PDF Version

April 14,

2014 HOUSE

OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 18

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we have members' statements from the hon.

the Member for the District of Port de Grave; the hon. the Member for the

District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi; the hon. the Member for the District of

The Straits White Bay North; the hon. the Member for the District of St.

John's East; the hon. the Member for the District of St. Barbe; and the hon. the

Member for the District of Burgeo La Poile.

The hon. the Member for the

District of Port de Grave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today in this hon.

House to recognize the TriPen Ice Atlantic Triple A Pee Wee Hockey Champions.

The local paper called it the Miracle on Ice.

This was the first Atlantic Championship by a team outside St. John's

since 1993.

When a team loses its

opening two games, things look mighty bleak in these tournaments, but not in

this case. The Ice roared back with

two victories, needing a 6-0 win in their last round robin game to secure a

berth in the final.

Coach Bo Bennett called the

team a family where parents and players from across the region came together

and dedicated themselves to a championship season.

Mission accomplished!

Lead by tournament MVP Kyle

Petten and Top Forward Dawson Mercer, this dynamic duo tied for the tournament's

top scorers with eleven points each.

TriPen would not be denied. In the

final, Mercer would score twice and Petten once in leading TriPen to a 5-1

victory.

Other team members included:

Caleb Andrews, Riley Petten, Luke Akerman, Cole Mackey, Shailynn Snow, Ethan

Crosbie, Lucas Russell, Liam Best, Dawson Laundry, Michael Ingram, Taran

Leonard, Ethan Pollett, Lucas Adams, Riley Mayne, Tyler Dohey, Tyler Green, and

Mark Davis.

I ask all members to join me

in congratulating the TriPen Ice on this championship season.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Last Tuesday, April 8, the

City of St. John's welcomed more than 100 volunteers to the Foran/Green Room at

City Hall for the annual Volunteer Appreciation Reception.

As always, I congratulate all the winners, but I have to say I was

pleased to hear that Ed Dunne had received the city's award in the Individual

Category.

Ed, known as Mr. Ed to the

people in Virginia Park, has been a volunteer in the Virginia Park Community

Centre for twenty-five years, and is currently the Vice-Chair of their Board of

Directors. He has started up

programs and services that range from a woodworking group to the Soups On

program, to hockey and darts leagues.

In his quarter-century as a

volunteer at the centre, he has been particularly successful in engaging the

youth of Virginia Park in community projects.

The annual haunted house and the Christmas parade float are two

particularly memorable ones. On top

of all this, he is active in the Virginia Park tenants association and is a very

familiar figure at Virginia Park Elementary.

I ask all hon. members to

join me in congratulating Ed Dunne, the City of St. John's Individual Volunteer

of the Year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize two individuals on the Great

Northern Peninsula who have shown true innovation in business.

I awoke on the morning of

April 5 to hear the exciting new community development endeavour over the

airwaves. Radio Quirpon, created by

musician Wayne Bartlett and entrepreneur Cheryl McCarron is something wonderful

for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians everywhere.

This locally-owned and operated online radio station gives listeners a

thick, hearty slice of life in rural Newfoundland.

Started in a small town of

seventy-five people, this venture allows both locals and others the opportunity

to experience the unique and colourful talents of surrounding residents,

boasting an array of remarkable musicians, storytellers, and artists.

They now have a licence to express themselves to an audience that would

not have been possible without technology and innovation.

Radio Quirpon is available

www.radioquirpon.com .

Beyond listening to Newfoundland, country, and commentary, the Web site

also depicts photos, videos, and comments from their listeners.

I invite all hon. members of

the House to join me in acknowledging Wayne Bartlett and Cheryl McCarron for

their creativity and hard work done to share with the world more of rural

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate

the staff and students of Mary Queen of Peace Elementary School.

They held their first Shave for the Brave on Friday, April 4, and it was

a huge success. Sixty-three students

got their heads shaved to raise money for Young Adult Cancer Canada, which

offers supportive and informative programs to young adults who are dealing with

cancer.

I had the great pleasure of

attending Mary Queen of Peace's first Shave for the Brave, Mr. Speaker, and it

was inspirational to see these young students and young children sacrificing

their crowning glory to raise money for such a good cause.

The sixty-three kids raised

more than $20,000 I call that pretty good for a first-time event.

Thanks go to Academy Canada

staff and students for volunteering to come in and do the shaving.

Members of this House will note that I was not one of the brave ones

getting shaved this year, but I have promised the kids that if they repeat the

event, I will be back next year, ready to submit to the razor.

I ask all hon. members to

join me in congratulating Mary Queen of Peace for raising $20,000 this year for

Shave for the Brave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT:

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

recognize and show appreciation for all the volunteers in Newfoundland and

Labrador, especially those in the District of St. Barbe.

In communities throughout

Newfoundland and Labrador there are approximately 197,000 volunteers who

contribute a total of 35 million hours of unpaid time in an effort to make our

towns and Province stronger. They

are integral and vital to our continued social, cultural, and economic

development.

The theme of this year's

Volunteer Week is for the health of it!

This is very fitting because as well as community benefits statistics

show that there are personal benefits, both mental and physical, for volunteers;

decreased stress, a sense of purpose and community, decreased isolation, lower

blood pressure, decreased risk of stress-related illnesses, and greater

longevity, just to name some.

During Volunteer Week

several appreciation events took place in the District of St. Barbe, with

approximately 300 persons attending.

Thank you to all who attended, and to all volunteers in the district.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all

members of the House to join me and show appreciation for all volunteers for

the health of it!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise to recognize and

commend Darrell Neil, Matthew Sweet, and Travis Walters of Margaree, on their

rescue of snowmobiler, Rick Sheaves.

On March 6, 2014, when Mr.

Sheaves did not arrive home after a Ski-Doo trip at his scheduled time, his wife

contacted Mr. Neil. Darrell jumped

on his snowmobile and retraced Mr. Sheaves' tracks to his cabin.

He found him in a gorge 500 metres behind his house with his legs

protruding from beneath the Ski-Doo.

Darrell cleared the snow away from his face but was unable to lift the 800 pound

Ski-Doo. He raced back to his home

and grabbed two neighbours, Mr. Sweet and Mr. Walters.

They were able to move the snowmobile and dig him out of the snow.

The snow may have actually protected him from the minus thirty wind

chill.

Sheaves said the accident

happened because he was blinded by snow and lost his way.

He had stopped on the edge of a cliff with a fifteen foot drop.

As he started to reverse, the snow gave way and he tumbled down.

Sheaves needed twenty-three staples to close the cut to his head and had

a dislocated shoulder, but he is now back home and very grateful to the three

men.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all

members of this House to join me in commending Darrell Neil, Matthew Sweet, and

Travis Walters on their brave actions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to rise today

to talk about this past Friday's national launch of the cross-country We Create

Change Tour in St. John's, which was attended by more than 800 students from

around the Province and Webcast live to thousands more.

The We Create Change Tour is

organized by the international charity and educational partner, Free The

Children. You may be familiar with

Free The Children as an organization founded by twelve-year-old Craig Kielburger

in 1995 to fight child labour.

Today, Free The Children has more than 2.3 million youth members focused on

ground-breaking education and development programs.

The organization has, in fact, built more than 650 schools in developing

countries, enabling 55,000 children to attend classes where they otherwise would

not.

Mr. Speaker, I think we

sometimes forget how fortunate we are to live in a country, and a Province,

which provides educational opportunities that most children in the world can

only dream about. That is why we

were pleased to share the launch of the We Create Change Tour with thousands of

our students. It is also why I

announced on Friday that the Department of Education is partnering with Free The

Children to introduce We Act , a school

program which encourages community service at home and abroad.

The

We Act program supports the ideals of the Province's Safe and Caring

Schools initiative, Mr. Speaker, and complements our efforts to establish caring

school communities. For example, as

part of We Act , schools commit to

taking action on at least one local and one global initiative of their choice

during the school year. But, Mr.

Speaker, it is also about instilling a sense of positive activism and social

justice in our youth. It is about

learning that one person can make a difference in their community.

One person can effect positive change.

And working together, we can make the world a better place.

I believe that, Mr. Speaker,

and I believe the We Act program will

enhance the existing character education and citizenship education programming

in our schools, and encourage more development of personal qualities such as

leadership, responsibility, honesty, fairness, and the ability to see past

ourselves for a greater good.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Thanks to the minister for an advance copy of his

statement.

The Official Opposition also

congratulates those behind the We Create Change Tour.

Through their work with this initiative, Craig and Marc Kielburger and

their collaborators have demonstrated that actions speak far louder than words.

We hope young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians follow their example.

The minister says he

believes we sometimes forget how fortunate we are.

There is a lot of truth to that old adage, but it is also the case that

those who are less fortunate are often overlooked, neglected, misunderstood, and

forgotten.

We applaud the minister's

efforts to cast a light on the growing poverty abroad.

We also hope this government will redouble their efforts to deliver our

own citizens from the shadows of exclusion and the depths of despair and

hopelessness that arise from poverty in our own communities.

We welcome the We Act

citizenship initiative. Community

service begins in our homes and in our schools.

There is much truth to that, but make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, it is the

way we act as members of this Assembly toward one another and those whose

interests we represent that sets a standard for the leadership, responsibility,

honesty, fairness, and the ability to see past ourselves for a greater good that

the minister speaks about.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement. It is

an honour that the national We Create Change Tour began in St. John's and that

they recognize the easternmost point of the country is St. John's.

That is a good one.

Free The Children and its

founder, Craig Kielburger, have done incredible work over nearly twenty years to

expose and fight against labour and other forms of child exploitation around the

world. It is important for our young

students to be aware of these kinds of youth initiatives and find new ways of

making positive changes and linking with youth in other countries.

There is a long history in

our schools of students being involved in youth community service organizations.

I hope the We Act program will enhance that activity by creating links

between local and global initiatives, and getting more young people involved.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House today to make members aware that the

MV Celtic Explorer , a research vessel chartered by the Fisheries and

Marine Institute's Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research, will soon arrive in

provincial waters to continue vital fisheries science work.

