June 20, 2002 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLIV No. 29

The House met at 10:00 a.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Snow): Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Placentia & St. Mary's.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the wonderful men, women and children of the great District of

Placentia & St. Mary's who have sent me here to the House of Assembly. It

has been an honour and a privilege to serve my constituents in this hon. House.

Before I go any further, I want to say thanks to my family, my friends,

supporters, and concerned citizens of the great and historic District of

Placentia & St. Mary's.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: To all those who have participated in my consultation

process, no matter what your opinion was, I say thank you.

Mr. Speaker, allow me a moment to publicly thank the most patient woman in

the world, my wife, Sandra -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: - who, any day now, will give birth to our third child. I

guarantee you, Mr. Speaker, if we are lucky enough to have our little girl, her

name won't be Voisey.

To my caucus, I say thank you for all the support you have given me over the

past weeks and months. To my leader, Danny Williams, our leader, I say thank you

for the support and the leadership you have shown me in the past year. I thank

you for giving me the opportunity today to stand in this House and have a free

vote -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: - on an important topic to all Newfoundland and Labrador,

but very important to the people I represent in this House.

I want to say here, Mr. Speaker, that I am proud to be part of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, and proud to be

part of the Danny Williams team.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: Last Tuesday, Mr. Speaker, I attended a news conference at

the Fairmont Hotel for the announcement on the Voisey's Bay development. When

I left, it reminded me of a story I would like to relay, of when you would be

coming home and you would go up to the door of your house and you could smell

the raisin buns that mom had in the oven. They smelled really good. When you got

in and mom took the buns out of the oven and laid them on the table, and you cut

them open and realized that for some reason or other mom didn't put the

raisins in, they still smelled good. Even as you spread the butter on and ate

them, afterwards, it was great but there were no raisons in them.

When I look back on the promises that were made to the people in my district

in 1996, the promises that were made to the people in Argentia and Placentia of

a full-fledged smelter and refinery, I thought on that story, because now we

have the bun but we do not have the raisins.

Later that evening, I put in place and announced the most comprehensive

consultation process I have ever undertaken as a Member of the House of

Assembly, and I believe, Mr. Speaker, on this particular issue, of any member

here in the House. I felt it was necessary because of the roller coaster ride in

my district since 1996. This process consisted of mail-in ballots, town hall

meetings, key stakeholder consultations, individual verbal briefs, individual

written briefs. To say it was successful is an understatement. It was

phenomenal. It was phenomenal how many people came out and took

part in the

process, Mr. Speaker. It gave them the opportunity to raise issues and concerns,

and for me to hear the issues and concerns of my district, and there are many

with this development.

There are environmental issues, especially in the Town of Fox Harbour, where

I sat with the town council, where they, Mr. Speaker, are in the ways of

prevailing winds of Argentia. Other environmental concerns have been raised

also: concerns with education and the training requirements needed for this

great development; the employment opportunities for workers, unemployed workers

in many cases, in my district; contractors; concerns with the royalty regime;

concerns from the fishing industry, especially in Placentia and St. Mary's

Bay; concerns from senior citizens, with the cost of living increases; concerns

with ore leaving the Province; the what ifs and the maybes; the need for

stronger guarantees; and, most importantly, Mr. Speaker, the community and

regional benefits that we hope to receive in our area. The list goes on and on.

Through it all, people were given the opportunity to voice their concerns,

raise the issues, but most importantly were given the opportunity to tell me how

they wished me to vote on this agreement.

Mr. Speaker, my district has suffered greatly: the closure of the Long

Harbour phosphorous plant, followed by the closure of the Argentia naval base,

and we all know what happened with the shutdown of the fishery. My district is

no different. Out-migration has taken its toll on my people.

Mr. Speaker, in 1991, in the Town of Placentia there was a population of

5,515 people. In 1996, that population fell to 5,013. In the last census of

2001, the population was 4,426.

Mr. Speaker, I, and all the development agencies in my district, are looking

for answers to the economic problems. Will this agreement address some of these

concerns? Yes, but we have to deal with reality. The hopes and dreams of the

people I represent are up here again. We have to realize that there need to be

other avenues to create economic activity. Even though Voisey's Bay is

positive for my district, it will not answer all the woes.

Do I have concerns with this agreement, Mr. Speaker? Definitely. I am very

concerned about some of the wording in the Statement of Principles. In reviewing

this Statement of Principles, I went back to one of my old jobs - my first job,

as a matter of fact - that of a truck driver. I took the truck and I drove her,

in my mind, right through the following words, clauses and phrases: suitable

financing; best efforts; on a financially prudent basis; bankable feasibility

studies; other relevant factors; confidential progress reports; Exemption

Orders; prior to the cessation of mining operation; government entitled to claim

damages; as soon as practical; lower electrical power rate; ship ore out of the

Province; allow additional ore out, if; taxes lowered, in all provinces average;

and, the government will undertake to indemnify the proponent.

Mr. Speaker, these are off-ramps or the yellow lights. I say this to the

Premier and to the government in the true spirit of democracy and in my role as

an Opposition member: Beware of those caution lights as you cruise Yonge Street

and Bay Street between now and the end of September.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: These are just fifteen off-ramps that a former truck driver

like myself could find.

It was and is my job to listen and respect, where possible, the wishes of my

constituents. My campaign promise of 1999, Mr. Speaker, was listening to the

people. I would be less than honest if I did not say I have concerns about this

agreement. I worry that the benefits promised to the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador, the benefits promised to the people of Placentia and St. Mary's,

will not materialize. I agree with our leader, that the guarantees are not what

they should be, but I have to deal with the realities of the people of my

district, and the realities of the people of Argentia and Placentia in

particular. There is a lot of hardship in this area of my district. Unemployment

is in the area of 70 per cent. According to the last census, as I just touched

on, there are less than 1,300 people there today than in 1991. The classrooms of

Laval school are much emptier than they were ten years ago, and you cannot drive

very far without seeing a boarded-up home or a shop that has been closed down. I

can assure you, Mr. Speaker, those are the realities that I deal with in my

office on a daily basis.

You see, the people in my district have hopes and dreams that have not been

realized through the last thirteen years of this Liberal government. Without

Voisey's Bay, they will have no chance to secure their hopes and dreams in the

short term, and while we may never have anything more than a pilot plant in

Argentia, at least it is something to grasp hold of today. At least it provides

those people with a chance, and everybody deserves a chance. Believe you me, the

people of Placentia and St. Mary's, the people of Placentia and Argentia,

deserve a chance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: I hope and pray, Mr. Speaker, that one day we will have that

commercial plant, employing hundreds and hundreds of people. I welcome Inco to

my area and advise them that I will continue to act in the best interests of all

the people I represent. In my heart of hearts, I sincerely believe that if we

have to wait another five, seven, or ten years for a deal on Voisey's Bay,

there will be no one left to fill the jobs in Argentia, from my area. The people

will all have packed up and left.

Just as I used to wait for my mother's raisin buns, so too are the people

of Argentia and Placentia waiting for these jobs. So, Mr. Speaker, despite my

reservations and concerns, I cannot say no to any number of jobs in an area

plagued by 70 per cent unemployment. Despite the reservations and concerns that

I share with my caucus, I have to stand up for my district, one of the few

districts that will benefit from the development of Voisey's Bay, and today I

will vote in favour of this deal.

Mr. Speaker, I want to send out a warning, and I want to quote from a lady I

talked to at a gas pump in Placentia last week. She said to me: I heard the deal

is done. Now, Fabian, you and your party have done a great job as watchdogs on

this government. It is now more important than ever that we need you to watch

them and make sure that promises made are promises kept, that commitments made

are commitments kept.

I want to address the several hundreds of people who asked me to vote against

this deal from my own district. In a position I find myself in today, I cannot

vote both ways but I have to respect the wishes of the majority of people who

have sent those wishes to me through my consultation process. I respect the

right of anybody who has an opinion. I respect the right of anybody who differs

from my opinion, but the decision is mine to make today and I make it in favour

of this agreement.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, once again, all the people who have been part

of my public life since I entered politics almost ten years ago. This is one of

the hardest decisions I have had to face since I became a member of this House.

I want to thank, once again, my leader, Danny Williams, for giving me the

opportunity to do so, free and without reservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: Mr. Speaker, a very difficult decision to say the least. It

is not today that worries me. It is not today that concerns me. What I have to

do here in the House today, I do it on behalf of the people who put me here. It

is when I look back in fifteen or twenty years time and make sure and feel that

I made the right decision today. The people have entrusted me. It is not my

views or opinions that count, it is the people who put me here. They have

expressed their views and opinions to me and I intend to honour their wishes

here today.

I hope the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and some of the people in the

District of Placentia & St. Mary's, do not see my vote as a glowing

endorsement for this deal because it is not. My vote is an expression of hope

for the people of my district. My vote is an expression of hope to follow the

dreams of the people of the District of Placentia & St. Mary's. I pray to

God that their hope will be realized. I pray to God that rock solid commitments

of Inco and this government, this time around, are more than just the words and

more rock solid than the words of 1996. For as I tell my children, Mr. Speaker,

I tell Inco and this government, the smallest action is greater than the

grandest intention.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: I want to say in closing, Mr. Speaker, I say to the

government, that I will continue and I will ensure over the next several years

the promises that have been made to people in my district are kept. That the

commitments that have been made to the people in my district are honoured, and

if they are not, and I say in all honesty, I will rally the troops in the

District of Placentia & St. Mary's and I will let the people know in this

House and this Province that this government will not be (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MANNING: Mr. Speaker, in 1996 with the promise of a better tomorrow,

with the promises of Brian Tobin, the former Premier, and the promises that he

put forward in the election of 1996, I lost an election. I lost an election in

1996 because people, once again, were told of the dreams, the possibilities and

the aspirations that may come. It was a hard act to follow. I will be brutally

honest, Mr. Speaker, it was a hard act to follow, because when people get the

opportunity to have employment, when people who have been unemployed for several

years get the opportunity to have a better life it is hard to fight that. Those

promises were made in 1996 by Brian Tobin and I, as I said, lost an election on

that.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to say now, I was in Placentia last week at the news

conference when the Premier and his company came to town and the people in

Placentia are delighted with this announcement. The people in the Argentia area

are delighted but they are cautiously optimistic. They are not jumping up and

down in the streets like they were in 1996. They are going to make sure that

they develop along with this project in due course.

