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November 26, 2014

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 46

The House met at 2:00 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

Order, please!

Today, I am pleased to welcome to the Speaker's gallery

Mr. Steve Crocker, who ran in the Trinity-Bay de Verde election and was the

successful candidate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

I am also very pleased to welcome to the public gallery today, no stranger

to this House of Assembly floor, the MP for Labrador, Ms Yvonne Jones.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

I am willing to bet it is the only time she ever sat in this House of

Assembly without having some words.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we have members' statements from the Member for the District of St.

Barbe; the Member for the District of Placentia St. Mary's; the Member for

the District of Bonavista North; the Member for the District of Cartwright

L'Anse au Clair; the District of Kilbride; and from the District of Torngat

Mountains.

The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate Douglas

and Alice House of Bellburns on their seventy-fifth wedding anniversary.

This special occasion, that is so rare for people to have the

opportunity to enjoy, was celebrated on September 15 with family and

friends.

Douglas, born in Bellburns, met Alice, born in Daniel's

Harbour, at an early age. They

married and started their family.

They raised nine children, enjoy twenty-five grandchildren, a large

number of great-grandchildren, and even some great-great-grandchildren.

Douglas was the provider.

He fished, logged, and worked as a public employee with the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Alice never worked outside the home.

They have been blessed to spend so much of their entire

married life in the community of Bellburns, and are very much part of the

community history. They have

been active in the community and with the church.

They continue to enjoy good health, and are still living in their own

home.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to

join me in congratulating Douglas and Alice House on their seventy-fifth

wedding anniversary.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Placentia St. Mary's.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary

Association Award of Excellence recognizes members of the Royal Newfoundland

Constabulary Association who have exhibited outstanding qualities, which may

include those that are above and beyond the call of duty.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to congratulate

Sergeant Tim Hogan, a native of Dunville, Placentia who has been selected as

this year's recipient of the RNCA Award of Excellence in the category of the

leadership award. This award is

presented to an officer who distinguishes herself or himself by superior

accomplishments or continuing long-term involvement using leadership skills

that encompass problem solving, planning, organization, communication,

serving on committees that review employees concerns and development, and

being a positive role model with the support and assistance to officers.

Sergeant Tim Hogan is a twenty-eight year veteran of

the RNC, having served in the units of major crimes, drug enforcement, and

property crimes, child and sexual abuse.

He is the son of Mary and William Hogan, a former Mayor of Dunville,

Placentia, a former MHA for Placentia, and himself a former member of the

RNC.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members to join me in

congratulating Sergeant Tim Hogan on winning this prestigious award.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bonavista North.

MR. CROSS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am proud to rise today to recognize the monumental

achievement of a group of volunteers in my district.

On September 20, I had the honour to attend the fortieth anniversary

of the Centreville-Wareham-Trinity Indian Bay Recreation Committee.

Long before three of the four towns amalgamated, these

groups united their forces to tackle regional goals in recreation and sport.

The current complement of members on the committee is nearly twenty,

and attendance to meetings and events is very high and the agenda very

active. The committee is a

shining example for others around the Province, and they have been

recognized over the years for their valiant efforts for the healthy

recreational agenda they have been providing to the communities.

There are four individuals who have been involved from

the committee's inception and have participated actively for the entire

forty years. Winston Button,

Gordon Hunt, Wilfred Wiseman, and Chairman Roland Button should be applauded

for their long-standing commitment.

Most of these members were also members of the predecessor groups and

their involvement dates back nearly forty-three consecutive years.

I ask all hon. members to join in a unified gesture of

appreciation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize the oldest resident of

Labrador, Ms Mary Williams, who recently turned 101.

Known to all as Aunt Mary, Ms Williams resettled from Flat Waters to

Cartwright during a resettlement program.

She married, raised two children, and had four grandchildren.

One of her children was Marguerite Dyson, who was

murdered in a boarding house in St. John's in 1996.

In Marguerite's memory the St. John's Women's Centre developed

Marguerite's Place, a supportive housing complex for women in need.

In spite of the harsh environment, living off the land

is what Aunt Mary knew best.

From cooking Arctic Char on the rocks to running a dogsled team, Aunt Mary

is a woman who has embraced the Labrador life.

Still, Mary speaks of Flat Waters fondly and even remarked when I

visited her recently, jokingly she wanted to borrow my vehicle to make the

trip back. Sometimes, Mr.

Speaker, we consider more than one place home.

Aunt Mary is a generous spirit with a sharing nature

and an open heart. I ask all

hon. members to join me in wishing Aunt Mary a happy 101 st

birthday.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride.

MS ROGERS:

(Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to commend the 2013-2014

graduating class of St. Kevin's High School in the Goulds.

At this year's graduation ceremonies, eighty-five students received

graduating certificates.

Twenty-four of these graduated with honours and thirty-nine received one or

more scholarships, awards, or prizes.

One student, Raylene Mackey, one of our new Pages in

this House, received eleven awards and scholarships.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DINN:

The valedictorian Jennifer Careen walked off with five awards, including the

Governor General's Medal for Excellence.

A total of twenty-five Memorial scholarships were presented to twenty

students. These scholarships

were donated mostly by families and the Goulds Lions Club to honour past

members. Most of the other

awards and scholarships were donated by local business, community groups,

and organizations.

The majority of these students are already attending

post-secondary institutions.

Some other have plans to continue their education in the near future.

Many of these students are working part-time helping to finance their

education.

These students are a fair representation of the quality

of the high school students we are graduating from our schools in this

Province. They are well-grounded

young men and women.

I ask all members to join me in congratulating the

graduating classes at St. Kevin's High School.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize, also, the thirty-ninth

Annual Labrador Creative Arts Festival, which took place this week in Happy

Valley-Goose Bay. The Labrador

Creative Arts Festival is Canada's longest running children's festival, an

accomplishment, as I said earlier, worth recognizing in this House.

The drama teacher, Tim Borlase can up with the idea for

the festival back in 1974.

Borlase and fellow teacher Noreen Heighton went to work to realize that the

festival's vision to foster creative opportunities that bring children

together and celebrate their heritage.

President and festival co-ordinator Fiona Andersen continues to bring

the festival to the spot light.

Since the first festival year in 1975, almost 500

original plays have been written and performed.

Over 15,000 children have been involved in these productions and

roughly 50,000 children have been exposed to the performing arts as a result

of this festival. Over 500

visiting artists from Canada, the US, and Europe have participated.

Mr. Speaker, children's imaginations are boundless.

When adults work together to provide opportunities for the children

to express their creativity, as the Labrador Creative Arts Festival has done

for almost forty years now, it is to be commended.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Before we go to statements by ministers, there are five

people in the public gallery I would like to recognize: Marden Verge, Sharon

Verge, Marion Gillespie, Marie Bennett, and Howard Bennett.

They all hale from a small town, Beachside, out near Springdale.

To all of them, I am known as their baby brother.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the significant investments this

government has made over the last number of years clearly demonstrate our

commitment to ensuring quality infrastructure in communities across

Newfoundland and Labrador.

This commitment was evident when we introduced the new

cost-share ratios in 2008. Based

on population, the revised formula made it easier for communities to afford

new infrastructure or significant infrastructure improvements.

It means that towns with populations less than 3,000 only pay 10 per

cent towards their approved infrastructure projects with the Province

covering the remaining 90 per cent.

Towns with populations greater than 3,000 but less than 7,000 pay 20

per cent with government paying the other 80 per cent.

For towns with populations exceeding 7,000, the Province pays 70 per

cent and the town only 30 per cent.

This new ratio has been well received by municipal leaders throughout

the Province and it allows all municipalities to invest in infrastructure

which benefits the residents of the Province.

Mr. Speaker, since the ratio was implemented, the

provincial government has approved in excess of $820 million in municipal

capital works projects, resulting in improved municipal infrastructure

throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

When federal and municipal contributions are included, the total

investment is in excess of $1.25 billion.

Just this year, the Department of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs committed to a $200 million three-year capital

works program for new municipal infrastructure projects.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that the funding allocated

be shared equitably between both large and small municipalities.

Of the $200 million program, the largest seven municipalities

received $100 million. This

recognized the major infrastructure pressures that these municipalities were

facing.

In addition, the new Building Canada Fund will provide

approximately $349 million in federal funding to the Province over the next

ten years. When combined with

provincial and municipal funding, the total investment in provincial and

municipal infrastructure is expected to be between $800 million and $1

billion. This funding is over

and above the existing provincial capital works programs.

We recognize there is an increased demand for

infrastructure throughout the Province, from both large and small

municipalities, and we have been making progress in addressing their

infrastructure needs through our municipal capital works programs, with key

priority areas including improving drinking water and waste water systems

and recreational infrastructure.

We will continue to work with communities to assist

them with their infrastructure projects and these investments highlight our

commitment to do just that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of this

statement. Mr. Speaker, I would

be remiss if I did not mention the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills

for all of the work he did through the years, especially in the Bay of

Islands area, and the current minister for treating the towns with respect

and sitting down and explaining the municipal infrastructure program.

Mr. Speaker, in between, there were two there who did not treat

people with respect.

It is great to spend the money; it is great for the

infrastructure. Mr. Speaker,

there is no doubt that many towns appreciate the infrastructure, but they

need funding to operate. It is

one thing to build the infrastructure, Mr. Speaker, but you need the funding

to ensure that the infrastructure will operate.

That is why I encourage the government for this municipal fiscal

framework that could be done this year.

Also, Mr. Speaker, I see the two things that the

minister mentioned there. One is

the federal waste water, the policy that is coming in from the federal

government. The municipalities

are looking for answers. This is

going to cost the Province, the municipalities, $500 million, and we are

looking to the provincial government for answers to help with this funding

and the federal government, I say to the minister.

Also, I heard the boil orders, Mr. Speaker.

I know it is a hard issue, but we all have to work on the boil

orders. There are over 100 in

the Province now. We all need to

work together.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

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

MR. MURPHY:

I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement here today.

It does little good to help municipalities build infrastructure if

you do not provide a fair share of operating funds to achieve.