Mr. Speaker, the

MV Celtic Explorer is a

sixty-five-metre state-of-the-art fisheries and oceanographic research vessel,

which is capable of conducting offshore fisheries surveys and other

oceanographic work in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is the most sophisticated purpose-built vessel ever used for fisheries

science research in the Province.

The vessel has multi-beam

sonar capability for ocean mapping, remote operated vehicle capability, a wet

and dry laboratory, and accommodations for up to eighteen scientists,

technicians and students. Under the

direction of Dr. George Rose, Director of the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems

Research, this vessel contributes significantly to the most impressive fisheries

research undertaken by any province in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the provincial

government is investing in fisheries science because it increases our knowledge

of the Province's fish stocks and changes in the ecosystem.

This helps maintain the overall sustainability of Newfoundland and

Labrador's fishing industry. Through

Budget 2014 Shared Prosperity, Fair

Society, Balanced Outlook , this government has increased its support for the

Marine Institute's Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research with an investment

of $4.95 million over the next two years.

That investment is

supporting groundbreaking work like the Satellite Cod Tagging project, which

helps us better understand the movement and migration patterns of our valuable

cod resource. It is also supporting

studies related to haddock on the South Coast, shrimp distribution and dynamics,

and deep water species like turbot and redfish.

One additional benefit resulting from investments in the Centre for

Fisheries Ecosystems Research is that graduate student numbers have more than

doubled since the centre was created.

There are currently twenty graduate students and six post-doctoral

fellows at the centre.

Clearly, this government has

made it a priority to build fisheries research capacity within the Province, and

to support the sustainable management of our valuable fish resources that many

rural communities rely on. Our

investments have put the Province in an ideal position to take on a greater role

in the management of our fish resources, and protect the well-being of our

fisheries and aquaculture sectors well into the future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour

Grace.

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement. Mr.

Speaker, any time we can improve the signs of our vital fisheries, we certainly

must aim to do so.

While I commend the work of

the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research, (CFER), we cannot ignore the

obvious, which is their research is a mere drop in the bucket of what is needed

to truly inform the huge science effort needed to understand cod and our

ecosystem. The fact is this

government has basically failed to hold the federal government accountable for

the science research and stock rebuilding.

They are supposed to be doing the carryout as managers of our fishery.

It is interesting that in

the past week or so this government has been holding PR exercises to highlight

their minimal efforts on the fishery.

What they are glossing over is the fact that this government has failed

in the past eleven years to even have a vision or a plan on the fisheries, or

show any interest in the fishery.

This is the same government that has failed to achieve joint management of our

fisheries, which was a promise in their 2003 election Blue Book.

They have failed to achieve a collaborative marketing approach, which is

critical to us moving forward. The

fact that this department has done little for our fisheries is highlighted on

page 10.12 of this year's Estimates, which shows that they left 47 per cent of

their budget for the development of our fisheries on the table last year.

I say, Mr. Speaker

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member his time

has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the

advance copy of his statement. I

acknowledge the work of the MV Celtic

Explorer ; it is a much needed.

The minister says his

government has made a priority to build fishery research capacity in this

Province. I say to the minister,

actions speak louder than words. His

priority gets $4.95 million over two years for research in a $1.1 billion

industry. The same government is

putting half a billion dollars this year into Nalcor alone.

The 18,000 people working in the industry, most of whom live in rural

Newfoundland and Labrador, can see clearly where government's priorities lie,

Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador tourism

marketing continues to redefine tourism advertising in Canada, and is now

recognized as an industry leader.

Our Find Yourself tourism marketing campaign has proven successful in

raising awareness of Newfoundland and Labrador as a vacation destination, and

has become one of the most recognizable advertising campaigns in the country.

I am delighted to stand in

this hon. House today to announce that our campaign has won a second consecutive

Canadian eTourism Award, this time for Best Online Campaign . With this win, Mr. Speaker, the

Find Yourself campaign has garnered

211 awards.

The Canadian eTourism Awards

recognize the evolution and marketing power of campaigns for the travel and

tourism industry that are innovative, original, engaging, and have proven to be

successful. The award was presented

last week during the 2014 Online Revealed Canada Conference held in Toronto,

Ontario. Since 2010, our

Find Yourself campaign has won four

Canadian eTourism awards.

With the 2013 television

advertisement Conversation as the

anchor, an unconventional online advertising campaign called

Language Lessons was linked with a

Week and launched. Nineteen

YouTube videos were produced with people providing

definitions of Newfoundland

and Labrador-based words. Users were

meaning of the words before watching the videos.

The videos received more than 385,000 views, 16,000 Facebook likes, and

9,000 Facebook shares.

As a government, we are

pleased to see our incredible Find

Yourself campaign honoured once again for its creativity and innovation.

strengthened our Province's online presence and have fostered a loyal and

engaging online community of travellers and brand ambassadors alike.

I guess, Mr. Speaker, as you

proudly told me about the fifty-two students from Clarenville High School

again, tourism ambassadors who represent us well as the only choir from Canada

to be at the WorldStrides music festival, a true example of ambassadors for our

Province.

Since 2006, we have invested

over $100 million in tourism marketing, and the positive impact can be seen in

the growth in visitation and tourist spending.

In fact, tourism spending reached $1 billion in Newfoundland and Labrador

for the first time in 2011. Between

2009 and 2013, Mr. Speaker, non-resident visitation increased 19 per cent,

surpassing a milestone of half a million visitors during that period.

Non-resident tourism spending increased 30 per cent between 2009 and

2013, reaching $467 million in 2013, the highest level of non-resident spending

ever in the Province.

Our

Find Yourself campaign truly is an important component of our

efforts to promote Newfoundland and Labrador as a premiere destination.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of

Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy. We here would also

like to congratulate the campaign for winning another national award.

We all enjoy the ads; we all like the ads.

I have to say, they are very

important to this government, these ads.

So important, Mr. Speaker, last year they cut $4 million from it.

That is how important these ads are.

It is going to take a long while now for us to catch up, Mr. Speaker,

after taking $4 million, without consultation to Hospitality Newfoundland and

Labrador, I might add. So now they

put back $2 million this year, and I suppose $2 million again next year, there

is a commitment.

I am glad that you are going

to put the money back into it, because it is worthwhile.

When you lose those two or three years, Mr. Speaker, it is going to have

an impact. We see this year, alone,

that the traffic has been down.

Cruise ships are down 25 per cent; traffic has been down a fair bit.

Mr. Speaker, Marine Atlantic

is very important to our tourism.

All of us here in this House have to come together to try to establish something

that would make it feasible for tourists to come to Newfoundland and Labrador

when they travel on Marine Atlantic.

This government has been

very quiet on that issue, Mr. Speaker.

We have not heard a word on that.

They have been very, very quiet.

We have to stand up to your brothers and sisters in Ottawa, it is

affecting tourism.

Mr. Speaker, another way to

promote tourism is infrastructure in rural Newfoundland and Labrador like roads,

cellphone coverage, and other things.

This government is so important on infrastructure for rural Newfoundland

and Labrador they never spent $272 million in last year's Budget.

That is how important infrastructure is to promote tourism in the

Province.

I think we all have to come

together. We all have to find a way

and we have to promote it in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

We have to stop the talk and start the walk, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement. Bravo

to all those who worked on the Find Yourself Campaign and won the award.

Congratulations on the innovations, you make us all proud.

In Budget 2014-2015,

government is returning money it cut from the Department of Tourism in last

year's Budget, $2 million this year and $2 million next.

I congratulate the department on winning that money back.

Government has also found money for other initiatives this year to the

tune of millions and millions of dollars, especially, Mr. Speaker, to redress

some of the ill-planned cuts they made in last year's Budget.

Why is it government will

not return funding to other departments to help them with the important work

they do? Why won't government, for

instance, reinstate the Family Violence Intervention Court?

It is only $500,000 and it is crucial to the safety of battered women and

children in this Province. Why will

government not do the right thing?

A successful tourism

campaign is called Find Yourself. I

believe, Mr. Speaker, this government has lost its way and needs to find itself.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Government promised to

release a Natural Areas Systems Plan by March 31, 2011.

This plan would identify the protected areas network and increase

protection for green spaces along our coast.

It is three years after the deadline and we have yet to see details of

the plan.

I ask the Premier: Where is

the plan that you promised to deliver over three years ago?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is something that the

department has been working on for some time.

It is quite a bit of work involved with the Natural Areas Systems Plan.

We are presently in the process of putting the committee that would be

involved with that, WERAC. The new

committee should be announced within the coming weeks, Mr. Speaker, and I can

see that rolling out over time.

Obviously, as a government

we are very concerned about protecting our natural areas in this Province.

That is why we have the provincial parks that we have, that is why we

have things like we have in Salmonier Nature Park, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, we have always been stewards of the environment in this

Province, and this government speaks to that.

Certainly, we will continue

to look into that, Mr. Speaker, and look after the people of the Province and

all the natural areas that we have.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is a difference in

saying something than actually doing something.

Simply saying does not mean it is done.

Three years after you said you would release this plan; here we are

saying that it is going to come soon.

During the 2000 election,

the government promised to conduct public consultations on the draft Natural

Areas Systems Plan but they never delivered.

Through an Access to Information request, we asked for the details of the

public consultations and were told there were no records of such consultations.

I ask the minister: Did you

do any public consultations like you said you would do during the last election?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, what I can tell the hon. member is

that we are very concerned about our natural environment.

We have always been stewards of our environment here in this Province.

That is why we have the Environmental Protection Act, Mr. Speaker, one of

the most robust in the country.

Obviously, we are very

concerned about our areas and we protect them on a daily basis, Mr. Speaker.

We have officers who go around.

We are very concerned about any business that comes here to set up any

kind of an industrial company has to go through an EA process.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned

in my last response, WERAC is a committee that has come together, made up of

people concerned with the environment, specialities, and a number of people from

the university. We are in the

process of putting that board back in place, and that should be back in place,

Mr. Speaker, in the coming weeks.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We filed an Access to

Information request for an update on this plan but we were blocked from

receiving the information by

section 18 of Bill 29.