Mr. Speaker, with the decision and the vote that I will make here today on

behalf of the people who put me in this House of Assembly, on behalf of the

people who entrusted me with expressing their views and opinions, my only

feeling today is that in my heart and soul I hope I have made the right

decision.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, it is an honour for me to be able to stand in this House to speak

about the great Voisey's Bay deal. I am sure it is a tough decision for all to

look at the deal but I can say one thing here, and I can say it for the people

of the Bay of Islands, if the Premier of this Province wants to bring 600 jobs

to the Bay of Islands it will not be a tough decision for me to vote for it,

Premier, I can assure you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I say to the Member for Placentia & St. Mary's, just

remember you are supporting the leader who last night stood in this House - and

I was flabbergasted - and said: If you are going to get direct benefits for

adjacency, vote for it, because it is going to help. Everybody else who is not,

shouldn't vote for it. And you are supporting that leader here this morning.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I can tell the Leader of the Opposition, I can tell this

honourable House, Mr. Speaker, that the people of the Bay of Islands district

which I represent are a proud people. They will not ask me to, nor would I ever,

vote against a deal that will support some other part of this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, the District of the Bay of Islands would never

ask me to vote against the deal because it is going to bring prosperity to some

other part of Newfoundland and Labrador, nor would I ever vote against the deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: The Statement of Principles, Mr. Speaker, has been debated all

across this Province, on every possible news network, radio, TV, ads, everywhere

possible. So, for me to get into this again would be just going over the same

old stuff that everybody here in this House has heard, everybody in the

Province.

I just want to take a different tune, because I remember the Leader of the

Opposition saying: Consult with your people, vote with your district, listen to

what the people have to say. This has become a political issue, a very political

issue, and the people of the Bay of Islands are well aware of the politics. Just

to show how political, Mr. Speaker, I would like to go back to Hansard and put

this in perspective about how political this has been.

I will read from Hansard, Mr. Speaker, "The Liberal government with a

new mandate will maintain a firm position on behalf of the people of our

province that there will be no mine at Voisey's Bay unless a smelter and

refinery are build in our province.' That is exactly what the Red Book said,

and that is our position."

It goes on to say, "I ask the hon. Member for Placentia & St. Mary's:

What is it that the people down in his district are saying? What are they

telling you? What are the people of Placentia & St. Mary's telling you?

"I can totally understand where the Leader of the Opposition may want to

play politics with this. I can understand where the incoming leader may want to

play politics with this because he is not here yet, but I truly do not

understand why the Member for Placentia & St. Mary's would want to let

himself be hung out to dry by his Party. That is the thing that amazes me, Mr.

Speaker. I really do not understand that at all.

"The other day when I was responding to the Speech from the Throne, I

commented that all the hon. members in the House needed to be accountable to the

people who elected them. I think it is time for the hon. Member for Placentia

& St. Mary's to be accountable to the people who elected him. I challenge

the hon. member."

"...what is the real agenda for the Opposition here? They are not

interested in having a negotiated deal on Voisey's Bay. They are more

interested in participating in partisan politics and trying to make a major

issue of this to their own political end."

"Now, one of the fundamental things here is that we need to understand

that we are, as a Province, in a set of negotiations with Inco. I think it is

about time that the Opposition recognize that in any set of negotiations you

start out with an objective. Let me read again an excerpt from the Speech from

the Throne last week, and I quote, My Government sees opportunity in the

development of the resources at Voisey's Bay. We have the confidence to move

forward and we will resume negotiations. We are not afraid to reach a deal

because no deal will be signed that cannot be clearly explained and defended. My

Government has one basic objective for the negotiations' - and this is

critical, and it is something we need to keep in mind - Any deal must provide

maximum benefits to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador."

Mr. Speaker, who is that from? The Member for Trinity North, these are the

statements that he made in this House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, as we can see, this is becoming a very political

issue. I looked at it, Doug Moores is supporting this deal. I heard the Leader

of the Opposition stand up and say: I have been in law for thirty years. It is

from a bit of research that I did, that when he signed to the Bar, Doug Moores's

name was right under his. So, Doug Moores has just as much experience as you,

Sir, and he supports the deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: John Crosbie, another former PC supporter; Leo Power, another

strong PC supporter.

When consultation came up, the Premier said: Go out and consult. Be

comfortable with yourself. Be comfortable with yourself on what this deal means

to you and your district and to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Be

comfortable.

Being a constituent man, like I am, and very connected to the District of the

Bay of Islands, I went out and started consulting. I will just name a few people

I have spoken to. I spoke to Don Johnson, a good friend of mine, a very good

advisor. I spoke to Hayward Brake. I spoke to Eric Humber, all business people

whom I consulted. One of the issues that came up was this Force Majeure. Now, I

am not a lawyer and I do not profess to be a lawyer. I will leave that to the

experts. Hayward Brake is a man who probably has 200 people employed, contracts

all around the Province, contracts in Quebec, doing work. I said: Hayward, what

does that mean? He said: Here is what it means. I said: Make it simply so people

like me, the lay person, can understand. He said: Here is what that means. I am

doing a contract of laying some cable between Corner Brook and Pasadena. In the

contract, it takes one month for me to do it. In that month, if there is a

forest fire in that area, the contract is stopped, and once the forest fire

ends, the extension is put on the end of my time. That is in every standard

contract that I write. That is the simplest way I can put it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I also take exception, Mr. Speaker, and I ask the Opposition

House Leader, if he really believes in what he said last night in voting with

your conscience, and people should question with their conscience, I ask the

Opposition House Leader to speak to his own leader for making the statement that

the backbenchers, the government, are going to have their arms twisted to vote

for this deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!!

MR. JOYCE: That we are going to get our arms twisted. I can assure this

hon. House, and I can assure every person in this great District of Bay of

Islands, that Eddie Joyce will not get his arm twisted by any member if the deal

is not good for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: I went off and consulted the residents of the Bay of Islands.

Again, I profess I am not a lawyer, so I gave them the Statement of Principles

and I went to two lawyers, two friends of mine, and said: Read it and give me

your honest opinion. They came back to me and I said: Be honest, be up front.

Tell me what you really think.

Their final analysis to me was that if they had to go into a court of law, in

layman terms, if they had to go into a court of law with the Statement of

Principles that was handed to them, they would not even ask for a retainer fee

because they would win 100 per cent of the time in the court of law in this

Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: That was two lawyers, Mr. Speaker, two lawyers.

I contacted many residents in the Bay of Islands. I will just read some

statements that some of them made. Sherman Wheeler, a local contractor in the

District of Bay of Islands. I said: Sherman, what do you think of the deal? He

said: It is great. How many people in this district worked at Hibernia, union

workers? There are going to be union workers at the construction site. So, me,

as a private contractor, when they move out, I am going to move in and do a lot

of their work. It is a great deal for the District of Bay of Islands.

I asked Alec Park. Alec Park is a another business person who raised his

family in Cox's Cove, who built his own business in Cox's Cove, who stayed

in Cox's Cove, rural Newfoundland and Labrador, who is doing work all over the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. I said: Alec, what do you think of the

deal? Alec Park's comment: It is the best deal since Confederation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: That was a business person who stayed in rural Newfoundland

and Labrador. Mayor John Pye, Mayor of Mount Moriah: It is a great deal, a great

deal. Mayor Harley Anderson of Meadows: Get on with the deal. What are you

waiting for? Get on with the deal. Dave Wells; Dave Wells was a union man all

his life. Dave Wells worked at Hibernia, worked at Bull Arm. He worked all his

life in the union. I said: What do you think of the deal from a union

perspective? He said: It is great to get people back to work. It is great to

give people hope. It is great to be able to create the jobs on a long-term

basis. Clarence Galliott, a union leader all his life, what did Clarence

Galliott say? It is great for the workers of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador, great for the whole area, great for the District of Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Just in case, Mr .Speaker, somewhere along the line - a lot of

those people are my friends - they did not want to really tell me, which I

doubt, because they always speak the truth to me, but just in case, I just want

to read some other things that were sent to me, where I have been contacted. I

have to straighten out a few things in this House.

The Leader of the Opposition, here is what he said on VOCM, on the talk show

- and I am very fortunate that I am Corner Brook and I can hear what is going on

in Corner Brook, and when I am in St. John's I can hear what is going on in

St. John's. I am very fortunate. It is a great advantage.

MS J.M. AYLWARD: Was he talking about the two streets then, or what?

MR. JOYCE: Oh, no.

Here is what he said. We are talking about the Mayor, Priscilla Boutcher, in

Corner Brook. Here is what he said: So, I started to go down through with her,

you know. You could tell obviously, by the silence on the other side of the

phone, that she had serious reservations. I am not going to put words in her

mouth but he don't mind trying to read her mind.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, here is what the Mayor of the City of Corner

Brook actually said: Pleased, pleased that the Statement of Principles is

signed. That means it is now time for people in the area to gain the employment

and the economic benefits the deal will provide. That is what the Mayor of

Corner Brook said.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: The Leader of the Opposition - again, it is great to be in St.

John's and Corner Brook because you hear the stories, you hear the twists, you

hear the different opinions. You always hear it, Mr. Speaker, and it is some

nice to be able to say it.

The Leader of the Opposition, The Telegram , "The greatest failure

of the tentative agreement, Williams said, is the benefits to the province -

only $280 million over the 30-year life of the project." In Corner Brook -

I guess he assumes that the media in St. John's does not reach Corner Brook -

the Opposition says that the main reason for the deal, because there is no

guarantee. In St. John's he is saying one reason why the deal is a failure and

in Corner Brook he has another number one reason, Mr. Speaker. I guess I am a

bit privileged, but I can see both sides of his face.

Again, I consulted with some people in Corner Brook, Mark Sexton, Corner

Brook Economic Development Corporation. He was a former member of the Humber

East PC Association, Vice-President of the Humber East PC Association. Here is

what Mark Sexton said, "From our corporation's perspective, we're

tremendously excited. N o matter how it gets debated out in the coming months,

it's going to have a positive impact on the province, and that includes Corner

Brook.... I think there are some good supply and service activities and staging

opportunities available to this area."

AN HON. MEMBER: Who's constituent is he?

MR. JOYCE: He is Mr. Mercer's.

Bill Lundrigan, past and Acting President of the Corner Brook Chamber of

Commerce: You wonder why I am supporting this deal? "He thinks Voisey's

Bay is a good deal and will have a great impact on the area... They've settled

with the native groups and it opens up a whole host of opportunities for

businesses and people in Newfoundland. That definitely includes this area, he

added... The provincial government's got an adjacency agreement with Inco

whereby they're not going to give preference to local people...".

MR. TAYLOR: (Inaudible).

MR. JOYCE: If you want to talk about St. Anthony, the Member for The

Straits & White Bay North brought up St. Anthony. He said a paltry 600 jobs.

These are not my words. These are the words of Ernest Simms, the Mayor of the

Town of St. Anthony: People in the region who have skills will be able to work

at the mine site in Northern Labrador for various lengths of time and still

maintain their homes and family connections in places like St. Anthony. As for

the potential opportunities in providing the massive project with products and

services, most people can really comprehend the significance of the spinoffs. We

need to work together more with people in Newfoundland and Labrador and their

communities. I would also suggest that the economics of this project means that

the Province will be in a better position to invest in the underdeveloped areas

like the Northern Peninsula. That is what your mayor said, I say to the Member

for The Straits & White Bay North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: A person who can help every person in this House, Mr. Randy

Simms, President of the Newfoundland Federation of Municipalities, someone who

will affect every person in this House of Assembly, just about every resident in

the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Here is what Randy Simms had to say

in The Western Star : We are asking the federal government to commit that

any revenues set aside for municipalities will be excluded from equalization

clawback. This means that more money stays in the Province rather than being cut

from equalization payments. If the federal government agrees it may well mean a

significant financial boost to the 291 municipalities across the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: That is what Randy said. That is what he said.

