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October 30, 2018

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 33

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

I will

now rule on a matter of privilege raised yesterday by the Member for Humber -

Bay of Islands. As Speaker, I am required – as indicated in Bosc and Gagnon

2017, on pages 144 to 145 – to ensure that four elements are addressed in the

written notice – namely: that the Member is writing with the intention to raise

a question of privilege; that the matter is being raised at the earliest

opportunity; that the substance of the matter to be raised as a question of

privilege is described; and finally, that the text of the motion to be proposed

is included with a proposed remedy for the problem.

All of

these elements must be satisfied before one rules as to whether there is a prima

facie case for further consideration.

I have

carefully reviewed the text provided by the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands

that describe a series of events during April 25 and 26 of this year. In issuing

this ruling there are two points I would like to make: Number one, the Member

has not raised the issue at the earliest opportunity.

While

the Member states that “it was only Tuesday, October 23 rd of this

past week that the reports were tabled in the House of Assembly,” the statements

at issue were uttered publicly – again in this Legislature and in the media –

six months earlier. The matters raised by the Member occurred prior to the

complaint which is the subject of the report being filed. The House of Assembly

was in session at the time those matters occurred and it would have been

possible for the Member to raise this matter at that time.

addition, and number two, the matters raised by the Member do not relate to the

exercise of the Member's parliamentary duties.

In his

submission yesterday, the Member raised matters relating confidential caucus and

Cabinet discussions. These are not matters to which parliamentary privilege

extends, and as such are not within the purview of this Legislature. They do not

relate to the exercise of the Member's parliamentary duties.

Therefore, and as such, I rule that a prima facie matter of parliamentary

privilege has not been established.

MR. JOYCE:

A point of order, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands on a point of order.

MR. JOYCE:

Just two points, Mr. Speaker.

On your point that it was raised six months ago, you gave me leave from the

House. I was not in the House when the House was open. You personally gave me

leave for that.

The

second point on that, Mr. Speaker, even if it was a caucus, you could

(inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

I remind the Member that the

Speaker's ruling is final and there is no opportunity for appeal.

Thank

you.

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' Statements

today, we will hear from the Members for the Districts of Burin - Grand Bank,

Conception Bay East - Bell Island, Harbour Grace - Port de Grave, Fortune Bay -

Cape La Hune, and Conception Bay South.

The hon.

the Member for Burin - Grand Bank.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. HALEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, when the SS Caribou was

torpedoed by a German U-boat on October 14, 1942, only 136 of the 248 on board

survived the ordeal.

Today,

as far as we know, only one of those survivors is still with us, and that's Mr.

Hedley Lake of Fortune, who, Mr. Speaker, turned 100 years old this past August.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. HALEY:

At that time, Mr. Lake was

serving in the Royal Navy and was on the way home for a month's leave when this

horrific event occurred.

As a

measure of Mr. Lake's humanity, he managed to escape the

Caribou by jumping in the frigid water, wearing a lifejacket, which

he willingly gave up to a woman in the water next to him.

Mr. Lake

attributes his longevity to hard work, and tended to his own vegetable garden

right up to just about two years ago.

This

past summer, the Premier and I dropped by to see Mr. Lake. He greeted us in his

legion uniform decorated by a host of medals attesting to his service during

World War II.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members of this hon. House to join me in recognizing this

remarkable man, and to once again say thank you Mr. Lake for your service on

behalf of us all.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Most

communities have lifelong volunteers who have been the cornerstone of supporting

individuals, groups and causes without looking for acknowledgement or accolades.

Bell Island has one such citizen and her name is Kay Dolmont Coxworthy. Kit, as

she is affectionately known, has for nearly five decades been a leading

volunteer and trendsetter for the volunteer movement on Bell Island through her

tireless commitment and her engaging way of getting the community behind a

cause.

She has

been a key founding member of numerous organizations over the years and

continues to be a leader in such organizations as the Community Development

Co-operative, the Co-operative Bakery, the Seniors Housing Co-operative, the

Bell Island Breast Cancer Support Group and so on.

It was

this past September that Kay took on another volunteer role as volunteer

coordinator for the first annual Bell Island walk in support of kidney disease –

all as she approached her 77 birthday and deals with her own medical issues. Not

only did she rally the community behind her but made it so successful that they

more than doubled their expected $3,000 goal to nearly $8,000, of which Kay

raised $1,000 herself. She is a tireless volunteer whose ultimate reward is that

people's lives have improved due to her involvement.

I ask

all to join me in thanking and congratulating Kay on being an inspiring

volunteer.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Grace - Port de Grave.

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

like to congratulate the volunteers of the Town of Bay Roberts on hosting their

very first Light the Lamp event, a street hockey tournament for children ages

five to 15.

During

the weekend of June 23, Recreation Director Ian Flynn, along with 150 local

volunteers, successfully organized 120 ball hockey teams, over 1,100

participants from across our province.

When it

comes to hosting visitors and events, our communities in Conception Bay North

are known for coming together, to offer outstanding hospitality. Numbers of

volunteers donated their time and skills, and more than 25 local business owners

sponsored the event.

Mr.

Speaker, local residents and visitors alike continue to provide positive

feedback and share their personal stories about their experience in Bay Roberts

at the Light the Lamp this past summer. The town has recently announced it will

again host this tournament this coming June. The only way events such as this

can happen successfully is with the dedication of our volunteers.

For the

first time, the provincial Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games will be hosted

by Bay Roberts and surrounding communities in the summer of 2020. Volunteers

are, once again, gearing up in anticipation to host the athletes, volunteers,

fans and visitors from across the province.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask that all my colleagues join me in congratulating the dedicated

volunteers of Bay Roberts and Conception Bay North.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to pay tribute to Rencontre East's Mayor Peter Giovannini for

his 35-year Long Service Award from the Department of Municipal Affairs and

Environment in September 2018. Residents are very grateful for his steadfast

dedication and, today, it is an honour to congratulate Peter for his service as

councillor, deputy mayor and mayor during those years.

Residents can attest that Peter's commitment and passion has served his town and

our province very well. He has a long record of giving selflessly to his

community and his neighbours sing high praises of this man of few words, with

great integrity, who likes to help out anyone that he can.

For 35

years, his sure-fire reliability has been demonstrated by always being the first

on the scene and always lending his hand and skills to any job, big or small.

I, and

your fellow residents, thank you for your many years of volunteerism on council,

and with the fire department, recreation committee, Harbour Authority and the

list goes on. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and are very much appreciated.

I ask

all Members of his hon. House to join me in congratulating Mr. Giovannini and we

encourage him to continue his commitment to his community.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, on Friday, October 19, my colleague, the MHA for Topsail - Paradise and

I attended the 7th Annual Bright Business Awards Luncheon ceremony at the

Manuels River Hibernia

Interpretation Centre.

This

annual event is hosted by the Town of Conception Bay South and is a great

opportunity for local entrepreneurs to network and showcase their individual

businesses in our community. This year, 51 nominations were received and, in

fact, 44 businesses have opened, relocated or have come under new ownership in

The

Bright Business Achievement Awards help recognize the contributions of local

businesses that have gone above and beyond. This year's award winners are

Beautiful Business: Dawe's Plumbing and Heating, Single Tenant; Regular Power

Clarke Bennett Lawyers, Multiple Tenant; Community Pride and Partnership:

Sobeys; David Murphy Chamber Leadership: Platinum Construction; Glenda

Noseworthy Award: Gordon Byrde from Shawn's Muffler and Brake Shop; Established

Business of the Year: Invested Mama; Main Street Business Improvement Member of

the Year: Sobeys; New Start Up of the Year: The Wee Gym.

I would

like to extend my congratulations to the award winners, nominees and sponsors.

Conception Bay South had grown significantly and it's great to see the business

community has shown tremendous growth as well.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House today to talk about the significance of Orange Shirt Day in

acknowledging survivors of the residential school system.

The

colour orange is connected to Phyllis Webstad who was just six years old in 1973

when she attended her first day at a residential school. Her new orange shirt

was taken away from her. For Phyllis, orange became a constant reminder of the

hurt and loneliness she felt while attending residential school.

Last

month, I was pleased to speak via Skype with Patrick Ballard and his classmates

at Bayview Academy School in St. George's. Patrick submitted the winning design

for an orange shirt through a contest organized by the Bay St. George Cultural

Revival Centre.

Proceeds

from the sale of the shirts were being used to purchase a traditional Mi'kmaq

teepee on the grounds of the school. Patrick's design was exceptional in that it

reflected elements of all Indigenous cultures in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I also

acknowledged a challenge from Abby Carroll of St. George's and pledged to her

that every Member of our caucus would wear orange next year on September 30. I

call on all Members of this hon. House, in the spirit of reconciliation and

revitalizing our relationship with Indigenous peoples, to join me in recognizing

September 30 as Orange Shirt Day in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

I thank the hon. the Premier. We can all applaud, Mr. Speaker, the sentiments

behind Orange Shirt Day while guarding against sentimentalism. As a former class

counsel in the Labrador residential school's case, I point out that while the

federal government finally made tender of amends in money damages and an apology

from the prime minister in Goose Bay, the provincial government has not.

Residential school survivors in this province await the advice of the Premier as

to when such promised tender of amends may occur.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too,

thank the Premier. As a province, we must work to redress the colonial legacy of

residential schools and advance the process of reconciliation. Recognizing

Orange Shirt Day is a positive step in acknowledging survivors and it is one of

the many actions we must take in working toward reconciliation.

I remind

the Premier the Truth and Reconciliation Commission also calls for changes to

the K-12 curriculum, the Indigenous post-secondary programs, public monuments to

honour survivors and more. I look forward to seeing progress on these and other

initiatives soon.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

statements by ministers?

The hon.

the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

highlight the positive work of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador in

recently bringing together over 275 municipalities across the province.

Municipal leaders and volunteers are on the front lines of our local governance

and earlier this month, I was very pleased, along with the Premier, to attend

the 68th annual MNL Conference, Trade Show and Annual General Meeting in Gander.