We were told there were no working documents that could be released

because of Cabinet confidences.

I ask the minister: Since

you now claim to be open, why are you hiding this plan behind the broad

definition of Cabinet confidences and Bill 29?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, Natural Areas Systems Plan and he is

trying to tie that to Bill 29, I think it is a far step.

It is a big step to make, a big leap to make.

Mr. Speaker, the Natural

Areas Systems Plan is a plan that is being developed by officials in the

department. Like I reminded the hon.

member, that would have to go through WERAC.

WERAC is in the process of being reappointed and those names are coming

forward. In the next couple of

weeks, it is my information that will be announced.

For the hon. member to try

to make that big leap that it is some kind of secrecy, absolutely nothing could

be further from the truth, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I remind the minister it was

not the Official Opposition that made the leap; it was the minister's department

that made the leap. They were the

ones who said you could not release the information because of Bill 29.

It was not the Official Opposition; it was this government.

I ask the minister: Will you

release the plans you have already done and the information you have?

Stop hiding behind Bill 29.

Will you release the information?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, I have been in this House now for

twelve or thirteen years, and I have not seen a bill that I can hide behind yet.

I say to the hon. minister, I am certainly not hiding behind any bills.

Like I advised the member,

they are working on the Natural Areas Systems Plan, Mr. Speaker.

It is one of those things that take a long while.

There are a number of regions across the Province with different

ecological pieces to it that we want to protect.

Obviously, like I said, the WERAC committee, who would be involved in

this process, will be put in place in the coming weeks and then the process will

move on.

I do not know where he is

trying to make that leap, Mr. Speaker, but this is certainly not the place to do

it.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Before I move on, Mr. Speaker, the leap was you

made the commitment to release it in 2011 and you did not do it.

It is simple, three years later.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of

it comes to a lack of resources and overcrowding at several schools.

He has repeatedly said he would not intervene, but the Minister of

Municipal Affairs has no problem second guessing the planning process.

I ask the minister: Do you

intend on meeting the Minister of Municipal Affairs on this issue?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, the Member for Mount Pearl North

being part of our government, him and I speak quite frequently, as a matter of

fact. He is the Member for Mount

Pearl North. People have expressed

their concerns to him and he has expressed them to me as he expressed them to

members of the board. I would hope

all of us who represent our constituents would express the concerns and he has

expressed his own opinion in this particular case.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. JACKMAN:

If the Member for Mount Pearl South would stop

chirping for a minute, I might finish my question, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my door is

open; my door is always open.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now that the door is open, I

ask the minister: Will you also meet with the parent groups and the school

councils?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, as I have said my door is open, but

let me make something very clear.

Let me be clear in this, as I discussed with anyone who has raised this with me,

we have a board that is independent of government, established under the Schools

Act, Mr. Speaker. I have not

interfered in their decision making, nor will I in this particular case.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, this government's supersized school

board is not only unelected but inefficient as well.

It is building schools that are too small; we know that.

It is unable to resolve busing issues and inclusive education problems,

and now we have the forced redesign of the school system in Mount Pearl.

I ask the minister: When is

he going to come down on the side of our children and provide quality education,

including a proper planning process for our school system?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I can assure you one thing and I can

assure that member who continues to point out if you had to listen to the

Member for St. John's North, you would have to think that we are about in the

worst place in the world when it comes to education.

Mr. Speaker, my commitment first and foremost, our government's

commitment first and foremost is always to children always to children.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I will not have time to run down

through this list. We have had

thirteen new schools built. We have

nine new schools

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for St.

John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, a lack of resources for the Mount

the planning process, as has been acknowledged by the Member for Mount Pearl

North, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, is flawed.

I ask the minister: Given

the uproar from parents and from students, will you now revisit the decision not

trustees?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, any time that I have encountered

that there has been a school closing or a reconfiguration, there is always

challenges that come with it. It is

a very emotional thing because parents and students are attached to teachers and

to a building.

Mr. Speaker, as I have said

in this House, the school board has made their decision.

What supports they need financially, they will put into us, as the

Department of Education, and it will go into a budgetary process.

We have not limited other areas when it comes to funds, nor will we do it

in this particular case, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

I say to the minister, that is not what the chair

of the board said at the public consultations.

Mr. Speaker, this past

will have devastating impact on many students, parents, and teachers in Mount

Pearl. Had the minister listened to

the people and provided the board with the financial flexibility to develop more

suitable options, this unacceptable decision could have been avoided.

Will he now do the right

thing and intervene in this matter so that the board is provided with the proper

financial resources to do what is right for our children's education and not

government's bottom line?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I find it a little bit ironic that

when the hon. member was over here he talked about the restructuring of the

system. He said: Do you know what?

There are going to be people upset out there, but we have to do it

because it is needed.

There is some space out

there where we can reorganize and put students.

It is unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, that we do get people who play politics

with children's education. I am not

about to play politics with these children and these parents and their

education. As I have said, once the

board puts forward their financial request, then we will do, as we do with all

other projects, give it due diligence and then move ahead with what needs to be

done, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Mr. Speaker, I would say I said that to the

minister three years ago and the school council said it probably about five or

six. If you had acted then we would

not be in this situation today.

Mr. Speaker, even after the

students eating lunch at their desks and doing gym and music in the cafeteria.

I therefore ask the

minister: Is this his idea of quality education?

If not, will he provide the board with the needed resources to provide

more suitable options for the children of Mount Pearl?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I would expect that the board will

be submitting their request very soon.

As I have said to the member, Mr. Speaker, we are not going to put

limitations on the school district.

They will put in their request

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. JACKMAN:

They will put in their request, Mr. Speaker, and

it will receive the due diligence, as do all other projects.

Then we will move on with what needs to happen in the Mount Pearl system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, government recently announced the

Apollo would begin its Blanc Sablon to

St. Barbe run tomorrow. However, as

of this morning the vessel is still on dry dock here in St. John's.

I ask the minister: With the

expected increase in traffic over the Easter season, what is the plan to ensure

we have a continuous ferry service in the Strait of Belle Isle?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the

Bond is running now between Corner

Brook and Blanc Sablon. The

Apollo is scheduled to start in the

near future. We were hoping that she

would start today. With the

conditions in The Straits we are not sure that is a good idea and also, she has

to pass her sea trial. We have a

continuance plan that the service between

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. MCGRATH:

Blanc Sablon and Corner Brook will continue as is through the Easter season.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, I am really, really pleased that the

minister is concerned about the Apollo

because so am I, business people, and residents in my area.

With the unprecedented amount of heavy ice in the Strait of Belle Isle

and the Gulf, the Apollo is

ill-equipped to make the run to Corner Brook with trips running up to fifty

hours.

I ask the minister: Will you

commit to operating the Bond to Corner

Brook until ice conditions permit the Apollo to get into St. Barbe and do the St. Barbe-Blanc Sablon run?

Will you make the commitment minister?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if you were to

go back to Hansard on May 23, the Leader of the Opposition acknowledged the ice

conditions in The Straits and how thick the ice was.

We all know that the ice is extremely thick this year.

I have no control over the ice unfortunately.

What I said is that we will continue with service through the Easter

season until the Apollo is ready to go

into service.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, the Journeyperson Mentorship Program

was heralded by this government as an excellent example of embracing innovative

solutions that are maximizing our potential, having budgeted $2 million to train

120 to 200 apprentices per year, but only $600,000 was spent and only five

people were trained.

I ask the minister: How

could you have been so far off the mark?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN:

Mr. Speaker, there are various programs within

Advanced Education and Skills that support apprentices to become journeypersons.

The Journeyperson Mentorship Program is just one.

It is innovative, and it was going to be innovative; but, in the

meantime, what it meant to do was take journeypersons who had retired and move

them into a position to mentor apprentices through the program.

We ran into issues in regard to I will give an example, a journeyperson

on the South Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, down in Ramea, we needed a

journeyperson up in Corner Brook, but the person could not move.

These are the kind of things that we had challenges with.

So I have asked my staff to

re-evaluate the program, and certainly we will address any issue that comes

forward on a go-forward basis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Mr. Speaker, last month in this House I asked why

government was not requiring employers like Kruger or contractors awarded

capital projects by government to hire apprentices.

The former minister responded that such companies can contact the

department if they have an interest in training apprentices.

I ask the minister: When are

you going to get proactive on getting apprentices trained and require companies

receiving loans or capital contracts to hire apprentices?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and

Skills.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN:

Mr. Speaker, we have an unprecedented number of

apprentices in Newfoundland and Labrador right now.

As a matter of fact, we have about 6,000 moving through the system as we

speak, in regard to being in their block training, or either that they are out

working.

As a matter of fact, since

2005, we have doubled the number of journeypersons in this Province.

We invest about $38 million of provincial money in regard to labour

market programs, in regard to training, and when you add in the federal

component as well, on top of the $39.8 million, we invest over $163 million in

supporting Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who want to avail of training.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the organizer

of the botched Mud Immortal event received over $420,000 from government to

start a new business in 2008, and closed its doors just nine months later.

I ask the minister: Was

there ever an investigation completed on that failed company to determine how

the tax dollars were spent, and how much of the $420,000 was recovered?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

MedicLINK the company was called, and it was

between 2006 and 2008 that the gentleman did come forward and request money.

Once the Province got wind in IBRD that there was trouble in the company,

they immediately went to see what assets the company had.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, this is intellectual stuff, so it is not like

they have physical stuff

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, government did go out and try to

access what they had in the company.

Unfortunately, there were no assets in the company and government was out the

money.

Obviously, at times like

this, nobody likes to see this happen.

Unfortunately it does happen when you are involved with businesses, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

So the answer is zero.

Mr. Speaker, government has

a responsibility to spend taxpayers' monies wisely.

They failed. Government also

has a responsibility to protect our provincial parks and our natural areas.

