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November 8, 2018

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 39

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

I have

several guests today that I'd like to advise the House of. In the Speaker's

gallery, first of all, I'd like to welcome members of the Miss Newfoundland and

Labrador Pageant Committee. These volunteers are Kathy Tetford, Wendy Penny,

Debbie Vokey and Elizabeth Baker. I understand Kristianne Janes and Ashley Janes

were unable to join you, but I'm glad you are here today. You will be mentioned

in a Member's statement very soon.

Thank

you, and welcome to the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also – and this seems to be

an amazing coincidence, and it is indeed a coincidence. I'm also very pleased to

welcome, on behalf of another Member of this House, she was escorting the winner

of the Miss Newfoundland and Labrador Pageant, Ms. Tammy Oliver-Snook. She will

be recognized by that Member's statement.

Welcome

to you, Madam.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also, over in that same

gallery – as some of you have been around here a little longer than myself, will

recognize, and certainly I do recall him from his time here – I'm very pleased

to welcome MHA Harry Harding, former Cabinet Minister and MHA for Bonavista

North. He served in this House of Assembly from 2002 to 2011.

A great

welcome to you, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

In my other Speaker's gallery

– I did need two today – I would like to welcome Ms. Sherry Ryan. She will be

the subject of a Member's statement today. Ms. Ryan is joined by her mother,

Frances Ryan, and her sister, Bernadette Feehan.

Welcome

to you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

And I'm very pleased to

recognize up in the public gallery today, I do recognize Mary Shortall,

President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour. I also

recognize Mr. Jerry Earle, President of NAPE. They are here, I would assume, for

the second debate of second reading of Bill 32,

An Act To Amend The Labour

Standards Act.

Thank

you for coming.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements today

we will hear from the Members for the Districts of Conception Bay South,

Stephenville - Port au Port, Harbour Grace - Port de Grave, Fortune Bay - Cape

La Hune, and St. John's Centre.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm proud to say I knew the late Master Corporal Darrell Cronin very

well. He was a Search and Rescue technician with the 413 Search and Rescue

Squadron out of Greenwood, Nova Scotia. The CH-113 helicopter was

route from CFB Greenwood when it went down on Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula while

returning from a SAR mission.

Mr. Speaker, six members of the Tusker 27 crew passed

away on October 2, 1998. This was a very sad day for our community, losing a

native son who only one year earlier received the Bravery Award for his daring

rescue of crew members on a sunken cargo ship in the North Atlantic.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the

Admiral's Academy Remembrance Day Ceremony. This was a special ceremony which

was followed by the renaming of the Admiral's Academy Resource Room. This event

was an emotional one for his family and friends with the unveiling of a plaque

and a mural officially naming it the Master Corporal Cronin Learning Commons.

This is a very fitting tribute to a great resident of Kelligrews, Conception Bay

South, but also to a great Newfoundlander and Labradorian.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in

thanking those involved in making this a reality, and to honour Darrell's

memory.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for the District of Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. FINN:

Mr. Speaker,

stand here today to congratulate Ms. Rita Janes of Boswarlos on reaching a

magnificent milestone in her life. Ms. Janes celebrated her 100th birthday on

November 4.

I had the pleasure of attending a birthday celebration

in her honour at Silverwood Manor in Kippens just this past Sunday. She lived in

Boswarlos on the Port au Port Peninsula, on her own, until the age of 92 before

moving to the Silverwood Manor.

Mr. Speaker, something can be said for living off the

land and it's relation to reaching 100 years. Ms. Janes credits her longevity to

doing exactly that. She and her husband, George, must have cleaned hundreds of

rabbits as he would bring a few home from everyday in the woods. They were

together for more than 61 years before he passed at the age of 88. Together they

had five children.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Janes loves to have a game of cards,

still enjoys knitting, especially for family members and friends who still like

to get her homemade socks and mitts.

Mr. Speaker, birthday greetings come from her two

surviving children, Linda Hoskins and Betty Spencer, nine grandchildren, 15

great-grandchildren, 11 great-great-grandchildren, one

great-great-great-grandchild, two step great-grandchildren, as well as hundreds

of friends and family.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me on

wishing her good health and a heartfelt congratulations on reaching 100 years .

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Well done.

The hon. the Member for Harbour Grace - Port de Grave.

MS.

P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

like to recognize the Miss Newfoundland and Labrador Pageant Committee of

Volunteers: Kathy Tetford, Wendy Penny, Kristianne Janes, Debbie Vokey,

Elizabeth Baker, Ashley Janes and Dianne Parsons.

November 4, the committee put off the 61st annual pageant at the Danny Cleary

Community Centre in Harbour Grace, featuring five strong female contestants who

competed for the title, demonstrating skills in the categories of education,

accomplishments, volunteer work, fitness, friendship and camaraderie.

Mr.

Speaker, it's a time when strong women are making their voices heard and their

talents known. And this committee of leaders strives to highlight the fact that

the Miss Newfoundland and Labrador pageant has evolved from being strictly a

beauty pageant to an event that celebrates and promotes the accomplishments of

the province's finest young women. Women who are smart, successful, determined

and committed to our province and our youth. They look upon this pageant as a

platform from which they can inspire and encourage today's young people.

Along

with so many sponsors, the Town of Harbour Grace is a significant supporter,

allocating funding in its yearly municipal budget, as Harbour Grace is where the

Miss Newfoundland and Labrador pageant – it's where it originated, in historic

Harbour Grace.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask that all hon. colleagues join me in congratulating the committee

and, of course, our new Miss Newfoundland and Labrador, Miss Tammy Oliver-Snook

of Harbour Breton.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to extend congratulations to Tammy Oliver-Snook of Harbour

Breton for her prestigious accomplishment of being crowned Miss Newfoundland and

Labrador 2018-2019. We are extremely proud that Tammy was recognized for the

amazingly gifted individual she is, and we are so very proud of her success.

Tammy

rose to the challenge of meeting Miss Newfoundland and Labrador's rigorous

search for a community-minded, well-rounded young woman with integrity, strong

academic and leadership skills. Tammy's genuine warm-hearted nature was also

recognized by her fellow contestants who chose her to become the cherished Miss

Friendship 2018-19. With her remarkable skills, talents and giving nature, Tammy

is an excellent ambassador for my district and our province, and we look forward

to watching her achieve her dreams and being an inspiration to youth in our

province. I also thank the organizing committee for providing this wonderful

opportunity.

I ask

all Members to join me in congratulating Tammy Oliver-Snook, our proud Lion of

Harbour Breton and tremendous role model who exhibits the genuine beauty of the

human spirit and what can be achieved when you set your mind to achieving your

goals.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Wreckhouse winds reach up to 200 kilometres an hour, and Sherry Ryan is taking

the provincial music scene by a wicked storm with her latest album

Wreckhouse .

Winner

of this year's MusicNL Female Artist of the Year Award, Sherry is hailed as

Newfoundland and Labrador's Lucinda Williams by

UP magazine. There is so much that we can be proud about in Sherry's

new work as she sings about her life, our lives, and our Newfoundland and

Labrador.

In “Stop

The Train” co-written with her dad, Jim Ryan, Sherry sings about legendary wind

gauge Lauchie MacDougall who worked for the Newfoundland railroad from 1939 to

1965, and who could smell the wind and how the Wreckhouse winds could blow a

train off the tracks. It's such a great tune.

One

review said: Drifting between country, blues and folk, Sherry's songs can lead

you down a path of heartbreak, hope, and even humour in the space of a single

chorus.

For

sure, one of our finest singer/songwriters, her train will not be stopping

anytime soon. Bravo Sherry Ryan, MusicNL's Female Artist of the Year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I am

pleased to stand in this hon. House today to highlight the exciting news that

record bids for exploration licenses –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

– offshore have been received

as a result of the most recent call for bids in the Eastern Newfoundland Region

and Jeanne d'Arc Regions, both located in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador

Offshore Area.

total, there was a record cumulative total of $1.38 billion in bids –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

– and a record single bid of

$621 million from BHP Billiton Petroleum in the Eastern Newfoundland region. And

I'd like to welcome BHP to our province.

The bid

process is managed by the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum

Board.

The

resource potential in offshore Newfoundland and Labrador in incredible. In less

than 7 per cent of the province's offshore, there's a combined resource

potential of 49.2 billion barrels of oil and 193.8 trillion cubic feet of gas.

There

have been eight new entrants in the past two years, and $3.9 billion in recent

exploration work commitments.

Mr.

Speaker, we are seeing success in our plan to drive exploration and grow the

province's offshore through Advance 2030

– The Way Forward on Oil and Gas . This

success confirms Newfoundland and Labrador as a global centre of interest for

the world's oil and gas exploration companies.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate

as well the C-NLOPB and the industry on setting the record for the highest

cumulative bid total of $1.38 billion and the largest bid of $621 million from

BHP Billiton Petroleum. With this bid, they become a new entrant in the offshore

activity which is certainly welcome.

The high

bid round is a direct result of investments made in geoscience, including

seismic. Knowing the impact of seismic research, it is important that the

government continues to ensure that the 2D and 3D seismic programs continue in

the future.

Mr.

Speaker, the successful bidders have six years to make their investments in this

province. I certainly hope the ongoing erosion of the Atlantic Accord, through

the implementation of doing an environmental assessment and the addition of

exploration wells through the project list, will not deter these companies from

fulfilling their exploration licenses.

I call

on our provincial government and our several Liberal MPs to speak up to ensure

any erosion of the Atlantic Accord and the authority of the C-NLOPB does not

occur.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister. This new round of bids is indeed exciting news for the province's

future. Companies committing money for exploration is a tangible expression of

the interest in our resources; however, there is still plenty of work to do to

ensure we get this right. We need to ensure we protect our workers who will be

working in even more dangerous conditions, and we must ensure we move forward in

the most environmentally, responsible way possible. So let's get busy. Let's get

down to work, but let's do this right.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The hon.

the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House to highlight a two-day provincial Recovery Forum held in St. John's

this week.

