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April

7, 2014

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 14

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we start today's

proceedings, I want to welcome some special guests to our gallery.

Today we have with us thirty-one Level II students from Botwood

Collegiate, together with their teachers: Darryl Chippett and Todd Andrews.

They are also with some representatives from the Community Youth Network

staff: Colleen Hayter, Darlene Rice, and Jeff Pope.

Welcome to the House of

Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we will have members' statements from the

Member for the District of Exploits, the Member for the District of Fortune Bay

Cape La Hune; the Member for the District of Baie Verte Springdale; the

Member for the District of St. John's Centre; the Member for the District of

Lake Melville; and the Member for the District of Harbour Grace.

The hon. the Member for the

District of Exploits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Shane Pope, a

Level II student of Botwood Collegiate, has been volunteering at the Botwood

Boys and Girls Club for over four years; however, he would have never imagined

it would turn into a national experience.

Because of his dedication to

the club, Shane was selected to attend this year's biannual conference in

Kamloops, British Columbia. In

December, he was very surprised to receive an e-mail stating he was selected to

serve on the National Youth Council.

In his words, he said, I was so excited; you'd think I had won a million

dollars.

Mr. Speaker, Shane will

serve on the Boys and Girls Club National Council for a two-year term.

Shane will now play a role in planning the 2015 conference, and will get

to travel to participate in national meetings.

Shane is in the gallery

today with the delegation, and I ask all members of this House to join me in

recognizing Shane's dedication to the youth network and his appointment to the

National Youth Council.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape la

Hune.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House

today to throw a bouquet to the South Coast International Women's Day Committee.

Since 2009, this group of women have inspired and united residents in the

cause to end violence against women and to advance gender equality.

Thank you to all the

committee members who, from its inception, have made invaluable contributions to

help raise awareness of the tragedies of domestic violence and to help celebrate

the accomplishments of gender equity; members Vivian House, Rhonda MacDonald,

Louise Bennett, Carolynn Fowlow, Melita Collier, Tracie Carter, Sandra Dominie,

Mildred Skinner, Catherine Bourden, Marie Bungay, Mandy McGrath, and Megan Stone

have shown great resourcefulness and spirit in establishing this committee.

At its fifth annual sold-out

gala event, I had the opportunity to commend these women for making such

important contributions to advancing the status of women in this Province,

including promoting women's opportunities in non-traditional occupations and

instilling the message that violence prevention is everyone's responsibility.

I ask that all members of

this hon. House join me to congratulate and thank the South Coast International

Women's Day Committee and encourage them to keep up the fabulous work.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House

today to recognize a person who devoted countless hours to the youth of his

community. Born on July 10, 1948, to

Aubrey and Phyllis Harris, Clifford Harris spent twenty-eight years as a

volunteer with the 837 Northeast Air Cadet Squadron in Springdale.

Many of the budding youth of

this squadron went on to become very successful in their chosen careers, upon

which Cliff had a huge impact. In

addition to sixteen years as a volunteer firefighter, Clifford spent time with

the Royal Canadian Legion, with the Masons, and helped out with Scouts Canada.

Big or small, Cliff was willing to offer his time, talent, and energy to

any group who were in need.

Recognizing his outstanding

contributions to his community in 2012, Cliff was the proud recipient of the

Queen's Diamond Jubilee award and also was named Springdale citizen of the year.

Not only is Cliff considered

a tremendous volunteer, but he is also seen as a hero.

On two different occasions he rescued two young lives for which the

families will be forever grateful.

I invite all colleagues in

this hon. House to help me send accolades to Clifford Harris an outstanding

community volunteer.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Excuse me.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Lake Melville.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. RUSSELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize

the fifth Canadian Rangers Patrol Group and their participation in Exercise

Northern Sojourn.

Between February 3 and March

9, approximately 1,200 Canadian and American soldiers as well as Canadian

Rangers participated in activities that were designed to teach troops essential

combat skills in Canada's north.

During this operation, the

Canadian Rangers were an integral part to assisting and teaching soldiers how to

survive in arctic conditions.

Rangers taught skills such as how to chop firewood and catch their own meals,

things that are a way of life to many Labradorians but were certainly new, Mr.

Speaker, to many of the soldiers.

The Rangers helped ensure

that many of these soldiers who attended the exercise left with a greater

knowledge of how to travel, survive, and enjoy, Mr. Speaker, the northern

wilderness during this exercise.

I ask all hon. members of

this House to join me in recognizing the great work of the fifth Canadian

Rangers Patrol Group and their participation in Exercise Northern Sojourn.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour

Grace.

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House today to congratulate the Lady Sentinels Basketball Team of Carbonear

Collegiate who won the School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador 4A Tier 2

Provincial Basketball Championship on the weekend of March 13-15 in Deer Lake.

This marked the first time

that a Carbonear Collegiate basketball team participated in a SSNL provincial

tournament since 2010. The Lady

Sentinels were among the youngest team to enter the tournament, but intimidation

never set in, as they defeated Stephenville in a final score of 54-36.

The victory marked the first

provincial title for the school since 2011, but I can assure this House it

certainly will not be their last.

Members of the Lady

Sentinels team included: Morgan Clarke, Chelsea Walsh, Emily Kennedy, Chelsey

Parsons, Stephanie Slade, Mallory Gillespie, Devon Nicholson, Arianna Lee,

Jasmine Slade, Meghan Lehr, Najaula Sparkes, Brianna Roberts, and Michaela Case.

They were accompanied by Coach, Ed Jarvis, and Manager, Kerrilynn

Maloney.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.

members to join me in congratulating the Lady Sentinels of Carbonear Collegiate

on winning the SSNL 4A Tier 2 Provincial Basketball Championship.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am juggling a lot here

today.

Today is Resiliency Day at

Booth Memorial it is a good thing a personal development day to help

students learn to deal with stress and anxiety perhaps I should have gone

there today.

Thanks to a grant from the

Community Addictions Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Fund of the

Department of Health and Community Services, students are attending sessions on

Relationships and Restorative Justice; Building Emotional Muscle; Time

Management; Yoga and Meditation; Mindfulness and Happiness; and Team Building

and Tai Chi.

Sessions have been running

throughout the entire regular school day.

We spoke with people there earlier today and they were really impressed

with how well it was going.

Teacher/librarian Michelle

Hounsell gets the credit for taking the lead on this unique event, but the whole

school got involved along with outside participants.

Sessions are being conducted by teaching staff, the Newfoundland and

Labrador Sexual Health Centre (Planned Parenthood), Thrive both of these

non-profits are in St. John's Centre and the City of St. John's, with

nutrition breaks from Kids Eat Smart.

Thanks to Booth and Michelle

Hounsell for taking on this initiative which will benefit the students who are

participating for the rest of their time in school and probably their whole

lives.

Bravo to Booth and all those

involved.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to pay

tribute to Dr. Priscilla Renouf, an internationally celebrated archaeologist who

passed away last Friday. I know I

echo the sentiments of the archaeology community in our Province, and indeed the

world, when I say that her passing is both a great personal and professional

loss.

While Dr. Renouf made

groundbreaking discoveries in Southern Labrador, much of her life's work was

conducted on the Northern Peninsula, particularly in Port au Choix.

At this location, she uncovered and reconstructed human presence in the

area dating back 5,500 years. Her

work unearthed evidence of four Aboriginal cultures, occupation of the area in

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Europeans, as well as the current

settlement. Throughout her work in

this region of our Province, Mr. Speaker, she brought global attention to her

discoveries, and helped explain the significance of these finds in the context

of similar work around the world.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Renouf was

a renowned scholar who served as the Canada Research Chair of North Atlantic

Archaeology. In 2010, she received

the highest academic honour in Canada by being elected as a fellow of the Royal

Society of Canada. She was also the

recipient of the President's Award for Outstanding Research; member of the

Canadian Museum of Civilization Board of Trustees; co-founder of LINK, an

international program of interdisciplinary research; executive member of the

North Atlantic Biocultural Organization; author of many academic papers; and

also the first Board Chair of The Rooms.

Her expertise was regularly sought for national and international

speaking opportunities.

There is a deep connection

to our own Provincial Archaeology Office, Mr. Speaker, as all of our provincial

archaeologists were taught and mentored by Dr. Renouf.

Undoubtedly, her legacy will live on in these many individuals who strive

to tell the story of our beginnings on a daily basis.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.

colleagues to join me in offering heart felt condolences to Dr. Renouf's family,

her co-workers at Memorial University, and all colleagues in the archaeology

community. She will be remembered as

a major influence in the archaeology world and her work in our Province will

remain a monumental contribution in understanding our own history here in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister

for the advance copy of his statement, and also join government and all Members

of the House of Assembly in paying tribute to Dr. Renouf.

Dr. Renouf will have a

lasting legacy in our Province for her work with Memorial University and the

many discoveries, of course, on the Northern Peninsula.

I can remember many, many years ago making the first trip up to the

Northern Peninsula and actually visiting those areas.

She was an internationally

acclaimed scholar, as we all know, and focused her research really on how

prehistoric people adapted to the changing environment in the North Atlantic.

Her research helped provide a context for understanding more recent North

Atlantic settlements.

For years, Dr. Renouf has

focused on research in Port au Choix, and I know that she has developed a deep

connection with many people in that area.

I know that Dr. Renouf has made many connections to people throughout the

Province, and I acknowledge her connection with the staff at her own Provincial

Archaeology Office. Even within our

own Opposition office, we have two members who are actually previous students of

Dr. Renouf. The MHA for St. Barbe,

when we chatted about this earlier, talked about the remarkable work that she

has done.

I offer my condolences to

the family and friends. Her work, I

am sure, will live on as the Province has lost one of its most esteemed

educators.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the

advance copy of his statement. I,

too, would like to express my sadness on the passing of Dr. Priscilla Renouf.