They failed.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the

minister: Why did you allow the same individual who walked away owing hundreds

of thousands of dollars in taxpayers' money to this Province access to a

provincial park with absolutely no due diligence well, other than to say, are

you going to use a motor in the park?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, just let me say the member opposite

has certainly failed at being an actor because his acting capabilities are

something to behold.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

He has also failed, Mr. Speaker, at being a good

Tory. So those are two things the

hon. member has failed on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. FRENCH:

I could go into a whole list of things about the

hon. member and how he has failed.

Mr. Speaker, this is

unfortunate. We deal with hundreds

of businesses over time.

Unfortunately, they are not all successful.

They come to government sometimes because they are high-risk investments.

We have had a number of success stories, now employing thousands of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Unfortunately, when you are in that field it is not always a success story, and

that is the reality of it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Mr. Speaker, I came to my senses and realized

there are no good Tories.

Mr. Speaker, the Department

of Environment and Conservation confirmed for me last week that a full

evaluation of the damage of that park has not been completed.

I ask the minister: You had

months to do an evaluation on the damage to that park before the winter snow set

in, yet you failed again; why?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and

Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

Mr. Speaker, I could get into environmental

damage the hon. member has been involved with, but I certainly would not get

involved with that. I would not

mention that here in this House.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. FRENCH:

a gentleman tried to have an event at the park.

Obviously, I am not intimately familiar with the latest details on that,

but I could certainly provide them to the hon. member in the coming days.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, just this weekend we heard of another story about a person

with mental health issues who ended up in the justice system.

He was given time served and now has no place to go.

I ask the minister: Do you

feel that sending people back to their communities without intensive case

management is truly helping people with mental health issues?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the member for the

question. It is a very serious

issue. I certainly do not want to

get into discussing details of this particular case because of privacy concerns,

but I can say to the member opposite that in the justice system when it comes to

planning for the release of those who are in correctional facilities, it is

taken very seriously and there is a very extensive process that we engage in

with our officials to plan for, whether it is financial challenges that the

individual may face, housing challenges or, in fact, health needs and health

concerns that need to be addressed.

All of that is a part of the release planning process.

Where it is identified that

there are services required to help the individual transition back into the

community, we work with groups like the Mental Health Association, the Justice

Project, Stella Burry, for example, all of that is a part of the process.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. Leader of the Third

Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I have a few questions of

clarification from information we learned in the Estimates meeting for the

Department of Finance.

I ask the Premier: Has the

Province engaged the services of an outside company to the tune of $700,000 to

assist in an audit on possible transfer pricing by Vale?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, audits and due

diligence is something that is part of regular business for us in the Department

of Finance and certainly, I would think, that the taxpayers would hold us up to

doing due diligence with their taxpayers' dollars.

We do certainly spend money on these audits.

If there is something specifically that I can get her some information

on, I would be happy to do so.

The other piece of

information, Mr. Speaker, is when we do these audits it is confidential

information in terms of the work being done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the minister: Is the

focus of the audit to assess whether these transfer pricing practices resulted

in the Province receiving less money for ore mined by Vale than we were due?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The focus of any audit would

be to ensure that everything is being done in compliance with the way it is

supposed to be done, that revenues are being received, that expenses are being

done properly. All the things that

would normally be done in an audit is what we are doing.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Is the passing

of Bill 9 in this session of the House tied to the audit currently being

conducted on Vale's ore sales?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The passing of Bill 9 is

important for any business that we deal with, any audits that we do.

The passing of Bill 9, which we talked about in this House yesterday, is

around third-party information, getting rid of ambiguity in the act, so we

ensure that taxpayers' dollars are spent in the most effective and efficient way

possible.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly it is going to

help in the audit of Vale getting at papers that are held by the third party

that Vale sold to. Mr. Speaker, we

were told in the House Bill 9 was a housekeeping amendment.

I ask the minister: Why was

this government not open and transparent on the importance of this amendment to

the ongoing Vale audit?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It certainly is a

housekeeping amendment. Both parties

were briefed. My understanding is

that there is full support. It is

getting rid of any ambiguity and it is ensuring our taxpayers' dollars are spent

in the most effective and efficient way.

There is nothing here that

we are trying to be closed about, it is very open.

I welcome the support from both sides of the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Budget this year

projects another large increase to gasoline taxes collected, $183 million in the

government coffers yet again. Yet

the government has announced just $81 million for this year's roads programs.

The Auditor General says that we have over $800 million in neglected

bridge work that has to be dealt with.

What is the government's

plan for roads and bridges?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the member

opposite said, we have $81 million in this year's Budget that we will be

allocating to the roads program this year.

On top of that, we will be spending over $70 million with the federal

government on the Trans-Labrador Highway.

We will also be spending money on maintenance.

I keep hearing from the opposite side of the House about the number of

bridges that need work but I never hear anything about the number of new bridges

that are being added.

Mr. Speaker, we are

constantly upgrading our road system.

As I said, we will be putting $81 million into it again this year.

We will continue to improve on the over 10,000 kilometres of roads that

we are responsible for in the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, that is not what the Auditor General

says that they are constantly upgrading.

The Auditor General says the condition of roads and provincial bridges

has deteriorated since 2003. That is

in the Auditor General's report.

Why did your government

neglect needed road and bridge work since that particular time?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes

to bridges, they are graded within the Province.

Sometimes when a bridge is graded with a poor rating it does not mean

that a bridge is unsafe. When a

bridge is graded as an unsafe bridge, then we stop the usage of that bridge.

When it is graded poor it

goes into the system and through priority we will move forward and have the

upgrades done as we are doing with our roads.

That is evident, Mr. Speaker, when we said that we would be spending $81

million this year in our Budget in the roads program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

The math is not working out.

The Auditor General is talking about $800 million.

Most of the bridges are over forty years old.

We have a problem here the government has not dealt with.

I ask the Premier: The

condition of roads and bridges today is an accident waiting to happen.

Why do you not have a plan for roads and bridges in this Province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if I were able

to accommodate every ask that came into my department this year for upgrades to

roads and bridges, I would need $852 million.

I got $82 million, so it is impossible to come up with the $852 million

in one year.

This government has invested

over $5 billion in improvements since we have been here and we will continue to

do that. As I said to the hon.

member across the House, we are spending $81 million this year for those road

improvements.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, I would say by the number of

potholes that are on the highways these days it is pretty hard to see the

investment. It is going down at the

bottom of a pit, I say to the minister.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister, even some recent

road and bridge repairs have failed.

Approaches to bridges, for example, on the Outer Ring Road are a very telling

example. Asphalt is going to have to

be reworked and, of course, rotting still exists.

I ask the government again:

Previous work, we are going to have to go back and revisit and I think the

people want to know, why?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Transportation and

Works.

MR. MCGRATH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, again, we do

not have the capacity in this Province to get all of the work done immediately.

The contractors just are not out there.

So what we do every year is budget the money that we feel the capacity

can fulfil.

When it comes to a

contractor doing work, there are guarantees out there.

We monitor that very closely.

If a contractor does a job there is a guarantee on that job, and if the work is

not up to par then we will go back to the contractor and they will address it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by

Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Pursuant to

section 8 and

section 10 of the Public Tender Act, I hereby table the report of the Public

Tender Act exemptions for the month of February, 2014, as presented by the Chief

Operating Officer of the Government Purchasing Agency.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will on

Wednesday be moving the following private member's motion:

WHEREAS more than two-thirds

of minimum wage earners in Newfoundland and Labrador are women, and one-fourth

of minimum wage earners are the sole earners in their household; and

WHEREAS the minimum wage is

inadequate and does not provide enough money for the necessities of life because

a person earning minimum wage working forty hours a week makes $20,800 a year

which is barely above the Low-Income Cut-Off of $19,496, and a working couple

with two children are also close to low income; and

WHEREAS in 2012 the Minimum

Wage Review Committee recommended an increase in the minimum wage in 2013 to

reflect the loss of purchasing power since 2010, and an annual adjustment

beginning in 2014 to reflect the Consumer Price Index; and

WHEREAS the provincial

government instead legislated two 25-cent increases, one in October 2014 and one

in October 2015, with no indexing; and

WHEREAS other provinces and

territories are continuing to raise their minimum wage and six now have a higher

minimum wage than Newfoundland and Labrador;

THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED

that the House of Assembly urge government to legislate an increase in the

minimum wage in 2014 to reflect the loss of purchasing power since 2010, and

make an annual adjustment to the minimum wage beginning in 2015 to reflect the

Consumer Price Index.

The motion is seconded by

the Member for St. John's East.

Mr. Speaker, the motion just

read is the motion for debate in the House of Assembly on this Wednesday.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers to Question for

which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS oral health is

intrinsically linked to overall health, and health care is universally covered

in our Province; and

WHEREAS many Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians have been forced to wait a year or longer for much needed oral

surgeries; and

WHEREAS residents with

emergency cases and others who need oral surgery must seek medical attention in

other provinces; and

WHEREAS the cost of access

of oral surgery outside the Province is prohibitively expensive for many

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians; and

WHEREAS the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador covers only 50 per cent of travel costs and requires a

$400 deductible; and

WHEREAS this financial

burden and the lack of adequate oral surgery services in Newfoundland and

Labrador is creating a two-tier system within the health care system;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

government to ensure that a more adequate level of access to specialist primary

care based oral surgery and oral surgical procedures is provided in Newfoundland

and Labrador;

We further urge the House of

Assembly to urge government to review the level of financial assistance

currently provided through the Medical Transportation Assistance Program to

residents who leave the Province for oral surgeries.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this petition

relates to problems in accessing oral surgery in this Province right now, and

this problem has existed for some time.

This petition is being spearheaded by a constituent of mine who last fall

came to me to point out that she had been waiting for about a year-and-a-half to

access an oral surgery that she needed, that was medically necessary; however,

because of a shortage of oral surgeons or very few oral surgeons here in the

Province at the moment, at least here working at the Health Sciences, the person

had to wait, as I said, a year-and-a-half.

When they finally saw an

oral surgeon, they then had to travel to Halifax in order to get the surgery.

