February

28, 1994

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLII No. 1

The House met at 2:00 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Dicks): Order, please!

Admit Their Lordships, The Justices of the Supreme Court.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: Mr. Speaker, His Honour, the

Lieutenant-Governor has arrived.

MR. SPEAKER: Admit His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor.

Mr. Speaker leaves the Chair.

His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor takes the Chair.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: Ladies and gentlemen, it is the wish of

His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor that all present be seated.

Thank you.

HIS HONOUR, THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR:

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

I take great pride and pleasure in welcoming you to the

Second Session of the Forty-Second General Assembly of the Province of

Newfoundland.

The emphasis of My Government in this Session of the House of

Assembly will be to commence the process of truly transforming this Province

into one of the most attractive locations in North American for business

investment and to initiate aggressive new measures to market and promote the

Province's strengths in this regard on a national and international basis.

The goal of attracting business investment as a means to

create employment opportunities has been a major challenge facing every

government in this Province in this century. However, the devastating

Province-wide impact on our economy resulting from the collapse of the

groundfish fishery during the last five years is such that it has made new

business investment directed at economic diversification not only an objective

but an imperative.

As well, the liberalization of world trade continues to

accelerate and is expected to constitute the primary catalyst for global

economic growth well into the next century. This liberalization brings both

increased competition and opportunity for economic activity, and is the driving

force behind the growing emphasis on international competitiveness and the

fundamental economic restructuring that is now occurring in many countries. In

this changing global economy, Newfoundland and Labrador must look beyond its

small domestic market to achieve the level of wealth creation that will provide

the citizens of this Province with higher incomes, more employment

opportunities, and improved public services. This will, out of necessity,

require My Government to be increasingly outward looking in its approach to

economic development and to create an appropriate investment climate that

supports international competitiveness.

In this context, My Government began early during its first

mandate to develop a comprehensive and action oriented Strategic Economic Plan

for the Province to guide economic development over the long term. With the

benefit of a wide-ranging public consultation process that reached all corners

of the Province, and with the support and advice provided by the Advisory

Council on the Economy, My Government released its Strategic Economic Plan in

June of 1992. The goal of the Plan is to bring all elements of society together

- governments, business, labour, academia and others - to make the provincial

economy more vibrant, productive and globally competitive. Substantial progress

in implementing the Strategic Economic Plan has been made in virtually all

sectors since that time and a formal status report on the Plan was recently

released to the people of this Province by My First Minister.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

A key element of My Government's strategy for economic

development as enunciated in the Strategic Economic Plan is that the private

sector must be the engine of economic growth. The role of government is to

create the economic climate in which private sector investment can occur and be

successful. My Government remains committed to this important principle and will

be proposing specific new measures over the coming months to significantly

improve the attractiveness of the Province as a place to do business and to

invest.

The clear statement in the Strategic Economic Plan that My

Government will privatize appropriate public services where they can be provided

by the private sector in an acceptable manner reflects this philosophy. Such an

approach furthers two major objectives. First, it serves to promote and develop

a stronger and more broadly based private sector in the Province. Second, it

enables the use of the limited capital funds available to My Government to

provide essential public services instead of investing them in commercial areas

where the private sector is prepared to operate. Furthermore, there is potential

through various privatization initiatives to recover some of the capital

investment made by the people of this Province over time in selected government

services, and thereby reduce future borrowings that would otherwise be required

to sustain ongoing government operations and support new capital initiatives.

The major focus of My Government's privatization program for

the past year has been with respect to Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro

Corporation and Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services Limited. The first

order of business in this new Session will be consideration of My Government's

proposal for restructuring the Newfoundland and Labrador electrical industry,

including privatization of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro Corporation. My

Government is also continuing discussions with NewTel Enterprises Limited and

its alliance partners, Anderson Consulting Limited, and Bell Sygma Incorporated,

for the privatization of Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services. My

Government intends, as well, to issue a public call for proposals in the very

near future for the privatization of Newfoundland Farm Products Corporation.

Further privatization initiatives in appropriate areas will be announced by My

Ministers during this Session.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

As a further tangible expression of My Government's

determination to accelerate its efforts in promoting and developing a stronger

and more effective private sector in this Province, an unprecedented and

comprehensive legislative proposal will be introduced in this Session entitled

"A Bill to Promote Business Investment in the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador." The purpose of this Bill will be to significantly improve the

business investment climate of the Province.

The first area to be addressed in this legislation will be

the restructuring and refocusing of departmental activity directed at enhancing

economic development in the Province. Changes will be made to all economic

development departments and agencies that will focus added attention on the

importance of a client centred approach to business development. The objective

will be to ensure that when firms and investors express interest in pursuing

specific business development opportunities in this Province, government

officials are available to support and navigate them through the regulatory and

development approval process such that their interest is maintained, timely

decisions are made, and a positive attitude toward and image of the Province as

a good place to invest is fostered and continuously reinforced.

The second area My Government intends to address will be the

relatively high burden of taxation that is presently faced by the private sector

and which impedes new investment and the creation of new employment

opportunities in this Province. While a number of significant changes to the

existing business tax structure have already been adopted by My Government, the

entire taxation regime requires further attention if it is to be used as a means

of promoting Newfoundland and Labrador as a highly competitive location in which

to do business. Substantive changes to the existing tax structure affecting the

private sector at the provincial and municipal levels will be made to provide

tax holidays for new or expanding business enterprises in the Province. This

will be accomplished in such a manner that existing business enterprises in the

Province will not be placed at a competitive disadvantage relative to those

companies and investors who are able to take advantage of the new tax regime.

The third area to be addressed in the Bill will be the labour

market training domain. While My Government has already taken decisive steps to

restructure and improve our basic and post-secondary educational system,

additional measures will be proposed to provide enhanced labour market training

incentives to new and expanding business enterprises as well as to existing

businesses that need to refocus their corporate operations and upgrade their

existing workforce to remain competitive. This will assist in the training and

retraining of the provincial workforce to meet the demands of the changing

global marketplace and to take advantage of new employment opportunities that

will be created through new investment made directly by the private sector.

The fourth area in which My Government intends to introduce

reform is in respect of the provincial environmental assessment process. My

Ministers remain fully committed to protecting the environment and have recently

adopted new measures to address particular problems related to abandoned

automobile wrecks and the indiscriminate use of all-terrain vehicles. Further

positive initiatives to address various other environmental challenges facing

the Province are planned by My Government in the coming months. At the same

time, however, My Government is concerned that the provincial environmental

assessment process, as currently administered, has in some circumstances become

unnecessarily burdensome to economic development in the Province, especially in

terms of the length of time necessary to make decisions on individual project

proposals. Consultations with all major stakeholders on the environmental

assessment process have recently been concluded and appropriate reforms to

streamline the overall process, without compromising the fundamental integrity

of the existing Environmental Assessment Act, will be proposed in the new Bill.

The final element of this comprehensive Bill will provide for

a more positive labour relations climate in the Province that will serve to

attract new investment and stimulate new business enterprises. My Government

recognizes its responsibility to ensure that all employees are treated fairly

and that adequate safeguards to protect their interests remain in place.

However, it is in the broader public interest to achieve these objectives in a

balanced manner that also assures those who wish to conduct and carry on

business and provide economic opportunity in this Province have a reasonable

prospect of receiving an acceptable level of return on their investment without

undue risk from uncertain labour relations conditions. A new approach to

labour-management relations, reflective of the realities of conducting business

in the ever increasing and competitive global economy, is in the common interest

of all citizens of this Province.

The overall intent of the "Bill to Promote Business

Investment in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador" will be to ensure that

when the Province is objectively measured on the basis of its business climate,

taxation levels, regulatory regime, workforce and labour relations climate, it

will be judged to be among the best places, not only in Canada but in all of

North America, for a business to invest and prosper.

In addition to the measures provided for in the Business

Investment Bill, My Government intends to establish an independent Commission to

oversee a review of all of My Government's existing regulations, with a view to

substantially reducing the onerous regulatory burden that is presently imposed

on those who wish to pursue or carry on economic activity in this Province. The

goal will be to retain only those regulations which are absolutely essential for

the orderly management of the public affairs of the Province and the protection

of the general public interest in terms of appropriate health, safety and

environmental standards. Each and every regulation of My Government will be

evaluated in respect of its effect on the competitiveness of the private sector

in national and international markets, as well as the extent to which existing

regulations discourage innovation and efficiency in business operations. All

unnecessarily burdensome regulations will be eliminated and steps will be taken

to streamline and make the burden that remains far easier for business to bear.

To ensure this objective is successfully achieved, this Honourable House will be

asked to give its consent to legislation that will identify a specific sunset

period beyond which all existing regulations will become null and void unless

they are expressly re-confirmed by the Commission and by My Ministers through

this review process.

Complementary to this overall regulatory review process, a

plan will be outlined in this Honourable House for the more effective

administration of My Government's land acquisition, land development and

building permitting, licensing and inspection functions, including the

consolidation of these functions, to the maximum extent practical, in a single

agency with offices throughout the Province. This will eliminate the existing

inefficiencies and duplication of service provided by a multitude of government

departments and agencies in this area, and will thereby provide a more

streamlined, timely and accessible "one-stop" approval process for the public,

including the business community.