I would like to thank President Tony Keats and CEO Craig Pollett and the

organizers for planning a fantastic gathering. The meeting provided nearly 500

delegates with the opportunity to learn from each other and collaborate on how

we can all work together to make our province and our communities better places

to live and work.

At the

AGM elections, newly elected members included: Trina Appleby as the new Avalon

Director; Amy Coady-Davis, re-elected as the Central Director; and Roger

Barrett, re-elected as the Western Director. Elected by acclamation to their

respective positions on the board were: Eastern Director Paul Pike; Labrador

Director Didier Naulleau; and Northern Director Dale Colbourne. I would like to

acknowledge the other members of the board for their work as well: Sheila

Fitzgerald; Sheilagh O'Leary; Rob Anstey; and Andre Meyers. I wish these members

all the best of luck in their roles.

Over the

past few months I've had the pleasure to meet with MNL a number of times and

we've worked together on issues of importance for our communities. Those

meetings and co-operation are paying off as we saw recently with how we are

prioritizing municipal infrastructure projects and implementing a new cost-share

ratio that will make it easier for communities to construct roads and build

community centres via the Investing in Canada Plan. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to

thank MNL for their dedication and commitment to providing improved municipal

service to residents.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement. It was an honour to attend

this year's MNL convention. I, too, was very impressed with the event and with

the representation from so many municipalities of all sizes. I certainly enjoyed

my conversation with a multitude of mayors and councillors. I was also extremely

impressed with the quality and the variety of resolutions put forward on matters

such as infrastructure, mental health, better co-operation between

municipalities and a multitude of other topics aimed at improving the lives of

our citizens. A provincial ban on single-use plastic bags was also discussed and

we look forward to seeing some action on this issue in the near future.

Mr.

Speaker, we would also like to congratulate and thank the Members of MNL for

their continued commitment and dedication to making our communities, towns and

cities better places to live and work for everyone.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I too

thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. I'm delighted to

congratulate President Keats and CEO Pollett for their hard work and once,

again, the excellent conference that I too experienced.

The

minister notes he has worked together with MNL on infrastructure issues. I

encourage the minister to work also with MNL on the concerns expressed at the

MNL women's caucus, which was a public event, on bullying and harassment women

serving on municipal councils experience, as here in this House government must

show leadership in setting guidelines to protect people from bullying and

harassment.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

Before

we start with Oral Questions, I will remind all Members that if you have a

negative, disparaging comment when a Member opposite to you is speaking, I'd ask

you to internalize it. I do not want to hear heckling.

With

that, we will start Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Thank you for that, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm not

sure if it was intended in particularly for my benefit or general benefit.

MR. SPEAKER:

It's a big House.

MR. CROSBIE:

Sir, my question today is for

the minister responsible for The Rooms.

Yesterday, the minister said that any staffing action at The Rooms must come

from him as minister to approve.

So I ask

the minister to please table the legislation that gives him the authority to

make hiring decisions at The Rooms.

MR. SPEAKER:

The Minister of Tourism,

Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm very

pleased by the question that has been asked, because as the Minister responsible

for Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation, with any hire that comes within

my department there is a request for staffing action that is done, that is

requested by the head of that division and then would go to the deputy minister

and then would come to my desk for signing when it comes to staffing. This is

normal human resource, HRS, policy.

When it

comes to the Arts and Culture Centres of this province, any requests for

staffing, whether it's somebody on a casual call-in list, theatre, any level of

position, that will come to my office for signing – no different at The Rooms.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Well, Mr. Speaker, may I ask the minister how that answer squares with what

appears to be stated in

section 8(4) of the

Rooms Act , namely that the authority

to hire is vested not in the minister but in the board of The Rooms.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, the same process that has been used for hiring for The Rooms since

its existence and operation in 2004, for any hiring that has taken place has

followed the process where requests for staffing action would be required and

that request for staffing would come forward, the CEO would sign that and then

it would come forward to the minister who would be responsible for The Rooms and

would require that signature for any staffing action to be hired.

As I

said in the House previously, The Rooms is a bit of a different organization in

the fact that all salaries follow the salary pay scales within government,

within that band, for management, for directors and that is a process that is

quite normal. It's the same with the Arts and Culture Centre, which is a

division within my department.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Thank you.

I'd like

to loop back to that, Mr. Speaker, but first of all I'll ask the minister – he

said yesterday that he did not see a résumé but determined the ‘hiree' to be the

best person for the job.

If the

minister did not review the résumé, how did he make the determination that Ms.

Foote was the most qualified person to fill that role?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want

to put forward and correct some of the information that has been put forward by

the Leader of the Official Opposition because he's made statements that has said

it's not usual for somebody to move from an executive level role from core

government to be in an agency, board or Commission. Well, that's happened time

and time again.

I can

cite an example of former deputy minister of business that moved to become the

CEO of WorkplaceNL today, in 2008, and stayed in that role as CEO until the

Independent Appointments Commission replaced this person through an independent

merit-based process. And that is something that our government instituted when

it comes to CEO and the boards that are taking place. They are responsible for

the bulk of spending within government.

Now,

executive level and lateral positions –

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I remind the

minister that we're questioning today on the basis of the policies, policy

statements and laws as they exist under his administration and not some past

one.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROSBIE:

I ask the minister again,

because I didn't hear an answer, you said yesterday that you didn't see a résumé

but determined the ‘hiree' to be the best person for the job.

If you

did not review the résumé, how could you determine that Ms. Foote was the most

qualified person?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was

explaining the whole point around the Independent Appointments Commission, the

merit-based process that exists for appointments for the board of directors and

for the CEO. When it comes to executive level positions within government, this

was a lateral move.

The

person that is in the position of executive director of The Rooms is eminently

the most qualified person. She came from running for government in terms of

marketing and communication, the top executive within government. She is more

than eminently qualified, and these transfers have taken place.

I just

highlighted one example of WorkplaceNL when it comes to an executive level

position. I want to highlight that the –

MR. SPEAKER:

Sorry, I remind the Member

his time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Leader of the Official

Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker, I still didn't hear an answer to the question about reviewing résumés,

but I guess we'll leave it there and listeners can draw their own conclusions.

Section

8(4) of the Rooms Act states that the

board may employ people necessary in accordance with the budget approved by the

minister for the financial year in which they are employed.

Did the

approved budget for 2018 for The Rooms include a budget allocation of $132,000

for Ms. Foote's position?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, I want to

clarify as well, when it comes to the board of The Rooms, the board of The Rooms

has recently gone through an independent appointments process. They've all been

hired for these positions in their merit. I'm very proud of the talented team at

The Rooms.

When it

comes to The Rooms, they are responsible for the oversight and direction, and

under the CEO, and that is the staff person of which their responsibility. When

it comes to the signing off of any staff, to start a request for staffing

action, to hire any individual within The Rooms, my department, or the Arts and

Culture Centres within my responsibility, it has to come from the head and then

it requires my signature – not the board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, that's all very

interesting, but the question was: Did the approved budget for 2018 for The

Rooms include a budget allocation of $132,000 for Ms. Foote's position?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm very

proud of The Rooms and the initiatives that they've undertaken. They have raised

over $11 million in their capital campaign. They've been generating additional

revenue through their revenue-generating activities in terms of their café,

their gift shop, their programming, the parking that they have implemented.

They've

been generating more and more revenue and reducing their reliance on government

subsidy. That is a very positive thing. When it comes to the envelope of funding

which they have, they certainly have an allocation to be able to support the two

executive-level positions, because one thing that was done is that two director

positions were collapsed. This would've been over $200,000, so there are savings

there.

This was

put into adding a curatorial position, a curator, and be able to add additional

programming. This is meant to be a good move. This was all done in consultation

with HRS.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

I remind

the Members, my patience is very thin. I can shut you down in a minute if it

continues, so let's respect each other when I'm addressing you.

The

Opposition has the question.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, it would be very easy for the minister to say either yes or no, the

$132,000 was included in the budget allocation for the year, and I haven't heard

an answer to that. I haven't heard an answer to that, so we can all draw our own

conclusions that it was not.

The

minister said that the original position at The Rooms, which I understand had

the salary of $100,000, was different than the position that Ms. Foote is now

in.

I ask

the minister: Would he table both job descriptions?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to

the organization at The Rooms, I said since 2016, since we went through this

House and debated Bill 56, we had gone through a process, a very consultative

process, of which we did outreach with the community, we also looked at reducing

silos within The Rooms so that we could have better synergies within the

corporation, but also a better connector with government so that The Rooms can

implement its strategic plan and develop and initiate.

The

director of marketing role would not be the same as an executive director of

marketing and development. Having the calibre of person that's there, and the

creation of another executive director position, will allow The Rooms to achieve

its mandate.

This was

done in consultation with the Human Resource Secretariat and approved by the

board.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I take from that that the minister either doesn't know the answer

or does not wish to answer the question.

It's a

simple one: Will he table both job descriptions?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, as I said in

this House, the important piece that has taken place as we've consulted with the

CEO and the board of directors, is that The Rooms has moved beyond with its

exhibition development and also with fundraising to be more public engagement,

very much people-focused, program-focused. We've seen a lot of good things

transpire at The Rooms when it comes to things that have been done by the

director there in terms of being able to recruit over 260 volunteers and to be

able to engage in highlighting cultural connections and experiences.

Having

somebody who is an executive director in marketing and development, working with

the agency on record is going to be able to elevate the status of The Rooms to

achieve so much more, focus on our regional museums and many other initiatives –

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I have no choice

but to take from that that the minister is refusing to table a job description.

Did the

minister provide – let's clarify this point – additional funding to The Rooms to

pay Ms. Foote in the 2018 year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

said previously, we give an appropriation to The Rooms. The Rooms has been

generating its own revenues on top of the appropriation that they were given,

and there is certainly sufficient allocation within The Rooms budget to make

these positions available. They like any other agency, board or commission, as

with any department as well, would make a submission to government during the

budgetary process.

What I

will say is I want to go back to a point of what the Member opposite was talking

about, people who are in executive-level positions that never get moved. So, Mr.

Len Simms was appointed chair and CEO of the Housing Corporation in 2005,

resigned as chair in 2007 to run the PC campaign. Then, after election day, was

reappointed as chair and CEO of the Housing Corporation (inaudible) –

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I suspect the

minister would have an easier time with overrunning his allotted time if he just

answered the question asked.

