Volume XLI Wednesday Province of Newfoundland FORTY -FIRSTGENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NEWFOUNDLAND Second Session VERBATIM REPORT {Hansard/ Speaker: Honourable Thomas Lush [Preliminary Transcript] Number 4 14 March 1990

The House met at 2:00 p.m. MR. SPEAKER (Lush): Order, please! Before proceeding to the Orders of the Day, on behalf of hon. Members, we would like to extend a cordial welcome to ten Girl Guides from the 73rd St. John's Company ft"om St. Paul's School, and their leaders Ms Tilley, Ms Davis and Ms Nixon. The Guides are attending the House of Assembly as par:"t of their wor:"k towards their citizenship badges. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! Statements by Ministers MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Environment and Lands. MR. KELLAND: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It gives me great pleasure to make an announcement today which is of tr:"emendous importance in addressing out" Government's commitment to the environment and our promise protect the Province. to preserve wilderness of and our I am very pleased to inform the Members of this House, and the people of this Province, that the Government has approved the establishment of a wilderness reserve in th~ Bay du Nord area of that portion under the Wilderness And Ecological Reserves Act and an adjacent wildlife reserve in the Middle Ridge area under the Wildlife Act.

A Provisional Reserve in the Bay L1 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI du Nord area was established in 1986, and a credit to the former Administration, by the way, and the work they had done. The final reserve as now approved by the Government wi 1.1 have boundaries somewhat different than those of the Provisional Reserve. As recommended by the Wilderness and Ecological Reserve Advisory Council some changes to the reserve boundaries are being made in r:"esponse to concerns raised during public hearings.

The two r:"eserves together encompass an area of approximately 3500 square kilometers, and that is adjusted down from 5000 originally, located in Southeastern Newfoundland. Within this roadless wilderness populations of moose, caribou, canada geese, brook trout, and landlocked salmon, pt"ovide tremendous opportunities for:" outdoor enjoyment. Undisturbed waterways, such as the scenic Bay du Nord River offer canoeists and campers unforgetable experiences in one of the last remaining unspoiled areas on the Island of Newfoundland.

Efforts to establish a wilderness r:"eserve in the Bay du Nord area have been ongoing for most of the past decade. Ever since the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Act was past in 1980 the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council has worked tir:"elessly to see the area protected from development. The Advisory Council has steered the reserve proposal through an elaborate, and demanding consultation and public review process.

Information sessions and public hearings were held to ensur:"e local residents had ample opportunity to comment on the proposals, including the boundaries and management policies for the reserve. I am very pleased that a number of No. 4 Rl

the members of the Council are present visitors gallery today this announcement. Advisory in the to hear Now that the Bay du Nord is a full status reserve, it will enjoy the protection of the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Act. This means that the area will remain in its natural state without any intrusions from forest harvesting, mining, hydro-electric or other forms of high impact development. Within the reserve people may hunt, fish, camp, hike and fully enjoy this truly great natural region of our Province.

The designation of a separate wildlife reserve in the Middle Ridge area is in recognition of the high mineral potential of this area. The regulations which wi 11 apply to the area will permit mineral exploration to continue but in a controlled fashion so as to minimize ground disturbances and impacts on wildlife. The boundaries of both Reserves, plus the applicable management plans and regulations, will be published in the Newfoundland Gazette as required by the respective Statutes.

The Bay du Nord Wilderness Reserve and the Middle Ridge Wildlife Reserve will be managed by the Parks Division and the Wildlife Division respectively of the Department of Environment and Lands. Together they will ensure that the policies and regulations contained in the management plan are enforced. This will guarantee that the animals, plants, lands and waters of the Bay du Nord and Middle Ridge areas remain in a natural state for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and visitors to our Province to enjoy and L2 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI appreciate on into the future . Mr.

Speaker, with due respect, this is an important matter. We hear the odd comment from the other side and I ask that they be quiet. They will have an opportunity to respond in due course. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! MR. KELLAND: The designation of these reserves is a major step in protecting wilderness areas for the benefit of the people of our Province. Wilderness is an essential part of the social, cultural and natural heritage of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and, as our wilderness areas diminish, we recognize more and more how valuable these special places are.

It is also increasingly recognized that wilderness protection in itself constitutes economic <3:evelopment. The activities associated with wilderness enjoyment give our people valuable business opportunities and can help support the economics of our rural areas.

A recent survey undertaken by the Canadian Wildlife Service shows that 76 per cent of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians felt that maintaining abundant wildlife population is important and that 85 per cent of our people participate activities. in one or more nature Newfoundlanders and are committed to their environmental so that some of our Labradorians preserving heritage natural available splendours will be for all time to cherish and enjoy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker . SOME HON. ME MBERS : Hear, hear:! No. 4 R2

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's East Extern. MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all I would like to thank the Minister for the copy of his statement. Because of the short time I had to look into the detailed statement, I will not, at this time, go into detail about it. I remember in the last Session of the House it was objected to by the Member for Fortune - Hermitage and I would be interested now, in hearing what he has to say about the Bay du Nord, Middle Ridge wilderness area and see if he concurs with the party that he wishes to join.

Personally I believe he is going to be in the wilderness forever. I also hope, Mr. Speaker, that the concerns of the residents of the area have been addressed and I would like to ask the Minister a couple of questions that perhaps he could address at a later date. What happens to the cabins that are already in the area, and will a permit be necessary to enter the area? I would also take advantage of this opportunity, on behalf of my colleagues on this side of the House, to congratulate the Members of the Advisory Commit tee for their work and their perseverance in bringing this to fruition.

I hope the Government has taken into consideration the objections of the people, and I also hope that the privileges of the people have not been taken away, but protected. In saying that, Mr. Speaker, and in conclusion, I hope because of the Minister's statement in which he seems to concern himself with the rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, that the same concerns are L3 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI orchestrated when Bill 25 is presented to this han. House, and 7. 2 is completely deleted. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! Oral Questions MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker. MR.

SPEAKER: The han. the Leader of the Opposition. MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the House will recall that last year in the first Liberal Budget of this Administration the Government increased tuition fees at, I think, all of our post-secondary institutions by a whopping 10 per cent, the largest single increase in recent times. The House will also recall that last year the Minister of Education (Dr. P. Warren) established a Student Aid Advisory Committee which, as I understand it, made its report to the Minister in September past. Now, Mr.

Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, will he tell the House when this report, which was submitted to him in September past, will be made public? DR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education. DR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. Member for his question. Yes, the Student Advisory Commit tee Report No. 4 R3

was submitted to Government and, I am very pleased to say today, many of the recommendations have already been implemented or are being addressed. And I will make the report public. It is a very important report. And if he wants to indicate the kinds of implementation policies SOME HON. MEMBERS: When? When? DR. WARREN: After we have dealt with it in the Budget, we will release the report to the public, yes. MR. RIDEOUT: A supplementary, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition. MR. RIDEOUT: Leader of the Mr.

Speaker, in view of the fact that thirty students a week at Memorial University alone are approaching the Council of Students Union as hardship cases, seeking financial assistance, and in view of the fact that grant and loan components of the Student Aid Package have not kept pace with Government tuition fee increases, with inflation, for example, can the Minister assure the House, as he did in a Budget leak on Open Line this morning, Mr.

Speaker, in talking about guidance counsellors - new guidance counsellors will be provided in the Budget tomorrow, he said - can the Minister assure post-secondary students in this Province today, the day before the Budget comes down, that their desperate needs, legitimate needs will be adequately addressed in tomorrow's Budget? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education. L4 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI DR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker, this Minister and this Government are very concerned about equality of educational opportunity in this Province.

And certainly we have reviewed and will continue to review the student Aid Program. I am sure the han. Member recognizes that the loan program is totally a Federal program. It has not been changed since 1981. We have contacted the Federal Government, and I hope the Leader of the Opposition has done the same thing. I hope he has written the federal Government on this and expressed disgust, not only that they have not changed the loan program, they have added a 3 per cent administration charge. Can you believe it? SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh! DR. WARREN: The Provincial Government will do its duty.

Wait for the Budget. Any announcement with respect to student aid may be made in the Budget. Thank you. MR. SPEAKER : The han. the Leader of the Opposition. MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, what gall and what hypocrisy coming from a Minister who whopped 10 per cent on every post-secondary student in this Province, the largest increase in our history. What hypocrisy and gall! Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell the House this: Will the Government financial available this year ensure resources to to that will adequate be made care centre Memorial maintain on the University the child university No. 4 R4

campus? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education. DR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker, I could say that the hon. Member would have to wait for any announcement as to what Government's intentions are, but I will express some concern about early childhood pre-school at Memorial. My colleague, the hon. the Minister of Social Services, has had a proposal in his hands for some time and we will be exploring that. It is a very serious issue, and I can assure you we are concerned about it and we will do our best to help persons who have children and who are attending Memorial University. MR. MATTHEWS: Mr. Speaker. MR.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank. MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Fisheries. In light of the provincial Government's plan to downsize and rationalize the fishery and, subsequently, shut down fish plants throughout the Province, can the Minister advise the House what direction his Department is taking with respect to fish processing licences in the Province? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, there is a freeze on the issuing of processing licences.

I think the freeze was imposed back in the days of the previous administration, when the LS March 14, 1990 Vol XLI hon. the Leader of the Opposition was Minister of Fisheries. Notwithstanding the freeze, of course, I understand he did issue, I think, four or five licences just prior to the 1985 election campaign. Nevertheless, the freeze is still on, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank. MR. MATTHEWS: Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition did not become Minister of Fisheries until after the 1985 election.

I would like to say to the Minister that in his case I believe it must be quick-freeze, because we all know that just a few months ago there was at. least one new processing licence - maybe two, but I know of one - that was issued . to a company in Cape Broyle, on the Southern Shore. So that is certainly not a freeze on processing licences. My supplementary to the Minister, Mr. Speaker: We have a number of communities in the Province which know their fish plants will be closing within the next short while. Will licences be kept for those communities that now have fish plants wilh licences attached?

Will these licences be cancelled, or will additional licences be issued throughout the Province, even though f lsh plants are closing? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries . MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, the

preamble to his question, of course, is incorrect. Well, not all together incorrect, but certainly the action taken by this Government in issuing a licence to the plant he referred to, on the Southern No. 4 RS

Shore, can be explained, in that it was the result of an appeal. The Appeal Board met and on the basis of the information they had, and given the fact that there was some discrimination against that company during the previous administration - I think the Member for Ferryland will attest to that fact - MR. POWER: No, I will not. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. W. CARTER: the· Appeal Board, i..n their wisdom, saw fit to recommend to the Minister that that licence be issued.

With respect to the latter part of his question, certainly it is not the intent of the Government to close for all time some of the plants that, by virtue of the quota reductions, will be required to close. And I am sure that every effort will be made in future, when the stocks rebuild, to hopefully reactivate some of those plants. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank. MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a comment to the Minister.

We know the details of the Cape Broyle licence as well, and I believe our information, as told to the people of the Province, was that the recipient of the licence was a legal client of the Premier's, when he was practicing law. AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible) the court. MR. MATTHEWS: L6 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Yes, that is right. Mr. Speaker, a final supplementary to the Minister. Has he recently, within the last two weeks, issued an additional processing licence, or is he seriously considering issuing an additional processing licence to the Trepassy area? MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W.

CARTER: Mr. Speaker, the comment made by the Member, insinuating that the reason behind us issuing a licence to Cape Broyle Fisheries was because the Premier, in hi..s capacity as a practicing barrister, acted, that is not even worthy of comment. The Premier has already stated, Mr. Speaker, publicly and in this House, that he had no knowledge whatsoever of what was happening there. Certainly he was not consulted by his former client, and he was not consulted by me. It was an action taken by me as Minister, on the advice of an Appeal Board. With respect to the second part of his question, no, Mr.

