activities to grow that will drive your economy

and allows people to want to stay here in the province, raise their family here

in the province and do the things they need to do to be successful.

In the

budget last week, the minister laid out what she thought was this government's

direction, Realizing Our Potential ,

and the plan to do that. As I've said, I've talked about the Speech from the

Throne and what was contained in that, that is the high-level points and you try

an operationalize that to get to where you need to go, through a budget and

through an overall process in governance.

It's

important to look back at 2016 and where we were, and look at economic

indicators and look at what they're telling us. In the context of that, too, you

have to look at some of the measures that were taken in last year's budget.

We've talked about them today in Question Period; the 300 fees and taxes, was it

too much? Is it hindering growth?

When you

think about that, how you answer that question is you look at your economic

indicators. You say: Where are they going? What direction are they going in? So

that's reflective of many of the choices you make in your budget.

In doing

that, you have to be careful we recognize you had to raise the revenue but you

also got to curtail expenditures. In terms of raising revenue, you can't do it

to the point where it negatively affects the estimates you have in terms of how

much revenue you are going to raise. Because, at some point, people will stop

spending; uncertainty, don't know if they're going to have a job, don't know if

their son or daughter coming out of university is going to have a job, or coming

out of Marine Institute or coming out of CNA. They need to have some belief that

there's an opportunity for them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

That's part of going back,

and I think it's important to go back and look at 2016, what some of the

indicators have been and what's been projected through this budget for 2017.

That's part of government's roadmap that people get to dissect and to determine

if they're in favour or if they're not in favour.

In 2016

so this is looking back at 2016 GDP declined by a little under a percent,

and that was due to lower capital investments and some of that is related to

some of the wind down of some of the significant projects we had through our

term in government.

Then we

looked at capital investments. It is estimated to have declined by 6.4 per cent

to $12.1 billion. That was again somewhat attributed to lower spending on Hebron

and the Vale nickel process facility, and it was offset by investment in Muskrat

Falls. So capital investment is down significantly in 2016.

That

drives the economy. We all know people that worked in various projects, drives

activity, and there is a book that was put out in the budget as well that

highlights capital expenditures and some of the ones that are coming up. I

mentioned Grieg aquaculture that is in there. The project hasn't been approved,

yet it's in the documents. I'll touch on that in a little while.

It also

touches on private investment by private companies, whether that could be

building a subdivision, whether it could be building a building for office

space. In the document, in the budget, there's both private and public and it

would include some of the provincial-federal initiatives, whether it's roads,

water and sewer, those types of things.

They

would be included in it as well.

So that

was capital investment. The real value of provincial exports has increased about

4.5 per cent and that was majorly due to the higher oil productions. As I said,

in 2016, production was four times what it was in 2015, and that was something

that was related to really nothing that government did; it was related to the

availability of that and the producers to be able to execute.

I know

in 2015, at particular times, there were two of the producing platforms, or the

FPSO I think both of those were down for extended period of time. So in 2015,

due to those occurrences, they would have been done and then, in the subsequent

year, when they had the work done, they needed to get work to be operational,

obviously production went up.

With

that, too, in terms of the current administration getting a windfall of over

$400 million, it would have been related to the estimate of a barrel of oil and

what it actually came in on. Both of those gave significant dollars to the

current administration.

The

other one that we've seen rise significantly over the past decade is average

weekly earnings at $1,014. We're the second highest among the provinces after

Alberta, but that's starting to decline and that can be worrisome as well. This

is 2016, so when you look at 2017, this indicator as well is going in the wrong

direction.

Household income rose marginally by 0.7 per cent, but it was down by 2 per cent

in real terms. Individual average weekly earnings, household earnings,

unfortunately, they seem to be going in the wrong direction based on these

indicators and what's happening in the economy.

The

other important one is our population. We know what happened in '92, if you look

at 1992, when you look at the cod moratorium. You see it on a graph; you see

where it goes and the number of people who left our province. Then when our oil

industry and other activities picked up in the 2000s, we started to see some

growth. All the programs we have and all the initiatives of the current

government have to be focused on population; give people a reason to want to

stay here, to want to raise their families here, to have an opportunity to have

employment. All of that's required because once someone moves away and sets up

roots somewhere else we love to say we'd like to have them come back, the

ex-pats. They get kids, they get enrolled in school, get enrolled in the

community and it's not that easy. So we really need to make sure that we have

the environment and create the environment where people want to stay.

So the

population as of July 1, 2016 was 530,128, an increase of 0.3 per cent from one

year earlier. I'll get to the projections for 2017 and, unfortunately, they're

not going in the right direction.

Consumer

spending was limited with the value of retail sales down by 1.6 per cent in real

terms. So that's an indicator I've talked about before in regard to funds in

people's pocket retail sales. Are people going to spend if they're uncertain

about employment? Are people going to spend if they're uncertain about a layoff?

Are people going to spend if they don't have a feeling that they understand what

government is doing, that they understand the plan? People understand economic

times and there are challenges, they have to give a bit and everybody has to

give a bit in that regard, people get all that, but they need to see it. They

need to see the full plan.

There

are times we haven't seen that over the past 17 months, and that leads people to

not spend, the uncertainty. Another indicator it is not discretionary income

is new vehicles; that's a significant investment for an individual, for a

family, for a business. If they're going to invest in vehicles, they want to

look at the future and see can I even maintain where I'm to today; is there an

area for growth; and how are things going.

In 2016,