Yesterday, the minister said that Ms. Foote's role as ADM had broad

responsibilities for marketing and communications for all of government and now

she's getting paid the same amount, as you have said, for more narrow

responsibilities at The Rooms.

So, how

did the minister determine how much Ms. Foote would be paid, and can you justify

paying the same?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, when it comes to somebody, the calibre of this executive level and

her talents, she was responsible for reforming the marketing and communications

division within government, the brand division and ran that across all

departments to make it more efficient, make it more productive and was a key

part of The Way Forward .

She has

eminent knowledge about all of the activities within government and would be a

great connector for our cultural institution that does so much business as well.

There is an incredible opportunity for the activities that are unfolding to tap

back to government and those synergies.

When it

comes to a lateral move within government, people who receive a salary receive

the same salary when they move; that is not uncommon.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, my question is

now for the Premier.

The

decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on the province's appeal of its good

faith case against the Upper Churchill contract with Quebec will be handed down

this Friday at 9:45 EDT.

What is

the government's strategic plan if we win the case?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

the big focus that we've been giving as a government is how we deal with

electricity rates in our province. We've actually, as you would know, sent this

appeal forward to go through the necessary steps that would be required.

But, Mr.

Speaker, right now the strategic focus for us in Newfoundland and Labrador is

not just about winning a court challenge; it's actually fixing the mess that the

people that you now sit with created for the people in our province. We spend a

considerable amount of time working with a number of people in this province to

fix up this mess.

I would

still like the Leader of the Opposition to let the people know that he took a

position about saying that the insurance rates through the PUB, he didn't need

to exhaust that, he would wait and he made a decision before that (inaudible),

yet he wants (inaudible) –

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

I ask

the Member to – your time is expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, I'd suggest to

the hon. Premier that he'd have less trouble overspeaking his allotted time if

he as well answered the question asked.

This is

not an insignificant matter. This case, the decision of which is about to be

handed down on Friday, is a pivotal case in the history of the Churchill River

and power development there.

I again

ask: What is strategic plan if we win the case?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, we, as I said,

are dealing with a number of issues within the province right now. A strategic

plan would be based on the decision that we will get. But let me tell you this,

one of the things that we've been able to deal with is a number of the issues

that face people in Newfoundland and Labrador. And I understand why the Leader

of the Opposition is waffling on making a decision. I understand that, because

he's actually sitting with individuals that have made that decision. So I

understand the waffling on the part of the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr.

Speaker, we are dealing with the issues in this province. Key to that is what

the former administration left around doubling electricity rates. That will not

happen whether we win or not on Friday. Hopefully, we will win. Then how we make

the necessary steps will then be (inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Perhaps a more

straightforward question with what should be a straightforward answer to wind

this up with the Premier. Mr. Speaker, has the Premier been in communication

with Quebec's new premier, Mr. Legault, on any substantive issues; if so, on

which issues; and are there active plans for a meeting between these premiers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Mr. Speaker, I take every

opportunity to meet with the premiers all across this province, every

opportunity that I get. As a matter of fact if you go back to the Canadian Free

Trade Agreement and the free transmission of electricity through Quebec, that

was a big focus for us at that time within the transmission of electricity.

My job

as Premier of this province is to build and strengthen relationships with all

provinces that exist within the Confederation. Mr. Speaker, when the opportunity

comes and presents itself, I never miss an opportunity to advance issues with

other provinces that benefit Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Your

government committed to an autism strategy following the 2015 election. As you

enter your fourth year of government, when can the people of this province

expect to see this rolled out?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm

delighted to be able to stand here in the House. We have been working diligently

around a disabilities strategy, under which we'll form an autism plan. My staff

advised me that I will have the final draft of that within the next three weeks.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What

we've heard, we've been planning for three years, we're now getting there but

people need these services. You getting a copy of the plan after three years as

you go into your fourth year doesn't help these families be provided services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

When can the minister tell us

that there will be services provided under that plan for the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador and the families who need to avail of these services?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The plan

simply draws together, among other things, a whole series of threads we already

have. We are one of the leading provinces in the country, for example, with

Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement & Regulation therapy, also called

JASPER, to the extent that in actual fact the course developers and the program

developers have partnered with this department in running trials of further

steps in that program.

We are

actively engaged in that, we are disseminating that, and it's out there already.

There are services out there, and we are working with the Autism Society on how

best they can bolster their support services for families.

We are

doing these things; we're simply drawing it together this month.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We all

agree that organizations out there, particularly the Autism Society, are doing

great work in filling the gaps. But community organizations are filling service

gaps as needed but continue to grow; core funding from government does not.

What

will happen to families who are relying on these supports if organizations are

forced to cut their offerings as a result of funding challenges?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Mr. Speaker, our aim as a

government is to ensure a spectrum of services. It is our hope that we will have

a comprehensive system whereby we have shared services between support offerings

and peer support and family support which can only really be provided by those

with lived experience, something we found extremely valuable in mental health,

in addition to evidence-based, standardized protocols that would be the same

across the entire province, hence our reliance on things like JASPER and

bringing the whole concept of ABA to children at a very young age.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

encourage the minister to move this along as quickly as possible. People can't

wait.

Can the

Minister of Health and Community Services explain the recent changes with the

assessment guidelines for personal care homes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

I am delighted, Mr. Speaker,

to be able to stand in this House and correct some factual errors, shall we say,

that have emerged over the last couple of days when we made our state of the

union, as it were, on seniors care.

There

have been no changes, Mr. Speaker. Today's standards and level of care framework

are exactly the same as last year's, and indeed exactly the same as the ones the

previous government put in place. Level I subsidies: 26 issued in October; 24

issued in September. They are still going out there. We have not changed

anything at all.

We're

working with the industry on a needs assessment to find out what it is we

actually need in terms of beds.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So the

minister is saying there have been no change in the criteria for eligibility to

receive a supplement for Level I entries. Okay, fair enough.

So,

Minister, would you agree that the social isolation, loneliness and

psychological supports are a significant concern for many seniors in our

province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, and that's

why one of the things that wasn't clipped in my interview yesterday by the media

was exactly that discussion on how to deal with social isolation and inclusion

of seniors. We are in active discussions with personal care home operators to

supply day programming for people who are not their residents, so that they may

come in and provide those services to enhance both the personal care home

experience and the lives of our seniors.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

So you're in discussions with

the personal care home owners to provide other services while you're cutting the

first entry level of the supplements for level I. So, I mean, that becomes an

oxymoron there when you come to that discussion.

The

mental health of our seniors is a very –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

– important concern. I think

we all can agree with that.

Can the

minister explain why mental health issues like loneliness and depression are no

longer considered in the assessment for personal care homes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Mr. Speaker, there has been

no change in the criteria. Level I, II, III and IV are still assessed

consistently now across the province by the same criteria that the crowd

opposite put in place. They have not changed.

Level I

subsidies are still being issued: 26 in October; 24 in September. The bulk of

people that are waiting for placements are waiting for homes of their own

choice. We have 17 per cent vacancies in personal care homes across this

province; highest in one of our regions at 21 per cent. We have capacity. We

have subsidies.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the

minister admitted he completely orchestrated the hiring of Ms. Foote for the

position of executive director of marketing and development at The Rooms.

Can the

minister tell us the exact roles played by Dean Brinton, CEO of The Rooms, the

board of The Rooms, the Clerk of Executive Council and the Premier's office in

this orchestration?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member opposite for her question and the ability to again clarify the matter

of which we've been talking about in particular The Rooms. The Rooms has been

going through a strategic review of the human resources and the flow of activity

within its entity since we passed Bill 56.

This has

been done in consultation with the CEO, with the new board, and also with Human

Resource Secretariat to look, with the new strategic plan that is taking place

at The Rooms, what is required and what will be the direction of the directors

in management position.

It was

determined that two executive director positions were required for The Rooms to

fulfill its mandate. As I said previously, I signed the RSA, as per normal

ministerial practice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, yet again, we

have no answer to the questions. I asked him specifically, I asked the minister,

what was the role of the CEO, the board, the Clerk of Executive Council, I heard

nothing.

Mr.

Speaker, how does the minister believe he has the ability to determine someone

is amply or most qualified for a professional position in a field in which he

personally has no qualifications?

Does the

minister believe he is more qualified than the CEO and the board of The Rooms to

determine who is best for such a position? Because he has not told us exactly

what their role was in this.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have

to say, I have all confidence in the board of directors and the work that they

do. They were appointed by a merit-based process. They know their roles, they

know their responsibilities. They're responsible to the CEO and that position

and providing oversight.

The CEO

would have provided me with a request for staffing action. That is required as

for any staffing position within the Department of TCII or within The Rooms

itself. In order for a position to be hired, I would have to sign off on that

position. I've made that very clear.

When it

comes to creating the positions, they were approved through a consultative

process through Human Resource Secretariat to determine that two executive level

positions were required. One, the executive director of Galleries and Museums,

and the other, executive director of Marketing and Development.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

minister keeps referring to these executive positions. He said that the new

position of executive director at The Rooms was in the strategic plan for The

Rooms; yet, we cannot find any explicit evidence of this in the existing

publicly available strategic plan. Perhaps it's another secret strategic plan

somewhere that we're not privy to.

Nevertheless, I ask the Premier: Can he point out where and in what strategic

planning document is this executive director of Marketing and Development

position identified and noted as essential?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

said, one of the executive director positions that have been created is for

museums and galleries, and this is as part of combining two director positions

that would have a savings of nearly $100,000. Money went back into being able to

do more exhibits and to hire a second curator, which is going to benefit the

museum and the art gallery in terms of the exhibitions that it can do, focus on

regional museums.

The

executive director of Marketing and Development will implement and work closely

with the CEO to implement the strategic plan, focus on our regional museums on

program, on public engagement. All of these things are listed and publicly

available. These positions were created in consultations with the Human Resource

Secretariat, the CEO, approved by the board, and I've –

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East - Quidi Vidi for a quick question, please.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I say to

the minister, he has not answered where the word executive came from. It's not

in the strategic plan.