Speaker, we have not issued a licence to a plant in the Trepassy area. We have had an application. It is still under consideration. But, I can tell him now, there has been no action taken. AN HON. MEMBER: It is under consideration, is it? MR. W. CARTER: Oh, we will consider it, at least. MR. HEARN: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: No. 4 R6

The han. the Member for St. Mary's - The Capes. MR. HEARN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is also to the Minister of Fisheries. In light of the concerns with plant closures mainly due to the resource, and part of the cause is certainly overfishing, is the Minister aware that we have a tremendous amount of overfishing going on within the 200 mile limit by Canadian boats, and I am talking about the area 3NO, where we have Nova Scotian boats, in the guise of fishing halibut, raping the cod while our own longl iners, almost within sight of them, are tied up?

Is the Minister aware that we are being kicked off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland by Nova Scotians? If he is, will he make representation to Ottawa to have observers placed on all these boats so that they can account for the fish, some of which is landed in Newfoundland, much of which is landed in Nova Scotia? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am very much aware of that problem.

In fact, I have already written the Minister a letter, and I will table a copy today, in which I have objected to the fact that other provinces are, on the basis of advice we are getting, abusing the privilege. I have expressed to the Minister my displeasure, and have asked him to undertake immediately an investigation. I believe that not only must the regulations pertaining to the allocation of quotas and harvesting licences be done on a L7 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI fair and square basis, they must be perceived as being done on a fair and square basis.

On the advice that I am getting, it is quite obvious that certain fishermen from certain other provinces are not respecting Federal laws and are, therefore, placing Newfoundland fishermen and Newfoundland vessels owners at a very grave disadvantage. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Mary's - The Capes. MR. HEARN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would Minister appreciate would it if table the the correspondence so that we can circulate copies of it.

I also ask him, is he aware that Clear Water Fisheries, in Nova Scotia, has now been given permission to fish part of its quota by using vessels under 65 feet, and, in turn, we end up with more and more small Nova Scotian boats coming into our waters and, once again, raping our stocks? He mentioned that the best information they had was that ~.he privileges were being abused. I do not think there is any doubt about that.

From what we hear firsthand, they are not only being abused, they are being abused greatly; instead of a 90/10 halibut/cod catch, we have it 90 per cent cod and 10 per cent halibut, and a 11 kinds of misreporting and misrepresentation of facts, and that, certainly, is going to end up raping t.he stocks on the Southern Grand Banks. So I would ask the Minister if he would make sure that Federal Fisheries have observers on the No. 4 R7

boats, the st~ongest kind of ~epresentation, to make su~e that no more of these boats filte~ into our area to rape the stocks, as is presently belng done? MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, that is a decision, of cou~se, that will have to be made by Fisheries and Oceans. But certainly I can bon.

Member: Government does that necessary taken by them say this to the If the Federal not satisfy us steps are being to eliminate that rape of the ~esou~ce, then we will certainly recommend to the Federal Minister and, in fact, make a very strong representation to him, that maybe observers be placed on those boats. If you cannot trust them to go out there and respect the laws, then it might become necessary to place observers on board these boats. MR. HEARN: A final supplementary, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Member for St. Mary's - The Capes. MR.

HEARN: In light of the problems in the fishery generally, and especially the ones just highlighted, where I said we were being kicked off the Grand Banks by the Nova Scotians, our Grand Banks, the Grand Banks 'of' Newfoundland, o-f - the Federal people think the Grand Banks a~e o-f-f Newfoundland. They say 'f' on, we say o-f, 'f' off. It is the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Ours! Will the Minister be satisfied to set up a select committee of the House dealing with the fishery, as L8 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI we have asked in the past?

Because of the seriousness, will the Minister now set up a special select Committee of the House to deal with the fishery problems and the crisis we are facing in this Province, especially the ones I just highlighted? MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! In the moment of joviality in the House, when the Member was making some references to off, and the fs in of /off, I just hope that I did not misunderstand and everything was parliamentary. AN HON. MEMBER: Be careful, Walter. The han. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, we~e I not in this Chamber I would be tempted to put my own

interpretation on the Membe~'s question and maybe answe~ it acco~dingly. I am not sure what the question was, there were so many fs there. Mr. Speaker, I can only repeat again what I said a moment ago, that we are aware of what is happening. I had occasion, on the weekend, to go on board one of our mid-distance vessels and interview the Captain.

In fact, at rny invitation three of the Captains hired by the Province came to my office on Monday morning ·and were interviewed by my staff, and they gave statements they have aeen Grand Banks. concerning what happening on the On the basis of their complaints, and others I have received complaints from fishing skippers from the District of my bon. colleague, the Member for Port de No. 4 R8

Grave (Mr. Efford) - we have made representation, as the letter I have just tabled will indicate, to the Minister. Furthermore, that is not the end of it. I intend to follow it up, and if proper is not forthcoming, then assure him that further wi 11 be taken. action I can action Did you mention a select committee of the House? MR. HEARN: Yes. MR. W. CARTER: I would be inclined to wait awhile and see what happens. Maybe if we do not get the desired action, then it might well be that we will have a select committee. It is something we will think about. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. HODDER: Mr. Speaker. MR.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port au Port. MR. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Fisheries. As the Minister is aware, Connors Brothers have indicated that they will not be operating the Piccadilly Plant this year. This is a plant that has operated continuously for a quarter of a century and is owned by the Provincial Government. I want to ask the Minister what the Government is doing to attract a new operator for the plant. MR. SPEAKER: The bon. the Minister of Fisheries. L9 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI MR. W. CARTER: Mr.

Speaker, yes, the plant in Piccadilly has been operated for awhile now by Connors Brothers. In fact, they are the fifth operator to have had a lease on that plant since 1979. I should point out that between the period of 1979 and the present there have been five operators, four of which, of course, cancelled leases while the hon. Member's Party was in power, part of the twenty-four plants that were closed during that period. Mr.

Speaker, we have had discussions with Connors, and the reason they have given for cancelling their lease, which was entered into, by the way, in January of 1989 - it lasted one year - was the lack of resource. I think they were projecting processing put-through of 3 million pounds a year, when, in fact, only a third of that was available to them. Consequently, the plant was not viable. As a result, they notified the Department that they would not be asking to have the lease renewed. As soon as we received that information, Mr.

Speaker, my officials contacted the Port au Port Development Association and are now working with officials of that Association to try and identify another operator. It is not going to be easy, because the plant - maybe I should not say this publicly, but I suppose the damage is done - is not what you would call a viable operation. However, if other species can be attracted, such as lobster, for example, and scallops and other type fish, it might well be that it wi 11 be viable. But certainly we are trying lo find an operator who can move in there and make i l No. 4 R9

a viable operation. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. th~ Member for Port au Port. MR. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, I have just heard something which I think is the most amazing comment made by a Minister of Fisheries yet. He is trying to say the plant is not viable. As Minister of Fisheries, is he announcing to the Province now and telling everybody not to come because it is not viable? I have to point out to the Minister that the last operator had a shortage of groundfish, but that was a bad year in Port au Port. Very often, that can happen in any area.

But the previous owner, Port au Port Seafoods, did not go out of there because of money; they made money in Port au Port, and they had a very good fishery there. So, the Minister gets up and has admitted defeat. My question is, Mr. Speaker, is this the the Minister intends to attract people to the Port au Port operation? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, I suppose it is not much point in sticking your head in the sand and hiding the facts. By virtue of the fact that the hon.

Member asked the question today, of course, almost compelled me to give the reasons why the plant is not going to operate. But certainly, yes, the plant did operate back in 1985. My understanding is that the operator at that time had a ve['Y substantial Government loan guarantee, and that is another story unto itself, which I will LlO March 14, 1990 Vol XLI not go into now, but I am sure gentlemen opposite know what I am talking about. Mr.

Speaker, as I said a moment ago, it might well be that an operator can be attracted who will undertake other types of fish, for example, lobster and scallop and the plant will be viable. But, certainly, on the basis of the experience with Connors Brothers, it is not a viable operation. And the facts speak for themselves three million pounds to make it viable, one million pounds were available. However, there is another bright spot.

Maybe with the plant in Stephenville gone into receivership, and the fact that there are no takers for that plant, it might well be that the resource from that area could then end up into the Picadilly plant, in which case, then, that could become a very viable operation. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port au Port. MR. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, I just want lo point out to the Minister he is wrong again. Port au Port Seafoods did not get a grant because of lhei. r operation in Port au Port, they got their grant because of an operation in the Minister of Development's (Mr.

Furey) District, and it was given at the last moment, to keep it open because of the fishermen. But they did not lose their money in Port au Port. Mr . Speakec-, that plant is very viable, not only from the point of view of cod, but also from the point of view of winter flounder and lobster and scallop. And there is a way to save that plant. But I want to ask the Minister, No. 4 RlO

since the Government has been so generous with the offshore plants, can he tell me the difference between a fish plant worker who cuts fish which came from a twenty-five foot boat and a fish plant worker who cuts fish which came from a one hundred and fifty foot boat? Why should one· plant be put down and the other plant workers given subsidies? Why cannot the Minister just take this situation and go and try to find a solution to it? Because it can be found. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W.

CARTER: Let me tell the Member, as soon as I master the art of walking on water I will then direct my attention to multiplying fish, and maybe then we will keep the plant open. If the han. member is against what we are doing for the towns of Trepassey, Gaultois and Grand Bank, let him say so. We are now endeavoring to attract an operator for that plant. The building, by the way, is owned by the Province. We own the facility and we are working with the Development Association, and I hope the member, to tey and find an operator for that plant.

But this is not the first time it has happened; this is the fifth operator in that plant since 1979. So it is not a new problem, but we are trying to solve it. MR. MATTHEWS: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank. MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My quest ion is to the Minister of Lll March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Works, Services and Transportation. I would like to ask the Minister if he has been informed or advised of problems being experienced by the Gaul to is - Hermitage ferry because of ice conditions over the last few weeks? MR.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation. MR. GILBERT: I will take the Member's question and I will get a full report and give it to him tomorrow. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank . MR. MATTHEWS: Mr. Speaker, I would like to advise the Minister that I have had representation feom the Gaultois - Hermitage area saying that the ferry has only been able to make one trip within the last two weeks because of lee. They are very concerned about the situation there for a number of reasons.

There are people feom Gaultois who want to get to Hermitage and, consequently, to other parts of the Province. They are very concerned about emergency situations that might arise on the Island of Gaultois.

So, in my supplementary, I would like to ask the Minister if he, instead of waiting until tomorrow to review the situation, would undertake to immediately have his officials get on top of this ve~y serious situation on behalf of the people of that area, to put measures in place to address, first of all, the need to get people out of there in case of an emergency, arid to try and get regular ferry service from Gaultois - Hermitage immediately? MR. SPEAKER: No. 4 Rll

The han. the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation. MR. GILBERT: . M~. Speake~. there is a contingency plan in place at all times to take ca~e of any emergencies that crop up when we ope~ate ferdes. I will certainly give the Membe~ a complete b~eakdown as to the numbe~ of trips the ferry has made in the last two weeks, and I have a feeling that he will again be tried in the balance and found wanting. MR. DOYLE: Mr. Speake~. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Member for Harbou~ Main. MR. DOYLE: M~. Speaker, I have a question fo~ the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations.

There are some ve~y distu~bing comments, I would say to the Minister, coming from the Newfoundland Association of Public Employees and, in particular, the Leader of NAP~, Mr. March, on the current state of labour relations in the Province. The real bone of contention, I would say to the Minister, is Bill 59, the designation of essential employees. I would say to the Minister that NAPE are saying that they have not been consulted on the final drafting of Bill 59 and I want to ask the Minister, is that a fact? Is there consultation? If not, why not? MR.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations . MS COWAN: I believe one of the concerns the President of NAPE has brought up Ll2 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI is the process which was put in place to prepare the legislation. I can take no responsibility for that, because it was put in place by the last Government. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main. MR. DOYLE: Mr.