Now that the global economic recession has largely

dissipated, it is the opportune time to act on these measures and, in parallel,

to launch an aggressive and focused business prospecting initiative on a

national and international basis to promote the Province and attract new

investment that is essential to the economic future of Newfoundland and

Labrador. The recent visits that were led by My First Minister to the United

States and the Far East marked the commencement of this new business prospecting

initiative. These efforts will continue in other parts of the world where

promising business and economic opportunities are reasonably present.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

Contrary to popular perception among some circles, the

fishery of the Province remains a positive and substantial contributor to total

provincial economic output. In 1993, the value of fish products sold in the

marketplace reached almost $500 million and peak employment, although primarily

part-time, approximated 31,000 people. As well, the fishery is still the basic

source of revenue for a large number of small communities in this Province and

certain areas of the fishery are performing exceptionally well and offer

opportunity for expansion.

Notwithstanding this situation, the ongoing crisis in the

groundfish fishery remains a major concern for My Government since it is now

clearly evident that this crisis will continue to have unprecedented

implications for our economy and our people over the foreseeable future. My

Government remains firm in its conviction that this problem requires attention

on four inter-related fronts, all of which necessitate strong action and

leadership both at the federal and provincial levels with full consultation and

co-operation of all components of the industry and affected communities.

First, the magnitude of the current crisis and its impact

will necessitate the continuation of a fair and equitable compensation and

income adjustment program for those fisherpersons and industry workers impacted

by the closure of various groundfish fisheries. The collapse of these fisheries,

in the main but not exclusively, has its roots in the failure of federal

fisheries management decisions. These decisions have largely led to the present

situation and hence there is an obligation on the part of the Government of

Canada to accept responsibility for the economic circumstances of those who have

been affected by the closure of these fisheries.

Second, in recognition of the fact that the very nature and

character of the fishery of the future will be fundamentally different from the

fishery of the past, there is a need for the federal and provincial governments

to jointly develop and implement a fisheries industry restructuring program in

order to build a stronger and more viable industry in the future. This can best

be achieved through a joint federal-provincial fisheries renewal board which

would provide for an effective voice for the Province in important fisheries

management decisions and facilitate the more effective coordination of all

aspects of federal and provincial fisheries policies. My Government's specific

approach to the restructuring of the fishery will be released during this

Session in a "White Paper on the Fishery of the Future", which will reflect and

take into account the results of the public review of an earlier discussion

document released on this subject entitled "Changing Tides".

Third, the long-term impacts of the loss of a major part of

the Province's fishing industry can only be mitigated through a joint

federal-provincial economic restructuring agreement which provides sufficient

funding to rebuild and diversify the Province's economic base. The federal Task

Force on Incomes and Adjustment in the Atlantic Fishery, in its recently

released report, highlighted the need for such a concerted response. My

initiative of this nature as a critical element of a long-term comprehensive

response to the fisheries crisis.

Fourth, there is an over-riding need for the Government of

Canada to adopt decisive fisheries management conservation measures to address

the unprecedented decline in the groundfish resource generally, including

effective measures to eliminate foreign overfishing of straddling and other

groundfish stocks on and adjacent to the "Nose" and "Tail" of the Grand Banks.

My Government is encouraged by the publicly stated commitment of the new federal

government to address the problem of foreign overfishing in a timely manner, and

welcomes the recent landmark decision by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries

Organization to place a one year moratorium on the cod fishery of the southern

these new international measures are strictly complied with by all member states

of NAFO and that other appropriate measures are taken to address fisheries

conservation needs over the longer term and in respect of other economically

important species of interest to the Province in the waters outside the 200 mile

limit.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

My Government recognizes that the key to long-term economic

and social development of the Province will be a well educated population. The

people of the Province have clearly called for improvements in the performance

of our education system. To this end, My Government has embarked on a major

program of educational reform and has endeavoured to involve all key

stakeholders in this process on a constructive basis. It is My Government's hope

that the necessary changes which must be made to the education system will be

able to be implemented with the support and cooperation of all concerned.

The first stage of reform will be a restructuring of the way

in which education is governed. Legislation will be introduced to reform the

structure of school boards, the provincial governing structure and the

organization of schools, the principles of which have been substantially

outlined in a public document entitled "Adjusting the Course". At the same time,

My Government intends to move forward on a number of other initiatives stemming

from the Report of the Royal Commission on the Delivery of Programs and Services

in Primary, Elementary and Secondary Education which were outlined in a recently

released report entitled "Adjusting the Course -

Part II - Improving the

Condition for Learning". Certain of these initiatives, particularly those having

to do with the school year and school day, teacher certification,

standards-setting, school accreditation and school councils, will also require

the legislative consent of this Honourable House. All of this will require a

comprehensive legislative package, incorporating changes to The Department of

Education Act, The School Act, The Teacher Training Act, and other relevant

legislation.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

While the urgency of present circumstances dictates that

priority must be given to the economic challenges facing the Province, My

Government remains firmly committed to addressing existing and emerging social

issues through the development and implementation of a Strategic Social Plan.

This initiative was announced in My Address to this Honourable House on March 4,

1993, and work commenced immediately thereafter on the essential task of

updating and examining existing data, reviewing the programs of all government

departments and agencies involved in the delivery of social services, and

researching emerging trends and the demand for new social initiatives. The team

of senior officials who have been working on this phase of the social planning

process will be reporting to Cabinet shortly, and My Government will

subsequently prepare a consultation document for public examination and

discussion. As in the case of the Strategic Economic Plan, public meetings will

be held in every region of the Province so that all concerned organizations and

individuals will have every opportunity to contribute to the final stages of the

planning process. Once the public consultation step is completed in the Fall of

1994, a formal Strategic Social Plan will be compiled and confirmed as My

Government's policy, with implementation to begin in the 1995-96 fiscal year. It

is the intention of My Government that increasing pressures and challenges

arising as a consequence of the acceleration of economic and social change at

home and abroad will be anticipated and addressed effectively through a planned

approach in concerted and cooperative community action.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

Our Province will mark two important anniversaries during

On June 14th of this year, we will be celebrating the 75th

Anniversary of the historic first trans-Atlantic flight by Captain John Alcock

and Lieutenant Arthur Brown of the Royal Air Force. On June 14th, 1919 at 12:58

p.m. Newfoundland time, Alcock and Brown took off in their Vickers Vimy Bomber

from Lester's Field in St. John's. Sixteen hours and twelve minutes later they

landed in a bog in Clifden, Ireland, to complete the first non-stop Atlantic

crossing by air. This was the start of what today has become a tidal wave of

thousands of aircraft passing over Newfoundland and Labrador yearly as they

traverse the Atlantic Ocean.

June 6th of this year will mark the 50th Anniversary of the

D-Day Invasion when allied troops stormed the windswept beaches of Normandy

launching the deciding battle of World War II in Europe. Of course, D-Day

commemorations symbolize the final victory, as this battle was but a part of the

whole. Nearly 20,000 men and women from Newfoundland and Labrador served in the

army, navy and air force during the Second World War. They fought in the Battle

of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, in North Africa, Italy, France, Belgium,

Holland and elsewhere, so that we and generations yet to come could live as free

men and women. During two world wars, 900,000 Canadians went to Britain and

fought alongside them in the great battles of the two wars - 100,000 of them

died. Up to now, no monument or memorial existed in Britain to commemorate

Canada's role in these wars. On June 3rd of this year, Her Majesty the Queen

will unveil the Canada Memorial at Green Park, London, to finally recognize this

magnificent contribution. On June 6th, the 50th Anniversary of the actual D-Day

Invasion in 1944, a Canadian Remembrance Ceremony will be held in Beny Reviers

Canadian Cemetery in Normandy. His Excellency the Governor General and the Prime

Minister will be at both the ceremony in London and the one in Normandy.

Although on a private visit to Europe, I am privileged to say that my wife and I

will also be present at both ceremonies. My Government will honour both these

important anniversaries.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

During this Session My Government plans to place a number of

important legislative proposals before you in addition to the legislative

measures to which I have already referred. During the course of this Session,

you will also be asked to grant supply to Her Majesty.

A full listing of My Government's legislative agenda for this

Session of the House of Assembly will be tabled at the earliest opportunity so

that all Members can properly prepare for the upcoming proceedings.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly:

I invoke God's blessing upon you as you commence your labours

in this Second Session of the Forty-second General Assembly. May Divine

Providence guide you in your deliberations.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: All rise.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. ROBERTS: Mr. Speaker, there is a very ancient

tradition in this House and in the British Parliament that before we do the

Queen's business, we do our own. Accordingly, I ask leave on behalf of the

Premier to introduce a bill entitled, a bill, "An Act To Regulate The Electrical

Power Resources Of Newfoundland And Labrador", and if we get leave to introduce

it I shall ask that it be read a first time, this day.