Bob Kelly, Executive Director of the Chamber of Minerals, the guy who is in

the field, read what he says and (inaudible) - feel that there are opportunities

here to be had in the Bay St. George area from the Voisey's Bay development.

He told a group of Rotarians at the regular luncheon meeting that it is already

known that Atlantic Minerals in Lower Cove will supply about forty tons of

limestone per year to the hydromet to be constructed in Argentia. That is what

he said.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: The Mines and Energy critic was out in Stephenville. Again, it

is great to be in Corner Brook where you get what they say, in here they say it

completely opposite: the Tories will launch an advertising campaign to pressure

the Province to release the terms of the deal. Here they are standing over there

criticizing us, because we sent every household in the Province of Newfoundland

and Labrador a copy of the deal and the benefits. Here you are criticizing,

while he was out in Stephenville saying that it should be done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Jamie Schwartz, Manager of the Deer Lake Regional Airport

Authority, very supportive of the deal in the Deer Lake area. Dwight Ball,

President of the Chamber of Commerce in Deer Lake: Deer Lake proximity to

Labrador infrastructure will help capitalize on economic spinoffs. The business

communities in Labrador will have to provide support services for the

development, will form some linkages with businesses here. Of course, I am not

just talking about Deer Lake, but also communities around the region, like

Corner Brook and Stephenville, will benefit from this development.

Gary Gale, a mayor, a person who just ran for the PC nomination, a full

supporter of the deal. I will just read his last comment. He is the Mayor of

Hampden who ran for the PC nomination in the Humber Valley district. There is a

lot of optimism being generated and I think it is not only good in reference to

Voisey's Bay but also with regard to the general economic climate in the

Province.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, the Premier said: Go consult your constituents. I

did. Go consult the people to whom it is going to mean the most, the business

community which is going to keep the economic viability in this Province. I did.

Mr. Speaker, I proudly stand here today and say I will support the deal. I

proudly stand here today and support the Premier of the Province and the Mines

and Energy Minister for a deal that was well done. I say to the people of Bay of

Islands, if it is good for Newfoundland and Labrador, if is good for the

District of Bay of Islands, then I stand with the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure today that I rise in this House of

Assembly - I would ask the Member for Windsor-Springdale to be quiet because

this is serious business. I have twenty minutes and I want to represent the

views of my constituents in this honourable House. He had his opportunity and I

am sure that we all listened to what he had to say.

It is a pleasure to stand here and support this deal for the development of

the Voisey's Bay mineral deposit. Thirteen years two months ago, the people of

the great District of Bellevue elected me to this House of Assembly, and they

re-elected me three times afterwards, to represent their views and express their

views in this great institution of ours. As a young guy, as a person who grew up

in the great Placentia Bay, one of the great bays of Newfoundland, on a small

island in Placentia Bay, a bay where people worked very, very hard for a living,

the son of a logger who spent many, many days and months away from home in

Millertown and Badger and all those places eking out a living. People who worked

very, very hard, as my father did; who worked very, very hard to ensure that he

provided the necessary things in life for his family; who died when I was nine

years old; who always instilled in me a very great work ethic and a very great

dedication to the people here that we should serve.

Last night I sat in this House of Assembly and I heard the Leader of the

Opposition, Danny Williams, say: I stand here today, I stand here today - the

hon. Leader of the Opposition. I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, but I had to leave this

hon. House last night. He stood and said: I have a bad feeling in my stomach. I

fear terribly. Well, I can tell you during my lifetime I had a lot of pains in

my stomach but I can tell you the day that I said to this caucus: I support this

deal, there was no pain in my stomach.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: I did not leave Woody Island with $500 in my pocket or a

battered up old station wagon. I left Woody Island because at that time we had a

great Liberal government in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I have heard so much over the last two or three weeks about the bad deals

that Joey Smallwood made. The tremendous giveaways of the resources of this

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Well, I am a resource within this

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. I can tell you, to every member in this

House of Assembly today, without the policies of a Liberal government and a Joey

Smallwood, I would not be standing here today. I would not be standing here

today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS S. OSBORNE: (Inaudible).

MR. BARRETT: The economic activities of the 1960s that was generated by

the Liberal government - and I would ask the hon. Member for St. John's West

to be quiet because this is very, very important to the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador.

I want to get a message to you people today of how important the Liberal

government and what Joey Smallwood did for this Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador. Because of the policies of his Liberal government there was free

tuition, free tuition in Newfoundland and Labrador when I went to university.

Not only that, but the last year in university we got paid $100 a month to go,

because of the great work of Joey Smallwood. I can tell you, as an orphan who

grew up on Woody Island I would never have had the opportunity of getting a

post-secondary education in Newfoundland and Labrador. I want to be a part of a

government that is there for the little people.

The Leader of the Opposition last week said: Can we let the little people of

Newfoundland and Labrador decide such a major issue? There is nobody in

Newfoundland and Labrador who are little. My father who worked in the lumber

woods, and the people in Placentia Bay - and we have groups here from Placentia

Bay. When I drove down to Placentia last Tuesday, and when I arrived, just

before we got to Dunville, and there were cars all over the place, my first

reaction was, there must be an accident. Then I looked and saw the look on the

people's faces in the area, and the smiles on the people's faces in the

area.

AN HON. MEMBER: Not smirks.

MR. BARRETT: Not smirks. They weren't on any picket fence. They saw

hope. These hard-working people in Placentia Bay saw hope for the future.

The parade started down through the community, and when I was going down

through that community there were no pains in my stomach, but, I can tell you,

the shivers were going down my spine.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: I was so happy for the people. I was driving by and, on a

bicycle, I saw a young kid. A young boy, on his bicycle, was just getting out of

school and the bookbag was on his back. I looked at him. I was driving in the

car by myself, and I said to myself: Percy, thirteen years in politics, this is

what it is all about. That is the future of Newfoundland and Labrador, this

young boy on the bicycle. I said to myself that I hope this project will bring a

future and prosperity to this young boy.

That is why all of us sit in this House of Assembly. That is why all of us

make the difficult decisions that we have to make. When we look at this project

and we know that 79,000 person years of employment will be gained for the people

of Newfoundland and Labrador, we know that there are going to be a lot of kids

on bicycles with their school bags on their backs who are going to be affected

by this project. That does not give me a pain in my stomach. It makes me feel

proud to be part of a government that is committed to the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: We have heard, over the last two or three weeks - I have

talked to a lot of people and I have listened to a lot of newscasts. I have

spent a lot of time in the car so I had an opportunity to listen to a lot of the

people on the Open Line programs.

I heard a former Member of this House of Assembly talking about the mistakes

of Joey Smallwood, God rest his soul; I hope he rests in peace. He talked about

the Come By Chance Refinery and what a grave mistake it was: Joey Smallwood and

the Come By Chance Refinery. I don't know where he was coming from. I was

confused. I was driving from my district and I passed along the parking lot of

the Come By Chance Refinery and it was full. The parking lot was full. The Come

By Chance Refinery - the hon. member used to be the hon. Member for St. John's

East Extern - is operating. It is operating today, as I speak. There are 600

people working at the Come By Chance Refinery.

AN HON. MEMBER: Paltry.

MR. BARRETT: A paltry 600 people working at the Come By Chance Refinery.

People from the great District of Bellevue; the great District of Trinity North;

the great District of Harbour Main-Whitbourne; Port de Grave; Carbonear-Harbour

Grace. People travel in every morning.

Out in my district, if you were to pass between Long Harbour and Come By

Chance at 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning, it is busier than Water Street, and we

had a gentleman saying that Joey Smallwood made such a tremendous mistake

getting involved with the Come By Chance Refinery. A $40 million payroll every

year, and this gentleman was spreading the propaganda, associating the Come By

Change Refinery to Voisey's Bay.

It is amazing what some people will not do in the name of politics. Forty

million dollars, and do you know something? That refinery, within the last five

or six years, has spent $200 million, a paltry $200 million, in capital

improvements; 600 permanent employees. Fourteen hundred people directly -

directly - in the districts that I just mentioned, get their livelihood from the

Come By Chance Refinery, and in the propaganda that was spread out in the last

couple of weeks by members opposite, and former members opposite, it was a great

mistake of Joey Smallwood's government.

There is great support in my district for this project. I travelled around

and attended meetings in Clarenville with my great friend, former friend -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. BARRETT: - who crossed over to the other side because he said: I

cannot agreed with the government's approach to Voisey's Bay.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: If he wanted to come back, I would walk out of the caucus if

you took him back, Mr. Premier.

Great support in the District of Trinity North. I was in Marystown with the

Premier and the two other members from the Burin Peninsula. One hundred and

eighty people turned out, people from the Fortune Bay part of my district.

People travelled extensive distances in my district to go to Marystown.

AN HON. MEMBER: The Mayor of Grand Le Pierre (inaudible).

Harbour East and the development associations, all these people travelled to

Marystown. They are not affected by the adjacency, but they see it as a very

positive thing for Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: Do you know something? I listened to the hon. member for St.

Mary's, the Capes, and I heard about his raisin buns. I heard about his raisin

buns. I had them too. I had them when I was growing up.

AN HON. MEMBER: Still eats them.

MR. BARRETT: I still eat them whenever I get a chance, with butter on

them. There was a thing on Woody Island, and he said that - my mother always

said to me: Percy, don't stand on that picket fence. Don't sit on the picket

fence, Percy. Don't sit on it, because that wood has splinters in it and it

will be all over you, and you know that Come By Chance hospital is a great

distance away.

I never say anybody this morning who ever sat on a picket fence so much as he

did, when you are talking about Argentia and Placentia, when you are talking

about thousands of jobs, thousands of jobs in Argentia in construction, and a

facility that, when it is completed, will be equivalent to the Come By Chance

Refinery.

He talked about the traffic lights. He talked about traffic lights in this

deal. Well, I would say that within the next three or four years, when we look

at the people who are going to be travelling from the District of Harbour

Main-Whitbourne and the District of Port de Grave and Carbonear-Harbour Grace,

the District of Bellevue, we are probably going to have to put a traffic light

at the intersection going down to Placentia to control the traffic with all

those people going to work in Argentia and Placentia.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: Now I, as the Minister of Works, Services and

Transportation, would rather be facing the difficulty today of whether I am

going to put a traffic light at the Argentia access road, and now to talk about

the traffic lights that he talked about in the Voisey's Bay deal.

AN HON. MEMBER: What about the off-ramps?

MR. BARRETT: The off-ramps? Look, there are no off-ramps in this deal.