Dr. Renouf was not only a world-renowned archaeologist and leader in her

field, but also a leader among her colleagues and students at Memorial

University.

We were lucky to have an

academic archaeologist of her calibre active in academic and community

archaeology, a key figure in building the MUN archaeology program into one of

the best in the world, coming straight from the community of Newfoundland and

Labrador. She was a gifted educator

who not only imparted knowledge to her students, but also knew how to get the

best out of them and help them excel in their careers, which I have heard from

many of them, Mr. Speaker.

Her contribution to this

Province's archaeological knowledge and high standards of practice will be

remembered. I give my sincere and

deepest condolences to her family and her friends.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family

Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to rise today

in this hon. House to provide an update on the Supporting Youth with Transitions

pilot program. This program provides

young people who are receiving services under the Department of Child, Youth and

Family Services with the opportunity to avail of additional supports as they

prepare for adulthood.

In spring 2013, our

government invested $401,600 to expand Supporting Youth with Transitions

Province-wide in order to provide more youth with hands-on interventions and

supports that will help empower them to live independently as adults.

Our government recognizes

the unique challenges faced by youth, and that is why five life skills

co-ordinators have been hired to assist the department's social workers in

carrying out that program.

Mr. Speaker, these

co-ordinators are located in Clarenville, Gander, Whitbourne, Stephenville, and

Happy Valley-Goose Bay. They work

directly with youth to identify and address their life skills needs.

These necessary life skills include a variety of areas such as daily

living and self-care, relationships and communication, housing choices and

financial management, as well as career and education planning.

Supporting Youth with

Transitions is also being offered in metro region through Choices for Youth,

which is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides a wide

range of services including housing, employment, and educational opportunities

for youth.

Mr. Speaker, since the

implementation of the expanded pilot program in October 2013, we are already

seeing the positive impacts it is having on the seventy-five youth currently

accessing this program. These youth

have completed life skills assessments in order to develop plans to help achieve

their goals. To date, the program is

seeing increased family reconnections, and educational and employment engagement

for participating youth.

This is evidence, Mr.

Speaker, that we are achieving our overall goal of Supporting Youth with

Transitions by ensuring that everyone involved is working together to meet the

needs of young people and to help them successfully transition to the next phase

of their lives.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement.

Mr. Speaker, the fire on

Springdale Street that cost a man his life illustrated for this Province a

worst-case scenario of not properly supporting youth at risk.

One of the recommendations from the Child and Youth Advocate in her

report SIXTEEN was to conduct life skills assessments.

So we are glad to see this recommendation being implemented.

One of the shortcomings

identified by the advocate in her report on the fire was the monthly allowance

for rent for a client of the youth services program.

At $500 per month, these youth at risk are severely restricted in choice

as to where they can live. This

inadequate funding in a city where rent is at $900 per month means youth, like

John, end up in bedsitters and boarding houses.

One of the advocate's

recommendations was to provide sufficient funding for safe and affordable

housing options. We look forward in

the spirit of accountability, to the minister indicating to the public which

recommendations of this report they intend to implement.

This pilot program, however, is an encouraging step forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement.

Supporting Youth with

Transitions pilot project sounds like a great initiative.

The more concrete assistance we can give marginalized youth the better;

but, Mr. Speaker, where is the transition plan to ensure the safety of the

children the minister is uprooting and moving in his new level four residential

care initiative?

Two weeks ago, out of the

blue, some of our most vulnerable children in care were told they would be moved

from their current stable group homes where some have lived for years to a

private sector provider. No one has

told them exactly when they are moving, where they are moving, and who will be

looking after them.

In Estimates, I asked the

minister what his transition protocol and plan was for these children, and he

did not have one. These youth who

need desperately stability will be moved in forty-five days and there is no

plan. Many are afraid and confused.

This is a serious situation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to

highlight our government's investment to secure the future of our forest

industry in the western region and the entire Province for the benefit of

residents and communities.

In February, I was delighted

to join the Premier in Corner Brook to announce details of a loan agreement for

up to $110 million and a power assets and water rights purchase agreement

between the provincial government and Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited.

By investing in the pulp and

paper mill, government is reaching out to the entire forest industry and

supporting 5,500 people who are employed, particularly in the Province's rural

communities in harvesting, sawmilling, and value-added enterprises.

Corner Brook Pulp and Paper

Limited is one of the largest private employers in the Province and is a strong

contributor to the provincial economy.

Along with its suppliers, it contributes $124 million annually to the

gross domestic product.

With this loan, Corner Brook

Pulp and Paper Limited will be able to carry out capital projects that will

reduce costs, improve productivity, and increase the paper mill's

competitiveness on the global newsprint market.

The loan is secured by a mortgage and company hydro assets, including the

Deer Lake Power Plant and Watson's Brook Power Plant.

The provincial government will purchase the power assets, water rights,

and all related rights to the power assets for the people of the Province if the

mill closes.

These agreements are the

result of dedicated work by people in several provincial government departments

who are to be commended for their efforts.

They have worked closely with staff at Kruger Incorporated, the parent

company of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited, who are equally enthusiastic

about the long-term viability of the Corner Brook operation.

Mr. Speaker, our continued

investment in Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited is great news for the forest

industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.

These agreements will ensure the benefits from our renewable resources

will continue well into the future.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister

for the advance copy of his statement.

Of course, the $110 million

loan agreement with Kruger was something that the Official Opposition and at

the meeting, I understand our Member for Bay of Islands was at that announcement

as well.

Fifty-five hundred jobs in

the forestry industry, many of them in rural areas of our Province, is what this

loan was all about, supporting the forestry industry in general, let alone the

$124 million gross domestic product that it means to our Province in GDP.

It is important also because it is a renewable resource.

Managing our forestry

industry in the Province right now really needs a Province-wide strategy, one

where we can see the pulp and paper industry, one where we can see our sawmill

industry, and indeed our pellet plant industry that could be working as an

integrated system. Right now this is

currently not happening. We know we

have a major sawmill in the Province right now that will not be able to operate

twelve months of the year simply because of wood supply.

A management strategy for

the provincial resource is indeed something we need to secure.

Right now we are not able to supply our local customers.

So, Mr. Speaker, we have made a major investment in a pellet plant right

now that is not producing any jobs but is something we really need to continue

to work with because there is a significant opportunity to make sure that that

plant can provide jobs in rural areas of our Province.

Right now in my own

district, as an example, we have a pressure treatment plant that is actually

importing wood from New Brunswick to make sure that the operation is continuing.

In this day and age when we have seen the closure of two pulp and paper

mills and some sawmills in our Province, there should be enough wood supply, if

managed properly in our Province, to make sure that we have viable industries

here.

I do want to thank the

staff, both at Natural Resources and with Kruger for the hard work that they

have done in putting this together.

I think it will go a long way in providing a viable future for the forestry

industry in the Province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement. This

is good information about the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper if not exactly news;

we have known these details for a while.

I have confidence that the

workers at Corner Brook Pulp and Paper will make the facility a success with

their incomparable skill and hard work.

It would be great to get statements from this minister regarding other

parts of this Province's forestry sector.

Could the minister report

about the Northern Peninsula with over $9 million invested in forestry products

and things apparently at a standstill?

Could we get a statement about the very expensive expropriation of

Abitibi-Bowater's central assets and timber rights?

What plans have government for this resource?

We have heard little on the plans for the timber and a lot on what will

be the huge upcoming expense of remediating the mill site by this government.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Let us have some more statements about

the realities.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Question Period.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last week the federal

government made massive cuts to the shrimp quotas in our Province.

These cuts were expected for months and they are devastating to our

offshore operators and could affect up to 2,200 plant workers.

In response to this the minister said that we will ask the feds to

revisit the decision.

I ask the Premier: Aside

from asking the feds for these cuts to be revisited, what is your plan to fight

for the workers in the forestry industry?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in the fishing

industry we have been advocating against LIFO since 2010.

It is very clear on record in regard to this is very inhibited to the

inshore sector.

In 1996 when temporary

access for the inshore fleet was given to this resource, then in 1997 the

licences were confirmed and they were made permanent stakeholders in the

industry, we were quite clear that they were investing in the industry; they

were stakeholders. We have advocated

that LIFO needs to be removed.

The sustainability of the

resource, not pit one sector against another to make sure that the inshore fleet

we recognize the science cuts need to be made.

We are saying let us take those cuts, distribute them equally to both

sectors so that the inshore fleet can continue what it needs to do in terms of

rural Newfoundland and those jobs that were mentioned in terms of processing

harvesters and all those support companies.

It is very important.

We told the federal government we want them changed and we expect them

changed, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Indeed that was meant to be

the forestry sector the fisheries sector.

I thank the minister for responding.

In the press release on

Saturday, the provincial government said that they are currently analyzing the

anticipated impacts and will be meeting with the industry leaders in the coming

days to determine the best ways to address this challenge, with this issue being

raised by people in the industry for months.

I ask the Premier: These

cuts were expected for some time, so why did you wait until last weekend before

even thinking about the best ways to address this challenge?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, over the past

number of months, I and my officials have met with the inshore shrimp fleet and

the FFAW fishers, certainly a broad spectrum in terms of the industry and who

was involved. We followed this and,

as I said, advocated and argued that this is not fair.

It is not fair for the inshore sector.

It needs to be changed as we move forward.

Again, we have been quite

clear on this. It is needs to be

changed. It is not reflective of how

the industry needs to move forward.

This inshore fleet, 250 harvesters, have invested.

Everybody in the federal government has supported rationalization.

They have gone out and bought out enterprises.

They have invested heavily.

They need this resource and access to it to run their operations and their

enterprises.

Again, I would say we met

with industry. Since 2010 we have

been on record as saying that LIFO needs to change.

We have met with industry over the last year.