The loss of federal revenue from the cuts made to the

Building Canada Fund, just so that the federal Conservatives could balance

the budget, along with a drop in our per-capita share because of a lower

population does not help municipalities.

These municipalities are owed money by the Province, and they are

owed that commitment. Clean

water and infrastructure is a right, Mr. Speaker; it should not be an ask.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. RUSSELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday was the International Day for

the Elimination of Violence Against Women and marked the launch of the

provincial government's fifth annual Purple Ribbon Campaign to raise

awareness of violence against women.

Today, I rise to pay tribute to the Aboriginal women in Newfoundland

and Labrador who take an active role in violence prevention and in promoting

other issues of concern within their communities.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the

fourth National Aboriginal Women's Summit at Membertou First Nation in Nova

Scotia where I was joined by colleague, the Minister of Justice and Public

Safety and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, and representatives

of Aboriginal governments and organizations.

This event brought together delegates from provincial

and territorial governments, National Aboriginal Organizations, and various

community leaders to discuss challenges facing Aboriginal women and

communities and begin the preparation of a Socio-Economic Action Plan for

Aboriginal women. This plan will

be presented to the Aboriginal Affairs Working Group of provincial and

territorial ministers and leaders of the five National Aboriginal

Organizations this spring before being presented to Premiers and National

Aboriginal Organization leaders in July.

I also recently participated in the provincial

Aboriginal Women's Conference in Happy Valley-Goose Bay where I heard,

first-hand, about the issues Aboriginal women face inside their communities.

I was pleased to also hear of many successes provincial Aboriginal

women's organizations have been having in addressing Aboriginal women's

issues right here at home. As a

government, we have made investments to help address serious issues such as

violence and suicide prevention and it was encouraging to hear directly from

conference participants that these investments are indeed having an impact.

Since 2005, the provincial government has invested over

$1.5 million to support 102 violence prevention projects sponsored by

Aboriginal governments and organizations throughout the Province through the

Aboriginal Women's Violence Prevention Grants Program.

Earlier this month, $200,000 was awarded for ten new projects which

support the development of culturally-appropriate approaches to the

prevention of violence against Aboriginal women and children in Newfoundland

and Labrador.

We continue to support Aboriginal women in addressing

violence and other issues that face their communities, and to support the

call for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and

girls. We also recognize the

importance of learning from their experiences as we seek to develop and

refine policies and initiatives that impact their communities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all hon. members to join me in

congratulating Aboriginal women for continuing to show leadership and for

the great work that they do within their communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. Violence against

women is a global pandemic.

While factors like ethnicity, income, and geography vary the experiences of

women, violence against women transcends geographic boundaries.

This weekend, I will take

part in a Take Back the Night march in my

district again where women and girls will march together to raise awareness

about sexual assault and the fear that sexual assault instills in women and

girls to walk alone.

Mr. Speaker, numerous times in this House my colleague,

the Member for Torngat Mountains, has questioned government on the provision

of justice in Aboriginal communities.

It is nothing short of shameful that victims of violence are

literally living next door to their abusers while the docket list grows from

lack of resources in the justice system.

Government's approach to the prevention of violence

against Aboriginal women and girls has been piecemeal.

In my member's statement just moments ago, I spoke of Marguerite

Dyson, an Inuit woman from my district who was murdered in a boarding house

here in 1996.

Mr. Speaker, all members of this House supported a

private member's motion earlier this year urging the federal government to

call a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women.

I would have liked to have heard more from the minister on what his

government has actually done to lobby the federal government on calling an

inquiry since that motion was passed.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement. Aboriginal women have

systemically been the target of violence for years.

The RCMP has identified 1,200 murdered and missing Aboriginal women.

It is time that government stop and listen to Aboriginal women.

Although they have not created the problem, we must follow their

leadership in providing solutions.

They are experts in their experience, and together we must work on

addressing the issues of violence against Aboriginal women and children.

I urge this House once again to push the federal

government to call for an immediate national inquiry into murdered and

missing Aboriginal women, and I thank my Aboriginal sisters for the

incredible work they do and the leadership they show.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CORNECT:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to present the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador's first Regulatory Reform Annual Report.

Since this initiative began in 2005, regulatory reform has been a

success story for this government.

Our government is responsible for providing the

regulatory framework for government departments and agencies to develop

policies, programs and procedures.

The purpose of the Regulatory Reform Initiative is to improve the

regulatory environment for individuals, businesses and communities when

accessing services or complying with government requirements.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to tell you that our Regulatory

Reform Initiative continues to lead the way in our country when it comes to

improving the quality of regulation.

Our Regulatory Reform Accountability framework, announced in 2012,

was the first of its kind in Canada.

This framework defines the expectations of Regulatory Reform, the

roles and responsibilities of individual departments and agencies, and

outlines the oversight activities for the initiative.

This past year, we have not only met our standing

commitment of zero growth in the number of regulatory requirements, but we

have also exceeded this commitment with a further decrease in excess of

1,300 requirements. Regulatory

reform efforts have also helped to modernize legislation such as the

Adoption Act, 2013, streamline multiple wage subsidy programs into a single

program and application, and enhance the public's access to services, such

as being able to request birth, marriage and death certificates online.

Mr. Speaker, this is just a small sample of what this initiative has

achieved in the last year.

Mr. Speaker, we are a leader in this country when it

comes to regulatory reform and I am proud of the tremendous amount of work

that has been completed by those responsible for this important initiative.

I encourage all members of this hon. House to visit Service NL's Web

site and review the 2013-2014 Regulatory Reform Annual Report, which

outlines many more significant achievements.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the advance copy of his

statement. Businesses and

consumers alike are both affected by red tape.

Government rules, permits, and paperwork are involved in everything

from renovating a home to applying for a student loan.

This initiative is very important.

We welcome anything that makes it easier to do business with

government. However, before

government toots its own horn, some facts need to be corrected.

This government does not lead the country when it comes to regulatory

reform.

Historically, the government has aligned itself with

the Canadian Federation of Independent Business when dealing with red tape

reduction, although curiously they are not mentioned in the minister's

statement. Why could that be, I

wonder?

Well, perhaps it could be because the CFIB, which did

work closely with government in 2005, just released a report card.

In that report card the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

ranked seventh. The government's

ranking has been steadily decreasing in recent years since government's

office of regulatory reform decreased staff.

Government scored a B last year on the report card and C +

this year.

According to the report card, which government used to

proudly proclaim in press releases when it scored well, one problem with the

regulatory reform accountability framework is that information is available

but information is difficult for the public to access.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the advance copy of his

statement. Mr. Speaker, we run

into constituents all the time who run into heavy government overregulation;

it happens all the time.

Businesses are tied down with multiple reporting of revenue to taxes payable

and spend lots of time away from their daily business routines is just one

example. Another, they should be

looking for regulatory reform for workers' compensation.

People's lives are hanging for time lost in the review process.

So, not only do we need a change in regulation, Mr.

Speaker, I think this government needs to have a change, in some cases, to

some of the present legislation.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, in September this government accepted all the

pre-existing environmental liabilities at the Come By Chance Refinery.

They did this without disclosing the full financial extent of these

liabilities. We went looking for

the information, but we have been blocked by Bill 29.

I ask the Premier: Why are you hiding the financial

liabilities that the people of the Province are responsible for, that we

accepted, behind Bill 29?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, Bill 29 has nothing to do with this issue whatsoever.

We are dealing with the company right now.

We are going through an environmental assessment process that they

need to go through themselves to understand exactly what is happening on

that site.

We have jobs that we have protected in that area, Mr.

Speaker. It is in the best

interests of the Province. We

understand what is going on here.

The decisions have been made in the best interests of the people of

the Province. We are going

through that process of identifying exactly what those liabilities are.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If it is not Bill 29 which I have right here, this is

what came back. I say to the

minister

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. BALL:

No, they can have this. I am not

too sure what they were citing.

It was either

section 18,

section 20,

section 27, or

section 24, I say to

the minister. They were the

reasons given why we could not get this information.

We asked very clearly about what environmental

monitoring the Province did over the last five years to know the extent of

these liabilities. What we got

back was the redacted information citing Cabinet confidences.

I ask the Premier: Why are you refusing to let the

people of the Province know the financial liabilities that we are now

responsible for?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

the proponent that is taking over the refinery has taken on the

assess exactly what is on site and what is happening there.

We expect that assessment to happen in short order.

We are going through that process.

We do not have a definitive answer today, Mr. Speaker.

It is the responsibility right now of the company to make sure they

do that work and get that information back to us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Some of the information we have received from

government indicates that government costs at the refinery could be as high

as $269 million. This is on top

of the $265 million in environmental liabilities from this government's

botched Abitibi expropriation.

I ask the Premier: Will you confirm that the people of

the Province are now responsible for up to $269 million in environmental

liabilities at Come By Chance?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, it is impossible to come to an exact number, exactly what the

liability is going to be. We are

going through the process to identify exactly what that number will be.

As soon as we have that information, we will let the people of the

Province know.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the minister: As soon as and very soon; can the

minister let this House know and let the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

know when this will be completed?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, we have no problem making that information public at the right

time.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is a.k.a. for I guess I do not know.

Mr. Speaker, in government's press release from

September 5, 2014, they said the refinery, The site undergoes regular

environmental monitoring by the Provincial Government.

However, government documents say that many of the oil storage tanks

onsite have not been inspected since they were installed forty years ago.

I ask the Premier: How can you claim you are doing

regular monitoring when many of the tanks have not been inspected for over

forty years?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, the work that is being done around the refinery right now, the

work to make sure that sale goes through, is important work to the people of

the Province. There has been a

lot of work done in the last number of years in making sure that site is,

again, acceptable in terms of the environment for the people who live in

that area. There has been

monitoring ongoing for a number of years, Mr. Speaker.

There is a ten-year plan that has been put in place for

the proponent that is taking over that refinery.

They have a number of months now to do that assessment, to make sure

we understand fully exactly what the liabilities are, and that is where we

are right now with that refinery.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Through our work with the All-Party Committee on Shrimp

Allocations, we all agree that if LIFO continues as a policy next year, it

will be a devastating year for our shrimp fishery.