There are no off-ramps in this deal.

MS S. OSBORNE: (Inaudible).

MR. BARRETT: I listened to all the things that you say over there about

the off-ramps. I heard the hon. Member for St. John's West. Now that she has

spoken to me, I want to address it.

I read the flyer that she sent out to her constituents. I heard her on the

Open Line program, saying: I sent out the information on the Voisey's Bay deal

to my constituents. I sent out the Principles. I sent out the Principles.

If you are going to let the constituents decide what is in the deal, you send

the deal out, don't you? What you sent out was nothing but propaganda.

Everything that you leader said against the deal, that is what was in your

flyer. If you are going to be honest with your constituents - and I want to

remind the hon. member, I have a lot of friends who live in St. John's West.

They never got the Voisey's Bay deal in their mail. They got your version of

the Voisey's Bay

deal, which is the Opposition Tory deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: So I would say to you, if you want to talk about sending out

information to your constituents, get it right!

MS S. OSBORNE: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

On a point of order, the hon. the Member for St. John's West.

MS S. OSBORNE: At no time did I say that I sent out the deal. I said that

we had read the Statement of Principles and had concerns with them. No way did I

say I sent out the deal.

I live in the district represented by the Minister of Mines and Energy. I did

not get the deal either, just a glossy (inaudible) piece of propaganda

(inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There is no point of order.

The hon. the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation.

MR. BARRETT: To the hon. the Member for St. John's West, I wasn't

going to bring that up. That was not going to be part of my address, but she

indicated that - you know, she was shouting out across the House of Assembly -

she said she wanted her constituents to be informed, so you sent out the Danny

Williams version of Voisey' Bay. You didn't send out what has been

negotiated. You sent out the Danny Williams version and you have -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Again, I want to remind the hon. members that when reference is made to any

member of this House, it ought to be done by the office that they hold or the

district that they represent.

MR. BARRETT: Mr. Speaker -

MS J.M. AYLWARD: She took the off-ramp.

MR. BARRETT: She took the off-ramp. She is just trying to use up my time,

that is all.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's time is up.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BARRETT: I just want to take a couple of minutes, by leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BARRETT: I just want to thank the minister and all the (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Burin-Placentia West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS M. HODDER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today as we take

part in an historic debate

on the Statement of Principles between the Province and Inco to develop our

resources at Voisey's Bay. As a member of a rural district that has seen its

share of good times, as well as the bad, I am pleased that such a Statement of

Principles could be achieved to lead into a Voisey's Bay deal that I believe

will be of huge benefit to the areas of not just Argentia and Labrador but many

parts of the Island, including the District of Burin-Placentia West.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate our Premier, Premier Grimes, the Minister of

Mines and Energy, Inco, and their negotiating teams, for striking a balance to

get this historic deal underway, a deal for rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, this news was certainly welcomed in my district last week. Last

week, I spent sometime in my district. I visited the malls there. I visited the

shipyard, now owned by Kiewit, and the Cow Head facility. I visited several of

the councils. Every place I went there was optimism, a high degree of optimism.

The people in Marystown are experiencing optimism at this time because there is

hope for our district because of the fact that people are coming back to work as

a result of a new company moving in, and the White Rose deal effects on our

particular area.

Mr. Speaker, we had a couple of meetings in that area. On Thursday night, the

Member for Grand Bank and I attended a dinner in Marystown. We had, I think,

over 100 people there from all parts of the Province. These people were coming

up to us and they were congratulating us on the Voisey's Bay deal. We did not

have one negative word spoken to us. We had people there from Placentia. They

came up and they were delighted, as optimistic as they could possibly be, about

this great deal that is about to happen in our Province, this great opportunity

for the people of Placentia.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday we had an open meeting in Marystown, a public meeting

with the Premier there. The Minister of Works, Services and Transportation

attended. The Member for the Grand Bank District attended, and we had

representatives there from all parts of the districts of Grand Bank, the

District of Burin-Placentia West and the District of Bellevue. Everyone, with

the exception of one person, came up and congratulated us on the deal, thought

this was a great deal for our Province. We had one person who spoke against, and

that was a gentleman from the District of Grand Bank, a person that everyone

knows has expressed openly that he will be running for the PC nomination in the

District of Grand Bank.

Mr. Speaker, since then I have had several phone calls at my office from

people supporting the deal. I had two calls with people who were against the

deal: one from the Grand Bank District and one from my own particular district,

but all other people were entirely in favour of this deal and think it is a

great thing for this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS M. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, one of the key elements of the Statement of

Principles that I feel important is the inclusion on an Industrial and

Employment Benefits Agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This agreement will provide local manufacturers, consultants, contractors and

service companies in the Province with a full and fair opportunity to compete

for the supply of goods and services for this project.

Mr. Speaker, Inco will detail plans acceptable to the government from

monitoring and reporting on a regular basis on the efforts of both itself and

its contractors in maximizing benefits for this Province. This agreement is good

news for many areas of the Province, but especially for Argentia and the

Labrador regions, regions that have experienced their own hardships in the past.

In my district, I am confident that the Marystown Shipyard, under the

ownership of Kiewit, can play a role in the Voisey's Bay project. At our

meeting on Friday afternoon Mr. Frank Smith, who is the Director of Business

Development for PKS, was in attendance and he was very positive. He said that by

the time the fabrication portion of the White Rose Project will have been

completed, this will provide a very nice filler for work at the Marystown

Shipyard, provided, of course, that we can compete and get the work there, but

it certainly is another positive for our area. The experience of fabricating

topsides for the White Rose Project and a very skilled workforce only makes

Voisey's Bay related work more possible for our facility.

This agreement, Mr. Speaker, also provides that the proponent, Inco, will

make full use of construction, fabrication and assembly capabilities in the

Province so that benefits can be truly maximized for the people of our Province.

I want to take the opportunity to discuss certain elements of the Statement

of Principles that have already previously be debated, but elements that are

important enough to warrant repetition. In 1995 and again in 1998, the Liberal

government of the day made amendments to the Mineral Act that raised the bar to

demand processing to a finished product as a condition for future mining

projects in the Province. We got criticism for it, Mr. Speaker, but we stood our

ground, and Inco, to their credit, understood this non-negotiable position and

has shown understanding and respect for it.

Since 1996, Mr. Speaker, our government has been working and negotiating to

achieve this mandatory condition with respect to Voisey's Bay and I feel this

Statement of Principles does just that. Many people have worked together to

bring a project forward which is world-class by any standard, which will be

implemented by a world-class company with a rich 100 year history and employ

world-class citizens of this Province.

We had to strike a balance with Inco to make this project a reality. During

previous negotiations we discussed the hydromet facility, but there was no

commitment to an alternate plan for processing if the hydromet was not

successful. We received a guaranteed commitment that processing will happen here

even if the hydromet process is unsuccessful. Yes, Mr. Speaker, this agreement

will see concentrate shipped out of the Province, but this will not happen until

a demonstration hydromet processing facility is built in Argentia. Inco will

have spent $850 million here by that time, before any of our resources go

anywhere. And we have an iron-clad guarantee that Inco will replace all of the

material that they ship out.

Mr. Speaker, this agreement was reached because we did not get ourselves

caught up in a game of absolutes. We wanted to see the Innu and the Inuit, the

people of Labrador, and the people of Argentia, as well as the entire Province,

have hope that development would proceed. The sense of emotion in Argentia and

Labrador, when this Statement of Principles was agreed, was well deserved

because it was a long time coming. We had road blocks, but we have overcome them

so that we have a stronger benefit with our Aboriginal people, that their

commitment to economic prosperity for their region could be realized. Their time

is now. This project provides them with opportunity to participate in a leading

edge program development while preserving their own culture and the rights of

their people.

Mr. Speaker, I am looking forward to the future of rural Newfoundland and

Labrador with the economic spinoffs that will happen as a result of this

project. The revenue to government for mining and mineral rights tax will be of

benefit as we continue to work diligently to provide services to our people.

There was a concern about the equalization clawback from the federal

government, but this project is a chance to show Canadians, who think that we

are a place reliant on government handouts, that we can stand on our own two

feet, more reliant on our own revenue resources and not on federal government

equalization payments.

Mr. Speaker, if we were to accept the idea that developing new projects yield

a reduction in equalization without acknowledging that there will be a

corresponding increase in employment, business activity, tax revenues and gross

domestic product, then we would never develop any project. In fact, what sort of

benefits would that be for the people that we represent?

This Statement of Principles, Mr. Speaker, between the government and Inco is

a good one for the people of the Province and will maximize benefits to

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. A decision of this magnitude should not be

based on hypothetical situations or what if scenarios but rather on sound

economic and business practices that will ensure benefits for the people of this

Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS M. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, we have carefully listened to the people of

this Province and I feel that we have acted on their best interest with this

Statement of Principles. By having a finished nickel product leave his Province

we have met our commitment to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. The

groundwork has been laid for development of importance in this Province and one

that will be of great significance worldwide.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS M. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, we must realize that this Statement of

Principles has given some hope back to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

because they will be the ones who will see the most benefits from this Voisey's

Bay development. I am certainly proud, Mr. Speaker, to stand here today

representing the historic District of Burin-Placentia West, and I certainly

support this Statement of Principles.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS M. HODDER: I support it, Mr. Speaker, because I believe in the people

who have negotiated this deal, our Premier, all of our negotiating team. I have

a lot of confidence in these people and I have confidence in the way these

negotiations have been handled, especially what has happened in our own caucus

over the last number of weeks. About two weeks ago we met at the hon. Member for

Bell Island's house out in Conception Harbour. At that meeting, Mr. Speaker,

we were given an opportunity to make up our own minds about this deal. We were

asked to look at the deal, to tear it apart from every aspect to ensure that we

got a good deal for the people of this Province. We were told not to make a

quick decision but to go out there and consult with lawyers, with people in the

know, with people in the mining industry, with any persons that we felt

confident would give us the answers that we needed, and we did that, Mr.

Speaker.

I have great confidence in this deal and I certainly support it all the way,

Mr. Speaker. I congratulate again everyone who was involved from the beginning

and I look forward to the spinoffs and the benefits that my area and all areas

of this Province will gain from this great deal.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Mercer): The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is a great honour and a great pleasure that I rise today to

represent the people of the great District of Twillingate & Fogo, to take

part in a debate that is very important to the residents of Newfoundland and

Labrador, and not just to the residents of my district.

For the past three days, Mr. Speaker, as you know and everyone in the

Province knows, we have been standing here debating a deal on Voisey's Bay, a

deal that has come about as a result of six years of negotiations between the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Inco.

Mr. Speaker, before I go any further I would like to thank the Premier for

the role that he has played in this deal because it is not just a role that he

has played in the past year as Premier of the Province, but he also played a

role as the Minister of Mines and Energy for a year or two some years ago. He

worked on that file at the time and he has worked on it since then.