So did

he himself make these – determine, deem that these are executive positions?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of TCII.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, as I've said numerous times, this was done in consultation with the

CEO, with the board of directors, the Human Resource Secretariat, looking at the

strategic plan, the work flow, the activities and all the positions that are at

The Rooms, those that have been newly created as executive level, and that the

salary envelope is there to support this.

These

are lateral moves. These are good people who are in these roles. They're going

to do incredible work on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and

it is not unusual for executive transfers to take place, as is the case with The

Rooms for the two executive positions.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Time for

Oral Questions has ended.

MR. JOYCE:

(Inaudible.)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, I'm not disputing your ruling that you made, but on Friday, October

26, you told me that it didn't meet – it was the earliest possible time to hand

you the written statement before Monday. Did you misquote when you told me that

last Friday, or what has changed since last Friday?

MR. SPEAKER:

As I indicated earlier to the member, my decision is final. I've made my ruling.

There is no prima facie case. I have explained my rationale for it, there were

two key points. I'm going to leave it there and say the matter is finished.

Thank

you.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to draw your attention to 2:02 p.m. in Question Period. The

Minister of TCII referenced and appeared to read from a document in his hand

that he had stapled. Normal protocol here in the Legislature, if a minister is

answering a question and specifically quotes or references a document, that

document would be presented here in the House. So I'd ask the minister if he

could present those documents.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation if you have a

comment.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

I have no issue with tabling the note of which I read, which highlighted that

the CEO of WorkplaceNL was appointed through that process, and the Ross Reid

appointment. I can actually read it or I can table it. And since I have the

ability, I didn't have the opportunity to finish it and I can do it when we do

Tabling of Documents – but on February 23, 2005, appointed as chair and CEO of

NL Housing Corporation, Len Simms.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

I ask for order, please!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

September 10, 2007, resigned as chair and CEO of the Housing Corporation;

campaign manager for the PC Party on election day on October 9, 2007; October

18, 2007, reappointed as chair and CEO of the Housing Corporation; September 13,

2011, resigned as chair and CEO of the Housing again; campaign manager for the

PC Party October 11, 2011, election day; October 25, 2011, reappointed as CEO

and chair of the Housing Corporation.

That's

the contents of this information.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

I'd ask the Page to collect

the document, please.

I ask

for some order in the House, please.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

I'd ask you to check the

video. The actual one single paper, it wasn't what we were referring to. He had

a number of pages there that were stapled. We ask that the – without verbatim,

that he just present. That's all we're looking for. We're not looking for a

speech from him, we're just asking him to table the documents if we could, Mr.

Speaker.

Thanks

very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation to please table his document.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

So, Mr. Speaker, I will table

the documents for appointments in the fall of 2015 prior to the election.

Appointments by the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, Clyde Jackman, 20

appointments. The Member for Ferryland, 19 appointments when he was minister on

the dying days of going out of office. We created the Independent Appointments

Commission for a reason.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

I don't

need any discussion.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order in the House, please!

Order in the House!

Okay,

let's get back with the agenda.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order in the House, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

I ask for Order in the House.

Thank

you.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to

section 26(5)(

a) of the Financial

Administration Act , I am tabling seven orders-in-council relating to funding

pre-commitments for the fiscal year 2019-2020 and beyond.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

tabling of documents?

Notices

of Motion.

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. ROGERS:

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

Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the lowest minimum wages in Canada, and

minimum wage workers earn poverty incomes; and

WHEREAS

proposals to index the minimum wage to inflation will not address poverty if the

wage is too low to start with; and

WHEREAS

women and youth, and service sector employees, are particularly hurt by the low

minimum wage; and

WHEREAS

the minimum wage only rose only 5 per cent between 2010 and 2016, while many

food items rose more than 20 per cent; and

WHEREAS

other Canadian jurisdictions are implementing or considering a $15 minimum wage

as a step towards a living wage;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to legislate a gradual increase in the minimum

wage to $15 an hour by 2021, with an annual adjustment thereafter to reflect

provincial inflation.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, this petition was begun in 2017. So it actually gave almost five years

for government to reach $15 an hour. It wasn't a shock to the system – it wasn't

proposing a shock to the system, or a shock to small business owners.

Mr.

Speaker, I would like to posit that this government doesn't have a war on

poverty, but, in fact, this government has a war on the poor. They are actually

waging a war on the poor to make their final balance sheets look better. They

cut the Adult Dental Program, they cut the over-the-counter drug program,

they're cutting home care hours and they're cutting medical transportation

program. What, in fact, is happening, they will not step up and do the right

thing around minimum wage, so we have increasing numbers of people within our

own province who are working full-time who are falling into poverty.

What

this government is waging is not a war on poverty; it's a war on the poor. They

are not doing anything to help the poor of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we're

seeing that that number is increasing.

Mr.

Speaker, people know that the price of living has gone up. The cost of living

has gone up for them. Their wages have stagnated and it's not matching the

galloping increase in the cost of living.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour for a response, please.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stood

yesterday in my place and responded to the petition. We all understand and fully

appreciate where the Member for the Third Party is coming. I did make mention

yesterday that, in fact, in 2017 and April 1 in 2018, we increased the minimum

wage by 25 cents to now $11.15, and will be increased April 1 again this year on

the national CPI.

She also

makes mention that this government has done nothing when it comes to poverty

reduction. I'll just go over a couple, Mr. Speaker, that I have here – the

highest in history – $65.1 million for Newfoundland and Labrador Income

Supplement, $56.3 million for the Seniors' Benefit, for a combined total

investment of $121 million which benefits 155, 000 individuals and their

families receiving Income Supplement and 47,000 seniors and their families

receiving the Seniors' Benefit; $8.3 million for the Supportive Living Program;

$4.1 million in funding for the Home Energy Savings Program. Mr. Speaker, I can

go on.

We have

made significant changes and we're also changing legislation to improve within

labour standards and we're making changes to that as well.

So, Mr.

Speaker, getting up and saying that we've done nothing is certainly not

something – very disingenuous for them to make that comment and it is not

something that we want to sit and appreciate on this side.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, these are the

reasons for this petition:

Children

in Newfoundland and Labrador deserve to have eye examination coverage. The cost

of eye exams averages about $80 and this is not affordable by many families in

this province.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in Canada that does not cover

some form of vision care for children. This illustrates a lack of recognition by

the government on the importance of children receiving routine eye care.

Any

undetected vision problem can have a significant impact on infant and childhood

development. The earlier a problem is detected and treated, the less likely it

is that other areas of development will be compromised.

Given

that 80 per cent of classroom learning is visual, specialists in the field of

optometry stress the importance of routine eye care for children.

Studies

indicate that many children who start having trouble reading in elementary

school begin to improve upon having eye examinations and receiving glasses.

Therefore, we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows:

We, the

undersigned, call on the House of Assembly to urge the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure adequate vision care for the children of our

province and cover the cost of children's eye exams.

Mr.

Speaker, as my colleague from St. John's Centre alluded to, in the past three

years we've seen our cost of living in this province increase by substantial

amounts on the everyday goods and services that have been taxed by this current

government. Between the deletion of the adult dental care, the over-the-counter

Prescription Drug program and the neglect of not covering eye care and flu

shots, not only is this a war on poor, this is a war on the middle class that

are often having to take these funds out of their pocket.

It's

creating a tidal wave of unattended medical issues that are going to come

crashing ashore on our medical system in a very short period of time. I,

therefore, support this petition and would like the government to give it some

serious consideration.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Health and Community Services for a response, please.

Thank

you.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I will

confine myself essentially to the topic of eye care, although the Member

opposite's comments about flu shots are wildly inaccurate, but that's always the

case.

We do

actually have a vision screening program for children in this province and, in

actual fact, 94 per cent of preschool children have at least one, if not four,

eye screening visits as part of a holistic developmental assessment. We have

been working, in actual fact, with the optometrists association to see what

potential improvements we could make to those screening examinations. Of those

94 per cent, approximately one-fifth has a referral, either to an optometrist or

to an ophthalmologist for further examination.

So, is

it perfect? We're working with the optometrists to find out. But to go out there

and say we have waves of people who are being neglected is patently, factually

inaccurate, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Many

families face scheduling challenges getting their children to and from school,

so they must send their children to a child care provider before or after

school; but current school bus policies does not allow a school bus to drop a

child at a child care provider's location.

We, the

undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador to allow children to avail of courtesy busing and enable parents to

indicate a drop-off location in addition to the family home.

Mr.

Speaker, we've had this discussion in the House and we've come a long way when

it comes to courtesy busing because the environment has changed dramatically

particularly in growth areas, or particularly in the changing in our society

where right now there are smaller families, older siblings, there's not a bigger

gap there, the other family members don't live within the vicinity, people have

moved, the geographics have changed, got the same supports that were once there

for someone to be take care of a child, or help supervise or help them in

support when after school is not available.

So,

parents have to avail of the services of child care providers, which in a lot of

cases, particularly in larger communities, may be on the opposite side of where

the individual lives. As a result, what was always the standard was the kid

could get on a bus and get dropped off wherever. I know for safety reasons and,

again, because of the numbers on buses in particular growth areas, and there

hasn't been an investment to ensure that busing is in accordance with the growth

areas, that we have some challenges, that people who fall within a certain

category or availing of the courtesy busing can't avail of a second stop.

There's

still only the one stop in that evening but, as a result, they are now losing

time at work, their kids are either not being able to get to certain programs

and services, or it's become a stressor on the families themselves trying to

provide a service in a dangerous setting. In the middle of the winter they have

to come out, a senior or a neighbour has to come out to try to pick up that

child or a child has to wait longer than normal to be able to avail of that

particular service.

So what

we're asking here, it's a simple fix, is that you have two stops. One gets you

from your home to school, another one gets you from school to the child care

provider. You're not taking any other seat from any other student. There's a

coordinated effort – and it happened in my district a couple of years ago when

we were over the allotment of seats.

message was sent out to parents saying, can you tell us when you really need a

seat for where. And with the coordination of the different coloured buses, we

managed to accommodate all 104 people who were looking for courtesy seating.