Hosted

by my department in close collaboration with the Recovery Council, more than 100

people came together to share their personal stories and experiences with mental

health and addictions. This included people and families with lived experience

throughout the province, regional health authority staff and community partners.

The

Recovery Forum was an opportunity for those with lived experience to share their

stories and to provide varied perspectives and insight into mental health and

addictions care in this province. Thank you for your courage in coming forward,

and for sharing your narratives.

Your

voices are crucial to our work on Towards

Recovery: The Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Newfoundland and

Labrador . We are grounding our decisions in reality as we continue to move

forward. One year in, we have seen a 68 per cent reduction province-wide in the

number of people waiting for counselling services.

One of

the reasons we are making such process is in large part because of the

tremendous work being done by the Towards Recovery Team led by Colleen Simms.

The team were recently recognized as part of the Public Service Award of

Excellence Ceremony. A well-deserved award for Ms. Simms and the rest of the

team who are making a real difference in the lives of people and families in

this province.

Let's

keep working together, because one year in shows what we can achieve with a

plan, a vision, determination and partnerships between people and families with

lived experience, all stripes and levels of government, grassroots community

partners and health care providers.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement. I rise today to also thank

those who participated in the provincial Recovery Forum held in St. John's this

week. Each and every one of us in this House have likely witnessed the effects

of mental health or addictions issues with our friends, families and communities

for far too long. People have been ashamed to speak openly about these deeply

personal issues. Providing avenues for open and frank discussions about mental

health and addictions in a safe and welcoming environment is critical to

tackling issues that have affected Newfoundland and Labrador communities for far

too long.

Mr.

Speaker, I also commend the work of the Towards Recovery team and their recent

acknowledgement as part of the Public Service Award of Excellence Ceremony.

Effecting positive change on mental health and addictions issues in our province

is something that transcends party politics, and I look forward to seeing more

work from their team.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister. The All-Party Committee on Mental Health and Addictions started at

a kitchen table in my District of St. John's Centre. I asked a group of people

what was keeping them awake at night, and they said the lack of services for

mental health and addictions. From there, we held a town hall and then formed

the Community Coalition for Mental Health.

It was

the coming together of people who told their stories and shared their expertise

that started this whole process. It shows what can happen when a group of

passionate and compassionate people come together, determined to make a

difference.

Bravo to

Colleen Simms and her amazing team for taking this work further. It's complex,

but we're on the right track.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I thank you.

I have a

question for the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation. I have

to write that one down, and I'm still getting that committed to memory.

First,

to the minister: Respectfully, I give notice that I'll ask questions next week

based on the Rooms conflict of interest guideline that I tabled these previous

few days.

Sir, the

question is: Across Canada, those who are involved in the cannabis industry have

had to outline who has invested in the operations of the industry.

Why is

it acceptable that a numbered company, with unknown shareholders, can be

involved in the industry in this province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to

getting a licence to be involved in the cannabis industry in Newfoundland and

Labrador, you would have to go through Health Canada. Health Canada has rigorous

checks and balances to ensure that those who are involved in holding a licence

would have the appropriate mechanisms to do so. There are heavy security checks;

there are financial checks. There are all kinds of regulations that are put in

place.

So for

anybody to operate in Newfoundland and Labrador, Health Canada would have to

approve a production licence to operate a facility. They would have to go

through those appropriate checks and balances.

Canopy

Growth Corporation has production licences elsewhere in Canada, as do Biome

Grow, and we encourage others who want to set up here, but they have to adhere

to Health Canada policies.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, is the hon.

minister telling this House that we can put utter faith in the federal level of

government, and that no further due diligence on the identities of people

involved in the industry is necessary to be done by the government of this

province.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, there are

appropriate processes put into place for anybody who is operating a business

here in Newfoundland and Labrador. What's very interesting is how the Member

opposite is casting such aspersions on companies, and the business community,

that's operating here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

We have

an incredible business community that's doing great work here in our province.

When it comes to cannabis production and a production facility, in order to get

a licence and operate, they have to get that from Health Canada. In order to do

that, they have to follow the rigorous checks and balances and the regulations.

That is

solely the responsibility of Health Canada to do that, not the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador. We have a contract in place and we have appropriate

checks and balances on our perspective.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I take it the

answer is that no, we don't need to do our own due diligence on the identity of

investors.

Last

week, the Minister of Finance said in this House that he was going to try and

find out who are the silent shareholders of the numbered company. On November, 1

he said – quote – “But certainly we'll endeavour to find that out, if that's

what the Member wishes” – unquote.

We've

asked several times this week, but the minister plays silent partner to his

seatmate.

Once

again I ask the Minister of Finance: Have you been able to determine who

actually owns this company?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, we have done our

due diligence. Our department officials that have worked on this file work

extremely hard. They do the appropriate work to ensure that we get good business

deals for the people of this province.

When it

comes to the regulations of any particular matter to acquire a cannabis

production facility, that is with Health Canada. Health Canada will do the

appropriate security checks to make sure that there is no connection to

organized crime or any particular matter.

What we

have is we have a very clear contract with a company that is licensed with the

TSX and also with the New York Stock Exchange. They have to follow regulations.

This is a publicly traded company that is doing appropriate business here in

Newfoundland and Labrador and to cast aspersions and to put innuendo out the way

that the Member opposite is doing is completely –

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Question for the Minister of

Justice. On May 28, the minister appointed Marlene Jesso to conduct an

independent, external review of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of

three inmates at correctional facilities between August 31, 2017 and May 26,

May I

ask the minister as to the status of this review?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

appreciate the question from the Member opposite. It is certainly a very

important topic. What I can say is that Ms. Jesso has been working away

diligently. It is an independent investigation and it's one that we're making

sure she has all the time and resources necessary in order to do a full and

thorough investigation.

understanding is that she should have a report finished sometime late fall is

what I'm being told. I'm certainly not applying any pressure to Ms. Jesso. I'd

rather have it done right, rather than have it done quickly.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Might I ask the minister to

clarify if he's received any recommendations so far?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, no, we haven't

received any recommendations thus far. I anticipate receiving them in the

finalized report.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Is it the minister's plan to

make the reports public?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, with

the one caveat that obviously if there's any sensitive information that would

compromise people's personal information, my goal is to make everything as

public as possible. I think the families demand that, I think the public demands

that, and that's certainly our intention.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Subsequent to May 26, as the

minister will no doubt be well aware, another inmate passed away at HMP, June

This

death, is it also being investigated as part of this review, or will there be

some other review?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

believe this review right now is on three deaths that have occurred in our

facilities. Certainly I can endeavour to find out if that one has also been

included. It's not my understanding that it has. There certainly hasn't been any

negative implications that have been brought to my attention. Unfortunately,

these things do happen sometimes, and again, authorities would have reviewed

this at that time.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Thank you, Minister.

Many

people think a review is not sufficient, and what we really need is a public

inquiry into systemic issues that may constitute human rights abuse in our

prisons, which according to some, resemble 21st-century asylums for people

facing mental health and addiction challenges.

Will the

minister commission a public inquiry that will lay the facts on the table in an

open forum and allow solid recommendations to be brought forward in a way that

compels change?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can

tell you that this situation is something that all of us in the department have

taken quite seriously. It's something that is serious; it's involving the loss

of life. What I can say is that we've committed to a full, independent

investigation by a very qualified individual, which I'm expecting to receive

hopefully very soon. I want to see what that report says. I want to see what the

recommendations are.

What I

can guarantee you is that I take very seriously the care of everybody within our

penitentiaries and our institutions across the province, both inmates and the

staff that work there.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I listened with

interest to the statement by the hon. John Haggie, Minister of Health.

MR. SPEAKER:

I remind the Member not to

address one of your colleagues by name. You should use their title.

Thank

you.

MR. CROSBIE:

I apologize. I was going from

MR. SPEAKER:

There's an interesting

statement. I'll just remind the Member you cannot do indirectly what one cannot

do directly.

Thank

you.

MR. CROSBIE:

The Minister of Health who

referred to what can be achieved with the plan, vision, determination and

partnerships between people and families with lived experience and so forth –

the emphasis being on planning and vision.

Again,

back to the Minister of Justice, we've asked Ottawa to step up with funding for

a new penitentiary and considered going it alone. Will the minister ensure an

inquiry is conducted and recommendations tabled before the province locks itself

into a new correction structure that may leave major systemic issues

unaddressed?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There

are a couple of big parts to that question. The first part, obviously, we're

talking about a review and an investigation. What we've commissioned, what we're

waiting for and what we've promised is a full, thorough publicized investigation

that's independent into these situations. That review is, obviously, very much

underway. I'm expecting a report very soon from Ms. Jesso and team.

When it

comes to the need for a new facility – I made quite clear when I sat over there,

and since I've been over here that we do need a new facility. I can remember

when one was promised by a former federal minister back in the '80s. There was

actually a sign, I think, put outside Harbour Grace.

The fact

is that we do need a new facility. We're continuing to work towards that and

what comes out of this report may also contribute to that.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

On August 22, 2017 the

Minister of Finance announced a review of the province's tax system would be

completed in September of this year; the final report expected in November for

consideration of all recommendations prior to the budget of 2019-20.

Would

the minister inform the House on what date in November will the final report be

released to the public?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

committee that we put in place, Mr. Speaker, were completely independent. I did

not interfere with the committee and their work, or their deliberations. When

they provide the work to me, I will receive it. I anticipate it will be by the

end of November. I don't have a specified date from them at this particular

point.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, we've been advised that 122 employees of Astaldi on site at Muskrat

Falls, some not involved with the trade unions, have yet to be paid back pay and

other benefits. They made representation to Nalcor and the government. I wonder

if the Premier can give us an update on that request.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes,

I've been talking to a number of the employees that have not received pay

cheques or full pay cheques since they were taken off the site just a few weeks

ago.

Mr.

Speaker, we've been talking to the CEO, Stan Marshall at Nalcor, and we

recognize that these are the non-unionized workers that would've been working

there with Astaldi. That's the company, of course, that's been on that site

since the beginning.