MR. SPEAKER: Yes.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice to introduce a bill,

"An Act To Regulate The Electrical Power Resources Of Newfoundland And

Labrador", carried.

On motion, bill read a first time, ordered read a second time

on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER: His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor has been

pleased to make a speech to the members met in General Assembly and for greater

accuracy I have obtained a copy.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. ROBERTS: Your Honour, perhaps we could dispense; we

were all here and heard His Honour deliver the speech in fine fashion.

MR. SPEAKER: Yes. Are there any further motions?

The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WILLIAM ANDERSEN III: Mr. Speaker, hon. members,

honoured guests, it is with great pleasure that I rise on this occasion as the

Member for Torngat Mountains district, to propose that a committee of this hon.

House be appointed to draft An Address in Reply to the gracious speech delivered

by His Honour.

I would like to, Mr. Speaker, at this point, say a few words

once again to my electorate: Itsivautak, Kujalingmagikkenga aulitjaigiamut

suliatsaginiolektavat ukausiunniunga kangitougianganat Amma itsivautak,

inoktigijakkanik Torngat kakkasuanginni tatsumani jarimi sulijojumik

kiggatugasunniat-tunga yukisijantsiagumavunga.

Mr. Speaker, in the upcoming session, there are a few issues

that are very important not only to the Aboriginal people of Newfoundland and

Labrador, but to the District of Torngat Mountains in general, and I would like

to say, I am very proud to be a member of a government which has taken positive

steps and tough decisions to work toward economic growth, realignment of

education, dealing with the next to impossible issue of a collapsing fishery and

on top of all that, looking at economic development like we have never before.

The need for realignment of the educational system, Mr.

Speaker, is something I fully support. I will speak very shortly of the

experiences that I went through as a student, and as well, I believe of the

experiences that students today are going through.

Back in the 50s and 60s, when I went to school, Mr. Speaker,

it was banned for me to use my own language, Inuktitut, in the educational

system. It was a punishable act. Today, Mr. Speaker, governments have taken

positive steps in reintroducing the use of the Inuktitut and the Innuin language

in Labrador. That was a very positive step, but it does not quite go far enough.

You look at my district, which thankfully the commission has

not touched, even though I have the smallest number of voters of any district in

the Province - approximately 3,000. We have three school boards - the Integrated

School Board, the Roman Catholic School Board, and the Pentecostal School Board

- delivering education to a small number of students, some of whom are Inuit,

people, and those three school boards cost this Province and the federal

government millions of dollars to operate. It still would cost millions of

dollars to operate under one system, but at least we could economize and do away

with the thing that happens most to people, and that is looking at one another

as though we are either a first-class or second-class citizen because we belong

to a different religion.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that each individual has the right to

have their choice of religion, and I fully support that, but in this day and age

of economic restraint we must realize that we have to deliver the best possible

education to each and every student in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

in the best way possible, and I believe the proposed realignment is the way

possible.

Mr. Speaker, it is also with great pleasure that I accept a

decision made by the hon. Minister of Health a week-and-a-half ago to appoint a

committee to look into the administration of Grenfell Regional Health Services,

which services not only my district but a large portion of Labrador as well as

the Great Northern Peninsula.

It took a lot of guts and nerve, I think, to come out and

appoint a committee to look at the administration of a health system that has

been in place for a long, long time, but I believe it is time positive steps

were taken to ensure that the health care delivery is being delivered to the

residents of all the districts, not only of Torngat Mountains but in Labrador

generally, and that the health care system is up to standard and people are

happy with it.

Mr. Speaker, in relation to the fishery, I do not know that

there is a lot I can say about the fishery other than it is still possible for

the fishery to survive, especially in the District of Torngat Mountains; but

before going to that, I would like to spend a few moments once again hopefully

helping to make my colleagues and members of the Opposition, and the hon. member

for the NDP, that I believe there has been an injustice to the Torngat Mountains

district and its cod fishermen.

In the fifties, sixties and seventies, 90 per cent of the

people I now represent were cod fishermen. Into the mid-seventies, early

eighties, that dropped off because the inshore fishery was dying out -

overfished by not only the fishermen from my district, but Maritime fishermen

from the Island of Newfoundland, PEI, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. Today, with the

cod moratorium on, about 5 per cent of those fishermen have benefitted from

NCARP. The other 95 per cent received nothing, and I believe that is an

injustice to long-term residents of this great Province of ours, and in part to

residents in Northern Labrador who were here 5,000 years ago, 4,000 years before

Europeans ever came.

fishery died, which was a $2.5 million a year economic activity for the District

of Torngat Mountains, compensated the sealers of the District of Torngat

Mountains. That compensation package, Mr. Speaker, was worth $50,000, or it

translated into approximately $100 per sealer for a loss of an economic activity

that was carried out for 200 years.

That was an injustice, and I would like to have the support

of my colleagues in this hon. House in recreating that justice. I believe our

hon. Leader is moving in the right direction in trying to recreate the sealing

industry, which I support not only for the District of Torngat Mountains but for

the whole Province. I fully support the right of Island sealers just as well as

the aboriginal sealers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, on the issue of aboriginal rights, that is a

very interesting one for me in that I think we approach this from two different

views. Me standing here as a single aboriginal person perhaps views the issue of

aboriginal rights a little differently. To the majority of Canadians, to the

majority of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, aboriginal rights is a special

rights issue. As an aboriginal person the rights as I exercise them in my own

culture are not special to me. They are just regular activities that I exercise

in the way my culture has over the thousands of years. Therefore, even though

aboriginal rights issues may be seen as special, they still have to be dealt

with. I think this government, of which I'm very proud to be a member, has taken

positive steps toward answering the problem of settling aboriginal rights, be

they hunting, fishing, or gathering rights, or cultural, language, or

self-government rights, for that matter.

However, Mr. Speaker, I am also very proud of the stand that

our hon. Premier has taken with respect to Davis Inlet. I believe that Davis

Inlet has a right to move if they want to. I don't believe that the Canadian

taxpayers, the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador, should spend $84 million

to move a community without proper plans in place to deal with the social

problems that the community of Davis Inlet today faces. Not once have I heard or

seen any plans of action to deal with the social breakdown that is happening in

Davis Inlet. That social breakdown and problem exists in every community, not

only aboriginal communities. Perhaps more vividly in aboriginal communities in

that aboriginal people are minority groups. Therefore, even though I am an

aboriginal rights advocate, I cannot for whatever reasons see the justification

of spending $84 million on 400 people just to relocate the problem, not to solve

it.

Mr. Speaker, the issue of privatization is also an issue I

personally very much support, and I am very proud to be part of a government

which is taking the bold steps to do that. It takes tough decisions to make

tough moves and I think the privatization plans of the government, of which I am

very proud to be a member, are the right moves toward proper economic

management, as well as governing the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. If

we are not privatizing we have to either raise taxes in order to run the Crown

corporations or borrow money, which I very well understand by now. This country,

let alone Newfoundland and Labrador, can ill afford that at the present time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like, at this point, to formally move

that a committee be appointed to draft an Address in Reply to the Gracious

Speech from the Throne.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. L. MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to have the privilege to second the motion as

just put by my colleague, the hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains. I am

pleased, Mr. Speaker, and hon. colleagues, to have the opportunity to speak

today in this very challenging and invigorating legislative agenda that has just

been placed before this hon. House.

Mr. Speaker, we have just heard a program for legislative

consideration that represents an attitude of pride in, and hope for, the future

of this Province. I represent the district of St. John's North and it is a

district that includes many of the common elements that we will all find

throughout our districts and throughout our Province. Included in my district is

the most modern educational facility in the Province as represented by the

Medical School at the Health Sciences Complex. Also included is probably one of

the smallest educational institutions in the Province as represented by the

Rabbittown Community Centre. The district includes some of the largest corporate

head offices in the Province and it includes some of the smallest

entrepreneurial efforts in the Province as well. It includes modest housing, it

includes a full one-third of all of the public housing units in St. John's, 847

units of publicly-assisted housing that is giving great care to those who are

not completely able to, in and of their own volition and means, provide that

level of accommodation.

Mr. Speaker, the district I represent also really represents

the common single most important aspiration of all Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians. Mr. Speaker, and hon. colleagues, that basic and common desire is

to be able, without the assistance of others on a subsidized basis, to provide a

level of income and a decent living for themselves and for their families.

Newfoundlanders have a desire to provide for themselves with dignity and with

honour. We are not a people who wish to thrive on hand-outs or support from

outside sources. The future of this Province and the well-being of our people

will be directly related to the opportunities they will have to participate in a

vigorous and a challenging economy in which they can pursue employment

opportunities for themselves.