I ask the Premier: In your recent conversations with

the Prime Minister, did you discuss the LIFO issue?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can tell the member opposite I did not.

That was not the topic of conversation.

There was a single topic of discussion with my most recent

conversation with the Prime Minister, and it did not include LIFO.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When the all-party committee met with the federal

minister back in July of this year, she indicated that some new research

would be available this year. I

believe it was October she mentioned this could be available.

I ask the Premier: Has the federal government shared

this research with you, and what is the current status of the shrimp stocks?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. GRANTER:

Mr. Speaker, I met with the federal minister back in September in Prince

Edward Island, and I believe the very first word I said to her, before I

said hello, was LIFO. We had a

conversation at that particular time.

LIFO is an absolute policy of the federal government that we have

been against since 2010. It is a

policy that, as a government, we disagree with.

It is a policy that will have devastating impacts on the shrimp

fishery on the inshore of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is something that we are having discussions with and will continue

to hammer away at with the federal government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is a critical issue.

Of course, having this information available to the people of this

Province is critically important.

I ask the minister one more time: Do you have the

information from the October surveys and monitoring that were anticipated in

October of this year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. GRANTER:

Mr. Speaker, again I will say to the hon. member that the LIFO policy, as it

is right now with regard to the federal government, is a policy that we have

been advocating against since 2010, every opportunity that I get to speak

with the federal minister and other federal ministers.

It is a policy that we are fundamentally against.

We will advocate on behalf of the shrimp fishers of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is something, Mr. Speaker, that we are not going to bend over on

and take from the federal government.

It is something that we are fundamentally against.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Tourism in this House yesterday said he would

check with the Minister of Justice to see if contracts are available for

Erin Breen and Jerome Kennedy.

If they were, he said he would table them.

I ask the minister: Will you table those contracts

today?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, what I said, or intended to say if I did not say it, is that I

would endeavour to see if their contracts were available and if, in fact, we

could table them. I have checked

that and there are contracts available.

My colleague asking the question would be well aware

that those contracts are protected by client-solicitor privilege.

However, I can table a template of a contract that would resemble

that contract here in this House.

The contract does not involve government, Mr. Speaker.

The contract exists between the solicitor in question and the clients

they represent.

The hon. member there and the Member for St. Barbe, who

are both solicitors, would be well aware of the boundaries we work within

there. I can also say to the

member that included in that contract would be a standard rate of $250 an

hour that the solicitors are being paid.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I note that the rate is much higher than the legal aid rate, I believe.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Tourism said, I could

probably provide a list of hundreds of instances where the Department of

Justice reaches outside into the community It happens almost on a daily

basis.

I ask the Minister of Justice: Will you table in this

House this list so we can see the hundreds of instances happening on a daily

basis?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

No, I will not, Mr. Speaker, but if he asks questions on specific cases, I

would be glad to answer it.

The tobacco case that is before the government right

now is a case in point, where there are outside lawyers representing

government and there are many others.

If the hon. member wants to ask specific questions, I will entertain

that.

My answer was used to illustrate the point that Mr.

Kennedy and Ms Breen are not an anomaly; they are not political

appointments. As a matter of

fact, Mr. Speaker, the two lawyers were recommended and selected by the

clients. They were not

recommended by government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I would point out to the minister, Mr. Speaker, that in that case that is a

case involving the government, not specific individuals.

Again, I asked that question because the minister said he would

provide it, but today he changed his mind.

This is a very unusual situation where the department

goes out and hires prominent Tories to provide representation to government

employees who are neither sued nor criminally charged.

In fact, we have hired the former Minister of Justice and a PC

campaign manager to sit in a courtroom and oversee a trial, something we

believe that the department has plenty of solicitors that would be able to

do that.

I ask Minister Manning: Why have you gone outside your

own department to hire Mr. Kennedy and Ms Breen?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS :

Hear, hear!

MR. KING :

I understand why the member would be confused, Mr. Speaker, as he has not

sat in Cabinet and does not understand how it works, but I will explain to

them that the lawyers hired by government represent the Queen.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KING:

The lawyers that work for government are not permitted by law to represent

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KING:

The lawyers that are hired, that are working for government directly, Mr.

Speaker, are not permitted by law to represent individuals outside of

government. They work for

government.

In this particular case my question back to the member

opposite: Is he suggesting that we not support employees of government in a

manner when there is an allegation of some potential criminal wrongdoing?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I believe the minister said these people were outside

government but my understanding is that they work for government, so perhaps

the minister can clarify that so we all understand why this Department of

Justice went outside to hire Jerome Kennedy and Erin Breen on taxpayer

funds.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

I certainly will clarify, Mr. Speaker, in case I did not say it clearly.

Solicitors who are hired on a contract or permanent basis for

government through the Department of Justice are hired to represent the

government as a whole or government departments individually, or Crown

corporations in some cases. They

are not permitted to represent individual employees, by law, Mr. Speaker.

That is not a decision that the Minister of Justice or

Cabinet makes. In this

particular case, the individuals whom the allegations have been made against

asked for representation, they asked for particular lawyers to represent

them, and that is who has been selected.

It has nothing to do with the minister or anyone else in this House

making the selection.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I understand there is a lot of equipment needed for

snow clearing operations on our highways this winter that is not yet ready

to go into service; some of our depots are not fully prepared.

Delays in maintenance and repair, including the late arrival of

needed parts, seem to be a problem.

I ask the minister: How many pieces of equipment are

not yet ready to respond to our winter conditions and when will they be

ready to go into service?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have hundreds of pieces of equipment in our

sixty-three depots. We have

mechanics who work on them daily.

Seventy per cent of our equipment is ready to operate now.

On a constant basis we are doing repairs, we are doing assessments,

and we are getting that equipment ready so we can better serve the people

when we are doing snow clearing and make our roads safe for the people of

this Province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

The West Coast and Central part of our Province, Mr. Speaker, are getting

twenty-five centimetres of snow tomorrow, and I know there are depots in

those areas that do not feel they are ready and prepared for that snow.

Being prepared should be more than just a Snow Means Slow campaign,

Mr. Speaker.

Why are our depots not fully prepared with all the

equipment operating and ready to meet those winter conditions?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have very diligent, very well-trained personnel in

our depots. We have

state-of-the-art equipment. At

times, there is equipment that needs to be maintained; there are times that

things break that we need to fix, and we are going through that process, but

we have more than enough equipment to handle any snowstorm that is thrown at

us. We also have the ability to

contract private contractors, when necessary.

Mr. Speaker, we have good, diligent people out there

with good equipment ready to handle any storm that Mother Nature may throw

at us.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, the RFP closing date for the Strait of Belle Isle ferry has

experienced a number of delays this year.

The people who rely on this service have been anxious for news on the

awarding of the tender.

So I ask the minister: What is causing the delay, and

when can we expect the tender to be awarded?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we had a very extensive process to

determine through our RFP process who would be the best company to supply

services to the people of Labrador.

We have narrowed it down to a couple of components.

We are looking at those; we are doing a full evaluation.

We brought in a monitor also to work with us, a fairness monitor to

make sure we get the best service for the people, the best return on our

investment.

In the near future, Mr. Speaker, in the next few weeks,

I will be announcing who will be the company that will offer the services to

the people of Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, the people who rely on this essential service were told that

the ferry would be ready in 2016.

So I ask the minister: Can you commit that the delay in

awarding the tender will not delay that 2016 ready date for the ferry?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned earlier, we did have a very extensive

process here. I am very pleased

with the professionalism by our staff and the outside entities that were

engaged here.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I can say that the ferries will be

ready to operate in Labrador in 2016.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, a Budget news release in March says government will contribute

$10 million towards the Build Ventures fund and establish Venture

Newfoundland and Labrador. The

minister of the former Department of IBRD reminded us of this initiative in

a Ministerial Statement on May 6, then on November 4 the Premier made a

Budget announcement again.

I ask the minister to confirm: How much is your department investing in each

venture capital fund?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

I thank the member for the question, Mr. Speaker.

It is great to be able to stand and talk about investments our

government is making to diversify the economy in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The particular funds that we announced were a combination of $20

million. The Newfoundland fund

is $10 million. The Atlantic

Canada Build Ventures fund would be $10 million as well.

What I would be interested in is getting a clear

message from the member as to where his party stands on it because on

October 20 the Leader of the Opposition called for venture capital.

Three or four days later, Mr. Antle, the candidate in St. John's

East, condemned it and said it was a bad move for small business.

Perhaps we can clarify what the Liberal position is on

venture capital in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, while government says it will contribute $10 million towards

Build Venture fund, the former minister confirmed in the 2014 Budget

Estimates that a total of only $5 million would be available for both funds

to fund Venture Newfoundland and Labrador.

I ask the minister: Why are you providing inaccurate

information to entrepreneurs and to the public?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, I can say that we are providing a fair amount more than $20

million to support small business in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Maybe the challenge is that the member is not fully aware of what is

happening with economic diversification.

I would remind the member, for example, while his party

stands to say that there is nothing happening in the technology industry in

Newfoundland and Labrador, that today there are 3,300 jobs and more than

$1.6 billion in the Newfoundland economy because of investments like our

government makes to support businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

In the venture capital fund, every single person in the Province who we have

talked to, with the exception of the Liberal candidate in St. John's East,

says it is a good thing to have venture capital to support small business.

So I ask the member again: Where do you stand?

As the critic for this position, where do you stand on that issue?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.

MR. REID:

Mr. Speaker, the government's expensive, ill-fated experiment with

electronic moose sensors has now come to an end and the devices have been

turned off.

I ask the Minister of Environment and Conservation:

When will he admit failure and remove these devices from our roadways so

they do not cause a false sense of security?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL:

Mr. Speaker, we are just in the process of finalizing a Five-Year Moose

Management Plan. Part of that

plan is going to be moose-vehicle collisions mitigation.

We are looking at all options right now.

We have made the decision already, Mr. Speaker, that

the options that exact mitigation is not going to be part of that plan

moving forward. We will have

more of that in the coming days and weeks, and we will let the people of the

Province know exactly where we stand.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.

MR. REID:

Mr. Speaker, one solution which is being suggested is the clearing of brush

and construction of more fences in locations where most moose-vehicle

accidents have occurred.