Because of the collaborative approach, some parents only need to be dropped off

– or their kid only in the morning, or don't need the service at all.

The

issue becomes now, the school district has outlined that that policy is no

longer acceptable, that you can't have an alternate site other than your home

address. That becomes the challenge for people as we're promoting – you know,

more people getting back in the workforce. We're asking certain parents who are

off as child care providers to get back in to do it.

So, Mr.

Speaker, we'll get to speak to this again. This is a very valuable issue around

home care and health care and for providing proper education.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Orders of the Day, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. A. PARSONS:

Oh, is there a response

there? I apologize, I apologize. I didn't see him. By all means, respond.

MR. SPEAKER:

All right, let's retrace the

history.

The hon.

the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour for a response, please.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you.

I know

I've been losing a little bit of weight, Mr. Speaker, but I didn't realize I'm

getting to that point – but anyway. I wanted to make a couple of comments

because I respect the hon. Member opposite and the comments that he's making.

The 1.6

kilometre, and the busing – busing is very emotional for everybody, particularly

parents who have to send their children on buses. We all realize that and

understand that, and I understand that fully myself. That was one of the reasons

why we have done a fair amount of work since September in recognizing some of

these requests, and the courtesy seating is in place.

We have

worked – I worked with my hon. Member, MHA for Exploits, and one of the

situations that we have worked out through the school board is being able to in

fact drop some of these children off at a centre where they're getting

extracurricular after school. So it's not something that's unheard of.

I just

encourage parents – we have made it clear to the Newfoundland and Labrador

students when there are empty seats. Courtesy busing is in place. Also, the 0.8

has been put in place as well. So we have right now some of the best busing in

the entire country – and we have the best, actually, in the entire country with

the 0.8.

So I

encourage parents that are in situations like that, to get in contact with the

school board and try to work out the courtesy busing.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you very much.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

call Orders of the Day now.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day, Sir, go

ahead.

Orders of the Day

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call from the

Order Paper, Order 2, third reading of Bill 9.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Natural Resources, that Bill 9,

An Act To Amend The Revenue

Administration Act No. 2, be now read a third time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

the said bill be now read a third time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, ‘nay.'

This

motion is carried.

CLERK (Barnes):

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Revenue Administration Act No. 2. (Bill 9)

MR. SPEAKER:

This bill is now read a third

time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order

Paper.

motion, a bill, “An Act To Amend The Revenue Administration Act No. 2,” read a

third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 9)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour, for leave to introduce

a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act, Bill 32, and I

further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

the hon. the Government House Leader shall have leave to introduce a bill

entitled,

An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act, Bill 32, and that the said

bill be now read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, ‘nay.'

The

motion is carried.

Motion,

the hon. the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour to introduce a

bill, “An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act,” carried. (Bill 32)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Labour Standards Act. (Bill 32)

MR. SPEAKER:

This bill has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

Thank

you.

motion, Bill 32 read a fist time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I call from the

Order Paper, Order 8, second reading of Bill 31.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Natural Resources, that Bill 31,

An Act To Amend The House of

Assembly Accountability, Integrity And Administration Act, be now read a second

time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

Bill 31,

An Act To Amend The House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity And

Administration Act be now read a second time.

Motion,

second reading of a bill, “An Act To Amend The House of Assembly Accountability,

Integrity And Administration Act.” (Bill 31)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker,

I'm

happy to stand here today and speak to this particular piece of legislation,

Bill 31, which is

An Act To Amend The House of Assembly Accountability,

Integrity and Administration Act.

For sake

of clarity, if sometimes I refer – this act is a bit wordy, a bit unwieldy in

its title, so sometimes we will refer to it as HOAAIA.

For the purposes of

anybody actually listening or trying to transcribe this downstairs, if I use

that phrase then people will understand, hopefully, what I am saying.

We're

speaking to a piece of legislation today to amend a pretty important piece of

legislation. Now I'm not going to stand here today and belabour the genesis of

the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act – see,

HOAAIA is just so much easier to say, Mr. Speaker. I'm not going to belabour it,

but I think everybody has a general understanding where this particular piece of

legislation comes from and what its purpose is, but it basically guides us as

Members of this House of Assembly.

One

thing I want to put forward is just maybe a bit of understanding to the people

out there about the House of Assembly Management Commission. I'm going to read a

section here.

Section 22 of the act assigns responsibility to the Speaker,

assisted by the Clerk, for the development and delivery of appropriate training

and orientation programs for MHAs and Members of the Management Commission.

The

Management Commission itself is a body that is made up of, obviously, the Chair,

being yourself, Mr. Speaker, and made up by Members of all three parties of the

House. There are currently three Members of the government on it, there are two

Members of the Official Opposition and one Member of the NDP. It acts as a body

which guides decision-making as it relates to Members of the House of Assembly,

and it deals with a whole number of things.

On a

daily basis we deal with claims made by MHAs for expenses incurred in their

day-to-day duties. We deal with the rules and regulations as it applies to MHAs,

things as mundane as advertising and what is allowed and not allowed. We deal

with pension-type issues, and we also deal with the rules and training that

apply to all MHAs.

I guess

the vessel through which this legislation travels into the House is through me,

as Government House Leader. Now, I've had times during the past where, for

political gain, Members of the Opposition – and I'm not going to point anybody

out, but I've had Members say, well, I can't believe the government's doing

this. When they know full well that it's not government doing something. This is

something that's gone in to the House through the Management Commission which is

made up of Members of all parties.

I don't

anticipate that this will be the case today, but people need to realize it is

multi-partisan or bipartisan. It's made up of Members. Our job is to guide MHAs,

and we do so with the guidance of House of Assembly staff, many of whom you see

everyday on the TV, sitting at the Table here. We have a number of great staff

that guide not only the Speaker but help us in the decision-making processes

that we are involved in.

One of

the big things that we have dealt with, obviously, is the conduct and, I guess,

behaviour of Members. We've gone through a time where that Management Commission

did not exist, and going back as far as 2007, and there was a body before that –

I think was more of an internal, but this group, the meetings are televised and

they're recorded that we sit here in the House. I think there's a transparency

that people see and that leads to an increased accountability and we know the

duty that we hold to the people in which we serve, and people can actually watch

what we're doing and see the decision-making process that's involved.

So, when

I look at lot of these – and this act is sometimes amended basically on a

routine basis in that many sessions of the House there are amendments brought to

this bill that we stand up and debate in this House. Some are quite lengthy,

some are not. This one, in terms of its size, is actually quite small. It's one

section. It says:

Section 22 of the act is amended by adding immediately after

subsection (2) the following: “

(2.1) A member shall complete the orientation and

training programs referred to in subsections (1) and (2).”

I'm

going to come back to one particular word in that sentence which is so

important, which is probably the crux of why we're here. Before we do that, I'm

going to go through the actual

section so people understand what it is we are

trying to amend and we are debating here today.

Section

22 of the act currently reads as follows, under Orientation and training, 22(1):

“The speaker, assisted by the clerk, shall develop and offer appropriate

orientation and training programs for (

a) members; (

b) members of the

commission; and (

c) officers and staff of the House of Assembly service and

statutory offices, to assist them in understanding their respective duties and

responsibilities and, in particular, in applying and complying with rules and

directives of the commission relating to claims for allowances and expenses and

policies and procedures respecting financial management.

“

(2) Within 30 days of a member's election for the first time to the House of

Assembly, the speaker shall ensure that an appropriate orientation program is

given to the member respecting (

a) the types of services offered to members by

the House of Assembly service and how those services may be accessed; (

b) the

proper procedures to be followed in making claims for reimbursement or payment

for proper expenses incurred by the member in carrying out his or her duties;

(

c) recommendations for proper systems to be employed in operating a

constituency office and employing a constituency assistant; and (

d) other

matters that the speaker considers appropriate to assist the member in carrying

out his or her duties.

“

(3) Within 30 days of a member's election for the first time to the House of

Assembly, the speaker shall ensure the delivery of the following to the member:

(

a) this Act; (

b) the rules; (

c) directives of the commission pertaining to

members; (

d) written policies of the House of Assembly service that may affect

the member; (

e) the code of conduct for members and for officers and staff of

the House of Assembly service; and (

f) the manual.”

Following the 2015 general election, training sessions on the following topics

were offered to all MHAs: intro to the House of Assembly and role of the MHA;

respect and civility for order and decorum; constituency office operations and

resources; travel, living and constituency allowance; records access and privacy

ethics and accountability; expense claims and purchasing; parliamentary

procedures and practice; parliamentary services and resources; and roles of each

of the statutory offices of the Legislature. The sessions were delivered, but –

I think this is important to note – not all MHAs attended.

So one

of the big things you'll note recently, and again, unfortunately it's something

we deal with quite a bit, is we've dealt with the allegations and dealings of

harassment and bullying in this House of Assembly. I don't think – one thing I

want to point out, this is not isolated – the Member for the NDP, for Signal

Hill - Quidi Vidi?

AN HON. MEMBER:

St. John's East.

MR. A. PARSONS:

St. John's East - Quidi Vidi

brought it up. I did a Ministerial Statement earlier today where I talked about

municipal councils and we brought up the fact that there are very real concerns

amongst many municipalities and councils out there about the behaviour that goes

on. I think this happens in just about every workplace. Unfortunately it's

something that we see, and everybody is trying to combat it. We here in the

House of Assembly are trying to combat that as well. I think all Members are

united in that we want to make this a better workplace for all people.

So one

of the, if you want to use the phrase, silver lining, one of the silver linings

that we see is that the House of Assembly since that time, the Human Resource

Secretariat offered information sessions to all MHAs on fostering a

harassment-free workplace environment. And unfortunately, attendance was at the

direction of each MHA. Now, it's not my job to stand up and say if somebody went

or not went; that's not identified. And to be honest with you, that's not my

care. We want everybody to take that; that's the reason we have this piece of

legislation here, this amendment here today, because it contains a very

important word. That word is “shall,” and I'm going to get back to that now

shortly.

The

Minister of Finance subsequently requested to the Speaker that the Management

Commission – and the Minister of Finance given the fact that the HRS,

Human Resource Secretariat, answers to the Department of Finance subsequently

requested to the Speaker that the Management Commission consider additional

mandatory training for all MHAs on harassment.