There was a $400 deductible in the Medical Transportation Assistance

Program that automatically they had to incur and then beyond that, they had to

pay a further 50 per cent of their travel costs.

You would think, in this day

and age, we have a universal health care system in Newfoundland and Labrador,

there are people who have to go through excruciating pain for a long period of

time and then pay out of their own pocket to get the surgery they need we need

to act on this, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise again today to present a

petition on behalf of the residents of Western Newfoundland and Labrador

concerning the new hospital in Corner Brook.

WHEREAS we wish to raise

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

Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to commit to the planning and

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a

petition here from people from Humber Road.

The Member for Humber West's own district, there is six of them here from

Humber West who are petitioning the government on the new hospital.

Mr. Speaker, this is

something that has been committed. I

think the Minister of Finance is going out to Corner Brook tonight to speak at

some function, the Chamber of Commerce or something, and she is going to

announce the $15 million more for planning that was in this year's Budget to go

along with the million that was spent last year.

She is going to go out tonight and announce the $15 million; that we are

going to have new planning.

Mr. Speaker, that was the

same planning that was done in 2011, when the Premier today announced that the

hospital will start in 2012. So, Mr.

Speaker, excuse me for being a bit skeptical on this hospital.

I am willing to bet I will stand here tomorrow with a copy of

The Western Star in my hand and say

how the minister announced what a great budget, what a great $15 million for the

new hospital to do with the planning, to prolong the planning, to try to enhance

the planning for the same building they were supposed to have started back in

Now, Mr. Speaker, last year

the planning was complete; the functional design and the planning were complete.

I am willing to bet, and anybody from out in Corner Brook wants to bet

with me now that the minister is going to announce there is $15 million for

future planning. Now, what is going

to be in that hospital is going to be the big key.

Is there going to be radiation?

When the Minister of Finance goes out tonight will she answer that?

Will she just say oh, here is $15 million; it is going to progress?

It is going to open up in 2014 now, 2015, or 2016.

That is when the construction is supposed to start.

So, Mr. Speaker, this is an

ongoing issue out in Corner Brook.

We cannot get any answers. On April

24, there is a public meeting in Corner Brook; all are invited.

The Member for Humber West, I am not sure if he confirmed his attendance.

The Member for Terra Nova, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of

Health, I do not know if he confirmed his attendance.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The member's time has

expired.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, again.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS Route 434, Conche

Road, is 17.6 kilometres of unpaved road; and

WHEREAS the current road

conditions are deplorable; and

WHEREAS the Canadian

Automobile Association ranked Route 434 the seventh worst road in Atlantic

Canada;

WHEREAS it is government's

obligation to provide basic infrastructure to all Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians; and

WHEREAS an improved paved

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

is vital to the health of the communities affected;

We, the undersigned,

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

provincial roads program to pave Route 434.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I have had the

opportunity to drive to Conche and drive over this deplorable road, which has

not been paved. It is riddled with

potholes. As the road receives

upgrades and grading, which is now down to bedrock in places, there is a

significant amount of dust, which has an impact I am sure on people's health.

When I was in Conche, I

received this petition and it is signed by members in Roddickton, Main Brook,

Bide Arm, and Englee. Conche

certainly is a key employer in the region, given the fish processing facility

that is there and the hundreds of commercial trucks that transport product to

and from the community, as well as the commuters who work there.

It is something that

government has invested in, and I am going to commend government for putting in

upwards of $6 million in the mid-2000s to realign and rebuild this road.

With it, there was no plan to pave, to finish the job.

There needs to be a commitment.

The former Minister of

Transportation and Works said they were going to pave the road.

They had all intentions to pave this road.

Now it is almost ten years later since this realignment and rebuilding

has taken place and the investment is eroding, it is wearing away, because there

is no paving being done. Even if it

had to be done in a multi-year stage, and if the Minister of Transportation and

Works would commit at least to a bare minimum of implementing dust monitors, we

could ensure that the people who are travelling this highway, the commuters of

this highway, their health and safety are being protected while we work through

that plan.

I understand there are a lot

of asks in Newfoundland and Labrador, but we have to take gravel roads out of

the provincial inventory so we are advancing economies, especially those that

have a strong, vibrant economy like Conche, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS residents of the

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

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

WHEREAS Marine Atlantic

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

resulting in extremely high volume of commercial and residential travellers

using this

section of the TCH; and

WHEREAS the world-renowned

Wreckhouse area is situate along this

section of the TCH; and

WHEREAS the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador initiated a twenty-four hour snow clearing pilot

project in 2008 that excluded the

section of the TCH from Channel-Port aux

Basques to Stephenville;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

include the

section of the TCH from Channel-Port aux Basques to Stephenville in

the twenty-four hour snow clearing project.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, obviously I

have made this petition on a number of occasions.

We started back in March when I was putting them in.

We all know about how rough March was and the amount of snow we got, and

it has continued right up until April.

The fact is, thankfully, the snow seems like it is going away little bit

by little bit, but that does not mean I am not going to continue entering this

petition. In fact, I think sometimes

the department hopes that they can put this issue off until the weather gets

nice and we will forget about it and deal with it a year later.

That is not going to happen.

We have written letters

asking for more information on the data used to make this decision.

We still have not received the answers to the questions we have asked.

This is a government that likes to tout how they are a newly-formed open

government, but I am still not getting the information I need to justify

government's decision on this.

Therefore, I still do not believe it has been justified.

We have more people coming

on here and supporting this including the Atlantic Provinces Trucking

Association, a number of commercial truck drivers getting on and off the ferry.

They can tell you first-hand how desperately we need this service on that

section of roadway. The TCH does not

end in Stephenville, contrary to some people's beliefs, it continues on right to

the ferry.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. A. PARSONS:

We are the gateway to the Province and we deserve to have the same

treatment as everybody else.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MS ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS Holy Cross school is

a small, family-oriented school that gives all the children the highest

education possible; and

WHEREAS the school helps

support the many students who have difficulty and or learning disabilities to

reach their highest potential; and

WHEREAS the school has a

friendly atmosphere for children and parents, the staff knowing all the children

and parents by name; and

WHEREAS the teachers at Holy

Cross bring the extra supports that would not be present in a larger school or

larger classroom;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

government to consider keeping Holy Cross open, and to allow the children of the

area to attend a neighbourhood school as was promised with education reform.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to

stand and present this petition on behalf of parents of the children who attend

Holy Cross Elementary school in my district.

I met with the parents on two different occasions and with the principal

and school council. Some of the

parents have real grave concerns about what this move will mean for their

children.

The school has a new

principal who has been there for two years and the school is thriving, the

students are thriving, the teachers are thriving.

The school is a real community school; it is the hub of the community.

There are a number of

extracurricular activities that happen in the school.

One of the things that the parents have identified is that every morning

when the children come through the doors in the school, the teachers are there

calling them by name. It seems like

an ideal situation. It is the type

of school atmosphere we would all want for all of our children.

There also are a large number of children attending Holy Cross Elementary

who do have special needs. There are

some extra resources available through the school, as it should be, in order to

help these kids.

What was really

heartbreaking, Mr. Speaker, was to hear some of the families, some of the

mothers, talking about the fears on behalf of their children, children who have

autism, children who have special needs.

When they talk about the fear they have for their children, they also

talk about how wonderful the teachers are there.

They are so afraid.

Mr. Speaker, they are so afraid that their children are going to fall

through the cracks because they are going to a school that is bigger and they

will be absorbed into this bigger school.

They are going from a school where there are 140 students to a school

where there will be over 550. They

are very concerned and they are asking the government to listen to their

concerns.

Mr. Speaker, thank you very

much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour

Grace.

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the communities of

New Ferolle, Shoal Cove West and Reef's Harbour has always relied on the fishery

as a means to earn a sustainable income; and

WHEREAS the main employer

for these three communities has been a seafood processing plant located in New

Ferolle; and

WHEREAS this plant was

seized by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador as a result of mortgage

arrears; and

WHEREAS the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador then permitted an outside operator to operate that

plant, but that operator became insolvent and closed; and

WHEREAS the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador then sold the plant to another operator for the sum of

$1 and has not operated the plant but instead has stripped most, if not all, of

the equipment from the plant instead of operating it;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to find a local operator for this plant

so that people can go back to work.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, just to

elaborate a little bit on it. In New

Ferolle, the fish plant was operated approximately fifty years by the Doyle

family. It was mostly cod and was

hard hit by the cod moratorium, but it struggled along with other species:

pelagics, lump roe, turbot, lobster, and seal.

Finally, it could not pay the mortgage and government foreclosed and took

the plant. They put one operator

there for three or four years, the Eveleighs, and trucked the products to other

plants until it went bankrupt.

Three or four years ago it

was sold to new operators, Deep Atlantic, Greg Maloney, for $1.

It only opened a few weeks.

Of course, since then the equipment in the plant has been stripped out of the

plant. The petitioners right now are

calling upon government to see that plant reactivated so it can give them some

security for income.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair, this time.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thought we had a new

district for a little while there.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS Route 510 from

L'Anse au Clair to Red Bay is in deplorable condition and requires immediate

upgrading; and

WHEREAS the condition of the

highway is causing undue damage to vehicles using the highway and has now become

a safety hazard for the travelling public; and

WHEREAS both residential and

commercial traffic has increased dramatically with the opening of the

Trans-Labrador Highway and increased development in Labrador; and

WHEREAS cold patching is no

longer adequate as a means of repair;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to immediately allocate resources to

Route 510 from L'Anse au Clair to Red Bay that allows for permanent resurfacing

of the highway.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, we have a

serious situation in the Labrador Straits that with spring thaw become a

critical situation. We have an

emergency situation in the Labrador Straits, Route 510.

This morning at 9:30 all of the councils in the Labrador Straits came

together and held an emergency meeting.

Mr. Speaker, I have been

impressing upon government, impressing upon the member for months and months now

that we have a serious situation in the Labrador Straits with the road.

I listened to him in Question Period.