I ask the minister: Is government keeping statistics on

these collisions and where they occur, and identifying the most dangerous

locations?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have assessed exactly what is happening

on our highways. We have all the

data relevant to where there are accidents.

We are trying to come up with a strategy.

We have a strategy in place now.

We are going to look at mitigating those moose-vehicle

accidents. We are doing that by

assessing the data, exactly where there are high-profile areas where there

are accidents. We are going to

assess how we put that in place.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we have that data.

That data is being used as we design our go-forward plan.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Education and Early Childhood

Development re-announced a number of child care initiatives that this

government has failed to deliver on.

This includes the long-promised child care registry intended to help

parents find child care spaces.

The registry was supposed to be in place this past summer, so we thought.

I ask the minister: What is the cause of the delay in

delivering on your commitment?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the child care registry will be an

incredible piece of technology.

We hope to have that up and working within the next two to three weeks.

This is something that AECENL, the Association of Early

Childhood Educators Newfoundland and Labrador, have been looking for.

It is something that parents have been looking for as well.

No doubt it will be something that will be of great service to all

who are involved, and we very much look forward to the launch of that.

I would be happy to invite the member opposite to that launch within

the next two weeks.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Parents are looking forward to that, too, Mr. Speaker.

Government's promised review of the inclusion supports

program was not included in yesterday's child care re-announcement.

Meanwhile, child care providers are waiting months to access

inclusion staff support funding for preschool children with special

education needs.

I ask the minister: Will you deliver on the promised

review of the inclusion supports program this year, as you promised, and

help children and their parents get the special supports they need in child

care?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have certainly

committed to is inclusion within our child care centres, and we have been

working steadily toward that. In

fact, Mr. Speaker, the budget has been steadily increasing.

We started out with $1.6 million, we are at $1.8 million, and for

next year we are looking at $2 million in that.

What that has meant is that we have been able to

provide over 115 additional inclusion supports to children within this

Province. That is something that

we are very, very happy about.

If a child requires inclusion supports within our child care centres or

within our family-based centres, Mr. Speaker, they are not denied.

Those inclusion supports are provided.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. HILLIER:

Mr. Speaker, last spring it came to our attention that Oceanex, a private

corporation, was proposing to develop a new laydown yard for their expanding

container business. This project

will require development of a new highway exchange on the Manuels Access

Road. The Town of Conception Bay

South has expressed concern with the proposal as it currently exists.

I ask the minister: Has Oceanex Corporation received

any kind of indication that their proposal will be approved and funded in

partnership with the Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Only this past week I had conversations with

councillors and the mayor from the Town of CBS about this issue.

At this point, we have no proposal from Oceanex.

We do have some indications from the Town of Paradise, but they would

like to entertain looking at that.

At this point, there is nothing on our books.

We are open to having open dialogue with all the municipalities and

any company that wants to look at how they improve their business and how

they improve transportation on the Northeast Avalon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The government now says that children under five are

important, as is the need for highly qualified early childhood educators.

Currently, the wages of these ECE professionals are so low that

government offers a wage subsidy in order to retain them.

I ask the Premier: When will this government recognize

this profession by establishing a provincial minimum salary and benefits for

early childhood educators?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Early childhood educators, and the recruitment and

retention of them, is certainly something we have turned our attention to in

this new department, and certainly as part of what had previously happened

within the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.

Mr. Speaker, the ten-year strategy was developed to

look at quality, sufficiency, affordability.

Those were the three pillars.

Within looking at quality, looking to identify early childhood

educators who were qualified was something that was exceptionally important.

Mr. Speaker, that is why supplements were put in place to improve the

educational qualifications of these early childhood educators.

That has been well-received by AECENL; that has been well-received by

the early childhood educators themselves.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, because in the short term they are not getting

enough money.

I ask the minister: When will the government replace

the stop-gap wage supplement with a true wage and benefits minimum for early

childhood educators?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If I would just continue on with that, what we did in

that process was we did improve the salaries for our early childhood

educators. We did look to

removing the entry level to ensure that everybody is at least at a Level 1.

Our preference would be to see a Level 2.

In doing that, Mr. Speaker, we offered a number of bursaries that

could help our early childhood educators to move forward.

For example, there is a bursary program that provides

$5,000 to graduates of a diploma program.

That is receiving great attention in and around the particular

industry itself; as well, the ECE training bursary which provides up to $500

a year to eligible individuals who are taking courses either part-time or

through distance.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I finally ask the minister once again: Instead of the

patchwork-quilt approach, why won't this government create a public child

care program for this Province and the families of the Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I assume that what the member opposite is

asking for is something similar to what the federal NDP would have just

announced, what had happened in Quebec and so on.

Interestingly enough, as I was doing some reading just

in the last day or so I found a story in the Toronto

Globe and Mail , that I suggest she should take a look at, that

talked about the fact that Quebec now has to back away from their

commitment, Mr. Speaker. They

have found that in fact what they were doing was they were subsidizing in

areas where they could not afford to subsidize, Mr. Speaker, and they have

looked at backing away from that.

Mr. Speaker, we are going to see that in a number of

cases. What we are working

forward on is a planned systematic approach to improving the situation, a

sustainable approach, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, Jean is a recently widowed senior.

She receives $1,100 a month on OAS and GIS.

Her rent is $830. With

heat and phone, her bills total $1,040.

That leaves her with $60 a month for food, transportation, clothing,

and everything else. She has

fibromyalgia and cannot work anymore.

I ask the minister: When will he establish a special

rental assistance program to help the growing number of seniors, like Jean,

who are living in poverty because of the high cost of housing?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for the question.

It is very important. The

member will recognize, Mr. Speaker, and I will recognize her in stating that

a number of cases she said she has raised and she has brought them forward

to me, I have had officials follow up and look into them.

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that we have made progress in those

regards.

The issue of seniors, Mr. Speaker, is a challenging

one. We recognize the

demographics. Mr. Speaker, I

have asked my officials, in conjunction with Newfoundland and Labrador

Housing, to take a look at some creative and innovative ways.

We are presently doing that, and I would certainly hope that we would

have something to report, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Given that we only have less than one minute for

Petitions, I say we go to the private member's motion.

Orders of the Day

Private Members' Day

MR. SPEAKER:

I call on the Member for Baie Verte Springdale now to begin debate on the

motion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am certainly pleased to stand in this hon. House

today to move the following private member's resolution, which was seconded

by the Member for Port de Grave.

I also want to thank the Minister of Seniors, Wellness and Social

Development for giving me the opportunity to take leave this afternoon in

this hon. House to debate the resolution on this floor.

I will read the resolution again, Mr. Speaker:

BE IT RESOLVED that this hon. House encourages the

provincial government, through its new Department of Seniors, Wellness and

Social Development, to identify and advance opportunities, build knowledge

and capacity, and promote access and awareness so that Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians embrace active, healthy lifestyles and habits within supportive

environments that will serve them well throughout their lives.

That is the motion, Mr. Speaker, that we will be

debating this afternoon. The

concept of wellness is certainly a very broad concept.

It refers or embraces or embodies a lot of aspects to an individual.

It could refer to the social aspect, the spiritual aspect, the

psychological aspect, the emotional aspect of an individual, the financial

aspect of an individual, and, yes, the physical aspect of an individual as

well.

The concept of wellness is an all-encompassing word

that includes every member of the population, Mr. Speaker.

We could include infants, children, teenagers, young adults, and

older adults. It is a very broad

topic that would elicit a lot of varied responses among the general

population, even among us today.

We all know that the concept of wellness is a concept

that we have to cope with because of probably two very good reasons: because

of our sedentary lifestyle in which we engage in today or lack of

engagement, I suppose, Mr. Speaker; and, our older and our aging population

which poses a real challenge for us today as a society.

Because of automation, because of technology, because of affluence

we are an affluent society and we do not engage a lot of physical activity

today in our regular kind of work.

We have to go outside of that and

schedule something in order for us

to be engaged in some physical activity.

As a government, and as every stakeholder in this

society, we wrestle. We are

confronted with challenges such as high rates of obesity, diabetes,

especially type 2 diabetes, which is a condition that was once found only in

older adults. Today, they say it

is more prevalent in teenagers, more than ever before.

We wrestle with that as well, Mr. Speaker.

We wrestle with mental illness and addictions concerns.

We wrestle with substance abuse or use.

Mr. Speaker, there is a whole gamut of illnesses and

diseases that we wrestle with today, simply because of our two reasons in

my opinion sedentary lifestyle and our poor eating habits, I suppose, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, one way to address this challenge today as

a society, and as a government as a whole really, is to promote the

awareness and the importance of one's lifestyle.

What do you mean by that, Mr. Speaker?

Well, we have a choice.

We can be engaged in active living or inactive, or we can be eating right or

not eating right. That is an

individual choice we make, Mr. Speaker, but these two, activity and

inactivity, is very important in our lifestyle.

For example, a Greek philosopher named Socrates, I

remember years ago when I was studying in university, said: a sound body

equals a sound mind. There is a

lot of truth to that statement, Mr. Speaker.

We have all heard our moms and dads say, or our educators say, you

are what you eat. So it is very

important. Physical activity and

eating right are very important to who we really are and what kind of

lifestyle we will adopt as a society and as an individual.

So, as a government, as a parent, as an agency, or as a

society, we do have a choice. We

can be proactive or we can be reactive in dealing with type 2 diabetes, or

stress, or other diseases as well that we cope with day in and day out.

Of course, one of the cheapest and the simplest way to

attack this culture of inactivity and our poor eating habits, Mr. Speaker,

would be to engage in regular physical activity and probably have good

eating habits as well. We all

know from our education and from our reading these days that regular

physical activity and being physically fit, combined with a well-balanced

diet, will combat and prevent diseases; like I said earlier, such as

diabetes, mental illness and addictions, and whatever.

We all know that healthy people will equate to healthy communities.

If you have healthy communities, you have sustainable programs along

the way.

For everybody listening, what is physical fitness, you

might say, since I am dealing with that topic quite a bit this afternoon.