Mr. Speaker, our youth and our people have not lost faith in

this Province. Of course, we have endured some difficult and economic times;

however, Mr. Speaker, this government is resolute in its commitment to a strong

private sector, which is our best hope for the future of ourselves and

generations to follow. Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, that Newfoundlanders are up

to the challenge of participating in a revitalized private sector economy.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. L. MATTHEWS: About three weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, a

young person from my district walked into my office to talk about what programs

might be available to assist small business enterprises. He told me this - he

said, `I was unemployed and drawing unemployment, but in December of last year,

1993, I decided to voluntarily withdraw myself from the Unemployment Insurance

rolls of the Province. I decided, with the help of my father, to invest $2,500

in a small take-out restaurant. I asked: `Why did you do that?' He said,

`Because I believe that I can support myself and make a living out there as one

amongst equals with the best.'

About four or five days ago, not more than a week ago, Mr.

Speaker, I had a visit or a chat with a young person from my district, a young

twenty-three year old recent Memorial University graduate, who is working in the

private sector at the moment, and he said, `I want to ask you a question, Sir.'

I asked, `What is it?' He said, `I want to know how quickly and how soon I can

buy some shares in Hydro.' It was a surprising question, I thought. I said to

him: `Why do you ask?' Let me paraphrase and tell you his answer, as best I can

put it. He said, `Sir, because I believe it is going to be an excellent

opportunity for me to invest. It is going to be a great opportunity for me to be

part of a new and revitalized economy in this Province, in which I intend to

participate for a long time to come.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. L. MATTHEWS: Mr. Speaker and hon. members of this

House, I must confess, I liked the question. I trust that before very long I

will be able to give him a satisfactory answer to his question. People of this

Province, Mr. Speaker, are ready and willing to be part of a vibrant economy and

we intend to give them that opportunity to so participate if they choose.

I placed before this House, Mr. Speaker, during the last

sitting, a private member's motion that spoke to the interest and the concerns

of small business in the Province. Some of the resolutions in that motion are

reflected quite closely in some of the language in the Speech from the Throne

that we have heard today. The small business sector employs fully 40 per cent of

all the jobs that are out there at the moment. The small business sector is

presently generating 85 per cent of all of the jobs that are now coming on

stream and that sector, Mr. Speaker, and hon. members, deserves our support, our

encouragement, our consideration and the assistance that we can give it to

ensure that it is successful as they provide opportunities for our youth in

which to work.

Mr. Speaker, the role of this government or any government,

is not to be all things to all people. We are not to be the employer of first

resort but rather we are to be the people who will set the parameters, lay out

the ground rules and make life simple so that they can participate. We are to

facilitate in adjusting, as it were, of attitudes amongst our people consistent

with the new economic realities that are out there today.

Mr. Speaker and hon. members, I am frankly excited about the

agenda for the private sector that has been outlined in the Throne Speech today.

I am pleased about the commitment to de-regularize and streamline the processes

and agencies of government, the regulatory bodies that sometimes get in the way

of private enterprise being able to do its job and to provide the work that our

people so desperately need.

Mr. Speaker, Newfoundlanders have always been renowned for

their work ethic, and we have always been up to the challenge of adjusting our

talents and being retrained to meet the new job requirements that are out there.

And I believe that if we reflect on the experience of our people at the Hibernia

site, it is probably the most recent testimony to the fact of the ingenuity, the

ability and the willingness of our people to solve, adjust and find new

employment and do it effectively, efficiently - do it well.

Mr. Speaker, modern training, adequate education are tools

that we must place in the hands of our young people and some of our older

people, so that they can enjoy prosperity. This government will see to it that

we project the labour climate that is fair, and that is competitive.

Mr. Speaker, the Throne Speech today, represents the attitude

and the determination of a `can do' government. We can do, Mr. Speaker, and we

will do because we must. We do not have a choice and I will tell you why. Just

nine short months ago, the people of this Province were asked to pass judgement

on a set of economic strategies for development that were laid before them in a

general election, and I am happy to remind all of you that that agenda was

received and soundly endorsed to the betterment of all Newfoundlanders and for

the good of the Province in general.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. L. MATTHEWS: Mr. Speaker, the land is strong, but the

land must be made stronger. Mr. Speaker, the leadership of this government is

strong; it is visionary, it is committed and dedicated to ensuring that not only

this generation but generations to follow will have an opportunity for

employment and prosperity, and it will be because this House cared and took the

necessary steps to ensure that this will occur. Mr. Speaker, the Legislative

agenda of the House will challenge our energies, it will challenge our vision,

it will challenge our resolve; however, we must be positive, we must be

productive while, at the same time, of course, being compassionate and caring.

Mr. Speaker, and hon. members, I believe, and it is my

personal view only, that legislators who shun the hard decisions do not have the

moral right to make the easy ones.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. L. MATTHEWS: So, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased about what

I have heard in the Throne Speech today.

Mr. Speaker, and hon. members, one of the true measures of

any government is its caring for those in our society who cannot, for

circumstantial reasons, provide for their own well-being or take care of their

own material or physical needs. This Throne Speech today makes reference to a

government that is committed to ensure that social programs are delivered in the

most expedient, the most compassionate, the most effective way, and in the way

that they will have the greatest impact for good upon our citizens for whom we

must take that type of care and to whom we must pay that type of attention.

We are committed, as a government, to the protection and the

preservation of the assistance of all of our people. We must never allow, as was

outlined in the Speech, Mr. Speaker, the passage of time to dull our memories to

the achievements of the past or to be able to reflect once in a while upon the

sacrifices that were made by those of the past to ensure that we enjoy the

economic prosperity that we do have today and that we enjoy the democratic

processes of government that we have and that we participate in. So, Mr.

Speaker, we remember and we pause to reflect with gratitude upon those who have

given so that we can yet have.

Mr. Speaker and hon. members, the United Nations has declared

1994 to be the International Year of the Family, and of all institutions that

are important, and that are part of the absolutely necessary strong building

blocks of our nation, it is the institution, the oldest institution known to

man, the institution of the family. So I trust that this year will be a year

when we will reflect upon whatever we think it will take to make our families

stronger, whatever it will take to make our families a prouder people.

The role of government, Mr. Speaker, is to protect the rights

of our families and our people while, at the same time, ensuring that we

encourage and facilitate their aspirations, their desires and their wishes for a

better future.

I believe, Mr. Speaker, that as the small business and

business in general is the economic engine of growth, if you like, for our

economy, so the family is the binding fibre that will hold us together and stand

us in good stead in times of challenge and in times of difficulty.

Mr. Speaker, as a people, we must never forget to try to live

within our means. If we live within our means, life will be more meaningful for

all of us. If we do not attempt to do that, life will be less meaningful for

those who will come behind us.

I would commend, Mr. Speaker and hon. members, the

legislative agenda that has been placed before us today. I would commend it to

our attention and, for those who may not see as much good in it as some of us

have already seen, I would encourage you to look at the positive, look at the

good, look at the noble that is in the Throne Speech that has been presented

today. Some of us might want to dwell on a glass that may be half full, but I

believe we have to talk about a glass that is more than half full; it is a glass

that is going to be filled to the top with economic blessing and prosperity if

we are prepared to do our bit and if we are prepared to heed the good, common

sense that is in the Speech, and follow the strong leadership that this

government is blessed with, and that you secretly in your heart desire and

appreciate.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to second the motion

of my colleague from Torngat Mountains today. Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SIMMS: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for recognizing me. May I

begin by congratulating the Member for Torngat Mountains on a superb speech, and

likewise, the Member for St. John's North on a superb sermon. He is beginning to

sound a lot like the Premier these days in lecturing the House and the people of

the Province, but I am afraid, traditionally, on this day, we don't normally get

into debate to any great length, and therefore, there are a lot of statements

that both of them made in their speeches that we will address on another day,

not today.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to extend a welcome to those

visitors who are with us today, and those who have departed recently, including

the visitors in the gallery, the leaders of various organizations, the church

leaders, representatives of other countries, mayors of cities, councillors of

cities, other distinguished leaders of various organizations and groups. I trust

they haven't been too bored, sitting back for the last hour or so. It does tend

to drag on sometimes on Throne Speech day.

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin also by extending a very warm,

heartfelt and cordial invitation to an individual - who hasn't even been

mentioned by members opposite, which surprises me somewhat; on the other hand,

it doesn't surprise me all that much - a former member of this House of Assembly

who recently found his way back into the House of Assembly, the newest member of

the House now, the Member for Placentia, Nick Careen, in the gallery.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SIMMS: I remember very well when he left back in

mid-January, whenever it was, late January, he said: `I shall return,' and

return he has. We can look forward to seeing Nick in the House and his being

able to speak in the House in the next week or so after the twelve days have

passed. He has to wait twelve days before he can actually speak and take his

seat.

Mr. Speaker, I have had a chance to look through the Throne

Speech for a few moments at least before the House opened. This is Throne Speech

number six from this particular government - and they are about to begin their

sixth year in office - a speech that I believe can only be described as long on

promises, ivory tower promises, short on specifics, short on solutions, and

certainly short on hope for the people of this Province. There is nothing

contained in that speech that will create one job for the people of this

Province, not one example.

As a matter of fact, you will find lots of examples where

there will be job losses. The privatization of Hydro, the reorganization of the

educational system, all of these initiatives will create job losses. Mr.