Yes, we do not have enough money to meet all the capacity around

Newfoundland and Labrador but we must, we have a responsibility I say the

government, Mr. Speaker, has a responsibility and the minister that when you

have an emergency situation it has to be addressed immediately.

This weekend we have

ambulances, we have videos out on YouTube of ambulances and what they are

driving over. It is basically now

all potholes. The safety of the

people in the Labrador Straits is very, very seriously being compromised right

now with the lack of attention that is being given to the road.

We need an immediate temporary solution.

I say not next week and not tomorrow, but today people need to be out

doing something with the potholes that are there right now, and then we need to

get on the horizon for some new pavement to replace this thirty-five-year-old

pavement.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to

stress the minister is from Labrador, he knows the issues, and he knows this

situation. I had a number of people

this weekend say: Bring him in; bring him in right now and let him see the

seriousness of this situation. I

hope something is done before somebody loses a life, because that is how bad it

is right now in the Labrador Straits on Route 510.

I am calling upon the

minister to take this situation very, very serious and see it for what it is,

and I will continue to stand and petition on this.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition.

To the hon. House of Assembly, the petition of the undersigned residents

humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS Holy Cross school is

a small, family-oriented school that gives all children the highest education

possible; and

WHEREAS the school helps

support the many students who have difficulty and/or learning disabilities to

reach their highest potential; and

WHEREAS the school has a

friendly atmosphere for children and parents, the staff knowing all of the

children and parents by name; and

WHEREAS the teachers at Holy

Cross bring an extra supports that would not be present in a larger school or

larger classroom;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

government to consider keeping Holy Cross open and to allow the children of the

area to attend a neighbourhood school, as was promised with education reform.

Mr. Speaker, I know that

there was a decision made roughly two years ago on Holy Cross to close Holy

Cross in support of the new St. Teresa's School that is going to be built, but

the situation has changed somewhat.

I would put forth the fact that since government has announced the introduction

of all-day Kindergarten that has changed the situation.

If nothing else, that has changed the situation.

I will speak a little bit

more about Holy Cross in a second, but the fact that there is all-day

Kindergarten and there will be additional classroom space required, I think that

Holy Cross can add to the inventory of schools in the metro area and provide

some of the additional classroom space that is going to be required as a result

of all-day Kindergarten.

I understand the argument

that government made a couple of years ago in saying that they were going to

build a new school, St. Teresa's, but I am a supporter of smaller schools, Mr.

Speaker. I do have a couple of

smaller schools in my district, and I know that the smaller schools are far more

personal, the teachers have a much closer relationship with the students, and if

a student has needs, special needs, or is having difficulty, the teacher is more

in tune to that. Most of the

teachers maybe all of the teachers know all of the students in a smaller

school. So there is something to be

said about smaller schools, Mr. Speaker, and the strength of smaller schools.

I know that there is a

smaller school in my district, St. Mary's, and the academic performance of that

school is much greater. I would

argue that there is less bullying. I

do not think of any bullying, in fact, going on at that school.

It is a very close-knit community with the parents, the students, and the

teachers.

That is another strong

reason for keeping Holy Cross open, but I ask government to reconsider the

decision made on Holy Cross and look at keeping it open.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS current government

regulations deny busing services to students who live closer than the 1.6

kilometres from school; and

WHEREAS parents have

expressed concern that children living within 1.6 kilometres of school face

dangers in walking to school, such as congested streets, busy intersections and

no sidewalks, especially during winter weather conditions; and

WHEREAS the $75,000 review

of the school transportation system completed by Deloitte recommended that the

Department of Education consider reducing the 1.6 kilometre eligibility zone for

Kindergarten and elementary students; and

WHEREAS the

$75,000 Deloitte report also noted that only 10 per cent of those

surveyed for school transportation system review agree that the current 1.6

kilometre is reasonable for students and families; and

WHEREAS parents are

continuing to demand more flexible policies to meet the current needs of school

children;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

government to change the outdated 1.6 kilometre school busing eligibility policy

in order to ensure safe travel to school for primary and elementary school

children in the Province.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is a

petition now that I have presented a number of times, and I will continue to do

so until the Minister of Education decides he is going to listen.

We realize he did not listen when it came to the Mount Pearl school

reorganization, which is absolutely shameful; but, hopefully, we are going to

change his mind. We are going to

keep pressing that issue, but we are also going to press this issue.

This is a very serious issue for students, particularly young children in

high traffic areas, urban areas in particular, having to walk to school.

There are a lot of children

that may be only a kilometre away, 1.2 or 1.3 kilometres away.

That is quite a distance for, say, a child who is only going to

Kindergarten, Grade 1 or Grade 2 to have to walk to school, particularly, as I

said, in busy areas, high traffic areas, having to cross four-lane roads in a

lot of cases. Of course, that is

made even worse in the wintertime when you do not necessarily have the sidewalks

cleared and so on.

This is a serious issue.

It is a safety issue. I am

urging the Minister of Education unlike he did on the Mount Pearl school

reorganization, I am asking him to start listening to people.

The government claims to be open and accountable and is starting to

listen. The Premier has said they

want to listen to the people.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LANE:

This is what the people are saying.

I ask the government to start listening and take some action.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of St.

Barbe.

MR. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, a petition to the hon. House of

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

the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS there is no

cellphone service in the Town of Trout River, which is an enclave community in

Gros Morne National Park; and

WHEREAS visitors to Gros

Morne National Park, more than 100,000 annually, expect to communicate by

cellphone when they visit the park; and

WHEREAS cellphone service

has become a very important aspect of everyday living for residents; and

WHEREAS cellphone service is

an essential safety tool for visitors and residents; and

WHEREAS cellphone service is

essential for business development;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to partner with the private sector to

extend cellphone coverage throughout Gros Morne National Park and the enclave

community of Trout River.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, Trout River is

a remarkable little town. Actually

in my region it is a relatively mid-sized town.

It is 650 people; it is about the fifth biggest in the district.

If you go to Trout River,

which is a very nice place, you can see the resiliency of the people; you can

see the initiative that they take simply by going to the town office.

The town office is a nice blue clapboarded building.

If the Speaker remembers, a few years ago there was news coverage of a

criminal act of arson in the community.

This resulted in the burning in some part of the town office.

The people in the town,

being self-reliant, were able to arrive at a settlement with the insurance

company for cash for materials. They

were able to successfully apply for a labour project.

They were successful in that.

They put their town office back together.

It is a very nice facility, a nice building.

They are practically no burden on anybody in that respect.

They are self-governing. They

pay their taxes, but some things are beyond their reach, Mr. Speaker.

They just cannot put in

cellphones. They do not have the

technology. They do not have the

know-how. They cannot build a tower.

They need government to partner with the

private sector. The private sector

would certainly be willing to have the discussion with government as what can we

do to work together to have cellphone service in the Town of Trout River.

Mr. Speaker, that is all that these people are asking: for the government

to partner with the private sector to provide cellphone service to them in their

town.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have another

petition here:

WHEREAS the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador has announced tenders for rehabilitation of 11.75

kilometres of highway between Baie Verte and Fleur de Lys to be completed by

September 30, 2014; and

WHEREAS government has now

added an addendum to limit the funding in 2014 for approximately 30 per cent of

the roadwork tendered for the Fleur de Lys road, roughly four kilometres; and

WHEREAS government has not

provided funding in 2014 for roadwork on the La Scie highway but has said the

roadwork will be completed by September, 2015; and

WHEREAS we the undersigned

are disappointed at this delay;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to honour its commitment to us and

complete the entire 11.75 kilometres as announced.

Mr. Speaker, this petition

is signed by residents from King's Point.

We have a number of petitions coming in from that area.

We have received a phone call saying there is another envelope of

petitions coming in from the area.

Mr. Speaker, the people in

the area want that roadwork done. To

say the road in La Scie is not to be completed until 2015, that was not their

understanding when the announcement was made.

I commend government for putting out multi-year tenders, but there is a

difference in putting out a multi-year tender and providing the funding for the

work they are requiring to be completed this year and what will actually be

completed this year.

Mr. Speaker, the people in

the area protested last year because of the condition of the road and the fact

that the work was not going to be complete.

If the work is not complete this year, Mr. Speaker, you can bet they are

going to be very, very disappointed, very upset indeed.

So we call on government to provide the funding that is required to

complete the work they promised would be completed this year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this point in time I

would like to move us into the Order Paper on Motion 1.

I move that the House approves in general the budgetary policy of the

government, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am happy to stand and have

a few minutes to speak to issues in my district again.

Mr. Speaker, just before I stood I was looking at the title:

Budget 2014 Shared Prosperity, Fair

Society, Balanced Outlook .

Shared prosperity and a fair society; it is not what you are seeing in my

district and in many places throughout Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I hear members

across the way touting we have a new school.

Every time I stand and raise the issues in the District of Cartwright

L'Anse au Clair someone hollers across, you are getting a new school.

Again I have to say, a clean environment for children to learn in is a

right. The government of the day has

a moral and an ethical obligation to ensure that all of the children in

Newfoundland and Labrador learn in a clean and dry environment.

We fought for a decade and a half to get that in a community in my

district and we are very pleased the minister came through on that.

Again, I say to the member

across the way, we are not the only place in Newfoundland and Labrador to have a

school. I do not know why they keep

touting the fact that we are getting a school.

We are finally, in certain areas of Labrador, getting some things equal

to the rest of the Province, but I can tell you now that we are still a long,

long way behind.

Saturday night I was heading

down to a hockey game in a cab. In a

small conversation with the cab driver, he asked me where I was from.

When I said Labrador, my dear he said you must be some frustrated living

in Labrador with all your issues. He

said Newfoundland have long been upset about how they are being treated by

Ottawa. He said, I always think that

the Island is treating Labrador the way that Ottawa treats Newfoundland.

I thought that was noteworthy by a cab driver on the weekend to pass

along here.

While I was down there that

evening I met a number of gentlemen who were happy to share stories with me.

I see the minister for Labrador is nodding his head, Transportation and

Works. I am going to get to the

roads, minister, big issues all this weekend on the roads.