Simply, it is the capacity of an individual to work at an optimal

efficiency without undue fatigue, Mr. Speaker, so that person could meet an

emergency or be engaged in some regular physical recreational activity in

their spare time. That is

basically what physical fitness really is.

To achieve this level of physical fitness that would be

beneficial to everybody in society, we would have to consider three main

factors. That would be duration

how long would a person exercise?

Usually the research would say probably thirty minutes.

Then another factor, not only duration, would be frequency, which

means how often would you exercise on a regular basis?

Research would tell us probably three times a week would suffice.

The third factor we would be able to consider, Mr.

Speaker, would be the intensity level, which is very, very important as

well. The rule of thumb would be

if you engage in some regular physical activity and you want to get some

benefit from it, some physiological benefit that would change your heart and

lungs and blood vessels, the rule of thumb would be 200, subtract your age

that would be the rule of thumb.

That would be your target heart rate.

Your average heart rate is around seventy-two beats per

minute. So if I want to exercise

and get something out of it physiologically to impact my heart and lungs and

blood vessels, I would make sure that the intensity level would be up to

around 140-150 beats per minute, about thirty minutes, three times a week.

That would suffice, that would give us a real good physiological

impact.

Mr. Speaker, I also realize, though, that physical

exercise, a regular physical program, does take a lot of self-discipline as

well, so we have to consider that as well.

There are a lot of benefits to regular physical

exercise that are essential to staying healthy.

You could probably write a book on them, Mr. Speaker.

I will give you just a few: regular physical exercise.

Well, a person would be better able to cope with stress.

It increases your muscular endurance.

It increases your muscular strength.

It makes your heart grow stronger, bigger, and more efficient so it

can pump blood around your body and to your brain.

You will be able to sleep better as well.

It also increases your mental concentration, so it

impacts your cognitive development as well.

It helps control high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol

levels. It helps maintain and

control your weight, Mr. Speaker.

It reduces incidences of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, like

I said earlier.

This is an interesting one, Mr. Speaker, as well; it

also prevents muscle decay. They

say inactive people lose muscle fibre at 3 per cent to 5 per cent at a rate

every ten years, after you are thirty years old.

By the age of sixty, your muscle fibre has lost 30 per cent.

That is why you are weaker, I guess, in our senior age.

Regular physical activity also reduces the risk of

depression and anxiety. I

remember a few years back, Mr. Speaker, I read a book by Dr. Ken Cooper, and

I saw a film on it as well.

There was this individual in the United States who was sort of battling

depression and anxiety. He

really had suicidal tendencies and wanted to take his own life.

He decided one way to do that is I will jog and run myself to death

kind of thing.

He did it.

He ran, he ran, and he ran until he became unconscious.

Then he woke up. Well, it

did not happen, so he tried it again the next day, Mr. Speaker.

This pattern went on and on and on.

Finally he realized he was better.

What happened was that jogging and regular physical fitness just

eased his burden, his frustrations, and helped his mental state.

It counterbalances depression and anxiety.

We all know the importance of regular physical

exercise. For sure, Mr. Speaker,

we all know the importance of a well-balanced diet as well.

It is important what we eat, and we all know that.

Although it is very difficult today, because we are fighting an

industry that is probably profit-oriented as opposed to people-oriented;

teenagers' fight with sugars, whatever, or power drinks, and fast food.

That becomes a real problem.

The Canada's Food Guide is always good to emphasize as parents, and

as government as well, to eat your veggies, your fruits, milk products, your

bread, your cereals, your meats, and vegetables.

It is a pleasure today to have this dialogue.

We are not about to blame any particular sector or organization in

society or government or whatever.

It is good to have this dialogue about our inactive and sedentary

lifestyle and the importance of eating properly.

Mr. Speaker, we are all stakeholders in this here.

In sharing our responsibilities, we have to work together in tackling

and wrestling this major problem.

That is a society problem.

I emphasize right now that is why our Premier on September 30 created

a new Department of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.

This new department combines functions from a number of government

departments into new branches more specifically focused on seniors, aging,

and social development, as well as health promotion, wellness, and sport.

That is a good move by our Premier and I applaud him for doing that.

Who are we? Who

are the stakeholders, Mr. Speaker?

We are families, we are individuals, we are schools, we are

communities, we are service organizations, we are volunteers; and, of

course, all levels of government, municipal, provincial, and federal.

We all have a part to play in combatting physical inactivity, in

combatting poor eating habits, and trying to encourage and bring awareness.

That is the reason why we are debating this afternoon, Mr. Speaker.

We are bringing a heightened awareness to promote the importance of

wellness to our society, to children, to teenagers, to adults, to all of us.

There is no one single agency that can tackle this

phenomenon or this concept of wellness by itself.

We all need each other pulling on the same oar, working together on

the same page, to combat this issue.

We all have to realize that investing in our health is a positive

thing. We all have to invest in

our health and develop a healthy lifestyle.

As a government, we have been very proactive in

addressing wellness, healthy active living, and the importance of eating a

well-balanced diet, Mr. Speaker.

I am going to stop right here for now because I am very

interested in what my colleagues have to say and members across the street

there would have to say as well.

I am eager to listen.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I agree with the member who presented this private

member's motion that this is a major issue facing all of the people in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

In his private member's motion it mentions wellness

the Department of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development, to identify

and advance opportunities, build knowledge and capacity, and promote access

and awareness so that Newfoundland and Labradorians embrace active, healthy

lifestyles and habits within supportive environments that will serve them

well throughout their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I applaud the minister for anything he

could do to help with the wellness of the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador and create a healthy lifestyle.

There is no one in this hon. House who could stand and say that any

one person or any one government can ever solve this problem.

This is a problem that we, collectively, as people of all

Newfoundland and Labrador must tackle ourselves.

A government definitely has the ability to help promote, and educate,

but we as individuals need to take the responsibility upon ourselves to get

more active and promote a better lifestyle.

There is no easy solution to this.

There is absolutely no easy solution.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to make it very clear that

this is not a government problem, or a Liberal problem, or an NDP problem.

This is a collective problem for all the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. You cannot lay blame

to anybody. You just cannot do

it. We need to continue to

promote. We need to continue to

put services in place so people have an opportunity to enhance the

opportunities for a better lifestyle.

I will just give you an example: 30 per cent of

Canadians right now are classified as obese, and the number is rising.

That is alarming. As the

obesity rises, we see the incidences of diabetes, heart problems, and a lot

of medical problems. This has

been steadily increasing over a number of years.

There are a lot of younger people now who will have diabetes before

their parents and pass away before their parents.

Statistically it has risen, all because of an unhealthy lifestyle and

obesity.

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier about diabetes.

Diabetes in the next ten to twenty years will be an epidemic in

Canada not just this Province, but in Canada.

That is something that is going to be such a strain on our health

care system. It is going to be

such a strain on the workforce.

It is going to be such a strain on individuals.

Collectively, we have to try to find a way to help curb this in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

I agree with what the member was saying earlier about

obesity and that the number one cause for diabetes is obesity.

We can see the kids, and we just look around at ourselves.

We look around at some of us older ones; when we were going to

school, Mr. Speaker, we used to have to walk back and forth.

We would be out on the side of the street with a soccer ball or a few

hockey sticks playing hockey.

That is the kind of things we did in our generation.

We went out and made our own fun.

We have to promote that in some way among the youth.

This is not a complaint or it is not a knock on

government, but it is just bringing attention that we need a registry for

diabetes in this Province. If

there is any way that we can do it and I know that government is working

on it. I commend the government

because I know they are working on it.

We need it. The experts

say we need it.

Mr. Speaker, remember what I said: this will become an

epidemic. It is starting to

become an epidemic in this Province and in Canada not just Newfoundland

and Labrador, but in Canada. We

have to try to do what we can as legislators to help curb this problem.

Mr. Speaker, poverty reduction is another issue that is

thrown around. I am not going to

stand up here today and harp on the government about poverty reduction.

There is no doubt there are major steps taken.

There is absolutely no doubt, and I will be the first to say it.

There have been steps taken.

Can you solve it overnight?

No. No government who is

on that side of the House is going to solve that overnight.

It just cannot happen.

You have to take steps, gradually.

Mr. Speaker, I bet most people in this House are not

even aware of it. People who are

on assistance right now from government, according to Canada's Food Guide,

they cannot even eat according to Canada's Food Guide because their income

is not at the level enough to buy what is recommended in Canada's Food

Guide.

Here we are promoting Canada's Food Guide and the less

vulnerable in our Province it is just not Newfoundland.

Anything I say here is not just Newfoundland, because I am not trying

to put any politics in this whatsoever.

It is all across. You

cannot even eat according to Canada's Food Guide because you do not have the

resources. That is a major

issue.

We can look at other issues related to that, Mr.

Speaker. Once again, if you do

not have the income, you do not have the ability to have your kids or

yourself involved in physical activities.

That is a major issue also.

Mr. Speaker, in the private member's motion it asks for

healthy lifestyles within supportive environments that will serve them well

throughout their lives. I will

tell you what we need through our lives again, Mr. Speaker, I will

acknowledge steps have been made is social housing.

I am not sure how many other members in this

Legislature get the calls I get looking for social housing, looking for

assistance, affordable housing.

I can assure you there are a lot of people, a lot of residents in

Newfoundland and Labrador, right now as we speak, a lot of seniors, who are

looking for affordable housing.

I did before, and I acknowledge it again, that the

government has taken steps towards that they have.

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge that and I support that, but we need to

come up with a plan for the whole Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

where we can combat that a bit more.

Then again, it is incumbent upon the provincial government to engage

the federal government in discussions on that also because it is just not a

provincial issue. The federal

government also has a responsibility there, Mr. Speaker.

I know in the private member's motion we are asking for

some initiatives that is one great initiative that we can have for this

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which I hear on a regular basis.

Mr. Speaker, I know that a lot of seniors I know the

minister of the department and again I will say to the minister and I will

say it in all honesty, if that minister could solve every problem today he

would do it, if he had the means.

Absolutely, there is no doubt that the minister is committed to this

here. I just want to acknowledge

that the minister is very committed to that.

Mr. Speaker, that is why we, as parliamentarians, have to support

these ideas; we have to try to work somehow together to ensure we can come

up with some affordable housing for the seniors, and work with some

affordable housing for the people who are less vulnerable in the Province.