Speaker, is this what the Minister calls trying lo create a favourable labour relations climate with the labour movement in Newfoundland and Labrador? ls the Minister aware of a back to work agreement that was signed by Treasury Board and the Department of Labour not too long ago, which stated that NAPE would be fully consulted on Bill 59 and on the drafting of any and all legislation? Is she aware of Lhat back to work agreement?

Is the Minister going to consult directly with NAPE, or do NAPE have to go through a Legislative Review Committee _to make their views known on this particular piece of legislation, which affects them so directly? MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations. MS COWAN: NAPE has had a representative sitting on the Committee who put input into the legislation lhat has been prepared. They have also had opportunity to meet with me and my officials, at which time we apprised them of the legislation .

They have had opportunity to tell me what they thought of the legislation, even though I did not show them the legislation formally within my off ice. And, yes, they will see it when it comes before the Legislative Review Committee. No. 4 Rl2

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main. MR. DOYLE: Mr. Speaker, I would say to the Minister she may not be deliberately deceiving or misleading the House, but she is certainly misleading the House, because NAPE have not been consulted on the drafting of Bill 59 and the final draft is in. The President of NAPE had a meeting with the Minister of Labour a week or ten days ago, and he was informed, at that time, that the final draft was in; the union had not been consulted in any way, shape or form.

Now, I would say to the Minister, this back to work agreement, and I will show it to the Minister if she does not have it, says ' It is agreed that meaningful consultation will take place between the Unions representing the Public Service Employees and Government with a view to the development of Legislation'. Now I am going to ask the Minister once more, is she going to consult directly with NAPE, with the Newfoundland Association Of Public Employees, or wi 11 NAPE have to go before a Legislative Review Committee?

Is she also aware of the fact that Clause 104 in NAPE's Collective Agreement says '45 days notice must be given to NAPE before any legislation comes before the House of Assembly?' Is she or is she not going to consult directly with NAPE? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations. MS COWAN: The consultation process which was set in place through that memorandum he was waving around in Ll3 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI the air over there, Mr. Speaker, hai been honoured. MR. DOYLE: It has not been honoured. MR. WALSH: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Mount Scio - Bell Island.

MR. WALSH: Mr. Speaker, my question is for the hon. the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation. In light of the fact that the new $25 million ferr·y is being built fol" the run on Fogo, I wonder if the people of my District, Mount Sc io - Bell Island, can anticipate the Beaumont Hamel now being made available to our run, subsequent to the ferry being built for Fogo? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh! MR. GILBERT: Mr. Speakel", I thank the hon.

Member for his question. lt is the first sensible one I have had since the House opened, so if I answer it, there will be a reason for it. As the people are aware, the contract is awarded for the construction of the first ferry for Bell Island, the one we al"e going to do and, of coul"se, the delivery of the Beaumont Hamel is conditional on the second ferry being finished. So we are talking somewhere within a year and a half to two years before anything would happen in that line. No. 4 Rl3

MR. SIMMS: A point of o~de~, M~. Speake~ . MR. SPEAKER: A point of o~de~, the Opposition House Leade~. MR. SIMMS: Mr. Speake~, I rise because my unde~standing is that the time for Oral Questions has expired. Acco~ding to what the table tells me, 2:47 is supposed to be the expiry time, is it not? Because if the Speaker has a different time than the table has, then there is a p~oblem. The other thing I might do while I have the floor, if I might, is I would just explain what transpi~ed just p~ior to the last question, and that is - SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh! AN HON. MEMBER: Mr. Speaker, he is out of order. MR.

SPEAKER: Order, please! MR. SIMMS: It is not hard to gone. Anyway, M~. hon. Membe~ fo~ St. tell Clyde is Speake~, the John's East Extern ~ose f~om his seat to get a glass of water in the next seat. Your Honou~ recognized him fo~ a question, but he was not standing to ask a question; we had other colleagues here in the f~ont who were prepa~ed to ask questions and we~e ~eady to ask questions. So in case Members opposite have any questions about it, I thought I had better ~aise it because I know there were questions - SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh! MR. SIMMS: Relax, now. Just relax.

Ll4 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI -I just raised that for that reason, plus I would like to know what time is remaining in Question Period. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! There is no point of order. I want to remind the hon. Member that we do not cut Question Period off in the middle of an answer. It is unprecedented. I have never seen it. If there is time for a question to be asked, th~ Minister is permitted time to answer, of course, unless the Minister drags on and on. MR. SIMMS: Which is what he was doing. MR. SPEAKER: Question Period had not expired. I ask the Minister to wrap· up his answer. MR. GILBERT: Mr.

Speaker, as I was saying, to come up with an accurate time as to when the Beaumont Hamel would be able to go into service on the Bell Island run is contingent on external forces, and I really do not know. lve now have the new ferry for Bell Island, which should be ready this summer. We are in the process now of signing a contract for the new ice-breaking ferry, which will be built for the Fogo run. Once that is completed, then, of course, the Beaumont Hamel must go in and have modifications made so that it will be suitable to take over the run to Bell Island. So, really, it is hard for me to give the hon.

Member an accurate date as to when it should be ready. It is contingent on the work of lhe fish yard, or the shipyard, and I am sure we will - No. 4 Rl4

MR. TOBIN: Try the fish farm . MR. GILBERT: The fish farm was something like the Sprung farm that the fellows had . Do you remember that? Anyhow, Mr. Speaker, it is a problem that will be settled, and I will have a more accurate answer for the Member, once we get the contract firmed up with the Marystown shipyard, as to when they will be delivering the second ferry. MR. SPEAKER: Question Period has expired. MR. TOBIN: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burin - Placentia West, on a point of order. MR. TOBIN: Mr.

Speaker, I wonder if the House would be willing to grant leave to the hon. gentleman to let him explain to the House why the shipyard can build three tt·awlers in one year and it is going to take two years to build a ferry? MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order. MR. TOBIN: By leave? By leave? They are not starting it until January, 1991. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! On behalf of hon. Members, I.would like to welcome to the House a delegation from the Council Student Union, Memorial University, headed by the President-Elect, Mr. Wade Brake. L15 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI I would like, for the benefit of hon.

Members, to make a comment on questions in Question Period. Hon. Members may have forgotten, in the little break we had, some of the rules that we follow. I just want to make a couple of points with respect to the question, from Beauchesne, which says that the question must be brief, not an expression of an opinion, representation, argumentation or debate. The question must be brief and a

preamble need not exceed one carefully drawn sentence. About that I want to say that· just. about invariably, today, every Member on

preamble got. into making some response to the answer by the Minister, and we should refrain from doing that, because it makes it difficult for the Chair. If the Member makes a response, then the Minister, obviously, should be afforded some comment, too. That makes Question Period long and drawn-out and more argumentative and confrontational than it ought to be. Thank you. MR. TOBIN: A good point, Mr. Speaker . Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Commitees DR. KITCHEN: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon . the Minister of Finance . . . l DR. KITCHEN: Mr.

Speaker, I would like to table before the House, the Public Accounts for the year ended March 31, 1989, prepared by the Comptrol_ler General's Department; the accounts of Crown Corporations, Boards and No. 4 R15

Authorities for that same year; the Report of the Auditor General to the House of Assembly for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1989; and the departmental observations on the Report of the Auditor General for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1989, prepared by the Internal Audit Division of the Department of Finance. Mr. Speaker, while I am on my feet, I would like, under the authority of

Section 28, Subsection 3 of The li'inancial Administration Act, table seven, special warrants as follows: From the Consolidated Fund Services, the sum of $21 million, a lump sum payment into the Province of Newfoundland Pool Pension Fund on behalf of the Teachers Pension Plan; A warrant for $325,000 to provide additional funds for the implementation of the recommendations of the Morgan Commission; A warrant for $605,500 to provide additional funds for Consultant Services relative to the Hibernia negotiations; and a warrant for $1,715,000 to provide additional funds for the Youth Employment Strategy Program.

These latter expenditures are 100 per cent recoverable from the Federal Government. And two warrants from the Department of Justice; One for $432,000 to provide additional funds for the Royal Commission into the administration of the Criminal Justice System, and one for $5,806,000 to provide additional sums to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and another for the R.C.M.P. additional buildings, and some extr-a for legal aid, some of which, in the case of immigrants, is 100 per cent recoverable f["om the Federal Government.

And another warrant from the the Department of Social Services for L16 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI $8,350,000 for basically social assistance home support care, refugees, and for the St. John's Youth Center. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Government House Leader. MR. BAKER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I promised yesterday during Question Period, I would research some answers for the Member for Humber Valley and respond today. There were two questions that I gave notice for yesterday.

One, is the rate increase of Newfound land and Labrador Hydro over one year or several. As the Member knows, there is no rate increase f["om Newfoundland Hydro at the present time. They have made application to the Public Utilities Board for rate increases extending over a number of years, so that will be dealt with by the Public Utilities Board. I believe they arc applying for ratP. increases over three years.

They have made reference to the P.D.D. subsidy being dropped and the fact that they would perhaps pick up the cost over 8 years for that, but that is something to be determined by the Public Utilities Board. The secord question, why are Newfoundland 'and Lab["ador Hydro customers being charged a rate increase effective February 16, 1990 if the rate application has not been heard by the P. U. B.? As the Member knows, I believe he received a briefing f["om Hydro offieials yesterday on lhis matter, that the increase granted was the direct result of an No. 4 Rl6

increase granted to Newfoundland Light and Power. I will refer the Member back to an order in council in 1975, which ordered that the rates charged by the P.D.D of Newfoundland and Labrador to customers served by its integrated system be adjusted from time to time to conform with the rates approved by the Board of Commissioners of the Public Utilities for Newfoundland Light and Power. So it is a normal practice that has been going on since 1975. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Opposition. MR. RIDEOUT: Petitions the Leader of the Mr.

Speaker, as we all know, under our rules at 3:00 we have to revert to Private Members Day, and the motion standing for debate today is in my name. So I wonder if the House will concur with my proceeding to present the petition in the normal way. If the Government wants to respond, fine. I mean to say, not to start at 3:00 necessarily, but to star-t at 3:05 or- 3:07 or- whatever. Is that okay with the Government House Leader-? MR. BAKER: Does it have to be pr-esented immediately? MR. RIDEOUT: Yes. I do not mind saying, Mr. Speaker, the petition is from the students at the University on tuition fees.

It is signed by 2,126 students, and on their behalf I would like to pr-esent it. Is that okay? L17 Mar-ch 14, 1990 Vol XLI MR. SPEAKER: With the concurrence of the House, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition under Petitions. Just to ensure that the Chair is clear, if we follow the nor-mal procedure this will take up fifteen minutes. MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, with five for- the Gover-nment and five for us. MR. SPEAKER: Yes, that could be agreed to. MR. RIDEOUT: Let us do five and five. MR. SPEAKER: Five and .five, one speaker- from each side, has been agreed to. The han. the Leader- of the Opposition. MR.

RIDEOUT: Thank you ver-y much, Mr. Speaker-. And I thank the Government for their concur-r-ence her-e in being a little bit flexible with our- r-ules. Mr-. Speaker-, I am very pleased today on behalf of 2,126 post-secondary students at Memor-ial Univer-sity to present a petition to this House. The prayer of the Petition, Mr-.

Speaker, is very simple: We the under-signed students of Memor-ial Univer-sity of Newfoundland and Labr-ador- her-eby petition the House of Assembly in Legislative Session Convened to demand that the Pr-ovincial Gover-nment institute immediately a fr-eeze on tuition fees ' at Memor-ial Univer-sity. Now, Mr-. Speaker-, students at all post-secondar-y institutions in this Province have been walloped No. 4 Rl7

hard by both levels of Government over the last twelve months. It began, Mr. Speaker, when this Government, the Provincial Government in their first Budget, the new Government in their first Budget raised tuition fees by a whopping 10 per cent. We have gone back as have the students and done a lot of research and we cannot find the time in recent memory when a Government instituted a tuition fee hike of that magnitude. There have been 3 per cent increases, 4 per cent increases, even 5 per cent increases, but never, never, never Mr. Speaker, has there been a 10 per cent increase. Then of course, Mr.