But

we're working on a solution for those employees that deserve to get paid for the

work that they've done.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

understand there was some intervention and address done by the province in

regard to the trades union. So is the decision made to intervene here and assist

these workers, or is that decision still being contemplated?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As you

know, when situations like Astaldi, the company, finds themselves in, and Nalcor

would find themselves in, there are a number of bonds and a number of sureties

that are in place to address situations like this.

Just

like we did with the unionized workers that were affiliated with TradesNL, we

worked out a solution with Nalcor to actually facilitate the payment of those

workers. If you remember, there were about 500 workers that were taken off that

site, back around the third weekend of October.

These

are the non-unionized workers, and now we're working with a solution with Nalcor

to actually make sure those workers, they would get the payment that they

deserve as well.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yesterday, your government voted down a private Member's resolution to eliminate

the 1.6 busing policy.

I ask

the minister: When is the Liberal government going to take the safety of our

students seriously?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

I remind the Members that I

will not tolerate outbursts.

The hon.

the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member opposite for the question, and I'd like just to remind the Member

opposite that he was actually the one that voted it down. Because there was an

amendment put to that urging us to have the 1.6 kilometre, to remove it, and the

Members opposite stood and voted against that motion.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I need

to remind the minister that the amendment was to do a review. The time has gone

long past to do reviews.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

We got people who have safety

issues in Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure that their children are getting to

and from school in a safe manner.

Parents,

administrators, school councils and now municipal leaders are all expressing

their support to eliminate this outdated policy for the betterment of education

and safety of our students.

I ask

the minister: Will you commit to changing the policy where safety is a concern?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want

to assure the Members opposite and I want to assure the people in this province

that safety is number one for all of us in this government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

And I just want to just

remind the Members opposite again, when they get up and they grandstand on this

issue, they realize that there has been three years – they had 14 years in

office they could have made these changes, and all of a sudden now it becomes a

huge issue for them and a safety issue, when they had all the opportunity in the

world. They had $25 billion in royalties coming in, and they never saw fit to

change it. So now all of a sudden it becomes an interesting problem.

I would

suggest to the Members opposite to start looking at their own side and with the

decisions they made in the time they were in government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

with all due respect, I really don't care when this policy came into being; I

don't care who didn't do stuff in the past. I care about what the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador are facing right now with students going to and from

school in a non-safe environment. That's your responsibility as Minister of

Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Has this government even done

a cost analysis to determine if indeed this will be an additional financial

cost, when we know in rural areas of the province the number of contracted buses

are down dramatically?

Don't

you think the safety of our children at least deserve that?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, the Member is quite clear when he makes a statement. He obviously

didn't care to 2015; that's obvious.

The

other question I'd like to ask the hon. Member: Did you do a cost analysis? Did

you check? Did you see what removing 1.6 kilometre is going to do? Did you have

that analysis? Was safety an issue then up to 2016? Obviously, it's a new issue

for us.

I would

suggest, Mr. Speaker, we are very serious about what we're doing. That's why

when I became Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development back in

April one of the first things we did was looking at making some changes and

putting in a courtesy stop, which they never even had the thought of doing with

regard to picking up kids. So we've implemented that as part of the policy. We

now have a stop within the 1.6, which is the best in Canada.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With all

due respect, again I've got to clarify. We are the administration that brought

in the courtesy seating to ensure that safety was available.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Things have changed in the

last number of years with the number of cars on the roads, with the changes in

the bus allocation and the number of buses that are travelling. So we've gone a

long way to ensure that safety. You haven't taken it any further.

I ask

the minister: Do you think it's safe to have a child walking on a narrow

shoulder on the road in CBS on Route 60, which is the fifth-busiest road in this

province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

obviously the Member opposite is indicating how good we are doing within this

government; there are increases in cars and the traffic in the last three years.

That's significant.

Mr.

Speaker, I always want to say, safety for me as the minister responsible is

certainly always paramount. We want to make sure that we're providing measures.

Now, they might have brought in a courtesy stop, but they never really fully

implemented it the way it should have been. That was what we did, Mr. Speaker.

We made sure this year – and that's part of the policy yesterday – to ensure to

look at how effective putting in one stop within the 1.6, how it's going to

provide a service to those who need it. Mr. Speaker, that's part of the analysis

we are doing, and we're continuing to do that.

Mr.

Speaker, it's important for all of us, all the time, to look at policies that

are in place to ensure that we have the best policy …

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Four

years into your mandate now, can we stop picking and choosing, doing courtesies,

and get a program and service that addresses the particular need here about

safety?

This

year a child from Maddox Cove had to walk an additional 200 metres in the

opposite direction to get the school bus. They are walking up hills with no

shoulders on the roads in very heavy traffic areas.

Minister, do you think this is appropriate?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Mr. Speaker, again, I just

want to address the Member opposite.

As a

minister, I take all of this very, very seriously, because obviously safety is a

top priority for us; a top priority for this government. And that was one of the

School District. Unlike with regard to the original courtesy stop, we have made

sure that we do have – there are kids, there are children that are actually

within the 1.6, if there are available seats within the buses that's providing

that service, within that 1.6, Mr. Speaker, we will pick up students that are

within that 1.6. That's why we put an additional stop where it's a safety

measure within that 1.6.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

with all due respect, that's why we're getting hundreds, if not thousands, of

emails and contacts that this is not working, Mr. Speaker.

Minister, you walked Beachy Cove Road with parents when you were the Minister of

Transportation and Works: Do you think the road you walked is safe for children

walking to school?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, at

least I walked the Beachy Cove Road to get a first-hand view of what's

happening.

Mr.

Speaker, throughout this province we all understand – again, one of the things

we want to talk about, this is not political. This is making sure we're

providing – one of the stipulations and one of the policies – the Member is well

aware of this, Mr. Speaker, he is well aware of it, that within the 1.6 – and it

is standard throughout Canada. It's a jurisdictional scan that parents are

responsible within the 1.6 to ensure that their children get to school in a safe

manner.

Now,

that 1.6, is that hard and fast what it should be? Well, you know, if you looked

across Canada – in British Columbia, for example, it is four kilometres. In

Ontario it's 3.2 kilometres. So, Mr. Speaker, we are one of the better provinces

when it comes to a policy for providing for our children and the safety …

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I went

to school on Spadina Avenue in Toronto, and Beachy Cove Road is no Spadina

Avenue, I tell you that much.

The

implement an adequate financial monitoring control system.

Will he

at least instruct the board to find the necessary money from the $250 million

operating budget they have?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't

know where the Member opposite is getting his information that we're not going

to instruct the funding. I told him, I think it was yesterday, or one of the

days this week, that actually a budgetary process is in place.

One of

the things I did say, Mr. Speaker, I did say, it's totally unacceptable when you

have an Auditor General that goes in and does a report, a report from 2011 to

2016 – get the dates, 2011, 2016 – very unacceptable, and there were issues

there.

When I

became minister, and one of the things we did as a government, is made sure that

the Auditor General got in there to look at these issues, because there were

issues. We addressed those issues. We'll continue to address these issues, and

we will make sure that we have programming and we have a safe environment for

our students in our schools.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister, what role will your department play in ensuring that the proper

financial monitoring process is implemented as soon as possible?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just

want to make the Member opposite aware that we have made significant changes. We

have, in fact, asked the Auditor General to go in and take a look to that, and

we've asked the Auditor General to take a further look at some of the other

areas; but, as you know, Mr. Speaker, under their watch the school boards were

School District, and, of course, we have the French school district as well.

Mr.

Speaker, it's very important for us to have the checks and balances in place.

However we're going to do that, we're going to ensure and instruct – we are

going to instruct, there's no doubt about it, Mr. Speaker. We're not going to

sit back and let this happen. We are going to instruct and we are going to have

the checks and balances in place to ensure that the things that happened between

2011 and 2016 will not happen in 2018.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Your

time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, thank you.

With all

due respect, again, they're all great sounding things, but when are you going to

make a decision whether or not you're going to fund this process to move

forward?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

I'll just continue to give the answer that we are putting checks and balances in

place. We are putting the measures in place and we're having these discussions

to ensure that we do have, and we will continue to have, the proper checks and

balances in place so that the types of things that happened between 2011 and

2016 will not happen in the future.

There

are some situations there, Mr. Speaker, that could be fraudulent, and we will

make sure that these things don't happen. So we will make sure that the

resources are in place to ensure that these checks and balances are there, and

we'll continue to monitor to that and we'll continue to work with the school

districts to ensure that, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, it's great that

you're going to put in checks and balances. Can you share what they are?

We're

months into this and we're dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars that

could be better used for resources for school busing, for supportive services.

Tell us

what your checks and balances are that you've implemented.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development for a quick response, please.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Our

first response to that, or my first response to that, is having a very serious

occasions, and having a discussion with the CEO to ensure that the checks and

balances are in place, because this – the practices that were happening were

unacceptable, and we needed to have the proper accounting and the proper

programming in place, which we will have, Mr. Speaker, and we will continue to

ensure that these things will not happen again.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

$1.38

billion in new exploration bids for the province's offshore oil and gas industry

is pretty significant.

In his

2010 offshore helicopter safety report, Justice Wells said recommendation 29,

calling for an independent offshore safety authority, was his most important

recommendation. Government's brag that our offshore industry is world-class and

that safety is paramount, but the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority is a

global gold standard for protection of workers.

With a

new

chapter in deep-water offshore oil exploration starting, I ask the Premier:

Will he work with his federal counterparts to create an independent offshore

safety authority for the protection of our offshore workers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member is correct in that we are pleased with the growth and development of our

offshore oil and gas industry. We take, on this side of the House, and I'm sure

everybody in this Chamber takes safety and environmental concerns very

seriously.

As the

Member opposite does know, all the recommendations have been implemented. That

was a suggestion of the outcome of the report.

We have

a separate conservation officer; we have a chief safety officer in the

Canada - Newfoundland

and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. We have to continue to ensure the

measures are there to protect workers and to protect our environment.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, but I was

speaking about an independent offshore safety authority that was highly

recommended by Justice Wells.

Mr.