I would also like to thank the Minister of Mines and Energy for the job that

he has done and the team of civil servants that he put together who have devoted

their lives to the civil service for the benefit of the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador.

I would also like to thank as well, Mr. Speaker, two groups of people who

haven't received a lot of mention in the last few days, and those are the

groups led by William Barbour of the Labrador Inuit Association, and Peter

Penashue of the Innu Nation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Because, Mr. Speaker, they have done a tremendous amount of

work on this deal and I wish them luck when they have their vote on Monday next.

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, I think this is a good deal for the Province

and I believe that the vast majority of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians agree

that it is a good deal for the Province. At least that is what we are hearing on

the Open Line shows. That is what we read in the papers and that is what we seen

in the recent poll conducted by The Telegram . It actually showed that 89

per cent of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador think it is a good deal and

that we should get on with it, because, as I said, this deal has been negotiated

over a period of six years but the ore at Voisey's Bay was discovered somewhat

- a longer time than that.

It is almost ten years ago now since two gentlemen from this Province

scratched the rocks on the north part of our Province and discovered the great

nickel deposit that we now refer to as Voisey's Bay. It is not something that

we came about lightly or a deal that we reached lightly. As I said, it took six

years.

Like my colleague from Mount Pearl said yesterday afternoon: I am not a

financial expert. I am not a lawyer and I am not a mining expert but, Mr.

Speaker, I think that we put together a team of individuals who were experts in

all of this. Mr. Speaker, I am not a mining expert, a lawyer, or a financial

analyst, but I do believe that I am a rational thinking individual, not unlike

all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and when you do not have the answers to

all the questions, what do you do? You seek advice, and that is exactly what

every member in this caucus has done over the past five to six years. It just

did not happen last week, as the Opposition would have you believe, that this

deal was somehow concocted in somebody's house out in Conception Bay South.

This deal has been ongoing for practically six years.

We put together three teams. We put together the best legal advice we could

find in this Province, not just the lawyers from the Department of Justice, even

though I thank them for the work that they have done. We hired a very reputable

law firm in this Province and they also worked on it. Mr. Speaker, not only did

we do that but we ran this deal before other legal experts in this country, like

Stikemen Elliott out of Ontario, who is one of the best legal firms in the

country. What did they all say? They said that the deal is a good one, that we

have the safeguards in the legal contract that we need, and that we will not be

snookered or suckered. Like the Member from the Bay of Islands said earlier, it

will stand the test if it ever comes to court. I believe they have done a good

job.

I sort of felt embarrassed when I heard the member, or the Leader of the

Opposition, when he came on last week and said: Any lawyer with a grain of salt

could drive a Mack truck through this deal. That is a fine thing for the Leader

of the Opposition to say - a fellow who want to become the Premier of this

Province. He speaks loudly to the legal firms in this Province, and his

colleagues.

I was very surprised, the day after the deal was announced down at the hotel,

that a very reputable lawyer from Conception Bay North, Mr. Doug Moores - and I

remember just two short years ago that he was being touted as the new Leader of

the Opposition - and he came out Wednesday of last week and said this is a good

deal, that this is a good deal for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and

that we should sign that deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, besides the individuals who were involved in this

deal with the Department of Finance, we also hired the best legal or the best

financial advice we could find, and they told us that we had struck a good deal.

I believe that we have. I truly and honestly believe that we have struck a good

deal because, Mr. Speaker, you know, as well as I do, that The Globe and Mail

has never been a friend of ours; never. In fact, most of the stuff that they say

in that paper, that infamous paper, has always been to put us down in this

Province. Not just on the nickel or anything else, it has been on the fishery,

it has been on the seal hunt. Whenever they have gotten the opportunity to

condemn us, they have done it. But, even The Globe and Mail had to come

out last week with an editorial saying that the Province struck a good deal.

Mr. Speaker, we did have the best legal advice, we did have the best

financial advice, and we also had the best mining advice. That is evident by the

fact that the Association of Mining and Metallurgy came out and said afterwards

that we have done a good deal here.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of mining, I also have some personal experience in that

my father-in-law was a mining engineer, with a career of some fifty years in

mining engineering. In fact, he worked in most of the mines in Northern Canada,

and my wife was born in a mining town in Northern Canada, a town that no longer

exists today. It was called Uranium City, Mr. Speaker. Not only did he work in

the mines of Northern Canada, but for the last twenty years of his career, he

spent it at Memorial University teaching mining engineering.

We have discussed this deal, and we have discussed all the aspects of what

will happen in Voisey's Bay, and he told me, from all the experience that he

has, that this is a good deal. He said: Gerry, what you have to remember is that

Inco is a company that is 100 years old. It is one of the largest in the world,

and when they make a commitment, it is to their best interest to honour that

commitment. If you want to find out about what people think about Inco, go to

Sudbury, a town that Inco created 100 years ago. Go to Sudbury and ask the

people of Sudbury if they think that Inco are a bunch of crooks, which is how

they are being portrayed, basically, by the Opposition for the last week in this

Province, always talking about: What happens if they don't do this? What

happens if they don't do something else? Or, they are going to weasel out of

this part of the contract or they are going to weasel out of another part of the

contract.

Just think out it. A company that has been in existence for 100 years, not

only in this country but around the world, and we are talking about a company

that is willing to come in here and, on top of the $4 billion they paid to get

rights to that mine in Labrador, they are also going to spend $2.9 billion here

in the next three to four to five years. What the Opposition would have you

believe is that they are all a bunch of crooks. Just think about it.

I said to Dr. Stewart Gendron the other day: How do you feel that you are

going to come into this Province and invest an additional $3 billion on top of

the $4.-something billion that you invested already, and yet there are people in

this Province who are looking at you and insinuating that you are all a bunch of

crooks? Just think about that. Just think about the message that you are sending

around the world to a group or company that wants to invest $3 billion and you

are saying: Sorry, boys, we do not want your money because you are all a bunch

of crooks.

Mr. Speaker, I also have a brother-in-law who is in the mining industry, who

works out of Whitehorse, but he works mines around the world. In fact, just last

year he was a supervisor in a mine in the mountains of Chile. Guess what

technology they were using down there? Guess what technology they were using in

their processing? Hydromet technology, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: No!

MR. REID: That is what they were doing, in the mountains of Chile. That

is what they were using. He tells me: No problem.

I understand that the rock formation and the ore is a different type in Chile

than it is in Labrador, but, Mr. Speaker, Inco knows, and the mining industry

knows, that Inco is 98 per cent sure that the hydrometallurgical facility in

Argentia is going to work; 98 per cent sure.

My father-in-law, who is a mining engineer, my brother-in-law, who has been

involved in mining all his life, both tell me this process will work. Inco will

make it work because it is to their advantage to make it work. Why would Inco

want to take concentrate from Voisey's Bay, ship it to Sudbury, and then ship

it back to Newfoundland, or to Argentia, for final processing? The economics of

it just does not make sense, if you stop to think about it. It would be far

better and far more economical for them to take the concentrate from Voisey's

Bay, ship it to Argentia, and then ship it around the world. Mr. Speaker, I

honestly believe that the facility in Argentia will work.

Besides the experts I have mentioned already, a number of prominent

individuals and groups around this Province came out immediately after the deal

was announced and said that they support it. Now, I know what the political

stipes of some of these people are and some I do not. The fact of the matter is,

they are very prominent people and prominent groups in this Province, and I

would like to read from some of them, some of the people who have stood in this

Province and said, basically: We think this is a good deal. We think it is good

for all residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we think that the government

should sign this deal.

The Minister of Mines and Energy just passed me a huge page of people who

have stood behind this deal, but I have my own and I will just read you some,

Minister. Thank you very much.

The Association of Professional Engineers and Geologists say it is a good

deal. The Newfoundland and Labrador Chamber of Mineral Resources say it is a

good deal. Mr. Doug Moore, as I said earlier, a lawyer for some twenty, thirty

years in the practice out in Conception Bay North, says it is a good deal. Mr.

Harry Steele - I think every Newfoundlander and Labradorian knows who Harry

Steele is - he is a self-made man who employs hundreds of people in this

Province, a man for which most people in the Province have the utmost respect.

He says he is for the deal. The St. John's Board of Trade says what? A good

deal. Wade Locke, an economist with Memorial University: It is a good deal.

Mayor Andy Wells, I don't know what his political stripe is. I don't know if

anyone here knows what his political stripe is, and, believe me, he -

MR. NOEL: (Inaudible).

MR. REID: The Member for Virginia Waters says he does not know himself.

Maybe he is right, but he has never been one who has come out and praised

government, for sure. But, on this particular issue, he says it is a good deal

not only for the people of Torngat Mountains, not only because it is good for

the people of Argentia, but he feels as well it is good for the City of St. John's

and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mayor Priscilla Boutcher, Corner Brook, what did she say? It is a good deal,

let's get on with it. Mark Sexton, the Economic Development Corporation,

Corner Brook, a good deal. Mr. Mark Sexton, I don't know the man myself but

obviously some people out on the West Coast must know him and think that he is a

good individual or he would not be on the Development Corporation in Corner

Brook.

Another very important person in this Province, Mr. Speaker, Dr. Axel Meisen,

the President of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, says it is a

good deal for the Province. Another one, Mr. John Crosbie. Who is John Crosbie?

He is a lawyer, has been a politician all of his life. He is the godfather of

the Tory Party. That is what I consider him to be, what I have always considered

him to be. He has sometimes been an opponent. We did not see eye to eye on the

FPI talks we had earlier this year, but I do have the greatest respect for Mr.

Crosbie because, if he thinks something is right, he stands for it. He did it on

FPI. He is standing on this deal and he is saying that it is a good deal for the

Province and he is not letting politics play a role in it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: The Mayor of Placentia supports the deal. The Opposition

members opposite might say that is obvious; the reason she is supporting the

deal is because it is good for her community. Well, it is good for her community

but I think she also realizes that it is good for the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

The Atlantic Economic Council, not always a friend of this Province and the

government of this Province, what did they do? They came out to say it is a good

deal for the Province. Down in St. Anthony, Mayor Ernest Simms comes out and

says it is a good deal for the Province. The Mayor of St. Anthony says it is a

good deal for the Province. The Chamber of Commerce in St. Anthony say it is a

good deal.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that I only have a few minutes left. When I jotted

down a few notes I didn't think I was going to be able to fill my twenty

minutes.

Obviously, all of these people think it is a good deal; yet, the Opposition

stand and all but one person over there say it is a terrible, rotten deal. Why

is it a terrible, rotten deal? Well, the leader says it is a terrible, rotten

deal because everyone who stood in support of it are doing it for their own

personal reasons. He says that the unions and the construction firms in the

Province obviously voted for it because they are getting something out of it.

The legal people who came out and spoke in favour of it did not know what they

were talking about because they were not held in such high esteem as he was.