Speaker, the Federal Government, the Government of Canada got into the act just a few days ago in their Budget by instituting a 3 · per cent administrative fee on student loans. That is a shame, but Mr. Speaker only 1/3 as much shame as the shame that must fall on this Government, because Mr. Speaker you see 3 per cent is just a little bit better than 3 and 1/3 per cent of 10 per cent. So the shame has to be shared by the Government as well . Now, Mr. Speaker, the real shame of the matter here is this.

The Student Aid Program, which has the grant component and the loan component, has not been significantly increased for a number of years as the Minister admitted today . I fully appreciate, Mr. Speaker, that the loan program is Federal. I do believe though that the Provincial Government ought to be using its powers as a Government, using its office as a Government, to lobby the Federal Government to increase the limits under the loan program. But what can be done, Ll8 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI without any lobbying, Mr. Speaker, is the Provincial Government increasing its own grant component.

That is strictly within the authority and the legal authority of this Government, this Legislature and this House of Assembly. Mr. Speaker, we have thirty hardship cases a week, I understand, students going to the Council of Student's Union looking for financial support . We have students in this Province who can no longer afford the luxury of an education and we are talking about the future of Newfoundland and Labrador when we are talking about the education of our young people. We cannot afford, Mr.

Speaker, as a society, to have people say that they cannot afford to broaden their horizon to broaden their education. Mr. Speaker, I understand, for example, that Memorial University at their student elections the other day had the highest turnout of votes of any university in Canada ever. So Mr. Speaker, I say to the Minister and to the Government that the sludents are becoming more active. They are becoming more interested.

They are becoming more concerned because both levels of Government, this Government here and the Government in Ottawa appear to be trying to solve budgetary problems on the backs of the students of this Province, and that is not acceptable. Mr. Speaker on behalf of the 2,126 people who signed this petition it gives me great pleasure to present the petition to the House, ask that it be tabled and referred to the Department to which it relates. No. 4 Rl8

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Education. DR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to respond to the petition. One of the most exciting and interesting things I have done since I became Minister is to visit students in all parts of this Province in all kinds of institutions and not just Memorial University, and talk with them about the problems of getting an education in the 1990s. Mr. Speaker, they did not tell me of any great changes that were made in the Student Aid Program over the last few years.

I asked them what has happened in the last five or six years and I must say, if there were changes made, Mr. Speaker, in the Provincial component, they did not know about them. I also asked about scholarships. I talked about the scholarship program recently and we have the same scholarship rate right now that we had twenty years ago. I said in the House one of my bon. colleagues got $800 for an electoral scholarship twenty years ago and now it is $600, so I ask the bon. Leader of the Opposition what did his Government do to help students in this Province to get a better education?

Let me tell you what we have done. We have gone out to find out what the problems are. We· hav.e.l received the report of the Student Advisor-y Committee and there was a member of that Committee who said to me recently, this is the first time that the report has been taken seriously. We have taken that report very seri~usly. We are acting on a number- of the recommendations alr-eady. We have set up an appeal L19 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI committee. We have a public information officer.

We are working on delivery of the system, to improve delivery, so that students will have more access to their f lles and know wher-e their applications are. There are quite a number of things that we have done already to implement the recommendations of the Student Advisory Committee Report, and we are going to do more. I cannot tell the han. Member what we are going to do tomorrow, next year, or in the future, but I can assur-e him that we want to ensure that every person in this Province who has the ability to get into a post-secondar-y institution will have the funds and the resour-ces to do it.

We want to decentralize post-secondar-y education in this Province so that the people will be able to go on and get an education. We are going to do that. It is the first "E" in this Triple "E" Policy . of education in this Province. Mr. Speaker, on the freeze, I must admit and I must be frank with the House and with the students, I am not a defender of fceezes. I feel it is better to wor-k on the Student Aid Progr-am and address some of the problems through Student Aid. When you freeze tuition all you do is you give the same benefits to the r-ich and to the poor and I am against that.

I think those who have greatest needs should get more help than others. SOME HON. MF.MBERS: Hear, hear! DR. WARREN: I do not think freezes ar-e the way to go. Ther-e has been one Province in this countr·y that ft·oze its tuition fees, they have just lifted the freeze, and now in two year the Province of Quebec will have the same tuition we now No. 4 Rl9

have. They are going to move it up. They had a f~eeze for a period of tlme and they agreed it was the wr:ong approach. They agree with us, that improving the Student Aid Program is the best approach to helping students. Mr. Speaker, on the 10 per cent, I regretted the 10 per cent. The Government did it because we are in difficult times. Our tuition is still the lowest in the Country, or perhaps Quebec might be a little lower. Our tuition fees are among the lowest in the country. I can provide the statistics. They should stay low.

I tell the students that as long as I am Minister I will tt"y to keep these tuition fees down but the institutions decide on tuition fees. It is the university, it is the other colleges. Last year we did it but it is the institution that decided on increases in fees. My preference is to try to keep the tuition fees down, certainly, because our students do not have access to work, they do not have the job opportunities that other Provinces have - certainly keep it down.

My pt"eference is to improve the Student Aid Program rather than place a ft"eeze so that those who have the greatest need in all parts of this Province will get the greatest ability to go on to post-secondary institutions. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker . MR. SPEAKE&.: It being Private Member's Day I now call upon the Leadet" of the Opposition to introduce and proceed with debating his private motion. MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. L20 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI On opening day I put down the following resolution on the Ot"der Paper:

WHEREAS the Newfoundland and Labrador economy has wot"sened dramatically since this Govet"nment took office almost one year ago and unemployment has increased; AND

WHEREAS the economic diversification of the Newfoundland and Labrador economy is a worthy and propet" goal fot" this Province; AND

WHEREAS the maintenance of rural Newfoundland and Labradot" will depend largely on lhe fishery, notwithstanding econom ic diversification; AND

WHEREAS the Government has created an Economic Recovery Commission to which it intends to transfer all of its economic powers and .. its ability to influence the economic direction of the Province; AND

WHEREAS the Government has committed that it plans to bring in an economic t"ecovery plan but to date has not done so; NOW THERE~OR~ BE IT R~SOLV~D that this House (

a) call on the immediately produce recovery plan consideration of Assembly; (

b) express its the centralization non-elected and commission. Govet"nment to its economic for the the House of concern about of power in a unaccountable Now, Mt". Speaker, this is a vet·y positive straightfot~ard resolution. It calls on the Government, in essence, to put its No. 4 R20

plan for economic development of Newfoundland and Labrador before the House of Assembly. That is the nuts an<;! bolts of what this resolution is calling for, for the Government to put its plan before the House so that the elected representatives of the people will have an opportunity to debate that plan. I cannot for the life of me, Mr. Speaker, conceive that any Member in this House would not vote for that particular resolution. It does not condemn the Government.

It does not ask the Government to set up a select committee, does not ask the Government to spend money, does not ask the Government to do anything other than bring before this Legislature its plan, whatever it is, for economic development in Newfoundland and Labrador so that the elected representatives of the people can have an opportunity to debate and discuss that plan, ask questions about it, hopefully point out areas where the plan can be improved, hopefully make positive suggestions. Now, Mr. Speaker, that is the nuts and bolts of the resolution.

And like I said I cannot think for the life of me that any Member of this House would not support that particular resolution. Mr. Speaker, in the first

preamble I made the statement that the economy of lhe Province has worsened during the past year. And, Mr. Speaker, nowhere do you have to look to find out that that has happened than at Unemployment Statistics, and I do not necessarily mean from month to month, say, from February to March, or September to October. These are important. But what is significantly important, Mr. Speaker, is any month last year, L21 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI with any given month this particular year, in other words you are then looking at a twelve month period. And if you look at September 1988 to September 1989, Mr.

Speaker, the unemployment rate in this Province is up 0.9 per cent. If you look at October 1988 to October 1989 it was up again 1. 2 per cent over the same time last year. If you look at November 1988 to November 1989 it was up again 1.7 per cent, again a twelve month period, up over the same period last year. If you look at December, and this is a real startling one, Mr. Speaker, if you look at December 1988 compared to December 1989 the unemployment statistics in this Province were up a whopping 3.4 per cent. So over lhat twelve month period, December to December, up 3.4 per cent.

January 1989 to January 1990, Mr. Speaker, it was up again, not as dramatic, but up again 1.5 per cent. And the latest f lgures, of course, are for February 1989 to February 1990, it is up again 1. 4 per cent. So, Mr. Speaker, what I am saying to the House is that lhere has been a dramatic movement upwards in ~eople unemployed in lhis Proviuce ovet:" evet:"y given month a year ago, December 1989, Decembet:" 1988; Januat:"y 1990, Januat:"y 1989. Evet:"y given month thet"e has been increases ft"om as low as . 9 pet:" cent to as high as 3. 4 per cent when you compat"e December to Decembet:". So, Mr.

Speaket:", the Government says it has an economic development plan. The Govet:"nment says it has it. Well if it has it all this resolution is asking, nothing more or nothing less, no more critical than that, ct"itical in the sense of ct"iticizing, all No. 4 R21

we are asking is that the Government bring the plan to the House of Assembly. The Government bring it in here so it can be debated, questions can be asked about it, perhaps improvements made to it so we can get on with the job as a Legislature, Mr. Speaker. We can get on with the job of developing to the fullest potential the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador. And one of the ways to do that, Mr. Speaker, is to adopt fundamental Government policies in different economic areas. For example, in the fisher-y there was much made yesterday by the gentleman for St. John's South (Mr.

Murphy) about the all pla~ts-open policy of this Party. Well, Mr. Speaker, if we were to adopt an all-plants-open policy, or if the Government were to adopt it - we have already adopted it - that would be a significant plank in its economic development strategy. What we saw ~ere yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I have to say, and I do not mind being criticized, that is immaterial, that is a fact of life, whether you are in this arena or some other, but what we saw here yesterday, Mr.

Speaker, I want to say, bordered, and if it was outside the Legislature I would say it differently, on a Member - because when a member comes to this House and presents information, we have no other choice as hon. ladies and gentlemen but to accept the validity of the information the Member presents. We can que;;tion it in debate. We cannot call the Member a liar. We can say the facts are wrong. We cannot say he is lying, though. These are things that we cannot do as L22 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Members. In other words, when the Member for St. John's South brings in a list, we have no choice but to accept his list.

But, Mr. Speaker, it borders on deliberately misleading this House to present inaccurate information, to present false information, to tr-y to get carried in the press, therefore, and once it is carried in the press, it becomes like the old fellow said, for then a kerosene oil fact, you cannot undo it. Once it is done, you cannot undo it then. Once il gets out and it is carried, you might get an apology in the last paragraph of page 39, but it never gets the big headline, Mr. Speaker. Once the lie is out, the lie is out. Once the truth is out, the tr-uth is out, as well.

But if it comes after the lie, it is much mor.e difficult, if not impossible, for­ the tr:-uth to supercede the lie and to sink in. And that, Mr-. Speaker, is what transpir-ed in this House yesterday. It is bad enough that a backbencher:- on the Government side produced the false infor-mation, misleading information, but it is wor:-se again when the aut.hori ty and ~· 8 credibility of a Ministerial 01 ice is added Lo it, as the Minister of Fisheries did yesterday when he got up and said: "No, no, my poor uninfor-med colleague fr:-om St. John's South is wrong.

When the Leader of the Opposition was Minister:- of Fisher-ies he did not close sixteen plants, he closed twenty--four:-." Right? Mr. Speaker:-, let me have a look at the information the hon. gentleman and I have to use the word honourable - brought to this House yesterday. This is part of the motion; we arc talking about all No. 4 R22

plants open as economic development, Mr. Speaker. Let us look at some of lhe information. B and M Fisheries, he says, in Twillingate was closed down under that rotten Tory Government, particularly under Rideout's leadership as Minister of Fisheries. What was B and M Fisheries in Twillingate, Mr. Speaker? A dried squid plant. Mr. Speaker, when have we last seen a few squid in Newfoundland waters? That is all it was licensed for, Mr. Speaker, a dried squid plant. Mr.