Speaker, oil and gas exploration is reaching farther offshore, requiring workers

to fly longer to get back and forth to work. Flying at night is particularly

dangerous, with little chance of surviving a crash. Government has introduced

new OHS regulations for the offshore industry, but they stopped short of an

outright ban on night flights.

I ask

the Premier: Will he make a commitment to ensure the current policy banning

night flights will be made permanent for the protection of our workers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

said earlier, safety and environmental protection is paramount for our offshore,

and we'll continue to make sure that it remains thus.

And with

regard to night-time flying, there has been no move, no move at all, to extend

night-time flying. As we continue to move through our offshore development, the

Member is correct, we will be going farther offshore. It is always something

that is paramount and in the minds especially of C-NLOPB, and especially for

every Member in this House of Assembly.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Scientists say the number of seabirds has declined drastically with offshore oil

production, and that many of these birds are being killed by lights on the decks

of oil rigs. The C-NLOPB efforts to make operators reduce bird mortalities are

not working.

I ask

the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment: Will his government tell the

C-NLOPB to require installation of light deflectors on all rigs to protect

against any more seabird fatalities?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to be

quite honest, that's not an issue that's been brought to my attention before, so

I certainly wouldn't be able to speak to it now or make a commitment like that.

That's a commitment that will require consultation with a number of groups and

people.

What I

can say is that when we talk about wildlife, that's something we all take

serious. So what I can endeavour to do, and promise to do, is make sure that

this is a topic that does have discussion around our department, with the

offshore and with the C-NLOPB.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

suggest to the minister that he as minister may not have met people like Mr.

Bill Montevecchi but they've certainly been around government, so I ask him to

introduce himself to him.

For

decades, scientists like him have asked for permanent, independent monitors on

board oil rigs to check for infractions such as small oil spills and bird

fatalities from lights. Environment Canada has now indicated the need for

monitoring on rigs to understand what is happening to species such as Leach's

storm petrel.

Will the

minister work with the C-NLOPB to establish environmental monitors permanently

on board oil rigs, similar to what is done in the fishery?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you,

Mr. Speaker.

The

first thing I would say is that obviously if somebody calls me I'll take that

meeting, but I haven't been called. I haven't been emailed. I haven't had a

letter written to me.

The

second thing I would say it that I would caution the Member that we may need to

speak to our MPs because this may be something that's actually federal

jurisdiction and not provincial jurisdiction. So certainly, we'll do what we can

here to protect wildlife and the environment here, but that's not just a

provincial endeavour. So I suggest we'll reach out to our federal colleagues as

well.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East - Quidi Vidi for a very quick question, please.

MS. MICHAEL:

Will government recognize the

need for an independent agency in conjunction with the federal government to

protect the environment offshore?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

said earlier this government, all the people in this House, and all the people

in Newfoundland and Labrador take environmental protection very seriously, and

especially in our offshore where we have increased activity. I'm very pleased to

see increased activity and increased concern for the environmental protection.

There is

new legislation within the federal government who are changing the environmental

protection requirements offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. That bill, C-69, has

made its way through the House of Commons. It is quite restricting on the

environment and exploration and environment concerns for our offshore

Newfoundland and Labrador.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Oral Question

has ended.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I give

notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act Respecting The

Protection And Promotion Of Public Health, Bill 37.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

notices of motion?

The hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give

notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act Respecting The

Reporting Requirements Of Public Bodies, Bill 38.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

notices of motion?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At a

time when the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are dealing with high levels

of taxation, increased unemployment rates, increased food bank usage, increased

bankruptcies and many are being forced to choose between food, heat and

medications, Newfoundland Power and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro are

continuing to seek numerous power rate increases through the Public Utilities

Board.

Once the

Muskrat Falls Project comes online, these rates are predicted to further

increase significantly to unmanageable levels for the average citizens of our

province. While government has indicated they are working with Nalcor to

mitigate rates, they've provided no detailed plan as to how they intend to do

so.

Therefore, we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: To urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to publicly provide all of the potential

options for rate mitigation and develop a comprehensive, detailed plan to deal

with current and impending power rate increases. This plan is to be provided to

the public as soon as possible to allow for scrutiny, feedback and potential

suggestions for improvement.

Mr.

Speaker, I have about 200 signatures again today. These are coming primarily

from the St. John's metro area; CBS, St. Philip's, Mount Pearl and so on. I

think the petition is pretty self-explanatory, I've now read it several times,

and I'm sure there will be more to come.

I just

want to put a little new twist on it today for the information of all Members,

and to urge all Members, that currently there is a rate application process

before the Public Utilities Board on behalf of Newfoundland Power. Part of that

application is to allow Newfoundland Power to increase their maximum profits

from 8.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent return on investment annually.

I think

at this point in time where we're in this situation where people are in

desperate situations, that's something we definitely can't afford as ratepayers.

I'm certainly encouraging everybody out there in the general public, and I

encourage all Members of this House, to contact the Public Utilities Board.

Anybody can email them, put in a submission and let the people at Newfoundland

Power know that we will not tolerate a rate increase at this time.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation for a response,

please.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know

the Minister of Natural Resources has said multiple times in this House that we

are taking action, we are working on plans and, as soon as possible, we're doing

everything that we can to ensure that we continue to have affordable electricity

here in our province.

One

important thing that we are certainly doing is attracting new business and

investment here, and looking at ways of which we can ensure that we have places

of commerce, like new mines that are taking high energy-intensive industries

that we've seen with Canada Fluorspar that recently opened, that's creating

jobs. When you create new jobs, you have more housing developments.

In the

budget, the Finance Minister had highlighted a housing program that was put in

place, and we've actually seen improvements in this fiscal year in new housing

starts that are taking place. So when we have new homeowners, more energy is

being consumed, and these types of things help when it comes to demand and when

it comes to the cost of what electricity will be in our province.

Being

able to attract that high level of investment, whether it be in the cannabis

industry or whether it be in oil and gas or whether it be in manufacturing or

technology and other services, this is very important, and that's why our

government has taken the approach in The

Way Forward through all of the sectors, whether it's aquaculture, forestry,

agriculture, technology, to ensure that we're placing attention on job creation.

Job creation grows the economy and creates jobs and will buffer this process

that is put forward.

So I

thank the Member for his petition put forward today.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the

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

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

WHEREAS

Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the lowest minimum wages in Canada, and

minimum wage workers earn poverty incomes; and

WHEREAS

proposals to index minimum wage to inflation will not address poverty if the

wage is too low to start with; and

WHEREAS

women and youth, and service sector employees, are particularly hurt by the low

minimum wage; and

WHEREAS

the minimum wage only rose only 5 per cent between 2010 and 2016, while many

food items rose more than 20 per cent; and

WHEREAS

other Canadian jurisdictions are implementing or considering a $15 minimum wage

as a step toward a living wage;

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

of Assembly to urge government to legislate a gradual increase in the minimum

wage to $15 by 2021, with annual adjustment thereafter to reflect provincial

inflation.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I've stood and presented this petition a number of times. And it's

clear, the research has been clear about how an increased minimum wage to $15 an

hour is good for the economy. It's not only just good for workers, it's actually

good for the economy.

Newfoundland and Labrador, our minimum wage at $11.15 is the third-lowest in the

country. Minimum wages in Canada range from $11 an hour to $15 an hour, but most

of them are higher than $11.15. Now, Alberta's minimum wage is $15 an hour. BC's

is $12.65, with a plan to reach $15 by 2021 – they're going in the right

direction. Ontario's is $14 an hour, but its new Conservative government

cancelled the goal of $15 an hour by 2019. I'm sure many minimum wage workers

are very discouraged by that.

full-time, minimum wage worker makes $23,192 in Newfoundland and Labrador, which

is not much more than the low-income cut-off of $20,952 for St. John's. So, Mr.

Speaker, there is no justice when someone works full-time, often at very hard

jobs, and still lives below a poverty line, or just at that poverty line. I

don't think this is what we want for our workers. I think we want more for our

workers.

Again,

we know workers who are on the lower income, they spend all their money locally.

They spend all their money in their communities. This would be a just and fair

thing to do and makes good economic sense.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development for a response, please.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll

just take a moment to respond to the Member's petition.

We, as a

government, certainly recognize that there are people out there that make lower

income and they have challenges with day-to-day living. I want to talk about

some of the things that we, as a government, have done, Mr. Speaker, for those

people; $65 million we've been putting in place every year since the first

budget – $65 million; an income supplement for low-income people that's reaching

155,000 families in this province; $56.3 million for a seniors' benefit that's

reaching 47,000 families in this province.

Our

first budget, 2016, $250 million for poverty reduction initiatives. We increased

that to $270 million in 2017. Our last budget in 2018, $280 million and more

than 100 poverty reduction initiatives. The most, to my knowledge, ever in the

history of any government in this province; $8.3 million for supportive living;

over $4 million to help low-income people with a Home Energy Savings Program.

Mr.

Speaker, we recognize that when it comes to assisting low-income people it takes

a whole-of-government approach across departments, and that's what we're doing.

And also working with our federal government on a number of initiatives. We will

continue to do what we can for the people in this province that are on

low-income, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

many students within our province depend on school busing for transportation to

and from school each day; and

WHEREAS

there are many parents of school aged children throughout our province who live

inside the Eastern School District's 1.6 kilometre zone, therefore do not

qualify for busing; and

WHEREAS

a policy cannot override the safety of our children;

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

of Assembly to urge government to eliminate the 1.6 kilometre policy for all

elementary schools in the province and in junior and senior high schools where

safety is a primary concern.

And as in duty bound, your petitioners will

ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this issue has taken a lot of

debate in the last number of days, and we continue to bring it up here on a

daily basis. It's a very important

issue, as has been stated and – it could never be overstated.

Outside

of the cost factors, outside of the political games, the minister, during

Question Period today, alluded to the policy and the politics: Why didn't you do

it? Did you do this? That's not where we are. Here and now today, things have

changed. Society has changed. It's more than just the safety of children walking

roads. It is other safety factors, too, that we don't talk about a lot.

The

world has changed a lot. To have small children walking these roads unattended,

there are a lot of other safety things out there besides moving vehicles, Mr.