Speaker, what the people of this Province need most going into the year 1994 is

what is most seriously lacking in this particular Throne Speech, and that is, a

specific plan for action and initiatives to help those thousands of people

around this Province today who are unemployed. They need help now, not more

words, as we saw in the Throne Speech - there were lots of words, there was no

question of that - they need something that will give them some reason for

optimism.

Mr. Speaker, I'm afraid this Throne Speech is really another

of the very typical Throne Speeches we've heard from this government for the

last five years - a government that has broken promise after promise to the

people of this Province. They have been getting great mileage out of their

infamous slogan: Don't blame us, don't blame me, blame everybody else for all of

our problems. With that slogan they hope to dismiss every failure of five years

of Liberalism and toss it out the window. That is not to mention the failures

that we are going to have in the years coming up, the next few years in

particular.

We have all heard it before. What can we do? Throwing their

hands up in the air. We have no money. Blame the recession, blame the churches,

blame the unions, blame the media, blame everybody else. Blame the Federal

Government. Blame the previous Tories. Blame, blame, blame. That approach, I

tell the Premier and the government today, is wearing very thin. Because this

government has consistently failed to live up to its ultimate responsibility,

and that is to look after the well-being of the people of this Province. That is

where they have failed. Everywhere you go around this Province you will see

suffering. Everybody over there has seen it, I'm certain. There is increased

suffering, there is increased pain, there is more anguish and anxiety than I

have seen in my fifteen years in politics around this Province today, everywhere

you go. People out around Newfoundland and Labrador are crying out for some help

and some assistance. They are looking for some leadership, and the

responsibility for the lack of action that we have seen rests on the shoulders

of those people over there, that government over there, led by the Premier. They

are responsible for the lack of action.

They were elected on a promise five years ago, to help our

people. They were elected on a promise of economic recovery. We all remember it.

They were elected on a promise to keep hospital beds open, they were elected on

the promise not to have the hospitals understaffed. Those were their promises

over there, Mr. Speaker.

They were elected on a promise to create jobs - remember,

`bringing home every mother's son'. We all remember the promises, Mr. Speaker,

and so do the people of this Province. This government has consistently refused

to fulfil those promises and there are many others, like the promises made last

March to the church leaders, just before an election was called last April, Mr.

Speaker. This government also paints itself, quite frequently in fact, all to

often, as the victims of economic misfortune. Well, Mr. Speaker, they are not

the victims. The real victims are real people, people who can't pay their

mortgages and have lost their homes, the thousands of public servants who have

been fired from their jobs by this government over the last few years, the

thousands of workers out there in the various sectors of our economy who have

been laid off, fishermen and plant workers, who spend all kinds of idle hours

wondering what the future holds for them and their families, young people whose

hopes and ambitions have been crushed, Mr. Speaker, because they can't afford to

get into university; they can't get into university because of severe

restrictions that have been placed on them, and there are no jobs for them as an

alternative. They, Mr. Speaker, are the real victims in our society today. Now,

Mr. Speaker, that is not to mention the many entrepreneurs in this Province

today who have spent their life savings trying to build up a business and have

seen it go under. They are the victims of economic misfortune, not the Liberal

Party nor the Liberal Government.

Now, Mr. Speaker, if you travel around this Province as I

have over the last ten months, on quite an active bit of travelling, I guess you

could say, I have had a chance to be in just about every part of the Province

from time to time, from being up in Port Kirwan watching and helping in what

little way I could, hauling caplin. I have been down in Bonavista hanging on the

back of a fire truck for two hours with my friend from Bonavista during

Bonavista Day. I have been over in Humber Valley to participate in a reunion, in

Howley, I have been up in Rocky Harbour, in the minister's district - he isn't

here today. Mr. Speaker, everywhere I travel around the Province, people are

telling me a different story from the one I hear from the Member for St. John's

North here today; we are not hearing that story very often. So I don't know if

he is hearing it very frequently either, Mr. Speaker. But everywhere I have

gone, people remember the electoral campaign promises of 1989. Remember, `Real

Change' was emblazoned on every poster, on every brochure, on every window sign,

on every lawn sign - `Real Change'. Well, Mr. Speaker, I tell you, the real

change is in what this party promised and what they have delivered since they

got in power. The best example of their response to real change was seen in

Placentia district just a week or so ago, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SIMMS: Mr. Speaker, regrettably it is the people of

our Province today who are sadly paying the price for this Liberal so-called

real change. It is the people of the Province who are paying the heavy price for

that, Mr. Speaker. Many people in this Province, I can tell you, feel like

Father Ed Brophy felt when he wrote his letter to The Evening Telegram a

few weeks ago. Not everybody agreed with what he said on television, I certainly

didn't, but I agree with what he said in his letter to The Evening Telegram

when he talked about the spirit and the pride of Newfoundlanders dying, when he

talked about his grief over the death of a way of life, something great in

Newfoundland being taken away, describing rural Newfoundland, outport

Newfoundland as looking like a wake in a retirement village. Then I heard on

television the other night about Parscival Copes getting recognized from some

university out in British Columbia for his tremendous thinking - resettle the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and they are going to give him some kind of

an award or presentation.

AN HON. MEMBER: The Premier will get that in ten years.

MR. SIMMS: Yes, perhaps Simon Fraser University might

present the same kind of award to the Premier in ten years time, something that

he could look forward to. But if you think, for one minute, that Father Ed

Brophy is one in a million and that he is not expressing the views of many

Newfoundlanders, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you that as Leader of the Opposition I

get calls almost on a daily basis in my office, and I bump into people

everywhere I go, and they express the same kinds of concerns. As a matter of

fact, the Member for St. John's North referred to a constituent conversation -

what a great idea that constituent had, and more power to him, or her, if they

can do something with it! But I have a letter here that was written some time

ago, as a matter of fact, a copy sent to me, and it came from a group of people

who were seeking, in their words, a living off this rock that we call

Newfoundland. They talked about how their fathers and their forefathers

struggled to survive in the midst of the harshness of the climate, and fate, and

they talked about the dealings they had with the fishing merchants and `the

almighty admirals of the harbour', in their words. They described the bleak

situation that they, as well as all other Newfoundlanders who are unemployed,

still face. They complained about being force-fed Dr. House's and the Premier's

income support proposal. They talked about their fear growing out of the lack of

consultation and understanding and opportunities for input by the people. The

Premier knows what I am talking about, because it is a copy of a letter that was

sent to him back in mid-January. Here is the quote I want to use here today.

They said to him: `We hope that our fear will help highlight the anxiety that

you, our elected leader, and government, have caused to erupt.' This was signed,

Mr. Speaker, by nineteen people, now, only a small example. Father Brophy's

comments and these comments are only a couple of examples of what I am trying to

tell the Premier and members of the government today, of the feeling that does

exist out there around Newfoundland and Labrador. I am really afraid that a lot

of people don't appreciate it, don't understand it, and perhaps don't even

believe it, but I can assure you, it is there.

Then, when I hear comments from people like Michael Walker, a

Newfoundland, speaking on behalf of the Fraser Institute, and when I hear him

say, and read what he had to say: Unlike other Canadians, Newfoundlanders are

apparently incapable of independent thought, or unable to take responsibility

for their own lives. They require a task force, or a Royal Commission, or a

human resources planner, to decide for them what they should do with their

lives, Mr. Speaker - when I hear those kinds of statements, rage burns inside

me. If I were the Premier, I would be lambasting those kinds of comments. I

don't hear a sound from our Premier lambasting those kinds of comments. They

shouldn't be able to make them. It is like The Toronto Globe and Mail -

the editors up there on those mainland newspapers, all they ever talk about is:

Newfoundlanders don't know what they are talking about and can't handle their

own affairs.

AN HON. MEMBER: Maybe he agrees with them.

MR. SIMMS: No, I don't believe the Premier does agree

with them. I don't believe for a minute that he agrees with them, but I wish to

heavens that he would use some of the fire he had in him during the Meech Lake

Debate and let those people know what he thinks. That is what I would like to

see.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say, in case there is any doubt, that

there is a strong feeling of anger existing around this Province today.

Everywhere you go and everybody you talk to, that feeling of anger is emphasized

time and time again because they see what is happening to our unemployment

problem. The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations says it is somewhere in

the area of 40 per cent, in his view. Stats Canada says 21 per cent. Youth

unemployment is up over 35 per cent. Tuition fees have increased by over 40 per

cent. This is only in the last four or five years. They remember all of that.

Bankruptcies have gone through the roof. Social assistance rolls, the minister

would know, are bursting at the seams, an increase of just about 50 per cent

over the last five years. There are not enough social workers to handle the

problems. There are lots of welfare police lurking in the shadows to deal with

the poor people. Power rates have soared out of control and they will soar out

of control even higher when the government pursues their privatization

legislation. Personal income tax has been jacked up by this government by 15 per

cent. For every single one of you who is lucky enough to hold a job, you are

paying 15 per cent more in income tax in only the last five years - unheard of

in any jurisdiction the size of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker. Millions

have been spent on economic recovery and people are going around asking: What

economic recovery? Where is the economic recovery? Payroll taxes have been

implemented, costing jobs on businesses; pension plans tampered with; legal,

binding, collective agreements broken by this government by the use of the

Legislature.