Speaker, not only that, let me tell the House that not only was it licenced as a dried squid plant only, but when FPI sold the Twillingate Plant to Beothic Fisheries, I think it was, you know what happened, Mr. Speaker; Beothic Fisheries needed some extra parking space for their employees and. they bulldozed the building down. That is a nice example of plants closed down under our leadership. Mr. Speaker, Baccalieu Fisheries, Grates Cove: Transferred at the request of the licence holder. Coastal Seafoods, Highlands: Does the Member know what that was? Does the Member know what a fishermen's pack is? MR.

MURPHY: I have no idea . MR. RIDEOUT: A fisherman packing his own fish, in his own facility. That is what the Highlands licence was all about. Fisherman's Dock, Placentia: We have no recollection. I do not know anything about it, whether it was opened or closed or what. I do not even know if lt existed, Mr. Speaker. Grecnspond Fish L23 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Processors Limited, St. George's: Issued a licence but never took it up, Mr. Speaker. Hindy's Enterprises, New Per-lican: Secondary pr-ocessing; sold and it is still owned by somebody. I do not who they ar-e, but it is sold.

Humber- Cold Stor-age, Castor River­ Mouth: I do not know if that is what it ls supposed to be. Castor­ River- Nor-th or South or- something, it is pr-obably supposed to be. AN HON. MEMBER: Nor-th. MR. RIDEOUT: Nor-th, was it? which Bar-r-y's, oper-ation, Mr-. Fisher-ies, Co-or-dinator-s, I called now. Tr-ansfer-red to is still in Speaker-. Bar-r-y's ot" Western think they ar-e Par-sons Seafoods, another- one down we for- Pond closed what down, was closed r-eason? Under- r-enovations. It is still under- renovations, as far as I know, with a lot of financial suppor-t from the Pr-ovincial Gover-nment.

At least it was in our day. MR. SIMMS: Sad! Sad! AN HON. MEMBER: About eight and a half year-s ago. MR. RIDEOUT: About a year and a half or two year-s ago. Yes, that is right. Under r-enovations, anyway. I was down and saw some of the work myself, when I was up on the Nor-ther-n Peninsula the last few months I was campaigning for another position, Mr-. Speaker-. Conception Bay Petty Har-bour: gentleman ever­ Har-bour Co-op? No. 4 Seafoods Limited, Did the hon. hear of the Pclty The licences have R23

rolled over into the Petty Harbour Co-op, Mr. Speaker. Phoenix Duck Fisheries Limited, Cove: Still owned Black and operated by Connors, as far as we can find out. Another great close down of mine. MR. FLIGHT: You are splitting hairs. MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, let the hon. Member go out and see the crowd at the Linerboard mill. MR. RIDEOUT: Port au Port Seafoods Limited: Closed today; it did not close and stay closed under our administration, though, Mr . Speaker. When they went bankrupt and walked out, we were able to bring in Connors Brothers.

There is nobody going in there after what the _Minister of Fisheries said today, that it is not viable. We found and operator, Mr. Speaker. AN HON. MEMBER: Yes! MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, Connors Brothers. Is there anything wrong with them? Terra Nova Fisheries, Lethbridge: Nobody ever heard of Terra Nova Fisheries in Lethbridge. The Member for the District knows nothing about it, nor the foC"mer Executive Assistant to the former Member for the District. Terra Nova Fisheries is in Clarenville. We know that, Mr. Speaker. It is still operating. But we have never heard tell of Terra Nova Fisheries in Lethbridge.

Fulford Fisheries Limited, Fox Island River: What was that all about? A buying licence for lobster and L24 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI scallop, Mr. Speaker. Blue Cove Fisheries Limited: Under us, Blue Cove closed and reopened. Mr . Speaker, 1 do not know if it is open today, but under us it c lased and reopened . Branch Fisheries, Mr . Speaker, closed and reopened, with a new operator, when we were the Government. I do not know if it is still operating today. AN HON. MEMBER: It is opening again in the spring . MR. RIDEOUT: I understand from the Member that it will open again in the spring, as far as he knows.

What about the ones that are not in there, Mr . Speaker? Rose Blanche, Port aux Basques, all of those closed. Harbour Grace, St. Lawrence, every one of them closed, but did they stay closed? SOME HON. MEMBERS: No. MR. RIDEOUT: Absolutely not, Mr. Speaker. We were a pro-active Government that went and found new operators. What can the Member say about that? Now let us look at the other list, Mr. Speaker. SOME HON. MEMBERS: What about Twillingate, Harbour? MR. RIDEOUT: New Jerseyside, Harbour, Little I can (inaudible) the hon. gentleman with the facts.

Let us look at the other tainted little bit of infoC"mation, Mr. Speaker, plants which have discontinued operations since April 1989, the magic date . Let us look at that . No. 4 R24

The fl~st one, Not~e Dame Bay Fisheries Limited, Comfort Cove: Yes, it was closed. They did a deal with the owne~. I unde~stand, and it is reopened. I do not know how long it is going to stay open. I hope it stays open forever. But I tell you this, the deal this Government did with Comfo~t Cove Fishe~ies we suppo~ted, but that company was in far greater financial difficulty than was Unive~sal Fishe~ies, which that Gove~nment would not do a deal with, M~. Speake~. What is the ~eason behind that? Anyway, we will give the Gove~nment full ma~ks on the fl~st one.

They did ~eopen Comfo~t Cove, so for that g~eat fantastic job, I will give them full marks. Now, let us look at the ~est of thei~ ~ecord. I guess it was the Member who did it. Let us look at the ~est of the misinfo~ation the Membe~ spu~ted out yeste~day. Supe~io~ Seafoods Limited, Stephenville: Closed, and still closed. Atlantic Ocean Fa~s: Closed, and still closed. MR. R. AYLWARD: Closed by the Libe~als . _ q_. RIDEOUT: c_osed by the Libe~als. Easte~n Ocean P~oducts, Lewispo~te: Closed by the Libe~als and still closed. Now, that was thei~ list, M~. Speake~, but I have a longer list than that. MR.

SIMMS: What an example of misleading . MR. RIDEOUT: Fe~euse: Closed by the Libe~als; Rive~head: Closed by the Libe~als; St. Ma~y's: Closed by the Libe~als; Belleo~am: Closed by the Liberals, and we have not hea~d a squeak out of the Member L25 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI for Fortune - Hermitage (Mr. Langdon). Piccadilly: Closed by the Liberals; New Fe~olle: Closed by the Libe~als; Campbellton Fisheries: Gone! Closed by the Liberals. They were looking for a loan gua~antee but were tu~ned down by the Government.

Ferryland: Closed by the Liberals; Grand Bank: Going to be closed by the Liberals; Gaultois: Closed by the Liberals; Je~seyside: Closed by the Libe~als; and finally - I do not know if I have them all - the dasta~dly deed of all done, pecyet~ated on the people of the Southside of St. John's, closing thei~ g~oundfish plant, the legacy of the Liberal Gove~nment of Newfoundland and Lab~ado~. Now, Mr. Speake~, the~e is the t~ue list.

Every single fish plant that closed in Newfoundland and Lab~ador of which I can think, when we we~e Gove~nment and I was Minister of Fisheries, reopened, every single one, and out of sixteen I have here on the Liberal list today, Mr. Speaker, they have managed to reopen one; they managed to close down sixteen in eight months. I say shame on every Membe~ ove~ the~e. AN HON. MEMBER: And how many mo~e a~e coming? MR. RIDEOUT: How many more are coming? God only knows. How many mo~e are coming, Mr. Speaker? AN HON. MEMBER: Ask Dave Vardy . MR. RIDEOUT: Ask Dave Vardy. One hund~ed or so, he says. AN HON.

MEMBER: Eighty-six (inaudible) Gaullois. No. 4 R25

MR. SIMMS: There is the difference . MR . RIDEOUT: . There is the difference, Mr. Speaker. So when that hon. Gentleman tries to go around the rules of this House to try to get out misinformation by twisting the truth, and if I were anywhere else but in this House I would tell the gentleman what he did, in fact, actually do. I cannot do it, because it is not parliamentary . But when a Member of this House does that it is for what, Mr. Speaker? To try to protect his own political hide. Because whether the press will carry it or not is immaterial. MR. MURPHY: (Inaudible). MR. RIDEOUT: Mr.

Speaker, do you have something in Beauchesne that might be used to wax the larynx of the hon. gentleman? It will eventually get out, and the truth will eventually sink in, and the 40 per cent of the people at the St. John's plant who are losing their jobs and their livelihood will finally know one day, because we will be saying it often enough, they will finally know one day that the Emperor of Newfoundland and Labrador, King Clyde, told the Federal Government that if there is going to be a plant closed in the NatSea chain in Newfoundland, it must be the one on the Southside of St . John's.

He said it was dispensable, to use his own words. And what else did he say? MR. MURPHY: Where did you get (inaudible)? MR. RI DE OUT: L26 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Oh, I can tell you where I got it from. The hon. gentleman was not allowed in on the meetings; he does not know anything about it. And what else did he say? He said, 'Oh sure, what is wrong with that? What is wrong with that? They can go to work as waiters in the Radisson Hotel, they can go to work in the Newfoundland Hotel. I am telling you, Mr . Demone, there is more opportunity for work in St .

John's than then~ is i.n Burgeo.' And that. is dght of course, but he did not have the gumption or the gall or the intestinal fortitude to tell that to his Member, or to tell it up on Shea Heights two months ago. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible) on Shea Heights what you are quoting now. MR. RIDEOUT: We were on Shea Heights. MR. MURPHY: You were not on Shea Heights. MR. RIDEOUT: Mr . Speaker, the hon . gentleman has lost his marbles. Will somebody come and protect me? He has gone mad!

The truth hurts, and the truth is simply this: That while fish plants closed down in this Province previously, they were not allowed to remain closed, even if we had to go and expropriate them to get our hands on them. How did we get our hands on Rose Blanche and Port aux Basques? By expropriation. They were not allowed to close down and stay closed. This Government, in eight months, has allowed 16 fish plants to go and has been successful in opening one. That No. 4 R26

is the record of this Government. That is their record in Economic Development. I understand the Premier opened the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games in Lewisporte the other day, which is rather unusual. MR. SIMMS: We gave them to them. MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, we approved them for out there. What I wanted to say is this, that it is rather unusual, because normally the protocol of those things is that the Lieutenant-Governor opens and the Premier closes. But, Mr. Speaker, the Premier had to find something to open, because everything this Government has laid its hands on has closed, Mr. Speaker. MR.

SPEAKER: Order, please! MR. RIDEOUT: That is the great legacy of one year in office. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! MR. RIDEOUT: I am sorry, Sir. away. I got carried MR. SPEAKER: The han. Member's time has elapsed. MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is the great legacy of this Government's one year in office, one opening, and that was an athletic event, Mr. Speaker . SOME HON. MEMBERS: L27 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Hear, hear! MR. FUREY: Mr. Furey. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Development. MR. FUREY: Mr.

Speaker, when you listen to the han. the Leader of the Opposition give his dissertation in defence, one can read two things into that. The first one is that he obviously did not enjoy the han. Member for St. John's South's very articulate and intelligent speech yesterday, and the second thing you can ["ead into it, Mr. Speaker, is that he has nothing to say about this resolution that he, himself, proposed and put before the House. AN HON. MEMBER: He has another twenty minutes. MR. FUREY: He has another twenty minutes. Well, Mr.

Speaket'", I would agC"ee with him in his silence on this resolution that it is basically a fr-ivolous ["esolution at best, and a specious r-esolution at worst, because essentially what this Government has said is that is has told the tr-uth to people. It said, we have inherited an economy that essentially is an economy built on a house of car-ds. You wonder why these cards are falling around the Island? We have been in power, Mr-. Speaker-, ten sho ["t months. The Opposition was in power for- 18 full years.