Speaker. Without getting into the details, I think most people can connect the

dots. There are a lot of dangers out there to our most vulnerable children in

society. Do you want them left unattended? Do you want them walking to school on

these busy roads with no sidewalks? No. It's more than vehicles. Vehicles is a

very safety-oriented issue. There's a lot more involved in today's world than

that.

The

family supports are not in place. They don't have the uncles and aunts and

grandmothers and friends to pick up your child or bring them to school. It's not

there. I got a lot of families in my district of single parent families, they're

struggling just to keep everything going. They're trying to work everyday to pay

the bills, and they're struggling.

I'm

going to give you one example. This is a real example. I had a single mom who

lived in Kelligrews, who worked as a nurse. She had to be to work for 7 o'clock

in the morning. She was inside the zone by a very slim margin. Do you know what

she ended up doing? She sold her home and moved. She had no choice. She was

leaving work, going to get her child and coming back to work in a nursing

environment. They were allowing it. After a while she realized she couldn't do

it anymore. She sold her home.

Those

are not small issues, Mr. Speaker. You can play politics with this; these are

important issues. It's affecting families. We talk about safety – and safety is,

no doubt, a primary concern, but it's the overall family model.

We can

make accusations back and forth; at the end of the day, this policy is outdated.

It has crossed party lines, we get that. Here and now today, as my colleague for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island pointed out, we're concerned about hear and

now. It's time for the policy to be changed, and we call upon government to do

so now.

Thank

you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development for a response,

please.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I wasn't

going to respond today, because I've been responding over the last while. I just

sit over here, Mr. Speaker, and I just cannot believe that a Member can get up

and say how significant things have changed in three years – Mr. Speaker, three

years. I'd like for him to ask his colleagues, who were in Cabinet, that were in

Cabinet up until 2016, where they were. Why didn't they make a change? You would

not know that the sky has dropped in three years.

As I

said earlier, Mr. Speaker, what an ideal opportunity for them to have changed

the 1.6 when they were getting $25 billion in royalties over a 10-year period.

To get

up and make these statements, and now, all of a sudden, the sky is falling. We

have made changes, unlike what was done on the other side and we have put in

courtesy. That was part of the amendment yesterday, to review the courtesy stops

to see if they were working. We didn't say we weren't going to be making any

changes to 1.6. We said we will review.

So, Mr.

Speaker, that's ongoing. It would be not prudent for me not to look at new ways

of doing things. It's an ongoing process.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

Orders of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day, Sir.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call from the

Order Paper, Order 5, second reading of Bill 32.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's my

pleasure to stand this afternoon and I move, seconded by Minister of Natural

Resources, the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, that we would make

amendments to the Labour Standards Act .

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

Bill 32 entitled,

An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act, be now read a second

time.

Motion,

second reading of a bill, “An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act.” (Bill 32)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.

MR. HAWKINS:

Mr. Speaker, I didn't notice

that the Member was not present so I'll move, seconded by the Minister of

Justice, that we would make amendments to that.

MR. SPEAKER:

Okay. My apologies. Thank you

for that clarification.

The hon.

the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour to start the debate on

second reading, Bill 32.

Thank

you.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly want to thank the House today for the opportunity to inform you of the

amendments to the Labour Standards Act

that will introduce a new form of leave from work to help employees and their

families better deal with the consequences of family violence.

Mr.

Speaker, unfortunately, this is a huge issue that's facing more and more people.

As I mentioned earlier this morning, I would like to be in a position to be able

to say that we've eradicated all of family violence but, unfortunately, that's

not true.

Mr.

Speaker, I know that all of my hon. colleagues in this House would agree that

this is a very serious issue. This is a very serious issue. And it's important

for us, as legislators, to ensure that we address these concerns. As I worked on

this particular amendment to this bill, the more and more I looked into it, the

more and more I realized that there are people that are facing some very, very

unfortunate situations.

Family

violence is defined in the Family Violence

Protection Act . It may include one of the following: assault, an intentional

reckless or threatened act or omission that causes bodily harm, or damage to

property or causes a reasonable fear of bodily harm or damage to property.

It could

include physical confinement; it could include sexual assault, sexual

exploitation or sexual molestation or the threat of either; conduct that causes

someone to fear for his or her safety; conduct that causes psychological or

emotional harm or a reasonable fear of that harm to the individual or to their

child; conduct that controls and exploits and limits an individual's access to

financial resources; and depriving people of food or clothing or medical

attention, shelter, transportation or other necessities of life.

Statistics Canada family violence profile for 2016, the most recently available

data, indicates the total number of victims of police-reported family violence

crime in Canada was 336,487; approximately 86,000 were family members of the

accused. In our province, Mr. Speaker, the total number of victims of

police-reported family violence was approximately 1,200 – I might add, 1,200 too

many.

However,

as we all know, most incidents go unreported. Research suggests that only about

10 per cent of such incidents are reported to police. According to a federal

Department of Justice study, the cost of family violence to Canadian society is

approximately $7.4 billion annually, and this includes an annual economic cost

to employers of $77.8 million annually.

A lot of

this is due to absenteeism, lengthy periods of leave, reduced productivity and

issues related to workplace safety. Think for a moment, Mr. Speaker, that if

you're in the unfortunate situation of having to deal with family violence and

there are not proper measures or tools in place to help you through this

situation, and you have to face these situations not only within your house,

within your home, but now you also have to worry about your employment, up to

this point in time. All of this stress and strain on these victims is not

necessary. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, family violence is all too common an

occurrence and the effects of that violence can be devastating for the survivors

and their loved ones.

noted, studies have shown that there is a cost to family violence and that

people who experience family violence report that it negatively affected their

work performance. The new family violence leave we are introducing today will

help, to a small degree, these individuals and their families, while

acknowledging and balancing the ability of employers to meet this obligation.

Mr.

Speaker, as I mentioned this morning in the media centre, this is, I think, a

good first step. One of the challenges that I have as minister is that I have to

strike a balance. I have to strike a balance between employees and employers.

It's not always easy, Mr. Speaker. A lot of times, you put your human hat on, or

human experience, there's a tendency you want to sort of go one side, or one way

or the other.

So many

times, Mr. Speaker, while I'm in this portfolio that I've had to do a check

within myself. Part of the check that I've had to do within myself is to check

in realizing that I do have to do a balance. I have to create that balance, what

I think would be fair to not only employees but employers as well. Do I always

get that right? Probably not, Mr. Speaker.

But one

of the things I think we all have to realize is that we just cannot sit back and

do nothing. I think it's important for us to realize that, as a government, we

have to ensure that we are providing – within sometimes the limitations that we

have – for those that are impacted by society, by the workplace and by living

within your homes, we have to ensure that we are cognizant of the difficulties,

and we have to be cognizant of the pain, and the anguish and the agony that

these people face.

Mr.

Speaker, many of us have probably never experienced that. So when we say that,

it becomes very, very difficult, at times, to get into other people's lives.

Speaking with many people that are advocates over the years, Mr. Speaker, and

speaking to many different women's organizations and many groups, and realize

that there are significant challenges in our society. That every single day, men

and women are facing these challenges head-on and, in many cases, finding it

difficult to do so.

So, Mr.

Speaker, it's incumbent upon us, who have the ability to make these changes, to

understand that we tried the best we can, as quickly as we can, to minimize and

to mitigate some of these concerns. Family violence leave will provide up to 10

days of leave: 3 days of paid leave, 7 days of unpaid leave for individuals,

both men and women, experiencing family violence.

As I

said, Mr. Speaker, is that the best we can do? Well, as I said, we have to work

and strike that balance. In making this decision, I want to really recognize –

and, of course, I'm glad to see Members in the gallery today and, particularly,

the employers and some of our public employees. Also, of course, the Federation

of Labour, and the tremendous amount of work that you have done. I really

applaud you because I know we have met on several occasions –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

– in trying to work through

this to get what we would consider to be a first start. I made that very clear

this morning, this is a first start, in order for us to be able to examine and

to look at what exactly this will do, how will this play itself out. Will the

measures that we have there now provide benefits to those that are impacted?

Will it create some concerns? Will there be a big uptake? Will there be a

minimal uptake? So it gives us some time to be able to get out and to analyze

and to really look into how this is going to fit within the measures that we

want.

I think,

Mr. Speaker, a lot of times we would like to have this or we would like to have

that, but sometimes it takes courage. It takes courage for organizations that

may want to look at levels up here, and there are other organizations that may

want to look at levels down here. It takes courage on behalf of both sides to be

able to come somewhere that we can live with this, and this is a good first

start. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to applaud all of those that were involved in us

having those discussions.

One of

the other things, Mr. Speaker, that we put in there as well because we think

it's important, is that the leave would be available to an individual that has

been employed for a continuous 30-day period. Now, we set that because we

understand that there may be people that are changing employment, and they may

be changing employment for various reasons. They may be looking at if I change

employment, if I change work, things may be different.

really did not want people that were impacted by family violence to have to work

for a full year with an employer to be included in this. Mr. Speaker, we looked

at what would probably be the minimal amount of time with an employer. So we set

that as a 30-day period.

Mr.

Speaker, a lot of times the impact can be the employee, but we realize that

there are others that can be impacted, and not necessarily the employee himself

or herself. So in this amendment we have included an employee, we've included

their children, or a person for whom the employee is a caregiver who has been

subjected to family violence.

The new

leave will come into effect on January 1, 2019 and can be used for the following

purposes; seek and receive medical attention, counselling and other services

from a health professional; seek and receive services provided by a transition

house. I must say, Mr. Speaker, our transition houses in this province are doing

some fantastic work.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

We want to work closely with

our police agencies. We want to work with government and any other organization

that provides services to people that are subjected to family violence. We want

to give people an opportunity to move their place of residence, to seek and

receive legal services or assistance. All of this, Mr. Speaker, can be done

without having to worry about whether they'll have a job to go back to.

Imagine

facing a family violence or domestic situation and having to deal with that

itself and the added stress of wondering whether I'm going to have a job to go

back to. We've all heard stories about that.