We are meeting now with industry over the next couple days to see how we

move forward and what the particular effects will be of this in different

communities.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It seems like a lot of

meetings, but in 2006 the federal government had been promising joint management

for our fisheries. They specifically

said they would work with interested provinces for a system of increased

provincial management; however, eight years later there is still no joint

fisheries management in our Province.

I ask the Premier: Why has

your government not moved forward with the feds on this commitment that was made

by the Conservative government?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, on the issue of joint management I

have been public in the new year in regard to joint management.

I announced this morning when I was at the Marine Institute that we will

move forward now and make recommendations to the federal government in regard to

looking at joint management.

Mr. Speaker, because of the

investments we have made since 2010 in regard to the Centre for Fisheries

Ecosystems Research, we invested $13 million.

We could have waited. Where

we saw the federal government back out of science and not putting research where

they should have, we stepped in and put that money in so we could build the

expertise and knowledge of this Province for ecosystem research so we can build

our fishing industry.

This morning I announced

again we will be reinvesting another $5 million to continue that work, to work

with the science we have built here in the Province, the inventory of science.

The scientists right now are up to well over twenty-five grad students

and scientists who are involved in the fishery in this Province.

We have that inventory built and we look to the federal government to

joint manage because we need to be (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It seems that you have

invested a lot of money and you are really not talking to the feds.

They have encouraged you, if you are interested to do that, since 2006.

As you said, in 2010 the provincial government launched its own fisheries

research initiative and to date has spent $13 million on that.

The results are indicating that cod is making a comeback, and we know

that cod is a predator of shrimp.

I ask the Premier: Is this

research being shared with the federal government, and was it taken into

consideration before those recent cuts were made?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, the ecosystem research has been done

since 2010. In terms of

consultations with DFA and DFO, we provide all the information we have available

to DFO. Certainly, we believe it is

second to none. The scientific

community we built and the inventory we built is second to none.

The work we are doing on cod is done nowhere else in the world, I

understand, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the type of satellite tracking and the

types of things we are doing.

An assessment this morning,

a briefing with Dr. Rose and his group of scientists, indicates in areas of the

Province we are seeing good science in regard to cod in terms of the return of

that species. It looks good, but

again we need to protect that resource as we move forward.

That is why we want to be at the table, that we have the science, we have

the expertise, we have the industry, and we want to be there with the federal

government in joint management of that resource, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, the minister is saying

they want to be there and we know that they were encouraged to be there since

I ask the minister: Why

aren't you there?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, joint management is something that

is arranged between the federal government and the Province.

We have been there; we want to be there.

The federal government, it is under their jurisdiction right now.

We are trying to manage a fishery where we have control of the

processing. We do not have control

over the licensing, the quota allocations, all of those things.

We have put programs in

place to build this. I do not know

where the hon. member is to. We just

announced under CETA $120 million with $280 million leveraged from the federal

government that we want to build this fishery and continue to grow.

We believe in the fishery, we believe in rural Newfoundland and Labrador,

and we are going to continue to work and make sure we are at the table to grow

this industry as we know it can be in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

You believe in the fishery.

You were encouraged to be there in 2006, if you were interested.

It has not happened, and now you say you want to be there, I say, Mr.

Speaker.

These cuts will affect the

viability of processing plants in our Province and will put 2,200 jobs in

jeopardy. These cuts also will

affect the sustainability of many of our rural communities.

I ask the Premier: In the

past you have used a temporary one-year fisheries adjustment program for plant

closures; what are you prepared to do for the long-term viability of rural

communities in Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is one thing we are

going to do I am not sure of the hon. members on the other side, because they

seem confused in terms of international trade deals and what that is going to

mean in terms of markets and certainly access to bringing down quotas, bringing

down tariffs, and certainly in the EU.

Secondary processing; right now there are limits on what we can send in,

for example, to the EU in regard to secondary processing.

When CETA is signed and

formalized, those will come down. We

can do primary branding right here in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, in rural

communities so we can drive activity in our processing facilities in

Newfoundland and Labrador, selling it to one of the largest markets in the

world.

We believe in free market,

we believe in free trade, and we believe in building our industry.

That is why we negotiated the $400 million fund.

That is why we are investing $120 million in the fund.

I do not know where the hon. member is.

Let him stand up and say they agree with it or not.

We do, and we are going to build a fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What a difference a month

makes for this so-called open and accountable government.

On March 5, the Minister of Transportation and Works announced early

tenders in order to take advantage of the full construction season.

At that time he announced approximately thirty-three kilometres of

roadwork for the Bay d'Espoir Highway.

The tender document, Mr. Speaker, tells a much different story.

I ask the minister: Why

don't you tell the House how much of the thirty-three kilometres in that tender

is actually going to be funded in this year's Budget?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, since early

January, when I announced that the government had pre-committed $30 million

towards different tenders throughout the Province, my department has been very

busy getting those tenders ready. I

did go to the Bay d'Espoir Highway and I did announce that we would be doing

thirty-three kilometres in the Bay d'Espoir Highway.

I also announced that it was a multi-year project, as many of the other

projects we are doing throughout the year.

What we are doing, Mr.

Speaker, instead of making promises, we are actually making realities.

What we are doing is we are saying there is certain work that needs to be

done. Over the next couple of years

we are going to get the tenders out so that the contractors in the Province can

actually

schedule the work over the multi-year projects and make sure that the

work gets done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do not recall the

announcement saying that the thirty-three kilometres was multi-year.

I will say it started out in the tender they were going to fund $5

million of it and cut it back to $3.6 million.

Mr. Speaker, getting

roadwork tenders out early sounds good until you read the fine print.

For example, in the major tender announced for the Bay d'Espoir Highway

they are only allowing the contractor to do $3.6 million, which is 20 per cent

of the work on that tender.

I ask the minister: Why are

you leading the people of the Province to believe that there is much more

roadwork in the Budget than will actually get done this year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the

member across the way should spend some of his time being out to the

announcements and then he would know what was actually being announced.

What we are doing, Mr.

Speaker, is we are setting up our programs in our tenders this year.

The contractors have been asking for this for a long time so that we set

up programs and tenders that they can actually go out and

schedule the work to

get it done.

When it comes to

Transportation and Works and it comes to rebuilding, resurfacing highways, you

cannot just go in, in a lot of cases, and repave, what we call levelling.

Quite often the highway or the roads you are talking about have to be

rebuilt, and that cannot all be done overnight.

What we are doing, Mr. Speaker, is identifying the work that needs to be

done, we put it out to tender, and quite often it starts at one point and will

finish at another.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Mr. Speaker, announcing early tenders is one

thing that is new for this Province, but what is also new is telling contractors

they can only do 20 per cent of the work in the tender.

Mr. Speaker, it is nothing

more than political posturing. You

are trying to get political points, I say to the minister, by announcing

thirty-three kilometres of roadwork this year, in a tender this year, but only

allowing 20 per cent of the work to be done this year.

I ask the minister: Why are

you playing politics with road repairs in this Province?

Is it because next year is an election year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am glad to realize that

the member across the way realizes next year is an election year because we

realized that on this side in 2011, that there was an election coming up.

We have been working towards that and it is called governing, Mr.

Speaker. That is what we do on this

side of the House.

Since we announced the $30

million pre-commitment in Transportation and Works I have been very busy, and I

compliment the staff in my department for the hard work they have done getting

these tenders put together. I have

been all over the Province in the last six weeks, Mr. Speaker, announcing

different projects. It is a year to

year process of building and restructuring the highway system.

We have over 10,000 kilometres in this Province and we continue to keep

doing the job we are doing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Mr. Speaker, in his recent review of Eastern

Health, the Auditor General pointed out there was a lack of monitoring of final

tender cost compared to the original awarded cost.

I ask the minister: How can

you be assured that taxpayers' dollars are spent properly without the

implementation of internal controls as outlined in the Public Tender Act?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, we accept what the Auditor General

had to say in his report. In that

particular instance, we agreed with what the Auditor General had pointed out.

There is remedial action that was taken, Mr. Speaker.

The process is working. We

make sure that when purchases are made and they do not go to tender, we make

sure they are done for the right reasons.

If they are not done for the right reasons, Mr. Speaker, we go in and we

find out what went wrong.

We need to do some remedial

work on occasion, Mr. Speaker. It is

a rare occurrence. Less than almost

1 per cent, Mr. Speaker, less than 2 per cent, closer to 1 per cent of all the

tenders that are out there end up being untendered, and they are for exceptions,

usually. This one here did not fall

under that exception, and we went in there and did the remedial work.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for

Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

I would say to the minister, that based on the

Auditor General's report, there is a lot more work to be done.

Mr. Speaker, in his review,

the Auditor General also found that current controls are not adequate to prevent

or detect fraud or error in areas of purchasing.

This is very troubling, to say the least, to the taxpayer who is

ultimately on the hook for any cost resulting from this financial mismanagement.

I therefore ask the

minister: What does he intend to do to straighten out this mess?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to procurement, we are

doing very good work protecting the taxpayers' dollars.

We have a department GPA who make sure that all entities are following

the legislation and regulations we have in place.

We make sure that our forensic audits go into places to check and make

sure that entities and government departments are making the right decisions and

going through the right processes when they are procuring on behalf of their

departments and entities, Mr. Speaker.

There is good work getting

done there. Is there room for

improvement, Mr. Speaker? Yes there

is, and we are working towards improving the system.

We are about protecting the taxpayers' dollars every single day, day in,

day out, and our civil servants are doing good work, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, in response to concerns about

incidents of bullying and other inappropriate behaviours in schools, government

released a revised Safe and Caring Schools Policy late last year.

The school year is melting away now with the winter snow, and we have yet

to hear of any progress on implementing these policies to try and stamp out

bullying.