They pr-esented budget afler budget, plan after plan, economic industr-ial st["ategy afteC" economic industrial st["ategy, and what we have inheC"ited after 18 full years is essentially an economic house No. 4 · R27

of cards that is falling down around the new Government at no fault to the new Government, but based on the policies of the past 18 years. So, Mr. Speaker, what have they said in this resolution? What do they say? They say,

whereas the Newfoundland and Labrador economy has worsened dramatically since this Government look office almost one year ago - it could not get any worse, Mr. Speaker. What we inherited could not get any worse. And I will talk about that in a minute, becaus~ I want to t~ace the history and place on the public record the history of what has happened in the last 40 years, since confederation. It will not take me more than five minutes, Your Honour. Mr.

Speaker, they go on to say, 'Whereas the economic diversification of the Newfoundland and Labrador economy is a worthy and proper goal for the Province.' They agree with us that this is something worth pursuing. We thank them for their agreement in that ~ecital. 'And

whereas the maintenance of ru~al Newfoundland and Lab~ador will depend largely on the fishery, notwithstanding economic diversification.' They obviously do not understand what we mean by economic diversification. The plan we placed before Ottawa in August of last year to give lots of lead time was an economic plan of diversification in the fishery. It was not economic diversification notwithstanding the fishery, or the fishery notwithstanding economic diversification, the two are one.

If communities are going to suffer, if plants are going to fold, we want to find ways to bleed and squeeze every single job L28 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI out of fish. We want to add value to it. We need lhat pool of wealth, that economic diversification fund to not just primary process. We are not just drawers of water and hewers of wood anymore . We want to value add to that fish, we want to take that fish from the water to the supermarket shelf, instead of from the water to the processing factories in Maine and ac~oss the New England States.

That is what economic diversification means, and that is what we are saying. They go specious shot in on and the to take a kind of sly and deceptive next recital al the Economic Recovery Commission: we intend to t~ansfer all our economic powers and ability to influence economic direction of the Province to them. That is not t ~ue, Mr. Speaker. What we have said is we have put an Economic Recovery Commission in place. We have added the caveat, Mr.

Speaker, that this Gove~nment does not have any magic solution to the problems of the inheritance of the last eighteen years, and that economic house of cards that is falling down around us. When you build a house of cards, th~ slightest b~eeze will knock the cards down and the domino effect happens, and companies will fall because everything was built on an artificial economy, everything was built on subsidization, loan guarantees, and peop- -ups. Everything around that that Government touched was propped up, everything from the smallest fish plant to the great cucumber fiasco. It was all propped up.

It was all artificial. What did we say we were going to do? We were going to put Recovery Commission in place. Speaker, the Members who sit a Mr. on No. 4 R28

this side, the Members of the Government, the duly elected Government of this Province will determine the economic direction of this Province, not the Economic Recovery Commission. They are advisors to this Government. I know it kills you to look across and say this is the Government but, like it or not, this is the Government. And whether or not you like what the advice of the Economic Recovery Commission will be, whether you dispise it, hate it, want to tr'ample upon it, we will sift through their advice - but bear in mind, Mr.

Speaker, they are advisors, they are only advisors - take the best of it, and implement from it what we deem as a Government, all of us, to be worthy of implementation. Mr. Speaker, then they go on to say, ... call on the Government to put their economic plan in place. Now, any reasonable person would see that the final call from the transition of those recitals to the conclusion of this resolution, the conclusion is at best simplistic and at worse moronic. I mean, it is probably both simplistic and moronic.

What did you want us to do, concoct a plan, lay it on the tablP. like a chessboard and say, that is it, that is going to work, nothing else matters, this is it and we stand by this little plan, we will not alter it and we will not be . flexible, we cannot do anything but stick with this plan? How foolish! How ridiculous! That is what you are used to. That is why you stuck with Sprung for two years. That is why it cost us $24 million. You cannot be obstinate, you cannot be stubborn, you cannot be inflexible.

You have to deal with reality, the reality with the L29 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI economic house of cards that you gentlemen built which is crumbling around this Province, that we want to deal with by creating. You want our plan? Our plan is to create a positive, economic climate where businesses are not ashamed to take a profit, where they are not ashamed to invest in this Province, where Newrfoundlanders can hold their heads high and be proud, and go to work with dignity rather than subsidies, loan guarantees and all those other foolish machinations of the previous Government. Mr.

Speaker, the han. the Leader of the Opposition has a real credibility problem. He really does. When he talked in his speech momentarily about the economy he reminded me of the little story in the Globe and Mail yesterday. In the Globe and Mail, poked in past the editorial page, there was a little stot·y of a Dutchman who was picked up in London yesterday for having · cocaine in his possession, in his underpants. This Dutchman was brought before the courts for having cocaine in his underpants, and do you know what his defence before the courts was? Somebody planted it there.

Now the credibility of that defence is probably equivalent to the credibility of Lhat speech the han. the Leader of the Opposition gave. When you consider that he crossed the floor from being a Liberal over to becoming a Conservative in 1979-80 and tt·ace the economic consequences and I do not blame him singularly for this, but in ten years look at what has happened to the economy of the Province. Now do not blame him singularly. I said I would give you a little history lesson, and let me give it to you right. now. No. 4 R29

In the seven years concluding the Smallwood Government, from 1966 to 1972, the unemployment rate ranged, right across Newfoundland and Labrador, between 5.8 per cent to a high of 9.2 per cent, for an average unemployment rate, through the final seven years of the Smallwood administration, of 7 per cent. Now, think about that, Mr. Speaker. Think about that in this context, that when Mr. Moores took over, from 1973 right cin through to 1979, we saw the Province's unemployment rate go from a low of 10 per cent, nearly double the lowest rate in the last seven years of Mr. Smallwood, to a high, Mr.

Speaker, of 16.5 per cent. And the average unemployment rate when the Tories took power, from 1973 to 1979, was 14 per cent, double the last seven years of Mr. Smallwood. You have to put the economy of this Province in perspective. Now, let us bring it into modern history, when some of you, on the coattails of Mr. Peckford's highfalutin fantasies of Hibernia, took your places in this Legislature. What happened then? Well, let us just look: 7 per cent under Smallwood in the last seven years; an average of 14 per cent for Mr. Moores • Tory years; along comes Mr.

Peckford, who served in his capacity for nine years, and from 1980 to 1988, the Province's unemployment ra~e, right across this Province, averaged 17-1/2 per cent, which is nearly two and one-half times the average unemployment rate in the last seven years of the Smallwood administration. So you can see how the economy, after 1972, started to go into a negative tailspin, and the leading economic indicators show that, Mr. Speaker.

The Cross Domestic L30 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Product slowed, unemployment grew, out-migration continued in record numbers, all through the Tory legacy of the eighteen years that they built their economic house of cards. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, throughout the first half of the 1980s, employment in the Province actually fell slightly, if you take the whole numbers of people throughout the Province who were working. From an average of 179,000 people working, it dropped to 172,000 for a 4 per cent decrease in the actual numbers of people working. Now, why do you suppose that was? My han. fdend from St.

John's South pointed out yesterday, and rightly so, the numbers of fish plants and meaningful jobs that were taken right out of this economy by a government, an Opposition now, that claims to have perpetrated this famous all-plants- -open policy. Well, he showed the truth of that. He pulled the mask back from that deception yesterday and showed the naked truth and the naked, awful reality of the numbers of plants whose doors were locked up by the previous Government. Now, the han. the Member for- St. John's East (Ms Duff) laughs. She should laugh.

She should laugh at the record of the party that she joined and be awfully proud of that Minister who was her father in that previous Smal'lwood Government that had a great record. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. FUREY: Now, let us about 1979, reign of Mr. of plants No. 4 talk, Mr. Speaker, onward thi."ough the Peckfoi."d. What kinds closed undei." that R30

regime? Let me count them for you: Baie Verte's asbestos mine halted production in 1981, under the Conservatives; Buchans closed in the early 1980s, under the Conservatives; Consolidated Rambler Mines in Baie Verte closed in 1982, under the Conservatives; cutbacks at Goose Bay in the mid to late 1970s, under the Conservatives; Wabush cutbacks of 1, 600 - one thousand six hundred meaningful jobs were lost in Wabush from 1979 to 1983, most of them between 1982 and 1983, under the Conservatives, and guess who was president of IOCC. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Mr. Mulroney. MR. FUREY: I ask you to guess.

It was a fellow by the name of Brian Mulroney who promised to inflict prosperity on Newfoundland, under the Conservatives. This all happened under the Conservatives. You talk about the ultimate ironies, Mr. Speaker. Some years later, who was out knocking on doors for Mr. Mulroney, who closed down those jobs in Wabush? Those very Conservatives. Shame on them, Mr. Speaker! Shame on them!

Holyrood oil refinery closed in 1983, under the Conservatives; the Railway was shut down September 28, 1988, job losses in communities right across the Province, under the Conservatives; EPA moved out of Gander, dislocating hundreds of people, in April, 1984, under the Conservatives; Newfoundland Enviroponics, the great Sprung crusade, closed down, under the Conservatives; 1983, No. 7 paper machine in Corner Brook - you were the Minister - closed, under the Conservatives. In 1983, number 5 L~h March 14, 1990 Vol XLI paper machine in Grand F'a lls closes under the Conservatives.

In 1988, they get notice that ERCO will be shutting down its plant and moving out of Long Harbour, under the Conservatives. In 1980, two of the largest lumber mills in the Province in Bay d' Espoir and Goose Bay closed under the Conservatives. The Lake Group of Companies folds under the Conservatives. Four thousand plant workers and trawlermen are laid-off for vast periods of time under the restructuring because of high inventories, recession, high interest rates and general problems in the fishery, under the Conservatives. Mr.

Speaker, IOCC "knocks out 700 to 800 jobs in Schefferville Labrador Mine under the Conservatives. Eagle Resources Limited are shutdown in 1985, under the Conservatives. J. Tyler Mining, barite, shutdown under the Conservatives. Advocate Mines, in 1981, shutdown under the Conservatives. Pullout of the Offshore Companies in 1985 of Bow Valley, Dominion Oi 1 Fields, Suppliers Megabar, Barite of Canada, M and M 1t'abrications. Eastfield closes in 1988 under the Conservatives. The seal fishery is phased out in 1980, under the Conservatives. Newfoundland Hardwoods in Mount Pearl is shutdown under the Conservatives. Mr.

Speaker, what I am saying - SOME HON. MEMBER~: (Inaudible). MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! I would remind hon. Members the · Minister of Development the floor and there will opportunity for other £1embers that has be to No. 4 R31

enter into the debate . The hon. the Minister of Development. MR. FUREY: Mr. Speaker, let me tell you another fascinating statistic, that is a sorry reflection and a dark shadow across that Conservative Government. The total value of unemployment insurance benefits increased by more than 120 per cent under that Government. From $293 million into the economy on unemployment insurance benefits to $651 million in 1987. AN HON. MEMBER: More people working. MR. FUREY: More people working he says. More people scratching for a living in seasonal jobs, less full time meaningful jobs, chasing your plan.

They were chasing their economic plan and their economic plan was a 10/42 make work project. That was their economic plan. So Mr. Speaker when they put this frivolous , nonsensical, silly, moronic, simplistic motion before the House, and talk about it for thirty seconds and then launch into a personal attack on the Member for St. John's South (Mr. Murphy). What a great Member that Member from St. John's South. They should be so lucky to have a Member like that on that side. They should be so lucky. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. FUREY: What is our plan, Mr. Speaker?