As we all said, this is not just a problem in St.

John's, or in Corner Brook, or in Labrador; it is all over the Province, Mr.

Speaker. There have been steps

taken, I have to say. I do not

think there is one parliamentarian in this Legislature today not one who

would not want to try to help out and do what we can to improve the lot of

everybody in this Province.

There are some major concerns with affordable housing,

and I urge the minister to work a bit harder and involve us, because I can

give you the stats on the number of calls we get concerning people who are

looking for affordable housing.

Mr. Speaker, I notice also in the private member's

statement is people with disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, I have been involved I have not been in the last

couple of years, but before with disability groups all across Canada.

It is an important issue.

In the private member's motion there are some suggestions.

Someone with a disability, their number one issue is housing,

accessible housing, because they want to have that independence.

They want to be able to go into their own home.

I remember doing this years ago, back in the Sir

Richard Squires Building, and I used to ask people to go into the building.

I am going back twenty years when I got involved.

I said go into the building.

They would get in the wheelchair, they could not get into the

building, the Sir Richard Squires Building in Corner, and they could not get

in. That is the kind of thing

that we need to look at. I know

again, once again, I acknowledge there have been steps taken towards that

for housing for people with disabilities, but we need to try to provide more

housing so people could have their independence in it.

Mr. Speaker, the second number one issue for people

with disabilities is transportation.

Transportation is a major issue for people with disabilities.

We all know the challenges they face.

I do not need to go into it, but that is one of the major concerns.

Mr. Speaker, employment is and I know the government,

there is always a part of it that pushed for the open doors policy in the

government. Is there any way we

can expand that? A lot of people

with disabilities have a lot to offer this Province, I can ensure you that.

I have seen it; I have been part of it.

A lot of people with a lot of disabilities have a lot to offer in

this Province.

Mr. Speaker, another thing sometimes that we forget

and I am just bringing it up to the member because he asked for some

suggestions is when a person with disabilities finds employment.

One of the shortcomings of why a lot of people with disabilities

cannot partake is the assistance while they are working.

They need assistance.

They may need some additional assistance while they are working.

It is great to say here is a job, and great to say

okay, we can get you there, but there may be some employment assistance they

need, Mr. Speaker, while they are there.

That is a big part of it because with people with disabilities and

it is all according to what degree and what disability you do have, is that

you do need a lot more assistance than the average person, and you may not

need as much as some.

Mr. Speaker, before you can put a person with

disabilities into it you have to do an assessment on their needs once they

get into the employment. Once

again, I acknowledge there have been steps taken.

I acknowledge that. I

would work with anybody here with that.

Mr. Speaker, in my last few minutes here I just want to

talk about healthy lifestyles and recreation.

I do not want to get into names or anything else, but the Minister of

Seniors, Wellness and Social Development and I am not going to pinpoint

anybody two years ago that minister got $1,000 for a little school called

Scared Heart.

Right now, because of that $1,000, there are two glass

backboards in that school. Last

year every student in Grade 5 girls played basketball at that school, all

because basketball started to become prominent.

That was because the minister put money into it a few years back.

That is the kind of initiative we need to promote sports.

That is the kinds of things we do.

I know the Member for Humber West, Mr. Speaker, when he

was principal and I was coaching basketball up there, I had access to the

school any time I wanted to bring teams in.

That is the kind of things we need to do in all rural Newfoundland

and Labrador, Mr. Speaker. We

need to co-operate and help out.

In a lot of those smaller communities, Mr. Speaker, the

number one area they need, and the social point is the schools.

weekends, night times. Back when

I was growing up I was lucky, the Christian Brothers were at the old Regina,

and the gym used to be open every Friday night, every Saturday.

That was a few years ago, but the gym was open.

We went in and played basketball every Friday night, every Saturday,

every Saturday night, and Sundays we had to study and go to church.

Mr. Speaker, we were active.

That is the kind of things we need to do.

It just cannot happen overnight, Mr. Speaker.

I know government has put in a lot of good policies and I know there

is a lot of funding gone into it, but we have to come around as a society

not as government, but as a society and say: What can we do better to help

our communities? Sports is one

way, walking, exercise, but we have to look at healthy eating.

Because when you get some student come in and have a breakfast

program, but if he goes home and there is not enough food or money on the

table to eat healthy there is a holistic approach to this.

I commend government today for bringing this forward.

I commend the member for bringing this forward, because it is a big

issue to all the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I say anything we do to promote a healthy lifestyle to help our

youth, help our individuals, Mr. Speaker, is helping our Province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Cross):

The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a collective problem.

The hon. member opposite talked about it as a collective problem, and

this issue of wellness and physical activity is certainly a collective

problem. The hon. member

opposite did bring up some very good points.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak to the resolution

from a physical activity point of view.

Wellness is a very broad topic, as the hon. Member for Baie Verte

Springdale already said. General

health in this Province, nobody has to talk about our general health.

We know we have general health concerns.

Obesity and diabetes are not good numbers.

It is probably the worst in the country, Mr. Speaker.

Our eating and nutrition; we all know our traditional

eating habits are not good, they are not healthy.

We have been trying to change.

We have been trying to do some promotion, but to this point, Mr.

Speaker, we still have some of the poorest nutrition in the country.

Physical activity, Mr. Speaker, is a piece that I am

really interested in because of my years in Recreation and Sport.

I want to speak to that mostly today.

Physical activity comes in many forms, but it also has many good

qualities. It is proven to

reduce stress. It is also proven

to improve mental health. It has

been proven that it improves student attendance and student marks.

We have better students.

Mr. Speaker, physical activity has many proven benefits

for our society. I look across

and I see the new hon. Member for Conception Bay South.

We spent a few Canada Games together with many athletes.

We hope those athletes are going to go on and be lifelong athletes

and be physically active all their lives.

In my prior life, I spent twenty years in our

Recreation and Sport Division.

We spent twenty years of promoting recreation and physical activity.

Today, I want to recognize my former colleagues in Recreation and

Sport because I think they have done a tremendous job over the years

promoting to the Province and continuing to support physical activity and

better health in this Province.

For the twenty years I was in Recreation and Sport, we

saw many programs which had major benefits.

The hon. member talked about the $1,000 to Sacred Heart.

There have been many thousands of dollars come out of our Community

Recreation Support Program that have benefited young people and have

inspired young people to be physically active.

We do not see that benefit every day, Mr. Speaker.

We do not go out to the fields, we do not go to the gyms, and we do

not go to the walking trails to see the benefit that these people have had

because we invested $1,000 in backboards for a gymnasium, or we invested

$1,000 to improve a ball field, or we have invested $1,000 to improve a

soccer pitch. Those small

thousand dollar bills in communities throughout this Province, particularly

in rural Newfoundland, went a long, long way to creating healthier

individuals, young and old, in our Province.

As well, we talk about our Community Recreation Support

Program, Mr. Speaker. In the

Recreation and Sport Division that program as well has built playgrounds.

I have heard all members of this House get up at one time or another

and say I need a playground for a community in my district.

That playground has been used by young people from ages three and on.

Again, it improves the physical activity of our people.

Our physical activity program, I remember not so long

ago and I do not know if the program continued but it was in the

Department of Education where the Department of Education supplied money for

equipment to go to the schools for physical education programs.

I think it was a pilot project and I think we kept it as part of our

Physical Activity Equipment Program where we bought snowshoes so the kids

could go outside and learn how to snowshoe and how to become physically

active.

AN HON. MEMBER :

(Inaudible).

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Yes, it is in that program. That

is what I thought. Again,

borrowing nets, nets so that the kids could go outside or in the gymnasium

after school on an after school program and play ball hockey, or play indoor

soccer, or any of those things.

Again, through the Physical Activity Equipment Program,

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite talked about Parasport.

He talked about athletes with disabilities.

Well, we have bought sit skis for young athletes who wanted to ski

but did not have the equipment.

We went out and purchased a sit ski so that young athlete, that person with

a disability, could go and learn how to ski in his sit ski.

It has made a difference in their lives.

It has given great self-esteem, it has given them great social

motivation, they have less sick, and they have been less dependent on

medication so we know what these small grants can do.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we talk about our community

recreation development grants and for many of us here in this House,

community recreation development grants, for those who do not know, are

grants for communities with less than 6,000 people.

Any community in the Province can apply for those, and

they support our summer recreation programs or our recreational programs in

general that take place in communities all throughout this Province.

They do not only support the program in terms of physical equipment

or improving a facility, but it also helps hire staff so we have young

students who can go out on the fields and help teach, maybe, some of our

young people how to play ball, or even some of our adults for that matter.

Mr. Speaker, there are many programs over the last

number of years and I am very proud to say over the last couple of years we

have gotten into the senior recreation grants and they are very popular with

our 50 Plus Clubs and our seniors' clubs throughout the Province.

I know in my district, in the District of Port de

Grave, we ended up having to buy a treadmill.

We had a treadmill for one of our 50 Plus Clubs and it was great

because people would go down in the mornings, some of our fifty-plus

citizens would go down at the club, get on the treadmill, become active and

walk for thirty minutes; some would even jog.

Since that grant has come into being, we have invested $200,000 and

since that grant has come into being over 100 communities in this Province

have benefitted from our senior recreation grants.

Another project that I am aware of, they bought

shuffleboard courts. Again, we

do not think of shuffleboard as being overly active, but it had people

outside, it got people participating, they are out playing, they were out

competing, socializing.

Shuffleboard was another popular piece there.

One of the most successful programs I think we have had

in a long time is our Participation Nation Unplugged.

That is in partnership with School Sport Newfoundland and Labrador,

Mr. Speaker. School Sport

Newfoundland and Labrador has done a great job of attracting young people

who were not active and did not participate in sport.

Through this program of being unplugged, it is an alternative to

competitive sport. It talks

about having activity and physical activity, and these people have come out

and they saw a positive impact.

We have had thousands of young people take

part in the

Participation Nation Unplugged.

Thousands of young people have come out to enjoy the opportunity,

particularly in their after school programs.

Twenty-five communities have benefited through this program, Mr.