So, Mr. Speaker, people are angry, and they have every right

to be angry, and they were hoping they would hear today, in the Throne Speech,

some message of hope, some reason to be optimistic, that in the next little

while, in the fairly near future, this government will take some action to try

to help the thousands of people who are in difficulty instead of just throwing

up their arms and saying they can't do anything. Mr. Speaker, that isn't

acceptable.

Now we have the Budget approaching - just a matter of weeks

away. Beware the ides of March, I say to the people of the Province, Mr.

Speaker, because we hear the minister on the airwaves every day talking about

the drastic budget cuts that are coming around the corner. We have heard it

every year for the last four years at least, but I suspect it will be similar to

the previous three Budgets. It is going to be very tough and difficult for the

minister, I know, but he has the fear of God placed in a lot of people in this

Province, including our public servants. Maybe that is part of their strategy. I

noticed the newscast on Saturday night. The debate was over who is causing the

hysteria. Is it the Newfoundland Teachers' Association or is it the government?

Imagine now, that is what the debate was all about - who is causing the

hysteria?

So I say to the Premier and to the government, you cannot

impose your will on the people of this Province simply because you think you

know better, simply because you think you are somehow superior, or you are more

intelligent than the people of the Province. That is wrong, to simply force your

will upon the people.

So I urge the government to change its approach, to change

its thinking, to allow some input and opportunities for the public on major

issues like the privatization of Hydro. This is not the day to debate it, but I

assure you, a debate is coming, and it will be a difficult debate. It will be a

difficult issue for the government. I am sure they are aware of that, because

our position is quite clear on it.

Mr. Speaker, they were hoping to see some message in the

Throne Speech. They haven't seen it. It isn't there. It makes me often wonder

about the value of the Throne Speech itself, and this day, the ceremony and all

the rest of that stuff. With all due respect, it is a privilege and honour to

have visitors on the floor of the House and in the gallery to listen to what the

government's plans are, but the government's plans were all known beforehand.

What we need is not more Throne Speeches; we need more action by the government,

and I hope we will see that.

Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by giving a commitment to the

people of the Province that we, in Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, will be firm

during this session of the House, will be persistent, will be aggressive, will

be confrontational if we have to be, and I expect we will probably have to be

from what I heard outlined in terms of legislation, because we have questions to

ask on behalf of the people of the Province. They deserve to have answers -

questions to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations about his Income

Supplementation Program, about how he sees labour relations in the Province

today, why it has been thrown into such a tizzy; questions to the Minister of

Municipal and Provincial Affairs about the way he is dealing with

municipalities, and the sham that now has been created with the federal

municipal infrastructure program; questions to the Minister of Environment and

Lands about ATV regulations, about Come By Chance, about contracts - public

relation contracts - being awarded; questions to the Minister of Education about

the approach he is taking in his educational reform, and I want to hear the

Member for St. John's North tell us what he thinks of government's plan to

legislate those changes now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SIMMS: I want to hear the Member for Port au Port

tell us what he thinks of it, too. It's time for you to speak out - and the

Member for Lewisporte, and members on that side of the House.

We will be asking the Minister of Health why he won't

undertake a public inquiry into the Grenfell operations up on the Northern

Peninsula.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SIMMS: And we will be asking the Minister of Mines

and Energy about Hydro privatization, not that I think he knows what is going on

but he is the minister and we will be asking him those questions; and we will be

asking the Minister of Fisheries some hard-hitting questions like: What is it

you do, exactly? The Minister of Fisheries, what role do you play? We will have

questions of the Minister of Finance about the Province's fiscal position, about

his dealings with the public servants and the public service of this Province.

Mr. Speaker, we will be asking the Premier about his trip to

Asia and we want to hear more than he told the media, which was nothing; we will

be asking some questions about his $75,000 or $100,000 trip to Asia. We will be

asking questions about his pre-Christmas trip to New York just prior to that; we

will be asking him questions about the recent resignation of the Minister of

Culture and Tourism. We will be asking him questions like, who is he going to

put in his place, who is he going to put in the Cabinet?

Now, if ever you needed an example of members vying for

Cabinet, Mr. Speaker, all you had to do was listen to the speech from the Member

for Torngat Mountains, then the speech from the Member for St. John's North, let

me tell you, that was a Cabinet entrance speech if ever I heard one and then you

hear about the Member for St. George's phoning agriculture marketing boards

around the Province and suggesting they should phone the Premier's office to put

a word in for him because the Member for Terra Nova is trying to outbid him and

trying to get in to the agriculture portfolio.

Then, Mr. Speaker, you look over here on the left, the second

row, the Member for Trinity - Bay de Verde has even changed his hair style to

look like the Premier's, and next to him you have the Member for Bellevue, who

wore a beard for about 25,000 years, now all of a sudden, his beard is gone. And

of course behind the Premier is his parliamentary assistant, who today is

carrying throat lozenges for the Premier because I see both of them sucking on

these throat lozenges. But I say to the Premier, with all due to respect to the

talents of these fine young individuals - well, some are young some are not so

young - please, seven years have gone by since the Member for Stephenville stood

up to the Premier, refused to give him his seat in the by-election in '87,

surely, you have forgiven the Member for Stephenville by now, and I hope that

when you look at the replacement in the Cabinet, that you look very seriously at

the Member for Stephenville.

I know the Premier will shrug it off and say it is silly and

stupid and everything like that, and that is fine, we expect that.

Mr. Speaker, I will just conclude by saying to the Premier

and to the government, we intend to be aggressive, we will be persistent, in

short, the gloves will be coming off.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WELLS: Mr. Speaker, I would like to join with

others in extending welcomes to people who are present in the House today, two

Senators from Newfoundland, Senators Petten and Lewis, I welcome them and

appreciate their continuing interest in what happens in this House; to the

Member of Parliament for St. John's East who is also in the House and I welcome

her today. I welcome in particular the visitors from church and state, who have

been faithful attenders at the opening session of the House of Assembly ever

since I remember ever having anything to do with it, and it goes back beyond

1966 when I first sat as a member, it goes back to years before that when I used

to attend the House as a visitor, and I saw the members of church and state

attend as a means of expressing the interest of the people whom they represent

in what goes on in the House, and we do appreciate that expression of concern

and interest and appreciate your being present.

The honourary consuls, the core of honourary consuls in this

city have always played a fine role and I want to express appreciation to them

for that. I know each of them will forgive me today if I extend an especially

warm welcome to His Excellency, Mr. Berggren, the Ambassador to Canada from

Sweden -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WELLS: - and Madame Berggren, who is with him as

well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WELLS: His Excellency, I am told, is about to

bring to a close his time in Canada and he is calling to pay a visit just before

he leaves.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

PREMIER WELLS: Somebody told me that. I'm delighted to

hear that it isn't happening.

The real thing that I wanted to say to you is please express

to all of your countrymen the sincere congratulations of this House of Assembly

and the people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador - and I've no doubt

today I will speak for the people of Canada - on a very fine hockey game very

fiercely fought.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WELLS: It was hardly an easily won game in all of

the circumstances, and I say to you, I'm sure the people of Canada greatly

respect the superb quality of the hockey players of Sweden and say the honour

was well-deserved. Please take back our congratulations, Your Excellency.

May I also offer congratulations to the Member for Torngat

Mountains. I'm sure if every one of us who sit in this House were being

completely frank and honest we would express our envy at the eloquent simplicity

with which he made every point that he sought to make. It is a great credit to

his way and his approach to things, and I give him personal credit and extend

sincere congratulations to him.

I also offer sincere congratulations to the Member for St.

John's North who always thinks the issues very thoroughly through, comes to a

judgement and a conclusion on it, and expresses his opinion in very clear terms.

He did so again today and I express appreciation to him for that.

I was a little disturbed by the comment by the Leader of the

Opposition that there was no welcome extended to the Member for Placentia. I'm

sorry he's sitting where he is instead of over there because last Thursday I

spoke with the Leader of the Opposition and suggested to him that if he had no

objection I would ask the people on this side of the House to consent to his

taking his seat now without waiting the twelve days. Not only did we want to

extend congratulations to him, we wanted to make sure that he would be present

in the House. I say to him that that offer still remains and he doesn't have to

wait the twelve days.

Mr. Speaker, now let me deal with the Speech from the Throne

and what it reflects and how it explains the government's policy and approach.

As you can tell, the major focus, the overwhelming portion of the Speech, dealt

with building a good business climate, a good climate for business investment in

this Province. That is the objective of government, so as to promote economic

development and to achieve economic development. Because we say again, no matter

how many times people say the government hasn't created any jobs, governments do

not create jobs that produce original dollars that build wealth for a society.

They only create jobs that take away from the wealth that others create or

depend upon the wealth that others create. What government must do is to build

jobs that produce original dollars by the effort, and so enhance the wealth of

society. That is the role of government, to create the climate that will induce

the private sector investment that will create that job.