The new

family violence leave builds on and is in addition to some of the other leave we

have in place now: the parental and adoption leave, the bereavement leave, the

sick and family responsibility leave, compassionate leave, care leave, the

unpaid leave for reservists, crime-related child death or disappearance leave,

and leave related to critical illness. The amendments that we are discussing

today also ensure job protection for employees who avail of this leave.

Mr.

Speaker, this government is ensuring that our Labour Standards legislation

remains relevant and responsive to the ever-evolving challenges that are faced

in workplaces every single day. When family violence occurs, this amendment

ensures that the employee will have leave available to do what needs to be done

for themselves and their families. These amendments will help ensure that they

will have time that they need.

As I

mentioned earlier, Mr. Speaker, my officials have met with a number of

businesses, labour, and women's advocacy groups in advance of these amendments

being brought forward today. Any time that we amend the Labour Standards

legislation, which establishes the minimum terms, Mr. Speaker, get this, the

minimum terms, because in many of the situations within the Labour Standards,

employers have the ability to grant whatever they want. These are the minimum

standards.

Mr.

province, and we must look at it from the perspective of both employers and the

employees. We have to balance the needs of workers and the ability of employers

to pay, which is particularly important under the current economic conditions.

Our

responsibility is twofold. It's to make sure that workers have access and

protections that are responsive to their needs while ensuring that the

businesses can continue to operate and remain competitive for the benefit of all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Providing three paid leave days and seven

unpaid leave days strikes this balance.

Our

government is sensitive to the needs of victims of family violence. We remain

committed to improving the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and of our

communities through the introduction of relevant and responsive legislation.

Mr.

Speaker, today, for me as minister, is a great day. I am so pleased and so proud

to stand in this House and to introduce this bill, to make sure that we are

listening. To make sure that we are providing whatever we possibly can for those

that are impacted by family violence, that are impacted within their daily lives

have the necessary tools, the necessary resources that will help them through

the situations they are facing.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Reid):

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for those comments, and his staff for the briefing they provided

last week on this bill.

It's an

important bill, actually, too. When it was introduced and I read it – me and the

minister, actually, had a conversation about it last week. It was interesting,

because when I read it first, I was – it's a good bill. Obviously, it's a good

piece of legislation, but it just came to me, like, why hasn't this been done

before.

It's

interesting, and it draws you back to the reality of the world we live in with

family violence and the way society is. I guess it's always been around. It's

that more people talk about it now. It's like the mental health issues, people

talk about it.

Family

violence is a shame. There was a lot of shame and embarrassment at times and

people tended not to want to speak about it. It went undetected, unreported. And

as we read in these notes, there's only 10 per cent of it still reported. If you

look at the numbers, we're saying there are 1,250 cases reported yearly in

Newfoundland – and that's 1,251 and it's only 10 per cent of that. So we're up

to 12,000 cases in our province of a half million people. That's quite

staggering, actually.

So to

bring in this piece of legislation to protect people and individuals – and

sometimes we quickly jump that it's just females, but the numbers show that a

lot of males also are subject to family violence. It's surprising

percentage-wise, the numbers are very close, which is interesting. Again, we

sometimes make assumptions that are not always right, because society has

changed and we see it in those numbers. And if you really size it up, it

shouldn't be that surprising.

When you

look at three days paid leave, 10 days in total, it's good. Ideally, you'd like

to see no time be unpaid, but that's understanding of the financial – across the

country the pattern is pretty consistent with several provinces, but it's a sad

reality of the world we're living in.

As I was

reading this bill and the legislation that came with it, I guess I went back in

time to a previous life. I know the president of NAPE is upstairs and the

Federation of Labour president, and it brings me back in time when I used to be

president of a NAPE local for a lot of years and I know a lot of people at NAPE.

It brought me back to my time when I was involved as chief shop steward and I

was head of the committees. I dealt with a lot of these situations back then.

I'm going back probably 15, 20 years back now – now I look at it as time went

on, that's what they were, they were family violence issues.

you're going in to the employer, you were arguing to give this person some

leeway because they used X number of sick days too many, or they never got

proper approval for their leave or what have you. They were in trouble with the

employer. That was my role, and they'd come to me and they were getting called

in. They were being reprimanded or what have you, and when I read this it really

struck me – and I can name off numerous examples of it.

Now I

realize what the problem was. I did not know then and I don't know now, but I'm

pretty well sure I know what the reason was. They were suffering from family

violence, but they couldn't tell me that. I couldn't tell the employer that

because I didn't know that either. Oftentimes, I went in and I tried to navigate

through that as best I could, because I knew deep in my soul there was something

not right but I just couldn't connect the dots. I didn't know if it was alcohol,

I didn't know if it was depression. I didn't know what it was.

This

really, to me, when I read a lot of this it really opened my eyes. And probably

even before that, I've had flashes of it but this really gives you those times,

your pause-and-reflect moments. In retrospect, that's exactly what it was. I

think now, you look and turn the clock ahead, in a lot of the labour movement

and with employers in general, we're looking at things from a different scope

now. Before – I go back in time, back in the years earlier – I mean things were

pretty black and white. There were no grey areas; there was no acceptance.

remember when the EAP program became a thing. People were directed to go to EAP.

Then I'd be looking at people and some of these same people are referenced, and

they: I don't have a problem, why would you recommend EAP? Truthfully, I was

trying to do something to save their job. I knew if they signed up and they did

EAP, maybe we'd get to the root problem, what their issue was. Because I didn't

know, even though I had suspicions.

So it

just reminds us of how far we've come in those years and where we're to today,

to be bringing in a piece of legislation like this to address those concerns,

because I guess sometimes we take a lot of things for granted. If we're all

fortunate enough to live in a stable, family home and have a family or whatever

you've got, have your own stable home, you don't really realize – you can't walk

a mile in their shoes. But when you deal with them, and I'm sure there are

people in this House that's dealt with them in a previous life, probably as MHAs

now, when you sit and you come face to face with those people, and you listen to

their concerns, and you look at their faces, it strikes home. It's challenging.

recently as two, three weeks ago, I had this lady in my office. She cried for

the two hours she was there, and it was heart-wrenching. She was suffering from

all these same issues. I was doing what we could, as we all tend to do. We'll

try to – whatever programs are there to assist, to do what we could to help them

and try to make a difference. Again, that's what we all do anyway, but it was

really emotional to watch it.

Again,

even now, we're doing these things. This bill is great, it's great to see and

I'm very pleased with it, but we still got a long ways to go. All these are

steps in the right direction, there's no doubt about it, but I still feel that

we can do more – all of us – collectively as a society, because we're still

missing the boat on a lot of this stuff. That's not pointing fingers, that's the

reality we live, and we learn as we go on. As this change comes, there will

hopefully be another change next year that we'll say it never occurred to us

this year. That's the way we progress and that's how we make ourselves better.

There's

one instance – and it was about a couple of months back. This is another

individual that I knew and went through a lot of issues: family violence, drugs.

There were a lot of issues. But this employer actually took her under her wing;

took her in with all the baggage. And as people say, a lot of people would not

want to deal with that.

All of

her imperfections, all of issues, and she had lots, but she was looking for

help. Everyone was reaching out to her, and took her – and right now today,

basically, she's employed by this person, they're helping her, everything they

can assist. They contact me and (inaudible). It's a wonderful story, and that's

without this legislation. So there are a lot of employers out there that are

taking people like that, without any requirements. They're taking them as they

are because they believe in them, or they want to help.

We have

a lot of good employers in our province. A lot of them don't need this

legislation to be supportive of people that are victims of family violence. So

this legislation just protects everyone. This gives them rights, the worker, who

are suffering from family violence rights, but I'd like to point out – because

this should be noted – there are a lot of good people in this province that do a

lot of good things for people that are in need, and I know that's one example.

I'm sure we can hear lots of different examples.

That

one, in particular, really impressed me because this person, as an employer,

requires a lot of help. To this day, still requires a lot of help; a lot of time

away from work dealing with their issues. Hats off to this person for doing it.

I spoke to them personally, and I said: Good on you, because not everyone would

do that. It's quite admirable to that for that person.

Again, I

can say we can multiply that by who knows how many, so there are a lot of good

employers in our province that help the people that are in need. It's not only

young; there are a lot of older people suffering through this. Children are

included in this; they're vulnerable. If you're a victim of family violence,

it's probably one of the more vulnerable times you'll ever be in your life.

Now,

close to home, I dealt with it – not personally, in my immediate family, but

pretty close. Luckily enough, this person were employed by a big, private

corporation. And even that became challenging. At times, there were HR issues

because of so much time missed from work. There were quite serious family

violence issues. At the end of the day, it did work out, but there were a lot of

tight times there that it was questionable, how things were going to work out.

As it turned out, things did work out, but I think back then it was only because

it was the corporation that she was working for that saved it.

Now this

person happened to be really close to me, so I know quite personally. But it's

an understanding, as a society, where we've come and I think that's the point

I'm trying to make when I speak like this. This legislation, I could get up in

five minutes, as the minister just outlined, it's a great piece of legislation.

We have no issues with this legislation, but I think the bigger issue is there

are still a lot of problems in our society.

We're

bringing in this legislation because we still have a lot of problems. As elected

officials in this House, I think it's noteworthy that maybe we all should

reflect on that and talk about it, because I don't know what we can do

individually to correct this. I don't have the answers.

I do

know that we all try to provide supports whether it's our workplace, our private

lives, what have you, anyone that you know that's a victim, you do what you can.

I think that's humanity, that's civility and that's what we do. There are a lot

of good people in this province, outside of employers, a lot of good people to

help people through these very difficult times. To know that you've got an

employer who's going to support you when you're going through this, it's a good

thing. It is a really good thing.

We have

a lot of the EAP, Employee Assistance Programs, out there that provide that

service to a lot of people. But I think the thing is we've got to get past –

when I say mental health, because I've got a passion on that as well, it's the

stigma. It's the stigma. It's the shame of saying you have problems. It's the

shame to say you're a sufferer of family violence. There's no difference then

when I look at mental health or any other addiction out there – and we all know

them. I got people I can name off, they had every issue – I'm listing off every

one of them. And the biggest issue they face is shame, coming forward and

telling they have a problem.