I ask the Minister of

Education: What has your department done to see that the new Safe and Caring

Schools Policy is in place for this coming September?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we certainly did

in this Budget was we identified three units that are going to continue the work

that has gone on. We did a review,

Mr. Speaker, brought forward the new process, put in place protocols for schools

and administrators to use.

Mr. Speaker, our support

again this year in this Budget shows our commitment to Safe and Caring Schools

in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Well, Mr. Speaker, it is teachers and

administrators who do this work, not units.

The teacher professional development allocation in Budget 2014 has been

cut by almost $1 million. The

minister is clearly telling teachers and administrators that he wants them to

take on extra responsibilities without adding any additional training or

resources.

I ask the minister: How many

schools and how many teachers have received professional development training to

deal with those inclined to bullying?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I am going to commend the teachers,

the students, and the larger community for the work that they have done in this

Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, we are not asking teachers and

administrators to take on additional work.

We are asking them to do it in a different way.

The safe and caring schools itinerant teachers who are out there will

work with the schools, the school communities, and the staff to make sure that

is carried out in a way right now, teachers and administration are actually

doing that work. We are very proud

of the work that they have done.

This will improve the overall system, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, this morning the Diabetes Association released the health

charter for diabetes patients. We

have about 58,000 people living with diabetes in our Province and another 88,000

at risk of developing it.

I ask the minister: How many

people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last month?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can certainly get him that

information. I do not have it here

with me at the moment, but what I can do is tell him, as a government, what we

have done for diabetes and what we have done to address diabetes and to prevent

diabetes, Mr. Speaker.

We have provided nearly $20

million since 2010 for diabetes medications.

We have covered fifteen different medications for people on the

Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program.

Mr. Speaker, we are the only government, the best in Canada, to provide

insulin pumps for people up to age twenty-five.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

We offer diabetes clinics.

We include programming to promote healthy eating, physical activity, and

living smoke-free, Mr. Speaker. That

is what we are doing about diabetes.

I will certainly get him the numbers tomorrow.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister will not get me

the numbers tomorrow because the department does not have them.

You will not be able to provide the accurate numbers because the

government does not have a diabetes patient registry.

The registry is necessary to track diabetes diagnoses and manage the

resources needed to care for these patients.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. A. PARSONS:

I ask the minister: Why has your government failed to follow the AG's

2011 recommendation and implement a diabetes registry?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Our record, when it comes to

diabetes and preventative care around diabetes is a solid one.

We certainly appreciate the recommendations from the AG report and I am

sure that the Minister of Health and the department is following up.

I did intend to try to get

those numbers; I do not understand why you would ask a question if you already

knew the answer. So given that, Mr.

Speaker, I guess he does not want the information.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, the minister can talk about this government's commitment to

diabetes. We have the highest

population in Canada of people living with diabetes, a number that is going to

grow to one in six in 2024. The

question I asked was about a diabetes registry so that we could work with

practitioners to track the number of people living with diabetes.

I ask again: Why have we not

followed the AG's recommendation and put in place a diabetes registry?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a

department, the Department of Health certainly speaks to stakeholders, speaks to

people in the diabetes industry, and speaks to people involved in the health

care system on a daily basis. If

there is something that is in the AG's report, I have no doubt that the Minister

of Health and the excellent officials that work in that department are working

on this because if there is something we can do to make people's lives better

when it comes to diabetes, we would certainly be committed to that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, government abandoned its own Youth Retention and Attraction

Strategy. Five years ago, the former

Premier said this strategy marks the beginning of a new era and reflects the

commitment to ensuring the Province can navigate toward prosperity and

self-reliance.

Mr. Speaker, with public

debt soaring by billions and out-migration of youth at its highest level since

2008, I ask the minister: Will he revisit why this strategy has failed?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the

minister opposite and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that the Youth

Retention and Attraction Strategy has been an overwhelming success.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Of the forty-one initiatives, Mr. Speaker, most

are completed and most are ongoing.

They have been incorporated into the work of various government departments.

In fact, what came out of the Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy is

now informing other strategies within our government, like our immigration work,

our Population Growth Strategy, our Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Our Youth Retention and

Attraction Strategy was a three-year initiative.

It has had great impact and much of the work is ongoing, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North, for a very quick question, no

preamble.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, the Youth Advisory Committee is supposed to provide policy

MR. SPEAKER:

Your question, please.

Directly to your question.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

when will the minister table the report; the last one has been 2011?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs, for a

quick response.

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, the Office of Public Engagement is

engaging more young people in this Province than ever before through forums in

every corner of the Province, our work with youth is making a big difference.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

A federal government

investigation has suspended the licence of a company in Labrador City allowing

them to bring in temporary foreign workers.

I ask the Premier: Does the

Province have a current record of the number and places of work of temporary

foreign workers in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN:

Mr. Speaker, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

is a federal program. It is the

responsibility of the federal government to ensure that all employers follow the

rules and follow the program.

We have about 3,000

temporary foreign workers in our Province at this particular time.

We get that information from the Citizenship and Immigration Canada

files. Our responsibility is to make

sure under the program that before temporary foreign workers are used that all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have an opportunity for a job, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The company in question was

suspended or its licence was suspended after allegations that twenty-six

temporary foreign workers were living in one house owned by the company.

I ask the minister: What

measures has government taken to monitor the living and working conditions of

temporary foreign workers in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills.

MR. O'BRIEN:

Mr. Speaker, as I just outlined, this is a

federal program and a responsibility of the federal government.

They have to make sure that all employers follow the rules, all the rules

of the program.

As well, we are engaged in

regard to following that program. I

have personally met with the minister responsible in Ottawa.

We discussed the Temporary Foreign Worker Program at that particular

time, but again it is the responsibility of the federal government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Premier then: Why

isn't this government taking the lead of other provinces such as Alberta,

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia that has legislation regulating migrant

workers?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As my colleague has just

mentioned, this particular program is indeed a responsibility of the federal

government; however, we do have labour standards in this Province that I am

responsible for as the Minister Responsible for Labour.

We take accusations such as the member presents on this floor of the

House very seriously, and we follow up on all allegations that are presented.

I will let the member know

that temporary foreign workers have the same rights in this Province as any

worker from Newfoundland and Labrador who might be a permanent resident of this

Province. Any time an allegation is

made through Labour Standards that there has been a violation or some ill

treatment of any nature whatsoever, we follow up on every single one of those

investigations.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I point out that a report

card done by the UFCW has us showing very, very low when it comes to protection

of these workers.

I ask the Premier: Will he

see that the Labour Standards Act is amended to add provisions for the

protection of temporary foreign workers, as happens in other provinces?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, we review our labour legislation

very regularly, the same as we do with all legislation in the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador. If we

find there is an opportunity or a need to amend the legislation then we are

certainly open to that. With respect

to the issue at hand today and the allegations the member is sharing on this

House floor today, there is nothing in the legislation that does not give us the

ability to follow up on any suggestion that workers are being ill-treated and

that is being done.

I reassure members of this

House, that if there is any allegation or suggestion by a worker that their

rights are being violated under the Labour Standards Act, if they are working in

the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, whether they are from here or whether

they are permanent residents or not, they have the same rights as

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and it will be investigated.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Residential Tenancy Act

consultations were completed in 2012.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the

minister: When is he going to release the report with all of its

recommendations?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, there has been a great body of work

done with regard to that legislative review.

We have had some consultations.

That is online, what we heard.

That is available for the public to see.

We are also looking at other jurisdictions and seeing what they are doing

with regard to how they are progressing in the future, Mr. Speaker.

We are also looking at

minimal housing standards, and that is being looked at as well in other

jurisdictions. I know that has been

in the media for the last little as well.

So, we are still moving forward.

There is still some work to do, Mr. Speaker, and when we are ready we

certainly will be bringing it to the floor of the House.

I am looking forward to that day, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, we are in the middle of a housing

crisis and we need the recommendations from that consultation, which were

completed a year and a half ago.

Mr. Speaker, the

Newfoundland and Labrador housing and homelessness research report was completed

in October, 2013.

I ask the minister: When is

he going to release that?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN:

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

That report was only shared

with me recently. It is under

review, and I should have that released within the next couple of weeks or so,

Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When is he going

to develop an overall comprehensive housing policy to address the growing

housing crisis, one that would include such initiatives as tax initiatives for

builders and the use of surplus provincial properties, including land, buildings

and more, a real comprehensive housing policy for the Province of Newfoundland

and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN:

Mr. Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing is

engaged for a number of years now in regard to affordable housing in

Newfoundland and Labrador. We

address that issue under a various number of programs.

Number one, the IAH program, which has built a number of units right

across Newfoundland and Labrador, over 100 units that are all in the affordable

housing portfolio; as well as the Provincial Home Repair Program, the Home

Modification Program, and all those particular programs.

We continue to invest over a

lot of programs in areas that would make affordable housing accessible to the

people of the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

very quick question.

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When will he take

leadership and freeze all surplus provincial properties until he comes up with a

housing policy to address the growing housing crisis?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills for a quick response.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN:

Mr. Speaker, I am shocked to hear the hon. member

is against development in Newfoundland and Labrador and free enterprise.

I will be quite honest with you.

Through Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, we have invested heavily over

the last number of years in regard to the most vulnerable people in our

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by

Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

MR. S. COLLINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move the following private

member's resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED that this

hon. House supports the government's decision to introduce full-day

kindergarten.