Speaker, where they got $25,000 to provide an after school program.

Many young people who were not participating before have gone out to

this program and are now participating in some type of physical activity.

So we have increased there.

The whole objective is for it to be fun.

It is non-competitive.

It is inclusive; any age, anybody,

male, female, they can all compete together, as long as they are having fun,

and it is non-competitive.

For some of us in this House, competitive sport has

been our nature and we do not realize sometimes that to attract other people

to the game it has to be more non-competitive.

I am pleased to say, Mr. Speaker, throughout my years in government I

was on the competitive side of sport and I was involved in our games

programs, particularly our Canada Games program, our Newfoundland and

Labrador Games program, and these were competitive.

These were for our high-performance athletes.

Through Canadian Sport for Life, we are hoping that these

high-performance competitive athletes will continue to be active throughout

their lives.

For me, and I look around and I know many, many members

here in this House, though we were competitive athletes at one point, we

continue to play. I continue to

play rec hockey two nights a week, and I enjoy it just as much today as I

did when I was a competitive athlete at fifteen, sixteen in high school, or

playing intermediate hockey in the old CBN Hockey League.

I am looking across and he is smiling at me, my old

volleyball teammate over there, and he is still playing volleyball.

I guess he will always play volleyball.

Again, it is one of those things that being a competitive athlete

does not mean you have to stop when you are eighteen years old or nineteen

years old. You can continue to

play and you can continue to be active and physically active.

It is probably more enjoyment today than when I was

playing competitively because it is the social part.

Not only are you doing yourself good, physically, but it is also the

social and mental aspect that we improve as well.

Our games programs, Mr. Speaker, in recent years,

through our Recreation and Sport Division, we started a Regional Games

Hosting Program. Down on the

Trinity shore I want to give a lot of credit to Mr. Allan Ash from Hant's

Harbour. Mr. Ash started the

regional games concept down the shore in the summertime.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Yes, Mr. Allan Ash, our regional games it is non-competitive.

He had over 100 young people from nine to fourteen years of age

playing in seven different sports and enjoying it immensely.

It was competitive but, again, it was social recreation.

It was getting young people active in the summertime.

Again, those types of activities and those types of games programs,

even though they may be competitive, they have life-lasting possibilities.

I know the hon. member opposite also talked about the

Poverty Reduction Strategy. We

do not have all the solutions and we are not going to have all the

solutions, but I know through our Jumpstart program with Canadian Tire, in

partnership with Canadian Tire and our KidSport program, those programs are

allowing young people who cannot participate in sport or dance or some type

of physical activity, it is giving them the opportunity.

I know in my region, Mr. Speaker, we have a number of

young people who have taken advantage of the Jumpstart program or the

KidSport program so they could compete or they could play in minor hockey or

go to dance class, or go to ballet or go to volleyball.

So that part has helped, in some small way, to those people who could

not afford it. I am very proud

to say that the Jumpstart program in our region has had a great impact.

I had a young, single mom come in to me earlier this

year, in September, and she said: Glenn, my son wants to go in Taekwondo.

I cannot get my son in Taekwondo; I cannot afford it.

Through our

chapter of Jumpstart, Mr. Speaker, I contacted our Chair

of Jumpstart and that young person today is in Taekwondo.

He had some mental health issues.

He needed the opportunity to go out.

Since he is in Taekwondo, his mental health issues have improved.

That is a great example of using a program and getting a child

involved in physical activity that has improved his overall mental health.

I am glad to say that has happened.

Also, Mr. Speaker, over the last number of years,

particularly in the last five years that I was in the Recreation and Sport

Division before I became a member, we started doing something called Eat

Great and Participate. We were

starting to go out and partner with our wellness branch in the Department of

Health at the time. We were

going out and talking to minor sport groups and other groups that we were

associated with, arenas.

One of the biggest problems about going into a

Newfoundland and Labrador arena, no matter what arena you do, the first

place you go is to the canteen, and what do you go get?

You go get french fries.

Through the Eat Great and Participate program we have been trying to have

healthier choices in our canteens and our arenas.

Also, we have been promoting through the Eat Great and Participate

program over the years, minor hockey banquets and sport banquets, healthier

food choices there. Now we have

gone away from hot dogs to sub sandwiches, or we have gone to pasta.

We have had an impact there as well.

We have done some very, very good things to increase

and improve our health overall.

It has all been through our Recreation and Sport Division.

I am very proud to say that.

Mr. Speaker, I could stand up here and speak for maybe

another hour on various initiatives that I have been involved in personally

over the last twenty years through Recreation and Sport.

Through Recreation and Sport we have addressed physical activity.

Yes, we have to continue our education, we have to continue to

promote, and we have to continue to make more people aware.

An active, healthy lifestyle makes for active, healthy citizens and

it will reduce health care in this Province.

In closing, these investments, Mr. Speaker, have made a

positive impact on the social, mental, and physical well-being of all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

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 am very happy to stand up and speak to this private

member's resolution today. I can

say right off the top that it is something I think we all in this House can

agree with when you look at the fact that the provincial government wants

to identify and advance opportunities, build knowledge and capacity, and

promote access and awareness so that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

embrace active, healthy lifestyles.

I do not see how there is anybody who can disagree with

us as a Province trying to achieve this.

It is one of those things you can never fully succeed in, but we have

to make those efforts to get there and we have to work co-operatively to get

there.

I was listening to the member opposite, the Member for

Port de Grave. He was talking

about his previous career. That

is actually where I had the pleasure of meeting him the first time.

Before either one of us was in politics, he was in the great District

of Burgeo La Poile promoting the Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay which he

was a part of, and I was a part of the committee.

We had some great meetings.

That was something that united the Province, united the country in

the pursuit of athletics. It was

a great effort. That was the

start of, I guess, our relationship there.

It was a great endeavour.

It is amazing when we talk about this how many issues

are interrelated in this Province that come down to access to healthier

living. I am going to try my

best, it may be a bit disjointed, but I want to talk about a few issues I

can think of off the top and the way they relate and how you would not think

of it, maybe right at the beginning, but when you sit down and look at it

you realize they are having an effect on this pursuit, the pursuit of

active, healthier lifestyles.

One of the major components to a healthier lifestyle,

obviously, is your eating habits.

It is no surprise to anybody in this House, studies have shown that

in this Province right now we have a very high level of obesity and our

eating habits may not be the best.

I do not know if some of that is cultural, but I think some of it

comes down to economic levels and some of it comes down to our availability

of food. When you think about

the sheer amount of food that comes into this Province through Marine

Atlantic, and obviously Marine Atlantic being an issue that is very near and

dear to me because it is located in my district, but it is also very

important to everybody in this Province, or it should be.

Marine Atlantic does have a federal backdrop but I do

believe the member introducing this motion mentioned that there is a

responsibility on all levels of government federal, municipal, provincial

to work together in this pursuit because at the end of the day we are

going to have two things. We are

going to have healthier Canadians and healthier Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians, and at the same time, this contributes to the cost of health

care in this Province. The

healthier we are the less our health care will, hopefully, cost.

That would be the goal.

We look at Marine Atlantic, the amount of groceries

that are coming in, the amount of food that is coming in; it is amazing.

I have sat down at these stakeholder meetings that Marine Atlantic

has and you listen to the groups that use it, whether it is the fisheries

industry aquaculture that is trying to get their product out of the

Province, or if you look at produce that is coming in.

It is amazing.

You take something like strawberries.

I have actually heard grocery

companies and distributors say that in many cases companies do not

specifically want their product coming into Newfoundland through Marine

Atlantic because by the time it gets here, the cost and everything else, the

product may not be exactly what it should be.

It is of lesser quality, and it gives their company a bad name and

hurts their brand.

It is people who are not shipping here because it is

not going to help that company.

That is tragic when we are talking about strawberries or we are talking

about any form of fresh fruit or produce.

Now, the fact is we all know that living on this Island and living in

Labrador, we do have a sense of isolation at many times, and we know we have

to rely on the ferry coming in.

Marine Atlantic has made great strides in trying to

have more on time and have more crossings.

They have had an issue this summer where they reduced the crossings.

I am not going to get into that right now; but, if the cost for

Marine Atlantic continues to rise, then the distributors, these companies,

are going to have to pay more to get their product here.

Who is going to pay for this?

It is the consumer.

Then we get into the cost of healthy living.

It is costing me more to eat healthier.

I want to eat healthier; I have a family.

When I say I, I am talking about any person in this Province.

Most of us have that desire to eat healthier.

We talk about it, but when the cost is just so great and you are on a

fixed income or you are on a budget, it is hard.

It is very hard to do that.

We look at the cost of a two litre of pop versus the cost of a two

litre of milk, and we are dealing with that.

We are grappling with that and struggling with it.

It is something that we have to do more.

We have to look within.

I think there are great steps we can take when it comes

to agriculture. There are great

steps when it comes to our farming industry that we can do here in this

Province, whether that is livestock, or whether it is fruits and vegetables.

There is more that we can do here.

We have to make it easier.

Where we can step in, in terms of governance, is by making it easier

to do that. We have to make it

easier and put an incentive in place for these people to do that.

Now, that is one thing; when we are talking about

access to food, that is one issue.

I want to go to something we have been doing as an Official

Opposition, and I have had the privilege of doing over the past number of

months, and that is our seniors' forums as an Official Opposition that we

did. The reason we have done

these is because all of us in this House talking as an Official

Opposition, we deal with seniors all the time.

We hear the Open Line calls, we watch the news, we see these issues

on a daily basis, whether it is fixed income and the cost of living, whether

it is affordable housing, whether it is access to health care.

So we decided, as a group, that we wanted to get out

there, sit down one on one with seniors and those who care for seniors.

Basically, when you think about it, it is everybody.

We wanted to get out and talk to these people.

We did not want to just go to the major urban areas.

We wanted to have a good mix of urban and rural.

We wanted to go to places.

It was great.

As a person I got to travel to many spots that I had not been before.

That is one of the privileges of doing this job, is that you get to

meet people and see places in this beautiful Province that you otherwise may

not have had an opportunity.

We put together

this forum, and the forum was not about talking ,

like I am doing here today; the forum was about listening.