Now, in order to do this, in order to make it mandatory we

have to bring an amendment to this House, which has been directed by the

Management Commission. So the Management Commission – and I wouldn't be able to

give you the date, but this went to the Management Commission and there was a

meeting and it was approved that this is an amendment that everybody agreed

upon, would come to the House – and I think it was actually done some time ago:

September. So we're talking in the last two months now that was decided by the

Management Commission and this is the path through which it must follow to get

here into the House of Assembly to be debated and then voted on.

So approved by Management Commission, and again

Management Commission has representation from all parties. The amendments are

not limited to harassment training but would apply to all training and

orientation offered by the House of Assembly to Members under the authority of

section 22.

Now,

you'll notice we didn't get into no specific penalty was included for

non-compliance. The Code of Conduct for Members does require all Members to

comply with HOAAIA, with the piece of legislation.

Principle 1 of the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Assembly states:

“1. Members shall inform themselves of and shall conduct themselves in

accordance with the provisions and spirit of the Standing Orders of the House of

Assembly, the House of Assembly

Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act ,

the Members' Resources and Allowances

Rules , the Elections Act, 1991 ,

the House of Assembly Act and this

Code of Conduct and shall ensure that their conduct does not bring the integrity

of their office or the House of Assembly into disrepute.”

Therefore, should a Member fail to attend mandatory training, as required by

this section, that Member could be in violation of the Code of Conduct. So

that's why we are bringing these amendments forward today for debate and

approval. I'm quite confident that there will be universal support of this.

I don't

think it just should apply to the newest training that many of us and perhaps

all of us – I'm not sure who did or didn't do the training. That most recent

training is essential and I think we all should do it. More importantly, I think

going forward, as we go into by-elections and as we go into general elections,

any new Member – I think every set of training here that I outlined was

important.

I can

talk as a Member when I first came here and there were many Members on both

sides that went to what we called MHA school. You sit here in the House and we

went through all the training. It's so important because these duties are

important not just to how we conduct ourselves in the House, it's how we deal

with the expenditure of the people's money when we talk about setting up

constituency offices, when we talk about how we must expend funds to get back

and forth to our constituencies and spending money in doing our duties but,

again, it's the people's money.

I think

every one of these should be mandatory. I think most people, if not all, have

taken it just as a matter of course, but the fact that we're making it mandatory

now I think it's very important. I don't think anybody will have an issue. I

think that harassment-free workplace training should fit right into that as

essential training, as mandatory training that not only we all should do, but we

all want to do. Everybody wants to do this training in my opinion.

Again,

it's not just training I think for this House of Assembly, I think it's in

private workplaces. I think it's in other public workplaces. I think it applies

across the board that we all need to have this training because ignorance is not

the defence. We need to do this training. As someone who has gone through this,

I found that the people that taught the course and that put off the training are

excellent at their job. They are very well trained and they did a wonderful job,

and so, again, glad that I've gone through it. I think it's essential learning.

Sometimes I think this is essential learning for everybody, not just whether you

sit in this House or not. I think it's a good thing; I don't think education is

bad for anybody, no matter what role you serve in our province.

I want

to go back to the piece of legislation. So I've given the explanation for this:

the act governs the Members; the House of Assembly Management Commission helps

makes these decision; it comes into the House via the Government House Leader in

the form of a bill; and everybody will have a chance to debate that. So, again,

this is not something that's a government initiative; this is something that's a

House of Assembly Management Commission initiative.

Now, I

can point out again that the Minister of Finance pointed out it should be

mandatory. I think that was a good point, but I think it was something we all

felt. I think everybody feels that way.

So I go

back to the piece of legislation, and I always, whenever I see – it's funny,

having been in this House for just over seven years now. So the

section is quite

simple: “A member shall complete the orientation and training programs ….” I

always go back to perhaps my first experience with real debate, and real

significant debate, was back in 2012 with Bill 29. And not to bring that up, but

it was amazing because we actually debated for hours and hours and hours. And I

look at the Clerk of the House of Assembly, who is a veteran of that process. We

spent hours debating “shall” versus “may,” and it was amazing how long we went

on. And that's a part.

You

know, I'm sure there were Members of the government at the time – I can remember

one in particular that wasn't very happy with how that debate went in the

“shall” versus “may,” but that's part of democracy, is the debate and what we

are allowed to do in that debate.

So I

come back to the importance of words. When we change it to “shall,” that means

it's mandatory, it's a must; it shall happen, it has to happen. It's not it

should happen, it's not it may happen, it's not it's probably going to happen.

It shall happen. It will happen, and if not, Members could find themselves in a

breach of the Code of Conduct.

So,

again, I think, whether it's a by-election – and we know there are by-elections

coming soon, and for every general election after, every person that serves in

this House should be trained. This is a new, essential piece of training that I

think all Members will undertake, and I'm glad to see that it's going to be

mandatory for all Members going forward to debate this piece of legislation.

But I

also point out that it's not just Members, Members of the Commission, but

Officers and staff of the House of Assembly and statutory offices. I just want

to point that out because there's been some debate in people when we talk about

the statutory offices, and we have a number of statutory offices in our province

that are governed by the House of Assembly. They're independent of government.

That would include the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the Child and Youth

Advocate, the Seniors' Advocate and the Commissioner for Legislative Standards.

They're all statutory offices.

So these

individuals, they're actually put in through an amendment, or through a

resolution in the House. They're voted on by all Members, and those people are

independent of government. I think that's important to point out, because I can

tell you, anybody that says the Office of the Privacy Commissioner answers to

government doesn't obviously understand the Privacy Commissioner, because they

spend a fair amount of their time letting government know if they're not up to

snuff when it comes to following ATIPPA.

We look

at the Child and Youth Advocate. The Child and Youth Advocate, unfortunately,

one of the big jobs that this person does is put out a report from time to time

showing failures in our child care system. Those reports – again, I'm not

getting partisan here because, you know what, it's reflective of a system. But

those reports are not often – when they come out, they're not glowing in terms

of how they refer to government, and that's important.

The

reason that is important is because they're independent of government. They have

the ability, the statutory ability to hold governments, all government to task,

because their duty is to the people. I want to point that out because I've heard

talk in the past about how some of these offices are not independent, but

anybody that says that does not understand the fundamental role of these offices

and how this process works. So I want to put that out there.

It's

important, I think, that these individuals also have an opportunity to do this

training. These roles are critical to how our province runs, and to how our –

it's a check and a balance to how governments run. So I want to just point that

out there; I think that's quite important.

So, on

that note, Mr. Speaker, I think I've spoken at length now about this particular

amendment to this very important piece of legislation. I know there are a number

of Members that are going to take the opportunity to speak to this, that are

interested in this debate, and can possibly talk about what this training's all

about, or even the other parts of the training.

So on

that note, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for the opportunity to stand and

speak. I appreciate the opportunity to be the individual to stand up and move

this amendment to the legislation and to debate this. I look forward to debate

from my colleagues on all sides of the House, and I'll have an opportunity

throughout this debate to make further comment.

Thank

you so much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just

want to stand and speak on this for just a few minutes, and I agree –

MR. SPEAKER:

I'm sorry, Sir, I thought you

were rising on a point of order. Convention would have it that the Member from

the Opposition speaks first.

MR. JOYCE:

Holy –

MR. SPEAKER:

I apologize. I thought you

were speaking on a point of order.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad

to rise today to speak to Bill 31, the Accountability, Integrity and

Administration Act, and an amendment to that act as the minister just went

through and defined some of the changes and what the amendment is all about.

As he

indicated, in terms of the content, or the actual wording of the amendment and

what we're doing here with the bill, it's small in nature but large in scope. It

gets to the issue of orientation and training programs for Members of the

Legislature, and not just initially for orientation but ongoing. Making sure

that orientation and training is carried out initially, but as well, on an

ongoing basis it's carried out as well and there are upgrades done and

familiarity, understanding and continued understanding of what your obligations

are as a Member of this Legislature.

This

change, what it does now is – as the minister said – makes it mandatory and not

voluntary, and I think that's important. I think most Members, as we go through

debate, will certainly speak to that in regard to the importance of that

particular element.

We know

this issue came to the Management Commission. It was discussed. There were

recommendations made in regard to the amendment. Some of the issues we've seen

over the past number of months in regard to alleged harassment, alleged

intimidation. Just generally looking at the workplace, and this workplace being

no different than any other workplace, and what an understanding that people who

have the privilege to be elected to sit here, and certainly the support of staff

as well. The Officers of the House and the statute offices, there's much

connection between us as elected officials, between the staff here at the House

of Assembly, the various offices and that interconnection.

So it's

all about awareness and an understanding of what our roles are and the Code of

Conduct that was brought about from the Green report. It wasn't established by

the Green report but there was direction to have it established. It would be

part of the process here in this Legislature, and it was created.

Part of

that, as we know, looking back at our history, the impetuous for the Green

report and what transpired to necessitate that certainly grew out of issues with

regard to administration and operations of finances in the House of Assembly.

From that grew clear guidelines, a much needed oversight and a requirement for a

Code of Conduct in how Members operate; thus, the name Accountability, Integrity

and Administration Act.

So what

we have here in Bill 31 was to qualify, as some would say, housekeeping, but

it's very important in terms of the overall oversight of the act, and making

that training – as I mentioned – mandatory, not optional. And that the Members

of the House of Assembly would take the orientation and training programs that

are developed through the Speaker and through the Speaker's office.

This

went through the Management Commission, which I sit and have a privilege of

sitting on, with hon. colleagues here from the Legislature, and was approved

unanimously in May 16 of this year. That's what gets us here in regard to the

amendment to the particular act and Bill 31.

The

minister mentioned – I think it's important to go through and look at

section 22

of the House of Assembly Accountability,

Integrity and Administration Act assigns responsibility to the Speaker,

assisted by the Clerk, for the development and delivery of an appropriate

training and orientation program for MHAs, Members of the Management Commission

officers and staff in the House of Assembly service.