This is seconded by the

Member for Port de Grave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I serve notice that the

motion just presented to the House by the Member for Terra Nova will be the

private member's motion to be debated this coming Wednesday, Private Members'

Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been

Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS there is a waste

recovery facility being proposed by Eastern Waste Management in the Peak

Pond-Reids Pond area; and

WHEREAS such a site will

drastically impact the pond and general area in a negative way from an

environmental perspective; and

WHEREAS there are many

species of wildlife that will be negatively impacted by such a site, such as

rabbits, moose, ducks, loons, Canada geese, et cetera; and

WHEREAS such a site will

result in litter and strong odours in the general area; and

WHEREAS there are a

significant number of cabins and permanent homes in the Peak Pond-Reids Pond

area, which will be negatively impacted by this site; and

WHEREAS Eastern Waste

Management has many sites available to them for such a facility including former

dump sites in the area;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to intercede in the matter and advise

Eastern Waste Management to withdraw this proposal and find a more suitable

location for this waste recovery facility.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will every pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is, yes,

another petition. I have had

several. I have several more to

come. This time we have people from

Carbonear, Blaketown, South Dildo, Whitbourne area, Long Cove, and so on.

This is in addition to the many people who actually own properties in

Peak Pond-Reids Pond.

Like I said, we are also

seeing people from the general area who have a number of concerns about this

particular site. Mr. Speaker, as is

indicated in this petition, there are certainly much more suitable sites

available to Eastern Waste Management, particularly former dump sites in the

area, former industrial sites where this could go.

It makes no sense whatsoever to destroy a beautiful pristine area, such

as what has been chosen here, when there are other sites that could be used

which are much more suitable.

Again, on behalf of the

residents, cabin owners of this particular area

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LANE:

as well as other people in that general area, I

present this petition once again today, and I will keep doing so until the

government intercedes and withdraws this application and finds a more suitable

location.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS provincial funding

and support for an arm's-length advocacy group is needed in order to promote,

protect, and ensure full citizenship rights for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

with disabilities; and

WHEREAS the Coalition of

Persons with Disabilities (COD-NL) has advocated for persons with disabilities

in Newfoundland and Labrador for nearly thirty-five years; and

WHEREAS people with

disabilities across the Province rely on COD-NL to navigate and access support

services, educate the public, and provide outreach; and

WHEREAS long-term

sustainable funding for COD-NL should be a key building block in the Province's

strategy for the inclusion of persons with disabilities; and

WHEREAS federal and

provincial funding cuts continue to threaten COD-NL's capacity to provide

important advocacy, public education, and outreach activities;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge

government to reinstate funding cut from the Coalition of Persons with

Disabilities, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 2013 and provide a long-term

sustainable funding arrangement for COD-NL.

As in duty bound your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I think

sometimes because COD-NL is headquartered here in the City of St. John's, in the

capital, people often think that this issue is an issue that does not affect all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I

think the fact that we have petitioners here from Norris Point and Rocky Harbour

up on the Great Northern Peninsula, really is indicative of the fact that COD-NL

is an organization that serves people throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and

provides an important service, an advocacy service, an education service that

everyone in the Province can benefit from.

Recently, there was a press

release that went out which indicated government was partnering with COD-NL on a

particular initiative. I think that

is a good thing. I think when the

private sector, when other organizations in the public sector can partner with

COD-NL and avail of the information they have, the advocacy services they have,

their long history of advocacy for persons with disabilities in the Province,

that is a positive thing.

I think we really need to go

back and look at what government decided to do with respect to their funding

last year and how all of that really rolls up against what is going on the

federal side because the federal government wants to wash their hands of

organizations like COD-NL and we really need to see what the impact of that is

going to be.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of

Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand here today, again,

Mr. Speaker, to present a petition on behalf of the people of Western

Newfoundland and Labrador.

WHEREAS we wish to raise

concern regarding the recent delay of the construction of the new hospital in

Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to commit to the planning and

construction of a new hospital in Corner Brook as previously committed to and in

a timely manner as originally announced without further delays or changes.

Mr. Speaker, this is

probably about ten or fifteen petitions I have presented, and I will be

presenting more in the near future.

I have over 4,000 names of people on petitions, Mr. Speaker, who signed the

petitions to get the hospital in Corner Brook.

Stop with the promises and start with the construction, to ensure we have

the proper information and that we make a decision.

I was asked to inform the

Member for Humber West and the Member for Humber East, who is the Premier, there

will be a meeting on April 24 of the health care action committee.

They will show up and show support for this action committee, Mr.

Speaker. I know members opposite on

this side will be attending the meeting.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned

before, and the people of Western Newfoundland who I am speaking to, is that the

Premier committed $500,000 to do a study.

We are not sure what the study is for.

We are not sure what new information will be found.

We assume and I as a

person from the West Coast as an ordinary citizen, I assume the information that

the Department of Health and Community Services is presenting to the people in

Western Newfoundland is accurate. It

is true. It is information that you

can say we went out and we did our review, we did our studies.

We had professionals.

I ask again, and I asked the

government, Mr. Speaker, and a lot of people are saying: What is this $500,000

for? It is the information that the

Department of Health is giving out and trying to get to the action committee,

getting to the city council, getting to private groups in closed meetings, I

might add, will not have a public meeting.

It is disgraceful, Mr. Speaker.

People are asking, what is

the $500,000 for? Will we ever get a

copy of the terms of reference? Will

we ever get the results of it? Mr.

Speaker, once again, $500,000 to find information that the Minister of Health is

already telling people in Corner Brook.

The question is, is the information accurate?

If you are spending $500,000 to seek out the information, why was there

ever a decision made not to put a radiation unit, not to put a PET scanner there

until we have the full information?

Mr. Speaker, I just want to

thank you again for the opportunity. I

will be presenting more. April 24,

to the Members for Humber East and Humber West.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS the Family Violence

Intervention Court provided a comprehensive approach to domestic violence in a

court setting that fully understood and dealt with the complex issues of

domestic violence; and

WHEREAS domestic violence

continues to be one of the most serious issues facing our Province today and the

cost of the impact of domestic violence is great both economically and in human

suffering; and

WHEREAS the Family Violence

Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed by all aspects of the justice

system including the police, the courts, prosecutors, defence counsel, Child,

Youth and Family Services, as well as victims, offenders, community agencies,

and women's groups; and

WHEREAS the recidivism rate

for offenders going through the court was 10 per cent compared to 40 per cent

for those who did not; and

WHEREAS the budget for the

Court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire budget of the Department of Justice;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge

government to reinstate the Family Violence Intervention Court.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, here I am once

again standing up to speak on behalf of people across the Province who are still

mystified as to why the Family Violence Intervention Court has been closed.

It is interesting to hear my colleague, the member, talk about the

$500,000 that all of a sudden has appeared to do the study on the Corner Brook

hospital and whether or not radiation services are needed.

I spent a lot of time this

weekend knocking on doors, and I do not know how many people said to me: Keep up

the work on the Family Violence Intervention Court, it is such an important

program. Keep pushing and keep

fighting for it on our behalf. These

are people who worked in the court.

These are people who work in the area of violence against women and children,

who know how effective this program was, who know how effective the court

actually was.

Mr. Speaker, in a press

release issued by the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, the former

one who is now our Minister of Finance, issued it on November 20, 2013.

She said, The Provincial Government remains firmly committed to

preventing violence against those most at risk of experiencing violence,

including women, children and families.

She ends up by saying, All

individuals in our province must remain strongly committed to preventing

violence and creating a society where all residents can live, work and learn in

communities where violence is considered unacceptable.

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly

the type of work that the Family Violence Intervention Court has been doing.

It took a while for all the stakeholders to buy into the court, to

realize how the court worked, and they did and the court was working.

Mr. Speaker, the court needs to be reinstated, that is all there is to

it.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A petition to the hon. House

of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament

assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS we wish to raise

concern regarding the recent delay on the construction of the new hospital in

Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to commit to the planning and

construction of a new hospital in Corner Brook as previously committed to and in

a timely manner as originally announced without further delay or changes.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is a

petition from a number of people generally in the Corner Brook area, the

Pinchgut Lake area, and the Massey Drive area.

They also want me to advise the Minister of Health and her Parliamentary

Secretary, the Member for Terra Nova, there is a meeting on April 24 and they

would really like for both of those members to attend to become fully apprised

of all the concerns surrounding the delays in the hospital.

Mr. Speaker, health care

consumes the largest percentage of our Budget in this Province and in every

province of Canada. For sure that

demonstrates health care is extremely important.

Health care is one of the most important items a government can manage

and can provide to its residents and to its citizens.

Part of health care is a hospital.

Mr. Speaker, I remember when

the old Western Memorial Hospital was being built.

I used to walk right past the construction site on my way to junior high

school. That was over forty years

ago. That hospital is used up and it

stood the test of time. A

determination has been made, shared in and agreement upon by government, that a

new hospital is required.

Mr. Speaker, how complicated

can it be to build a hospital? A

hospital is not a new invention.

They have been around for thousands of years.

Hospitals are being built all over North America.

We know the population. The

government claims the population is not expanding; consequently, it should be

fairly easy to get a precise number of people who would use the hospital because

the hospital has been there for a long time.

Why the delay?

Why the delay in this hospital?

The government acknowledges it is needed.

It has committed and committed and committed.

I think I could go nineteen times, if

The Telegram is accurate.

Nineteen times there has been an announcement, I think I read in the

newspaper, regarding this hospital over the years.

How complicated can it be?

Mr. Speaker, the government

really needs to leave the drawing board and get into the workplace.

Let us get moving on this hospital.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS the current road

conditions of Route 437 are deplorable; and

WHEREAS Route 437 to Ship

Cove and Cape Onion was first paved in 1990-1991 and is now riddled with

potholes, cracks, bumps, and erosion, similarly the road the Raleigh is in poor

condition; and

WHEREAS business operations

will suffer in these communities that include Pistolet Bay Provincial Park,

Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve, Tickle Inn, Raleigh Historical Society Fishing

Village, carving shop, boat tour, restaurant, cottages, convenience, gas

station, walking trails, museum, and numerous fishing enterprises, among other

natural attractions; and

WHEREAS it is the

government's obligation to provide basic infrastructure to all Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians; and

WHEREAS an improved paved

road would enhance local business, fish processing operations and tourism, which

is vital to the health of the communities affected;

We, the undersigned,

petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to allocate funds to

resurface Route 437.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is a first

time I presented such a petition on behalf residents, basically, in Raleigh,

Ship Cove, and Cape Onion. I have

had the opportunity to meet with the local service district there in Ship Cove,

and also the Town of Raleigh.