That was the objective of the government when we first took

office and we started four years ago on a course to work to achieve that. We

were in fact diverted in order to deal with a number of crises that have arisen

in the meantime. The crisis in the fisheries. It is a major factor in this

Province, a major factor in the economy of the Province, a major factor in the

society of the Province, in the ability of the government to generate revenue to

cope with normal needs, let alone the abnormal needs that are caused by such a

circumstance.

We had to deal with the consequences of a worldwide recession

that has impacted very severely on all parts of this nation - in fact, on some

parts more severely than it has impacted directly on Newfoundland and Labrador.

We have had to deal with the financial situation that the

whole world has had to deal with. It is not unusual for us. I can't just blame

the former government of this Province. Most governments in most provinces of

the nation, and the national government, over fifteen years or so previously,

had been borrowing ourselves silly and created an inordinate level of debt

beyond our capability of dealing with it.

The crunch has come in these last few years and we've had to

deal effectively with that financial situation that constrains severely the

ability to generate economic activity in times of contraction, in times of

recession. It is hard to persuade businesses to invest and expand their activity

when in fact they are in the process of contracting that activity.

It was a greatly increased challenge, Mr. Speaker, but the

government persevered and, over time, as well as dealing with the consequences

of these additional crises that we had to face, we set about building a

strategic economic plan. We did it in a sensible way that had not only

government input. We had input from all around the Province. It was adopted and

the principles included in it were approved. If anybody had any doubt, they were

clearly strongly endorsed last May of 1993.

So we are going forward with the principles involved in that

Strategic Economic Plan. Up till now we've made reasonably good progress

implementing the specific actions identified in that plan. Just so that it

doesn't get misrepresented again, go back and read the introduction, the preface

to the Plan. You will see that it states very clearly, government does not

propose that this Plan itself create jobs. That is the role of the private

sector, not the government. We don't suggest it is going to solve the problem in

two or three or five or ten years. It is going to take a longer time to do it

right because we've taken a long time to destroy the economy of the Province. I

will deal with that a little more extensively in a few moments.

The objective is to make sure that government, in the

management of the public affairs of this Province, creates a climate that

promotes economic activity and promotes the creation of jobs by the private

sector where they do some good for the economy. We intend to continue with that

effort to improve the business climate and to promote investment. It is

essential if we are to have real jobs that produce original dollars. It is

essential if government is to bring back up again its level of revenues that

were present before in order to ensure that we can manage our financial affairs

and at the same time provide the kind of public services that our people need

and ought to be able to reasonably expect. The future of the Province depends

upon our putting that kind of a plan in place and building on a sound

foundation, just the same as the future of this country depends upon the federal

government having the political courage to take the tough but necessary

decisions for the management of the national economy.

Many people have said to me: Why aren't you critical of the

federal government because they've cut the unemployment insurance so much? Why

aren't you critical? My answer is fairly simple. If I'm faced with a choice of

that kind of more moderate reduction and controlled reduction on the one hand,

or the risk of complete destruction of the ability of the federal government to

cope with the financial affairs of this Province and our ability in the future,

then I will most certainly take the moderate reduction. I think that is

eminently sensible.

MR. TOBIN: (Inaudible) federal election.

PREMIER WELLS: I said that when Mr. Mulroney was there,

and pleaded with him, and endorsed what the federal government promised to do in

terms of deficit reduction, and encouraged him to do it. I stood in this House

and said it. Hon. members can read the speeches and see them there. Endorsed

what they did and their statements in their budgets year after year to control

the deficit, and stated very clearly, we couldn't be critical of the federal

government because it was essential, if we are to protect the future of this

Province so heavily dependent upon support from the federal government, that we

maintain the financial integrity of that federal government.

A similar course is essential here, Mr. Speaker, if we are to

protect the economic future of this Province.

It is important that we change the course we have been on for

the last fifteen to twenty years. We have systematically virtually destroyed, or

greatly reduced, the strength of the economy of this Province, and seeing the

unemployment rate grow steadily from the 1960's when we were in single digit

unemployment rates. Don't ever forget that. In the late 1960's the unemployment

rate in this Province was in the single digits - two or three percentage points

on average over the last five years of the sixties, two or three percentage

points on average higher than the national. That is where we were, less than 10

per cent. Now what happened?

I asked the people in the Department of Finance to get me

some statistics that show very clearly what happened. Of our spending on the

resource sector in 1960, 16 per cent of our total budget was spent in support of

the resource sector; 66 per cent on social; 7 per cent on debt servicing; 11 per

cent on general governing. That's 16 per cent in the 1960s. By 1975 it was 11

per cent. By 1985 it was 8 per cent. By 1990 it was 5 per cent, and the

unemployment rate went up in exactly the same proportion as that went down. Now

there is the explanation. You don't need to be any more of an economic genius

than to look at the record and see it. That's what happened. Government failed

to address the economic issues, and let itself be pressured by pressure groups

not to spend on the economic side. We've got to recognize that, and change that

approach, and change that attitude. That is what we did. I don't think we did it

intentionally - I don't suggest that for a moment - but the effect is just as

bad as if we did. The consequences are just as severe.

If our politicians of the day had been a little more willing

to say no to pressure groups who wanted this, that, or the other thing that we

couldn't afford at the time, and had been prepared to increase expenditure on

the resource side to promote economic activity, we would have been able to

afford all of those things that we want because we would have built an economy

that generated the revenue that enabled us to provide it.

Now it's time, Mr. Speaker, for us to recognize our failures

of the past, not seek to blame anybody or cast any aspersions at anybody, but

just face the reality and be prepared to make the changes that are necessary to

restore and rebuild the economy for the future.

That's not done to promote the benefit of big business or big

corporations, as you may hear some people say. That's done to restore the

vibrancy and life of our economy so that there will be jobs for people who want

them, so that government will have an adequate level of revenue to provide the

kinds of public services we need. That's the motivation behind it.

We live in a free enterprise economy, and we depend on that

free enterprise economy to generate the wealth we need, and if we don't create a

climate where they can prosper and generate that wealth, we will doom our

society forever to a second-rate level of living, and I don't want

responsibility for that.

The purpose is to benefit all, not just to benefit business,

or big business. It may appear on the surface that when we cut the corporation

income tax, as we did last year, when we reduce the small business tax, as we

did last year, when we cut the corporation manufacturing tax, as we did last

year, when we do those things we want people to understand that we are not doing

it to make big shareholders happy. We are doing it to rebuild the economy of

this Province.

Mr. Speaker, it takes a change of attitude for people. It is

requiring a change of attitude to look at the reality and be prepared to

recognize it, to set aside partisan differences or partisan posturing on any

side of the House and look at what the people of this Province need to secure

their future. That is what we need. We need a change of attitude, a change of

attitude that instead of being envious, jealous, and critical of success and

high profit levels, commend them. Businesses cannot make enough profit in this

Province to cause me one moment's concern, provided they obey our basic laws of

occupational health and safety, provided they treat our workers fairly, and obey

our basic laws. The more profit they make the better and I want everybody to

know it. They will never hear a critical comment from me or any expression of

envy on what they do.

There are several good reasons for that. They cannot make

that level of profit without generating substantial economic activity in the

process, and enhancing the economy of the Province. They cannot do it without

generating large numbers of jobs for our people and creating employment

opportunities, and if they make that kind of profit they will be induced to

invest still further in this place where they can make great profits, and in the

end all of the rest of the people of the Province, through the action of the

government, will get a modest little piece of the profit anyway in the form of

taxes, to share the wealth around, but if the profit is not there in the first

place we do not have the jobs, we do not have the vibrant economy, and we do not

get the taxes, so what do we gain by a niggardly attitude that is jealous of

people when they make profit or when they have success?

Our people have got to change their attitude and I ask

members of the House to start and change their own attitude on this. We have to

reverse the trend and we have to be prepared to reverse the trend in government

spending, of a reduced spending on the resource sector to provide for greatly

increased spending on the social side. We have to be prepared to moderate that

somewhat in order to promote and expand economic development in the Province,

and all of us in this House, regardless of what side we sit on, have to be

prepared to put the interest of the people of the Province ahead of our partisan

political interest, and instead of trying to score political points be prepared

to say: there is an economic reality we must face.

I believe that members opposite also are interested in the

welfare of the people of this Province and in the economic future of the people

of this Province and would like to see them succeed. I just say to them, if you

do not mind co-operating with us - I should note that is the one word I did not

hear from the Leader of the Opposition - I heard firm and confrontational but I

did not hear co-operation. I am just asking him now for a little bit of

co-operation. If you do not mind co-operating with us we are not going to gloat

over this being a government success. Let us work together to make this a

success for the people of this Province and restore and rebuild the economy of

this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WELLS: Let us stop this comedic or semi-comedic

parliamentary activity that we heard today. Let us put the interest of the

people of this Province ahead of all the others and seek jointly to rebuild the

economy of this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER WELLS: We have to make sure that we create a

business and investment climate that will allow people in this Province to

compete with, not only any other part of Canada, but in fact any other part of

the world, because do not forget, we are the Province of Canada that has

consistently sold the least of its productivity to other sister provinces. Every

year less of our total production is sold to other provinces of Canada, but

every year a greater percentage of our total production has been sold to foreign

countries than any other Province of Canada, except once in a while B.C. jumps

ahead of us and then the next year we are back ahead of B.C. I suspect they are

ahead of us now because of the collapse of our fishery but don't forget we have

to be prepared to compete in the international markets because that's where our

products have traditionally been sold.