Telling

your employer you're a victim of family violence – think about that. That's not

an easy thing to do. You go to work – and everyone has dignity. They want to

keep their dignity. They want to keep their confidence. They want to feel good

about themselves. They feel, as a person, they're losing that by coming forward.

That's a really sad statement but, unfortunately, that's the way a lot of those

people feel, that are in that situation. That's sad, but maybe it's something

incumbent upon us as society to support those people; to make it not so hard to

do; to open the door to make them feel more comfortable in doing that.

It's sad

to say that we accept that that's a part of our society but unfortunately it is.

We got to do better to correct it in the future; we got to do better every day

to correct it. I don't have those answers, as I said, Mr. Speaker, but I think

that that is probably where – we're bringing in this legislation, and again,

like I said, in an ideal world we wouldn't have to but where're here, and that's

where we're to right now.

believe that here and now you deal with the issues head-on, and this is an

issue, a very serious issue, among the other issues I just listed. What's the

answer to it? I don't know. This is a good start, there's no doubt, but I think

we need to even look deeper. I know there are great programs. This one here, we

go the mental health and addictions, the All-Party Committee came out with great

recommendations but maybe we need to branch off and deal with societal problems.

Is it to

do with our finances? Is it to do with people's livelihoods? Is the minimum wage

too low? I know my colleagues in the Third Party would love for me to say that.

Is that the problem? Is it social problems? Is it economic? What is the issue?

What is the root problem? What's causing this? Is there too much drugs on the

street? Is there easy access? What is the answer? I don't know, but I think the

more we talk about, discuss it and (inaudible), because I'm sure everyone, when

I say that, you'll think to yourself what is the answer.

You'll

go home and you'll read about it. You'll hear about it. Everyone can name a

dozen stories in their own towns and their own communities; tragic stories of

family violence, of murder-suicide. Unfortunately, we've all witnessed that. I

watched it on the news last evening, I believe. It was on the Northern Peninsula

– I might be wrong on that but it happened in a clinic, the shooting-suicide in

a little, local clinic on the Northern Peninsula.

I was

watching that this morning and I was thinking to myself – I thought this bill

was coming up today and I'd have to speak to it, and when I was watching I said

it was kind of ironic. That is a prime case of family violence. This lady went

to work. Her partner came in, murdered her and shot himself in front of a

co-worker. That's in our world. I re-listened to her interview and ironically it

was a week or two later, in my own district, down in Manuels, it happened at a

medical clinic there.

That

brings it home as well because I know that was a very terrifying time for

people, residents and me included. This person was on the loose. There was a lot

of pandemonium and it was shock and awe that your own town – even though CBS is

a large community it still feels – I've lived there all my life. I still think

that I know everyone who lives on my street, which I don't. I like to think

that, but I don't. I used to be able to name everyone on the street. I can't do

it no more. But, in saying that, that don't leave you. You feel you're part of

that. That's part of who you are.

I hit

the crest to Manuels hill and I go down to Manuels lights, I'm there. I know my

friend from Baie Verte - Green Bay, he travels up there quite a bit because he

has family there, so he knows what I'm talking about. When you hit there, I'm

home. I feel safe. I do, I really feel safe. I feel like you could sleep on the

side of the road, but you can't. That's the sad reality.

When

those things happen – I know the incident that happened down in Manuels at the

medical clinic that time, that shook our community. We had another couple of

incidents after, they weren't related but they were pretty public events. It's a

real eye opener, but that's – again, I come back, that's the society we're

living in.

We can

think in our communities – and we have a lot of rural Members in this House.

Across the way I look at a lot of them, and everyone thinks the same way that I

think. It's the coming of age of every community, but it's the coming of age of

us as a society. These are problems we have to deal with head on and, again, I'd

love to have the answers.

This

legislation, no doubt, hats off to government for bringing it in, and it's

addressing one part of the bigger problem. There's a lot more work to be done by

all Members in this House, by people in society, by all leaders, whether they be

union leaders, any leaders, community leaders, society in general, all of us got

a job to do. We have to protect our most vulnerable people, whether they're

children, whether they're victims of family violence, addictions, you name it.

They're vulnerable. They need help; they need intervention. That's what we have

to do.

We come

in here and we debate a lot of legislation. We take our place and we stand and

we tell stories, and we try to perfect change. But at the end of the day, we're

trying to talk about issues that – I'll get up and I'll tell you personal

stories, and some of the personal stories are very, very close to me. I think

everyone in this House could get up and tell the same story. It's the matter

that I'm real, and I know every other Member in this House is real, and all

these stories are real.

This is

a great step, a step in the right direction, but I think we can still do more

and I encourage this House to do what we can. I applaud government for bringing

in this legislation. It's a step in the right direction, and I look forward to

more good things to come down the road.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly want to applaud the Member for Conception Bay South. He spoke

passionately and well to this very issue, and I agree with him. This is not one

of us, not government, it's not community, it's all of us that have to address

this concern in society.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm very pleased to stand today to speak to this

Labour Standards Act and the changes and the amendments “... to

establish a category of leave for employees where an employee or a person to

whom an employee is a parent or caregiver has been subjected to family

violence.”

I think,

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important change that we are making here today and I

applaud the minister responsible, and I applaud all of us in this House for

recognizing and working together to make these changes possible.

Mr.

Speaker, allow me to give the definition of family violence, because I was asked

this question earlier today and I want to make sure that people understand what

we're talking about when we talk about family violence.

So it's

defined in the Family Violence Protection

Act and it includes one of the following issues: assault; an intentional,

reckless or threatened act or omission that causes bodily harm or damage to

property; or causes reasonable fear of bodily harm or damage to property;

physical confinement; sexual assault, sexual exploitation or sexual molestation;

conduct that causes someone to fear for his or her safety; conduct that causes

psychological or emotional harm or reasonable fear of that harm to an individual

or their child; conduct that controls, exploits or limits an individual's access

to financial resources; and the deprivation of food, clothing, medical

attention, shelter, transportation or other necessities of life.

Mr.

Speaker, I defined that so that people understand the depth and breadth of what

we are talking about today. I will say this, and I've said this repeatedly

because I think we as a society need to almost make it our mantra: violence of

any kind, at any time, in any place, is unacceptable – unacceptable. And as a

society we have to insist on zero tolerance of this terrible behaviour.

Violence

is a serious concern; and, as such, government is responding with measures that

target this issue from all fronts. Through the Women's Policy Office, we provide

support to community organizations and at the same time work within government

to make progress on our own policies and programs.

In the

last year, our government has made significant changes to legislation,

regulations and policy that will positively work towards ending violence against

women and girls. We have changed the definition of family violence in the

Family Violence Protection Act to

include psychological, emotional or financial harm.

We made

changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to better serve victims of domestic

violence, and we introduced a new Harassment-Free Workplace Policy for those

working in the public service. And, as well, the changes to the Schools Act

passed in the House in the spring sitting that will ensure that the act better

meets the needs of victims of violence throughout the province, including

victims of sexual violence, by addressing the provision of alternate delivery of

instruction where a student's presence will be detrimental to the well-being of

others. Soon, we will be debating new legislation to help victims of revenge

pornography and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

As well,

we've established a Minister's Committee on Violence Against Women and Girls,

co-chaired by the Minister of Justice and Public Safety and President of the

Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women. I think that committee is

made up of a number of community partners involved in the very serious issue of

violence and violence prevention, and I thank them for their deliberations and

work. They're really helping to shape and define what we can do as a government,

what we should be doing as a government, and what we should be doing as a

community.

I also

am pleased to chair a committee of my ministerial colleagues to advance issues

relating to ending violence and advancing women and girls. We meet regularly,

Mr. Speaker, when the House in in session, to ensure the advancement of

legislation, to ensure the advancement of policy change, and I thank – there

are, I think, seven members of that ministerial committee, and there are only 12

of us. So the majority of Cabinet sit at that table, and we look each other in

the eye and say: What can we do? What can we do in our ministries? What can we

do in our communities to make it safer, better and violence free?

Further,

we are in the process now, as a government, of implementing a mental health and

addictions plan, and I honour my colleague who gave us an update today. It's

incredible, with focused effort, what we've been able to achieve in the

improvement of mental health and addictions.

We also

have The Premier's Task Force on Improving

Educational Outcomes , and both of these initiatives work towards addressing

the root causes of violence.

The

Violence Prevention Initiative Action Plan:

Working Together for Violence-Free

Communities , is a plan that we, as government, have been implementing. It's

96 per cent underway – under implementation.

Over the

past three years, government has undertaken a number of initiatives through that

plan. Including support for culturally-responsible approaches to violence

prevention in Indigenous communities, such as those funded through the

Indigenous Violence Prevention Grants Program. And working together for

violence-free communities is a multi-departmental, community-government

partnership – multi-departmental.

Mr.

Speaker, I just talked to you about the ministerial committee that we all get

together. There are seven ministries that are working diligently on this very

issue and talking to one another of how we're going to improve things. In order

to implement the shared actions outlined in the plan, the Women's Policy Office

works with its partners, including departments, agencies and community

organizations. Many of the actions outlined in the plan are ongoing programs and

initiatives which continue as a means to reduce, eliminate and prevent violence

in Newfoundland and Labrador, and we continue to work with our partners to

implement ongoing and remaining action items.

In the

coming months, we'll be working with stakeholders and partners to hear their

perspectives on violence prevention and the needs of their community. We are

updating the plan, Mr. Speaker. We will have consultations in our community. We

will ensure that the people of the province are involved, communities in the

province, the police departments, the community support agencies are involved in

what our plan will be to continue to address this very serious issue.

But the

changes announced today, up to three days of paid leave and seven days of unpaid

leave for individuals experiencing family violence, is an important step as we

work toward ending domestic violence in our communities. This leave is available

to all employees, both women and men, who have been employed for more than 30

days. It will allow them time for medical attention, counselling or other

services from a health professional, time to find and receive services from

organizations that assist those affected by family violence, and time for legal

services. This leave applies for an employee, their child or a person for whom

the employee is a caregiver who has been subjected to family violence.