Certainly, driving over road, especially to Ship Cove, it is a continuous bump

drive, bump; drive, bump; drive, bump; and that is a regular process.

In the community itself you could almost get lost in the pot holes that

are there.

Mr. Speaker, it has been

close to twenty-five years, and maybe it is time that there is some maintenance

work directed towards Route 437. On

behalf of the petitioners, I present this petition.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS until 2013, calcium

was applied to provincially owned gravel roads in and around communities to

suppress dust; and

WHEREAS dust suppression is

very helpful for residents experiencing health conditions like asthma and

allergies; and

WHEREAS the cost of

administrating the calcium program is very affordable to government; and

WHEREAS dust suppression is

an effective way of improving safety for the travelling public;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, beginning in 2014, to reinstate the

calcium application program on provincially owned gravel roads in and around

communities.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, while I was

home on the weekend, that is a petition that was handed to me by the residents.

I stood a number of times last fall on the calcium issue, and I will

continue, because now we are into spring and we are soon going to have the dust

problem again.

Mr. Speaker, every day

people get up on petitions, and lots of times we are petitioning on the same

things: cell service, broadband, and bad roads seems to be a problem everywhere.

Mr. Speaker, I do not hear any of the other forty-seven members in this

House calling for dust control. So

that just tells me how bad the conditions are in the district that I represent.

It is really, really infuriating.

I have met with the minister a number of times.

We have ferry issues that cannot be fixed overnight.

We have been struggling with that all of this year; it has been a

terrible year. We have an atrocious

road that we drive on. The pavement

was announced. We still have five or

six years.

Calcium went in through the

main road on each of the communities and it made a huge difference to the

quality of life for those residents, Mr. Speaker.

My colleague for Burgeo La Poile has been talking about diabetes today.

I have had many seniors say to me last summer: My dear, I cannot get out

for a walk any more. Just such a

small thing that would have such far-reaching benefits, it would help with

supporting this healthy living, increase the quality of life.

Mr. Speaker, the Budget came

down, it talked about shared prosperity and a fair society.

I can tell you when I have to stand here and ask for a little bit of

money to be put back to keep the dust down, we do not care if it is calcium, we

do not care what it is as long as we have the dust control.

There are a lot of people in my district who do not feel that we live in

a fair society, I can tell you that.

I urge the minister to do

the right thing. A couple of things I

have heard him say, one was that it could be an environmental issue.

That is why I say look at something else.

Most recently I heard that perhaps the truck is no longer able to

accommodate what they need to put the calcium out.

If there is a will, my grandmother used to say, there is a way.

I urge the minister

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Time has expired.

The hon. the Member for

Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition to the

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

Parliament assembled:

WHEREAS residents of the

Southwest Coast must travel the TCH between Channel-Port aux Basques and Corner

Brook for work, medical, educational, and social reasons; and

WHEREAS the Marine Atlantic

ferries dock at Channel-Port aux Basques at various hours on a daily basis

resulting in extremely high volume of commercial and residential travellers

using this

section of the TCH; and

WHEREAS the world-renowned

Wreckhouse area is situate along this

section of the TCH; and

WHEREAS the government

initiated the twenty-four hour snow clearing project in 2008 that excluded the

section between Channel-Port aux Basques and Stephenville;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

government to include the

section of the TCH from Channel-Port aux Basques to

Stephenville in the twenty-four hour snow clearing project.

Mr. Speaker, obviously this

is a petition I have entered on numerous occasions in this House.

I will continue to do so until government makes the right decision;

however, I stand today with a letter of support that I received from the

Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association that has written to the minister and

indicated their support for this initiative.

I have a letter here that was sent to the minister and I was cc'ed on.

The Atlantic Provinces

Trucking Association represents the commercial trucking industry in Atlantic

Canada with over 325 members from all four provinces.

This is a group that represents just about all the commercial traffic,

which makes up a large portion of the vehicles coming off the ferry and

travelling across and back and forth this Province.

For this group to indicate their support for this was seen to give it

some more strength. I am glad to

hear they have supported our call to include this

section of the roadway.

Again, I am not speaking

just on behalf of my constituents. I

am speaking on behalf of constituents in the district next to me.

I am speaking on behalf of the truckers who are going across this road.

They should have the same service they get elsewhere when they are going

across this Province.

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy

to stand here today and enter this again.

I look forward to continuing to call to make the right decision here when

it comes to twenty-four hour snow clearing.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, I

go to Order 2, third reading of a bill.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Environment and Conservation, that

Bill 3,

An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009, be now read the third

time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that the said bill be

now read a third time.

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, nay'.

Motion carried.

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009.

(Bill 3)

MR. SPEAKER:

This bill is now read a third time and it is

ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill,

An Act

To Amend The Vital Statistics Act, 2009, read a third time, ordered passed and

its title be as on the Order Paper.

(Bill 3)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now I would like to move to

Order 3, third reading. I move,

seconded by the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, that Bill 10,

An Act

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that the bill now be

read a third time.

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, nay'.

Motion carried.

CLERK:

(Bill 10)

MR. SPEAKER:

This bill is now read a third time and it is

ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill,

An Act

its title be as on the Order Paper.

(Bill 10)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this point, I would like

to call from the Order Paper Motion 1.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury

Board, that the House approves in general the budgetary policy of the

government, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I am happy to be able to

rise at last in my turn to address the Budget for 2014-2015, a Budget that came

into the House, I think, on March 27.

I find it extremely interesting that in this year's Budget, in the Budget

Speech, and in comments that have been made by the minister and by the Premier

since the Budget was first brought down, that the government has chosen to use

the language of social justice. I

noticed they have even put out

definitions of social justice in the speech

itself, if I remember correctly, in the Speech from the Throne and in comments

that have been made here in the House.

It is a very important

concept. It is certainly one which I

have believed all my life, the concept of social justice; but the term is not

something that one can put on and taken off at will.

One year a Budget is a Budget based on social justice and another year a

Budget is based on tearing apart the programs and the very structure of what our

society, our community, may be built on.

Last year, Mr. Speaker, we

had a Budget that was pretty brutal.

It was a Budget that took away jobs from people in this Province, that took away

programs that people in the Province had been depending on, that took away

structures even that communities have been depending on for years; and did it at

a time, not when we were a Province in dire straits, not when we were a Province

who did not know where the next cent was coming from, but a Province that now

has an $8 billion Budget, a Province that has money has we have never had it

before in terms of revenue.

It was at a time like that,

that the government brought in a Budget that really made people suffer, and

people are still suffering from that Budget, Mr. Speaker.

Yet, this government can turn around this year and say oh, this year we

believe in social justice, and this year we have a Budget that is going to be a

Budget that will cause equality for people. This year is a year that we are

going to show people that we care.

So we are supposed to forget and people are supposed to forget that they did not

care last year but they are caring this year.

Was it social justice to

have all of those layoffs, Mr. Speaker?

All the layoffs that happened, we are told in excess of 1,500 people lost

their jobs, and we found out that many of the decisions that were made by this

government in that Budget were decisions not based on solid analysis, not based

on a reality inside of the departments.

We did not have departments that were swollen with numbers of people

lying around doing nothing. They

certainly found that out in the Sheriff's Office, Mr. Speaker.

This government this year in its Budget tried to undo what it did last

year, which was almost destroy the whole structure of the Sheriff's Office and

the role that it plays in our justice system if we want to use the word

justice.

The same way, Mr. Speaker,

with the Department of Justice, with the Crown prosecutors; again, we were not

talking about a system that was swollen with people with nothing to do.

What did they have to do days after the Budget came down last year?

They had to reverse decisions, decisions that were not based on analysis,

that were not based on reality, that were knee-jerk reactions, and they had to

turn them around.

It was a Budget last year

that did not care about the impact on young workers in the public service

sector, young workers who lost their jobs because of the layoffs.

We have now, Mr. Speaker, a public service sector that has a real

disruption in the continuity of the public service sector, a disruption in the

knowledge that exists in the public service sector because of the loss of the

jobs last year.

Was that social justice, Mr.

Speaker? Was that

an act that really

was for the good of people in the public service sector?

Was it a decision that was good for the people in the community?

No, Mr. Speaker, it was not.

Let us look at another

decision in last year's Budget, and that was the decision to privatize Adult

Basic Education. Was that social

justice, Mr. Speaker, when we had communities that had wonderful centres in them

that were based in the community who were offering the ABE program, who were

offering employment programs, who knew closely the people in their community who

were vulnerable, who needed literacy programs, who had disabilities, who had

lost jobs in their communities and the centres in those communities were able to

work with people to ensure that they could get the education that they need to

better themselves to move forward?

Those communities lost those

centres. Those communities lost

their programs, whether the programs were being offered from the not-for-profit

community groups or being offered by our public college system, these were

programs that were rooted in the community.

Was that social justice, Mr.

Speaker, taking that program away from the communities of rural Newfoundland and

Labrador, taking that program away from people who needed it most?

So much for social justice in last year's Budget, Mr. Speaker, but this

year they can say: Oh, now we believe in social justice.

Wonderful!

The school board

reorganization, Mr. Speaker, no discussion, no debate.

None of us even knew there was an inkling this was coming.

All of a sudden in last year's Budget, we have this big decision for one

school board without any sense of what that is going to mean for people who are

at the heart of that school board.

We were already having decisions being made that were not good decisions for

individual communities.