Mr. Speaker, there were a few comments made in the last few days that I would

like to address. The Member for The Straits & White Bay North, I heard him

on the Open Line show the other night saying that, basically, all that

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were going to get out of this deal were a few

construction jobs while it was being built. A few construction jobs in Labrador

because he said there was no smelter going to be built in Argentia. What trash!

I, for one, would never sign onto that deal unless I knew for certain that

facility was going to be built in Argentia, and no one on this side would have

done it. That is the reason, Mr. Speaker, that it took us six years to come to

that deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: It is a terrible deal, he says, because there is nothing in it

for the people of his district. He even went on to say that his neighbour in

Gunners Cove - oh yes, he said, we had construction jobs before. His neighbour

in Gunners Cove worked on the Bull Arm project. Where is he today? He said he is

in Ontario working because he cannot get a job in this Province. He said there

is nothing in it for his district but what does the Mayor of St. Anthony say?

The mayor says: Most people cannot really comprehend, at this stage, the

significance of the spinoff for this area. Do you know who I think he was

talking about when he said most people? Do you know who was included in that

most people who cannot realize at this stage? The member for the area.

What did the head of the Chamber of Commerce in St. Anthony say? What did he

say? President Marshall Dean says: If the project is good for Labrador, it will

also pay dividends for the Northern Peninsula and other areas of the Province.

Obviously, the Member for The Straits & White Bay North is not paying much

attention to the constituent and to the organizations in communities which he

represents.

I had a conversation the other night with the Mayor of Englee, and he said:

Gerry, excellent deal. He said: Get on with it. Sign it. It is not only good for

Labrador and Argentia but it is also going to be good for this Peninsula.

I listened to the Member for St. Barbe yesterday in his speech here in the

House and he said: If the processing facility was to be built in Port Saunders,

the people in Port Saunders, they, too, would be jumping up and down in the

streets for joy because they were going to be employed. Now, just think about

that. Then, right after that, he said: But I will not be voting for the deal. If

it was going to be built in Port Saunders, I would vote for the deal. The people

would be jumping up and down in the streets but because it is being built in

Argentia, I am not voting for the deal. Just think about that, Mr. Speaker. Just

think about it! Here they are saying that it is good for one area of the

Province but I am voting against it because it is no good for my constituents.

Well, I am telling you, I represent the people of Fogo-Twillingate in the House

of Assembly and I will tell you right now, I never heard that once in the past

few days from any resident of Fogo Island, Twillingate Island, New World Island

or Change Islands.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's time is up.

MR. REID: I never heard that selfish comment made by one of them, because

it is no good for us we are not voting for it.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: On the contrary, Mr. Speaker. On the contrary!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's time is up.

MR. REID: I do not imagine, Mr. Speaker, they are going to give me leave.

MR. SPEAKER: No leave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: I just want to speak to the question raised by the Minister

of Fisheries about leave. All of us agreed upon a set of rules before we got

here and all of us have abided by them. I just want to make that point.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Understood.

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay East & Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WALSH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have been on a journey that began, for some of us, on Tuesday

and will end some time later today. For others the journey started in 1994 when

the discovery of Voisey's Bay took place. For others within the bureaucracy

and the civil service, long standing, committed employees, the real journey

started fifty-one weeks ago. Under the guidance of the Minister of Mines and

Energy and direction from the Premier, they were sent to see if they could craft

a deal that would be acceptable, not just to the people who sit on this side of

the Legislature, but hopefully, to all members of the Legislature, but in more

particular, for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. The journey will end

this afternoon.

I do not intend to relive that journey. I do not intend to relive the

proposal. The people of the Province, over the last forty-eight hours, have

heard varying arguments from one side or the other. I will ask a question of all

of us here in the Legislature and indeed, all of us here in the Province, where

are we at this point? Where are we in terms of one argument being accepted and

one argument being rejected? I will say to you that those who are in this

Province that I would consider hard core Liberals will all come down on the side

of this agreement. I will say to you that those who consider themselves hard

core Tory, for their reasons, will come down against the agreement. Today,

rather than try to speak to those I want to talk to, what I consider to be, the

other 30 per cent, 35 per cent. I want to speak to those who have decided that

this is a Province, Newfoundland and Labrador, that they want to live in, that

they want to have their aspirations achieved. A Province where, like me with

children on the mainland, would like to see them come back to this Province and

participate in the growth of it, to be next door or up the road so that we can

visit.

I had the privilege, some twenty-five years ago, of living in Placentia. I

worked there at a manufacturing plant. I was their sales and marketing manager.

One of the sad days of my life was when the parent company in the mainland said:

It is over, we close up, we go home. I look at the community today and I see the

mayor and so many others who have stayed in that community to carve out an

existence for themselves, but also for their neighbours, people that I worked

with twenty, twenty-five years ago. I remember us gathering at an assembly plant

on the base in Argentia twenty-five years ago saying: We will come together and

we hope it is in more prosperous times. Nothing pleased me more than to go back

to Placentia this past week and share with them again, the potential of

prosperity that will come their way.

I represent a mining community - well, it was a mining community - that has

found a way to carve out a chance at tomorrow based on its history. We reopened

the mines for tours. Fifteen thousand people went underground last year. That is

the largest amount of people who have gone underground in that mine since the

1960s. I have talked to them. I have leaned on the fences. I have made the phone

calls. I have moved through the community, and they said: Jim, lets get on with

it. Because if we had at the end of the mining process, if we had at the end

what came out of the mines on Bell Island, three miles out under the sea, if we

had the opportunity for a finished product in this Province, perhaps Cambridge

and Galt would not be Bell Island's largest communities today. It would not

be. The thousands that come home every summer, and those who are now coming back

have said to me: Perhaps we would still be here. I do not believe perhaps, I am

convinced that they would.

Besides this being a project that will benefit so many regions of this

Province, this is a project that also is a business deal. It is very tough to

make a business deal that will on one side meet what we believe are the social

needs of a Province, and that is what a Legislature such as ours does. It also

meets the economic needs of the Province and also meets the needs of our social

aspects in terms of generating the funds that will allow us to help other

communities.

I have heard in the Legislature and I have heard on Open Line shows, comments

such as: What will it mean to other regions of Newfoundland and Labrador? What

will it mean to the Northern Peninsula? What will Corner Brook or Port aux

Basques or other areas derive from this? To me it is very simple. The stronger

that we can make each region of our Province, the less dependency they have on

government and the more money that we can have to shore up those areas of our

Province that have not seen the benefits today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WALSH: Marystown has been rekindled. It is another community that I

believe we will see our families coming home to. Argentia and Placentia is the

same way. I speak for the Bell Islanders and the other people from my district

who have had to leave Newfoundland, but I also speak today for the people in the

community of which I live, Conception Harbour. I speak for the Kennedys, the

Daltons and the Costellos and the people who spend their summers living in the

backs of their cars going from Manitoba to British Columbia and back to Ontario;

up to Manitoba, down to Quebec, over to Saskatchewan. They spend six months of

the year doing this. Today I speak for my neighbours who, hopefully, in the next

five, ten years will not have to do that; and friends of mine like Dave Power,

who will be able to stay and watch his children grow as opposed to saying

good-bye in the spring, see you in the fall. I speak for my neighbours today,

too.

I talked about it being a business deal. I have been in a lot of business

deals in my lifetime; some good, some bad. My father said my nose should be a

lot flatter because I have fallen a few times too, and it has not worked for me.

Fortunately, in my life, some of the better deals came when I needed them most.

What allowed me to be in a place like this today is because the people have said

yes to me. I have hired lawyers - God knows, anybody who has been in business

and spent their lives signing the front of the cheque rather than endorsing the

back of the cheque, and anyone who has been in business understands what I am

talking about when you say to your family: We don't buy groceries until Monday

because we have to meet the payroll of the 300 people who are working for us.

At the peak performance of the companies that I was involved in, we had as

many as 300 employees. I have hired the lawyers and I have hired the

accountants. The accountants were the most generous. They were the ones who said

to me: Jim, what would you like the numbers to be? Because, they could always be

fudged one way or another. We can find flaws in numbers.

I have hired the lawyers who have given me their best guesstimates as to

where I will be if I proceed with the project. I have relied in most cases, and

as one lawyer who has been with me for twenty-five years, and my former partner

for justice law, has said to me: I will gamble on your instincts even more than

I will on my own training, because we have been right 80 per cent of the time.

Are there going to be flaws? I can assure you that some time in the next

three, five, ten or fifteen years someone will be able to look at a part of the

aspect of this agreement and say: Ha, ha. Look at that! They missed that!

Hindsight is wonderful.

The hardest deal I have ever gone through is buying a building from Walter

Noel. He is the only person - I will say it publicly - who got the better of me;

the only guy who hung out because he saw the twinkle in my eye and I wanted a

property that he owned. I actually paid full price. I never did it in my life.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WALSH: But, as I have heard today and I have heard on Open Line

shows, look where we would be in Newfoundland and Labrador today if we had

consulted a little more, if we had asked for more opinions; we would not have

missed a thing called an escalator clause.

You know, I have studied that project and I have studied that deal because I

always wondered how we missed that. In hindsight, the only decision I have come

to in my life is that I will never, if I am wealthy enough, hire the Rothschild

family, who actually were the bankers of kings and princes and presidents all

over Europe. The Rothschilds were the people we hired to manage and watch what

was good for us. They missed a thing called escalator simply because gold had

been $35 an ounce forever and no one ever saw that kind of a change.

I had a chance to speak to one of the Rothschilds and I asked him, jokingly,

how did you miss it? He said: It is not how we missed it; it is how we have

regretted missing it to this day because, how much more would we have made? And,

they would have.

There will be flaws. There will be something that will not be right, but

while we are looking for the flaw and while we are trying to find what was not

right, what we will see is the fact that we have now injected prosperity on the

North Coast of Labrador.

There is a golf ball somewhere off a mountain in Nain that I drove about

twenty years ago when I had my own advertising company. The Newfoundland

Telephone Company were doing something unique; they were building towers on

mountains in the middle of nowhere. We did a movie for them to depict that. I

flew in, watching the helicopters carry the equipment to the top of the

mountains. Somewhere up there - the Minister of Environment should not listen to

this - there is a golf ball belonging to me because I couldn't resist driving

one that day. I will tell you, the same slice I had then, I have now.

I remember Nain. I will never look in the mirror and say to myself - because

the guy I look at every morning is the one I have to have the most confidence

in. I have gone through a lot of upheavals in my life, in this Legislature and

outside. My high school yearbook says: ambition, politics, and my mother used to

tell us an old story: Be careful what you wish for. Do you know something? The

only thing I wished for in life is the one thing that has given me the most

heartaches in life. It has. The people have said yes to me and I am here.

The point I am trying to make is: I have not, to date, in studying this

proposal, had a problem with looking in the mirror and saying: Jim, perhaps we

should not give prosperity to the North Coast of Labrador. Perhaps we should not

say to the people of Argentia and Placentia, that you huddled with twenty-five

years ago and said: I would like to be back some day, to do something for this

community.