Our plan is to vote against this L32 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI stupid, moronic, simplistic, nitty-twitty, resolution that does not even deserve to be written on paper. Now, Mr. Speaker, what are we doing? Well, let me tell you what we are doing. I will ask leave of the House to give me an extra twenty minutes so that I can really, fully flesh out what this Government is doing. And I will talk about it ln four categories. By leave. The first one I want to do, Mr. Speaker, is to give you a

summary of the Economic Recovery Commission's act ·ivities since they took office in September of 1989. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you the first one. The first thing, Mr. Speaker, is that we budgeted for $3 million in last year's budget and I am happy to tell the House that we have only spent $900,000, well below the Budget, to their chagrin and to their surprise, and to their desperation. They wanted to attack that $3 million, they wanted to attack it as our Sprung. Well I will tell them that we are $24.5 million under the Sprung budget, so we have a long way to go yet before it becomes Sprung. Mr.

Speaker, what have they done? This Commission has, and I hope you will give me leave, I hope you will do me the honour of doing that, Mr. Speaker, as it will take me a long time to get through all of this because what I wanted to do was that I wanted to - MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Member's time has elapsed . No. 4 R32

MR. FUREY: Mr. Speaker, address the saying is - MR. SPEAKER: I am issue. trying What I to am The hon. Member's time has elapsed. SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave. MR. FUREY: Mr. Speaker, with all respect I still have three minutes. The clock started for me, Mr. Speaker, at 3:30, I have twenty minutes. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! MR. FUREY: Twenty minutes . MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible). MR. FUREY: But you know I have twenty minutes. MR. SPEAKER: According to my time you started at twenty-eight minutes after. MR. FUREY: On a point of order, Your Honour.

You will recall Your Honour that right after Question Period the House and the good graces of the Government gave leave to the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Rideout) to present a petition. Normally we start Private Member's Day at 3:00 o'clock, Your Honour. You know this to be true. So what we agreed to was five minutes out of the good graces of the Government to allow the hon. the Leader to present a petition because there were a number of L33 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI university students in and we said yes. the gallery So, Mr. Speaker, what was allowed was five and five.

The Leader took five minutes and the hon. the Minister of Education (Dr. Warren) took five minutes, which took us to ten past three. The hon. the Leader was allowed twenty minutes, Mr. Speaker, of uninterrupted speaking time, and he spoke for twenty minutes from ten past to three thirty. And I ask Your Honour to give me leave to have the last three minutes so that I can at least do justice to the

summary of the Economic Recovery Commission. The Economic Recovery Commission's

summary of events that I would like to put before the House and discuss, Mr. Speaker, in four section, Major Initiatives, Enterprise Support, Policy Direction, and what lhey have done as NLDC Board of Directors to date. And, Mr. Speaker, what I am saying is that if you would allow me to have my three minutes I can give the House a very succinct, sharp, focused

summary of lheir activities to date, if you will allow my three minutes, Your Honour? MR. SIMMS: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Government House Leader . MR. SIMMS: Mr. Speaker, what a charade! The han. Member had twenty minutes to speak, he could have done his three minute

summary during the twenty minutes that he took to talk nonsense and baloney. The fact of the matter is this House is run in terms of tlme by the clerks at the table. That is who No. 4 R33

times the Members. This Member started speaking at 3:29 according to the clerks at the Table, his time has expired and Your Honour was absolutely correct. What the Member has done is nothing but an affront to Your Honour and to the Chair as far as I am concerned. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Shame! Shame! MR. SIMMS: There is obviously. MR. SPEAKER: no point of order There is no point of order. As I indicated the hon. Member started at 3:29 and his time has elapsed. SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave! By leave! MR. TOBIN: No! No! No! SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave! By leave! MR.

SPEAKER: The hon . the Member for Burin - Placentia West. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. TOBIN: Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I can continue the list, Mr. Speaker, for the hon . Minister. When the Minister was speaking he was referring to projects that closed, but I can assure the Minister that places like Come By Chance, and all of these have re-opened. But for the benefit of the Minister, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Development of the Province at that let me continue his record. The Minister of Development, Mr.

Speaker, has seen L34 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Notc-e Dame Bay Fisheries Limited ·closed, not open. Superior Seafoods Limited closed, not open; Atlantic Ocean Farms Limited closed, not opened; Eastern Ocean Products Limited closed, not open. Fermeuse, Comfort Cove, closed. Riverhead closed; St. Mary's closed, Belleoram closed; Fee-ryland; Grand Bank, Gaultois; Picadilly, Jerseyside; New Ferolle, in his own District, Mr. Speaker. That is what the Minister of Development has done since he assumed office ten months ago. The good thing about today and I am pleased, Mr.

Speaker, and I wish he was here to heac- Lhis because the message that we all got today is that the Minister of Development today actually did something without Doug House. Doug House, his boss pc-obab ly wrote the speech, but to see the Minister of Development standing in the House and making a speech, finally making a contribution, Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to see that happening. I realize obviously that Dr. House, whom the Minister serves as an Executive Assistant, contributed significantly to his speech.

But the fact of Lhe matter is the Minister of Development, the Ministec- of shut down industc-ies in this Pc-ovince, Mr . Speakec-, finally has come to his feet and made a statement. The Minister said - and I have made a few notes - that he was going to show us in ten years, what happened. What about, Mr. Speaker, what happen ed in the ten months since he became Minister of Development in this Province? He talked about all the industry that has closed down. Let . me say to the Minister of Development that I was extremely disappointed that, in his statement and speech, he did not. mention the Maeystown No. 4 R34

shipyard, for responsibility. MR. FUREY: which he has You would not give me leave . MR. TOBIN: You had twenty minutes and it was not important enough . then. Why should we give you leave now? Now, Mr. Speaker, why did not the Minister tell us why the Government refused to provide a subsidy to the Marystown shipyard from the Ocean Industries agreement, whereby people in Marystown, Newfoundland, could be working, rather than people in Stavanger, Nor~ay? Why did not the Minister tell us that, Mr. Speaker?

Why did not the Minister tell us why he has stood by, as Minister of Development, together with the MHA for Placentia (Mr. Hogan) and see Long Harbour closing down and people with U-Haul trucks, moving away? Why did not the Minister tell us that, Mr. Speaker? AN HON. MEMBER: The Member­ nothing. MR. TOBIN: for Placentia did No, it is · not fair to say the Member for Placentia did nothing. Because, like the people from Long Harbour, he moved, too. So, he did do something, Mr. Speaker, he moved to St. John's while they had to move to the mainland. Mr.

Speaker, I can te 11 the Minister some of the statements that have been made in yesterday's local newspaper: 'Marystown Mayor Jerome Walsh said he is disappointed that everything designated for th~ Burin Peninsula now seems to gravitate to another L35 ·March 14, 1990 Vol XLI area.' What about that, Mr. Speaker? When the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor and the Council of Marystown had to take such drastic action as to have a page here in this paper relating to lhe way this Government have decided to scuttle the economic activity that has been taking place on lhe Burin Peninsula for the past ten or fifteen years.

Why has this Government failed miserably in giving the same type of representation, the same type of development to rural Newfoundland as did the Peckford administration? Where is the commitment to th~ Argenti.a area, or to the Mortier Bay area by this Government? Where is it? What did the Government do in ter'ffis of Hibernia development? What did they do? They took it out of Placentia Bay, Mr. Speaker. I have no difficulty in standing and saying it. And this Premier is more responsible for that than anyone else.

And the Member for Placentia should join me in condemning the Premier, and represent the people who elected us, the people of Placentia Bay. That is what we should be doing. I know where it is going. AN HON. MF:MBER: Where? Tell us where it is going. MR. TOBIN: You do not know where the concrete platform is going to be built? Ask the Minister of Works, Services and Transportation (Mr. Gilbert). He knows everything. Why, Mr.

Speaker, is this Government basically out scuttle Placentia Bay, both east side and the west side? are they making such an attempt? to the Why I was with a delegation feom the Marystown shipyard union when the No. 4 R35

Premier told them - and the Minister of Development was there, too - that if and when modules are built in Newfoundland, there would be one built in Marystown. I intend to hold the Premier to that commitment. Why, on the 21st of September, last year, did the Minister of Energy write to the Federal Minister of Energy, saying, 'My colleagues in Cabinet now have had the opportunity to look at your proposal to delay the expansion of the Cow Head facility, and we feel, as a Government, it is only prudent to do so at this time, ' Why, Mr. Speaker? Why is that type of activity taking place in Placentia Bay?

Those are the questions I would like to have answered. That delay, Mr. Speaker, in the Cow Head facility, in announcing the construction of the second ferry, the one, by the way which the Minister talked about today and maybe the Member for Bell Island might be interested in knowing that that ferry starts construction probably this time next year. Probably this time next year if we are lucky the actual construction will take place, so it will be another year. · So why did they delay it for two years, Mr.

Speaker, the construction of a ferry at the Marystown Shipyard to create employment there and provide a service to the people of Fogo and Bell Island? Why did this Government withdraw a Cabinet Paper dealing with the expansion of the Winterland Airport for over a year? Why has that type of activity been carried on by this Government to sabotage the economic development of the Burin Peninsula? Why did this Government refuse to provide a L36 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI subsidy to the Marystown Shipyard when there is $10 million in an ocean industcies agreement that expices within the next few days?

Why did this Government refuse to provide a subsidy to the Marystown Shipyard for which the money was intended and the Federal Government was a willing participant to construct lhe shrimp trawler? As a result of that, there is in excess of 100 former employees of the Marystown Shipyard now working in mainland Canada. Is that what this Government is proud of? 1s that what this Government is proud of, to see Newfoundlanders having to move away? We can go further than that. I wish the Minister of Works, Service and Transportation was here, Mr. Speaker.

Why has the Government taken such a callous, cold, mean, distastful and terrible attitude towards the people on the Burin Peninsula? Why has this Government driven about 300 people in ten months from the Burin Peninsula to work in mainland Canada? Why have men and women and their children had to leave the schools in Marystown and move to the mainland? All because of the mean mentality of the Premier of lh is Province. There were 600 people working in the Marystown Shipyard when this crowd took over, Mr. Speaker, 6 00 people working in the Marystown Shipyard. MR. HOGAN: (Inaudible). MR.

TOBIN: How many people do you working in Argentia and Harbour after ten months? Speaker, he should hang his in shame for the type representation he has given. would be a great ambassador for No. 4 have Long Mr. head of He R36

Placentia Bay. AN HON. MEMBER: Callous and cold. MR. TOBIN: Extremely callous and cold. I know people who supported me in the last elections and people who supported that party in the last elections, who are now working in mainland Canada. And I feel bad for all of them. I feel somewhat embarrassed for the crowd who are now left home who had to go around and say that the Government was going to bring them all back, I feel bad for them. AN HON. MEMBER: Mr. Peckford (inaudible). MR. TOBIN: I can tell you Mr. Peckford supported the Marystown Shipyard and Mr.

Peckford negotiated a contract to supply the subsidy to the Marystown ·Shipyard and the Government that you support took it on them, stole it, robbed it. That is what happened, Mr. Speaker. They have robbed the right of Newfoundlanders to work in Newfoundland by denying them the basic right of a subsidy to build a shrimp trawler. That is what they have done, Mr. Speaker, that is what this Government has done. And I can tell the hon. Member for St. John's South that while the Government can scuttle -­ while the Government can deny the right for the people of St.

John's South the right to work in dignity that I will never - I have never supported a Government that did anything to that type of people · that I represent. If they did, Mr. Speaker, I would do the honourable thing and get out, and you should go too, Mr. Speaker. L37 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI Let us talk about the road work in this Province. I wish the Minister of Transportation was here. The letter is titled, Forget Politics, Think About Children, addressed to a Minister of this Government. Mr. Speaker, a very concerned mother wrote the letter for her children.

That is who she is not either, by John's South. wrote the letter and to be laughed at, the Member for St. It is addressed to the Minister of Transportation and says: ' For one moment, Sir, let us put aside politics and the different political par-ties of Newfoundland and converse as a parent. First you tell me how well your children did in school, how they proudly ran home afler a quiz or a term paper to te 11 you of their good grades, how they walk to the school or bus stops each morning and how in winter they complain of the cold.