People on the tip of the

Northern Peninsula were thinking that the board in Corner Brook really did not

understand what it meant for them to lose a school up on the tip of the Northern

Peninsula and the school board in Corner Brook did not.

What is going to happen now when we have one school board down here on

this Province? Where is the social

justice there, Mr. Speaker?

Are we seeing that there is

equity in our system here in this Province?

Are we seeing really that people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador have

equal access, have equal opportunities, that people in, for example, St. John's

or Corner Brook have? Is that social

justice? No, Mr. Speaker.

What social justice means is nobody being left behind and programs being

planned in a way that those most in need get what they need in order to bring

them up to a level of what maybe another community has that they do not have.

That is social justice, Mr. Speaker, not making these blanket decisions

that take things away from people.

Let's look at another one,

Mr. Speaker, the Family Violence Intervention Court.

Was it social justice to close down that court?

I do not think so, Mr. Speaker.

Once again, it was a program that was essential for a smaller group of

people in our community, smaller in one way, not so small in another.

This was a program, Mr.

Speaker, that was devoted to helping families in which there was violence, most

often violence by men against their wives or their partners and/or their

children. It was an intervention

court that was going to benefit everybody, and it did.

It benefited, in most cases, the mother and her children and it also

benefited the abuser.

It was a court that was

proven it was working. There was a

report done that, as far as we know because we only have copies of it, we do

not have anything official from this government and from what was told us by

everybody who was part of that program, it was working and it was proven to be

something that could lower domestic violence in our Province.

It was a program that was so

good that Nova Scotia, for example, Mr. Speaker, decided it was a real model and

they have started family intervention courts based on the model we used to have

here. This government dares to say

that it believes in social justice.

This year they think they

can take a few things and throw them into the basket, and say: We believe in

social justice. We believe in social

justice because this year we are going to start reducing the small business tax,

which the NDP had in its platform in 2011.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS MICHAEL:

We will start reducing that tax.

We are going to bring it down 1 per cent.

That is social justice.

They also have brought in,

Mr. Speaker well, they brought this in before.

You have a small increase every year for Income Support rates, and they

are saying that is social justice because we have a small increase based on the

cost of living. This is social

justice; aren't we wonderful?

Well, when they had a report

put in their hands some years ago, a report that said the Income Support has to

bring people up to a level where they are no longer living in poverty and then

every year after that you do a cost-of-living increase, they forgot that first

recommendation, Mr. Speaker. They

took a level of Income Support that is a poverty level and every year they do a

bit of an increase on that poverty level.

Because that poverty level began where it began, you can do your little

increases every year, it is still always going to be a poverty-level existence.

That is social justice, Mr. Speaker.

I cannot believe they have the gall to even use the terminology.

The same way with testing

newborn children for cystic fibrosis, they called this social justice.

It is, but there are so many other things they do not do for people when

it comes to our health care system.

What is wrong with their picture of social justice is that they do not

understand that it is a mentality.

It is the way you look at every decision that you make.

It is not cherry-picking. It

is not choosing something here and choosing something there and saying oh, we

know the NDP is calling for this and people seem to be responding positively.

Let's put that in this year.

Let's put that in because it looks like that is what people want.

Let's put in full-day kindergarten, but forget about an early childhood

strategy plan. That is what they

miss, is the broad picture. They are

not saying, for example, let's look at child care.

They are not giving us what they have always said they were going to give

us, an early childhood education plan.

Then you would see a child care program.

Then you would see full-day kindergarten part of a full vision that

starts with the child at six months and brings a child right up to Grade 12.

Early childhood education is

not just having all-day kindergarten, but they cherry-pick.

They cherry-picked. They

chose that one because it was always in their plan.

They have been planning it for years.

I know the department has plans on the board and have had that plan there

for a long time.

They finally decide, okay,

let's do it now. We are ready to do

it now. Not because they should be

doing it, not because this is a piece of early childhood education, but how are

we going to have things in the Budget that is going to get us re-elected in the

general election. That is their

social justice. That is what social

justice is to them. How are we going

to get ourselves re-elected?

The same way with the

student loan system. I am delighted

we have the all-day kindergarten. I

still think we could have started some of that in September of this year.

I have spoken to experts and those in the know who say we could have

started that in some of the schools this year.

I am also delighted the student loan system has changed and that we have

grants, which is something we as a party have been calling for more than ten

years, Mr. Speaker.

Again, they cherry-pick.

They say, oh, this one is going to be good.

We are going to get the young people on this.

The people in post-secondary education are going to love this.

We are going to get our votes from them, Mr. Speaker.

They have the gall to do it and not recognize that they are not the only

people in the Province who have stood for this.

They have no idea of what it

means when they say they believe in social justice.

They believe in doing what is going to get them elected, Mr. Speaker.

That is what they believe in: what is going to get them elected.

If they had a real vision for social justice, then we would not see what

is happening in this Province right now.

The rich are getting richer,

the poor are getting poorer, and they do not want to hear it.

They use statistics to try to deny the reality of what is going in this

Province. The gap between rich and

poor is growing. That is the

reality.

There is an interesting

comment from a report entitled, Inequality Rising Faster than Ever, and this

comes from an internationally renowned organization, the Organization for

Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD.

The OECD says, We're not experiencing a recession for the rich, only a

recession for the rest. That was an

interesting comment when they made it, and that is what is going on in this

Province right now in turning it around.

We are not experiencing growth for everybody.

We are experiencing growth for the rich; we are not experiencing it for

the rest. That is the message, Mr.

Speaker, that I keep getting.

If we really believe in

social justice, then we do our planning based on the rest of us, the rest of the

people, those for whom the economic system is not working, and we do not do it

by a tidbit here and a tidbit there.

We put programs in place, plans in place, that show we really understand how to

make our economic system work for everybody so that nobody gets left behind, Mr.

Speaker. We have people right, left,

and centre in this Province being left behind.

Senior citizens who cannot afford to both pay for their food, heat their

homes, and pay for their medication.

Senior citizens chewing ice cubes when they are hungry to fool their stomachs.

That is the kind of thing we have going on.

We have people in this

Province who cannot find places to live who, on a regular basis, in the night,

on weekends, during our workdays, at all times, making phone calls to us because

they do not have adequate housing.

They call us crying. I cannot

understand how they can continue talking the way they are, Mr. Speaker, on the

other side of the House; because if we are getting these phone calls from

people, surely they are getting them as well.

So, do they not hear those pleas when people call on the phone and cry

because they literally do not know what they are going to do?

Like the mother of an

autistic child who had to give up her home and move in with her parents because

she could not afford to be able to take care of her child.

She could not afford to take care of her child; her housing was too

expensive. She had to give up her

home and move in with her parents in order to take care of an autistic child.

That is social justice, Mr. Speaker?

They keep denying the reality of what we see in this Province.

They keep acting as if what we are seeing, they do not see, but they have

a way of being able to close their eyes to it.

I cannot close my eyes to

the reality of what I see. If you

believe in social justice, you cannot close your eyes to the reality of what you

see. If you believe in social

justice, you have to recognize everything that is going on in society and you

say: How do we put something in place that takes care of everybody?

That the rest of us are taken care of, that they are not people left

behind, that there are not people going to bed at night hungry because they

cannot afford to buy food and heat their homes at the same time.

That is why there is not a community in this Province now where you go

where you cannot find food banks; some smaller, some larger depending on the

community. They are everywhere in

our Province, Mr. Speaker, because everywhere in our Province people are being

left behind.

Mr. Speaker, this is my

first opportunity to speak to the Budget.

I am delighted to have had this first opportunity, and I look forward to

my other opportunities as the debate continues.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

The hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour

Grace.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is a

tremendous honour to take my place in this House of Assembly as the Member for

the great District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the hon. members of this House

and address the constituents who, through their efforts, have brought me here

today.

I will take a moment to

offer thanks and best wishes to my predecessors, the former Members of Carbonear

Harbour Grace: Mr. Jerome Kennedy, as well as Mr. Art Reid and Mr. George

Sweeney. I would also like to

acknowledge Mr. George Clarke, a native from Crockers Cove, Carbonear who served

in this Legislature for sixteen years.

He was one of the longest-serving Speakers of the House, having served in

that position for ten years.

Public service is no small

feat and those who take on these rewarding yet challenging roles should be

commended, no matter what political corner they chose to do their jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to

express my deepest appreciation for the support, kindness, and trust shown

during my recent election. I thank

all those who assisted, have brought me here today, particularly the dedicated

campaign team of volunteers, including my family and friends.

For the ultimate vote of

confidence in my by-election of November 26, 2013, I offer profound thanks to

the people of the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SLADE:

Let there be no mistake, their vote created a

strong bond between the people of the district and myself, and I intend to

honour it each and every day while I am given this duty to represent them in

government and in this Legislature.

Mr. Speaker, the people and

the communities of the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace are very near and

dear to my heart and soul. I have

served them as a councillor, deputy mayor, and the Mayor of the community of

Carbonear for many years. I intend,

with the best of my intentions and good will, to serve their purpose and their

platform the people's purpose and platform hopefully, for many years to

come.

The District of Carbonear

Harbour Grace is a mixture of towns, communities, and bays that are bound

together by many shared links, issues, and values.

Our past reaches back some 500 years when our Island was known as land of

the fish and cod was truly king, and even currency.

Our region had thriving

fishing communities even before settlements and livyers set up full-time

residence. Our rich story includes

the legacy of sailors and pirates like Peter Easton and the Irish princess he

allegedly rescued by the name of Sheila NaGeira.

Since then, we have had many other brave daredevils and pioneers, some

infamous, some not recognized, and some very famous like Amelia Earhart, an

American aviator pioneer who, as many of you will know, was the first female

pilot to fly solo across the North Atlantic.