I met a couple of gentlemen down there on the weekend from here in town

who told me they were in my district in the summertime.

I think one was down there who drove through in June, another one in

August, another one in September.

Mr. Speaker, everybody

shared the same story. They could

not believe it. They got off the

ferry and could not believe what you guys have to drive on every day.

They could not believe what people have to commute to work on.

They could not believe what ambulances have to move on.

I do not know if the

minister is aware and you can get up and speak to the issues once I am down

but I am going to use my ten minutes right now.

I do not know if the minister is aware, and I am going to jump right to

it, but there was an emergency meeting held this morning in the Town of Forteau,

talking about the very pressing situation of Route 510.

We are really, really fortunate here that nobody has been killed yet, and

I fear that is on the horizon.

People are swerving all over the place.

I know we have some potholes

here and there in the city. You look

at the little barricades they have up to warn you that you are coming onto a

pothole. Well, I tell you, if they

stuck them up on Route 510 everything would be blocked up.

You would not move.

Everything would be shut down because there are so many potholes.

Mr. Speaker, we have a big, big concern about that.

Do you know what?

The Member for Labrador is doing a lot of heckling while I am up on my

ten minutes. I am really

disappointed. I said to him before,

he is the man who knows the issues of Labrador, better than an awful lot of

people here a lot.

I will give you credit.

I am very pleased to hear the minister commit to keeping the

Bond on the run until the

Apollo can get into St. Barbe.

He has delivered on something the area wanted, and I thank you, Minister.

I have no problem to give credit where credit is due.

Every time the school comes

up, I give the Member for Burin Placentia West credit for looking after the

children in a coastal community in Charlottetown because for fifteen years prior

they went ignored fifteen years.

We could not even get a letter answered from the previous minister.

I give you credit, Minister, for keeping the

Bond on.

That is what the people want.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MS DEMPSTER:

Well, the pavement is coming, but right now we

have an immediate serious situation.

We cannot wait. We need an immediate

temporary solution. Everything is

ready to be shut down.

We had meetings yesterday in

the Labrador Straits. Nalcor is in.

They are doing quite a big contract there with the rock procurement and

there is a lot of money that is going into someone's pocket because of that, but

I can tell you what we are getting are a couple of dozen jobs.

People are really taken aback that the number of jobs was so small.

Once again, here is an area that is providing something substantial to

the Muskrat Falls development, yet we are so greatly lacking in every single

other area, Mr. Speaker.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MS DEMPSTER:

I am still hearing the Minister of Transportation

across the way.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible) clarification.

MS DEMPSTER:

What is the clarification, Minister?

The minister is happy that

after this government's $17 billion revenue from oil alone, from first oil to

last year's $17 billion, more than a decade later, and this government decided

we need to help the people getting their equipment in and out and using Muskrat.

We will announce the pavement.

That is what Labrador gets repeatedly, Mr. Speaker.

Nothing has changed.

Yes, we got an announcement

after a decade and we are going to wait another five or six years until we get

it. In the meantime, it is

imperative that something be done to address the emergency situation on Route

510 in the Labrador Straits and we need to continue with the ongoing maintenance

down the coast in Labrador in southeast.

I drove home last week and I tweeted out what I drove on.

I said: A land so rich in resources and so poor in infrastructure, unless

something is being taken out.

I wondered what I was going

to say when I stood up because I always seem to say the same thing along the

same lines and I thought: Why change it?

The issues are not changing, why do I need to change my story?

I need to keep hammering away at the very pressing issues,

transportation, the road, and the ferry is huge.

Yes, we have had a difficult year with the ice, Mr. Speaker.

Right now, given the situation, we are happy the

Bond will stay on because the

Bond is better equipped to do that

run, that has taken up to forty and fifty hours.

I have to go back and I have

to hit on all of the rich resources out of Labrador.

Many times, through my years with Combined Councils and in dialogue with

the different towns, we have raised the issue.

Actually, the minister for Labrador probably will remember.

We have asked many times. If

we had a 2 per cent royalty fund coming back to Labrador for the resources that

come out, we would have our water and sewer needs met.

We would not have people turning on a tap and the colour that is coming

out is like a chocolate milkshake.

We would not have seniors who are living in the conditions that they are in.

We would not have people in

Black Tickle, grown men that I saw moved to tears when I was there in January,

who want to get out and get a job somewhere but do not have any income.

They do not have the money they need to save for that $1,000 or $1,500

down payment that you need, Mr. Speaker, when you move into an apartment.

It is a very, very sad situation.

I have not even touched on Black Tickle and what they are driving on in

roads and the state of the road of the airstrip but I am hoping something is

coming on that in the near future.

Mr. Speaker, I want to

mention Crown Lands. It is not

something we hear talked about a lot here in the House.

I can go on and on about the pressing issues in the district with the

roads and transportation and health.

Cell service is another issue, Mr. Speaker.

We have that sub-sea cable,

that $1 billion cable that is running across the Strait of Belle Isle.

It has fibre optics going through it; yet, because of poor planning and

poor vision, we have communities like Red Bay that are going to see a big influx

of tourists again soon and they are on a dial-up service.

Mr. Speaker, we have to work together to ensure Labrador has a better

standard of service than it has right now.

The time has come for us to sit down and try to work out some solutions

and move some of these very pressing issues forward.

The issue at Crown Lands,

they had drastic cuts in Budget 2013 and it has not improved.

Primarily, the pressing issue with Crown Lands is because they are under

resourced. The last call I had was there

were 800 applications that need processing, and there is no system of priority,

Mr. Speaker; 800 applications in Crown Lands that need processing and no system

of priority. Therefore, the

gentleman I spoke to told me it takes about three to six months to get an

application processed. When I was in

the system myself, it actually took more than two years.

I have talked to a number of people where the extended wait times have

gone over two years.

While I empathize with the

staff at Crown Lands, Mr. Speaker, what is really pressing in my area is that

many of the little rural and outport communities have limited registered title,

and a grant from Crown Lands is required by lending institutions to ensure that

the title to the land is protected.

You have people who go to a bank and they need a loan, they want to start a

house or they want to carry out renovations and they are held up for a year,

they are held up for two years. We

do not have a big influx of people who are wanting to come into our rural

communities and build, but I believe that when we do, there should be provisions

made so this process right now is not held up, Mr. Speaker, for a year or two

years.

In almost every department

you go to there is a deadline on when you can expect to get something back.

I think on government's new initiative they declared and I did have it

here somewhere thirty days getting something back on a report and within sixty

days they would act on the report.

Here we see Crown Lands that play a very important role into families who are

coming in and wanting to build, yet we have no deadline when you submit an

application, no deadline on when you are going to hear back from that

application.

Mr. Speaker, I would urge

the department to look at that. Look

at the significant strain in the resources and see if they can address some of

these concerns that we are continuously hearing about and getting back from the

public.

I did want to mention, in my

critic area of AES I am very concerned that the government is touting a 5.3 per

cent poverty rate, yet we have almost 15 per cent of the population who are

actually living in poverty.

My time is up.

I have a lot of issues and I look forward to standing again to raise some

of them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am very pleased today to

rise and speak to Budget 2014. Mr.

Speaker, today I believe I am speaking to the sub-amendment.

I think we have had the general motion and amendment, and this is the

sub-amendment.

I am very pleased to stand

up and have an opportunity to speak today to

Budget 2014: Shared Prosperity, Fair

Society, Balanced Outlook .

Obviously it is the Opposition's role to be critical and point out flaws and all

the rest.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Perceived flaws.

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Perceived flaws, yes. The

hon. member says, perceived flaws.

Mr. Speaker, in this Budget

there are many good things. I have

taken a role today that I am going to talk about some of the good things that

are in this Budget. They are not

only good for myself and before I the hon. Member for Carbonear Harbour

Grace, I want to congratulate him, too, on his maiden speech from last week.

He did a wonderful job. I

have known the hon. member for many years as we served together on Joint Mayors

for many years in our region in Conception Bay North.

I would be remiss, Mr.

Speaker, if I never spoke and thanked the people of the Port de Grave district

for their continued support and encouragement.

Without their support and encouragement every day I do not know if you

could go into the office and continue to work as hard as we do on a daily basis

on the matters that concern them.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I want

to take a few minutes to talk about several topics that are important in my

district: education, infrastructure, and the fishery.

Also, if I have some time I want to talk about some of the important

contributions volunteers make. We

are coming off Volunteer Week, Mr. Speaker, and some initiatives in this Budget

were very important to some very important volunteers, like firefighters and our

search and rescue people.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk

a little bit about education. I know

in this hon. House last Wednesday we talked about full-day Kindergarten and what

that would do and the importance of full-day Kindergarten.

Mr. Speaker, I am a father

of two boys. One boy is about to

enter post-secondary schooling, getting very close.

I was very pleased to hear in this Budget about the continuation of the

tuition freeze. Mr. Speaker, that is

not only important to my family but it is also important to my friend's

families, as we all have children about to enter post-secondary schooling.

That freeze ensures that our children receive a great education at very

affordable and accessible pricing.

That is very important.

Also, Mr. Speaker, I

remember in my day there were the grants and loans.

We hoped to get a grant and then you hoped to get a loan to match your

grant. That is how you made your way

through university, by having a matching loan to the grant.

I was so pleased to see in this Budget the elimination of the provincial

student loan program. This

government is going to have non-repayable grants, and this government has

committed $14.7 million to this program over the next two years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

That will eliminate student loans in this Province.

That will certainly have a significant impact on young people who want to

go to school in the colleges and universities here in our Province.

Mr. Speaker, I had one

student come up to me; she was about to start university.

She said: Mr. Littlejohn, is it real?

Is there going to be an elimination of the student loan program?

I said: Yes, you have heard right.

She said: That would be great.

I was so glad that these students will get an opportunity to go to

university and have no loans to pay back.

What does it mean to a

student? What does it mean to a

student not to have a loan and to go with grants?

Well, Mr. Speaker, less debt.