How you proudly met the teachers on Parent-Teacher night to discuss their good grades and those courses in which they needed guidance. Now Mr. Gilbert, it is your turn to listen. Let me tell you how my children too, walk to school each day, how they ran home after a quiz to tell me how well they had done and how they complained of walking home in the cold winter months and let me tell you how abruptly it has ended at the very tender age of 14.

When my children had to leave Pelit Forte so they coul!f go across lhe bay to Placentia t~· get an education, my children could not run home any more and I could not attend any more Parent-Teacher meetings, because my children are now at the age of 14 in Placentia attending school, coming home only at Christmas ·and Easter time. A four hour run through wind, snow and ice. Tossed around by the No. 4 R37

cruel sea we so often experience in Newfoundland. I have seen my children walk off the boat and the excitement o.f coming home is no longer with them, just the desire to get home and in bed to recover from the nasty trip of seasickness, only to have to leave again in a few days to encounter this horrible dreaded trip to Argentia. Mr. Gilbert, yo~ do ~ot know the hardships because you come to Petit Forte in a helicopter. You are carried out on a clear sunny day, a very short ride. Mr. Gilbert, why do you not go to Argentia and ride across the Bay with my children.

Sick from the sea, maybe you could comfort them or I wonder if they would have to comfort you when the sea tossed you around sometimes. For the sake of my children, the children of Petit Forte, I am asking you, Sir, as one parent to another, please, please Sir, let the road go ahead. Give us what we deserve and let us enjoy our children's education, not dreaded annual trips across Placentia Bay. Signed by Mrs. Florence Barry of Petit Forte. Now, Mr.

Speaker, what Member opposite, can hold his head high and support a decision by the Minister of Transportation to take that money. $500,000.00 it will cost the Province to build the road and it will cost them more to buy McNamara out of the contract. Is that something any Member is proud of, I am sure the Minister of Education is not proud of it, Mr. Speaker, he is not that type of man. The President of Treasury Board is not here, I am sure he would not be proud of it. Again, I do not believe he is that type of person.

But how can a Premier of this Province, any decent, honourable, living person deny that right, when the Federal Government is paying the shot with L38 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI the exception of 1/2 a million dollars to build a 15 kilometer road to Petit Forte. Why, why, Mr. Speaker, are they being treated like this in Newfoundland today? I think it is terrible, that is not the only letter, there is another letter there. AN HON. MEMBER: Will you read it? MR. TOBIN: Yes I will.

Yes, and I can read it and not only that, I can say it. 'Concerning the road to Pel it Forte I was very disappoin.ted when I heard your voice on TV saying that you are not interested in having a road constructed to Petit Forte. I had a business in Petit Forte for thirty-two years and I knew your father, Mr. John Gilbert, all of those years. Your father did a lot of business in Petit Forte and he was well acquainted with the people, and was liked by all the people of Petit Forte. If your father was alive today, he would say: David, give the people of Petit Forte the road. Now, Mr.

Speaker, those are the sentiments of a couple of people down there and they are not to be smirked at either, by the Minister of Social Services. 1 take exception to those types of comments, because there are decent people over there who would 1 ike to see a road going to Petit Forte. AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible) Mr. Dawe, then. . i MR. TOBIN: Yes, Mr. Dawe. Mr. Dawe started it and the contract was signed and the tenders were called before the Government changed. An agreement between both Governments. AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible). Mo. 4 R38

MR. TOBIN: Talk about what you like but the bottom-line is it was done, Mr. Speaker. We can talk about roads. I wiil give him an example of another road in my District that we approved, down in Rock Harbour in my District where the people are deserving of a decent road. They are hard working people. They are deserving people. They go to Marys town to work. They go to Marystown to shop. They go to Marys town to do most of lheir business. The road to Rock Harbour was recommended by the bureaucrats and as a Cabinet we accepted it. Government changed, and what happened?

The people of Rock Harbour were denied the basic right that was committed to them by a Cabinet. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! The han. Member's time has elapsed. The han. the Member for Stephenville. MR. K. AYLWARD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I must say it is a pleasure to rise today to speak on this resolution that has been put forward. I believe the resolution itself does not have a whole lot of substance but then again it is the right of the Opposition to put it forward. I think there might be some meaningful thought in hoping that with the Economic Recovery Commission, and so on, the economy will improve.

The thought, I believe, is fairly negative in it, but again that is the right of the Opposition and they can carry that forward. I believe the ERC we have set up is new. It is an idea that has come about from the Royal Commission L39 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI that was commissioned by the former Government and we will now see some application of the ideas that were recommended by the Royal Commission. I think it is a new thing which I believe will have some positive results for the long-term benefits of this Province. We will require some patience and we will require some fortitude to carry it forward.

I believe it is a very positive move by this Government. We will take some criticism for it in the short-term but in the long--term, I believe, we will be long-term beneficiaries of some of the things that will be implemented by this Commission and have been recommended to this Province for implementation. The ERC thus far has made some excellent progress and are looking at a new direction and, I suppose, a sense of putting together the number of Government programs under one office which will be beneficial to entrepreneurs of the Province.

I believe it to be a very positive move and will help young people and other people in the Province who are interested in building businesses and helping the economy. One of the problems many people who are going to start a business have experienced is trying to get information about different applications and different programs that are available. If we can do anything to benefit this Province one of the things we can do is to make it easier for people to start their business and to be able to get the appropriate information.

I believe that the work that has been undertaken by the ERC, the Economic Recovery Commission, will be a major benefit to this Province and I support the initiatives that have been La ken by this Government, by the Wells Administration. Again, it. is a No. 4 R39

direct result of the Royal Commission that was commissioned and that was brought forward. I think some of the ideas that are there will work and some of them may not but we are not willing to just sit back and watch and do the same things that have been done before. We want to try some new things and that is what we are about and that is what we are at. I expect that we are going to see some very positive results down the road. Mr. Speaker, I have heard the Opposition during the last few days talk about the problems in the economy and so on and how come this Government has not . resolved those problems yet.

Some reality has got to set in here, Mr. Speaker. We have only been here ten months. I know we can be blamed for a lot of things and we are going to get the blame, mind you, but I think with that blame there should be a credibility in the criticism that is provided. I do not believe there is but in some instances there might be. I could name a few that have been aptly pointed out but on most occasions I think most of this criticism is not based on practicality. A lot of the problems that we ac-e experiencing right now in this economy were not invented by us or were not dealt with by us yet.

We are trying to deal with them now and we are working out plans to deal with them. You cannot solve problems overnight so I would say to the Opposition that they should, in their criticism, be somewhat a little more credible, and when they are putting their questions forward and their criticisms, have it tainted with a little bit of patience, and give us a chance. Because we are intent on fixing as many of the problems that have L40 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI been created and that have been allowed to go on by the peevious Government.

It is shocking, as far as I am concerned, to see what has happened to this economy over the last number of years, and to see it totally ignored. Now I give credit to the foe-mer­ Government when they were there for making attempts to solve the economic problems. But they made attempts and their attempts obviously did not wor-k as well as they had hoped. But we ar-e going to tr-y a different direction and a new one and I believe that one to be a much better- one.

I hope at the end of the four- oL· f lve year-s or- the next eight or ten, that we will be able to look back and say that this Government was able to meet those challenges and pr-ovide some good leadership, and provide leadership to the economic community, and to see a good and strong economy built ln all regions of the Province. We are trying to be fair, Mr. Speaker, to all regions of the Province. This Government is n'ot the same as the former- Gover-nment especially in the last number- of years where you know, if you wer-e not of the stripe of the Government Member-, you would not get a look in on anything.

So when I hear some of the Members opposite, not all of them, there are only a few, but I hear some of them over there talking about fairness and addr-essing the concerns of their- Distr-icts and so on. Mind you it is okay foe- them to say that, but some of the Opposition Members when they were in Gover-nment wer-e the per-petr-ators of much patr-onage and other- things that went on, you could not get a look in. I am a 1 it tle pee-p lexed, to tell you l he tr-uth, when I hear those comment:i No. 4 R40

being made. Again, I think it is the question of the credibility of the criticism. As I have aaid, we are trying to resolve the problems and we are trying to put some things in place to get those problems resolved. Also the Throne Speech that we brought forward, Mr. . Speaker, highlights a number of things that we are hoping to do in this Session and over the next number of months. One of the critic isms coming forward was that it was a short Throne Speech of twelve pages. Again I think substance is there in the Throne Speech but again question the credibility of the criticism.

If you look back to 1980 when the former Government was there, it was fourteen pages long. I can go down the list, there are many times when substance in twelves pages or ten or twenty or one hundred, is the most important thing. I believe this Government is finally going to get this Province moving and is on track to do that. Now mind you, it is a resource based economy that we have, therefore we are open to the marketplace in the world marketplace and the problems that are experienced there.

They are out of our hands somewhat and that is why we have to diversify and prepare ourselves for other opportunities that are available. The other main point is that the resource base sector is what we have to build on, and the fishery. We , ,talk about diversification of Ehe fishery, we mean not only building the base that we have in the fishery, the normal base and the normal processing, but to expand on that. Not to downgrade it or anything ~lse. We want to expand on it. We want to build a diversified fishing economy, L41 March 14, 1990 Vol XLI fishing sector.

We do not want to downsize it and everything else. We are trying to get an efficient system in place that gives a person an opportunity to make a decent living. If there is something wrong with that - I look forward to hearing what they are going to say about that - but I do not see anything wrong with it. So we are trying to create other opportunities, not just the ones that are there now, but to look outwards and try to create more. We are trying to do that.

We are working with that and the Provincial Minister and this Government and Cabinet have put forward proposals to the Federal Government in tt·ying to get some dollars to work with and create more opportunities. Because that is what we are all about, and that is what we have to be all about, because this Province at this point in history needs that very much. Too many things .. have been ignored by the previous Administration and we are going to have a look at all the different opportunities that are out there and to get people interested. So I am looking forward, Mr.

Speaker, to seeing these initiatives take place. When we go to say, Mr. Speaker, that the Hibernia talks are going well, or that the Hydro talks are going well, when we say that we will mean it. And if we say well, there is a problem, there is n problem. We will be up-front and we will say that. When I think about the previous ten years in this Province and the dreams that were put forward, the dreams that were built up and the immense number of people, the great number of people who tl'ied to build businesses based on the hypothesis that this thing was No. 4 R41

going to go. Being told for sure that it was going to happen, Hibernia and so on. And seeing people lose their businesses over those years and all the speculation that went on. At least with this Government we are going to deal with the reality of them. Sometimes the reality may not be that good, but then other times it will be and at least people will understand and they can build from there.

We have a major agenda ahead of us for the 1990s and I believe that it will be said down the road that it is a great thing and it is a good thing to see that this Party, that this Government was in power at this time and have set a new direction. We are going to try to deal with these problems that are presently being experienced in the fishery. We have problems with the pulp and paper industt"y which are not going to go away that have to be dealt with. But they have to be dealt with head on, and they have to be dealt with in a way, that at the end of the day here is the reality.

We have to build on those bases that we have now. Up until this time I conCUt" with the Minister of Development (Mt". Furey) on his point that the economy has been built on a house of cards. You wondered when the deck was going to fall and there are times, especially now when you see it falling around you and you are there trying to pick up the pieces. So given the period of ten months 'that . we have been in • .f Government try~ng to resolve the number of pt"oblems that we at"e expet"encing, I do not think we are doing that bad. I think there is a long way to go.

We are picking up pieces of the puzzle that were all over the place and need to be addt"essed but there are just too many things. L42 Mat"ch 14, 1990 Vol XLI You can go on with a 1i tany of things that wet"e let go and the different industdes that could have been started or need the initiatives, but unfortunately they never got off the ground. So what we are hoping to see for the benefit of all people of Lhis Province, whet"ever they may live, we are hoping to see some new ideas and some new investments, I think, Mr. Speaker, in our people.

Because I think it is important that we try to keep our young people het"e and tt"y to get them involved in business opportunities and to look at creating business opportunities. And that attitude has got