Mr.

Speaker, I do want to say that there are employer responsibilities outlined in

the legislation. An employer must ensure the confidentiality of all information

related to any leaves under the Labour

Standards Act . I think that's important because, often – and my colleague

opposite made this comment earlier – it's very hard for people to come forward,

oftentimes, to talk about family violence, to say that they are experiencing it,

that there's trouble, that they are either being sometimes physically abused,

sometimes mentally abused. It's very, very difficult for people to come forward.

I want

to tell people who are listening, tell the people of the province, I know the

minister responsible for this legislation has done so as well, that there is a

confidentiality requirement here. So you could come forward to speak to your

employer, to ask for this leave for whatever requirements that you have. Some

people may have to leave their home, some people need to seek medical attention

and some people need to see their lawyer, but that is confidential. If you need

to seek this leave, if you need to have that leave, that it is available to you

now through this legislation.

I'd

certainly like to thank my colleague, the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills

and Labour, for the work he's done on these amendments. I know that he has

worked very hard. He's very passionate about this issue. He's very dedicated and

committed. I know that when we have meetings he talks about all the things that

his department is working on, and I thank him for what he's done. I certainly

want to, again, recognize other ministers who are doing other pieces of work to

ensure violence-free communities.

I'd like

to recognize – and I'm very, very pleased that Mary Shortall, president of the

Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour, is here today. They are

steadfast in their work on this issue. They support this legislation, I

understand; but, most importantly, we work very well as community partners. I

call us community partners, but we work very well together.

Ms.

Shortall came to a number of ministers earlier this year. We talked about a

number of changes that were required. I'm pleased to report to this House that

this is 75 per cent complete and we are anticipating that in the very near

future we'll have addressed those issues. By working together and improving

things together, all of us in the community are better for it. I thank them for

their efforts, I thank for their advice, I thank them for their encouragement,

and I ask them to continue their efforts. I ask them to continue to be great

advocates in our community and I ask them to continue to work jointly with all

of us in our community, not just government, all of us in our community to make

this a better place.

Wouldn't

it be nice, Mr. Speaker, if at one point in the very near future that we have

addressed the systemic issues of violence, that we've addressed that issue and

we don't have to put in safeguards and supports for people who are experiencing

it? But being a realist, maybe we won't get there just yet. So supporting and

helping is very, very important. Putting the safeguards like we are doing

through this legislation, putting in the supports for people that are

experiencing it are very, very important.

I also

want to say that there are, in our communities, great supports. The shelters

that are available, the Transition Houses, the supports through the Status of

Women's organizations, the Violence Prevention Initiatives in communities and

the police, the RNC and the RCMP, are all working towards ending violence.

But

until we can actually end it, Mr. Speaker, let us all embrace and ensure that we

have the supports there for those that are experiencing it, and let us be there

to help them escape the violence that they may be experiencing so they can go on

to experience better lives themselves. That, in itself, would help the systemic

issues as move forward.

Our

government will continue to work with partners in communities to address

violence and abuse. I think today is a big step forward. I look forward to

deliberations over the next very short period of time and I look forward to

continuing to work with the Federation of Labour on this very important matter

and look forward to working with others in the community because all of us

together can address this.

I often

reflect on how much – and I said this to others recently. Safety in our

workplaces was something that needed to be addressed and now we have safety

moments and there's a great recognition for it. Well, I think there's a great

recognition to end violence in our communities and to readily support those that

experience violence and to try and work our way to a better place.

I hope

that all of us as we think and reflect upon this today – and I think most will

agree this is a great step forward – a great step forward. It's not the last

step; it's one of the many, many steps that we have to make. But if we can make

the changes that we need, we will all be the better off for it.

Again,

thank you to the minister for bringing this forward. Thank you to the

Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour for their help. Thank you to the

community supports that are out there and let us all continue to focus on this

very important matter.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm

happy to stand and speak to Bill 32, an amendment to the

Labour Standards Act . This is good news, what's being brought in to

the House is good news and it's certainly a step in the right direction. Mr.

Speaker, as we know, many of us know here in this House that change does not

come often from – it's not started often within this House.

As a

matter of fact, it often starts outside of this House by activists, by people

who are experts in a certain area. That's often where significant change starts.

It's the work that's being done by activists, by people who are passionate about

an issue that then pushes government to do the right thing, and today is a clear

example of that.

I would

like to congratulate Mary Shortall, president of the Federation of Labour, and

all her affiliates – her union affiliates, labour affiliates – who worked so

hard on presenting to government why this is important. Because, oftentimes, it

takes those who are working on the outside, it often takes them convincing

government why something is important, why a change is important, and they did

it in such a comprehensive and clear manner.

And then

PANSOW, which is the Provincial Action Network on the Status of Women, and in

particular as well, Jenny Wright and the St. John's Status of Women Council, and

a number of anti-violence activist groups who have been involved in a committee,

in a multi-member committee, who have worked so diligently with expertise, with

commitment, with passion, and also with compassion to get us to this date today.

Mr.

Speaker, I've been a feminist activist for a very, very long time. Thirty-eight

years ago, I worked with the St. John's Status of Women Council. At the time, it

was called the Newfoundland and Labrador Status of Women Council. I worked

helping to establish our first transition house. I actually worked with Iris

Kirby, who was a social worker with secretary of state, with the federal

department of secretary of state at the time. I had the privilege of working in

the Women's Centre, and it was at a time when – now, we can't turn on a TV or

turn on a radio or open a newspaper without seeing issues around violence

against women and girls. But, at that time, it wasn't out there on the public

agenda.

I can

remember giving training workshops to police, to nurses, to other medical

professions, to service groups, talking about the issue of domestic violence,

and it was at a time when there was so much denial that this was going on. And

we raised dialogue, but not only did we raise dialogue because we had to change

minds, we had to change hearts and we had to change legislation. And sometimes –

sometimes – the reason that legislation is so important is particularly when

hearts and minds are not changed, at least then we have protection through

legislation.

remember the first transition house that we started, and it was on Garrison Hill

and it was simply called Transition House. I can remember, I was working doing a

project at the Health Sciences Centre in emergency for the identification and

treatment of battered women – because that's the term we used then – who would

come into the emergency department. Oftentimes what would happen is that a woman

would come in either after ODing on medication or whatever she could get her

hands on, or come in and say that she had fallen down the stairs or that she had

bumped into a door. So she would be treated and then let go. Nobody would say:

Are you okay? Is anything happening at home? Is anybody hurting you?

So I

designed this protocol and what would happen is that if any woman came into the

emergency with unexplained injuries or as an overdose, of if she'd said she'd

fallen down the stairs or bumped into a door, I would be called in. I would go

and I would visit the woman once she was out of danger in terms of her own

physical health, once after she got that medical treatment. I would just

introduce myself and I would just chat with the woman and then I would just very

gently and in a respectful manner ask if everything was okay at home. Was

anybody hurting her?

remember the first time I was called into the emergency room, Mr. Speaker, and

it was a woman who was in her sixties, and she'd come a few times after having

overdosed. When I asked her, she started to cry. And she'd never ever told

anybody. I think she had told her parish priest at one point and he said you

have to make sure you don't do anything that makes your husband beat you, b e

good to him, keep the house clean, make sure his meals are made and on the

table. She'd been putting up with this for years, but had nowhere to go.

So our Transition House at the time was not quite a week

before it was going to be officially opened. We had it all ready, it was

furnished, but we were going to have the grand opening. I contacted the

committee and I said, this woman – I'll say her name was Theresa – I said:

Theresa, finally, is ready to leave and she has nowhere to go. Can we take her,

even though we're not officially opened? And the committee said yes. I explained

to Theresa that in about a week we would have the grand opening and there'd be

media there and a lot of people. I said: O n

the day of the grand opening, we'll bring you to someone else's house so you can

be safe and you can have your privacy.

When it

came to the grand opening, she decided she wanted to stay, and that she wanted

to speak to the media because this was the first time she'd ever got help. She

got up and she spoke. She was this frail, tiny woman. She said to the media: I

want to thank the women here of the transmission house. I thought, how fabulous

is that? It was a misspeak but, really, for the first time in her life, she was

able to change gears. And for the first time in this province, we were able to

offer women a vehicle that would help them out of violent situations. They were

able to change gears.

I often

think about that, Mr. Speaker, the transmission house. This is what we're

talking about here this afternoon, about changing gears on some of our

legislation and making things better. We've come so far. That was 38 years ago.

We've come so far that there isn't a denial on a societal level that women and

children experience violence, that a lot of women and children, and

predominantly –predominantly – women and children experience violence in the

home.

We're

talking about gender-based violence. It's different between two adults who have

equal power who might get into an argument; that's different. This gender-based

violence is a different dynamic. It's about a power dynamic. It's about control.

It's about humiliation. It's about intimidation. It's about cutting someone off

from their family and their friends. It is very deliberate and there's a

pattern. We know that because the research is being done for 40 years, Mr.

Speaker, on this particular phenomenon.

So, we

have women where the courage is about leaving a violent situation. It's very

complex to leave, particularly if children are involved. A woman may have paid

employment outside the house, but she may not have a whole lot of pay. She may

be working in a minimum wage job. We know that a combined salary of two parents,

or two partners, is much better than a single salary.

Oftentimes women stay, and they stay longer because they're concerned about if

they leave, they know they will be putting their children into poverty. If they

leave, they know they may have to leave the home and take their children with

them; thereby, taking their children away from where they go to school, or

taking their children away from their friends. She knows it might mean not being

able to take the family pet that the children love, so she stays and she puts up

with the violence. She puts up with the daily humiliations; she puts up with the

intimidations because of her children. Also, because she may have been so

intimidated and so beaten down over the years. Again, this is a cyclical thing,

Mr. Speaker, that is unrelenting.

It's so

important that if we, as a society, have a commitment to intervene in this

vicious cycle and to acknowledge it as gender-based violence, that we have to do

whatever we can with our policies, with our services, with our legislation to –

if we're talking about breaking the cycle of violence, if we're talking about a

commitment to victims of domestic violence, we have to do whatever we can to

help break that cycle.