So we have to build the business and investment climate here

that is attractive to international investors, not just Canadian or North

American investors. We have to make sure that once we build that climate and

government implements all of the action items in the Strategic Economic Plan to

improve the regulatory economy that we have in place, or the regulation of the

economy that we have in place, that we then put in place the best incentives

that any province in this country offers to business to invest and that's what's

in this Throne Speech. That is what's in the bill to promote business

development in the Province. Those are all of the components that are there. We

have to not only continue to build the most attractive investment climate,

through a better tax structure, through a more stable and less burdensome tax

structure, through a greatly reduced regulatory regime, through a better

environmental assessment process and a less burdensome one, through a better

labour relations climate in the private sector, we now have to offer incentives.

We have to make sure that the whole world gets the message

that the best place for business in this country or in North America is

Newfoundland and Labrador. We have to make sure that we strengthen our private

sector. The example I use in the need for strengthening our private sector, is

the total corporation business tax, the total corporate business tax, small,

medium and large manufacturing and everything combined, has traditionally, in

recent years at least, been less then we get from cigarettes, less than we get

from alcohol alone, or cigarettes alone. What is even worse, it's now

significantly less than we get from lotteries and gambling. What kind of an

economy is that, where we get more revenue from gambling than we do from

productive activity of business? What have we done to our business climate to

reduce them to that?

Now, I ask the Members of the House of Assembly to look at

that reality and avoid narrow partisan approaches and look at what's in the best

interest of the Province. We must strengthen our very weak private sector. That

is one, but only one, of the reasons for privatization, not just Hydro,

Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services, all of the other private sector

type activities that government carries on that can be equally well carried on

in the private sector should be done in the private sector, to strengthen it and

to put in place a unit that hopefully can expand and increase private sector

activity and add to investment and reinvestment instead of having it done on the

public service side.

Privatization will, I believe, be an important part of the

rebuilding of the economy of this Province but we must also put in place

incentives for new investors, for existing businesses who want to build and

expand and that is what the Throne Speech talks about, a bill that will provide

for that, that will make sure that businesses who want to develop here will no

longer have to go through the maze that has been developed for them in the past,

that it will all be removed. Not only that it will all be removed, or virtually

all of it be removed, but they will be provided with direct help to navigate

through it so that it won't be a burden to them. We don't want government any

longer to be a burden to investment in this Province and we have to be prepared

to provide the tax holiday for a sufficient period of time to attract investors.

I believe that this is a major factor in investment decision, the ultimate

bottom line, and that is very much affected by the tax burden. We have to be

prepared to send the message to investors who are looking at expanding and

developing in this country that Newfoundland and Labrador offers them the best

opportunity to produce the best bottom line.

If we don't do that they won't be here, so we will have lost

the tax revenue anyway. It is no loss to us to provide for that kind of benefit.

We will have lost also the job opportunities that they create and we will have

lost also the opportunity to greatly increase the competence and size of our

private sector economy, which is essential if we are to rebuild this Province.

We have to be prepared to make these kinds of decisions, and

we have to be prepared to make sure that there exists a labour relations climate

that doesn't cause fear in investors, that if they invest they might lose it

through uncontrolled labour relations difficulties. We do this not to restrict

the rights of labour. We do this to give union members jobs that they don't have

today. If anybody is fair and objective about it, and looks through it, I think

that that is what they will see there.

What I'm pleading with, with all members of this House, is

forget the narrow partisanship that too often characterizes the debates and

positions in this House, and let's go forward to rebuild the economy of this

Province. To deal with all of these issues that are necessary to deal with if we

are to make this the most attractive place in North America for investors to

invest.

In the meantime we have to make sure that we deal with the

other problems, and to make sure we deal with the consequences of the massive

reduction in our groundfish fishery. That takes three specific responses. The

need for income security for those affected; the need to rebuild and restructure

our fishery of the future; the need to deal with the economic impacts on the

Province as a whole and all of the individual communities that have been

affected by the closure of the fisheries. We must deal with each of those three.

As I told some federal ministers last week, and the Prime Minister earlier this

week, the two governments can't sit down and do it in isolation. They must do it

in full consultation with those in the industry that are affected. Not just the

investors. The union side and the communities that are affected.

Earlier this week I met with Mr. Cashin and I met with Mr.

McCurdy. The Minister of Fisheries, the Deputy and others were there. Mr. Young

from Fishery Products was there. There is general consensus in this Province on

that approach. I've persuaded the federal government that that ought to be an

essential component of our approach, that it has to be done in concert with -

and that doesn't mean developing a proposal and then showing the provincial

government or the unions or the industry: Here is what it is, and that is a

consultation. That is not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is real

involvement in expressing views and participation in designing the best way to

deal with these three major components of our problem.

We must as well deal with the critical issue of conservation

and foreign overfishing. In the meantime, as the Speech from the Throne

indicates, we do not propose to ignore the social needs of the Province, and the

need to refocus and restructure many of our social programs so that they deliver

the best possible services for our people within the limit of the financial

resources of the total people of the Province.

We intend to do that. I hope by fall, or perhaps summer, to

be able to start a consultation process on the issues involved so that out of

that consultation and the work that has already been done by the committee, we

can develop a strategic social plan.

I believe, Mr. Speaker, that this session, because of some of

the key issues that we will be dealing with, is perhaps one of the most

significant sessions of this Legislature, at least since we became a Province. I

am only familiar from the history books with what occurred before we became a

Province, but I believe that the major issues that we are dealing with, the

major policy decisions this House or policies that this House will endorse and

support for the next ten to twenty or thirty years of this Province's life,

means that we will have perhaps the most significant session that this House has

held in recent years.

I again plead with members not to prejudge what government is

going to bring before the House. Wait until you see the proposal on the

electrical power control act, which has nothing to do with privatization except

that it is necessary if privatisation is to occur, but it is a major

restructuring of the control of the electrical power resources of the Province.

Look at the privatization act itself when it is brought before the House and

judge it on its true merits and if you think it is wrong don't hesitate to say

so, but don't prejudge it until you look at the reality of it, and perhaps for

the first time in recent years, let all of us make sure that we put the best

interest of this Province and its people for the next decades first and foremost

in every single thing we say and do.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: It has been moved by the Member for Torngat

Mountains and seconded by the Member for St. John's North, that an address of

thanks be presented to His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, in reply to the

gracious speech with which he has been pleased to open the present session of

the Legislature and that a select committee be appointed to draft the Address in

Reply.

All those in favour of the motion, aye.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: Contrary-minded, nay. Motion carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. ROBERTS: I assume Your Honour will call Notices of

Motion?

MR. SPEAKER: Yes. I was wondering if you want to move now

to appoint a select committee or if you prefer to go directly to Notices of

Motion?

MR. ROBERTS: Mr. Speaker, I thought it was the Chair who

announced them, but the difficulty is, I do not have the name of the member who

is to represent the opposition side.

AN HON. MEMBER: Baie Verte -White Bay.

MR. ROBERTS: The hon. gentleman from Baie Verte - White

Bay? I would ask Your Honour to appoint the hon. gentleman from Torngat

Mountains, the hon. gentleman from St. John's North and the hon. gentleman from

Baie Verte - White Bay to be the Select Committee, Sir.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the Members

for Torngat Mountains, St. John's North and Baie Verte - White Bay be, and they

are hereby appointed the Select Committee of the House.

All those in favour of the motion, aye.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: Contrary-minded, nay.

Motion, carried.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER WELLS: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on

tomorrow, I shall ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act Respecting The

Privatization of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro-electric Corporation".

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Kilbride.

MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on

tomorrow, ask leave to introduce the following resolution:

WHEREAS the Federal Budget will have major negative impact on

personal incomes and provincial government revenues; and

WHEREAS the loss of income from unemployment insurance and

fisheries compensation will reduce business activity and employment everywhere

in the Province, and further weaken the already frail provincial economy; and

WHEREAS the federal government has unfairly singled out

Newfoundland to bear a disproportionate share of federal-spending cuts;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that this hon. House condemn the

changes to unemployment insurance and reduced funding for fisheries compensation

that unfairly penalize the people and economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Government House Leader.

MR. ROBERTS: Mr. Speaker, there being no further Notices

of Motion, I move that the House at its rising adjourn until tomorrow, Tuesday

at two o'clock and that the House do now adjourn.

MR. SPEAKER: Before putting the motion, I would like to

invite all guests on behalf of hon. members to attend a reception in the lobby.

On motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow,

Tuesday, at 2:00 p. m.