Well, I am not the one who is doing it. There is a company called Inco and a

government who has agreed that they are willing to gamble, take a chance, have a

vision, move forward and give those people an opportunity to share the same

benefits and wealth that we share every day because we live in a capital region.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WALSH: Where do we end up when the process is finished? There is no

prediction in this. We know it is going to happen. This afternoon there will be

a vote take place; the majority will rule. That is our system. Our system says,

the majority will rule.

The majority that rules today, and votes on this particular aspect and says

yes, are the same people that enough of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

said should sit here. We will have to go back at some point in time and face

them, and knock on their doors and say: I am here again.

I can, in all conscience, with all conviction, knock on my doors and say: I

am here. I believe I have served you well. Have I or haven't I? If they say to

me at that ballot box or in that election: Jim, you have not, my response will

be to them: You have spoken. It is your decision and I accept it. I will offer

my congratulations to whomever it is comes behind me, and I will offer my help.

I owe no allegiance to anyone who sits to my right on this issue. I owe no

allegiance to anyone who sits opposite me on this issue, and I challenge any

member who is here today, on this side or that side, who had dealings with me in

private matters concerning their constituents - I don't know politics when we

are talking about constituents. I know politics in here when we are bantering at

each other, but not when I am dealing with constituents because they have said

yes to you and you deserve that courtesy from me whether you are sitting to my

right or in front of me on this issue -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WALSH: - which is so important to me and the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador. I am the one who shaves every morning, and I am the one who looks

at the guy looking back at me. I will tell you, I have torn this deal apart. I

have torn it apart looking for the flaws, and I have heard some of them. I have

heard them there and I have heard them in our caucus meetings. It is not

perfect.

I joke with Barbara, my wife, and tell her that the chariot will come one

more time. If will come when she is getting ready for her last breath. The

chariot is coming to pick her up, because anyone who has lived with a politician

- I think my colleagues will understand what our spouses go through. When I make

these decisions, whether it is 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock in the morning - and

those of us who are married will understand this - when we hold the best

conversations about our children and their needs, our own problems and concerns,

we tend to consult with our spouse, our partner in life, and make decisions, and

we have talked about this. I have said to her, as I have said to my father, on

this issue I have no problem looking in the mirror in the morning and looking at

the person who is looking back at me and saying: Job well done. A perfect job?

No. Life is not perfect. Marriage is not perfect. Our children are not perfect,

except to us. We want them to be. In our eyes they are, with all of their warts,

with all of their pimples, and all of the little things they are going to do.

Life is not perfect; this deal is not perfect. As I said, I have no qualms, I

have no question, I have no concern about injecting some prosperity on the North

Coast of Labrador, and I have no problem with saying to the people of Conception

Bay East and Bell Island, and indeed my neighbors in Conception Harbour, that

this is a deal that I believe will allow you and your families to prosper and to

share in the wealth with those of us in this capital region.

You know, there is a thing known as east of the overpass and west of the

overpass. Most of us who are in this Legislature need to spend more time west of

the overpass. I grew up and was raised in Corner Brook, lived in Stephenville,

spent time in Placentia, worked in Glenwood, and I know all these areas. I tell

you this: The real world is out there, and the more we can do for the people

west of the overpass, the more we do for everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WALSH: In closing, Madam Speaker, let me simply say: Perfect deal?

No. Acceptable deal? Better than acceptable. A deal that the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador can say yes to? Not all of them are going to.

I will end with my opening remarks. The 30 per cent who are neither hard core

Liberal, hard core PC, or hard core NDP, that is who I am talking to, the ones

who are not going to carry our banner and wave it high. I believe they are the

ones I have had a chance to speak to in my district as well. I believe they are

the ones who are saying to me: Take the chance - not a gamble. Go forward and

make this happen for each and every one of us. Make it happen for our

neighbours, make it happen for our children, and make it happen for the people

of Newfoundland and Labrador. Vote with your conscience, vote freely, but if you

can, say yes. Tonight I will have no problem saying yes.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER (Ms M Hodder): Before we recess, yesterday the hon. the

Opposition House Leader raised a point of privilege in the House concerning

comments made by the hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace. The hon. the

Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace was not recognized at the time. The comments

were barely audible and they were not transcribed. The Chair listened to the

tape recording and was able to discern some comments on the part of the Member

for Carbonear-Harbour Grace. In the opinion of the Chair, however, they do not

point to a prima facie case of breach of privilege. Also, the hon. the Member

for Carbonear-Harbour Grace stood and withdrew his comments. In the opinion of

the Chair, that matter has been resolved.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. LUSH: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, to relieve any anxiety or any doubt, I will say right from the

top that I am supporting this deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: I do so gladly, enthusiastically, and without any pangs of

remorse, Madam Speaker. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition, I am not

nauseous and I am in great shape. As a matter of fact, I am in great shape;

maybe a little bit overweight, but apart from that in great shape in every way,

shape and form. I made this decision, Madam Speaker, in the best of health. I

make this decision in the best of health and making it on behalf of my

constituents in the District of Terra Nova -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: - in one of those bays that the Leader of the Opposition

alluded to last evening when he talked about this being not only about Voisey's

Bay, but it is about Placentia Bay, Bonavista Bay, et cetera. Well, I have been

a representative of that great bay of Bonavista Bay every since I have been a

member of this House. I speak on behalf of a large

section of that bay,

including my own District of Terra Nova for which I am very grateful for having

given me the opportunity to serve, but also for the great constituents of the

great electorate - the electors of Bonavista North, the place that I have served

for a number of years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: And know that they, too, would want me to support this deal.

Madam Speaker, I represent an area where people follow work throughout the

year, wherever. They do not have the good fortune of working at home, for years

and years, with the decrease in forestry activity. I grew up in Gambo which was

the forest industry: logging, sawmills. Since that ceased to be a real industry

in that area, in the 1960s, people followed jobs throughout Canada, construction

jobs throughout Newfoundland. Wherever there is construction in Canada, people

from the Terra Nova District, from Bonavista North, are there. It is a routine.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: I am so glad that they now have the opportunity to find

employment in Voisey's Bay, to find it in Argentia and wherever the

multiplying and mushrooming factor will result from this great job, that people

in Terra Nova, in the District of Terra Nova and in Bonavista North will be

following those jobs. They would be disappointed if I didn't stand up here

today and vote for this great project on their behalf, and I am doing that,

Madam Speaker, I am doing that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Madam Speaker, I am not going to use any weasel words to say

that I support Voisey's Bay but I don't support these Statement of

Principles, because these Statement of Principles, that is the project! That's

Voisey's Bay! That's it!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: If you do not support the Statement of Principles, you cannot

support the project. That is the only project that I know about. The only

project taking place in Voisey's Bay is that which will be (inaudible) as a

result of these Statement of Principles. That is the only one I know of and that

is what I am voting for today because that is the only choice that I have. That

is the only choice that I have to help create employment in this Province, to

help expand this Province economically and financially. That is my choice today

and, Madam Speaker, I have studied the Statement of Principles and I want to

congratulate the Premier for his great vision, for his commitment, and for his

dedication to this project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: I want to commend the Minister of Mines and Energy and his team

for the great work that they have done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Further, I want to commend the Premier for the way that he

allowed his caucus, his Cabinet, to participate in the dialogue all the way

through this debate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Despite what Opposition members said, we were informed all

along the way and we were a part and parcel of the whole process. That is why we

are here today so united behind the Premier and united behind this project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Madam Speaker, I said that I am not nauseous doing this in a

sound mind. Somebody said to me a couple of days ago: They are getting concerned

about the Leader of the Opposition, because whenever they hear him -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. LUSH: Last week, he was angry. He was awfully angry and now he is

nauseous. They said: Maybe he should stop under great stress. Maybe he should

stop getting angry because that causes a lot of stress on the body; this getting

angry. Madam Speaker, there cannot be anything worse on the body than being

negative. Being negative the whole time, negativity, scepticism, cynicism, that

has to be hard on the body.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Madam Speaker, can't you see the difference over here? Where

there is no cynicism, where there is confidence, where there is hope. You see

different people smiling and laughing Quite a difference!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Our doctor's bills are not very expensive because we are an

optimistic people as opposed to being a pessimistic people. We are people with

hope and confidence as opposed to people being negative. That is why we are

supporting this project. That is why we are supporting this deal. That is why we

are supporting the Statement of Principles.

I wanted to make another comment because it is difficult knowing where to go

after you have been seated here listening to all the comments. I have been

listening to the comments very attentively, but naturally, the ones that really

got to me were the ones advanced by the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of

the Opposition -

AN HON. MEMBER: Don't be negative now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: I am not being negative.

The Leader of the Opposition in his attempt to reduce government to a

simplistic operation can solve things so quickly. He talked about the House of

Assembly, how we were rushing this piece of business through the House. Can you

imagine talking about rushing Voisey's Bay when it has been in the public

domain for the last five or six years? The hon. the Member for Placentia talked

about how they almost had a deal and how the expectations were raised to the

people in his area; one of the most debated issues ever on the provincial scene.

In the last session of the House it took up a major portion, both in the

general debating and in Question Period. Then people started talking about this

process - three days - and I said how three days of debating equates into three

to four weeks of debating under normal procedure. The Leader of the Opposition

said: But, Question Period is not there. Well, I tell the Leader of the

Opposition, if we were debating under routine he would not be allowed to ask

questions on Voisey's Bay if we were debating it. You could not be asking

questions on Voisey's Bay if we were debating it because the House clearly

states that when a matter is being debated you cannot ask questions in the House

of Assembly because, you see, questions is not a period for debate. You have a

place to debate it. That is why we have made this provision. We have made the

provision that he can ask questions, so he is getting it both ways in this

system. He has been allowed to ask questions which he would not be able to do

under the normal circumstance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: I think the best one where he reduced government to a

simplistic operation, the best one that I have heard in a long time, and I do

not know where else you would get this simplistic reduction of how government

operates. He talked about equalization and that he would not have completed this

deal until we had the inequities ironed out in equalization. Madam Speaker, what

a way to go. If we had waited for that where would Hibernia be? Where would the

offshore oil be if we had waited until we ironed out the problems related to

equalization? But, he was going to solve it very quickly! I want the people of

the Province to listen. I have been working on this equalization situation with

the Premier for the last year-and-a-half and I know how difficult it is and I

know the great job that he has done. I know how he has been advancing it on the

national scene to get this equalization formula (inaudible) so that we get our

just dues; get what is due us in the Constitution.

Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition had a solution. I thought he was

going to take Mr. Hand and go right into the Prime Minister's office and sit

down and say: Solve this, Sir! Solve this right away or there will be no

development of Voisey's Bay. Now what a simplistic solution. Well, he should

call his colleagues, he should call Premier Hamm and tell him how simple this

is. He should call Premier Binns and tell him how simple it is. He should call

Premier Lord. All three, in conjunction with the Premier, have been working on

this for the last year-and-a-half to get the federal government convinced that

they ought to change the equalization formula. But, our Leader of the Opposition

here in Newfoundland, he has it fixed,. He has the formula. Just get on the

plane, take Mr. Hand, drag him along with you, go into the Prime Minister's

office and say: Mr. Prime Minister, you have to fix this equalization. You have

to fix it because I have Mr. Hand here with me and we are doing Voisey's Bay.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: Well, what a brilliant solution. Complexity and sophistication

reduced to simplicity in indescribable words.

Now, he finished up, Madam Speaker, last night by making a plea. He said he

did not want to say that he was not voting for the proposal. He did not know how

he could get out of that. He does not like the agreement but he has been set

against this proposal or the agreement, he has been set against this from day

one. I have often wondered what kind of an agreement we would have for the

Leader of the Opposition to support it. But to try and ameliorate the whole

situation, to try and soften it: we are not against the proposal. We are here to

help. We are here to help the government. Take our help. I have such a store of

legal advice and my caucus has such knowledge. I am here to help. I have been

waiting. The Opposition, he says, it is their job. The job of the Opposition - I

have been there long enough, I ought to know. The job of the Opposition is to

oppose and to criticize responsibly; do not forget responsibly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: They are to offer alternatives. Now, they have been very strong

on the first two points, to criticize and oppose. They have been very strong on

that but on the alternatives I have not seen anything, I have been waiting. When

the Opposition House Leader got up, right on the end of that, he said: We are

here. We are here to help. We are here to help and he finished. So, when the

Opposition House Leader got up I figured he would carry on, he would continue

and he would come with the help. I thought he would come with the help but oh, I

was so saddened.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: If I were not in such good health I would have become nauseous.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: He thought he had found the Achilles heel whereby this would be

derailed. He thought he had found the Achilles heel. Guess what it was? The

mandate. We did not have the mandate. Now, he went on through. I can understand

- and nobody had talked about it he said. Well, I am going to talk about it now.

He went on talking about this mandate. I can appreciate that the hon.

Opposition House Leader would know this more than anybody else, he would know

the circumstances surrounding that. But, Madam Speaker, in 1995 to ensure that

this Province got its maximum benefits from mining we brought in legislation

that raised the bar. We brought in legislation that said: up to this point in

time no more mining would take place without it was processed. It had to be

processed to a final product, to a finished product. That is the law, Madam

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: In the election of 1996 we took that as part of our mandate. I

will tell hon. members what the mandate was. In 1996, the election, fulfilling

the law, meeting the public goal. "The new Liberal government will take

every step necessary by government to develop and gain full benefits from the

Voisey's Bay mine, including the construction of a smelter and other ore

processing facilities in our Province." That is what we said.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: That is the Red Book, that is what the Red Book said: full

processing.

Now in 1999, which is the one they refer to all the time, when we talked

about full and fair benefits from our Province, which included Voisey's Bay,

Labrador hydro and petroleum, our first commitment was, our first item in the

platform book of 1999 was, "The Liberal government with a new mandate will

ensure that our province receives full and fair benefits from development of its

resources, especially the nickel at Voisey's Bay...".

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LUSH: That is the mandate. We have it in law, that our natural

resources have to be finished to a final product. We have two commitments, in an

election in 1996 and in an election in 1999.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. LUSH: The Opposition House Leader likes to refer to the - not a

spoonful. Well, I can see how they would sort of take that little bit of

hyperbole, take that little bit of hyperbole and hang on to it. Haven't hon.

sometimes, to make a point emphatically and strongly and convincingly, that you

use a little bit of hyperbole?

Now, the Opposition Leader, I can see how he can believe that hyperbole,

because last night, and again in talking about the Statement of Principles, he

mentioned that somehow this could not be changed because we would have to change

the size of the volume or something. He said there were eighteen statements here

and the Premier said there would be no deletions or additions. It is an eighteen

page document and he thought - he could not see how we could come up with a

document that would stay within that eighteen pages.

The Premier said there would be no deletions, no additions, and there cannot

be; because, if we are going to stick to that, it has to stay the same number of

pages as the Statement of Principles.

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that his time is up.

MR. LUSH: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER: I thank everyone for their participation and their

interest.

This House now stands recessed until 2:30 p.m.

The House resumed at 2:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Snow): Order, please!

Before I call the Question Period, I would like to welcome to the gallery

today, Mr. George Saunders, the Commissioner for the Petroleum Products Pricing

Commission; Mr. David Toms, Research Director with the PPPC; as well as the

Honourable Earl Anzai, Attorney General of the State of Hawaii.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: As well, I would like to welcome to the gallery some former

Members of the House of Assembly: Mr. Art Reid, Mr. Melvin Penney, Mr. Bill

Hogan, Ms Patt Cowan, Mr. Graham Flight, Dr. Hubert Kitchen, and Dr. Rex

Gibbons.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: As well, I would like to acknowledge and welcome to the

gallery, the Mayor of St. John's, Mr. Andy Wells.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there are several very important agreements related to this

project which have not or will not be made available to the members of the

Legislature and indeed to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. In clause 34

of the Statement of Principles, government acknowledges that it will enter into

interim measures agreements and other alternative agreements with both

Aboriginal groups that will include the Voisey's Bay

chapter of the respective

Lands Claims Agreements.

On April 25, 2002, the Premier made a commitment to table all Agreements in

Principle and all final agreements with the Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit

Association and bring them to the House of Assembly for ratification.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Premier: Why has he agreed to table all these

Aboriginal Agreements in Principles and all final agreements in the House for

ratification, but is not prepared to place all or any of the final documentation

for Voisey's Bay under the same scrutiny in this House of Assembly?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the question, and maybe I missed something in it. The same level

of scrutiny will be available for every document. The Aboriginal communities and

the Aboriginal people of Labrador, as all members of the Legislature,

understand, with their Benefits Agreements which have been negotiated between

them and the company, they are having a vote through their own democratic

processes on Monday of next week. I am sure everybody here hopes that the vote

is a positive one, because they want to proceed.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the Voisey's Bay

chapter of the land claims

and so on, all of those things will be tabled here when they are completed and

agreed to - not debated, but tabled here for information. That is the same

commitment I have given to every other part and every other agreement associated

with the development of Voisey's Bay, that when the final, legal translation

is finished, from now to September 30, we will make available and table - not

for debate, but for information - for anyone who wants to see them, everything

that is associated with this particular deal, because we want everybody to know

all the information.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there appears to be a double standard with regard to the

Aboriginal agreements and, of course, the major agreements which are being

placed before this House of Assembly and which we are asked to vote on, of

course, which the Opposition has not seen in any form.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the other agreements that have not been provided

to this Legislature and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, we are also

being asked to sign off on the Industrial and Employment Benefits Agreement

which we have not seen as well.

According to clause 27 of the Statement of Principles, the final agreement

should provide for employment of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and should

provide a full and fair opportunity for contractors, consultants and service

companies to compete.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Premier that, due to the many unanswered

questions that are posed in clause 27 of the Statement of Principles, is the

Premier satisfied that the safeguards have been put in place to ensure that

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will be employed in the project and that

contractors will have a full and fair opportunity to compete?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER GRIMES: Yes, Mr. Speaker, absolutely.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, although the Industrial and Employment Benefits Agreement has

not been finalized, and will not be finalized until late September, this

government is allowing Inco to move forward and award millions of dollars in

contracts without that final documentation.

Despite the fact that we do not have a final agreement on project development

or benefits, the decision to man the torpedoes and move forward is being taken

to allow Inco to fast track its operations.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier please tell the people of this Province if he

feels it is prudent to allow Inco to commence work without having completed the

Industrial and Employment Benefits Agreement and other agreements?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER GRIMES: Mr. Speaker, despite the rhetoric of the Leader of the

Opposition in trying to describe it in a certain manner, we are moving forward

very prudently, as we have done in the full fifty-one weeks of the last

negotiation to get to this point. We did not rush into it. We did not try to do

it in a day or two. It took six years, all totalled, Mr. Speaker, fifty-one

weeks of intensive negotiation in this last one attempt alone, out of three

different attempts.

In Labrador, for the work that will proceed, hopefully beginning in three or

four weeks' time, the middle of July, depending on ice conditions, there are

guarantees already for business opportunities with the Aboriginal communities as

part of their Benefits Agreements, in which they have their partners already

selected and they will be reaping great benefits with Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians who happen to also be Aboriginal, but Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians reaping great benefits and other Labradorians reaping great

benefits starting in about three weeks. No rush for Inco, but a great

opportunity for our people to move ahead.

Mr .Speaker, the same thing will happen when contracts are let to

Newfoundland and Labrador-based companies for work in Argentia, at the site, and

also when contracts are let here in St. John's for work at the Inco Innovation

Centre. Newfoundland and Labrador-based companies; just check the news. I will

probably be trying to get in the news by going to the announcements, cutting

some ribbons, sitting on tractors, wearing a helmet. I guess I will get

criticized for that, Mr. Speaker, because they will suggest I should not do

that. We should not acknowledge good things happening. I will try to keep it

down so I don't offend the Opposition, but Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

will benefit.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Believe me, Premier, this is not simply rhetoric. These questions are very,

very important to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and I am very, very

interested to hear you say that contracts and benefits and employment will be

for the benefit of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The ratification vote hasn't

even occurred yet and already there are problems with this Statement of

Principles, and we have already pointed that out.

Last night, we were contacted by representatives from CA Crosbie Shipping

Limited. This is the company that provided marine transportation services to and

from Voisey's Bay during the exploration phase. It is a Newfoundland company

with ships from Newfoundland ports, and crews comprised of Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians. Yet, this company was not provided with a fair opportunity to bid

on this transportation work for Voisey's Bay. The work is, instead, being

awarded to a Quebec company called Gagnier Transport. Can the Premier please

explain why there are not appropriate safeguards in place to protect provincial

companies that hire Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and carries on business in

Newfoundland and Labrador?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We will have many of these opportunities over the next thirty, forty, fifty

years to have discussions about which companies are getting the work.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe what the Leader of the Opposition and the members opposite would like

to understand is this, that the shipping contract that he talks about is one of

the business opportunities that is being organized and orchestrated in a

partnership with the Aboriginal communities. They themselves - we do not tell

the Innu Nation who to partner with. We do not tell - and will never tell

because we respect them too much - the Labrador Inuit Association who to partner

with.

Everybody has known that this has been about to happen for about five or six

years. Every Newfoundland and Labrador based company had opportunities to forge

joint ventures and partnerships with the Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit

Association. If a company from Quebec has forged a partnership that the Innu of

Labrador or the Inuit of Labrador are satisfied with, it is not going to be me.

To use a phrase from the Leader of the Opposition last night, Mr. Speaker, it

will not be on my watch that I will try to go in and suggest that I know better

than Mr. Penashue or Mr. Barbour what is good and right and proper for their

people when they have the right to make the decision.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Leader