We have all stood and heard in this House from both sides the tremendous debt

that students have incurred trying to get a post-secondary education over the

years. So, what else does that mean?

Less stress less stress on the student because they do not have to

worry about paying back this great debt and finding a job and a job immediately,

and when is the student debt going to come free, and when do I have to pay this

debt, and when do I have to start paying.

So, Mr. Speaker, it is a lot less stress, and it is a lot less stress on

the families.

I remember my mom and dad,

Mr. Speaker, when I went to university.

I remember my mom and dad saying: Glenn, I do not know if we can do this.

If we have to pay back all this money, I do not know, Glenn, what we are

going to be able to do.

Well, like all families,

they made sacrifices. They made

sacrifices that allowed me to be able to go to university.

Mr. Speaker, they did not only make sacrifices for me; they made

sacrifices so that I would not come out with a burdensome debt and that was

very important.

The other part of that, Mr.

Speaker, it is encouraging our young people to seek a quality education.

Whether it be at Memorial University, whether it be at Grenfell, whether

it would be at the College of the North Atlantic, it is encouraging our young

people to look at a post-secondary education in our Province.

We have world-class institutions in our Province and world-class study

areas in our Province that I am very proud to say students can avail of.

Mr. Speaker, just to give

some examples: A student at the College of the North Atlantic in a one-year

program would have his payments reduced by 42 per cent.

So what does that mean? Well,

that means if you are out of the student loan program, with the elimination of

the student loan program, instead of paying $113 a month, he would now be paying

back $67 a month a 42 per cent reduction, Mr. Speaker.

A student at MUN in a

four-year program and four-year programs are standard degree programs would

benefit by 44 per cent, having their payments reduced from $300 a month to $167

a month. It is very significant, I

would say, Mr. Speaker. Over a

lifetime of this, a four-year undergraduate program, the average total debt for

a student who did a four-year undergraduate program at Memorial University in

2003-2004 paid about $26,592. With

the 2015-2016 projected total debt, it will only be $14,787; a total reduction

of $11,805. Mr. Speaker, that is

nearly 50 per cent for a four-year undergraduate program.

I think that is very significant.

Mr. Speaker, the longer term

impact of all of this is that this is just a point of reference.

This will allow more kids to go to school, more opportunity for kids

graduating high school to go to a post-secondary institution.

At the end of the day, I think all students will benefit.

Just as a point of

reference, the average government-sponsored student debt in the country is about

$27,000. In our Province, we are

estimating it will be a little less than 50 per cent of that.

In this Budget, Mr. Speaker,

we had some great news for our district.

I heard the hon. member across the way talk about the new school for her

District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair and it took her a decade-and-a-half.

Well, it has been nearly a decade that I have been involved in trying to

get a new school for Coley's Point just about a decade.

Back in 2006, Mr. Speaker, we started trying to advocate for a new school

at Coley's Point Primary.

Coley's Point Primary is a

sixty-year-old wooden structure building, Mr. Speaker.

Today we have a K-3 program in that school with nearly 400 children.

I can honestly say that every piece of available space in that school is

being utilized. What used to be

janitorial closets are now resource rooms.

What used to be libraries are now technology rooms and libraries.

So, Mr. Speaker, every bit of space in this school was used.

I was so pleased that this government committed to building a new school,

Coley's Point Primary.

Mr. Speaker, over that

decade I have to sing out accolades because there were a lot of people who put a

lot of effort into making sure that this new school came to fruition.

The former principal, Joy Brown Joy was a Trojan, never ever took no

for an answer and continued to work with us and for us and for the children of

Coley's Point Primary.

Mr. Speaker, the school

councils over the years continued to advocate, whether it was to the town, the

government, to the Minister of Education directly, and to the schools boards,

they continue to advocate for the need for a new school.

Mr. Speaker, the Town of Bay

Roberts and all the surrounding Towns of Bareneed, Port de Grave, their

unwavering support that this needed to happen; the parents of all these children

continued to work together and work with us to ensure that the new school would

be a reality.

Mr. Speaker, I want to give

accolades to the Minister of Education because without his co-operation and his

support, I am not sure we could have made this happen.

I want to publicly state and thank the Minister of Education for his time

and his support in making sure this new school happened.

So, thank you, Minister.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Mr. Speaker, it has been a long journey and we still have some work to

do. There is no doubt we still have

some work to do, but the announcement is great news for the people of the Port

de Grave district.

Mr. Speaker, one of the

other issues that we talked about for a long time in our district was

infrastructure, municipal and provincial infrastructure and the needs.

I do not think that any hon. member in

this House will look at us and say that they do not have some type of

infrastructure needs, be it roads, be it water and sewer, be it septic systems,

whatever it may be, they need it.

Mr. Speaker, in our district

we continue to see investments in the improvement of Route 70.

I want to thank the Minister of Transportation who came out recently and

did a tour of the district, saw some of the needs and some of the effort that we

need on Route 70. I was very pleased

even though you hear hon. members get up and say it is only $81 million.

Well, $81 million is a significant investment.

I say it is a significant investment in roads and infrastructure in this

Province.

Mr. Speaker, in my district

we have seen improvements to trunk roads.

We have seen improvements to Crane's Road, a major secondary road for the

people of Upper Island Cove. We have

seen improvements to the Thicket Road.

We have seen improvements to all other provincial roads in the district.

Mr. Speaker, we need that.

The provincial road system

going through the Town of Spaniard's Bay, we saw roughly a kilometre-and-a-half

last year of provincial road improvements through the Town of Spaniard's Bay.

These roads, Mr. Speaker, have not had any upgrades in just about twenty

years. This is a significant

improvement in the roads in our area.

Mr. Speaker, I was very

pleased to see as well investment in our communities through our Multi-Year

Capital Works Program. It was very

good to see in our Budget the commitment of $200 million over three years in

these programs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Two hundred million dollars in over three years.

Mr. Speaker, we all have

needs. Some needs are water and

sewer, some needs are roads, and some needs are new well systems.

We all have needs. All my

communities have needs. I am very

pleased to see that through this $200 million investment over three years, we

may be able to address some of those needs.

Mr. Speaker, by addressing those needs we also support the region in

general because it improves the overall quality of life for everybody in the

region. It is very important.

Mr. Speaker, in the last

two-and-a-half years since I have entered this House, we have seen significant

improvements in infrastructure in our communities.

We have seen new water and sewer in the Town of Clarke's Beach.

We have seen improved ditching and drainage in North River.

We have seen water, sewer, and paving in the Town of Bay Roberts.

We have seen paving in the Town of Spaniard's Bay and Island Cove.

We have seen improvements to the water system in Makinsons.

In the coming days, I hope that we will see projects announced through

Transportation and Works to further infrastructure development in our

communities and on our roadways.

Mr. Speaker, I have a depot.

In my district there is a depot, the Department of Transportation and

Works depot. In the Budget I saw for

fleet improvements I believe was how it was put, Minister fleet improvements?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Yes.

MR. LITTLEJOHN:

Yes, fleet improvements for new vehicles for the Department of

Transportation and Works. It

included plow trucks, loaders, backhoes, equipment for brush clearing, equipment

and painting trucks. Some 620 pieces

I think have been allocated at a cost of $27.7 million.

Mr. Speaker, having a depot

in my district, I am hoping that some of these new pieces of equipment find

their way into the depot at Bay Roberts.

I know and I am an advocate for it, Minister, we have been having some

trouble with our backhoe for a couple of years.

A new backhoe would not go astray, I say to the minister.

Minister, we have had some issues with a couple of plows.

I hope in the days to come we see some of these pieces of equipment in

our district.

Mr. Speaker, once again,

this Budget is supporting our fishery.

We have a number of harvesters in this district, I would say.

Over seventy harvesters participate in the fishery in my district,

everything from twenty footers to sixty-five footers.

I know the hon. member on the opposite side is looking at me and I think

he can concur it is all sizes from twenty footers to sixty-five footers.

Mr. Speaker, we have

invested money in our Fisheries Technology and New Opportunities Program, some

$4 million over the next two years.

Since 2007, through our Fisheries Technology and New Opportunities Program we

have invested in over 240 projects 240 projects everything from

biodegradable twine for our crab nets and our crab pots to eco-friendly new

shrimp trawls I cannot read my own writing so I need my glasses at this point

which would be more efficient and have less impact on sea beds, worthwhile

projects when we talk about our crab and shrimp fisheries, big, major fisheries

that employ a lot of people in my district, as I said over seventy harvesters

and plant workers. The crab and

shrimp fishery is an important economic generator in our area.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot help

but mention CETA. I believe the $400

million we have invested from CETA will bring about more investment and more

opportunities in the fishery, and enhance our fishery for the fishery of the

future.

Mr. Speaker, I am winding

down and I want to talk a little bit about farming.

For many years, farming was a very vital piece of the economic engine of

our district. Over the last number

of years, our agricultural sector kind of has been forgotten.

At one point, not so many years ago, we had five or six major farms in my

district. In recent years, we have

seen that decline to two. These

people have worked hard for many years in the farming industry and we forget

sometimes that over 6,500 people, mainly in rural parts of our Province, work

directly or indirectly in the farming industry.

In my district I wanted to

mention this because I think this is a great news story.

We have two young women who began farming in my district last year and

they are farming organically. They

can be found in-season selling their produce from the parking lot of the local

visitor information centre. They

also are giving back to our schools.

They have been in our school system this fall and this winter teaching our

children how to plant and grow crops right in the classroom.

Just last night, Mr.

Speaker, my wife was on the phone having a conversation with another teacher

from another neighbouring school and she was talking about how these two ladies

have gone into her school in North River and how they are teaching the kids to

grow lettuce. It is organic lettuce,

but you can pick the root and two weeks later it regenerates and you can have

lettuce again. So it is only planted

once, but it continues to regenerate.

So they are doing some very fascinating things and they are growing

different types of crops.

Mr. Speaker, seeing I only

have twenty seconds left, I hope to have another opportunity to get to speak to

the Budget on a future date because I have so much else to say.

I want to talk about ou