We went out to Lewisporte, we went to Arnold's Cove, we went to

Winterton, we went to Bay Roberts, we went to Southlands, we went to Burgeo,

we went to Corner Brook, and this Friday in my own district I am going to do

one in Port aux Basques. The

good news is that these are the ones just that we have done.

I have had requests so far from Lab City, Happy Valley-Goose Bay,

Pasadena, Stephenville, Grand Falls-Windsor, Gander, Port Rexton,

Clarenville, Marystown, and the east end of St. John's.

The good news is that people want to talk; they want to

tell us. As legislators and

policy-makers that is our job, to put in place policies that are for the

betterment of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

There is no better way to figure out what people want than by

actually listening to them, and so that is what we did.

We sat down.

The reception that we got was amazing.

There were huge crowds in many places, which goes to show me that not

only is it a huge demographic, but it is a demographic that has concerns and

they want to talk. They want

what we want. They want us to

see this. That is why I fully

support this today. They want

what we want. We all want the

same thing, but sometimes we have to figure out how we get there.

When we listened, the concerns that we had were huge.

Some of these very things that we talk about right here in this

private member's resolution were things that were brought up by seniors and

advocates in the community, brought up saying we need to do more.

I am just going to give one example.

I put this out and hopefully the government will take this and see if

there is a way we can work with it.

I will give you one example.

I heard at least on multiple occasions one of the big contributors at

these sessions were 50 Plus Clubs.

50 Plus Clubs and their members were coming out and they were

speaking. A lot of times it

might have been their executive speaking on behalf or just members of the

club.

One of the struggles that they are having they do a

great job at making this club accessible to seniors, but it is hard, it

costs. The amount of money they

have to raise just to keep the roof over their head in this club and keep

the heat on is eating up a lot of their money and it is eating up a lot of

their time in just the fundraising.

These groups I look at the one home in Port aux

Basques and I look at the one in Burgeo offer programs for seniors, they

are offering activities for seniors, and they put off dances.

They are all things that lead to seniors getting outside, mixing,

exercising, and having social involvement, all things that contribute to

this concept of wellness. What

they are doing is a great thing.

They try their best to make it affordable, but the bills are there.

One of the things that I wonder if we can work on and

maybe it is there, and I am sure the minister and staff, if it is there,

will let people like me know so when I talk to these groups I can pass that

message on. Is there a way that

we can reduce that burden somehow, through some means, so that clubs can use

their funding to contribute to more activities for seniors?

This is what they do; every time you talk to them they say the same

thing: We are trying to get the seniors out of their home.

We all know that is for the betterment.

That was a huge, huge thing.

Another thing that we saw is that many communities

again, I look down in Arnold's Cove, beautiful facilities, they have gyms,

but in many cases we need that connection between the person that you want

to use it and the facility. Sometimes

it is an intimidating thing where people may want to try new things but they

are nervous. That is a natural

part of life. They want to try

these new things, but maybe we can find a way to increase the co-ordination

of that to get people out to access and utilize these things.

Most of these communities now, we have halls we can put

programs in, but if you build it, hopefully you think they will come.

We still have to make sure that people know, people have access to

get there, and people want to do it.

That was one of the things I have seen at the seniors' forum, just

that people have that desire.

People want to get out. People

talk about wellness.

Another thing, when we talk about the access to health

care and I think that has been mentioned here is promote access and

awareness. So access is a huge

issue: access to health care.

There is no particular department that is solely

responsible for this. I think

health care plays a role. I

think Municipal Affairs plays a role.

I think they all play a role.

Even the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture plays a role.

One of the big issues brought up to me was the food fishery.

When you think about it, people getting out on the water to get a

meal of fish, which we think is a God-given right, but it is not there.

The minister knows and he agrees with it.

I know he agrees with it.

That is why we have to deal with the feds.

It is funny how that huge issue, an issue we have been

struggling with for decades, at the end of the day it does affect wellness

because people want to get out on the water; they want to get that food.

It is sustainable. It is

healthy. There are so many good

things to it, but that is another level that we have to deal with and there

is not enough time to get into it here today.

That is some of the issues, but this access to health

care one of the big issues that I saw, and I know members on all sides see

this, and this comes down to awareness.

I had a constituent who had to travel 1,800 kilometres for a

three-minute appointment with a doctor in St. John's; 1,800 kilometres, the

cost of hotels, the cost of food and they could have had the session with

Telehealth through their own hospital which has that facility.

So it is there.

The money that this person spent could have been better

used. In some cases, people

cannot afford that and again they come to the Department of Advanced

Education who has to fund this.

We have to make sure that the access is there.

When it is there, we have to make sure that it is used.

Does that mean more discussions with physicians, more discussions

with local people to let them know that it is all right to ask if we do that

appointment over the Telehealth link that is in a lot of these communities

I know in my communities, many of which are isolated, many of which are very

rural, travelling through long distances to get there access to health care

will mean a better standard of care and a better outcome, increase wellness,

a reduced cost on our health care system, and the list goes on.

Our leader has talked about a number of things that go

with this. He put this out so

this is out there for public consumption when we talk about a diabetes

prevention and management program, chronic disease prevention, youth

wellness because that is one of the things it is not misleading but we

look at the department as the seniors and wellness, but we forget that

wellness itself is not just related to seniors.

Wellness is related to us all, young and old.

Wellness is a concept that we have to start at the very

youngest. We have to start

there. It is healthy eating in

schools and making sure that parents have the ability to make sure that

healthy meals are there for their children whether that is the Kids Eat

Smart or whatever it means. A

lot of communities have great volunteers doing it; we have to find a way to

make that easier.

On that note, my time has expired so quickly.

It is unfortunate, but what I can say is it is a privilege to talk to

this. It is so important.

We are going to continue talking about it and we are glad to support

the government's resolution here today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.

MR. JACKMAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank, first, the Parliamentary Secretary to

Health and the Member for Baie Verte Springdale for bringing this forward.

I am going to start with a fact that I heard I think it is probably

about five years ago. I went to

the federal, provincial, and territorial meetings in PEI.

I was then at Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

There was a presentation and this one statement in that presentation

has stuck with me ever since and has bothered me.

The statement was: we have a generation of youth and if

we continue on the same path that they are on they will not outlive their

parents. I would ask everybody

in this House to just think about that.

We have a generation of youth who, unless their habits are changed,

will not outlive their children.

Many of us here have young children of our own, and we

have grandchildren. If we think

on that statement there is not one of us who wants something bad to happen

to our children or our grandchildren.

Therefore, we have no choice but to do something about it.

The Premier called me.

We talked about the role in Cabinet in September and he asked about

leading this Department of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.

I will add there that we have the Disability Policy Office as well

and the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.

That is included in the department as well.

I could not have been more privileged to take on the

role. What I am hearing from

people who are speaking here today, all of us collectively agree with where

we need to go. As the Member for

Port de Grave pointed out, there are many things that have happened already

and there are things that are continuing.

I think people genuinely recognize that.

The Member for Burgeo La Poile mentioned the cost of

a carton of milk versus a two-litre of Pepsi.

There is a choice other than Pepsi.

It is water. We know, and any

health official will tell you, the positive effects of drinking water.

The other side of it is that we need to find ways to support those

who cannot and who may not have the financial means to purchase milk or the

healthy vegetable. We also have

to remember the issues that are facing us are not all because people are on

low incomes.

There are a couple of facts that I am going to say now

and then I have said to staff I would just as soon leave those behind us.

We have the highest obesity rate in all of Canada.

We have the highest rate of type 2 diabetes in all of Canada.

The cardiovascular problems that are present in our population are

ever present. Anybody here knows

somebody in their family who has had some bout with heart disease.

Much of it has to do with our diet.

There is no doubt about it.

I said to our staff the thing that I kind of like to

focus on is that we should start right now.

Everybody in this House of Assembly can start right now to lead a

healthier lifestyle. We as

politicians, I can guarantee you, it is not that glamorous a life when it

comes to food, that is for certain.

We find ourselves at functions upon functions and oftentimes it is

the richest food that is there.

Those are the ones that are the most appealing and the most tasty.

One of the members opposite mentioned we have to have

to take the responsibility ourselves.

There are things that government can do to help support people, and

we do that through recreation programs.

The Member for Burgeo La Poile mentioned getting the seniors out

and active. There are grants,

applications, and programs that support seniors.

All of us who have seniors groups in our districts know how much they

come to us looking for grants.

Many of them are very successful in getting those grants.

We know the importance of starting right now because

all we have to do is to look at the pressures that are placed on the health

care system because of the lifestyles that we as a people lead.

We can talk about the old days.

Yes, they were. You

walked to school. It is the

strangest phenomena, I can remember as a kid that is was your parents

singing out for you to come in.

Now it is almost reversed, the parents singing at the child to go out.

We have become controlled by our cellphones and our iPads.

This was another one I heard just recently.

I was talking to a physiotherapist who said they are seeing, at as

young as sixteen to eighteen years old, youth with problems here because of

the amount of thumb activity that is going on.

They are seeing people with problems with their posture because we

are going around like this. All

we have to do is drive up the street and look and see how many of our youth,

and not only our youth, our adults who are going around like this.

The habits that we are forming because of the changes

in our lifestyle, while they are here now as they present themselves, are

placing a huge demand on our health care system.

The healthier the population we have, the less demand we have on the

health care system. We have got

to, as someone else mentioned, take the responsibility.

I have said this already, we have the opportunity.

We can start right now.

I have generally attempted to lead as healthy a lifestyle as I can.

I encourage my children to do that.

Mr. Speaker, just look where we have gone to seek help.

One of the places that we always go to help us change practice is to

the schools. I have used this

example many times.

The provincial fire department a number of years ago

were trying to get smoke detectors in their homes.

They were having a heck of a time trying to get it put in.

Where did they go? Where

did they start? The Learn Not To

Burn campaign. Where did they

start? They started in primary

school. The reason they started

in primary school is this; to a primary student the teacher is God, their

king. If Ms says you have to put

a smoke detector in the house, parents, you have to put it in, because your

child is going to hound you because Ms said it until that happens.

We look to the school system to support us.

Seniors, I th