The act

also makes it mandatory for the Speaker to ensure that the appropriate training

and orientation is delivered. This is basically, with the amendment, making it

mandatory. Therefore, the training sessions are not at the discretion of an

individual MHA, but

section 22 of the acts is included to make it mandatory.

I think

it's important for those listening to understand that what transpires now, in

regard to a general election and training topics that are part of the

orientation/introduction to the work we do – the introduction to the House of

Assembly and role of an MHA; respect and civility; order and decorum;

constituency office operations and resources; travel, living and constituency

allowance; things like record access and privacy ethics and accountability;

expense claims and purchasing; parliamentary procedures and practices;

parliamentary services and resources; and roles of each of the statutory offices

of the Legislature.

So, it's

intertwined in all the activities from administrative point of view, from an

operational point of view, from interaction with those statutory bodies that

there's an understanding and a level of conduct that's expected and required,

not just by us in our Legislature but by the general public.

I know

based on some changes that were made in regard to an interim policy related to

harassment, there was some training offered. As I said, it was voluntary. In the

past number of months, I remember doing it and was offered by the public service

and certainly looked at various aspects of how you conduct yourself and

interactions. I found it certainly good to have that done and to have a

discussion of what the protocols are, what the expectations are, which is very

important.

It's

done in an environment with your colleagues from all sides of the House, which

again I think is important. It's not partisan; it's about the operations in this

Chamber and the chambers that support the House of Assembly, and the staff that

support it as well, which is extremely important.

That was

the interim policy that I mentioned, to look at fostering a harassment-free

workplace environment. So as we proceed with this – and the Management

Commission had bought in to that interim application of the Executive Branch

harassment-free policy effective January 1 of this particular year and looking

at an equivalent process applicable to MHAs. As we've moved forward, I know with

the Privileges and Elections Committee, we're looking at bringing forth a new

policy related to workplace harassment-free policy which the Committee was

struck with taking on that task through a private Member's resolution, and it's

scheduled to report back to the House of Assembly in this particular session. So

that's all intertwined in what we're doing here, and this amendment as we move

forward is as well.

I think

it's important to think about the origin and where we've come from in regard to

this particular bill. One of the important parts was way back in the Green

report on page 5.34 talked about the need for training and orientation and a

Members' manual. That was brought about through some of the interactions that

Judge Green had at the time with MHAs and others and people in the bureaucracy

and arriving in a position not knowing, in some cases, what the actual role was

with little or no instruction on the importance of having that availability,

that focus and structure on the very aspects of the job, what's engaged in the

job, what the financial responsibilities are and what the level of conduct is.

As I said, that went into developing a code of conduct.

oftentimes, without that, you're left with just picking up things as you go

through other Members who may have served here before and just learning and get

an understanding on the fly, so to speak. So this is important that we have a

substantiated process for training, and Bill 31 certainly speaks to that and

allows and ensures that would take place.

This, as

well, would ensure the high standards of professional conduct are maintained,

and you seek out and undergo the training necessary to fill the administrative

aspects of the job – and really all aspects of the job, which is extremely

important.

So as

you move forward to debate today, I think it's important that we reflect on

progressing in terms of the education and training as it's required in our role

and the fundamental issue that the very best training, the very best resources

be available. This certainly maintains and secures that everybody does the

applicable training; it's not optional. We have now an interim policy dealing

with possible harassment and intimidation allegations. But, as we move forward

with the Privileges and Elections Committee, we'll certainly redefine what a new

policy would look like; with that, would become the training components of it,

an enhancement to that, and this would support as we move forward.

And it's

important to reflect on – initial training is good, but then as we move forward

there are updates and re-familiarization, I guess, if you can with what the

requirements are, and that's always important.

So,

certainly our caucus supports this amendment. We look forward to discussion as

we move through debate this afternoon, but from our perspective I'm sure Members

on this side will want to speak to it again. We certainly endorse this and the

whole concept of a high standard, a high threshold that we need to maintain and

we need to work towards because the job is never done, the job is continuous in

regard to education and awareness and it's continual learning, it's lifelong

learning if you will, and this helps in terms of mandatory training to allow

that to occur.

I look

forward to the future debate this afternoon as we move forward with this bill

and have further discussion.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Any

Members from the government side?

The hon.

the Deputy Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you for the opportunity to speak to this very, very important matter. Today

we're debating and discussing

An Act to Amend the House of Assembly

Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act, and really what we're doing is

we're amending it to require, make it mandatory, for Members of the House of

Assembly to complete the orientation and training programs offered by the

Speaker of the House of Assembly, and in particular around harassment.

As my

colleagues have already spoken to this afternoon, so I won't get into too much

detail, there is a requirement today, and it came from the Green act, to do

training as new Members of the House of Assembly come on board, and always good

to have new people come join us here in the House of Assembly, and I encourage

anybody who's considering running as a Member of the House of Assembly to do so,

particularly women.

I think

that we need more women in the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to

encourage anybody listening today or any female that is considering it, it

certainly is an honourable profession. I will say that, Mr. Speaker, because it

does really reflect on the rules and responsibilities of our communities, and it

really does rest to develop our province.

But, Mr.

Speaker, it is incumbent upon all of us in this House to set the example of

ensuring that harassment and bullying and intimidation of any kind, any abuse of

any kind is not tolerated in our society.

I often

reflect on some of the work that the UN has done, and I know on one of the

particular reports that I read recently it talked about the top five issues for

working women in the G20. One of the top five issues, and it is harassment, Mr.

Speaker, harassment in the workforce.

I know

our government has done an awful lot to address this issue, and I'll talk a

little bit about some of the things our government has done to address this

issue; but, more importantly, Mr. Speaker, it's what are we going to do in the

House of Assembly to address this very important issue? I think one small step,

but a very important step, is to ensure that everyone in this House of Assembly

undertakes training and undertakes to understand, gains the knowledge about

harassment and how the impacts of harassment, how to identify harassment, and

then as we move forward with the privileges committee, Mr. Speaker, how do we

address those that have, unfortunately, experienced this.

I want

to comment a little later on that, but, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to use a little

quote that I often use. John F. Kennedy once said: “The greater our knowledge

increases the more our ignorance unfolds.” And isn't that the truth, Mr.

Speaker. We want to unfold the ignorance around harassment. We want to ensure

that men and women in workplaces have the respectful workplace that they

deserve.

It is so

important, I believe, that this change go through, and I'm glad to hear the

support of making this change to make it mandatory. I can say that everyone on

this side of the House, Mr. Speaker, everyone on this side of the House has

undertaken harassment training, has gone through the harassment training. It was

at the direction of the Premier that that happened, but I do know, as I am a

Member of the House management committee, and we did think it was very

important.

colleague, the previous speaker, did talk about how important it was that the

Management Commission actually spoke about this and said that really we do need

mandatory training, because once we can get people to understand what harassment

is, once we can help to unfold the ignorance around harassment, then I'm hopeful

that we'll have diminishing harassment, Mr. Speaker.

We do

have a Code of Conduct in this House of Assembly, a very important Code of

Conduct. Again, brought in under, I think, the Green report. Very important to

understand, the Code of Conduct is something that everybody in this House swears

they would uphold. It is the thing that really represents your responsibilities

and requirements as a Member of the House of Assembly, and how important it is

that we ensure a respectful workplace is available to all of us – very, very

important.

We all

know there's a huge burden and a significant cost to when there is harassment.

When individuals are victimized, when colleagues or supervisors or subordinates

or others who witness the incidents, the impact to them. They all play a very

heavy toll on our self, on our soul, and we have to eliminate that type of

violence, and I consider it violence, Mr. Speaker. Harassment, abuse, any of

those intolerances really do weigh on individuals.

It is

incumbent on all of us as leaders – and I consider everybody in this House a

leader – all of us as leaders to influence and make the necessary changes to

ensure a safe and respectful workplace. It is incumbent on all of us.

I often

reflect back to my grandmother. My grandmother won the right to vote – won the

right to vote. Can you imagine me using that term, won? She was given, provided

the right to vote in her lifetime. And that's 100 years ago.

Now,

imagine today and imagine 100 years hence, that someone is going to reflect back

and say: 100 years ago they were addressing harassment in the workplace. Think

about that, Mr. Speaker. This is a pivotal moment in society. It's not just for

this House of Assembly, it's a pivotal moment in our society. I think it's

pivotal, just as it was pivotal for my grandmother to be given the right to

vote, as she rightfully deserved as a part of the human race, but it's part of

our dignity as human beings to have respectful workplaces, respectful

environments.

We often

teach our children – we really go out of our way to teach our children not to

bully. We go out of our way to ensure they know how to share. We go out of our

way to teach them manners, to teach them to be respectful. Mr. Speaker, today as

we reflect on that, won't it be a better society when we've addressed this

horrible issue.

I think

the MeToo movement, the Time's Up movement, things that have been happening over

the last number of years has really shone a bright light on this very, very

important issue. Therefore, as the Premier has said, in the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador we have zero tolerance – zero tolerance. We have to

have zero tolerance in our Legislature, but it is incredibly important to make

sure that everyone is knowledgeable, informed and has the ability to understand

the impacts, has the information required to ensure they can address this issue,

and that is what the training will do.

Making

it mandatory on everybody in this House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker, I think is

important, as it is important that we have other types of training. That it's a

requirement that we have other types of training in this House of Assembly so

that all of us can be learned and knowledgeable and have that degree of

sophistication when it comes to these very, very important issues.

In our

society, as I said earlier, we have tried to model about how important it is to

address this issue. I'm going to reflect back on the Lieutenant-Governor of

Newfoundland and Labrador who spoke on the need to address violence in the 2018

Speech from the Throne. And I'm going to quote from the Speech from the Throne

because I think it really does reflect on this governments – importance that it

has placed on this very issue, not just on harassment but on violence, on abuse

of any kind. It has to be stopped in our society.

In the

Speech from the Throne it said: “Raising standards and expectations for how our

society treats women is an important focus for our Government.”

Raising

standards and expectations for how our society treats women is an important

focus of our government. And I would say, Mr. Speaker, it's not just on how we

treat women, which is – we've had, historically, a problem with that in our

society, but I'm going to say how we treat each other. It's not a male issue,

it's not a female issue. It's a person-to-person issue. So how we treat each

other.