In the district, we have

borne witness to colonies being established, wars upon our shores, international

ports of trade created, violent political and religious riots taking place, and

the Royal Canadian Navy operations carried out.

Yet, the communities in the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace are

still standing to tell the tale and what a fantastic tale of history we have

for the residents and tourists who visit our communities.

In addition to the above

historical notables, we have historic places still standing, like the Harbour

Grace Courthouse, which was constructed in 1830.

Three of the oldest stone churches in the Province are also within our

district: St. Paul's Anglican Church, Immaculate Conception in Harbour Grace,

and St. Patrick's in Carbonear. We

have the historic Mosquito wooden schoolhouse in Bristol's Hope, one of the last

of its kind.

Historic Carbonear Island

serves as a strategic place and a

chapter in our provincial history.

During the Battle of Carbonear in which the French led the attack on the

community, the residents retreated to the island.

They were successful in defending the island from capture.

It became known for a time as the Gibraltar of Newfoundland.

Centuries later, in 1992 and

in 2012, Carbonear hosted the summer games.

As a result, the district can now boast about rubberized walking tracks,

excellent ball fields, and tennis courts.

There is also an outdoor concert venue known as Paddy's Garden, as well

as a downtown heritage area.

This is not a well-known

fact, Mr. Speaker, but there was a prisoner-of-war camp built during the Second

World War in Victoria. It was the

only prisoner-of-war camp built in Newfoundland and Labrador, but it was never

occupied because when the United States came into the war, they did not want

prisoners near their bases in the Province.

Today, a unique and early heritage park sits on that same site, completed

with a period saltbox house, a general store, a period church, a forge, and a

water-operated sawmill. Victoria is

also home to the second-oldest power plant built in 1904.

It is still operating today as efficiently as it was when it was built.

I want to thank my wife

Beverly, my three children, and seven grandchildren who stood by me and

supported me throughout my campaign, and continue that support.

I would also like to thank my brother and four sisters who stood by me.

As well, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my late parents who taught me the

values of life and never missed an opportunity to help and support my fellow

citizens, which is the very reason I offer myself for public life and why I am

here today.

Mr. Speaker, it has been

over three months since I officially assumed the role of MHA for the District of

Carbonear Harbour Grace on December 11, 2013.

We all come to our seats through different paths, some as lawyers, some

as teachers, and many of us from a variety of other lines of work.

By trade and true grit, I am a fisherman, a fish harvester, an

entrepreneur as they would like to call us now, and very proud to call myself

one.

As we row the great and

mighty ship called Newfoundland and Labrador, we will each have different lights

to guide us. My guiding force will

be the people of the district who I have the pleasure to represent, their

issues, their concerns, their worries, their challenges, and most importantly,

their solutions, as well as their visions and hope for the future.

Mr. Speaker, this is a people's government and a people's house, and we

must be vigilant in being responsive to this very simple truth.

Mr. Speaker, as I have

stated, I have been a municipal leader for over twenty years.

During that time, I have become personally familiar with the challenges

facing municipalities as I have seen it first-hand and the difficulties and joys

of running a community. I want to

continue to fight for infrastructure such as clean and safe drinking water,

proper water and sewer, as well as safe highways and roads.

I will also press for better education and facilities, including

post-secondary education, as well as shorter wait times and more efficient

delivery in our health care system.

I remain firm in my deep

belief in both rural Newfoundland and Labrador and in the fishery.

As a fisherman and a vessel owner, there are many rough waters to

navigate. I still stand ready to

fight tooth and nail for our small rural communities.

This can only occur if we are vigilant, if we have enough people fighting

the good fight, if we have leaders who control our resources willing to listen

and be committed.

We cannot again allow greed

to govern how we harvest our resources.

It must be done for the benefit of all and not just a few.

It must be done sustainably, sensibly, and it must be done in

collaboration with all stakeholders.

Mr. Speaker, I am a firm

believer in joint management of our fisheries with all stakeholders, and

especially with the federal government.

As a Province, we have been seeking joint management since Newfoundland

joined Confederation sixty-five years ago.

Now is the time to have that conversation again, but we must make this a

means to an end to finally get the respect we all deserve when it comes to our

fishery resources.

Incredibly, our fishery is

managed by people thousands of miles away.

People who may not be familiar with our fishing communities, people who

have not walked on our wharves or even had a regular conversation with our

fishermen. As well intentioned as

they may be, these people cannot do the job.

Let us draw ourselves a map

of a path we wish to travel. It must

begin now, it must be a priority, and it must begin with us.

Effective management of our fisheries resource should be left in the

hands of those who are most familiar with the daily operations and what the

fishery really means to the people on the front lines.

While there may be a

collaborative role by our federal counterparts, the reality is and the real

answer needs to come from those who are closest to the resource.

Joint management of fisheries and aquaculture is a key to ensuring

longevity and future growth.

Mr. Speaker, I may be only

in this role officially for four months but I have been familiar with the issues

affecting the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace my entire life.

Carbonear is my home, and for the past twenty years I have taken every

phone call, read every letter, and spoke to as many people as I can in the

region on what bothers them.

This is a flourishing and

successful region. For everything

that represents a challenge, there are also many things that can speak of

success of a district. Mr. Speaker,

the district boasts a modern, regional hospital; long-term health care

facilities; modern schools; modern shopping facilities; great recreational and

sporting facilities, such as the swimming pool in Carbonear and the stadium in

Harbour Grace. This area is commonly

referred to as the Hub of the Bay.

In Harbour Grace is a plane

called the Spirit of Harbour Grace .

This tourist attraction stands in recognition of contribution of the town

to early flight. I think it also

could very well symbolize the tremendous spirit of bravery and endurance not

just within the people and the communities, bays, and inlets of the District of

Carbonear Harbour Grace, but in the whole of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

I am humbled today that

those same people have put their faith in me in conveying the spirit and the

wishes of the people in the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.

This is a commitment I promise to keep, a pledge that I make today to

those who elected me and to all people of the Province.

Mr. Speaker, I am known,

among many infamous deeds, as being the last person to lock the doors of the

Carbonear train station when it went out of service.

One thing I can promise you: I will not be locking any doors on democracy

or on my constituents; their needs are my needs.

I intend to be part of a team that reopens a new way forward to our

Province.

Mr. Speaker, achievement is

only possible where there is action.

We have to be agents of change that we would like to see in our districts, our

Province, our country and indeed this world.

That is why I am here in the people's House.

I have pledged to the people of the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace

that there will be change in how we are represented.

I do not take their support for granted; they have given me their

confidence, and I respectfully seek to deliver on everything I have committed

to.

Mr. Speaker, as every member

in this House today can attest, we are all given a great privilege of standing

in this Legislature to reach each and every resident of our Province.

As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we are strong, confident, and

fearless people.

It is my honour to be

entrusted with the concerns and triumphs of residents in the District of

Carbonear Harbour Grace. It is a

responsibility I do not take lightly.

I want to light some fires to start change in my district in the fishery

and in the Province as a whole, because as Martin Luther King Junior once said,

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for

the privilege of addressing this House today.

I look forward, in the years ahead, as we work together for the people

who have put faith and trust into us.

Indeed, I dedicate this speech to the warm and wonderful people in the

District of Carbonear Harbour Grace.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for

Bonavista South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a privilege and I am

delighted to be able to rise in this House today to speak on Budget 2014.

I would like to commend the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace on his

maiden speech. I would like to say

that all members in the House of Assembly are here to work hard and to act on

behalf of our constituents and the people of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

At this time, I feel it is

fitting to actually have some discussions around and talk around the issue of

health care services in Budget 2014.

It is very important. A $3 billion

investment advances health care for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Accessible health care remains a priority for the provincial Government

of Newfoundland and Labrador. With

an investment of $3 billion in Budget 2014, this is certainly going to help

ensure better, improved health care and better value for Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians.

We are listening to the

people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and focusing on areas we

know will mean the most to them and their families.

This government continues to provide accessible health care for families

and communities throughout the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Budget 2014 is all about shared prosperity, fair society, and a balanced

approach. This government recognizes

that and will continue to focus our attention on being fair to all people of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the recent Budget, there

was an announcement that was very important to the District of Bonavista South

and important to communities on the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula: a $1.5

million investment for dialysis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLE:

I can say that with all certainty based on the

fact that I have attended a number of functions in the District of Bonavista

South the past couple of weekends.

Everywhere I go, people are actually talking about the importance of these

dialysis services to the communities on the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula.

I would like to take the

opportunity to commend the Minister of Finance, Premier Marshall, the Cabinet

ministers, the Department of Health and Community Services, and community groups

and organizations in the Bonavista area who actually lobbied government on

numerous occasions for this important service.

I commend the dialysis

committee, community councils, and leaders in the communities as well.

This was a joint effort by all people involved.

Everybody is to be commended on doing such an outstanding job.

This government, in particular, and Cabinet listened to the people in

that part of the region of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Again, I send out my gratitude to all people involved.

It was a joint effort and we did listen to the people and we will listen

to the people in the future.

This service will provide a

better quality of life to people who are affected by dialysis.

This service will allow people to stay closer to home to have an

important service like this. This

service was a number one priority for the people in the District of Bonavista

South. This government listened loud

and clear and acted on the request of the people of the District of Bonavista

South, Mr. Speaker.

As we continue to focus our

attention on the needs of the people in health care and the people who are

working in health care, we did make a number of investments, and we do recognize

the importance of all people who work in health care.

This government recognized that nurses are important members of the

health care professional team in hospitals, health care centres, and communities

throughout this Province. That is

why 32 per cent of the number of new health and community services positions

added in Budget 2014 is nursing positions, Mr. Speaker.

There is an investment of

approximately millions of dollars that was invested in relation to putting

professional people into our health care systems in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Accessible health care remains a priority for the provincial government;

2014 will definitely ensure better health care services, better value for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. We