Some of

the changes government is making to address some of the concerns we've been

hearing in our society, some of the leadership we are taking – and a lot of

discussion is going around, Mr. Speaker, about what can government do to support

the changes in our society? How do we address the concerns that we're seeing in

our society? We are addressing, in one part today, how we make the changes in

our Legislature, but how do we address some of the other bigger issues?

I think

earlier in Question Period it was raised about municipalities. There are

consultations underway for changes to the municipal legislation. They are

looking at harassment under that legislation. There's an advisory council on

occupational health and safety tasked with reviewing and making recommendations

on harassment and violence provisions in the occupational health and safety

regulation.

There's

new legislation to be introduced to help victims of revenge pornography and the

non-consensual distribution of intimate images. There is

Labour Standards Act consultations, including consideration of

domestic violence leave. And, Mr. Speaker, we're about to begin a new phase of

violence prevention, a new plan on violence prevention.

It is

very important to set the tone, and I believe the Premier has set that tone:

zero tolerance. As we work through ensuring this societal change, this

overwhelming societal change occurs, this need for us all, all of us – not in

this Legislature, but in our communities, in our homes across our great country

to address harassment. As this occurs, Mr. Speaker, I think you will see how

important it will be for that education piece.

Again,

that is what we were debating this afternoon. For those that may be just joining

us, we are debating the mandatory requirement for all Members of the House of

Assembly to have harassment training, and I'm very pleased to see that. I've

just given a good list of some of the other initiatives that government is

doing.

Let me

reflect on a couple of other things that government has done in trying to make a

better workplace, a workplace and environment for employees where they're safe

and free from harassment. So as an employer – I talked about the greater

societal changes that are required, I talked about the legislative changes, but

allow me to speak for a moment about the changes for employees to government.

They can

have a workplace safe and free from harassment. It cannot and will not be

tolerated to have harassment, and the new Harassment-Free Workplace Policy for

those who work in the public service brings greater awareness of workplace

harassment, and training required around this very issue. It increases

accountability for those in authority, it establishes timelines for formal

investigations, and includes a comprehensive complaint-resolution process. How

important is that for the civil servants, as they go through their daily

workplace?

I think

it's very important for the people of the province to know that as an employer

in the Human Resource Secretariat there is a full-time Harassment-Free Workplace

manager, someone who's solely dedicated to the administration of the harassment

and discrimination-free workplace policy, including the coordination of

harassment investigations. So, Mr. Speaker, very, very important advancements

government has made as an employer, and that government is making towards the

betterment of society.

As I

said earlier, all staff in the public service is required to complete the

harassment-free workplace training. Crucial that MHAs take mandatory harassment

training as well, as part of their orientation, that's what we're debating

today. Imperative that all Members, all of us adhere to these principles, and

that this training ensure a respectful, collaborative, productive workplace for

all, and that's what we all want. Every single person in this House wants a

respectful, collaborative, productive workplace. It's time for all of us to

stand together against harassment, against bullying, to really make that

paramount. We cannot be silent; we cannot tolerate this any further, Mr.

Speaker.

I'm

going to say, as well, as I conclude my remarks, that I'm very pleased that

we're debating this today, but I don't think it's much of a debate – honestly. I

honestly don't think it's a debate. I think it's something that everybody in

this respectful Legislature will understand that adherence to the Code of

Conduct, adherence to ensuring that harassment is not part of our workplace,

ensuring that we have the proper training and education, so that we're not

bystanders, either, on observing harassment and not knowing what to do with that

kind of information.

As I

said at the very beginning, the greater our knowledge increases, the greater our

ignorance unfolds. John F. Kennedy said that and I truly believe that it's a new

day. It's a new day for us all when society advances towards ensuring that

respect, mutual respect, mutual understanding, tolerance and ensuring that

harassment and abuse are no longer acceptable.

It's a

new day, and I think in a hundred years hence, just as I reflected on my

grandmother who a hundred years ago received the first opportunity to vote, a

hundred years hence people will say my goodness, imagine a day when we didn't

have respectful workplaces, when we didn't understand that is not to be

tolerated.

So I'm

thankful to the Premier and to the government for having the leadership to bring

this forward. I certainly will be voting in favour of this, and I encourage all

Members to not only vote in favour of this, but to check and ensure that every

day they are working for a resolution to some of the challenges that we see in

our society today.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Reid):

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll

just stand and I'll have a few minutes to speak on this, Mr. Speaker. I'll be

certainly supporting this bill also because I honestly feel that there should be

a safe workplace environment for all people.

Mr.

Speaker, as a person who just went through six months of torture in his life for

allegations that 16 have been thrown out, I have some personal insight on

workplace bullying and harassment. What I noticed in a lot of the workplace,

what if allegations are made with no foundation – what if? What if a person goes

through six months of his life, or her life, without any foundation to it – what

if? What are the consequences of it?

I just

heard the Member speak about bullying and harassment in the workplace. How about

if you get a text that says you're going to get a smack up the side the head; is

that bullying? Is that dealt with? How about if you get a text and say well,

when we get the millions, he's going to get some smack upside the head; is that

bullying? Well if it is bullying, Mr. Speaker, there are other steps that needs

to be taken here because it's all out public. That's the kind of thing, Mr.

Speaker, when you take the workplace harassment policy – and I agree, everybody

should be taking it – everybody.

I'll

just give you one thing that I've been going through the last six months. I

don't know if any Members opposite – and I'm going to have a lot more to say – a

lot more to say. I'll just give you a couple of things that I've been going

through the last six months. I think it's code 4. Code 4 is political

corruption. Do you know the last people that were politically corrupt in this

House of Assembly? They stole $4 million. That was the constituency scandal.

Do you

know what number 6 states, that I had to deal with? Is that your personal

finances aren't in order and in the old-saying days, that was where you had to

be bankrupt. Can you imagine, Mr. Speaker?

So, this

workplace and bullying and harassment should be brought in, but there has to be

something, a reprisal, that once the harassment if there are complaints that are

malicious, that are false, there has to be something put in place. There has to

be something in place.

I'll

just give you an example. The Commission – who is the Commissioner answerable

to? Who is the Commissioner answerable to? I tell you an example. I spoke to the

speaker just right there to your left, Mr. Speaker. I spoke to the speaker last

week and I showed him a letter that he said: Oh my God, that's not what he just

said in the management committee. Do you know something, Mr. Speaker? I know

what was said in the management committee, because the speaker told me. Do you

know I can't get that confirmed in writing by the Speaker or the Commissioner,

which is detrimental –?

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I just

want to remind the Member to remain relevant to the debate that we're having

here today. So I just want to remind the Member to do that.

MR. JOYCE:

It is relevant. To my mind,

Mr. Speaker, it is relevant because – is the training. So the training is – what

if you have a concern after? What's the next step? Is that what we're saying

here, everybody should do mandatory training? If you actually do the training,

Mr. Speaker, and then you find, okay, your rights have been violated. What's the

next step? What is the next step?

there's a lot more to it than saying, okay, we're all going to take the

training, which I agree with. I agree with it 100 per cent, Mr. Speaker, because

I can tell you, all the towns, municipalities and all the mayors I've dealt

with, they all spoke at PMA, everybody agrees that the workplace should be free

of harassment. But, Mr. Speaker, we have to ensure that people who make false

allegations should be held accountable. Mr. Speaker, I make absolutely no bones

about it.

Mr.

Speaker, I'll just go on through. It's almost like once someone is accused of

harassment, then all of a sudden they got to prove themselves innocent instead

of saying, okay, why are some – I'll just give an example. You know one of the

allegations against me, that was against me that was thrown out, do you know

what it was? Do you know what it was, if anybody took the time? Do you know

exactly what it was that was made against me by a certain Member? I didn't

explain the capital works enough.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I'm

asking the Member again to remain relevant to the debate. We're looking at the

provisions for training in relation to making it mandatory in the House. So I

ask the Member to stick closely – I'm giving him a fair amount of leeway in

terms of making his point and making the connection to this bill, but I ask him

to remain relevant to the debate we're having here today.

MR. JOYCE:

(Inaudible) me leeway, so I

will stay to the bill.

I agree

that – and I look forward to the debate, Mr. Speaker, when these motions are – I

look forward to it. I look forward to the information I have that I haven't put

out in the public yet. I look forward to it.

So I'll

say to all, workplace harassment should be eradicated, Mr. Speaker. There should

be mandatory training for everyone. I'll be the first to agree to that. I'll be

the first one to say not only in this Legislature, but I know at the PMA, at the

Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment at the time, gave them funds to

do training across the province about harassment by the town managers and town

clerks, and they're very appreciative of that. And I know in MNL also, Mr.

Speaker, they're holding clinics on what's acceptable or not.

So it's

not only this Legislature, but I think all across the province and through all

the municipalities, Mr. Speaker, that I think everybody feels there should be a

workplace where it's free of harassment and bullying. But we also have to ensure

that workplace harassment, bullying complaints aren't just thrown at someone for

the sake of not getting what they want.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Placentia West - Bellevue.

MR. BROWNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly a pleasure to rise today to speak to this bill, Bill 31,

An Act to

Amend the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act. It

goes without saying, Mr. Speaker, these are serious issues we're debating and

very important that we put the necessary steps in place to ensure all Members of

the Legislature have the proper education and training as it relates to these

matters.

Mr.

Speaker, I not only stand here as a Member of the Legislature representing the

fine people of Placentia West - Bellevue, but also as a Member of the Management

Commission and some of these issues we have been seized with now over the last

number of months.

As the

Government House Leader has alluded to, the House of Assembly Management

Commission, for those who are watching at home, is comprised of all parties:

Members of the government party, Members of the Official Opposition and of the

Third Party caucus. So we are essentially akin to a board of directors for the

House of Assembly in terms of the financial administration and other

administrative matters of the Legislature.

As the

Government House Leader also rightly pointed out, in the wake of the spending

scandal, in the wake of the Green report, the Management Commission functions

have been much more transparent since 2007, replacing the predecessor, Board of

Internal Economy. So things are open. We often sit at this table for our

Committee meetings a